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!

England: Head coach Eddie Jones and his troops deserve plenty of praise after delivering a superb all-round performance in a memorable 32-20 victory in their Six Nations opener against reigning champions Ireland in Dublin. Captain Owen Farrell led the way as England executed their game-plan to perfection and took the fight to the Irish in their own backyard. England’s physicality was particularly impressive as the Irish struggled to cope with the intensity their opponents threw at them, this result handing England massive confidence moving forward this year.

Blair Kinghorn: The Edinburgh utility back was brilliant in his side’s 33-20 victory over Italy in their Six Nations opener at Murrayfield and capped a superb individual performance by crossing for three deserved tries. That was some achievement as Kinghorn crossed twice before half-time and added a third in the second-half and, in doing so, he made history by becoming the first Scotsman to score a hat-trick in the Six Nations.

New Zealand Sydney Sevens double: The New Zealand Men’s Sevens team returned to the top of the World Rugby Sevens Series‘ overall standings after beating the USA 21-5 in the final of the Sydney Sevens. Earlier, their female counterparts, the Black Ferns, continued with their dominance of the Women’s game and have now won the first three tournaments in the series, after also being triumphant in Denver and Dubai. Incredibly they are currently on a 48-match winning run.

Wales‘ comeback: There were several nervous faces amongst the travelling Welsh supporters in Paris after France raced into a 16-0 lead at half-time in the Six Nations opener last Friday. Despite their abysmal first-half performance, the visitors did not panic and launched a stunning fightback in the second-half to claim a 24-19 victory, which is a new record for the tournament and beats the previous best comeback in Five or Six Nations history after France came back from a 15-0 deficit after 37 minutes to beat Ireland 26-21 in 1989.

Women’s Six Nations winners: The Six Nations’ Women’s tournament got underway at the weekend and there were big victories for defending champions France, England and Italy over Wales, Ireland and Scotland respectively. In Montpellier, hooker Caroline Thomas led the way with a hat-trick as France thrashed Wales 52-3. Elsewhere, last year’s runners-up England claimed a convincing 51-7 win over Ireland in Dublin, with fly-half Katy Daley-McLean contributing 16 points, and in Glasgow, Italy beat Scotland 28-7 with number eight Elisa Giordano scoring Italy’s bonus-point try in the game’s dying moments.

Super Hero Sunday: Our final hot this week comes from South Africa where the concept of Super Hero Sunday was launched. The pre-season spectacle held at Cape Town Stadium saw a whopping 45,252 supporters attend as the Bulls, Lions, Sharks and Stormers put on a show in special shirts, with the fans also getting involved in fancy dress. This was a hugely successful day for South African rugby and Super Rugby will hope these sorts of turnouts continue in 2019.

COLD AS ICE!

Italy: The 33-20 scoreline in their defeat to Scotland is a flattering one as they were under the cosh for long periods and scored three late tries in the game’s closing stages, which added some respectability to the final score. That means that the Azzurri have now lost 18 matches on the trot in the Six Nations, with head coach Conor O’Shea under pressure to retain his job as has been in charge of 11 of those and is yet to taste success in the competition after taking charge of his first Six Nations game at the start of the 2017 tournament.

USA Sevens: It is a great achievement to reach a final on the World Rugby Sevens Series and the USA have done so in all four legs of the 2018/19 series – in Dubai, Cape Town, Hamilton and Sydney – but they are yet to win a tournament after finishing as runners-up on each occasion. This past weekend in Sydney, they went head-to-head with New Zealand in the Cup Final and like the series’ first leg in Dubai, the All Blacks Sevens proved too strong for Mike Friday’s charges again, running out comfortable winners. Despite claiming more solid series points, not getting that elusive tournament win and their final performance will be hugely frustrating for the team.

CJ Velleman: The back-row was red carded in the 63rd minute of the Southern Kings‘ PRO14 derby with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein after elbowing the home side’s flanker, Junior Pokomela, in the face while the latter was scoring a try. The score was 31-15 in the Cheetahs’ favour when Velleman rightly received his marching orders from referee Stuart Berry. The Kings will be wondering what could have been if their openside flanker had stayed on the field as they launched a stunning fightback during the closing stages of the match before suffering a narrow 40-36 defeat.

Nemani Nadolo’s Test retirement: Nadolo announced his retirement from the Test game via social media and it’s such a shame that the burly Fijian winger will not be in action at this year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan as he is one of the most destructive runners in the game. Nadolo said on-field and off-field issues had led to his decision and he will be joined in international retirement by fellow Fiji winger Timoci Nagusa, who announced his decision on the same day. The duo will continue playing their club rugby for Top 14 outfit Montpellier.

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