Who’s hot and who’s not: Saints ‘shred’ Leinster as Caelan Doris’ injury rubs salt in the wounds and reckless Joseph Suaalii
Northampton Saints flanker Henry Pollock and Leinster Rugby's Caelan Doris.
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!
Northampton Saints: Who saw that coming? Northampton shocked us all as they produced one of the performances of the past few years, against the odds, to knock out heavy favourites Leinster in Dublin. Inspired by a Tommy Freeman hat-trick, the Saints shot out of the blocks on Saturday and further tries from Henry Pollock and James Ramm, as well as Fin Smith’s boot secured a famous 37-34 semi-final triumph.
Bordeaux-Begles: Joining Northampton in the final in Cardiff on Saturday, May 24 will be Bordeaux, who sent reigning Champions Cup holders Toulouse tumbling out of the competition. Sunday’s victory was also inspired in part by a wing as Louis Bielle-Biarrey crossed twice in a five-try success. The only negative from their triumph was the injury Damian Penaud sustained that saw him depart in the second half.
Bailyn Sullivan’s try-scoring heroics: The 26-year-old was amongst the replacements for the Hurricanes’ Super Rugby Pacific fixture against the Chiefs in Wellington but was called into action early in the second half when the home side’s star wing Kini Naholo was forced off through injury. Despite trailing the visitors 17-9 at half-time, the Hurricanes delivered a superb second-half showing as they eventually sealed a 37-17 victory. Sullivan was the home side’s hero as he proved a real handful to the Chiefs’ defence, ending with four well-taken tries in that half.
Bath and Lyon: While Bordeaux and Northampton stole the spotlight, there were two other clubs who booked their spots in Cardiff later this month with Bath and Lyon downing Edinburgh and Racing 92, respectively. Finn Russell weaved his magic for the Premiership outfit as they ran in six tries to knock out the club from the Scottish capital while Léo Berdeu’s booted Racing 92 out with three penalties in the final quarter.
Moana Pasifika and Ardie Savea: Head coach Tana Umaga and his side continued with their outstanding Super Rugby Pacific season as they claimed a shock 34-29 victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin on Sunday. Moana were full value for their win as they outscored their hosts by five tries to four and the result means they move into the play-off frame as they currently occupy sixth position on the table. Leading the way for Umaga’s troops was inspirational skipper All Blacks star Ardie Savea, who delivered a fine attacking performance as he finished with 81 metres gained from 19 carries, which included three clean breaks, as many defenders beaten and was rewarded with a well-taken try.
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Broken thermostat!
Lions match officials: As much of an honour as it is for the players to be selected for the Lions tour as it is for the officials with Ben O’Keefe, Andrea Piardi, and Nika Amashukeli named as the referees for the all-important Tests. While the trio will be smitten, the fans were not particularly, with the appointment of Italian Piardi who was in the spotlight for the wrong reasons for his handling of Munster’s clash with the Bulls which saw the Irish club play with 14 men for 14 minutes. Only time will tell if World Rugby Head of Match Officials Joël Jutge has made the correct decision.
COLD AS ICE!
Leinster: Some bookmakers had given Northampton a 20-point-plus start, such was the expectancy that Leinster would roll them over due to several factors. They were their Ireland internationals were all fresh after being rotated in recent weeks, Northampton were missing a fair few stars, it was at the Aviva Stadium and also Leinster had hammered their two most recent knockout opponents by an aggregate score of 114-0. How wrong they were as Leinster were shredded by Saints’ attack, with questions now being asked of Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber.
Caelan Doris’ injury: There are few times worse than right now to get injured for British and Irish Lions hopefuls. Andy Farrell will announce his squad later this week but may well put the captaincy call off for the time being after Leinster confirmed that number eight, and frontrunner for the role, Doris had sustained a shoulder injury in the defeat to Northampton and will go under the knife. The full extent of the injury is yet to be confirmed. The injury just rubs further salt into the loose forward’s gaping wounds following the defeat.
Highlanders: As good as Moana Pasifika were, the Highlanders will do plenty of soul searching after that defeat on their home patch. That result means Jamie Joseph’s outfit have lost three consecutive matches after losing their previous two games against the pace-setting Chiefs and Crusaders and their last win was recorded against Fijian Drua on April 12. The Highlanders’ loss to Moana leaves them in a precarious position on the Super Rugby Pacific table as they currently sit 10th in the 11-team competition after winning just three out of their 11 games.
Kini Naholo’s injury: Although the Hurricanes will be delighted with their win and the performance of Sullivan against the table-topping Chiefs, they will be greatly concerned with Naholo’s condition. The 26-year-old has been one of their best players as he’s delivered several outstanding showings, but lasted just eight minutes against the Chiefs before being forced off with what looked like a knee injury. Although it’s not been confirmed, Naholo could be out for the rest of the season, which means he may miss out on his dream of playing for the All Blacks.
Joseph Suaalii’s hit on Noah Lolesio: The Brumbies sealed a deserved 40-17 triumph over the Waratahs in Canberra but the result was soured somewhat by an incident involving Wallabies team-mates Suaalii and Lolesio. With the score 26-12 in the hosts’ favour, they launched an attack inside the Waratahs’ half and Lolesio got a pass out to a team-mate before being taken out by a shoulder charge from Suaalii. The move saw Billy Pollard being rewarded with a try, but Lolesio was left prone on the ground after Suaalii’s challenge that went unpunished.