Hot: Blues... not so much: Edinburgh
It's time for our weekly wrap up of who has their name in lights at the moment...and who is making headlines for the wrong reasons.
They're smokin'....!
Blues: Took apart the Crusaders in a comprehensive 34-15 Super Rugby win. The Blues, who finished bottom of the New Zealand standings last year, outscored their illustrious New Zealand rivals by five tries to none. It was the Blues' second bonus-point win and firmly places Sir John Kirwan's side among the contenders for a title they have not won since 2003.
Glasgow: Hit top spot in the RaboDirect PRO12 after coming from behind to crush Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun. It was the in-form Warriors' seventh straight league win and fifth consecutive five-pointer that strengthens their bid for the semi-finals.
Exeter: Completed an Aviva Premiership double over Harlequins with a well-earned victory over the leaders at the Stoop. And there was even more reason to celebrate for Chiefs fans after Exeter's home ground, Sandy Park, was included on the long-list of stadiums under consideration to host 2015 Rugby World Cup fixtures.
Toulon: Beat defending champions Toulouse - a deserved win that puts them back on top of the Top 14 table after briefly falling to second spot.
Someone turn up the heater...!
Stormers: This time last year, the South African outfit were sitting pretty at the top of the standings. This season though, after away defeats to the Bulls and Sharks, the Stormers - winners of the South African conference for the past two seasons - have only one league point from a possible 10.
Steve Walsh: The New Zealand-born match official, now regarded as an Australian referee, copped plenty of flak from the Hurricanes camp following their defeat to the Reds in Brisbane. The visitors had opportunities to win the game at the death only to be denied by Walsh on several occasions, with SANZAR Referees boss Lyndon Bray conceding that Walsh - no stranger to controversy - got a couple of calls wrong in the final 20 minutes.
Ronan O'Gara: The 36-year-old has paid the price for his indifferent form of late. Ireland's most capped player (128 appearances) was omitted from Ireland's 32-man squad for this weekend's Six Nations clash with France. His latest outing in green (as a replacement against Scotland) appears to have been the final straw for coach Declan Kidney.
Edinburgh: Just when the struggling Scottish outfit thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. Last week's defeat to Scarlets in Llanelli was their 11th consecutive defeat in all competitions... ouch!
Stade Français: Lost for the first time at home this season (37-10 to Clermont), which puts their play-off hopes at risk. They'll have a chance of making amends against basement-dwellers Mont de Marsan on Saturday, but need other results go their way if Stade (10th) have any chance of making the top six.
Comments
heart_of_oak says...
Sorry PR but do you mean "American born O'Gara" ? I wouldn't want to think you only mention nationality when the player concerned represents England. Perish the thought.
Posted 12:36 08th March 2013
yamahakiwi says...
Trinats - Michaek Lynagh said the same thing about the Reds being very lucky. However as a Hurricanes fan I've got no issues with Walsh. We were just not good enough to finish off any of a whole bundle of opportunities to win. Can't blame the ref for stuffing up so many scoring opportunities! The only one they were hard done by was when they got tackled from a nice break just a couple of metres out and then a number of guys hoed into the ruck to get quick ball for the next attack only to be penalised by Walsh. I could understand the Cane's displeasure. But they had a bucketfull of other opportunities so only themselves to blame.
Posted 10:52 08th March 2013
cliffguy says...
Very rare to see a ref. in these lists. But we've seen a build-up of the pressure against Walsh as the Wales/England game approaches. The pro-English faction (rather large) is desperate to con Walsh into over-compensating and favouring England as they reach out for a Grand Slam (not entirely undeserved, either).
To fail at the last fence YET AGAIN would be too much to bear. It's a big game, but something tells me the Welsh will be ready........
Posted 14:25 07th March 2013
APV1 says...
@ slowflanker - not Edinburgh themselves, but the SRU. They seem incapable of keeping Union alive and well across Scotland. Glasgow are going well and that's great. But we keep losing teams and now coaches.
I'm worried that Edinburgh will be the next to close and there'll onlt be one Scottish "club" team left...
Posted 13:13 07th March 2013
slowflanker says...
@apv1 - I don't quite see your second point. Edinburgh have indeed been awful, and their coaches have been sacked. This is definitely not hot. But in what way does it demonstrate administrative stupidity?
Posted 11:36 07th March 2013
Trinats2 says...
sidelinecaptain
If we are being all serious, the Reds were very lucky to come away win a win. Walsh can remain in Australia !
Posted 10:30 07th March 2013
craigster99 says...
@ gingergenius Glasgow Warriors had to earn 5 Bonus Point Victories before they were inlcuded in the Hot Section, although Saracens do play in the Premiership and all Sale had to do was fluke a win and they were straight in to the Hot Section a few weeks ago.
Posted 09:31 07th March 2013
bullitt says...
Saracens NOT for that stupid fat-lady gimmick.
Posted 08:58 07th March 2013
sidelinecaptain says...
As a Hurricanes fan I'd say it's all been a bit harsh on Walsh, usually a very good ref in my opinion, did get a couple of calls wrong but overall didn't have too bad a game. The reality was the Canes just weren't good enough to win that one, error rate and discipline were poor.
Posted 04:00 07th March 2013
gingergenius says...
Saracens hot for 3 bonus point wins in a row?
Posted 03:53 07th March 2013
GCP_JONES says...
Scottish rugby should take real heart from Glasgow, the way there are playing (without there test players), the move to Scotstoun has been inspired, and playing their games on Friday nights so it doesn't clash with Celtic or Rangers matches.
Now hopefully the SRU will see the light by taking Edinburgh out of an empty Murrayfield, either develope a new stadium, or have them play in towns like Dundee and Inverness. they have the makings of a decent side if they get a good set of coaches on board.
Good for Scottish rugby, and the league.
Posted 21:23 06th March 2013
Trinats2 says...
Can someone point out the "couple of calls wrong" that Walsh made? The knock on, offside at the ruck ( or is this law different for Kiwis !) or was it the not releasing ? They were all correct.
I thought the Horriblecanes got away with a lot more. Maybe the wrong calls Kiwi born Bray was referring to were against the Reds and not the Hurricanes.
Posted 20:43 06th March 2013
NHsaints says...
This is such an unusual situation with scottish rugby at the moment, Glasgow are suddenly one of the best club sides in Europe but Edinburgh have fallen a very very long way and yet with a comfortable mix of players Scotland are chasing their first six nations title ever...
Posted 19:19 06th March 2013
JayStarr says...
... because I am not buying for one moment this excuse of "oh it was such tough away games against such tough opposition". The Bulls are almost equally pathetic to us at the moment - a fact proven by the Force almost beating them at Loftus last weekend - they were just less pathetic than we were on the day. The Sharks are better than the Bulls and Stormers at the moment, but only by a very small margin - they too were only less poor on the day...
The real test of where we are now and where we need to get to will be this weekend against the Chiefs. No excuses about playing away now. And don't even give me the "they are the champions" excuse - if you want to bring last season into it: you finished higher than them!
Your fans don't have time for more of your bad excuses, Stormers... Shut up, snap out of your slumber and do your talking on the field!
Posted 18:24 06th March 2013
carpelone says...
Hot. Kiwi rugby, Blues - Saders was an advertisement to our sport.
Cold. First half of Sharks - Stormers 0 - 0 eerrrr?? Were they playing football?
Posted 18:15 06th March 2013
JayStarr says...
I would like to suggest that you move the Stormers to the bottom of the "not" list. With the way they're playing, they don't even deserve to be at the top of the losers list...
Posted 18:12 06th March 2013
APV1 says...
Even Less Hot Than We Initially Thought - Edinburgh. Coachless and clueless. How the bloody-hell is Scottish rugby going to survive with farces like this?
If the RFU and SARU set the benchmark for administrative stupidity, the SRU are coming up hard on the rail at the moment.
Posted 16:22 06th March 2013