Who’s hot and who’s not!

Colin Newboult

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 after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

England: Marker thrown down to the world in their penultimate warm-up game before the Rugby World Cup. They were outstanding against Ireland as to a man they got the better of their opposite number. Manu Tuilagi, Tom Curry, Sam Underhill and Joe Cokanasiga stood out at Twickenham as the English look the real deal before the tournament. They will hope there is still plenty in the tank heading to Japan but on this showing they are genuine title contenders.

Scotland: It wasn’t perfect by any means but it was a huge improvement. Some of the new individuals helped, with Hamish Watson named man of the match and Finn Russell providing variety at fly-half, but the intensity was much better and they put France under pressure. They also controlled the scrum battle in the opening 65 minutes, which gave them the platform to get back into the contest after going 14-3 down. Gregor Townsend’s charges are nowhere near their best and still need to develop several aspects of their game to be ready for the World Cup, but it’s a start.

Bayonne: What a kick off to start the Top 14 season as newly-promoted Bayonne won 24-17 at Racing 92. Michael Ruru and Aymeric Luc crossed the whitewash while Romain Barthelemy and Manuel Ordas added points off the tee as they stunned the Parisian giants. They kept Racing scoreless in the second half in a hugely impressive away result.

Jordan Petaia: The youngster is highly-rated within Australian rugby and, despite playing little rugby this season, has been named in the Wallabies’ 31-man squad for the World Cup. It is testament to his ability having also travelled with the national side to Europe for their 2018 November tour . Injury unfortunately prevented him from getting on the field against Italy before he impressed for the Reds at the start of the Super Rugby campaign. A foot problem ended his year for the Queenslanders but, with the back now fully fit, it will be exciting to see how he fares in Japan.

Tasman: Speaking of impressive, we once again find time to acknowledge the form of Tasman as they made it three wins out of three this year. They cruised to a 64-3 victory against Manawatu as Jamie Spowart stood out with a hat-trick of tries as they extended their lead at the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership summit by one point, ahead of Auckland.

Cardiff: After taking the PRO14 final to Ireland and Scotland, the Welsh capital has been named as the venue for the 2020 showpiece event. It has proven to be a great success, with Dublin and Glasgow both doing excellent jobs in the past couple of years, and no doubt Cardiff will do the same. It’s at the slightly smaller Cardiff City Stadium, home of the Blues for a few years, but it should be a full house. Hopefully one of the regions can have a better season and sneak into the final, which would of course add another layer of excitement around the city on Saturday, June 20.

COLD AS ICE!

France: After the excitement and promise of their opening Rugby World Cup warm-up, Jacques Brunel’s men were pretty awful against Scotland. Despite a couple of bits of opportunism, which saw form wing Damian Penaud touch down twice, there was a lack of creativity and structure in attack. Their set-piece also faltered and it cost them in the second half as Townsend’s men upped the pressure and were rewarded through Chris Harris going over. Les Bleus have one final game against Italy next week but a vast improvement is certainly required before they get to Japan.

Ireland: Embarrassed by England on Saturday as they suffered their heaviest defeat to their rivals. Granted they’re a few weeks behind England in terms of match preparation but it certainly showed at Twickenham as they were given a real hiding. To concede 57 points that included eight tries will be of huge concern for Joe Schmidt and Ireland fans and things don’t get any easier this week as they head to Cardiff to face Wales, a side in a similar place as the English.

Paul Gabrillagues: It was mentioned last Monday but confirmed over the past seven days that he’d been banned for six weeks following his illegal clearout against Scotland in Nice. It’ll be a miss for Les Bleus with the second-row abrasive (mostly in a good way) throughout in the 32-3 win. Felix Lambey is a fine player but the Stade Francais man gives them a bit more physicality and balance alongside Sebastien Vahaamahina, who’s a certainty in that front five.

Scarra Ntubeni and Western Province: Footage of the newly-capped Springbok hooker slapping the ball from a ball boy’s grasp in a Currie Cup game in Bloemfontein was not pretty. There was no excuse for Ntubeni but, to his credit he responded admirably, by presenting the ball boy with a Western Province jersey after the match. However, his team were eventually beaten by Free State Cheetahs as they miss out on the play-offs on a day to forget for them.

Stade Francais: An awful way to open the new season as they were given a hiding at Lyon, losing 43-9. Just three Morne Steyn penalties were carded at Matmut Stadium de Gerland while hosts Lyon ran in seven tries. This was the heaviest defeat of the round by some distance and it doesn’t get any easier for Stade as they now head to La Rochelle.

 

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