Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou
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It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who’s making the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the past week.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

The rugby community: It’s always galling when one of the excellent modern day players retire at the relatively young age of 29, but it was great to see the whole sport unite and pay tribute to Sam Warburton, who was a fine back-row and is an even better bloke. Having captained the Lions and Wales, featuring 74 times for his country in all, the flanker has had a wonderful career and no doubt he will be successful in whatever he chooses to do next.

Rob Horne’s testimonial: On a similar note to the point above, well done to Northampton Saints, Leicester Tigers and everyone else involved in organising a testimonial for former Australia international Horne. The ex-centre was forced to retire after being paralysed in his right arm following an unfortunate collision with Sione Kalamafoni in the Northampton-Leicester game earlier this year. It will take place at Twickenham on October 6 with proceeds going to Horne and hopefully there will be a full house to mark the occasion.

Crusaders: Can anyone stop Scott Robertson’s men? They were once again outstanding on Saturday as they defeated the Sharks 40-10 in Christchurch, taking their run to 13 consecutive victories. The visitors created a few opportunities but Robert du Preez’s men were outclassed by the clinical New Zealanders. Richie Mo’unga was once again in fine form and the pack swarmed all over the opposition forward eight to give Bryn Hall an easy ride at scrum-half. With the Hurricanes next up at AMI Stadium, they may be their toughest opponents left on the road to the title.

Kurtley Beale: While his flashier team-mates like Taqele Naiyaravoro and Israel Folau are the ones to often steal the limelight, the 29-year-old has been an absolute revelation since returning from his one-year-stint with Wasps. Beale was the spark and main creative force that ignited a superb Waratahs’ fightback on Saturday, setting up two tries in the period after Waisake Naholo was sent to the sin-bin and he was directly involved in a third as he masterminded a stunning fightback for the Sydneysiders, who had trailed 23-6 at half-time, only to end up winning the game 30-23.

Black-out: It was back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles for New Zealand’s Women and Men in San Francisco. The Black Ferns Sevens proved too strong for their rivals, winning the final 29-0 against France. Michaela Blyde was the star of the show in that match as she crossed for three tries to seal a deserved triumph. Then the Men’s team followed that up with a 33-12 victory over England to also retain the silverware they won in 2013. That’s some achievement from both sides.

COLD AS ICE!

Highlanders’ second-half: The men from Otago will be wondering how they conspired to let a commanding 23-6 half-time lead slip. Waisake Naholo’s sin-binning for two high tackles in quick succession resulted in them conceding three tries as they completely lost their defensive discipline. Aaron Mauger will be pulling his hair out as it looked as if his side’s defensive woes may be over after a solid first period. But a second-half collapse means they have now conceded 157 points in their last four fixtures.

Mourad Boudjellal: The outspoken Toulon owner was handed a €75,000 fine with a further €25,000 suspended after comments made following their game with Benetton in the Champions Cup. Boudjellal was charged after allegedly condoning homophobic conduct after Mathieu Bastareaud was banned for making a slur towards Sebastian Negri. He is not taking it lying down, stating: “I will not appeal, I will not pay and I will lodge a complaint for defamation,” but, given that Bastareaud’s suspension was lenient if anything, perhaps you should keep quiet on this one Mourad?

Amanaki Mafi: Yes, this incident featured in last week’s nots but with further apparent light being shone on the situation it is a story that isn’t going away. An image of Lopeti Timani showed the damage team-mate Mafi allegedly caused to his face and the former’s account, reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, was that “he was repeatedly bashed and bundled into a car”. According to the publication, Timani “fled in fear of his life” during “four hours of terror” in Dunedin. It sounds like a traumatic ordeal that leaves a cloud over Mafi.

Tunnel bust-up: World Rugby confirmed on Sunday that a Samoa player has been provisionally suspended from Rugby World Cup Sevens following an initial investigation into an alleged incident in the tunnel area after his team’s clash with Wales on Saturday. “The alleged behaviour is not aligned with the sport’s values and the excellent spirit in which this competition has been played by the 40 participating teams,” read a statement. Wales’ Tom Williams missed the Rugby World Cup Sevens final day after the altercation. We echo World Rugby’s stance here.

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