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
Rosbif says...
good point trinats2. still. shame though. wld be fun to see an aus backline full of players who look to attack (the opposition, that is, not the coaching set-up so much, although that can be fun too sometimes...).
see you in paris in a couple of weeks :-)
Posted 08:32 30th October 2012
Trinats2 says...
Rosbif:
Gits could be the best player in the world and Deans would (has) left him out. Maybe too out spoken, or looks to attack, just like another 10 who's not playing !!!
Posted 10:24 29th October 2012
fiwiboy says...
Otago should have been included. From almost going bankrupt to finalists in one season, involving a lot of new local talent hot off the school production line (plus a few ABs and Japanese reps!) -- that says something. And the union is in line to make a small profit this year!
Posted 23:35 27th October 2012
Rosbif says...
Trinats2, you may have adrilling company, but we French do a good job of pointing you in the direction of juicy bits of land to prospect.
P.S. how well does Giteau have to play for Deans to change his mind for the end of year tour?
Posted 21:16 27th October 2012
startledwombat says...
Inadvertent double post. Sorry. Lack of feedback on the mobile device made me think my trenchant comments hadn't made it through to PR..
Posted 09:38 25th October 2012
Trinats2 says...
nzmaoriboy:
None taken, never have on this site !!! I do the most digging, I reckon I have a drilling company !!!
Agree about the Aus cricket (Ponting could still be back this summer)
But if you compare them to the current ABs it's very similar, why bring in newies if they are stilll the best in the world ???
Posted 07:48 25th October 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
@Trinats2! Too true bro..No disrespect intended..Was actually doing a digging expidition. he he. Yeah obviously we see alot of examples of teams which run to far past there used by date..they are still succesful (Oz Cricket 1995-2009) but the next generation never ever get their shot until its too late ay..Think SA done it last year too..Think the Australian team in the next couple years will be devestating they have young guys now at 23-24 whom are knocking on 50 tests..thats a lot of exposure & experience! I think NZs succesion plan is good but obviously with that intergration period their will be a lag..Thats what i think Australia are going through now! they will be far better for it.
Posted 21:19 24th October 2012
northandsouth says...
Well said spoons - let he who has never said something a bit dumb after a really, really crappy week cast the first stone
Posted 10:38 24th October 2012
kenzo says...
no love for Otago then aye? There were massive question marks over whether or not they would actually have a team in the ITM Cup but despite all odds pushed themselves into the Championship Division finals
Posted 10:30 24th October 2012
new_j4a says...
Come on Kiwis....you have the reality, at least leave Oz the dreams? And now that the November tours are about to start, we're all on the same side, right? Go the SH!!
Posted 09:59 24th October 2012
startledwombat says...
My vote for Who's Not Hot is the All Black winger who back-chatted the referee after McCaw was penalised. The extra 10 metres that the All Blacks were marched back put the penalty within the extreme limits of Beale's kicking range. Peep! 15-6 to the Wallabies, a score that was unnecessary and a bridge too far for the All Blacks to overtake.
Especially since (I'm guessing here) the half-time message from the AB coach would have been "no more penalties".
Not hot. Just dumb.
Posted 09:07 24th October 2012
Bronco says...
Who is Scott Johnson and why do we care what he thinks?
Posted 08:59 24th October 2012
Startledwombat says...
My vote for Not Hot is the All Black who back chatted the referee after McCaw was penalised (I think it was a winger) and the march back 10 metres was enough to put it within Beale's kicking range. Peep! 15-6. This is what made it a bridge too far for the AB¿s. Dumb.
Posted 08:10 24th October 2012
cuw3100 says...
"...What did Scott Johnson say about the All Blacks back in 2004? "
is this the US cartoonist? no wonder he knows nothing about NZ ; after all USA thinks USA is the world !!!
Posted 04:58 24th October 2012
Rosco1971 says...
@connaughtabu
Actually it's three islands...there is one at the bottom....get an atlas. I believe they keep the World Cup on one island, the rugby championship cup on one island, and the bledisloe cup on the third island.
Scott Johnson always was an ignorant idiot. Which international team is he coaching now??
Posted 02:40 24th October 2012
spoons says...
I'm sure Hansen regrets his comments about poaching of players and if he had his time again he probably wouldn't comment on the question. But before people start going on about him being under pressure because the ABs had a draw against the No.2 ranked team in the world maybe we should all remember that his father died this week.
Posted 02:04 24th October 2012
Bones7 says...
reded you've got it spot on I think. Higginbotham is definitely nowhere near Greyling's mad moment. He looked more like he kneed McCaw out of clumsiness and the headbutt in the scuffle definitely was intended but done in the heat of the moment and without a massive amount of force. Definitely inexcusable and worthy of a ban, but compared to Greyling's nonchalant diving forearm into McCaw's face which was blatant, totally unprovoked and a lot more dangerous Higginbotham's discretion.
Posted 00:43 24th October 2012
LeftRightOut says...
@Trinits - no one can remember what a full strength Oz team look like - today's team are more like the Barbarians with all of the POACHING from other countries they have done..... ;-)
Posted 23:39 23rd October 2012
Trinats2 says...
nzmaoriboy:
I didn't say our 2nd string side, that team was 3rd maybe 4th in some positions. And Australia has not had close to a full side in recent years, came close last year though !!! Prior to a couple of years ago we were just not good enough, maybe we have a good coach now !!!.
Look back to RWC 2007, Larkham did his knee and Barnes (just turned 18) was thrown in the deep end, Gregan and Co. retired. This could happen to NZ in next few years, retirements and injuries.
2010 - 2011 Mitchell, Palu, TFN, Turner (still) Vickerman, Elsom (capt) to name a few were all injured last couple of years on and off. And who said we have no depth !!!
I didn't say we would win, I said imagine, which is all I can do now as it's in the past.
I never made claim to playing top level rugby ? Best I ever got to was division one in England and in Ireland (a few years back now !) So no, I have not represented my country at the top level, but doesn't mean I know less about the game. Still very much invloved in QLD, still play in over 35s and still coach.
Posted 23:25 23rd October 2012
kiwilad says...
Trinats, You wonder what a full strength Aus side would have done to the ABs??
History says they would have lost, and convincingly!
Posted 21:37 23rd October 2012