Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou
Add as a preferred source on Google

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

THEY’RE ON FIRE

Stuart Hogg: The Scotland full-back was Glasgow Warriors’ hero as he landed a match-winning drop goal in the dying moments of his side’s PRO14 opener against Connacht at the Sportsground in Galway. That capped a fine all-round showing from the Scotland and British and Irish Lions representative, who also landed a conversion and set up a try for Tommy Seymour early on in that match.

Auckland and Tasman: The Mitre 10 Cup finished their third round of matches at the weekend and these two provinces are setting the pace at the top of the Premiership standings as the only two unbeaten sides left in the competition. Auckland, who survived relegation by the skin of their teeth in 2017, seem reinvigorated under the guidance of former All Black centre Alama Ieremia and shone in their 35-17 win over Waikato at Eden Park at the weekend. Meanwhile, last year’s runners-up Tasman continue to impress and occupy top spot on the table by virtue of a superior points difference after their 32-20 away triumph against North Harbour in Albany.

That pass: Danny Cipriani was not at his best on debut for Gloucester – his top form will come once he becomes fully embedded into the system – but the England fly-half showed glimpses of his immense quality and one moment particularly stood out. The Cherry and Whites had a penalty advantage following a dominant scrum but, with seemingly little on for Cipriani, he threw a remarkable 21-metre pass over Northampton Saints’ defence and out to Charlie Sharples, who had the simple job of collecting and touching down.

Bristol’s Premiership return: A performance to match the almost sell-out crowd, overall it was an outstanding Friday evening for the newly-promoted outfit. Over 26,000 turned up at Ashton Gate to watch Pat Lam’s men overcome their West Country rivals 17-10 and begin the new Premiership campaign superbly. Bristol had to absorb plenty of pressure during the match but Lam’s side were well worth their win as the big spenders attempt to challenge England’s elite this season.

Italian teams: Benetton and Zebre have been criticised for their perceived lack of competitiveness in the past but both secured victories to begin the campaign. Although the latter’s was expected – playing the Southern Kings at home – the former did excellently to defeat a rejuvenated Dragons. Bernard Jackman’s men have invested ahead of the 2018/19 season but, despite the presence of Jordan Williams, Rhodri Williams and Richard Hibbard, Benetton edged out the hosts to complete a great weekend for the Italians.

Clermont Auvergne: After the horrors of last season, what a start it has been for Les Jaunards in 2018/19. Two victories, over 100 points scored and, more pertinently, a hugely impressive performance at one of the favourites for the Top 14 title, Racing 92. They demolished the team that finished the previous campaign in second, scoring three well-worked tries through Wesley Fofana, Peter Betham and Damian Penaud. They look back on form and will be a threat for the rest of the sides in France.

COLD AS ICE:

Bath and Leicester: For two of England’s traditional powerhouses it was a pretty awful weekend as they succumbed to poor defeats. Bath went down to newly-promoted Bristol, putting further pressure on director of rugby Todd Blackadder, while the Tigers were thrashed 40-6 by 2017 champions Exeter Chiefs. Both teams look excellent on paper but neither have been able to get it right over the past few years.

Top 14 officiating: The Top 14 referees are not exactly covering themselves in glory at the beginning of a new season. After Sergio Parisse’s farcical red card, there was another moment of controversy from the Pau verses Toulon clash. Toulon looked to have got the ball down over the line, but the TMO somehow contrived to deem it as not clear and obvious whether it had been grounded. It came at a crucial juncture in the game when the home side Pau were leading 11-7 early in the second half.

Toulon: While Patrice Collazo can rightly have qualms about the officiating, the performance of his team has also been disappointing so far this season. Losing to Racing in the manner that they did would have frustrated the new boss while the Stade Mayol outfit were once again blunt in attack on Saturday. They have only scored 19 points in two matches, with just a single try, and that will be of concern to controversial owner Mourad Boudjellal. Having sacked Fabien Galthie, despite them finishing in fourth position last season, Boudjellal will expect an improvement over the next few weeks.

South African PRO14 sides: In complete contrast to the Italians, who we commented on above, it was a terrible week for the PRO14 teams based in the southern hemisphere. While the Kings were abysmal last season and little was expected of them, the Cheetahs actually performed reasonably well in 2017/18, but they were poor against Munster. The Bloemfontein outfit have had an overhaul in their playing staff and we’ll see how they perform once the Currie Cup finishes to get a true reflection of their capabilities, but this was a particularly disappointing start from them.

Rugby’s attrition rate: The second weekend of the new northern hemisphere season may only have just ended but already key players have suffered serious injuries. Delon Armitage is out for the campaign after damaging his ACL playing for Lyon against Toulouse, while Toulon’s Mamuka Gorgodze will be on the sidelines for a lengthy period following a ruptured bicep. Then in the Premiership, Tom Savage, Jimmy Gopperth and Charles Piutau, all crucial to their respective sides, could miss a significant portion of the season. Certainly Gopperth, who has a similar issue to Armitage, will be out for the majority of 2018/19, if not all. The attrition rate seems to be getting higher and higher.

Features