Who's hot...and who's not!

Tuilagi hot, Tigers v Bath not

It is time for our weekly wrap up of who has their name in lights at the moment...and who is making the headlines for the wrong reasons.

They're on fire!

Underdogs in Dubai: The fantastic thing about Sevens rugby is the fact that the so-called smaller nations are capable of causing upsets more often than not. Last week Portugal beat South Africa and England while Canada thumped France and drew with Australia. In the end though it was one of the bigger boys who took home the Cup spoils as Samoa overcame New Zealand for glory. It will be interesting to see how things pan out in PE.

Nathan Sharpe: 116 caps for the Wallabies with the last one coming at the Millennium Stadium in a fixture that went down to the wire. He wouldn't have thought his career would end with a conversion attempt but that was the conclusion to a Test career that began in 2002. A great guy off the field and thoroughly decent on it, Sharpe's extended career has finally drawn to a close. He has closed the door on a possible return to face the Lions.

England: Where did that come from? 6/1 underdogs on home soil before kick-off, England weren't given a hope of beating the All Blacks. But after a fine performance that even had their coaches wondering how it happened, New Zealand were beaten by 21 points at Twickenham. Suppporters at Twickenham will be craving for that form to continue into the Six Nations where an in-form Ireland and France will also fancy their chances of winning.

Dan Carter and the All Blacks: It was a clean sweep at the International Rugby Board awards ceremony as Dan Carter won Player of the Year, Steve Hansen was Coach of the Year while New Zealand won Team of the Year. It was the second time fly-half Carter had claimed the coveted accolade with IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset saying Carter is "a truly magnificent player he is and a wonderful ambassador for our sport".

World Cup Pool A draw: Boris Johnson was in fine form at the festivities in London as host nation England were grouped with Wales and Australia in what was quickly labelled the 'Pool of Death", with the Oceana 1 qualifier most likely set to be Fiji. Even with the tournament being three years away, already the excitement and build-up has begun (venue issues included). In the other Pools and for the fourth time in a row, South Africa were drawn alongside Samoa while holders New Zealand are up against Argentina and Tonga. Pool D has a strong Six Nations feel to it as France, Ireland and Italy will clash.

IRB Player of the Year Selection panel: The decision to put England fly-half Owen Farrell's name on the shortlist was met with shock and derision by rugby enthusiasts around the world. What made the decision bizarre is that the panel which made call consisted of some of the game's all-time greats like Will Greenwood, Francois Pienaar, Gavin Hastings, Tana Umaga, Scott Quinnell, Raphaël Ibanez, Paul Wallace and Agustín Pichot.

Bath and Leicester: Their Premiership clash made the headlines for all the wrong reasons with ill-discipline the main reason for almost turning the encounter into a farce. Three red and two yellow cards were issued which led to citings and suspensions after the match.

Wales: The margin between appearing in the top or bottom half of this article is so small. With a minute remaining of their Test against Australia, the Dragons looked set to break their winless streak and a mention amongst this week's hots. A late Kurtley Beale try sealed their seventh straight defeat, ninth spot on the rankings and another week in the 'not hots'.

Chris Hala'ufia: The big London Irish number eight copped a five-week ban for a dangerous tackle on London Welsh's Seb Jewell. The incident happened early in the first-half which meant Irish spent large periods under the cosh and also played a part in them losing.

Roger Lewis: The Welsh Rugby Union CEO must have been trying to pull the wool over the RFU's eyes when he proposed that the Rugby World Cup group match between England and Wales be played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Needless to say his counterpart at the RFU, Ian Ritchie, reacted swiftly and rejected the idea with the contempt it deserved.