Sunday Social: The good, the bad and the Yato

Colin Newboult

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 Clermont-Ferrand where Harlequins flyer Gabriel Ibitoye showed us why he is so highly rated with this excellent attacking run which set up a try for James Lang in Saturday’s Champions Cup defeat to Clermont.

That encounter also produced this moment from Les Jaunards’ Fijian back-row Peceli Yato which will be used as evidence to show why forwards should never attempt to kick the ball.

Although that will be a moment Yato will want to forget, he showed his class earlier in that game by crossing for this fine try.

Elsewhere, new Gloucester signing Joe Simpson announced himself to the Kingsholm faithful with a couple of scintillating tries.

Meanwhile, Munster’s CJ Stander went over the top with this needless reaction to celebrate a try in his side’s win against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

Former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton is set to make a return to Test arena in a coaching capacity with his national team. To say he’s delighted with his new role would be an understatement.

In the Challenge Cup, Worcester Warriors fly-half Jamie Shillcock was in superb form as he contributed 27 points in his side’s win over Enisei-STM in Hrasnodar.

The Barbarians were also in action – against Fiji – on Saturday and their coach, Eddie Jones, left no doubt how he wanted his troops to play in that game.

And this time, a Jones-coached team got their reaction to a war dance right. After the England players admitted that they were meant to form a semi-circle when facing the Haka in the World Cup, instead of the V-shape which saw a few individuals stray over the halfway line, the Barbarians made no mistake against Fiji’s Cibi.

Although they suffered a narrow 33-31 loss to the Pacific Islanders, they stayed true to the Baa-baas’ attacking roots and were in good spirits after the match.