What a finish: Leicester Tigers
It is time for Planet Rugby's weekly wrap of who has their name in lights right now...and who is making the headlines for the wrong reasons...
They're smokin'!
Australia: Expected to be a simple walk-over for a full-strength New Zealand outfit looking to move to within just one victory of Lithuania, a spare-parts Wallabies side - missing many of their leading stars through injury - ended the All Blacks' 16-Test winning streak with an honourable 18-18 draw.
The Sharks and Western Province: The two teams will battle it out in this year's Currie Cup final after wildly contrasting semi-final victories over the Blue Bulls and Golden Lions respectively. Sharks fly-half Pat Lambie turned in a second man-of-the-match performance in as many weeks to help his side to a 20-3 win in Durban in a match played on a rain-drenched pitch. And at Coca-Cola Park, Lions pivot Elton Jantjies kicked what seemed like a match-winning penalty with 90 seconds remaining - only for WP to maul flank Deon Fourie over the line on the hooter to seal a famous win.
Canterbury and Auckland: Christchurch will play host to the 2012 ITM Cup final after Canterbury and Auckland saw off Taranaki and Wellington in their respective semis. The Canterbury crowd were treated to one of the most entertaining games of domestic rugby in recent history, when their team prevailed 51-27 after extra-time to edge them closer to becoming the first team to win five consecutive ITM Cup titles. Trailing 22-14 late in the game, three quick-fire tries in the final 23 minutes saw Auckland storm home to book themselves a place in the grand finale for the first time since 2007.
Leicester v Ospreys: Leicester secured an unlikely bonus-point triumph with a blistering onslaught of 20 points in the last 18 minutes to leave the Ospreys shell-shocked during a pulsating Heineken Cup encounter at Welford Road. A fantastic advert for European rugby.
Saracens, Toulouse, Harlequins, Ulster, Clermont, Leinster, Toulon: All of these teams remain unbeaten after two rounds of the Heineken Cup and top their respective pools with the exception of Leinster, who occupy second spot in Pool Five below Clermont.
Get these guys a cup of warm soup!
Scott Higginbotham: We thought we saw the dumbest act of the season when Dean Greyling smashed his forearm into Richie McCaw's face during the All Blacks win over the Springboks in Dunedin earlier this year. Well, Higginbotham's acts of thuggery on the All Blacks captain in Brisbane last week certainly gives the Greyling incident a run for its money. The Wallaby has subsequently received a two-Test ban for his actions.
Steve Hansen: Talk about the wrong time to give an answer to this sort of question. Your team has just missed out on continuing their fine winning run and then coach Hansen decides to land a dig at the Australian rugby setup for its apparent "poaching" tactics. Maybe the heat of the moment got to the All Blacks boss but next time we are sure he will send those sort of questions back at the respective journalist with a straight bat and straight face.
Blue Bulls: The less said about the men from Pretoria's display in their Currie Cup semi-final loss to the Sharks the better. From the outset they struggled to get going and hardly threatened to score points. Their misery was compounded when Springbok fly-half Morne Steyn and young prop Morne Mellett were cited for alleged foul play. Time to regroup.
Situation at Sale: It is difficult not to feel sorry for Bryan Redpath as John Mitchell's arrival most probably ousts him from Sale's hot seat. Whatever the club may say about the Scot's position not changing, it is difficult to see a coach like Mitchell playing second fiddle at the Sharks. Mitchell has today been talking about the possibility of bringing in Brian Ashton to help improve Danny Cipriani as a player but also said "the team can only have one leader" and he (Redpath) is "employed to be a leader". Mixed messages in our eyes we feel and unfortunately also for Redpath, who seems to have handled the exit of Steve Scott and now the Mitchell's arrival with real class. On the positive side, their performances are improving.
Comments
kybone says...
mcdb06- Exactly my thought. Edinburgh- Easily the worst team in the HC after 2 rounds, not a point scored two weeks in a row, and not so much as a passing mention in the 'not hot' list.
On the situation at Sale- I don't find it difficult at all not to feel sorry for Bryan Redpath. The way he and Sale orchestrated his 'move' from Gloucester, i actually find it hard not to smile when i see the situation they're both now in.
Posted 21:18 23rd October 2012
Tamjon says...
while the Oz & NZ game was a draw, the difference for me was the Higgenbotham incident - it shows the big difference in class between the two teams. Not just what Higgenbotham did, but how McCaw did not react or complain to the ref.
Posted 20:51 23rd October 2012
runnrugby says...
Lol 17-3. Yea Abs have mental edge over OZ first string side. Had to take a kiwi to get them a draw. Thats what Hansen is really getting at!
Posted 20:12 23rd October 2012
paulynz says...
Wonder what might happen if I take the lid off this can of worms? Nek minnit...
Posted 19:48 23rd October 2012
mcdb06 says...
Eh no mention of Edinburgh? Failed to score a point in 2 matches while conceding 78.
Posted 19:45 23rd October 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
HA HA imagine aye TRINATS..Using your logic we can assume we have played your number 1 Oz side at least most of the previous 20 tests?? 17wins to 3..he he..Does this mean your second/third/fourth string team is actually far better than your "BEST" Oz team..& 1 Draw..Some of the newbies with their 1 draw already have a superior record to your best OZ Team..(funny)..Wont detract from a very descent performance! You will also note that whenever SA chose to send 2nd string sides to NZ during Worldcup years those teams also performed very well against us? Whether it be the Unknown-quantity factor or the fact your 2nd stringers play out of their skin to prove their worth who knows?? The worst thing I found playing professional ruggers in NZ was the fear of getting injured and allowing your 2nd stringer's the opportunity to prove themselves and take your jersey in the process...Look at Hooper dudes been immense! & Phipps is getting better and better!!...Starting to suspect you have know experience of actually playing top level rugby..other than on a PS3 Trinats
Posted 19:28 23rd October 2012
paulynz says...
I'm aware that the New Zealand All Blacks are widely regarded as the best Rugby Union team in the world. Some even go as far to say that historically, they have the best team sport record of any sport in the world.
Who's Scott Johnson?
Posted 19:06 23rd October 2012
paulynz says...
What's the full-strength Australian side's record against the All Blacks over the last 18 test matches?
Posted 18:57 23rd October 2012
Chiefporky says...
Trinats,
Australia had full strength or fuller strength teams twice already.
They got soundly beaten.
Posted 18:37 23rd October 2012
Isograford says...
@Trinats2 Australia have had a full strength side in the majority of their tests the last few years, and still have only won two of those games. They're like France, they pull out the occasional surprise result, then slip back.
Other than that record, the AB's really had zero to gain from that game and everything to lose.
Posted 18:35 23rd October 2012
reded says...
Please !!!...
Higgers did what he knows works and in days gone by you would all tell him to do it again.
i) Quade has a run at King Richie and he goes off his game. All blacks lose.
ii) Richie is dumb enough to put it in his book that the action was successful in putting him off his game (really??)
iii) Higgers get's ticked off enough by having Richie around his ankles, cop this.
iv) ABs almost blow the game, and a draw may as well be a loss for them.
Two weeks was worth it.
Finally - thuggery? C'mon. Richie didn't even have a bruise. Greyling was a complete lunatic diving across to throw a forearm like that. They have the same basis (put Richie off his game) but Higgers did it in a less dangerous way.
Posted 18:03 23rd October 2012
olepete says...
Fine display by Australia, but thuggish behaviour stems from the leadership. It will be interesting to see if SH is punished further by Deans, as Greyling was by Meyer - he should be!
Posted 14:52 23rd October 2012
connaughtabu says...
Oh Hansen, all that Kiwi charm coming to the fore! What did Scott Johnson say about the All Blacks back in 2004? "I'm not calling them the All Blacks. They are New Zealand. New Zealand is a poxy little island in the Pacific Ocean". When someone pointed out to Johnson that New Zealand was made up of two island, he replied "Sorry, two poxy little islands in the Pacific Ocean". Need I say more? :-))
Posted 14:23 23rd October 2012
Carpelone says...
Hansen?? A sore, whinging "drawer", in all sense. Maybe that's why he keeps on selecting Weepu, to have night escapades to their favorite pie's shops.
I bet Piri know everything about foie gras for the NH tour.
Posted 14:08 23rd October 2012
Trinats2 says...
Never thought I'd see Australia in the smokin hot section after losing so many players this year. Imagine what a full strength side would have done to NZ last weekend !!!
Posted 13:52 23rd October 2012
new_j4a says...
Leinster gets a backhanded mention in the hots along with 10 British or proud British Colonial teams.....cue a spew of bile from the jack booted, goose stepping Blue Shirt Brigade's leader.....who else but Hail Sincero?
Posted 12:39 23rd October 2012
philipjfry says...
If the Currie cup semis were trial matches for Springbok selections Lambie would have the edge on Jantjies. Lets hope HM sees it that way.
Posted 12:22 23rd October 2012