Chiefs go Second as Manoa saves Saints blushes
A pulsating round of Aviva Premiership games lifted the spirits of fans across England after the 6 Nations result last weekend, with some excellent games producing some great moments. Bath and Sale made it a slow start on Friday, with Bath running out eventual winners 12 – 3, the boot of Tom Homer leading his side to victory. The former Irish man has settled straight in and, if he can stay fit, looks like a handy signing.
Gloucester and Northampton played out a stunning 33-33 draw at Kingsholm. Gloucester produced a controlled first half and tries from Sharples and Hibbard put them ahead 23 – 6 at the break. The Saints rallied after half time and two tries from James Wilson brought them back into contention. A 78th try from Manoa, converted cooly by Myler, brought the sides level. Gloucester will rue missing out on a famous home win. Saints will breathe a sigh of relief as Exeter and Sarries are both lurking with intent.
Elsewhere on Saturday Harlequins got a much needed win at home to Irish. Conor O’Shea’s team have not quite clicked all season and languish in eighth, although the young squad will surely be better for the experience. Recent talk of ring-fencing the Premiership seems to have done little to galvanise London Welsh, who received another hammering 74 – 19 at Sandy Park. With Welsh the likely losers in any restructure, they are failing to make any kind of case for protected status in any new competition.
On Sunday, Saracens popped Wasps’ Ricoh Arena bubble, despite two stunning tries from Christian Wade and Elliot Daly (let’s hope Bomber was watching). Those moments of individual class punctuated a pretty tetchy and frankly trying game of kick tennis, with Wigglesworth and Goode (Alex) leathering the ball into the sky, only to have it sent back by Goode (Andy) and Joe Simpson. Newcastle will wonder what might have been after losing at home to Leicester 12 – 16. Richard Cockerill’s men ground this one out in typical Leicester fashion, but this was another sign of the recovery underway in the North East being orchestrated by Dean Richards and Dave Walder. With Sale also improving all the time under Steve Diamond, talk of the death of Union in the North a few seasons ago seems, thankfully, to be well and truly over.
Dragons stun Ulster to complete perfect weekend for Welsh sides
After four league wins in a row, Ulster were putting together a strong charge towards the play-offs, and if their winning run was always going to come to an end at some stage, not many would have predicted it to be against the Dragons. The Welsh region sit in tenth and lost last weekend to even-lowlier Zebre, but the kicking of Tom Prydie and Dorian Jones, in addition to three second half tries, were enough for them to overcome the Irish province 26-22.
That result capped a superb, unbeaten weekend for the Welsh regions. It started on Friday night when Cardiff overcame Connacht in the most controversial of circumstances, an 86th minute Joaquin Tuculet try followed by an 88th minute Rhys Patchell conversion giving them an 18-17 win over Connacht – their first over Irish opposition this season. Connacht coach Pat Lam had plenty to say about the game afterwards, and in particular touch judge Leighton Hodges’ contribution, and it will be intriguing to see how that plays out.
Elsewhere the Scarlets heaped further pressure on Matt O’Connor at Leinster, as three tries from John Barclay, Jordan Williams and Rory Pitman handed them a comfortable 23-13 victory. The Ospreys completed a flawless weekend for Welsh sides against Irish opposition as they beat Munster 26-12 to leapfrog Leinster into the play-off places. There were two Scottish wins over Italian opposition as Glasgow defeated Zebre 26-5 and Edinburgh toppled Treviso 29-8.
Away sides prosper in Super Rugby
When the Highlanders stunned the Chiefs 20-17 in Dunedin on Friday evening, it was an omen of things to come as they started a run of four away victories over the Super Rugby weekend. Aaron Cruden’s off night with the boot, compared with the much more accurate efforts of Lima Sopoaga and Marty Banks, was ultimately the Chiefs’ undoing.
The Bulls, Waratahs and Lions also secured wins on the road, beating the Cheetahs (20-39), Reds (5-23) and Blues (10-13) respectively. The Blues’ loss continued their woeful start to the season, which has seen them yet to win a game.
The Stormers overcame the Sharks in another all-South African affair in Cape Town, Cheslin Kolbe inspiring them from fullback to an ultimately comfortable 29-13 win over their rivals. The Stormers remain unbeaten, while the Sharks have now lost three of their first four games. Elsewhere, the Brumbies overcame the Force 27-15 in an entertaining Australian derby.
Plisson’s late show keeps pressure on leaders in Top 14
Stade Français’ last gasp win over Bordeaux Begles had enough drama in it for the entire weekend. With three minutes to go, Stade led 20-15 and were seemingly on course for what would be a rare away win in France’s top competition, only for a try from Bordeaux flanker Louis-Benoit Madaule and subsequent Lionel Beauxis to give the home side a late 22-20 lead. Stade were not deterred, and a sweetly-struck drop goal with the last kick of the game from replacement fly-half Jules Plisson gave the men from Paris a 23-22 win.
It was an important win for Stade, which sees them keep the pace with front-runners Toulon and Clermont Auvergne. The top two in the league breezed through easy home games this weekend, the galaticos in the south beating Brive 34-11 thanks to an incredible four tries from David Smith, and the men from Montferrand beating Bayonne 28-16.
There was more late drama in Montpellier as the home side required a penalty in the 83rd minute to salvage a 15-15 draw with La Rochelle, while Castres sealed a 23-20 win over Lyon thanks to two Rory Kockott penalties in the last five minutes. Racing Métro beat Grenoble 34-29 in the highest-scoring affair of the round.
Try of the week: Elliot Daly‘s stunning solo effort for Wasps against Saracens might have been in a losing cause, but it was the latest addition to a highlight reel that is already brimming with astonishingly good finishes. Sadly it hasn’t been uploaded to YouTube yet, but once it has, make sure you check it out!
Villain of the week: It’s difficult to know what to make of Pat Lam‘s post-match diatribe aimed at Leighton Hodges, because if what he says is true about Hodges’ comments earlier this season before Connacht’s game with Edinburgh, then he should not be an elite referee. Still, it’s not great to see that kind of referee-bashing immediately after the game, and it should remain in the proper channels.
Hero of the week: The Bulls’ young fly-half Handré Pollard was undoubtedly the star player of the weekend, contributing a monumental 29 points to their outstanding 39-20 win away from home over the Cheetahs. It was a full house for Pollard, who scored five penalties, three conversions, a drop goal and a try to his side’s effort.
By Jamie Hosie (@jhosie43) and Patrick Cheshire (@jpcheshire)
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
2 replies on “Best of the weekend: Welsh regions go unbeaten, Sarries halt Wasps’ run”
Brilliant results for the Welsh teams but a disgusting performance from Lam. He is actually claiming some BS about Hodges threatening to “get” Connaught in the future after he had a run in with a parking attendant at the last Connaught game he refereed. He spent his entire conference berating Hodges for the post-80min incident, claiming bias, etc. but didn’t mention the incorrect penalty that Hodges gave them (i.e. intervened to tell the ref who had seen nothing wrong) that led to Connaught’s first try. Excellent writeup on all this here – https://theblitzdefence.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/the-footballisation-of-rugby-1-pat-lam/ – but in essence, Connaught were lucky to even be in the match. Cardiff would have blown them away if the officiating had been 100% correct at all times.
I hope they throw the book at Lam, disgusting post match scenes. Sort it out with the officials, not with the press. Hilarious how the Welsh fans have been decrying the std of refereeing in the Pro 12 all season but it now only seems to be something that may be acted on because the Irish teams are kicking up a fuss. The Munster coach had a dig at “the Welsh TMO” after their match as well. No class.
The rugby was brilliant. I was at The Blues game, lost my voice, but it was in all honesty not the most skillful of games. Exciting to watch. Saturdays games though were excellent. O’s and Scarlets were dominant. Scarlets had some outstanding Welsh performances – Ken Owens, Priestland, Jordan Williams but Jon Davies’s younger brother at 7 was just magnificent. And Scotland need to sort out not using Barclay as well.
Scotland not using Barclay is absolutely criminal. One of Scarlets best players this year and would bring some much needed experience to such a young Scotland team.