Kiwis carving up the north - Tigers missing Veainu
Despite the efforts of forwards Mike FitzGerald, Valentino Mapapalangi and Logovi’i Mulipola, the Leicester Tigers have fallen 25-16 to Munster in round four, pool four European Champions Cup play.
Munster was missing former Chiefs and Taranaki hooker Rhys Marshall, but Leicester, two-time champs, may have missed fullback Telusa Veainu more, after the former Canterbury wing, who has been great value for the Midlands club, broke his jaw last weekend. The rare home defeat at Welford Road leaves the Tigers on the cusp of elimination and was their first loss at home to the Irish province since 2006.
Charles Piutau, who never seems to turn in a bad game, scored a try as Ulster hammered Harlequins 52-24. The English club fielded Winston Stanley, Alofa Alofa and Mat Luamanu.
Ospreys, with Kieron Fonotia at centre, did a 32-15 number on Northampton Saints, whose line-up included Ahsee Tuala, Piers Francis, Michael Paterson, Teimana Harrison and Ken Pisi.
Isaia Toeava wore the No 10 jersey, where he debuted for Auckland way back in 2005, in Clermont’s 24-21 victory over Saracens. Fritz Lee was at No 8. Sean Maitland was on the wing for Sarries.
Jimmy Gopperth’s Wasps turned the tables on La Rochelle to the tune of 21-3. Gopperth was at second five and did not take the goalkicks. The French club’s Kiwi contingent included Rene Ranger, Uini Atonio, Hikairo Forbes, with Victor Vito off the pine.
Ma’a Nonu set up a try with a surging run and Alby Mathewson scored himself, but Toulon fell 26-21 to Bath, who started Paul Grant at No 8 and Jack Wilson and Kahn Fotuali’i off the bench.
Isa Nacewa kicked 17 points, operating off the tee in place of Johnny Sexton, as Leinster beat Thomas Waldrom’s Exeter Chiefs 22-17.
Anthony Tuitavake, now 35, was in the No 12 jersey as his Racing-Metro beat Castres 29-7. Former Wellington and Taranaki loose forward Alex Tulou was at No 8 for the latter.
A Johnny McNicholl try helped Scarlets to a 31-12 result at Treviso, despite an early double to wing Monty Ioane. Other Kiwis starting for Treviso were Dean Budd, Nasi Manu and Jayden Hayward.
Montpellier’s 36-26 win over Glasgow came at a cost, Aaron Cruden departing with a worrying knee injury. Dave Rennie’s Glasgow fielded Samuela Vunisa and replacement Siua Halanukonuka.
In Challenge Cup action, three Gareth Anscombe goals helped his Cardiff Blues to a tight 14-6 win over Sale Sharks. Toby Arnold, Josh Bekhuis and Mike Harris were victorious, 21-11, in Lyon’s clash with Toulouse. Charlie Faumuina and Carl Axtens were subs for Toulouse, while Paul Perez and Jarrod Poi combined in the midfield.
Hika Elliot’s Oyonnax beat Worcester 27-20, while Pau – featuring Benson Stanley, Jamie Mackintosh and Peter Saili – defeated Agen 26-12.
Gloucester’s strong form continued, shutting out Zebre 69-12, hooker Motu Matu’u crossing for a try.
Bundee Aki, Pita Ahki, Tom McCartney and coach Kieran Keane all tasted victory in Connacht’s 55-10 scoreline against Brive.
A late Tony Ensor try carried Stade Francais to a 26-20 win at Will Lloyd’s London Irish. Paul Williams and Ziggy Fisi’ihoi also started for the Parisians.
Ben Volavola’s three goals helped Bordeaux-Begles to a 36-27 win over Russian club Enisei.
The big three domestic competitions resume over the Christmas period.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 Go to comments