Sunday Social: World League, great tries and dancing feet

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 week’s news and games.

World Rugby’s proposal to create a new competition has been the big story of the week and it has unsurprisingly sparked anger, with it set to exclude the Pacific Island nations.

Samoa, Tonga and Fiji have even threatened to boycott the upcoming World Cup should the plans be ratified.

Pat Lam, who is New Zealand-born but played 34 times for Samoa, also had his say before Bristol’s encounter with Gloucester on Friday.

It didn’t stop with the Pacific Island teams as Georgia – a developing power in Europe – were angered by the proposals. Although Japan and USA are set to be included, it does not extend to the likes of the Lelos or Romania.

World Rugby did release a statement defending their position but it drew a terse response from the rugby community.

Away from the controversial ‘World League’, there was some great action in the Premiership and there were a couple of excellent tries in the Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs encounter.

In the Top 14, Racing 92 were at their fluent best and wing Teddy Thomas benefited. The France international has missed the start of the Six Nations due to injury but must surely be in line for a recall after a hat-trick against La Rochelle.

There were plenty of skills on offer in Super Rugby and the PRO14 too, with Dane Coles scoring a brace for the Hurricanes and Matthew Morgan displaying some neat footwork for the Cardiff Blues, as demonstrated by an excellent GIF.

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