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Cardiff stunned by Sale, Edinburgh march on despite frozen pitch
Cardiff Blues’ impressive start in the European Challenge Cup came to a juddering halt on Saturday as they were thrashed 24-0 by Sale Sharks.
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The Pro14 side had won both of their matches in Group 2, but were blunted by Sale at the AJ Bell Stadium, the hosts grateful to the boot of AJ MacGinty.
MacGinty kicked three penalties in the opening 40 minutes and added a fourth just after the restart.
He was again accurate from the tee to convert Will Cliff’s 59th-minute try, but missed when Marc Jones crossed in the closing minutes as Sale claimed their first triumph of the group.
Newcastle Falcons are three wins from three in Group 1 after running in eight tries over Bordeaux Begles, Adam Radwan scoring twice in a comprehensive 52-24 win.
Today’s man of the match, Will Witty pic.twitter.com/HQaKHplbmH
— Newcastle Falcons (@FalconsRugby) December 9, 2017
Group 3 strugglers Zebre were given a glimmer of hope against Gloucester when they went into half-time 19-14 ahead, but the Italians were unable to complete the victory.
Gloucester came roaring back after the break, though, with tries from Ollie Thorley, Owen Williams and Richard Hibbard wrapping up a 33-26 success.
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Edinburgh sit eight points clear at the top of Group 4 after thrashing hapless London Irish 50-20 at Murrayfield – the game having been moved from Myreside due to a frozen pitch.
Irish sit bottom of the Premiership after 10 games and this heavy defeat will do their morale no good, Edinburgh earning their bonus point before half-time.
The hosts ran in eight tries across the 80 minutes, Phil Burleigh grabbing himself two as Edinburgh strengthened their quest for a place in the knockout stages.
Like Edinburgh, Connacht have three wins from three in the fifth pool, but they needed a storming second half against Brive to get there.
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FULL TIME: 69 points in total on the night and @ConnachtRugby ended up on the right side of the scoreboard. #ChallengeCupRugby pic.twitter.com/pSo3xeKqqA
— EPCR Challenge Cup (@ChallengeCup_) December 9, 2017
Tries from Mike Tadjer, Florian Cazenave and Julien Brugnaut plus two Gaetan Germain conversions had given Brive a 19-17 half-time lead, but Connacht were irresistible after the restart.
Jack Carty scored 16 of their 21 second-half points as the Irish province moved three points clear at the halfway stage.
Worcester Warriors are hot on Connacht’s heels after their second win of the group, Carl Hogg’s side turning on the style in the second 40 to beat Oyonnax 35-14 at Sixways Stadium.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments