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
jmehrtens says...
The fact that Genia interpreted the question wrong means he himself was more upset about his own performance than his injury.
That says a lot about the guy and I think it is a positive attitude, it just turn out into an awkward moment.
Posted 16:03 14th September 2012
ruckingkiwi says...
A bit petty to call out a commentator who paused on calling a players name when he couldn't see their face or jersey number, especially considering loads of PR articles are contain incorrect information or are plagerised off other sites. Not hot. And post this comment, if it's ok to be critical of others then accept the same in return please, we all do and expect the same. Thank you
Posted 00:37 13th September 2012
Lucasrg says...
@ fattysock yep I agree. plus it was all pretty scrambled at that moment.
I can't agree with u guys bashing the NZ commentators. English is not my mother language, but I can speak it pretty well, then Italian and Spanish and a good grasp of French. I've watch rugby games in different languages all the time for more then 15 years and I guarantee you that NZ commentators, especially Marshal (ok, he's on of my legends :-) ) are not newbies and inept.
Marshall is most of the times accurate and prompt. He has a good sense of humor, something completely absent in BBC, ESPN or South African commentators. I honestly don't think they are boring at all. Aussies one can comment pretty cool as well. So the Argies and the French. Impartiality is also welcomed, always. It's a mark of education and respect. If u dunno what I'm talking about then go and listen Jonathan Davis commenting Wales, 6 Nation games....just horrible, he gets irritated so easly and makes u want to go for a gun!
Posted 21:44 12th September 2012
ABlack says...
kiwi commentators are excellent value except the ex cricket player who looks like a barman
Posted 10:14 12th September 2012
Carpelone says...
ben7
I am surprised that Mvovo did not get cited, for not having smiled in the process.
Posted 09:53 12th September 2012
runnrugby says...
Justin Marshalls commentating is so frustrating to listen too. He tries to explain every little thing for "the viewers at home" as if we have never seen a game of rugby before and he just goes on and on and on. Man, bring back Mexted. At least I could laugh at him when he said something stupid.
Posted 09:46 12th September 2012
powerplay says...
@Ferdie, yes conditions looked bad enough on the night, i was surprised there was a stadium still standing after the game.
@melkdave, lol nice list!
@fattysock, good point.
@JayStarr, Agreed! Especially about the pronunciation of Pacific Island names. If anything, the most frustrating thing about Marshall, is that he goes out of his way to be extremely impartial! Even to the point of saying nothing for his country! For example, if Cater was to get kicked in the head, Marshal would say "Cater has carelessly aimed his head right into the foot of the opposing player at high speeds"...
Posted 09:13 12th September 2012
AWEBLAX says...
Hey PR leave our commentators alone they know who Dan, Keiran, Conrad, Israel, and Corey are and that Richie guy and so do all the refs in the whole wide world(lol) I think that Aussie commentor Kearns has actually got a man crush on our Richie, he's always saying his name McCaws offside, McCaws got his hands in the ruck, will McCaw ever get penalized blah,blah, blah Kearnsey., sometimes not knowing their name can be better.......
Posted 08:08 12th September 2012
cuw3100 says...
LOL can't understand all this hulla-ballooo over the NZ commentators.
Don't people who write here not watch RU matches ??
I have seen many instances where the ref does not recognize one player from another or get the wrong number at infringements, including the touchies.
Many a time the thouchie will say to the ref "... I thought that was high but could not get the number properly..."
Imagine having to know the name at ground level from outside !! :)
Posted 07:21 12th September 2012
DarkestHorse says...
I was going to make a long post about the commentators but JayStarr has obliged and done it for me. Just reverse everything he said to the letter and you'll get my opinion. I'm sorry, they are clueless.
BUT, and there is a but, Marshall's shouted question of "WHO WAS THAT MAN!!!!" at Bosch's tackle was priceless. He was genuinely impressed at that and rightly so.
Posted 00:41 12th September 2012
ben7 says...
AAC???? Are u talking about the one where he swung aroung mvovo's neck and then threw jdv to the ground my his head?
Posted 00:03 12th September 2012
kpe12 says...
Fair call on the NZ commentators (I'm a Kiwi), it's embarrassing listening to Smith and Marshall. Smith is clueless and is an ex sports player turned commentator (like too many these days), he has no skill and puts his hand up when he should keep his mouth shut. He said "I'll tell you when he gets up, he's right here in front of me," and then realized he doesn't even know the player. Marshall always takes the other side of the coin and sympathizes for any team against NZ and then apologizes when he's wrong time and time again. Not neutral.
If you want to listen to top notch commentators listen to Australian rugby league.
Posted 23:45 11th September 2012
Startledwombat says...
Berrick Barnes is in the wrong category. He should join the rest of the Wallabies backline under "not hot" for the huge number of kicks made.
Remember, Deans said that kicking was not part of the game plan. Barnes's first useless grubber kick came after just 17 seconds.
Cooper 15 times
Barnes 8
Beale 7
Genia 5
Those boys need to get the ipod headphones out of their ears during coaching sessions.
Barnes is a good tackler and has a reliable boot that has allowed australia to win close games by "doing an England" (winning through penalty kicks). But he is a liability as a distributor. He will happily pass up 4 on 2 overlaps in order to kick.
It's funny that he limped off due to overuse of the kicking leg.
Posted 22:59 11th September 2012
nhb99 says...
@JayStarr
The NZ commentators may not know much about Bosch...but when they have a match to commentate on at the weekend, you would expect them to spend the preceding week finding out about him, and making sure they could recognise him, knew a few facts about him - its a little matter called professionalism, and that was why the comparison was made with Bill MacLaren, who set a standard to which few modern commentators can compare.
Posted 22:09 11th September 2012
StunTheMullet says...
Is blaming Mother Nature one from the P.Divvy excuse handbook?
Watch out for those lightening strikes - you never know when they might strike you down!
Posted 21:40 11th September 2012
qwerty says...
Adam Ashley-Cooper's head high tackle from behind on a player without the ball before a similar high tackle on the ball carrier didn¿t impress me.
Kiwi commentators the best in the game when it comes to being informative and impartial, problem is they are usually calling an All Black victory, delivering a message many bitter folk outside NZ just don't want to hear.
Posted 21:30 11th September 2012
JayStarr says...
@ philipjfry: oh, and every South African player's answer starts with "Jaaa..." AAAAAARGH..!!
Posted 20:18 11th September 2012
JayStarr says...
@ philipjfry: I too think post-match fooozball interviews are of the devil!! Post-match interviews are basically 9 or less different phrases/words which are repeated by every interviewee in a different order, regardless of the question... I think we should make a youtube video where we cut and paste JdV's post match interviews into questions asked to Richie McCaw - it will probably make no more or less sense. Either way they'll have a lot to work on that week...
As for Willie Le Roux - I do like him at 15, but he has not convinced me on defense. On attack he is one of the most dangerous and skillful backs in SA right now, but his kicking and defense can be a bit up and down. Taute has incredible raw talent... and his game is a bit more all-round and consistent in my opinion. He's a real rough diamond, so I hope he moves to another union for next year's S15(perhaps Cheetahs) where he can play and refine his natural game.
Posted 20:16 11th September 2012
cuw3100 says...
How come everyone forgot Eben E ???? definitely not hot :)
also Tulon first refusing Gethin J for Lions and then Bakis B for Springboks !!!!
Posted 18:18 11th September 2012
philipjfry says...
I only just saw the interview between Kafer and Genia, best unintentional comedy of the year so far! Just goes to show that ex-players make kak commentators and that post-match interviews are of the devil. I've never seen an interview and afterwards thought that I had the rugby equivalent of enlightenment.
@JayStarr: I'll see you Taute and raise you Willie le Roux.
Posted 17:53 11th September 2012