Sunday Social: Joy for Ireland and Siya signing budgies

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.

Where else to begin than Dublin as earlier this week New Zealand were greeted to a wonderful haka from Down syndrome social enterprise group Together Academy.

Before Saturday’s fixture against the All Blacks, the Irish were wished good luck by United States of America president Joe Biden, who is a cousin of Rob Kearney.

Ireland were clearly fired up to make it three wins in five recent attempts against New Zealand, with this passage of defence outstanding as they stood strong.

James Lowe was part of that passage and also grabbed the game’s first try, with this post-match interview showing what it meant for him to face the All Blacks.

It truly was a richly deserved result for Andy Farrell’s men as they were on top for large spells of the game. Of course there were some great shots after the whistle.

There’s always at least one though who likes to have some light-hearted fun after a victory and this tweet from Dublin airport might stir the pot in New Zealand.

Before that game, the focus was on Murrayfield where Scotland and Lions great Tom Smith presented the match ball. Smith’s now a Scottish Rugby Hall of Famer.

Speaking of achievements, Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg scored twice in the match against South Africa to move level on tries with Tony Stanger and Ian Smith.

But it wasn’t in victory for Hogg as South Africa showed their quality once again to get the result. Judging from this newspaper, with players out of position too.

The Springboks were clearly delighted with this triumph and celebrated with their fans after the triumph. This supporter even got Siya Kolisi to sign his budgies.

Speaking of budgie smugglers here’s scrum-half Cobus Reinach enjoying a moment with South Africa’s Frans Steyn, who became the Boks’ longest serving player.

It was then to Twickenham but before the match between England and Australia, the Wallaby team announcement produced an emotional moment for Ollie Hoskins.

Hoskins and Australia would come off second best in the fixture, however, as the English trio of Owen Farrell, Marcus Smith and Freddie Steward showed their class.

Speaking of whirlwind weeks for props, we were big fans of this picture of England prop Bevan Rodd, who took his starting chance with both hands at Twickenham.

Finally, we head to Edmonton where a soccer match between Canada and Costa Rica saw this steward take down a streaker with a textbook rugby tackle. Sign him up.