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Weekend Round-up: The try of the season?
By RugbyPass
The Chiefs and Stormers each put in a strong contender for Try of the Season in Cape Town while Bath and Leicester's showdown at Wembley more than lived up to its illustrious venue.
Super Rugby: Stormers vs Chiefs
When it comes time to compile the Super Rugby tries of the season you can bet this game will feature heavily. Two unbelievable touchdowns at either end of the game bookmarked what was a quality encounter in Cape Town, as the Chiefs were reminded things aren't so easy once you leave New Zealand. If you think the Chiefs' length-of-the-field try finished off by Toni Pulu was something, just wait for the offload Dillyn Leyds delivers to SP Marais for his try in the second half. Top notch.
Aviva Premiership: Exeter Chiefs vs Bristol
Two weeks ago, Sale Sharks gave Exeter a scare at Sandy Park. This week, it was the turn of basement-dwelling Bristol to give Rob Baxter's side the jitters. In the first of their end-of-season top-three challenge, the red-hot relegation favourites recovered from conceding a seven-pointer in the opening minute to race into a 24-10 lead as the match entered its second quarter. The lead would change hands two more times over the final 60 minutes, with the game's final twist coming in with the clock getting dangerously close to the red zone.
Aviva Premiership: Bath vs Leicester Tigers
Stages do not get much bigger than Wembley. Premiership matches do not come much bigger than Bath vs Leicester. And finishes do not get much better than the one more than 60,000 fans enjoyed at the weekend. It was new head coach Matt O'Connor's first match of his second spell at the Tigers, and with 15 minutes of an entertaining encounter remaining it looked for all the world like his return would be a winning one. But a yellow card, Anthony Watson and some sleight-of-hand magic from meister-of-bosh Matt Banahan combined to make sure the outlook was very different five minutes later.
Top 14: Clermont vs Brive
The first rule of the Top 14: away teams do not win at Clermont. The second rule of the Top 14: away teams do not win at Clermont. Brive have headed home with little to show for their efforts at Stade Marcel Michelin for more than a decade – their last victory at the Jaunards' fortress came back in 2006. But the visitors had the better of the opening period, scoring two of the three tries that came in the first 17 minutes, and their blitz at the start of the second half left the hosts with a mountain to climb.
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Latest Comments
Just too hard in the Australian context to slash 2 teams. There would be an almighty fight from Force and Brumbies supporters if they were cut so that we had teams in the 2 places that are far and away the centre of Rugby in Australia.
Easier to cut all 4 teams and send them to an NPC or NRC competition along with Melbourne and Combined Country
Go to commentsKolisi, du Toit, and Etzebeth may well make 2027, but if they do they will be a long way past their best. Rassie doesn't seem to have a huge amount of faith in Ruan Venter, or (bizarrely) in Hanekom. Nortjé looks great, but while Moerat and Louw have put in some good performances they look a little way off the standard set by the players they would need to replace. Before the July tests SA fans were telling me that B-J Dixon was a like for like replacement for PSDT, which has since been proven to be nonsense. SA have good depth, but Nortjé is the only new player who has really cemented a spot in the 23, and they urgently need others to step up.
In the backs I think de Allende is more likely to make 2027 than Am, given how much Am's form has dropped off since 2021, but neither of them are going to be at their best. Mngomezulu, Moodie, Fassi, and Willemse will probably all be great in 2027. Arendse, Kolbe, Esterhuizen, & Kriel will all be slightly past their best, but at least a couple of them will still be test quality, so there shouldn't be any issues there. The problems Rassie is going to have will be less about whether they have the personnel available, and more about whether they are able to tactically adapt to life without a world class big crash-ball 12 (Esterhuizen and de Allende might be able to play the role in 2027, but they won't be world class) and without world class zippy poachers on the wing (Kolbe and Arendse might still be playing good rugby in 2027, but its hard to believe they'll be running in the same kind of tries that they are now). Its possible that Tony Brown's attacking system is intended partly to overcome these issues (loose forwards in the wide channels might serve as replacements for de Allende, and quick ruck ball will allow tries to be built over multiple phases instead of relying on moments of genius from Arendse and Kolbe), but there might still be a period of adjustment going in to 2027.
In the front three I think Steenekamp is a great find, and Thomas du Toit has finally emerged as a world class player after years of relative mediocrity, but hooker is still a problem. Grobbelaar looks fine, I guess, but he's not Mbonambi, which is what SA will need him to be by 2027.
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