A hot AP but the blackout was not
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'!
Jaco Taute: Before his shoulder injury, Taute was tauted as being extremely close to making the Springbok squad following an impressive Super Rugby season. However, the dynamic full-back's international hopes were postponed when he was ruled out for several weeks. He's now back in Golden Lions colours and has picked up from where he left off, last week carving up the Blue Bulls' defence with ease and was deserving of his breakaway try. We expect the former Monument High schoolboy to be a Springbok in November.
Aviva Premiership: What an entertaining opening it has been. Firm, dry pitches, fresh players and teams hoping to get a strong start out of the blocks have led to the masses being thrilled in England, with Quins, Leicester, Sarries and Saints occupying the top four after two rounds. One wonders whether that is a sign of things to come...Gloucester, Exeter and Sale might have something to say about that, although the latter is now 0 from 2.
Adam Ashley-Cooper: Lwazi Mvovo did his utmost to draw AAC and then give to Jean de Villiers on the touchline on Saturday, but he did not count on the versatile Wallaby flooring them both. That two-for-one tackle - viewed high by some - proved critical in where the match points ended up on the day. Speaking of Australia's victory, we feel Sitaleki Timani, the front-row, Berrick Barnes and debutant Dom Shipperley deserve separate mentions.
An unbeaten Toulon and Biarritz: Bernard Laporte's expensively assembled "army" hold a one-point lead on the resurgent Basques at the top. After six years of writing big cheques, Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal is seeing rewards. Last Saturday RCT backed up three wins on the road with a bonus-point victory in their first home game. Would you expect any less when your BENCH features names like Jenkins, Hayman, Shaw, Armitage, Bastareaud and Michalak? Meanwhile, over on the Atlantic coast, BO are fast forgetting the prolonged nightmare that was last season, which might just save Serge Blanco from health issues.
Get these guys a cup of warm soup!
Will Genia: Poor Rod Kafer. The former Wallaby centre - referring to Genia's injury - asked the captain whether the team's performance papered over his own personal fate in Perth to which the scrum-half construed as being a jibe at his personal performance. Genia clearly was not happy and made his feelings known before Kafer smoothed the situation by explaining there was no malice intended. If you haven't seen it, here is the video.
Blackout at Westpac Stadium: A power outage caused by horrendous weather conditions plunged the 'Cake Tin' into darkness during Saturday's Rugby Championship clash, causing an embarrassing delay. The stadium was blacked out just when the teams were preparing to take the field for the second half and remained that way for around 17 minutes. The inclement weather, stubborn opponents and failing technology almost conspired to end the All Blacks' 12-Test winning streak before the hosts left it late to eventually win 21-5.
Mont-de-Marsan: The gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in France is growing ever larger - as illustrated by the fortunes (excuse the pun) of the boys in back and yellow from Stade Montois, who have a big, fat 'zero' next to their name at the bottom Top 14 table. With a points difference of -99 after four games, a long season lies ahead. Clermont are next up.
Clueless Kiwi commentators: Is it asking too much to expect professional commentators to know what the names of the players in a Test match they are calling? Bill McLaren used to go to training sessions to familiarise himself with players he would be commentating on the following weekend. No way would you hear the 'Voice of Rugby' blurt out "great tackle by...er...who was that...um...it's number 13...er...Bosch!" FYI guys, Marcelo Bosch has been playing top-level professional rugby since 2003 and has been an international since 2007.
Comments
bloemboy says...
Its blessing that the Kiwi commentators are clueless. That way they will probably not notice how clueless Meyer is as a coach when the AB's take on the Boks
Posted 17:23 11th September 2012
JayStarr says...
@ PR & olepete: I think the NZ commentators are the best in world rugby - certainly the most impartial. I have heard commentators from every other country forget players' names. I'm sure the NZ commentators can remember/prounounce more players names from the Pacific Islands than European commentators can. Bosch plays in Europe, he has hardly ever played against NZ. Cut them some slack. They are far more pleasant to listen to than Aussie, SA or English commentators... or god forbid, Jonathan Davies. I think they are head and shoulders above everyone else when it comes to being objective and informative. So take your snide remarks somewhere else...
As for Jaco Taute: I would really like to see the Lions play him and keep him at fullback now. For me the Springbok 15 jersey should be between Aplon and Taute, with Taute being the future. Lambie's talents are wasted at 15 - the no. 10 jersey should be between him and Goosen... they are the future there. The longer Kirchner and Steyn are hogging these jerseys, the longer it will take for us to start moving forward.
Posted 15:48 11th September 2012
fattysock says...
Bit harsh ripping on Smithy there I think. That was the tackle on Vito just before half time...
He is not one of the commentators in teh box, but down on the sidelines... so he didn't have any team sheets in front of him, and given it happened at such high pace as it was big scrambling defence, might not have had a clear view of either the face or number of the player. Not to mention, even though Bosch has been an international since 2007, he's only played the ABs once prior to Saturday.. and that was in the WC last year... so the fact that he isn't instantly recognisable isn't really surprising to me.
It's not like they forgot it entirely, once Smithy established it was #13, it took maybe 2 seconds to get his name.
Did they have a moment? Sure... but to call them "clueless" is pretty far from the mark.
Finally, didn't Planet Rugby recently post something about Stephen Moore being the 24th Australian to play 100 tests? It was edited in the article after I posted a comment about it... Oh, and then you mentioned in another article about how South Africa had a "One Draw and One Loss" record after two rounds of the Rugby Championships?? So Smithy has a 2 second brain fade and you bag him for it.. but you post something crazy in an article and that's OK? Interesting.
Posted 13:52 11th September 2012
melkdave says...
A bit surprised theses very little actual players named in the column ,for what is the 3rd week i think .That in its self is very cold even freezing imho.Come on PR we want to see what you think of the players and teams even if its a bit ofa laugh,not the banal of the last few weeks.Ill start ok
HOT
The All Blacks but espically C.Smith
Argentina even though they lost and espically their captain
The new AP season start by all teams -wonderful games so far
Jaco Taute
M.Hooper a stalwart for the wallabies in their win
T.Visser-scoring tries atm for fun
COLD
The Springboks -totally clueless ,and threw away a game they should have won
The Beast and JdP -bokke frontrow look past their best and failed to edge the scrum even go so far as to say they lost it.
JdV-stuggling for form and shouldnt be in the team let alone an automatic starter as captain
K.Beale-Annother nightmare game 4th or 5th on the run ,out of form should be out of wallaby squad
H.Meyer-For blaming his players ,and not taking responability for his decisions and tatics.
Ther you go PR simple isnt it LOLOL
Posted 13:28 11th September 2012
ImLaigheanIt says...
It's amazing the amount of commentators who still say "Ee-yon Reddan"...
Posted 13:23 11th September 2012
Ferdie says...
Blackout - can't blame the stadium for that one, power surge caused 200km north near Palmerston North, lightning and high winds; the metal halide tower floodlights can explode if not allowed to cool before being rebooted, the stadium's backup power supply kicked in immediately, lighting all public areas. The highest wind gust was 172kmh on rimutaka hill north of the city.
Def a 'not hot' but not one the nzru had any control over
Posted 13:23 11th September 2012
olepete says...
The Kiwi commentators aren't just clueless, they're awful (but not worse than the rest....).
Posted 13:19 11th September 2012