Hot: Sharpe - Not: Donald
It is time for our weekly wrap of who has their name in lights right now...and who is making the headlines for the wrong reasons...
They're smokin'!
Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen: The two Springbok speedsters were the big winners at the annual South African Rugby awards function. Habana won the much-coveted SA Player of the Year award and Pietersen walked off with the Players' Player of the year gong.
Nathan Sharpe: Australia also had their annual gala evening and the veteran lock made a cleansweep of all the major awards. Sharpe won the John Eales Medal, which is awarded to the player of the year, and also went home with trophies for Australia's Choice, Wallabies Player of the Year and the Spirit of Rugby awards.
Rory Kockott and Vincent Clerc: The Castres scrum-half is the Top 14's leading scorer with 158 points from 10 matches. An impressive feat when one considers he is ahead of seasoned internationals like Perpignan's James Hook and Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson. Toulouse wing Clerc is leading in the try-scoring stakes with six five-pointers after 10 games.
Tim Visser and Tom Varndell: The Edinburgh wing is on top of the PRO12 try-scoring charts with nine tries in eight matches while the Wasps flyer is setting the pace in the Premiership with seven touchdowns from eight games.
Sale Sharks: After losing their first seven Premiership fixtures and making headlines for shuffling their staff, the Sharks finally hit the victory trail with a 21-9 win over London Irish last weekend.
Freddie Burns and Billy Twelvetrees: The Gloucester duo were rewarded with late call-ups to England's squad for the upcoming internationals as replacements for Harlequins' Jordan Turner-Hall and London Irish's Jonathan Joseph who are battling with injuries.
Nick Scott: The London Welsh flyer was his team's hero when he intercepted a wayward pass from Bath's Stephen Donald to secure a 16-9 win for the Premiership newbies in the closing stages of their match.
Get these guys a cup of warm soup!
Northampton: After starting their Premiership campaign like a house on fire with five successive wins the wheels seem to be coming off for Jim Mallinder's charges who, after last weekend's 16-12 defeat to Leicester, have now lost four matches on the trot in all competitions.
Keegan Daniel: The Sharks skipper looked decidedly glum when accepting his award as South Africa's Super Rugby player of the year. Rumour has it he had his eye on a bigger award and having a bit of a sulk. With an attitude like like, it's no wonder he'll be in Durban this weekend instead of Dublin.
Mont de Marsan: To say that the Top 14 newcomers are finding it difficult to adjust to the rigours of France's leading domestic competition would be an understatement. After 10 matches played they are yet to win a game and are firmly entrenched at the bottom of the table with just two points.
Stephen Donald: Every Bath supporter must still be asking themselves what went through the World Cup winner's mind when he threw his outrageous cut-out pass against London Welsh. The teams were level at 9-9 at the time and even Bath director of rugby Gary Gold admitted afterwards that he was "astonished that anyone should throw such a ridiculous pass."
George Ford: Although Leicester managed to beat the Saints, the Tigers fly-half left his kicking boots at home, missing five penalties.
Fixture clashes: This weekend sees a full round of Top 14 matches taking place at the same time that the end-of-year internationals kick off. Likewise the weekend of 23 to 25 November has a full round of PRO12 and Premiership matches scheduled to take place. It's little wonder clubs are tempted to import players from south of the equator. Who wants to cough up the big bucks for an international star who won't always be available?
By David Skippers
Comments
ruckingkiwi says...
ArmchairGeneral, I know you're not very smart but the point people are making is that he didn't look good behind the ABs either. But now it's clear he's dining out in his retirement in the Premiership, like all ex-internationals do.. and nothing much has changed in 10 years, has it.
Posted 23:52 14th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ Startledwombat - "routine"..? ROUTINE?! Ha! Bring it on!
@ phillipk - but he still has a RWC Winners medal and, as such, can command an enormous salary. Lucky us, eh?!
Posted 13:21 07th November 2012
Hellovanite says...
Stephan Donald aye World Cup winner... Hmm hardly, I'm just glad he didn't play in any of the other games, else we might not have made it to the final. Can't pass very well to the right and average kicker out of hand, lets the ball drop too far from hand before making contact, which places him as a candidate for a charge down every time. Atypical brain imploder (I know not a word), anyway think his jersey was way too tight and must have cut off circulation to his head half the time! Apparently a hell of a nice guy though, let's just say his was a very small window of opportunity and he took it. I hate to be unkind, but he's yours now Buahahaha
Posted 11:37 07th November 2012
jonesy2 says...
having a crack at the duck because of one mistake? shame on you.
"who wants to cough up big bucks for an international star who wont be available". no such thing as an international star from north of the equator. all seriousness, what a whiny whingey call, if your team is relying on one or two players youre crap anyway.
and how are sale hot? mitchell rejected them outright.
and just to finish, in fairness to keegan daniel who would prefer to be in dublin than anywhere?
GCP_jones-- get rid of the lions tours? are you crazy? the tri nations teams love nothing more than to prove that they are better than wales, england and ireland put together
Posted 10:21 07th November 2012
Hellovanite says...
Posted 06:08 07th November 2012
phillipk says...
Sorry Bath, but that is why Stephen Donald was always a cringe when mentioned in the AB's... 5th best first five and dropping in NZ at time of World Cup.
Posted 01:00 07th November 2012
chocol8thunda says...
@GCP; you're an idiot, plain and simple. The 6N is a great tourney, but knowing that they would only play each other would get boring. I like the idea of tours and glad the IRB brought them back. As for the Lions, only change I would make would be for them to play the Pumas en route to their destination, two tests would be awesome. The Baa-Baas are what rugby is really about. Exciting attacking rugby with flair. Who wouldn't want to see an all star team made up of different players from all over the world play against test teams? The fact that the players hold it in such high esteem (along with the Lions) says something.
Posted 00:05 07th November 2012
Kent says...
@Kybone - ah - you probably went to school more than me. Thought it read 8 from 9. Mind still better than Varndell
Posted 21:12 06th November 2012
ArmchairGeneral says...
Donald: shows any old muppet can show up at 10 for ABs and look good. Takes the best in the world to look good behind a Newcastle pack around 10 yrs ago.
Posted 20:25 06th November 2012
Startledwombat says...
APV1 - agree. From the southern hemisphere view, beating the home nations is routine. But to beat the Lions - that is something else again.
Lions is a vital part of world rugby.
Posted 19:29 06th November 2012
APV1 says...
@ Kent:
Visser = 9 in 8 = 112.5% strike rate
Cuthbert = 6 in 6 = 100% strike rate
Cuthbert is impressive, but Visser is more impressive.
(Someone please check my maths. The concept is correct, even if the calculation isn't!)
Posted 18:16 06th November 2012
kybone says...
Kent -When i went to school 9 in 8 was a better strike rate than 6 in 6!
Posted 17:36 06th November 2012
APV1 says...
Sale win a single match and are "Hot"..? What with the Redpath / Diamond / Mitchell debacle, how can Sale be considered anything but "Not Hot"? I like Sale and I want to see them succeed (as long as they're blow Bath, where everyone should be!), but the back of house stuff is a nonsense and if winning one match counts as "Hot", then I'm not the inspired genius we all know me to be.
Beaver is a berk. I've been praising his vision and leadership recently and he really cocked this up. He absolutely lost this game for us, against a team we should have beaten. Taking nothing away from Nick Scott's quick hands and quicker feet, he should never have been given the opportunity.
@ GCP_jones - it's not all about the money, money, money... It's also about development of world rugby. By bringing a load of teams together every year, we expose players to the challenges of international rugby. We also give fans from around the country to see Fiji, NZ, Oz, Samoa, SA, etc play which, in turn, will increase the interest in RWC 2015.
Your proposal means that England (or Wales, Ireland, Scotland, France, etc) will only play each other annually. We then get the chance to play in the RWC every other year, which means we may never get to play NZ, or Oz, or SA or... if the pools and draws work out. And that would be a shame.
I also appreciate that you think the time for the Lions and Baa-Baas etc is past and we're now into the modern era and they have no place. But many of us do and are really looking forward to the tours next year and beyond.
Posted 14:40 06th November 2012
Kent says...
Alex Cuthbert : 6 games 6 tries.
Better strike rate than Visser and Varndell
Posted 13:41 06th November 2012
sanka69 says...
With regards to the last statement, I thought premiership clubs received money from the RFU for the season if their players are away with the EPS squad? This is supposed to off-set to be used for replacment to cover isn't it?
Posted 13:14 06th November 2012
GCP_jones says...
Re:Fixture clashes...
Easy get rid of these November Internatioanls/Summer tours/Lions Tours etc.., if the IRB want to raise revenue hold the Rugby World cup every 2 years,and play the 6 nations at the end of the season with home and away fixtures tied in with promotion relegation from the tier 2 compettition.
Posted 12:56 06th November 2012