Sunday Social: End of an era and mistaken identity

David Skippers

It is time for Planet Rugby’s Sunday Social, your quirky recap of the serious and not so serious talking points from the past week’s action.

We begin in Cape Town, where it was a sad day as the world famous Newlands stadium hosted its last match on Saturday – the Currie Cup semi-final between Western Province and the Sharks. It was a surreal ending to the iconic venue as there were no spectators at the match due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Several players paid homage to Newlands on social media and amongst them were Glasgow Warriors and Scotland front-row Oli Kebble, who started his career as a Western Province and Stormers player.

Another ex-WP and Stormers player, Western Force and USA utility back Marcel Brache, also has fond memories of the ground which hosted its first match back in 1888.

Referee Stuart Berry also shared how he felt about the renowned stadium.

Elsewhere, former Wasps and England prop Tim Payne made a desperate request to the captain of Australia’s national cricket team, Tim Paine, after the rugby player was mistaken for the cricketer and trolled by Indian cricket fans following their country’s Test series win over the Aussies in Brisbane.

One Indian cricket fan even suggested Paine should retire but mistakenly tagged Payne, who saw the funny side and tweeted this reply.

Meanwhile, Northampton Saints’ social media team gave us two versions of their first-choice fly-half, Dan Biggar/Dan Smaller.

With Joe Biden recently inaugurated as the USA’s 46th president, the All Blacks reminded us of the time Jerome Kaino and Charlie Faumuina gifted Biden a signed All Blacks jersey with his name and the number 15 on the back during his visit to New Zealand in 2016.

It didn’t take long for Irish Rugby to respond and they did it in style by reminding the All Blacks of a congratulatory message they received from Biden following their historic win over New Zealand in Chicago in 2016.

With Covid-19 paranoia at an all-time high around the world, Leicester Tigers and England front-row Ellis Genge revealed something which somebody told him in a bid to counter the virus.

While we enjoyed this throwback from the Six Nations of Wales second-row Alan Martin slotting a long-range goal-kick in a Test against England.

And finally… Nothing wrong with this hit although the tackler should work on his timing.