Who’s hot and who’s not!

David Skippers
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!

Ulster: The Ulstermen showed that their narrow Champions Cup triumph over the Scarlets in Llanelli was not a flash in the pan as they claimed a bonus-point victory against the Welsh region for the second week in a row, in the return match at Kingspan Stadium. That result means Ulster are second on the Pool Four table behind Racing 92 and with a home fixture against the Parisian outfit and an away match against a struggling Leicester Tigers outfit looming on the horizon, the Dan McFarland-coached side will be quietly confident of finishing at the top of their pool.

Toulouse and Racing 92: The four-time Champions Cup winners continued with their fine form in this year’s tournament and they are still unbeaten after winning their four first matches in Pool One. Defending champions Leinster are on their heels after beating Bath but Les Rouge et Noir were full value for their home win over Wasps and outscored their Premiership rivals by five tries to three to consolidate their position at the top of the table. Elsewhere, Racing also clinched their fourth successive win in the competition thanks to a bonus-point victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road. They left it late though and only scored their fourth try in the game’s closing stages and are now five points clear at the top of their pool.

Clermont and Greig Laidlaw: The Top 14 pacesetters are in red-hot form in the Challenge Cup as they have registered bonus-point victories in all four of their pool matches in Europe’s second-tier cup competition. In their latest match, Les Jaunards put the Dragons to the sword and claimed a comfortable 49-24 triumph at Stade Marcel-Michelin with Laidlaw leading the way by converting all seven tries scored in that encounter. That result means Clermont are sitting pretty at the top of Pool One, 10 points clear of their nearest rivals, Northampton Saints, who have a game in hand.

Johnny Sexton: Fresh from picking up the World Player of the Year award last month, the Leinster fly-half produced a world-class performance in his side’s 42-15 Champions Cup Round Four win over Bath at Aviva Stadium on Saturday. Sexton showed his ability to take the ball to the line and get the hands free in setting up the move that led to Leinster’s opening try. Soon after that, his precise cross-field kick set up Ross Byrne’s try. He also kicked superbly from the tee despite the trying conditions, landing five of his five conversion attempts for a one hundred percent record. Sexton’s day finished on the perfect note when he was also named RTÉ Sport’s Sportsperson of the Year.

Bristol: An outstanding result for the West Countrymen, who stunned La Rochelle at Stade Marcel-Deflandre to claim an impressive 13-3 triumph in the Challenge Cup. It was a performance few saw coming – including Planet Rugby! – having named a severely weakened team for the encounter in France. Pat Lam’s men had been outplayed the previous week, losing 35-22 at Ashton Gate, but fortunes were reversed on Saturday as the visitors stunned the in-form Top 14 play-off contenders.

Kendra Cocksedge: Congratulations to the Black Fern who became the first women to pick up the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial trophy, otherwise known as the NZR Player of the Year, following an outstanding season. Cocksedge fended off competition from Brodie Retallick, Richie Mo’unga and Codie Taylor to claim the award after guiding Canterbury to consecutive titles. She has also garnered 47 caps for her country and was part of the teams that won the 2010 and 2017 World Cups.

COLD AS ICE!

Lyon: Pierre Mignoni’s troops are still in contention for the play-offs in the Top 14 but they won’t move beyond the pool stage of the Champions Cup. Lyon have now lost all four of their Champions Cup matches after suffering a 21-10 defeat on the weekend to Glasgow Warriors. The French side have struggled to get going in all their matches and are entrenched at the bottom of Pool Three with zero points.

Northampton’s trip to Timisoara: It was quite literally ‘cold as ice’ for the Saints, who visited Romania and saw their game cancelled due to snow. The match was correctly called off after the conditions failed to relent but it also hampered their journey home, with their plane eventually cancelled after a six-hour delay. The Northampton players and coaches also tried to help shift the snow but it was to no avail as they spent the night in Timisoara before returning to England on the Sunday.

The death of Nicolas Chauvin: We send our condolences to Chauvin’s family and friends, and all those associated with Stade Francais, after the youngster tragically passed away following an incident in a match at Bordeaux last Saturday. The 19-year-old sustained a broken neck in a tackle and, despite emergency surgery, sadly died on Wednesday. Tributes have been paid throughout Europe with all Champions Cup and Challenge Cup games observing a minute silence in his memory.

English Champions Cup teams: Most of the Premiership clubs will want to forget Round Four of the Champions Cup in a hurry as only Saracens and Exeter Chiefs finished on the winning side at the weekend. Exeter’s win was against another English club, Gloucester, while those in action against foreign teams didn’t get close to securing victory. Bath, Newcastle Falcons and Leicester Tigers were comfortably beaten, by Leinster, Edinburgh and Racing 92, while Toulouse dominated the latter stages of their win over Wasps.

Bernard Jackman: The former hooker’s 18-month spell in charge of the Dragons came to an end in midweek and, in many ways, it is hard to argue with the decision. While his first year was a free hit as they attempted to give more experience to a number of their talented youngsters, developments were expected this time around. Although they have improved slightly results-wise – winning three in 10 having only secured two PRO14 victories in 2017/18 – their form over recent weeks has been atrocious and heavy defeats to Leinster and Northampton was the final straw.

Features