Sunday Social: Special firsts, skills, touchlines and racism

Adam Kyriacou

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.

The Maori All Blacks faced the Moana Pasifika on Saturday in an historic match in Hamilton. Before kick-off there was a first look at the latter’s war dance.

Staying Down Under and Australia took on Argentina in Sydney, with that contest seeing the Australian national anthem sung in a local Indigenous language.

After the 16-16 draw at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday, pals Wallabies captain Michael Hooper and Argentina head coach Mario Ledesma shared a funny moment.

Before we get stuck into the Autumn Nations Cup, how about these skills with a rugby ball from professional football freestyler, Liv Cooke? As Dan said, that is amazing.

Saturday’s action in the north began with a first glimpse, finally, of Fiji as they faced off with Georgia at Murrayfield after a tough month of Covid-19 disruptions.

Coming out of retirement, Leicester Tigers winger Nemani Nadolo was in fine form as he crossed three times in their 38-24 victory. He really is a unique player.

Over in Dublin, Ireland proved too strong for Scotland as they prevailed 31-16. Peter O’Mahony went incredibly close to scoring a deserved try but for the touchline.

The back-row clearly wasn’t happy with said sideline. If looks could kill…

Before the game there was genuine belief from Scotland supporters that they could end their drought in Dublin. But there was no such luck, leaving one fan dismayed.

In the Premiership there was a signing at Sale Sharks earlier this week as they add the tall JP du Preez to their second-row stocks. Yes, it is another South African.

Staying with the north-west team and this piece on local news was brilliant to see as wing Marland Yarde led a charge to help the homeless. Well done to all involved.

Finally, we finish on the shocking Pablo Matera story and former England international wing Ugo Monye could not have hit the nail on the head any better with this.

 

Argentina