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!

Crusaders: There’s no stopping the defending Super Rugby champions, who retained their unbeaten status in this year’s competition thanks to a 22-12 triumph over the Reds in Brisbane at the weekend. In doing so, the nine-time champions set tournament records for most wins in a row (18) as well as most consecutive away victories (eight).

Sunwolves: There were joyous scenes in the Sunwolves camp when the final whistle sounded at FMG Stadium in Hamilton, after their 30-15 win over the Chiefs. The result was an historic achievement for the men from Tokyo as it meant they recorded their first ever away win since joining the competition in 2016 after a whopping 23 successive defeats. It would be unfair to single out players as to a man, they were superb and fully deserved this classy triumph.

Rebels and Quade Cooper: Dave Wessels’ charges continued their impressive start to 2019 when they edged out the Highlanders 24-19 in Melbourne on Friday. That means the Rebels have won their first two games of the season – after beating the Brumbies in their opening match – and they were full value for their victory as they had a slight edge throughout before staving off a late fightback from the Dunedin side. For the second successive game, fly-half Cooper shone as the Rebels’ chief playmaker, and he’ll surely be happy with his showing after finishing with two try assists.

Teddy Thomas: An impressive performance by the France international on Saturday, who has missed a portion of the season due to injury. The wing was therefore absent for the start of the Six Nations and was not in the squad named by coach Jacques Brunel last week for the upcoming Ireland encounter, but he surely won’t be away for long. Thomas was exceptional for Les Bleus in 2018 and was in outstanding form for Racing 92 against La Rochelle over the weekend, touching down three times as the Parisians thrashed Jono Gibbes’ side with a showing that sends out warning shots.

Benetton: The Italians have been in impressive form and are unbeaten in the PRO14 since November. They have enjoyed the Six Nations period, despite providing a large number of players to the national team, and continued their outstanding series of results with a triumph over fellow play-off contenders Edinburgh. It is still tight in Conference B, with eight points separating Benetton in second and the Scots in fifth, but you wouldn’t currently bet against the Italian outfit from taking their place in the play-offs and the 2019/20 Champions Cup. Their fine season continues.

Harlequins: Paul Gustard has enjoyed an excellent first season in charge of the Londoners so far, guiding them to third place in the Premiership. Quins’ win over Bath at the Rec was full of both character and quality as they opened up a 12-point gap on fifth place Wasps. Gustard’s men were 29-26 down against Todd Blackadder’s outfit going into the final minute but they mounted a superb attack and Nathan Earle crossed in the corner to secure a crucial victory.

COLD AS ICE!

World League controversy: There has been plenty of opposition to the reported proposal from World Rugby for a World League – in which countries from the Rugby Championship and Six Nations will be joined by Japan and the USA in a 12-team tournament starting from 2020, with the latter two possibly joining the Rugby Championship in due course. However, with the World League reportedly locked to outside teams for 12 years, the game’s governing body has been roundly criticised and emerging countries like Fiji, Samoa, Tonga and Georgia were not included in the proposed competition despite Fiji occupying ninth position in the current World Rugby Rankings, a place which is higher than perennial Six Nations wooden-spoonists Italy, Japan and the USA. Needless to say things escalated.

Chiefs: The two-time Super Rugby champions’ shock defeat to the Sunwolves means they have now lost all three of their matches in this season’s tournament – after also going down to the Highlanders and Brumbies in their previous fixtures. That means the team from Hamilton are firmly rooted to the bottom of the overall table with just a losing bonus point to show for their efforts. Things are unlikely to improve for head coach Colin Cooper and his troops as their next match is at AMI Stadium in Christchurch against the Crusaders and the champions are yet to lose a Super Rugby match at their home venue since Scott Robertson started his reign as head coach at the beginning of 2017.

Ox Nche decision: There has quite rightly been a clampdown on high tackles and hits to the head, but it has led to some controversial decisions, with many querying the validity of some cards handed out. However, this incident in Dublin (shown below) fits in the opposite category. The Cheetahs prop somehow escaped being red carded against Leinster on Friday, with Nche only sin-binned for an awful challenge. These are the events that need to be stamped out, yet the officiating team led by referee Nigel Owens, for some reason, decided to show Nche leniency.

Ospreys: It is all going wrong for the Welsh region, both on and off the field. Last week the scale of the Swansea-based outfit’s financial problems were revealed, with a merger between them and the Cardiff Blues mentioned as a possibility, while their performances on the pitch have been similarly abysmal. The Ospreys have lost their last six, including four of those in the PRO14, which has seen them drift down the table. It is certainly worrying times for Allen Clarke’s men. Their latest defeat was particularly shambolic after they succumbed 46-5 to Connacht at the Sportsground on Saturday, leaving them eight points behind the Irish province in the race for the play-off places.

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