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!

Jaguares: The Buenos Aires-based outfit advanced to the Super Rugby semi-finals after a hard-fought 21-16 victory at home against the Chiefs at the weekend. That victory is a significant one as it is the first time in the Jaguares’ history that they have reached the semi-finals, after making their debut in the competition in 2016. The win over the Chiefs is the Jaguares’ sixth successive one and they will be quietly confident of extending that record when they host the Brumbies in their semi-final on Friday.

Cornal Hendricks: The Bulls may have lost their quarter-final to the Hurricanes in Wellington but they put up a brave fight, especially the Springbok flyer, who came to the fore with a superb attacking display. Hendricks was a constant threat to the Hurricanes defence and he was rewarded with a brace of tries for his efforts. It must be remembered that he was in the rugby wilderness for three years, after being diagnosed with a heart ailment, and his quarter-final performance caps a superb comeback season for the the 31-year-old.

Crusaders: It was close in the first half but the defending champions showed their class to move away from fellow New Zealand franchise the Highlanders in the second period. They were dominant after the break and it is difficult to see who can stop them from retaining their title and making it three in a row. The front five is one that could line up for the All Blacks in the World Cup, while Richie Mo’unga is once again playing exceptionally well at fly-half. The Hurricanes in the semi-final will probably be their toughest challenge but, should they get through that test, then you can’t see the Jaguares or the Brumbies overcoming Scott Roberson’s men in the showpiece event, especially in Christchurch.

France U20s: For the second year in a row, France’s age-grade side are world champions after defeating Australia 24-23 in the showpiece event. It was an outstanding game, with both sides playing some superb rugby, but Les Bleuets just had the edge, earning a one-point victory thanks to Louis Carbonel’s fourth penalty 15 minutes from time. The French have been criticised for having too many foreign players in the Top 14, but a number of the individuals that featured in the U20 team have already gained significant league experience, suggesting that they are starting to strike the right balance.

COLD AS ICE!

Israel Folau’s hypocrisy: It’s quite something for someone who stated a year ago that he would walk away from his contract should his position become “untenable” to then ask for $3 million from donors to fight Rugby Australia in their ongoing dispute. His actions do not smack of someone who is virtuous, as he proclaims, but instead mere hypocrisy. It takes a lot for former and current players to come out (so to speak) against one of their own but, the fact that they have, shows how they view him. As Nigel Owens and Gareth Thomas can attest to, rugby is very supportive when it comes to the LGBT community and it must continue to decry the actions of those that threaten it. Thankfully, sanity has prevailed and Folau’s GoFundMe page has been removed from the site and the company said it would refund all received donations after deeming the campaign violated its terms of service.

Asafo Aumua’s hit: We at Planet Rugby were staggered more wasn’t made of this when it happened and even more so when seeing this video (below). On first viewing, it looks like a nailed on red card for Aumua and, at a crucial stage of the match, with the Bulls not far behind the Hurricanes going into the latter stages, it potentially cost the visitors a victory. Once again it opens up accusations of bias, especially at such a crucial stage of the season. It is an easy incident for the officials to ‘ignore’, with play moving at such a tempo, and the television match official needs to made accountable. Australian referee Nic Berry evidently missed it in the heart of the action but, when the TMO is effectively watching it on a screen like those at home, why didn’t New Zealander Glenn Newman alert Berry to the potential offence?

Liam Squire: The Highlanders blindside flanker’s illegal hit on the Crusaders’ Whetu Douglas in Saturday’s Super Rugby quarter-final had a huge bearing on the result in Christchurch. After finishing the first half with a flourish, the Highlanders were back in the game as they were trailing by just three points at the interval. However, the All Black’s sin-binning in the 45th minute saw the momentum swinging back in the Crusaders’ favour and they scored 14 unanswered point during his spell on the sidelines before securing a 38-14 victory.

World Cup absentees: While Chris Robshaw, Dylan Hartley and Danny Care aren’t necessarily guaranteed to miss out on England’s official World Cup training squad announced in July, it seems highly likely that they will be absent from the list. They weren’t named in the upcoming camp, which signals a fall from grace for all three. Hartley was the captain who led the Red Rose to the Six Nations titles in 2016 and ’17, while Robshaw and Care have been crucial components of the side in recent years, but others have evidently usurped that experienced trio. It is a similar story for France’s Mathieu Bastareaud and Morgan Parra, who played in the recent Six Nations but find themselves out of the picture heading into the global tournament in Japan.

Rejigged PRO14 conferences: You have to question a situation that sees Leinster and Glasgow in the same division, even if the logic seems sound on paper. That’s right, in an attempt to continually make both conferences balanced, the PRO14 has been rejigged for the next two years by the powers that be, yet it has arguably had the opposite effect. The two finalists from the previous campaign have been drawn together due to the fact that Munster finished on more points than Leinster during the regular season, meaning that they are the top Irish seed rather than their Dublin-based rivals.

Scotland U20s: It has been an awful year for the Scottish age-grade side and it culminated in them being relegated from the World Rugby U20 Championship. They finished bottom of the Six Nations and have done the same at the global tournament, going down heavily to Fiji in the 11th place play-off. While the Pacific Islanders were brilliant and played some wonderful rugby, the Scots were abysmal and have duly been demoted to the U20 Trophy. Over recent years, they have done some good things at academy level but this season’s effort will be a concern going forward.

Bulls