Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou
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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 after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

Marcus Smith: What an incredible year it’s been for the Harlequins pivot. After helping the Londoners to the Premiership title, most observers no doubt thought that his England debut would be the icing on the cake of an outstanding season, but no one told Warren Gatland. During Saturday’s game, as Smith was guiding the Red Rose to a dominant 70-14 victory over Canada, it was revealed that he had been called up to the Lions squad as cover for the injured Finn Russell. It caps an incredible few weeks for the talented youngster, who was told after coming off the field and was left in absolute disbelief.

New Zealand keeping Razor: Friday brought fantastic news for the Crusaders and New Zealand Rugby as it was announced that Scott Robertson had re-signed with the Super Rugby giants on a new deal until the end of 2024. Regarded as one of the best young coaches in the world, Robertson was linked with several top jobs around the world, both at club and international level, so for New Zealand Rugby to keep hold of him is a massive coup. One wonders if promises have been made regarding the All Blacks head coach role in the future and it’s clear the three-time Rugby World Cup winners would have an ideal candidate in Robertson. Respected across the board, he’s made for that job.

Happy hookers: Dane Coles, Ronan Kelleher and Jamie Blamire all scored at least three tries in their respective team’s dominant victories. Coles’ effort was particularly impressive as he only came onto the field for New Zealand in the 50th minute against Fiji and scored his first five-pointer two minutes later off the back of a lineout drive. He would touch down three more times to complete an impressive feat as it is the first time an All Black forward has ever scored four tries in a Test in the side’s 118-year history. Ireland’s Kelleher also went over four times in their comfortable win over the USA while Blamire took his tally to four tries in two Tests after helping England to a victory over Canada. Impressive stuff from those three hookers and their forward team-mates.

Wing wonders: It’s going to be an incredibly difficult task for Lions head coach Gatland to select which two players start on the wing for the Test series. Wales star Josh Adams has shone throughout, touching down a staggering eight times in three games and enhanced his claims by scoring a hat-trick against the Sharks in midweek. However, Duhan van der Merwe followed that up with a stunning display versus the same team on Saturday, while Anthony Watson reminded everyone of his quality by impressing in the second half of that clash. There is also the presence of Louis Rees-Zammit, who always looks dangerous, and potentially Liam Williams, who may be chosen on the wing despite solely featuring at full-back so far. No doubt, Van der Merwe and Adams have been the two best but they both play on the left, so could they feature in the same team or are the duo competing for the same slot? That will become clearer over the next week but you don’t envy Gatland, who has to make these decisions.

COLD AS ICE!

Lions and South Africa disruption: If truth be told, it’s not been a particularly great week for the tour, which has seen a number of observers come out and say it should be cancelled. Both the Lions and South Africa were hit by Covid cases last week, forcing the Springboks’ game against Georgia to be cancelled and the tourists to make late changes to their side versus the Sharks. The Lions’ clash with the Bulls also had to be called off after the Pretoria-based outfit had several positives, leaving many to question whether there is any point in the tour continuing. Hopefully this will be the last issue involving Covid but, with the situation bad in South Africa, it may be wishful thinking.

Frantic France: Is there a team in the world that would lose a match like that? Fabien Galthie’s men were magnificent on Wednesday in the first Test of their three-match series against Australia. Despite fielding a severely weakened side, they showed the depth in French rugby at the moment by dominating the early stages and going 15-0 up. They then rather went into their shells – almost akin to the Autumn Nations Cup final – and allowed Australia to get back into the game. The Wallabies also improved immeasurably and edged back into the contest, but the hosts were 21-20 behind going into the final minute. France then won a penalty which seemingly ended the game as a contest. All they needed to do was claim the lineout and kick it out, but they completely panicked. Although Les Bleus secured set-piece ball, it wasn’t clean and Teddy Iribaren passed to Melvyn Jaminet, who proceeded to give it straight to Tate McDermott in their own 22. Dave Rennie’s charges duly kept hold of the ball, pressurised the France defensive line and won a penalty in front of the posts, which Noah Lolesio easily kicked to snatch the victory. A bizarre end to an entertaining game, with the French left kicking themselves after another implosion as the clock went into the red.

Scotland’s bleak summer: It has been a hugely frustrating month for the Scots as their hopes of building depth in their squad by playing three matches have been hindered by their England ‘A’, Romania and Georgia fixtures being cancelled due to Covid-19. Interim head coach Mike Blair was given the reins due to Gregor Townsend being with the British and Irish Lions in South Africa and must be just as upset as his players at not being able to cut his teeth at the elite level. There were a total of 18 uncapped youngsters picked by Scotland this summer while the Lions were away so let’s hope a chance at breaking their international duck does come again in the future otherwise it would be a shame.

Juan Cruz Mallia and Riekert Hattingh: The flurry of red cards in rugby union continued after Mallia and Hattingh were sent off for relatively similar incidents. Mallia received his marching orders in the first half of Argentina’s draw against Wales due to being far too upright in the tackle, causing a head-on-head collision with Kieran Hardy. A year ago, it would have been deemed a rugby incident, but quite rightly the authorities are trying to clamp down on any sort of head contact and, as a result, it left referee Matt Carley with little choice. American flanker Hattingh also paid the price for not bending at the waist as his shoulder connected with the head of Ronan Kelleher and was subsequently red carded. It’s going to be a long process but players really need to learn and adapt, or else they will continue to be punished.

 

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England comfortably beat Canada

England recorded a huge 70-14 rout over Canada at Twickenham as Jamie Blamire and Adam Radwan bag hat-tricks, while Joe Cokanasiga claimed a brace and Ellis Genge also crossing in addition to a penalty try.

Argentina