Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who’s making the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past week.

THEY’RE ON FIRE

Australian Sevens teams: Australian rugby has needed a fillip and the Sevens provided it over the weekend. Both the men’s and women’s sides were outstanding in securing the title in Sydney as they dominated the competition. In total, they scored 60 points without reply against South Africa and New Zealand in the respective finals, with the women going through the tournament without conceding – a truly remarkable defensive effort. It was also an historic triumph for the men after they sealed their first Cup final win since 2012 in Japan.

Lyon: Pierre Mignoni’s men have struggled for form over recent weeks but their game against relegation candidates Agen was just what they needed. In hammering Philippe Sella’s side and scoring 10 tries in all, with talented scrum-half Baptiste Couilloud going over for a hat-trick, Lyon are just outside the top-six. At one stage, the French outfit lost five matches in a row in the Top 14, but this result suggests that they are getting back on track at just the right time.

Harlequins: Three successive victories in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, all with bonus-points, shows that the Londoners’ academy is in fine working order. The odd quirk of the competition is that they may not get through should they lose to Northampton Saints next weekend and Exeter Chiefs defeat Saracens with a bonus-point, but Harlequins can certainly be proud of their efforts in the tournament so far.

Louis Picamoles: Some way to respond to your critics. The number eight was one of the notable absentees from France’s Six Nations squad after an awful first half of the season for Montpellier. Picamoles’ return to his former club has certainly not gone as planned, but the back-row was much improved in the league leaders’ narrow victory over Clermont Auvergne on Sunday. He scored two tries and carried with far more authority as the 31-year-old helped inspire them to another Top 14 win.

COLD AS ICE

Rory Grice and Yoann Maestri: Grice and Maestri were involved in an unsavoury incident on Saturday when the lock appeared to dip his head into the New Zealander before pressing his elbow into the number eight’s neck. The back-row then proceeded to throw punches and both were unsurprisingly sent-off in the 59th minute of the Toulouse-Oyonnax encounter. You can probably forgive Grice’s initial reaction considering his opponent looked to be the aggressor, but the argument carried on after they had been dismissed, with the duo coming to blows.

Stade Français: Most would be incredulous at the thought of Stade playing next season in Pro D2, but it is becoming a possibility following yet another defeat. Although Oyonnax will struggle to get out of their predicament – thus taking the bottom position in the Top 14 – the relegation play-off is still undecided. Brive and Agen, despite the latter’s heavy loss to Lyon on Saturday, have generally shown improvement, while the Parisians are slowly drifting towards their fellow strugglers. Just four points separates them from 13th position following their shambolic defeat to Pau and they have a difficult away game at Toulon next weekend.

Anglo-Welsh Cup: This competition has its moments but year-by-year the point of the Anglo-Welsh Cup seems to get lost. While silverware is no doubt welcome, some sides – all English it has to be said – have fielded strong teams. When there’s a constant debate about player-welfare, it seems a nonsensical way of approaching what should really be an U23 tournament. You also question whether it does the academy players any good when they are on the receiving end of a heavy defeat, like Wasps were.

Welsh regions: The Anglo-Welsh Cup has certainly been far more ‘Anglo’ than ‘Welsh’ in the latter stages of the competition over the previous few years. While it is a developmental tournament and some of the Premiership clubs have put out relatively strong teams, the PRO14 teams have been poor. The Ospreys displayed plenty of spirit in going down to an experienced Gloucester outfit but Leicester, Saracens and Harlequins all played young teams and neither the Cardiff Blues, Dragons or Scarlets really got close.

Rudy Paige: Even being a South Africa international does not stop you from being dropped by your Super Rugby franchise and that’s what happened to Paige. John Mitchell, the Bulls’ boss, has taken the decision to bring in younger blood and thus the New Zealander axed the scrum-half. The Southern Kings have been linked to the 28-year-old and he would be an excellent addition to the PRO14, but it has been a week to forget for the 13-times capped Springbok.