Who’s hot and who’s not!

David Skippers
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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!

Damian de Allende: South Africa may have lost the opening match of their end-of-year tour, but it wasn’t through a lack of trying from the Stormers inside centre, who delivered a superb all-round performance. De Allende was the Springboks’ standout performer at Twickenham and took the fight to England with several superb carries in which he crossed the gainline at will. He eventually gained 63 metres from 15 runs which included two clean break and six defenders beaten. Also made his presence felt with 11 tackles in his best game to date for the Boks.

Maori All Blacks: While their country’s senior national team showed their class by beating Japan with an under-strength team in Tokyo, the Maori All Blacks highlighted New Zealand‘s strength in depth with a polished display in their 59-22 triumph over the USA Eagles at Soldier Field in Chicago. The men in black dominated from the outset and eventually outscored their hosts by nine tries to three with young Wellington second-row Isaia Walker-Leawere leading the way with a well-taken brace.

Toulouse: Up to second place in the Top 14 standings after an excellent performance against Bordeaux-Begles, who they thumped 40-0 at Stade Ernest Wallon. After a slump in recent seasons from the impeccable standards set in the past, Toulouse appear to be ready to be taken seriously once again in both France and Europe and this result was another marker thrown down to their rivals. Three points off top spot, Ugo Mola is doing some job.

Doddie Weir: What an example the former Scotland international sets. Weir, who last year was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, was a picture of positivity at the Principality Stadium as Wales and Scotland competed for the Doddie Weir Cup. He wore a brilliant suit displaying both teams’ colours, spoke superbly before the game and each time the camera found him during the match he brought cheer to the supporters, who all loved him. A wonderful man.

Jordan Larmour: An incredible performance from the Ireland full-back as he picked up a hat-trick against Italy in Chicago. His last try was out of the top drawer as he stepped three Azzurri defenders en route to the whitewash. On this kind of form head coach Joe Schmidt has a welcome headache at full-back as Larmour is growing in confidence with every game he plays for both Leinster and Ireland.

COLD AS ICE!

Malcolm Marx: If De Allende put up his hand for being the Springboks’ best player, the same could be said of Marx for being their worst. Usually so reliable for the Boks and Lions, Marx will want to forget this Test in a hurry as he made little impact in their loss to England at Twickenham. The World Rugby Player of the Year nominee was a pale shadow of himself with his line-out throw-ins particularly woeful as he failed to find his jumpers with regularity. This was painful to watch for Bok supporters, especially midway through the opening half when they were on the attack deep inside England’s half and with Maro Itoje in the sin bin, but Marx failed to find his jumpers at the set-piece.

Owen Farrell decision: Although England deserve plenty of credit for beating the Springboks despite the visitors dominating the territorial and possession stakes, the decision by referee Angus Gardner and television match official Olly Hodges not to penalise England co-captain Owen Farrell for an illegal hit on Andre Esterhuizen was a baffling one. Farrell was clearly leading with his shoulder when executing the challenge and, although television replays confirmed this, Gardner and Hodges saw nothing wrong with the hit, to the delight of England and the chagrin of their opponents.

Southern Kings: The men from Port Elizabeth’s discipline let them down badly in their PRO14 encounter against the tournament’s defending champions, Leinster, at the Madibaz Stadium on Sunday. With several of their players on international duty with Ireland, Leinster were there for the taking but the Kings shot themselves in the foot when four of their players received yellow cards. Their discipline was particularly bad during the latter stages of the first-half when Stephan Greeff and Schalk Ferreira were sent to the sin-bin in quick succession, which meant they had to play with 13 men at one stage, and shortly after Ferreira returned to the playing field, Tienie Burger also received his marching orders. Their discipline improved during the second-half until Berton Klaasen was also yellow carded towards the end of the match.

Scotland’s bogey run continues: Saturday’s 21-10 defeat in Cardiff makes it 15 losses to Wales in their last 17 meetings, as once again they flattered to deceive on the international stage. On the club front Scottish rugby is in good health with Glasgow Warriors setting a high bar while Edinburgh are progressing, but can the Test team take the next step up and become genuine Six Nations title hopefuls or are we overshooting with our expectations of Gregor Townsend’s side? That performance last weekend suggest the latter.

Alex Lozowski’s week: We have sympathy for the England and Saracens centre, who was given a roller-coaster of emotions since his citing for a tackle on Glasgow Warriors full-back Ruaridh Jackson in Round One of the Champions Cup. He was available then unavailable for England’s game against South Africa after the EPCR appealed the original decision. He was since also banned for this week’s New Zealand fixture in what has been a convoluted storyline since the incident took place.

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