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Bundee Aki is a Grand Slam champion.
The adopted Irishman and Connacht midfielder left the field with a head knock in the 24-15 win over England at Twickenham, but not before playing a prominent role in the charge of the Emerald Green side under the coaching of fellow Kiwi Joe Schmidt.
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Aside from dropping one easy ball, Aki was penetrative and his break from a lineout move set up a try to No 8 CJ Stander. The former Steeler even packed down on the side of a scrum. He also made seven solid tackles before departing.
England captain Dylan Hartley got through 57 minutes, but was overshadowed by his Irish counterpart Rory Best. Ben Te’o had a quiet afternoon in the No 12 jersey until he set up Jonny May for a late try in the corner.
Aki was not the sole Kiwi to play well for his adopted nation in the final round of Six Nations action.
Lock Dean Budd had a strong 80-minute shift for Italy in the narrow 27-29 defeat to Scotland in Rome. The former Blues player made 17 tackles and ripped into his work, at one point making a superb offload. Things did not flow quite so smoothly for Jayden Hayward, who played 22 minutes of the pine, but found himself stepped by Sean Maitland for his try and was on when Italy’s grip on the clash was fast slipping.
Maitland had few chances, but finished his try in clinical fashion off a long Greig Laidlaw pass. An early kick was half charged down.
Hadleigh Parkes, who has been one of Wales best backs during the Six Nations, was strangely off-colour for some of the 14-13 win over France. He defended powerfully as ever, making 11 tackles, but could not get his flow going on attack, much like the team as a whole.
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Gareth Anscombe was an unused replacement.
There were two catch-up games in the Guinness PRO14.
No 8 Nick Williams scored a try for Cardiff Blues in their 31-25 win over Treviso, for whom Monty Ioane scored a try and Marty Banks kicked three goals.
Willis Halaholo, Rey Lee-Lo and Taufa’ao Filise also turned out for the Blues, while Nasi Manu, Hame Faiva and wing Michael Tagicakibau appeared for the Italian club.
Jordan Lay, Simon Berghan and John Hardie all enjoyed a 12-6 win for Edinburgh over Munster.
In the French Top 14, a try to No 8 Rory Grice and seven key goals by Ben Botica helped Oyonnax climb off the bottom rung with a shock 29-26 win over Toulon. Quentin MacDonald and Hika Elliot were both in the winning pack. Malakai Fekitoa, who scored a try, and Ma’a Nonu, teamed up in the Toulon midfield.
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Joe Tekori and Charlie Faumuina played for Toulouse in the 22-14 win over Montpellier, for whom Nemani Nadolo scored a try.
Alex Tulou scored a try as Castres defeated Brive 37-28. David Smith and Maama Vaipulu were also in the line-up.
Fritz Lee and Loni Uhila appeared for Clermont in the 38-14 hiding of Pau, who included Benson Stanley, Daniel Ramsay and Jamie Mackintosh.
Ed Fidow and Ben Volavola tasted a 15-10 victory for Bordeaux-Begles against Agen, who fielded George Tilsley and Tom Murday.
La Rochelle – whose Kiwi contingent included Hikairo Forbes, Uini Atonio, Victor Vito and Tawera Kerr-Barlow – beat Lyon 19-15. Mike Harris, Josh Bekhuis and Toa Halafihi played for the latter.
Racing-Metro edged Stade Francais 28-22 in the Parisian derby. Dan Carter slotted a conversion for the victors, while Anthony Tuitavake, Ben Tameifuna, Ole Avei and Census Johnston. Paul Williams, at centre, and Zak Taulafo, played for Stade.
The Anglo-Welsh Cup final between Bath and Exeter, which potentially could have fielded several Kiwis, was called off due to the bad weather that hit the UK.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame 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.
3 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..
6 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.
6 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.)
3 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.
29 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?
3 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.
3 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 comments