Who’s hot and who’s not!

Colin Newboult
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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!

Harlequins and the 2020/21 Premiership season: What a campaign it’s been in England’s top-flight. Despite the Covid issues, it has been a year full of high quality matches, ending in an incredible set of play-off matches. Few thought any game could come close to Harlequins’ epic semi-final victory over Bristol but, just a week on, the showpiece event delivered another classic encounter. Both Quins and Exeter played with ambition and style, while the contest ebbed and flowed throughout, but it was the Londoners that won the key moments to claim their second league title – and first since 2012. A season to remember in the Premiership.

https://twitter.com/Harlequins/status/1408902643091714050

Dan Biggar: There were some excellent individuals performances during the Lions’ victory over Japan on Saturday as the likes of Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Duhan van der Merwe and Robbie Henshaw all put their hands up, but Biggar was the undoubted star of their performance. The fly-half controlled the game magnificently by picking out his runners, kicking well out of hand and off the tee, and defending stoutly. The Welshman has certainly laid down a marker to his competitors Owen Farrell and Finn Russell, who will get their opportunity to start over the next couple of games.

Conor Murray: The scrum-half has very little captaincy experience. He’s never led his country, while at province Munster the 32-year-old has only done it on very rare occasions, but he is the man Warren Gatland has entrusted to skipper the Lions. Does it indicate that Murray is a nailed on starter in comparison to the likes of Ken Owens, Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell, who were among the other options? Or is there something in particular Gatland has seen during his time coaching the Munsterman at the Lions? Either way it is a huge fillip for Murray, who is an excellent communicator and a popular member of the squad.

Toulouse: Congratulations to Toulouse, who proved they are also the best in France after claiming the Champions Cup title in May. Once again La Rochelle were their opponents in the final and, like in that game, Les Rouge et Noir just had a bit too much nous. Ugo Mola’s men got out to a lead early on and it would be one they would not relinquish. Thomas Ramos was accurate off the tee, taking advantage of La Rochelle’s ill-discipline, and Cheslin Kolbe also added a long-range drop-goal. At half-time they led 12-0 and, by the start of the second period, the heavens opened, making the task even more difficult for Jono Gibbes’ charges. The conditions made it almost impossible to keep the ball in hand and, as a result, Toulouse comfortably held out to win yet another French title.

New Zealand newbies and David Havili: Congratulations to the four new players in the All Blacks squad – Ethan de Groot, Ethan Blackadder, Finlay Christie and Quinn Tupaea – who have been rewarded for fine seasons. There are also returns for Brodie Retallick, whose two-year sabbatical in Japan has ended, and the Crusaders’ excellent back David Havili. The 26-year-old has remarkably not played for New Zealand since 2017 but has consistently produced for his franchise and is deservedly back in the fold.

COLD AS ICE!

Lions injury setbacks: A huge shame for Alun Wyn Jones and Justin Tipuric, who will miss the Lions tour after picking up shoulder injuries against Japan on Saturday. Jones was the obvious choice for captain after playing a significant part in another Wales Six Nations title triumph and his leadership will be missed. Tipuric was another who was expected to play a crucial part in the squad and he is slightly different to the other openside flankers in the squad. His height gave the Lions an extra lineout option – a huge bonus against the Springboks’ strong set-piece – and he is also better in the wider channels than the likes of Tom Curry, Hamish Watson and his replacement, Josh Navidi.

Top 14 final: Compare the ambition we saw in the Premiership’s showpiece event to what transpired in France on Friday and it is stark. Although the rain meant positive rugby was not possible in the second half, it was dry in the opening period and the conservative approach was still the preferred option. It was dreary rugby and not a great advert for the French game. You also have to feel that La Rochelle, by being tentative and negative, didn’t really do themselves justice. At least Exeter, despite no doubt being frustrated with some of their mistakes, could leave Twickenham with few regrets. They didn’t deviate from their game plan just because it was a big final and were simply beaten by the better team on the day.

Murrayfield beer issue: When have you heard a rugby stadium running out of beer? Well, that’s what happened at Murrayfield and supporters were understandably not happy. The stadium organisers blamed “unprecedented pre-match sales”, but that’s not really an acceptable excuse in a stadium which only had 16,500 fans in attendance. It’s simply not good enough.

Springboks’ Covid cases: In a concerning development, South Africa were forced to cancel training after three positive Covid-19 cases. They also put the squad in self-isolation as a ‘precaution’ but it is not good news ahead of the Lions series. The coronavirus situation in the country is getting worse and once again makes you fear what may happen should an outbreak occur as the Tests get closer. The main thing is the health of the players and the Springboks will hope it has not spread further. Hopefully they are fine and will be able to take on Georgia or else their already-disrupted preparations will have taken another hit.

World Rugby’s law trials: Although it has yet to be officially confirmed, reports during the week suggested that the governing body are going to approve two new law trials to be used in all competitions from August. Fortunately, the 20-minute red card is not one of them – and we think it’s disappointing that those in the southern hemisphere are in favour of it – but the 50/22 and goal line dropouts are. We are equally bemused by these ‘innovations’, which have generally been driven by the Australians, who are no doubt trying to attract the rugby league crowd. They have both been trialled in Super Rugby AU, while the dropout was used in Aotearoa, but they didn’t particularly do anything to improve the spectacle. The excitement came from the quality and ambition of the respective teams, rather than any new laws that were introduced. What will improve the game is clearing up the ruck contest and having refereeing consistency across the board in both hemispheres.

British government’s Premiership crowd decision: Although cases are rising in the UK, the vaccines appear to be doing their job – cutting deaths and hospitalisations – which is allowing supporters to return to stadiums. In most cases, they have been limited to a quarter capacity but in some games or events, they have trialled bigger numbers, but it’s as though the government are cherry-picking who is allowed to have larger capacities. Of course, they quickly thrashed out a deal to increase numbers for the Euro 2020 semi-finals and final, while Wimbledon is set to be full by the end of the tournament, yet the Premiership only gets 10,000 – an eighth of Twickenham’s capacity. Like most of the the British government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, it is a shambles.

British and Irish Lions