Hot: Harlequins
It's 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!
Quins and Tigers: When the chips were down, Harlequins came up with the goods in their semi-final. Can they overcome one last hurdle and beat the most successful club in the history of English rugby? Leicester are clearly carrying a lot of momentum right now - as the defending champions found out. The Premiership Final on May 26 promises to be epic.
Ospreys: The Welsh side absolutely demolished Munster to advance to the PRO12 Final and extend their winning streak to six games. Leinster may have dominated in the PRO12 this season, but they are far from guaranteed success in the title showdown in Dublin.
The Rebels and Sharks: The Rebels' win over the Crusaders will go down as one of the biggest Super Rugby upsets in recent years. The departure of Danny Cipriani has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. They're a different side with Kurtley Beale pulling the strings. On the opposite side of the Indian Ocean, the Sharks were dishing out a beating to the Western Force. A play-off in Durban is within reach.
The crowd at the London Sevens: A world record two-day crowd of 103,027 passed through the Twickenham turnstiles over the weekend. Plenty of lemonades were consumed and great time was had by all. Don't forget to wear a colourful wig if you plan on going next year.
Fiji and New Zealand: Fiji did as much as they possibly could to snatch the World Sevens Series crown by winning in London but the title race was already over by the quarter-finals when New Zealand's big over South Africa was enough to clinch the nine-round series for the tenth time.
Tom Homer and Rob Miller: London Irish sharpshooter Homer bagged 278 points for the Exiles to end the season as the Premiership's top points scorer. Miller touched down ten times for Sale Sharks, to finish as the league's top hitman.
Timoci Nagusa and Conrad Barnard: The top scorers in France, Nagusa scored eleven tries for Montpellier and Barnard contributed 267 points to the Castres campaign.
Tim Visser and Dan Biggar: 13 tries for the Edinburgh wing and 241 points for the Ospreys pivot leave them top of the charts in the PRO12. Both thoroughly deserve their call-ups for Scotland and Wales respectively.
Bbbrrrr... Get these guys some hot soup!
Blitzbokke: Few countries invest as much into their Sevens program as South Africa but the men in green failed to win a single tournament this season. In fact, they only made one final, at home in Nelson Mandela Bay. Getting klapped by the Kiwis in London was a vrot way to end the season.
Munster: No silverware for the Red Army this year. After stuttering all season, Munster's PRO12 title defence went up in smoked as they got burnt badly in Swansea last weekend.
The Stormers v Cheetahs fight: The scenes at Newlands were not pleasant to watch.
Meaningless suspensions: Speaking of unsightly dust ups, the biffo between Toulouse and Montpellier saw Mamuka Gorgodze and Yoann Maestri handed red cards. But at the subsequent disciplinary hearings they were banned for a 10-day period during which neither side will take the field, meaning they're both eligibly for the upcoming Top 14 knock-out games. Huh? What use is that? It's a point we've made before but it's worth repeating as it applies around the world. Suspension periods should be counted in games, not days.
Robbie Fruean and Andre Taylor: ...well, at least according to the national selectors in New Zealand, who don't think they're not hot enough for the black jersey. According to our poll, you reckon that the Crusaders centre and the Hurricanes full-back are the unluckiest absentees from the world champions' training squad. We tend to agree.
Worcester Warriors, Aironi, Biarritz: We like to see tries, so we'll end this week's ice-box awards with the teams that scored the fewest five-pointers in their respective championships this season. The fact that Biarritz finished mid-table in the Top 14 suggests it may be time for a review of the bonus-point system in France, where a team must outscore the opposition by three tries to get an extra championship point.
Compiled by Ross Hastie
Comments
Sasquatch says...
@noord transvaal:
"of course the new tournament leaders are the mighty new Bulls team :)"
uhh no, of course the new tournament leaders are the mighty new Stormers team :)
Oh, and please change the name, this is the new SA. You probably still wave old SA flags at loftus and make the rest of us look like idiots, don't you?
Posted 17:02 20th May 2012
tha_mai says...
stormers cheetahs 'fight' - video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zS5e9CL8aGg as jaystarr says not a clear punch, just a lot of collar grabbing, tugging and pulling, though Stormers 12 does have a go at Cheetahs 6 underwear - was he attempting a wedgie, and is that an offence in SA rugby?
Posted 10:44 19th May 2012
noord_transvaal says...
@BDAussie
of course the new tournament leaders are the mighty new Bulls team :)
Posted 21:38 17th May 2012
makemehappy says...
Whilst on face value its easy to agree with BokAvenger, you do have to ask why, if they are interested in the event, they send a team!
Posted 13:27 17th May 2012
Trinats2 says...
Jmanngod:
Agree, he is a real boxing Kangaroo.
Posted 12:56 17th May 2012
melkdave says...
Have to agree with most posters that PR are being a bit hard on the Blitzbokkes ,given the amount of injuries theve had this season/ series.and that the Rebels win is more deserving than the Sharks for a HOT mention.Apart from that i think PR have got most right
Posted 11:51 17th May 2012
APV1 says...
@ RugbyLeRoux - easy tiger. Relax and accept that sometimes some posts need to be taken with a small pinch of salt, as they're posted with a tongue firmly in the cheek. You comment, "...the way rugby should be played" just shows you up to be narrow-minded and far too SH-centric. I do watch S15 rugby and enjoy it thoroughly. Do you watch 6N, AP, T14, R12 or HC rugby? Do you enjoy it? If you can't enjoy rugby in all it's forms, regardless of where it's being played, I would argue that you are not a true fan.
And well done for managing to come up with such an intelligent retort. It makes you stand out as someone who's opinion I'm likely to respect and value.
@ JayStarr - I think you're right about the 7s thing. We do play a slower, more structured game. It ain't always pretty, but it's often quiet effective.
@ Sasquatch - I think the 7s game is a bit of a sideshow almost everywhere. But with the Olympics it will soon become more important (God help us all if the USA ever work out how to play!). I would also recommend to anyone to take a day and go and watch. The sheer frenzy of the games, the number of matches and the daft costumes make it more of a rugby carnival than a tournament. And some of the speed those guys run is amazing. I'll always love the 15 man game first, but for a FULL day's entertainment, you'd be hard pressed to beat a 7s tournament.
Posted 10:35 17th May 2012
Sasquatch says...
@BDAussie:
Absolutely, Reds victory was huge not only for them but the tournament as a whole.
Posted 09:44 17th May 2012
darthbok says...
agree with author -- the blitzbokke were terrible--watched them capitulate to wales--really cannot tackle and their tactics were poor -- need alot more beef in these cows
Posted 08:04 17th May 2012
BDAUSSIE says...
Shouldn't the Reds be in the Hot category? The answer is yes! A 15 point win over the tournament leaders is much more impressive than the Sharks smashing an out of form Force side.
Posted 05:00 17th May 2012
Jmanngod says...
Is there anyone who has more rugby awards than Brad Thorn? The guy is the ultimate hardman of Rugby codes....
Posted 04:51 17th May 2012
Sasquatch says...
"Few countries invest as much into their Sevens program as South Africa"
That's news to me. I don't think South Africans REALLY give a damn about 7's. Agree with Bok Avenger, a bit of a sideshow to the 15 man game down here. I don't think we'll ever be in the same league as the likes of NZ (I know we won the series once but I don't see it happening again for a while). Entertaining series none the less. Well done to the Kiwi's, fantastic to see the old rivalry with Fiji is still going strong.
Posted 23:41 16th May 2012
JayStarr says...
The funny thing about the Stormers and Cheetah fight was - as bad as it looked live, on the replay I did not see ONE punch..! Between all of that, not one punch. There are more punches in an average Hurricanes ruck than there was in that mass scuffle... :P
As for the Blitzbokke - they just had a bad luck this year. Don't make them sound so pathetic.
Besides, 7's rugby suits the New Zealand and Islander style of play. Those guys grow up playing that style of rugby. They have fantastic running skills in those countries from young ages. South African (and English) boys grow up playing more structured, forward-based rugby. So even though the SA guys have good facilities, they still need to learn the 7's style - they don't show up with a natural instinct like the New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders do...
Don't worry, we'll make up for it by beating the All Blacks with the real thing this year.
Posted 23:41 16th May 2012
Trinats2 says...
If Fiji had their players back (from NZ, mostly Fijians) there would be no 7s rugby, everyone would just give up. How do they manage to keep in the top 5 year after year ??
Posted 23:24 16th May 2012
leebok says...
I agree with BokAvenger. Pocket rockets cant compete with Fiji or Samoan power houses. Message to the Blitzbokke coach. Teach your players to tackle. The loss to England was embarrassing.
Posted 22:32 16th May 2012
ruggaluva says...
personally i feel most SA audiences ( and players) enjoy a little dust up every now and again..shows the guys mean it. No matey matey BS for us... save that for tiddleywinks !
Posted 22:14 16th May 2012
RugbyLeRoux says...
Avp you're not biased, just a blind retard. S15 is played at a much higher tempo hence, greater speed at he breakdown means less time for defence to get sorted. Spend a weekend actually watching it instead of slating it and you'll see it's the way rugby should be played
Posted 18:30 16th May 2012
philipjfry says...
@PR: I disagree, the fight at Newlands was a pleasure to watch. Much better than the Joey Barton/Man City fight.
Posted 18:20 16th May 2012
Herbman says...
Just on the Blitzbokke... I read somewhere they lost over half their squad to injuries over the course of the season.
Posted 17:07 16th May 2012
APV1 says...
Not a bad article this week. I am in particular agreement with the Quins : Tigers; London Sevens; Fiji & NZ; Meaningless suspensions; and Robbie Fruean and Andre Taylor paragraphs.
In contrast I felt that, whilst KB and the Rebels were excellent, too much emphasis is being placed on the departure of DC. I'm not his greatest fan and am hoping he's learned some humilty and self-awareness during his recent years, but the continual bagging of the bloke is a little unfair. He's a remarkably talented player (certainly a whole lot better than most of us!), who has been a bit (read "a lot") of a prat in the past. But perhaps it's time to let bygones be bygones and give a guy a break. If he continues to be a prat now he's back, then I'll be the first to voice my displeasure, but let's see how he gets on.
Not taking anything away from KB, who was awesome.
And the last paragraph about the least tries was a little harsh too. NH rugby is often played in fairly stodgy weather against opposition who can tackle, requiring a different game-plan from the S15. And it's points on the board which wins games.
@ Ross Hastie et al - are you able to do a league-by-league comparison of average tackles made, missed and the success % per game? So we could see, for example, whether my allegations that all S15 players are useless at tackling (maybe that's why DC went there..!) is based on fact or just my (biased) perception. It might shut me up, if nothing else! Thank you.
Posted 16:13 16th May 2012