Best of the weekend: Saxons conquer Cork, surprises aplenty in France

Saxons overcome Wolfhounds in fractious affair

Two strong Irish and English ‘A’ squads clashed at Musgrave Park on Friday night in an RBS 6 Nations teaser with a preponderance of selection sub-plots still to be tied up. Could Ian Madigan wear the 10 jersey with authority? Will Sean O’Brien be fit enough for next week? Would Sam Burgess actually do anything?

In the end it was a scrappy affair in which neither side managed to achieve much fluency. The Saxons’ scrum dominance was contradicted by mediocre lineout work; the strong Wolfhounds defence was cancelled out by an inability to get over the gainline. In the end the Saxons managed to put together the two most constructive and cohesive passages. Stringing together a number of phases to send first Slade diving over from short range, then Wade nipping in as time elapsed to give the final score line a more comfortable look at 9 – 18 to the Englishmen.

Standout Saxons performances came from Henry Thomas in the tight, as well as Ewers and Kvesic who were powerful and disruptive in equal measure. Henry Slade continues to impress and looks a player bestowed with that ineffable quality “time on the ball”. Elliot Daly’s arching outside breaks and Chris Pennell’s all-round tidiness were also worthy of mention.

For the Wolfhounds, Madigan shoed flashes of the ingenuity we have come to expect, but couldn’t command and dictate the game with any believable authority. O’Brien was well marshalled by the Saxons but Keith Earls looked lively and quick footed in patches. In truth, apart from a late Irish foray into the Saxons’ 22, the Wolfhounds were largely toothless.

Ireland may well be concerned that a larger number of those who were uninspiring on Friday are likely to feature for them over the coming campaign. England will be pleased to know they have plenty of options available to counter their growing queue for the physio room.

LV= Cup showcases bright young things

There was a plethora of young talent on display in the somewhat unfashionable cross-border cup with some aesthetically pleasing results for a freezing late January weekend. Harlequins and Bath played out an entertaining clash of styles, Quins’ high tempo vs Bath’s power, and Bath’s set piece forced them home with a pushover try, followed by a late penalty from Rory Jennings sealing a Bath win.

Cardiff Blues claimed a famous win in an 80 point try-fest at the Ricoh, turning Wasps over 42-45. Wins also came for Gloucester, Leicester, Scarlets and Exeter. Saracens, who were run close by an improved London Welsh, ground out a 20-15 victory on Sunday, while the day before they had conceded four early unanswered tries to the Bulls in an exhibition match, before regaining some respectability, going down 26-39 at Allianz Park.

Upsets shake up Top 14 summit

La Rochelle stole the headlines in the Top 14 with a rare victory over powerhouses Clermont Auvergne on the Atlantic coast. A 77th minute try from winger Mali Hingano, the only try of the game, was enough to seal the minnows a famous upset downing their illustrious opponents 16-12.

The surprises kept on coming however, as table toppers Stade Francais slipped to defeat at Oyonnax in another tight encounter 15 – 13. The boot of Benjamin Urdapilleta was enough to cancel out Djibril Camara’s lone score for the Parisians. Fellow title chasers Toulon recorded a comfortable 24-17 win on Friday night over Bayonne.

Toulouse, Brive, Racing Metro and Montpellier (despite playing with 14 men for 60 minutes) also picked up wins against Castres, Grenoble, Lyon and Bordeaux-Begles respectively. The weekend sees Stade, Toulon and Clermont tied with 51 points at the top of the table with nine games to play.

Try of the Weekend: Scrum-half Yann Lesgourgue of Bordeaux-Begles contributed a stunning solo effort in his side’s loss to Montpellier. Fielding a box kick on the Montpellier 10 metre line and wriggling out of a tackle, he burst sideways into the open field, leaving the flat-footed Montpellier defence for dead and weaved his way to the line. Skip to 0.46 in the video below to see it.

Video credit: BowserX4

Hero of the Week: Elliot Roudil for his hopeful genius flicked pass to set up Mali Hingano’s try which gave La Rochelle a famous win over Clermont and helped them open up a slender lead over lowly Castres at the bottom of the Top 14.

Villain of the Week: Ospreys’ Sam Davies for getting sin binned for stupidly slapping the ball out of the scrum-half’s hands, leaving the Welshmen with both their half-backs in the bin and allowing Gloucester to surge into an insurmountable lead.

By Patrick Cheshire (@jpcheshire)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images