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 in the global game.

THEY’RE ON FIRE

Christian Lealiifano: Just seven months after a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia, Lealiifano returned to action with the Brumbies, playing in an exhibition match against the Asia Pacific Dragons in Singapore. “It was fantastic to get back onto the field and play rugby after such a long lay-off,” he said. “This is another step in the recovery process and it felt good to be on the field and involved again.” We at Planet Rugby, like everyone in the game, wish Christian well as he continues on the road to recovery and more games for the Brumbies.

New Zealand: You have to take your hat off to the All Blacks for how they negated the British & Irish Lions’ strengths of a solid defence and strong line-out drive. They enjoyed over 60 percent possession and territory and thus wore down the Lions’ tacklers, who made close to twice as many hits as their opponents. The two-try Rieko Ioane, returning captain Kieran Read and tireless lock Brodie Retallick got a lot of the plaudits, but it was a collective showing that saw the All Blacks go 1-0 up. It’s hard to see them not making it two in Wellington.

Ramiro Moyano: A hat-trick from the Pumas finisher as he starred in their 45-29 victory over Georgia. The winger made 126 metres in Jujuy.

Fiji: Playing against a Scotland side riding high on confidence after wins over Italy and Australia, Fiji backed up their own victory over the Azzurri with a 27-22 success over Gregor Townsend’s men. Ben Volavola kicked 17 points as John McKee’s outfit shocked a Scotland side that, albeit without Finn Russell and Allan Dell, was expected to make it three wins from three in June. A solid month for the islanders.

Israel Folau: Back to his best with six tries in his last three internationals for Australia. When on song there is no better full-back in the game and Folau has been a joy to watch, most recently against Italy. Australians hope this form continues into the Rugby Championship.

Ireland: Speaking of solid months, the Irish have been excellent on a difficult tour that saw them do plenty of miles. Starting off in New Jersey, Joe Schmidt’s men beat the USA 55-19 before heading to Shizuoka and then Tokyo, overcoming Japan 50-22 and 35-13. Plenty of young players put their hand up for further caps, but without doubt two of their star men were the more established Keith Earls and Jack Conan.

Black Ferns Sevens: New Zealand are the 2016/17 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series champions. The Black Ferns Sevens also claimed the Clermont-Ferrand Sevens title after beating Australia 22-7 on Sunday. What makes their season even more impressive is they lost just once.

Jan Serfontein: Critics answered. Serfontein gave three excellent performances for the Springboks in their series victory over France. His inclusion in the first Test starting XV led to a few disappointed fans who viewed his career as having not lived up to its initial promise making their views heard. They’ve been silenced as he excelled in the midfield and looks to be on the right road again to show his talents.

COLD AS ICE

Chiefs: Like the Maori All Blacks before them, the Chiefs disappointed their supporters as they were well beaten by the British and Irish Lions. The men from Hamilton couldn’t cross the whitewash as they were thumped 34-6 on Tuesday. Yes they were missing those training with New Zealand, but it was odd that Tim Nanai-Williams was available after playing against the All Blacks on the Friday and Liam Messam too, who played for the Maori on Saturday, but not Damian McKenzie, James Lowe and Charlie Ngatai. The Chiefs desperately needed them involved.

France: At the end of the long season it was always going to be tough for France to pick up a series win in South Africa. However, losing 3-0 and in the manner they did is difficult to gloss over. 37, 37 and 35 points were leaked in the matches as fingers start to point, some at head coach Guy Novès. We feel singling out Novès is unfair as the Top 14 season began way back in August. How can players be 100 percent?

Lions official pushed: British & Irish Lions tour manager John Spencer revealed he was pushed by a drunken diner at an Auckland restaurant in the lead-up to the first Test. Reportedly a request for a photograph with the former player was declined before the diner is alleged to have verbally abused a member of Spencer’s family. Spencer then stood up to ask him to leave and was then pushed in an unsavoury incident.