Bright talent: Elliot Daly
It is time for our weekly wrap up of who has their name in lights at the moment...and who is making the headlines for the wrong reasons.
They're on fire!
Wasps, Northampton and Cardiff Blues: Both the English clubs claimed valuable victories over Bath and Exeter respectively. Wasps' triumph pushes them into the play-off positions for the first time this season and the Saints' win means they are the first outfit to beat the Chiefs at Sandy Park in the league this season. Cardiff Blues meanwhile sent shock waves through the PRO12 when they claimed a deserved success at Munster. This victory boost Phil Davies' troops ahead of this weekend's Heineken Cup Pool clash over in Toulon as they look to keep their foot off the gas.
Racing Metro: The Parisian outfit did what many observers thought was impossible by beating Top 14 pace-setters Toulon at Stade Felix Mayol. That result has given hope to the chasing pack in France with second-placed Clermont now trailing Bernard Laporte's troops by four points. Anyone back Racing to win at 16/1?
George Skivington: London Irish couldn't buy a win during recent times. No form, direction, leadership and most importantly defence had seen them slip slowly towards the foot of the Aviva Premiership and made them relegation favourites. But their win over Gloucester has dramatically changed the picture at the bottom and Skivington was at the heart of a tough showing from the Exiles pack, with the former Leicester Tiger grabbing a brace of tries.
Elliot Daly: The young Wasps back seems to get better and better with every game he plays. Daly has already starred for England U20s and after glimpses of his potential during last season's relegation dogfight, with a dominant pack up front Daly is beginning to express himself. He showed his pace and ability with the boot time and again during the victory over Bath last weekend. Daly should be in the EPS mix with the Saxons on Wednesday.
Get these guys a cup of warm soup!
Sale: The club always knew one win would not be enough, but they struggled to create much-needed momentum against Saracens, going down by 20. All in the week that a blog revealed the activities of their management company in recent years and John Mitchell's return to South Africa. London Irish's win over Gloucester leaves them five points adrift.
Hendre Fourie: If you haven't seen the story then where have you been for the last 24 hours? South African-born Fourie's Sale contract was cancelled last week after a shoulder injury forced the 33-year-old to retire. Now that he is not playing professionally, Fourie cannot secure a visa to remain in England and that means he and his family will move back to the Rainbow Nation. Cue Twitter campaigns from fellow players and supporters to help him stay. Fourie has not helped his case, however, with comments made about the United Kingdom "protecting the rights of terrorists". We wait to see how this one pans out.
Decisions at Adams Park: The call to send Wasps wing Tom Varndell to the sin-bin was harsh to say the least and when Dom Day of Bath followed the Wasp for making contact with a jumper in the air, referee Andrew Small somewhat swayed towards a, 'because of the earlier decision' vibe. As one pundit explained that he genuinely feared that rugby was becoming non-contact, many others were amazed at the two wrongs make a right mindset.
Comments
lawynd says...
Bear in mind 7ton that that article was last season...after the meeting between PRL and the RFU, the salary cap stayed the same. The English league and clubs get a lot of stick but they're operating with smaller playing budgets than both the Top 14 and the top three Irish provinces...I'd say there's a fair amount of restraint being exercised.
Posted 16:19 10th January 2013
7ton says...
Re Salary caps
Food for thought
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/9194564/Premiership-clubs-to-review-salary-cap-after-early-Heineken-Cup-and-Amlin-Cup-exits.html
Although the above articles are about English clubs I am not just referring to them when I say that it seems the idea is to keep your own talent and buy everyone elses in order to have HC and other success.
I suppose that is one reality of professional rugby and I hope it stays more with club level than international.
Posted 12:28 10th January 2013
ferdie says...
cuw3100 - citizenship is not an issue, not/never been a requirement. A work permit/visa is needed - job as a professional sportsperson. Except for NZers in Australia who currently do not require a work permit, they are granted a Special Circumstances Visa on arrival.
Posted 10:23 10th January 2013
lawynd says...
@GCP_jones - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2011/1207/1224308683471.html is the link to an article I saw a while ago...it's behind a paywall though. The salient point however was,
'At present, Connacht¿s player wages budget is ¿3 million, all of which comes from the IRFU. The other provinces receive more funds from the union because they have more Irish internationals and therefore higher centrally contracted wages.
'Connacht sources stated the ¿3 million for player salaries was 40 per cent of the European champion¿s budget but Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson stated the figure of ¿7.5 million was some way over the actual amount they pay in player wages. ¿We don¿t reveal these figures,¿ said Dawson yesterday.'
You're right about the Welsh regions, but that's primarily self-imposed because they already can't generate enough revenue themselves to hit the caps, and rely on benefactors to top them up. The top three Irish provinces however have more money to spend on wages than the AP clubs, even if we accept that the EUR7.5m figure isn't realistic.
Posted 09:54 09th January 2013
gauca says...
GCP_Jones
HI, fyi salary cap in France is equivilant to around 8million sterling, not to be mistaken with a club budget that puts the entire club infrastructure together considering t14 clubs are large profitable business' as well
regards
Posted 06:42 09th January 2013
cuw3100 says...
Poor guy Fourie,; not only he is booted out from England after breaking the arm playing a test for them, now he is in the cold in PR books too.
Am interested to know the Laws or Rules regarding a non - citizenship holder palying test matches for a country. It seems HF played for england though he did not have an english or British or UK citizenship. for example is it the same when NZ guys play for OZ and the Islenders play for NZ or OZ?
Posted 06:12 09th January 2013
chocol8thunda says...
fourie; idiot. he had years to apply for residency, did he? nope. now he's choked he's got the boot. what makes him better? Cause he played a few tests for England? Cause he's not a terrorist? He's a rugby mercenary, plain and simple; some would say a rugby terrorist. lol He only came to England because he knew he wasn't good enough to be a Bok.Go home, and re-apply, do your due diligence like every other Saffer.
Posted 04:25 09th January 2013
TiggerLavros says...
That Varndell tackle was perfect - he actually showed decent restraint to ensure he put the player down gently - the decision to bin him was absurd and follows the dispiriting trend of overreacting to big tackles that the IRB set in motion at the 2011 World Cup. The contrast with how rugby league treats the tackle area is becoming more acute....genuine spear tackles, such as Toby flood's effort or the Tuquiri tackle on McCaw should be harshly dealt with, however the Warburton tackle wasn't remotely a spear and Varndell's tackle was perfect.
Posted 21:07 08th January 2013
Nicholas41 says...
Nonsense about Britain protecting 'the rights of terrorists'. Britain protects the rights of everyone....apart from rugby players!
Posted 21:06 08th January 2013
GCP_JONES says...
@Kybone...
I was'nt including the English Clubs in the Salary Cap point, I happen to think the cap of 4 to 4.5 £ Sterling is a good thing and does create a more level playing field in the premiership.
@lawynd...& melkdave
I thought the wage bill of the Welsh clubs was 3.5 million Sterling? How much is that in Euros close to 5 million Euro's, along with the wage cap in England of 4.5 million it equates to roughly the same amount as the irish clubs.
I have read on several occasions that to run the entire game in Ireland,that's the Test Team, the 4 professional sides and finance the amateur game costs 33 million euro's, the annual budget in Toulouse is 28 million euro's.
melkdave you constantly point out the shortcomings of the pro12 with regards to automatic qualification to the Heineken(which I think is a fair point) yet more or less zip when it comes to the french clubs budgets.
Do you think its good for the game that the likes of Wales, Scotland and the Italians can't hang onto their best players because of the huge pay packets being flung at them in France. it is a situation that needs to be addressed,or, are you one of the old guard who would you rather the club game just thrived in England and France?.
Posted 20:53 08th January 2013
NHsaints says...
Joe Launchbury was inspired, he literally (as the commentators said) could do nothing wrong. Daly has long been the up and coming thing for England in the centres and give him a season or two more to bulk up just a little and bar injury he'll be wearing the England 13 Jersey. Imagine that...the raw power and doggedness of Tuilagi at 12 and the sheer class of Daly at 13...it'd be a Nonu-Smith style partnership but with a better version of Nonu on the inside. My final thought on the game at Adams park is this: clearly the commentators and people listening to the commentators got the wrong end of the stick...Day was given a yellow after repeated offenses for pulling down in the air, replay about 5 minutes before down in the bath half and you can see him pull down one of the bath jumpers and give away a penalty. That's what the ref was referring to with the 'previous offence' comment.
Posted 18:22 08th January 2013
jontheref says...
Varndell decision was correct.
Spotted by AR, judged by TMO.
If not done, the citing guy would have flagged it, and the AR and TMO would have been talked to about it.
You may not like it, but that is how it is written.
Not a red, but a yellow, yes.
Tit for tat on Dom Day, yes, looked like it, not in the same league as varndells.
Posted 17:32 08th January 2013
APV1 says...
@ GCP_jones - I suspect the discussion would be more meaningful if European law didn't put the kybosh on it.
I could well be wrong, but I don't think it is legally possible to put a European-wide salary cap. Each Union or Tournament can dictate certain rules, but not pan-European.
I think.
Maybe.
Anyone know..?
Posted 16:29 08th January 2013
melkdave says...
@GCP_Jones
Agree with you about Launchburywhat a player he could be ,potential potential ozzes from him atm.But on the subject of salary caps,you convenitly forget the huge budgets of Munster,Leinster and Ulster,compard to english clubs and the majority of french T14 clubs.Seven and a half million euros is larger than any english club by 20%,and most of the french T14 aswell .They all havent got the budgets of Toulon,Toulouse,or Racing Metro ,and to think it that it isnt giving them a huge advantage in the Pro12 and screwing results there ,you must be blind After all its more tan twice what welsh,scotish and italian clubs are getting.Then theres also the advantage they get frm the IRFU paying the biggest part of the top irsh players wages on top.Allowing them to compete for class overseas players with the likes of Toulon,Toulouse ect.on a near equal footing.Its not just the big french clubs that need a cap imposed on them so do the big irish clubs .
Posted 15:57 08th January 2013
Warrior7 says...
What about Doyle the Spoil's performance at Sixways?
Posted 15:53 08th January 2013
kybone says...
GCP_jones- You may have a point with the likes of Toulon, but don't tarnish the English clubs with the same thing. The English clubs do have a salary cap, and one which is actually lower than the budgets of Leinster, Ulster, and Munster.
Posted 15:33 08th January 2013
TVaddict says...
A good selection of topics, well done PR!
Posted 15:11 08th January 2013
mjc69 says...
"All in the week that a blog revealed the activities of Sale Sharks' management company in recent years" - does anyone have the link to this story?
Posted 14:50 08th January 2013
lawynd says...
@GCP_jones - the Irish provincial sides have approximately double, if not more, the budgets of the English AP clubs, it's just devoted to keeping Irish players in Ireland and 'special projects', rather than the French clubs who use their mammoth budgets to attract the best of the best. The fact that the Pro12 doesn't have a salary cap either rather muddies the water somewhat, especially from where I'm sitting as the supporter of a club that can't spend all of the revenue it has!
Posted 14:49 08th January 2013
GCP_jones says...
Re; Elliot Daly performance was very impressive, but I have to say I thought Joe Launchbury was simple fantastic. what a player.
As I said in a post after the match report, Racing Metro have done rugby a great service.
Toulon are the shining example of what is wrong with professional sport, and highlight's the glaring omission of a salary cap in the discussions over the future of the Heineken Cup.
The English and French argue agianst automatic qualification of the Pro12 sides, yet the silence on the issue of the huge budgets of the likes Toulon is deafining to say the least.
When is this going to be up for discussion?.
Posted 13:51 08th January 2013