Kiwis in Europe - Parkes and Anscombe star for Wales
Hadleigh Parkes is loving Wales and the hard-bitten Welsh fans will be loving his contributions for the Red Dragons.
This morning the Kiwi-born second five from the Scarlets region turned in a man of the match display as Wales cast aside Italy 38-14 in Cardiff. He scored a try on his back, almost added another that was ruled out by the TMO, made 11 tackles, ran for 56m and executed some probing, raking tactical kicks.
The only bum note was struck when his wing Steff Evans ran into him while trying to step the Azzurri defence.
Parkes’ old Blues (NZ) teammate Gareth Anscombe also acquitted himself well in the No 10 jersey in a rare start there for his adopted country. He kicked nine points, made 14 tackles in 60 minutes, did a nice chip and regather and made a compelling case to Warren Gatland to start there again against France this weekend.
Lock Dean Budd and replacement outside back Jayden Hayward both played for Italy, but neither could make the desired impact in a side struggling to adapt to Conor O’Shea’s ambition for the side.
In Paris, there was little joy for Fiji-born, Kelston BHS-educated England No 8 Nathan Hughes, who left the pitch with a knee injury after just 23 minutes of England’s 22-16 defeat to France. Centre Ben Te’o had his hands full with opposite Mathieu Bastareaud. He did make one long break but could not link up with his outsides.
Bundee Aki grows in stature for Ireland, playing the full 80 minutes of the impressive 28-8 win over Scotland. He nearly scored himself, though was overall overshadowed by his centre Garry Ringrose.
Sean Maitland had few opportunities on the Scotland left wing, making seven tackles and carrying just twice. Prop Simon Berghan had a tough 64 minutes marking Cian Healy in the scrums.
A full round of the French Top 14 saw Toulon rise up the table after dispatching Agen 54-5. Malakai Fekitoa scored a try in the No 12 jersey, while Ma’a Nonu and Alby Mathewson came off the bench.
Pau also heaped more misery on the faltering La Rochelle, who were flying high just weeks ago. Pau’s 18-15 home win featured a try and two goals from Colin Slade. His teammates included Daniel Ramsay, Jamie Mackintosh, Benson Stanley and Conrad Smith.
La Rochelle’s pack included Uini Atonio, Victor Vito and Hikairo Forbes.
Montpellier’s Aaron Cruden would have enjoyed the crushing 41-3 victory over Racing-Metro, who had Joe Rokocoko, Anthony Tuitavake, Dan Carter, Ole Avei, Census Johnston and Ben Tameifuna in the ranks.
A try to Toby Arnold and four goals to Mike Harris guided Lyon to a crucial 27-20 away win at Toulouse. Rudi Wulf was at centre for Lyon. Joe Tekori and Carl Axtens appeared for Toulouse.
Maama Vaipulu of Castres was on the receiving end of a 23-17 reverse to Stade Francais.
Luke McAlister, off the bench, kicked a conversion, which turned out to be vital, in Clermont’s 11-9 victory at Brive. Loni Uhila, aka ‘The Tongan Bear,’ wore the No 1 jersey for the victors.
Oyonnax won a fine 26-20 result at Bordeaux-Begles, with Ben Botica’s six goals all-important. Quentin MacDonald scored a try, while Hika Elliot and Roimata Hansell-Pune were also involved. Ed Fidow scored a try and Simon Hickey kicked three goals for the home team.
In a catch-up Guinness PRO14 game, Scarlets and Leinster drew 10-all. James Lowe and Michael Bent started for the Irish province.
In the Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-finals, Todd Blackadder’s Bath will be playing for silverware this weekend, edging Northampton 13-12.
James Wilson (12) and Paul Grant (20) turned out for the west country club, while the Saints fielded Piers Francis, Nafi Tuitavake, Ahsee Tuala, Michael Paterson and Teimana Harrison. The latter’s 100th game for the club ended with a red card.
Exeter Chiefs are into their fourth straight Anglo-Welsh Cup final, edging Newcastle 20-17. Nili Latu, Tane Takalua and Sinoti Sinoti all played for the Falcons.
Bath will face Exeter at Kingsholm on Sunday.
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