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The strong New Zealand influence at Benetton Treviso has helped the Italian club up to fifth position in Conference B of the Guinness PRO14.
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Treviso won 20-16 at Zebre on the weekend for its fifth victory of the championship. Fullback Jayden Hayward, once of Taranaki, Hurricanes and Force fame, scored a try from fullback. Lock Dean Budd, the former Northland and Blues player, now in the Azzurri squad, also crossed the line. Others to feature were former Bay of Plenty wing Monty Ioane, former Waikato, Crusaders and NZU loose forward Whetu Douglas, former Waikato, Blues, NZU and NZ Under 20s hooker Hame Faiva, and the mercurial Marty Banks, who slotted three goals from first five, is also in the mix. He was originally signed for the 2016-17 season but, after a false start, is now a bonafide squad member.
Former All Blacks fullback and former Maple Leafs coach Kieran Crowley is at the helm of Treviso.
Dave Rennie’s Glasgow, with prop Siua Halanukonuka off the bench, blanked Edinburgh 17-0. Phil Burleigh and former Auckland and Bay of Plenty prop Jordan Lay appeared for the Gunners. Ma’afu Fia’s Ospreys beat the Dragons 22-9, while Charlie Piutau and former NZ Under 20s prop Rodney Ah You played for Ulster in the 24-19 win over Munster.
Leinster, featuring James Lowe and Michael Bent, edged Connacht 21-18. Bundee Aki, Tom McCartney and former Otago loose forward Naulia Dawai turned out for the latter.
Hadleigh Parkes’ Scarlets won 14-11 at Cardiff Blues, whose Kiwi contingent was Rey Lee-Lo, Willis Halaholo, Gareth Anscombe, Nick Williams and Taufa’ao Filise.
Two away victories highlighted the latest round of the French Top 14.
David Smith and Alex Tulou scored tries for Castres in the 31-27 win at Clermont. Maama Vaipulu started at No 8 for Castres. Isaia Toeava copped a yellow card for Clermont, while Fritz Lee, marking another former Steelers No 8, actually kicked a penalty goal.
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Racing-Metro won 16-12 at Oyonnax. The Parisians fielded Joe Rokocoko, Anthony Tuitavake, Ben Tameifuna, So’otala Fa’aso’o and Census Johnston. For the home side, Ben Botica kicked four penalty goals, and Quentin MacDonald, Rory Grice and Viliami Ma’afu all featured.
https://youtu.be/wxG4nMcJP54?t=17
Former Waikato and Flying Fijians lock Dominiko Waqaniburotu was in the No 7 jersey for Brive in the 29-10 win over Montpellier.
Toulouse’s Joe Tekori and Charlie Faumuina tasted an 18-13 victory over Toulon, whose 9-12-13 combination was Alby Mathewson, Ma’a Nonu and Malakai Fekitoa.
Lyon’s 35-23 win over Pau saw no less than 12 players with Kiwi connections fronting.
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Toby Arnold, Rudi Wulf, Toa Halafihi, Josh Bekhuis, Taiasina Tuifua and Mike Harris played for the victors, while Conrad Smith, Benson Stanley, Colin Slade, Tom Taylor, Daniel Ramsay and Jamie Mackintosh featured for Pau. Slade and Taylor shared four goals.
https://youtu.be/FXqb007KaDk?t=18
Ben Volavola’s Bordeaux-Begles succumbed 22-12 to a Stade Francais outfit, which fielded Tony Ensor, Brandon Nansen and Ziggy Fisi’ihoi.
Uini Atonio, Victor Vito and Tawera Kerr-Barlow contributed to La Rochelle’s 47-6 shellacking of Agen.
In the Aviva Premiership, tries to Jack Wilson (a good finish) and Paul Grant were not enough to prevent Todd Blackadder’s Bath falling 31-26 at home to Wasps. James Wilson (12) and Kahn Fotuali’i (9) also featured for the West Country club.
Former Wellington and North Harbour No 8 Mat Luamanu scored a try, from one metre out, in Harlequins’ impressive 50-21 hiding of Northampton in front of nearly 80,000 at Twickenham. Luamanu’s teammates included Alofa Alofa and Jono Kitto. Ahsee Tuala, Piers Francis, Dylan Hartley and Teimana Harrison turned out for Saints.
Gloucester continued its strong recent form, edging Sale 20-16. The Kingsholm Kiwis were Tom Marshall, Jason Woodward, Josh Hohneck, John Afoa and Jeremy Thrush. The Sharks fielded Denny Solomona, Bryn Evans and Halani Aulika.
Saracens’ resurgence continues, wing Sean Maitland scoring a try in the 46-31 victory over the Worcester of Bryce Heem and Jackson Willison.
Thomas Waldrom’s Exeter Chiefs, the defending champs, stay top of the log going into 2018 after a 30-6 shutout of Leicester Tigers, who included Mike FitzGerald, Logovi’i Mulipola and Valentino Mapapalangi.
The sniping runs of halfback Tane Takalua were a feature of Newcastle’s 20-15 win at London Irish. No 8 Nili Latu also started for the Falcons. Mike Coman copped a yellow card for the Exiles, while his teammates included James Marshall, Filo Paulo, Ben Franks, Blair Cowan and Asaeli Tikoirotuma.
Comments on RugbyPass
Shame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
2 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
2 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to comments