Winners and Losers: June Test I
June has come, the internationals are in full flow all across the globe from Cape Town to Colorado.
June has come, the internationals are in full flow all across the globe from Cape Town to Colorado.
As ever, some will cover themselves in glory while others will merely wish to climb into a big hole and cover themselves. We have a sift through the weekend's action and see who's where…
Winners
1) Canada. Lots of action between Tier One nations all over the world this weekend but back in the Churchill Cup, Canada were delivering a beating to France A. Yes it was 'only' a France A team, but that's 'only' a France A team including Maxime Medard, Lionel Beauxis, Julien Dupuy and a number of players who have made their name in the Top 14 such as Castres' Yannick Forestier, Toulouse's Yoann Maestri and Perpignan's Jean-Pierre Perez and Guillaume Vilaceca up front. Kudos to Canada, whose hard work on internal infrastructure and willingness to get teams into all sorts of cross-border tournaments is beginning to pay off.
2) SARU/Newlands. All weekend, South Africa has been… doing something… to the 'tune' of the vuvuzela. They drowned out the Super 14 Final, they've smothered the soccer World Cup, they've irritated the hell out of anyone within earshot of the rainbow nation. All except Newlands on Saturday, where not one plastic trumpet was in attendance. As a result, we got crowd songs, the occasional live damp thud of flesh on flesh on the pitch, players shouting, referees whistling… all the things we go to live sport for. Thank goodness.
3) Luke Burgess. Quade Cooper has had many plaudits for his weekend's display, but Burgess was even better at times. He's often been a little short of the standard required at Test level, but Saturday looked to be a coming of age of sorts. Hopefully, his hard work has paid off and he can now go on to fulfil his potential.
4) All debutantes in New Plymouth. Sam Whitelock, Ben Franks and Dan Tuohy with tries, Israel Dagg with all sorts of exciting running and a superb offload for a try, Victor Vito getting the usual ten minutes at the end of the half… then the second half as well! It was a day for the Newbies in New Plymouth on Saturday, from both teams.
5) Australia's front row (not the seniors). A little glimpse of the future was afforded in Santa Fe, where Australia's U20 front row trio of Salesi Manu, Siliva Siliva and the monstrous Paul Alo-Emile gave no less than South Africa all sorts of problems at scrum-time. They might not be ready for next year, but roll on 2015 if you're a Wallaby (that's the one in England, in case you needed motivation).
6) Gio Aplon. Two tries in his second game for South Africa is good enough, but bumping off a centre some 20kg heavier than him to rumble over for a score in front of your home fans? Great stuff – and proof that the little guys can survive at the top level.
Losers
1) Ronan O'Gara. Yes, Jamie Heaslip got himself sent off, but O'Gara's ridiculous and unnecessary yellow-card pull-back on Cory Jane really got the floodgates open against New Zealand. Proof once again that O'Gara's mentality is not quite what it was.
2) France. A triple whammy this weekend, the national side slaughtered by the Boks, the A side beaten by Canada and the U20 side beaten by England. A bad weekend from every angle. So much for the Kings of Europe.
3) Anybody within earshot of any of the weekend's anthems. We came to watch rugby matches. We did not come for a short concert involving tinny tannoy systems in stadia with appalling acoustics and a medium-grade singer imposing his/her own 'artistic' license upon our national song. Can we leave showbiz to the Americans and let the players and fans have our sing-song back please?
4) Argentina. Whisper it, but the golden age might be over just a mite too soon. Just as Argentina head for the Tri-Nations, the current side contrives to throw away the unbeaten record of Tucuman. 2012 will be a landmark moment for the Pumas, it might also be a few landslide victories for their Four Nations opponents.
5) Australia's front row (not the juniors). Australia's seniors very nearly managed to throw away the utter superiority enjoyed all over the pitch by the rest of the team with two penalty tries conceded and an endless stream of non-scrum infringements from Salesi Ma'afu. The accession of the juniors upwards can't come soon enough.
6) Maxime Mermoz. Dropped balls, fluffed running lines and bumped off by someone 20kg and four or five inches his inferior. A good season's work undone in one match really.