Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou

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

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

World Rugby awards winners: Congratulations to Beauden Barrett, Portia Woodman, Eddie Jones, Rieko Ioane, the Black Ferns, Joaquin Tuculet, Perry Baker, Michaela Blyde, Joy Neville, Rachael Burford, Richie McCaw, Eduardo “Coco” Oderigo and the late Marcel Martin for winning the awards at last night’s event in Monaco. Barrett and Woodman claimed the Player of the Year gongs while Jones was Coach of the Year. Well done all.

Japan: It’s been incredible to see close to zero praise for the Brave Blossoms’ progress in recent weeks. They thumped Tonga 39-6 just over a week ago and on Saturday drew 23-23 with France in Nanterre. Jamie Joseph is building something pretty special with this side and we imagine Ireland and Scotland will have a big job on their hands qualifying for the knockout stage of RWC 2019 at the expense of the hosts.

Scotland: They were 16/1 to win the Six Nations before their impressive victory over Australia, now they’re down to 11/1. We think that is still too high as this is a Scottish side more than capable of defeating the Six Nations big boys. Gregor Townsend has got them playing a brand of rugby that tests the best teams in the world and the Wallabies, albeit down to 14 men, were handed a 53-24 hiding at Murrayfield.

Gloucester and Worcester: This Premiership duo, aside from Exeter of course, were the standouts of the past weekend. The Cherry and Whites went north and conquered Kingston Park on Friday, beating a serious Newcastle side 29-7, while Worcester won 31-27 at Welford Road against Leicester. That superb bonus-point triumph means they are five points clear of relegation rivals London Irish in the standings.

Elevenses: Spare a thought for us having to pick our left wing in the Team of the Week. Outstanding showings from Jess Breach, Elliot Daly, Rieko Ioane, Byron McGuigan and Jacob Stockdale means it could have been any of those wearing our 11. Vote for your left wing in the poll.

Glasgow Warriors: What a win from Glasgow on Sunday as they thumped the Ospreys 47-6 at Liberty Stadium. This was not an Ospreys starting XV scrambled together due to Test absentees, in fact it was pretty strong so to come away from Swansea with a seven tries to none win is an excellent effort from the Warriors.

COLD AS ICE!

Montpellier: What was that? Leading the Top 14 and travelling to a Racing 92 side that has blown hot and cold this season, it was expected that Montpellier would push hard for the spoils on Sunday. They didn’t even come close, being nilled in a 26-0 negative as the majority of their team had a bad day at the office. Yes, Racing were good value for the win but there was something visibly off with Vern Cotter’s men.

Saracens: It’s not often Mark McCall’s men suffer back-to-back losses in the Premiership but it’s happened. They lost at Gloucester a week ago and on Sunday were pipped by Exeter at Allianz Park, going down to a 20-18 defeat as the Chiefs struck late. That has left Saracens in desperate need of a win over Harlequins this week and maybe, just possibly, ruing that Owen Farrell was not used by England against Samoa.

Italy: Conor O’Shea was visibly upset with his side’s performance as, for the second week running, they were well beaten. This time it was an out-of-form South Africa who thumped them, winning 35-6 in Padova, leaving O’Shea struggling for words. They must improve before February.

Assault in USA: Police in the United States have released a video that shows an assault that took place in a university rugby game back in February. Christopher Crawford is the player who strikes his opponent, Douglas Neary, who had to undergo facial reconstruction surgery. Awful scenes.

Sekope Kepu: The Wallaby tighthead will want to forget his day at Murrayfield as his impressive season ended on a sour note. What he was thinking only Kepu knows as he took out Scotland openside Hamish Watson at a ruck. Pascal Gaüzère had no option but to send him off.

France: And finally we have to include France. That’s six games in a row they’ve lost as the pressure is mounting on head coach Guy Novès. If les Bleus continue to play in a style lacking ideas and with their confidence as shot as it is, we worry for them in the Six Nations. Forwards coach Yannick Bru told a press conference on Sunday: “The team is fragile. We do not see any improvement since last year.” Ouch.