Who’s hot and who’s not!

Editor

It’s time for our wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

They’re on fire!!

Denny Solomona and Sale: Make that nine tries in eight matches for the rugby league convert who has proven to be a deadly finisher during his short stint at the AJ Bell Stadium, with Sale as a result put in a position to keeps Wasps at bay and ultimately hold on. Having arrived in England back in March 2014, he duly qualifies under the residency agreement in two weeks’ time…

Munster: “They never know when they’re beaten” is one of the best compliments you can pay to a side, and Munster were the epitome of stubbornness in Swansea when much to the home crowd’s fury Rassie Erasmus’s team came from behind to snatch a 25-23 win, and with it top spot in the PRO12. Dave O’Callaghan was outstanding.

Newcastle Falcons: The story of the season so far, with the Falcons instead of being caught in their regular relegation battle now pushing the top six, one point behind Harlequins. Sunday’s 46-31 win over Northampton Saints would have been unheard of a few years ago and they truly are a side on the up. Sonatane Takulua’s, the Tonga scrum-half, deserves credit for his hat-trick.

Gloucester: How many times have we seen Gloucester throw away leads like Friday’s over Saracens, and it felt like the same old story up 23-13 before the champions clawed it back to 23-23. Instead the Cherry and Whites held their nerve, Richard Hibbard’s try and Billy Twelvetrees’ penalty securing a huge win.

La Rochelle and Clermont: France’s top two sides both delivered over the weekend with wins over Stade Français and Bayonne respectively, taking their tussle for spot to another level in the process as they also opened up valuable space on the table with the rest of the league. Good to see veteran Aurélien Rougerie on the scoresheet as well for les Jaunards, his 95th try for the club.

Merab Kvirikashvili: A special mention to the Georgian full-back and goalkicker who became his country’s first player to reach 100 Test caps on Saturday in the Rugby Europe Championship win over Germany. Congratultations.

Wayne Barnes: Brilliant bit of officiating on Friday’s Premiership game at Kingsholm spotting a concussed Motu Matu’u and stopping the game instantly. That kind of awareness shows how far the sport has come.

Stuck in a longggg winter…

Bristol: The mid-season resurgence appears to be on the wane after Saturday’s thumping from Leicester Tigers. Bristol are currently six points adrift from Worcester, not a disaster, but the Sixways outfit seem back on track since Gary Gold’s arrival and Francois Hougaard’s return. The wins need to happen again swiftly.

Bath v Harlequins: A real letdown of a contest at The Rec with an amazing number of errors considering the talented players on each side. Don’t rush to buy the DVD. It backed up Ben Ryan’s points last week about the skill levels in some top matches.

Glasgow Warriors: Missing their international stars is beginning to hurt Glasgow’s standing in the PRO12, with now back-to-back losses to the Scarlets and now Ulster and last Saturday’s by some margin going down 37-17. As a result they slip out of the top four.