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!

Leinster: The Dubliners may not have been at their best over the latter part of the season but they showed a tremendous amount of resilience to secure the PRO14 title. Following the disappointment of their Champions Cup defeat to Saracens, they responded superbly to overcome a battling display by Glasgow Warriors. The Scots, in front of a passionate ‘home’ support at Celtic Park, started well and deservedly went 10-5 in front, but the Irish province gradually edged their way into the contest and controlled proceedings either side of the break.

Saracens: They are just an absolutely outstanding side and simply overwhelmed Gloucester in their Premiership semi-final at Allianz Park. Although they won 44-19, it could have been larger had they not eased off the gas in the final quarter, which allowed the Cherry and Whites to reduce the arrears slightly. Matches in the play-offs are meant to be difficult but, such is their dominance, Mark McCall’s men made it look easy. Exeter may have finished top during the regular season but Sarries will be heavy favourites for the showpiece event.

Premiership award winners: Congratulations to all those that received honours for their outstanding seasons in England’s top-tier, from young player of the year Tom Curry to top try-scorers Cobus Reinach and Denny Solomona, but particular credit must go to Danny Cipriani, who was named player of the year. It may not have gone the fly-half’s way on Saturday but his pack simply failed to provide the requisite platform at Allianz Park. That result should not detract from an outstanding campaign for the pivot, who helped the Cherry and Whites get back towards the top of the English game.

Montpellier: At one stage they looked out of contention in the race for the top-six but their victory over Clermont Auvergne on the final day in France’s top-tier helped them claim a place in the play-offs. Last season’s runners-up have now gone on a run of eight victories in nine games to reach the end-of-season shake-up and will be a danger for all the other sides. In 2018, Castres stunned everyone by finishing in sixth and claiming title – ironically beating Montpellier in the showpiece event – so can Vern Cotter’s team repeat that feat?

Tevita Kuridrani: The Brumbies delivered an excellent performance as they notched a fine 22-10 bonus-point victory over the Bulls in Canberra and Kuridrani deserves special praise as he was the game’s standout attacking player. Everything the Wallaby outside centre tried seemed to come off and his efforts were rewarded with a hat-trick of tries – his first at Super Rugby level. With experienced midfield backs like Samu Kerevi, Reece Hodge and Adam Ashley-Cooper also in the selection mix, Kuridrani’s superb display was a timely reminder to Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika that he should be team’s first-choice number 13 at the Rugby World Cup in Japan later this year.

Jaguares: The Buenos Aires-based outfit’s impressive run of results continues after they secured a hard-earned 23-15 triumph over the Waratahs in Sydney at the weekend. That means they have now won two out of three matches on their Australasian tour – after also beating the Hurricanes and losing narrowly to the Highlanders – making it six wins in seven games. That fine form has elevated the Gonzalo Quesada-coached team to first place in the South African Conference and they have the inside lane to finish at the top of that country’s standings as they face a struggling Reds side in Brisbane on Saturday before finishing their campaign with home matches against the Sharks and the tournament’s bottom-placed team, the Sunwolves.

BROKEN THERMOSTAT

Rob Kearney’s yellow card: We’re unsure at Planet Rugby as to whether Rob Kearney deserved a yellow or red card during Leinster’s victory over Glasgow Warriors. You can understand the judgement made by referee Nigel Owens but you also have sympathy for fans of the Scottish outfit, who were frustrated by the call. Another day, another officiating team and Kearney may have been sent-off, which would have boosted the Warriors’ chances of claiming the win in the final few minutes, but the decision ultimately went the way of the Irish province. What do you think?

COLD AS ICE!

Eddie Jones: What more can Alex Goode and Danny Cipriani do? Both players have received significant honours over the past two weeks, yet those two playmakers continue to be ignored by the England boss. With the former being named European Player of the Year and the latter picking up the Premiership Player of the Season award, their omission from the Red Rose squad has come into focus. Therefore, should they not be in Jones’ wider World Cup training squad in July, there will be an outcry, and rightly so.

Castres: To an extent, this was Montpellier’s revenge for their defeat to Christophe Urios’ men in the Top 14 Final last season. Their victory, combined with the 2018 champions’ defeat to Toulon, meant Urios’ side missed out on the play-offs by one point in what has been a collapse from the Stade Pierre-Fabre team. Despite beating Agen last weekend, they lost three of their final four games – all at home – to drop down to seventh position. It is a disappointing end for Urios who, having done a remarkable job, departs for a new adventure.

Sunwolves: Hugely concerning form from the Super Rugby strugglers as one hoped their bye round might help right the wrongs of their 33-0 loss to the Brumbies. It did not as against the Rebels in Tokyo they were hammered in all aspects. Error after error with ball in hand worryingly became all too predictable as their confidence looked shot. Compounding that, their scrum was destroyed by the Australian team, as they suffered a 52-7 defeat on home soil. Just three games now remain for the Sunwolves but right now it’s looking like three more losses.

Geordan Murphy: This will be a season Leicester Tigers will want to forget in a hurry. After narrowly avoiding relegation, things went from bad to worse for them when their head coach, Murphy, was accused of verbally abusing match officials during his side’s 32-31 loss to Bath at Welford Road during their last league match of the season. He will appear before an independent disciplinary panel on Wednesday and faces two charges. The first relates to verbal abuse of a match official and in the alternative for failure to respect the authority of a match official, contrary to Law 9.28. And the second charge is for failure to respect the authority of match officials, contrary to Law 9.28.

Brumbies