Sunday Social: Kolbe magic, stunning tries and farewells

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

We start with the Top 14 semi-finals and, of course, the season’s top performer – Toulouse’s Cheslin Kolbe – who produced another excellent display, this time against La Rochelle. It was a pretty scrappy affair but the game was livened up this finish.

Onto the U20s and there was another excellent round of fixtures in Argentina, but it was a particularly good day for Australia. They have struggled at this level for the past few campaigns but reached the semi-finals for the first time in eight years with a comfortable victory over Ireland. This was their best try of the game.

There was also another excellent score from Argentina’s Ignacio Mendy, who showed wonderful balance and pace to touch down versus Fiji.

It didn’t beat his try from earlier in the week, however, in what is the best individual effort so far in the competition.

In Super Rugby, it was another outstanding day for the Jaguares, who secured the South African Conference in style following a 34-7 triumph over the Sharks.

The season has not gone quite so well for the Highlanders, but this was a lovely moment from their game against the Bulls on Friday.

Once again, the Crusaders have been the dominant force in the southern hemisphere’s premier competition and it was a particularly special day for centre Ryan Crotty.

Scott Higginbotham also enjoyed reaching a landmark at the weekend. In his final appearance at Suncorp Stadium for the Reds, he crossed for the 41st time, which makes him the highest try-scoring forward in Super Rugby.

Finally, over in Sydney, it was an emotional day at the Waratahs as chief medical officer and longest serving member at the franchise, Sharron Flahive, ended her 20-year stint with the team.

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