Who’s hot and who’s not!

David Skippers

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE

Scott Robertson and the Crusaders: What a superb achievement by Robertson, who made history by becoming the first man to win the Super Rugby title as a player and coach after his side beat the Lions in the final in Johannesburg. What made that achievement extra special is that it was done in Robertson’s first season as coach of the Christchurch outfit who have consolidated their status as Super Rugby’s most successful side with their eighth tournament win.

Blue Bulls: After a poor campaign in their guise as the Bulls in Super Rugby, the men from Pretoria have made a superb start to their Currie Cup campaign after winning both their matches in that competition with bonus points. John Mitchell’s appointment as executive of rugby seems to have the desired effect as the Blue Bulls are currently in joint top spot on the Currie Cup table with the Free State Cheetahs, who had a bye over the weekend, and the Sharks, who have played one match more.

New expanded PRO14: Last week were were complaining about still waiting for this competition’s fixtures and the uncertainty surrounding the Cheetahs and Southern Kings’ participation, but that’s all sorted out now. These are exciting times for this tournament as it has been confirmed that the Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth-based franchises have joined the the new-look competition in a ground-breaking move into cross-hemisphere rugby.

BROKEN THERMOSTAT

Sonny Bill Williams’ appeal verdict: The All Blacks centre was controversially cleared to play in the Bledisloe Cup opener against the Wallabies in Sydney later this month after appealing his suspension for a shoulder charge during the second Test against the British and Irish Lions in Wellington last month. This, after World Rugby’s appeals committee accepted that the All Blacks’ warm-up game of three halves with Counties Manukau and Taranaki was a meaningful game of rugby. Shortly afterwards, however, World Rugby released a statement expressing its surprise at the decision and said it will refer the interpretation of the regulation to the Regulations Committee when it meets in September.

COLD AS ICE

Australia’s Super Rugby culling saga: It’s been nearly four months since the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) announced that one of the Western Force or the Melbourne Rebels would be cut from Super Rugby in 2018. At the time, the ARU said a decision on which of the two teams will be axed would be made within three days. We’re still waiting though and hopefully the arbitration case between the ARU and Force will bring a resolution to the matter soon.

Red card system: Rules are rules and although Jaco Peyper made the correct decision in issuing a red card to Kwagga Smith for his clumsy challenge on the aerial David Havili – in the Super Rugby Final – the incident illustrated, once again, that it is high time for the game’s rulers to relook at the current system regarding sanctions imposed on the offending players in such situations. Yes, player safety is important but too many matches see teams playing 15 against 14 for large parts and hopefully a solution will be found in which the offending player is punished but all players are kept on the field except when heinous acts of foul play are committed.

Griquas: The Currie Cup might be in its early stages but the men from Kimberley have found the going tough after making a terrible start to their campaign. Griquas have lost all three of their matches so far and are currently languishing at the bottom of the standings. They battled against the Sharks in Durban at the weekend and eventually suffered a humiliating 41-3 defeat.