Good and bad: NZ and Scotland
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!
Southern Hemisphere nations: The All Blacks provided the final flourish of Southern Hemisphere wins this past weekend after protecting their 59-year winning run over Wales. Australia, South Africa, Tonga and Fiji also squeezed to narrow victories over Italy, England, Scotland and Georgia respectively to maintain the south's dominance of the November internationals in the third weekend of matches. And let's not forget the USA, who swept past Romania 34-3 in Bucharest.
Ireland and France: First Ireland ended their longest losing run in 14 years with a surprisingly heavy win over Argentina, with Test debutant Craig Gilroy scoring the first of the team's seven tries. Then France survived a scare from Samoa to clip out a 22-14 win and achieve their first sweep of November Tests in seven years, cementing their place inside the top four of the IRB's world rankings as Europe's highest-ranked side.
Richie McCaw: Delivered another superb performance in the All Blacks' win over Wales. McCaw was always in the thick of the action, be it on defence and attack and as captain he certainly led from the front.
Craig Gilroy: A star was born during Ireland's thumping of Argentina. Either by using slick footwork or bulldozing through tackles, Gilroy tormented Argentina throughout and - besides touching down for Ireland's opening try - was involved in the build-up of three more in what was an outstanding Test debut.
Census Johnstone's grubber kick: Apart from a solid performance in the scrums, the big Samoan prop showed that he has brains to match his brawn when he put through a beautifully-weighted kick for Robert Lilomaiava to chase. With little space to manoeuvre, the wing had the presence of mind to offload to David Lemi who scored under the posts.
Springbok line-out: The Bok pack can take a bow as they didn't lose a single ball on their own throw-in during their three-match tour to Europe! While jumpers like Eben Etzebeth, Juandre Kruger and Duane Vermeulen deserve credit for securing the bulk of the possession at the set-piece, a special word of praise must go to hooker Adriaan Strauss whose throws were accurate throughout.
Get these guys a cup of warm soup!
Argentina: The Pumas went from hero to zero in the space of two weeks. Their famous win over Wales in Cardiff a fortnight ago must seem a distant memory now for their fans who watched in horror as the men in blue and white hoops conceded seven tries in Dublin. Argentina did give themselves some respectability on the scoreboard with two consolation tries, but by then the damage had already been done.
Scotland: Slumped to another miserable loss which led to the resignation of head coach Andy Robinson. A season which featured early World Cup elimination and a Six Nations wooden spoon was revived by the June wins in Australia, Fiji and Samoa before New Zealand, South Africa and Tonga inflicted defeats which saw Scotland fall outside the top eight seeds for the 2015 World Cup draw.
Andrew Hore: The All Black hooker's swinging punch on Wales lock Bradley Davies was rightly labelled as a cheap shot by Dragons coach Warren Gatland. Hore's attack must rank alongside Dean Greyling's effort on Richie McCaw as the worst act of thuggery in Tests this year.
Chris Robshaw's decision-making: After opting to kick for touch when he should've gone for posts in the loss to Australia, Robshaw did the opposite with two minutes left on the clock in their defeat to South Africa last weekend. The England skipper must be doing a lot of introspection ahead of this weekend's clash with New Zealand at Twickenham.
Georgia: Saturday's defeat to Fiji saw the Lelos crash to their fourth consecutive defeat on the trot - their worst run since 2009.
By Dave Morris and David Skippers
Comments
Toulousain says...
yes indeed new_j4a. i am 100% against foul play. the "broadly correct" bit was in reference to the footage not being available straight after the game, not from official cameras, being only from one angle etc etc... (i guess it sounds like sugar coating, since it was at the opening of my post). the bit I really take issue with is the "open to interpretation" bit. that's the point. everything is open to interpretation. UFO sightings even. it's what people choose to believe. I am firmly in the "Rougerie did it" camp. there's not a shred of doubt in my mind, despite what anyone might say about the quality of the footage. people who say otherwise are a little like those who believe in UFOs, i.e. they see what they want to see, and have a conviction all of their own.... and nothing we say can ever change their pov....
Posted 20:37 03rd December 2012
new_j4a says...
@Toulousain, I was heartened by the directness of you condemnation of all foul play and agree with your observation that many fans are in denial, but.....I assume that this introductory couple of phrases ( "yes, you are broadly correct froggy73") are a rhetorical sugar coating designed to make it easier for froggy73 to swallow the real message that that froggy73 is 100% wrong and Rougerie (and Hore, and Greyling, and many others--but not EE who was found to be blameless) is as guilty as sin. While I applaud ambiguity in diplomacy, poetry, and literature, I think it is important to be 100% clear in the condemnation of dangerous foul play?
Posted 09:39 01st December 2012
Stellenbosched2 says...
Hi AWEBLAX,
Ok, good answer. You can live;)
Posted 13:36 29th November 2012
Waz4before says...
Ireland are hot? really? the only decent competition they faced was South Africa and they blew a 9 point lead .. hot? really PR? what do they look like when they're cold :-)
Posted 23:31 28th November 2012
AWEBLAX says...
Hi Stellenbosch actually you've got it wrong again Im a huge Bok supporter always have been like many other Kiwis, probably why I find BokAvenger entertaining, even when the Boks play the ABs, Im a fan, but of course I want our guys to win those ones, my gripe is your suggestion of NZ and Aus using foreign based players, never liked that never will, as a pigheaded Kiwi my answer to that is like Richie and Dan your heart and soul for the black jersey means more at home......did I mention my pigheadedness lol....
Posted 18:18 28th November 2012
miladiou says...
@froggy73 you are a way out of line there. Sorry but Gougerie DID gouge McCaw. It was caught live on camera. He also headbutted McCaw. No excuse for that despicable act.
Now if we use the Kiwi mentality we could say McCaw deliberately came in from offside to close down a very promising French break which 5 minutes from the end of the game could possibly have won the WC for France. McCaw was totally offside etc... It was cynical in the extreme BUT that does mean for one millisecond what Gougerie did was acceptable. Just as what Hore has done is not acceptable. Blocking runs is something pioneered by the All Balcks after all.
Posted 14:07 28th November 2012
kinsman says...
@froggy73, please stand corrected.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FQkwYfqDnU
Posted 12:49 28th November 2012
Toulousain says...
yes, you are broadly correct froggy73, although it was not still photos only, there was some video as i recall. i guess the point is, despite the footage itself not being perfect, i think most reasonable people still see enough in the footage to conclude that the act itself was very bad. anyone trying to defend it (and there were a few) eventually looks like an apologist. just like the people defending hore. it's all the same arguments again (he's not dirty, it wasn't intentional, the guy was offside anyway, it's been hyped by the press, etc).
i should declare i am a little biased here of course. rougerie has never been a favourite of mine. his mother is around my age and she is not on my xmas card list!! but there are many clermont fans we know who feel the same way. then again, there are clermont fans who still don't think anything bad happened.... but that is the ugly side of being a fan the world over i guess? everyone has their point of view....
peace :-)
Posted 12:08 28th November 2012
Melkiwi says...
Hores an idiot and its gonna get what he deserves now to the real issue at hand that the NH have managed to cover up is yet again the poor showing from the home nations. Scotland 0 wins, England 1, Ireland 2 and Wales 0. France being the best with 3 well deserved wins.
Will it ever be an equal contest??
Posted 11:55 28th November 2012
Stellenbosched2 says...
Hi Aweblax,
Sigh. And here I was complementing NZ. I really don't see where I am trying to tell the NZRU how to run rugby. Let me guess, you are one of those Kiwis who run around from puberty telling all who will listen that Bok supporters are arrogant and the Springboks are thugs. Right? Hmmm, looking at your post and your username perhaps you should stop.
Posted 11:10 28th November 2012
froggy73 says...
@Toulousain: correct me if I am wrong, but Rougerie was only caught on a photo shot with dodgy angle (therefore subject to interpretation). Not on live camera, not cited and no proof that this really happened (but on Kiwis fertile imaginations of course, the poor guy became a murderer - especially it was done to SAS King Emperor "Don't touch me" Richie -
Posted 10:27 28th November 2012
Toulousain says...
So many on here saying infinite variations of.... it was not a punch, his hand was open, it was a clumsy attempt to clear out, Davies was offside, he didn't respect the haka, Hore isn't a dirty player, the game is physical, NH press is totally over the top, there is a witch hunt against the ABs, etc etc.
You are all apologists.
Change the word Hore for Rougerie and see if any of your arguments hold water. We heard exactly the same rubbish from one-eyed French fans last year. I thought you kiwis would know better.
Posted 09:46 28th November 2012
BokAvenger says...
@RugbyLeRoux: "It was a fair shout." Er, if you are referring to Hore's act of cowardice then excuse me when I say it is you who is the retard. How on earth is punching someone from behind "a fair shout" ? You sound suspiciously like one of those Afrikaners who has emigrated to Aus or NZ, picked up a few bits of local slang in the pub and now goes around spewing forth your Antipodeanisms in an attempt to curry favour with the locals. Go support the All Blacks or sing waltzing Matilda in your Helen Clark undies.
Posted 09:25 28th November 2012
mikeNZ1 says...
Punch!? Surely PR you've seen the front on footage of the Hore incident?
Posted 07:36 28th November 2012
Bronco says...
Wasn't a punch, he grabbed him around the shoulders.
Technically, the Welsh player was offside, no mention of this?
Still, let's all get hysterical and shrill about it, everyone else is.
Posted 07:28 28th November 2012
Isograford says...
As pointed out by 3in4. Bradley Davies is no Angel, his spear tackle in the 6 Nations could have paralyzed (or worse) the Irish player he drove head first into the ground.
Apparently the Welsh are just as capable of disgraceful act huh Rob Howley. It's about time all these fans of other teams realize they've had their share of players doing stupid acts on the field (Grewcock..Hartley...Botha...the French...anyone?). So can we all hop down off our high horses now?
Posted 07:12 28th November 2012
bigb6969 says...
I was not actually a punch PR, his hand was open.
Posted 05:39 28th November 2012
AWEBLAX says...
@Phill-Moore look I know what your saying, but my warped sense of humor at times find BokAvengers rants mildly entertaining and Stellenbosched telling NZ rugby how they can improve is bordering on hilarious, yep yep yep if we had our foreign based players we may have won The World Cup, The Rugby Championship, The Super Rugby Championship and every trophy we played for this year, thanks for the advice bro......
Posted 04:35 28th November 2012
BokAvenger says...
@Kiwilad: Yes, I bet Hore gets a greater punishment than Greyling even though Kiwis are purer than the driven snow and mums all around the world tell their children that if they misbehave, Dean Greyling will get them
Posted 02:15 28th November 2012
ferdie says...
maybe a medium-warm category; possibly I was the only person to watch Fiji beat Georgia, after their earlier horror games it was an entertaining match from both sides, think it was only last few min that the margin was greater than 3 or 4 points. In rankings it was 14 plays 17, a better reflection of where Fiji currently is in the 15 man game. Some encouragement for them to go home with a final win from their tour.
Posted 23:38 27th November 2012