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 after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

Wales: Congratulations to Wayne Pivac’s men, who were crowned Six Nations champions after Scotland superbly beat France on Friday. Although the country was left desolate following their late defeat to the French last weekend, a result which denied them the Grand Slam, they at least got the reward of the title. Despite the criticism they have received during this tournament, the Welsh are deserved winners of the Six Nations. Les Bleus may have played the best rugby over the past couple of months, but inconsistency remains an issue and Pivac’s charges generally had the composure and quality when they needed it. They will, however, rue that final stages in Paris on ‘Super Saturday’.

Scotland and Duhan van der Merwe: Although they finished fourth in the Six Nations standings, Gregor Townsend’s troops deserve plenty of credit after ending their campaign in style with that memorable triumph against France in Paris. The victory was significant as it was the Scots’ first away victory against Les Bleus since 1999. That means Scotland’s campaign was ultimately a momentous one as they also managed to beat the tournament’s other heavyweights, England, in their Championship opener. Meanwhile, although Van der Merwe missed a tackle on Damian Penaud in the build-up to Brice Dulin’s try, he made up for it by scoring the match-winning crossing in the game’s dying moments and he had extra reason to celebrate as the wing set a new Six Nations record for players defenders beaten in a single tournament.

Danny Cipriani and Bath: The maverick English fly-half is back and has taken his talents to the Rec after signing an ‘extended’ one-year deal with Stuart Hooper’s men. After leaving Gloucester earlier in the season, Cipriani has decided that it is time to get back out on the field and will join Bath in May. With Rhys Priestland leaving to sign for Cardiff Blues, they needed another fly-half to fill his void and the ex-Red Rose representative should be able to spark their attack. He may now be 33, but Cipriani is still an exceptional player and could play a key role towards the end of the current campaign should the West Countrymen continue their good form and challenge for the play-off places.

Jordie Barrett: The Hurricanes claimed their first win of the 2021 Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign when they beat the Highlanders in Dunedin and it was largely due to the performance of the All Blacks full-back, who delivered a virtuoso display. The 24-year-old hit the ground running and continued to keep the Highlanders’ defenders on their toes with a superb attacking display while also keeping the scoreboard ticking for his side with excellent goal-kicking. In the end, Barrett was the men from Wellington’s hero as he scored all their points in the 30-19 triumph courtesy of a hat-trick of converted tries and as many penalties. He looks to have taken his game up a notch.

Leinster: Leinster continued their domination over the rest of the PRO14 by claiming their fourth title in a row following a deserved 16-6 triumph over arch rivals Munster in Dublin on Saturday. Jack Conan’s try and the boot of Ross Byrne saw them to victory as yet another outstanding campaign in this competition came to an end. Munster and Ulster did impress during 2020/21 but even they would admit that Leinster continue to set the bar, with this silverware helping whet their appetite ahead of the upcoming Champions Cup knockout stages.

COLD AS ICE!

Brice Dulin: France’s full-back came into their game against Scotland with plenty of confidence after an excellent attacking performance in their previous encounter against Wales. He started well against Scotland and crossed for their first try, late in the opening half, but he had a moment to forget during that Test’s closing stages. With France leading 23-20, and the game in injury time, all Dulin had to do was put the ball into touch as Les Bleus’ hopes of winning the title had evaporated. The 30-year-old had a brain implosion, however, opting to run the ball from deep inside his half and things went awry as Scotland soon won a turnover and took the ball through multiple phases before Van der Merwe crossed for the try which clinched his side’s victory. Dulin might have been the hero against Wales but was the villain on Friday.

Suspension handed down to Mateo Carreras: During the week, the Argentinian wing was found by an independent panel to have ‘intentionally’ made contact with the eye area of Josh Bassett in Newcastle’s defeat to Wasps. For that shocking act, Carreras was only banned for nine weeks after it was halved due to all the usual mitigations they apply. And while we appreciate the idea of a guilty plea and a clean record, resulting in a reduction in a player’s suspension has its place, should it really be applied when someone has purposefully made contact with the eye area of an opponent? It’s one of the most heinous acts in the game and the Falcons player has surely been let off lightly.

Rob Penney paying the price for results: It was inevitable, surely? A fifth successive defeat in Super Rugby AU 2021 led to Waratahs chiefs parting ways with their head coach Penney. It wasn’t just the negatives but the manner of the losses as record scorelines simply could not be ignored any longer by the Board in Sydney. In a statement the ‘Tahs acknowledged that Penney has been coaching an inexperienced squad of players relative to the other states, however following match reviews, the Board decided a change was needed. We wish Rob well.

The latest Ellis Genge episode: In the Six Nations game against Ireland, the England international came in for criticism on social media after a scuffle on the ground with Johnny Sexton was followed by him allegedly admitting to elbowing the fly-half in the face. No citing was forthcoming and we respect the decision there as it was obviously not viewed as serious. However, back on club duty for Leicester over the weekend, Genge got into a verbal war of words with Newcastle prop Jon Welsh before kick-off that almost prompted a scuffle. We hope the Tigers and England loosehead stamps out these moments from his game as reputations are built pretty easily in sport. He must be careful.

 

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