Who’s hot and who’s not: Toulouse’s ‘greased lightning’, George North’s ‘perfect sign-off’ and Nations Championship ‘negativity’
Jack Willis celebrates his Top 14 player of the match award and, right, the new Nations Championship trophy
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!
Toulouse: Hats off to Peato Mauvaka and co. Their second half certainly wasn’t pretty at Stade de France, Montpellier ‘winning’ this period 14-3. But towering Toulouse had done more than enough in the opening half to deservedly bag their fourth Top 14 title in a row, leading 25-6 at the break courtesy of a pair of tries from Mauvaka and another from Antoine Dupont.
The opening score was especially exceptional, the hooker throwing to the scrum-half at the front of the lineout in their own half, getting the ball back and racing all the way to the try line with an outrageous dummy thrown in for good measure. That was greased lightning at its best – and then we actually had lightning with the match delayed at one stage due to the atmospheric firework show over the city. It was quite the night of rugby in the French capital.
George North: You can’t but love the Barbarians and the world’s most famous invitational side penned another inspiring chapter on Saturday at Twickenham by facilitating a storybook farewell for the legendary Welsh back, who was hanging up his boots at the age of 34. After finishing up at Provence in the Pro D2 earlier this month, an invite from Scott Robertson allowed him to face Wales in his final match and what a star-turn contribution he made.
The Baa-Baas weren’t up to much in the first half in the London heat but with North arriving off the bench, the match took a huge turn for the better and he soon showed he still had what it took to shine with an excellent try where he minced the Welsh cover. He scored another later in the game and then had the perfect sign-off, knocking over a conversion with the final kick. Best of luck with what comes next, George. Your career was a brilliant watch.
Jack Willis: We saluted the Toulouse collective above for their latest French title triumph, but a separate shout-out is needed for Jack Willis, their talismanic English back-rower. His career could have severely faltered with the blow of Wasps’ closure in October 2022, but the alternative adventure that had since unfolded for him across the Channel has been incredible. His tie-up with Toulouse was initially thought to be only temporary as it was felt he wouldn’t sacrifice his international career with England after Rugby World Cup 2023.
However, so strong was the bond he quickly forged with Ugo Mola’s team that there was no return to the Prem and Saturday night was instead the fourth French title triumph for Willis in his match made in heaven. The 29-year-old, who has man of the match in his latest final, has led the way in English players starring in France, his success demonstrating how you don’t need the Test game to be a soaraway star in this sport.
Marlie Packer: What a way for the legendary England back-rower to end her time at Saracens, helping them to PWR title glory in Sunday’s final versus Ealing. The victory won’t be the end for her as a star player in the game. Set to turn 37 later this year, she has signed on the dotted line to continue at Harlequins after nine seasons at Sarries, and her longevity is something that she at one stage didn’t think she would have.
This writer recalls her being a guest speaker at a staff conference in Dublin in the summer of 2024, telling the audience that she was likely to retire following the 2025 Rugby World Cup with England. That intended departure didn’t go to plan as she lost her place in the team, but her 2026 renaissance at both club and country level has been inspired… and the great thing is that there is even more to come.
Junior Boks: World Rugby’s decision to expand the Junior World Championship from 12 to 16 teams was always likely to have the downside of some tough loving for the minnow teams invited to the top table. Argentina putting 78 points on the USA, Australia scoring 90 against Spain, and South Africa spitting Uruguay out for 104 were not what anyone would have wanted to see in Saturday’s opening round. Turn the tables, though, and it was the latest example of the Junior Boks getting its house in order after a few fraught years coming out of the pandemic.
Bafana Nhleko was a gentleman during his time in charge of their U20s, but he wasn’t able to get the team to the level that was wanted. This has changed, however, since Kevin Foote took over in late 2024. Last year brought a first age-grade world title since 2012 and having since gone on to win last month’s Rugby Championship, they are now fancied to win back-to-back Junior World titles. The annihilation of the hapless Uruguayans has given them a menacing start, with hosts Georgia next up on Thursday.
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COLD AS ICE!
Nations Championship: It’s been billed by the organisers as a great new dawn for Test rugby, but the new tournament, which kicks off next Saturday with matches in Christchurch, Tokyo, Sydney, Cardiff, Johannesburg and Cordoba, has come in for quite a bit of negativity before a ball has been kicked. Despite all the noise about a money-spinning headline, it has emerged that the deal with Qatar Airways has yet to be signed. Player welfare has also been criticised – there is additional travelling this July for European players compared to previous tour schedules, and how this madness affects performance will soon become clear.
One area where we are inclined to give World Rugby kudos is that the second-tier Nations Cup also begins this weekend with six matches in Montevideo, Santiago, Colorado and Edmonton, so the governing body has lived up to its promise that the minnows would have a competition as well. The pity is that you have to dig deep to find any information on these fixtures. High profile it certainly isn’t.
Totoa Auvaa: Let’s just say it’s going to be interesting watching the progress of the rookie at Saracens next term, given all the unsavoury headlines of recent weeks. The 21-year-old has not been punished by the London club following its investigation into his pub crawl behaviour, which resulted in a missed punch thrown at an England cricketer. However, he was catapulted into the public eye for his carry-on, and the unbridled way Jamie George has since put the boot in means he has a lot to do to make amends at a club where next season Brendan Venter will be at the helm following the step back of Mark McCall.
“He is immature. He is a rabbit in the headlights in London,” said George at an England media briefing ahead of their Nations Championship opener away to South Africa. “He’s a good kid, but has got it wrong. There is no disputing that. But we need to make sure we establish that sort of behaviour is unacceptable.” It might, on the one hand, be called refreshing to air this type of dirty linen in public. On the other hand, it can be said Auvaa has been hung out to dry, which isn’t the way rugby usually addresses these types of incidents.
Dan McKellar: We figured some weeks ago in this column that the future might not be bright for the Australian following his second underwhelming season in charge at the Waratahs and so it has proved, the head coach exiting the Sydney franchise on Monday, 30 days after the season-ending 31-25 loss at Western Force.
It was 2014, with Michael Cheika at the helm, when the Waratahs last showed what a thrilling club it can be, blasting its way to Super Rugby title success, but that success was never built on. McKellar, with just 11 wins in his 28 Super Rugby matches in charge, has become the latest coach to pay the price following his two successive eighth-place finishes. With the head coach now ousted, the focus now turns to Simon Raiwalui, the director of performance, who has one year left on his three-year deal.
Wallabies star: Springboks have revolutionised the scrum and use of the bench
Moana Pasifika: Sticking with Super Rugby, confirmation came in recent days that there will be no last-minute emergency deal to rescue the financially stricken franchise and ensure it somehow makes the starting line-up for the 2027 edition. It’s a shame to see any club fall by the wayside but as was brutally experienced in the Prem, when three clubs folded in 2022/23 and only one of them since returning to play, keeping the wolf from the door remains a harrowing business.
It’s rugby’s biggest quandary: how it has continually failed to financially wash its face since turning pro in 1995. Profitable entities are too few and far between and the question must be asked as to why big business doesn’t readily invest in the sport in the same way as football. Whether it is bad governance, insufficient TV rights deals, an inability to attract new fans and so on, the numbers unfortunately don’t add up in the way they need to for all teams to thrive and Moana Pasifika, sadly, won’t be the last club to go under.