Who’s hot and who’s not: Toulouse’s ‘unstoppable magician’, Saints’ ‘supposed second-string’ and ‘shambolic’ Harlequins
Who's hot and who's not: Toulouse's 'unstoppable magician', Saints' 'supposed second-string' and 'shambolic' Harlequins
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!
Antoine Dupont: Rugby is generally in a state of frustrating flux at the moment. Just read the damning “style of the game has gone backwards” comments from Munster skipper Tadhg Beirne after their weekend United Rugby Championship loss to Leinster. However, Sunday night provided a sharp reminder about how entertaining a spectacle it still can be when magicians are at their best. Making his fifth appearance in his comeback from last March’s ACL rupture, Toulouse scrum-half Dupont was unstoppable in his team’s 60-14 thumping of La Rochelle. Anyone who says it is impossible to create space needs to watch Dupont’s mesmerising running for his second try just before the interval. There were also his two snazzy handling contributions in the creation of the earlier Ange Capuozzo score. Breathtaking.
Leinster exact revenge: After being stunned by Munster at Croke Park, the Dublin-based outfit managed to overturn their arch-rivals at Thomond Park on Saturday. It was certainly not a classic, but Josh van der Flier’s converted try and a pair of penalties via Harry Byrne were enough to claim the victory. Leinster consistently pounded the breakdown, making life extremely difficult for the hosts, and that defensive effort was crucial.
Remarkable Northampton: In a match between the two best teams in England over the past couple of years, few gave the Saints a chance after they named a weakened team to visit the home of the defending PREM champions, Bath. They went to the Rec without most of their England internationals, as well as other key players such as Tom Pearson and JJ van der Mescht, but it did not matter as their supposed second-string produced one of the performances of the season. Northampton did have Tommy Freeman and Henry Pollock in their XV and they showed their class by scoring five of their six tries, but it was an outstanding all-round team display.
Little away day blues in URC: Home advantage is usually significant in sports, and particularly rugby, but not in the URC at the weekend. Of the six matches that were played, five resulted in a win for the visitors. Cardiff were the only side to emerge triumphant on their home patch – and even then it proved to be a tense success against the struggling Dragons.
Tom Willis: The Saracens number eight is in some form at the moment and he starred in their victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm. In all facets of the game, Willis was outstanding and it is such a shame that he won’t be playing international rugby for the next couple of years after agreeing a club move to France next summer.
Transfer Xmas presents: It is a time for giving and many clubs will be pleased with theirs after some big-name signings were announced. In the Gallagher PREM, Newcastle Red Bulls confirmed that All Blacks number eight Hoskins Sotutu would be making the move north, while Wales star Tomos Williams will swap Gloucester for Saracens. However, arguably the biggest of all came in the URC with Siya Kolisi going from the Sharks to the Stormers.
COLD AS ICE!
Shambolic Harlequins: Just what is going on at the Londoners? Regarded as one of the biggest and most historic clubs in England, they are enduring a torrid time of it. Against a Sale Sharks side that is also struggling, Quins were hammered 43-17 in Salford and did not fire a shot in the second period. They were utterly abysmal and their performance was summed up by Marcus Smith’s almost comedically bad error that resulted in Raffi Quirke scoring.
Gloucester not much better: Another proud club which is currently in the mire. They were not necessarily terrible against Saracens – at least not in the way Quins were at the weekend – but one league win out of eight tells its own story. The pressure is building on Cherry and Whites head coach George Skivington, who has ultimately failed to get the club back to where it expects to be. They had a promising 2024/25 season, finishing in fifth, but they have endured a catastrophically bad first half of this campaign.
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Trouble at the Bulls: Jake White was ousted after the promise they showed during the regular season failed to yield silverware, but his replacement, Johan Ackermann, has struggled to get results. The Bulls’ performances under White were often criticised, but at least they were always in the end-of-season shake-up. As things stand, the Pretoria outfit will not even make the play-offs in 2026. As a result, they have decided to axe coaches Andries Bekker and Chris Rossouw with four members of the Springboks brains trust – Felix Jones, Jerry Flannery, Duane Vermeulen and Andy Edwards – helping on a short-term basis. It will be interesting to see if it turns around their fortunes.
Stuart Lancaster: Speaking of under-pressure bosses, the former England and Leinster coach is another who is feeling the heat. Lancaster took over at Connacht at the start of the campaign after leaving Racing 92, but they have lost five of their seven URC games so far. Their latest came at home to Irish rivals Ulster, who emerged triumphant 29-24 in Galway. The eight bonus points Connacht have collected show that there are things to be positive about, but the results have not been good enough.
Lacklustre Edinburgh: The Scots are another outfit struggling with the pace in the URC. There is no debate about the calibre of talent they have in their squad. It was only December 7 when they were celebrating a fully deserved Investec Champions Cup home win over Toulon, the high-flying Top 14 club. However, they are woefully lacking consistency and Saturday’s defeat at home to Glasgow was their fifth in seven league games this term. Edinburgh were blunt when losing to the Warriors at Hampden on December 20 but they were even worse in Saturday’s Murrayfield rematch, losing 3-21 after a second half described as a non-event.
