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Kiwis in Europe: Berghan's Edinburgh has wood on Savea's Toulon
Total Kiwis: 67
Simon Berghan and Edinburgh are sitting pretty at the top of Pool 5 in the European Champions Cup.
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The final round of the pool stages takes place this weekend, with Edinburgh hosting Montpellier at Murrayfield this Friday. A quarter-final berth is already secure for the Scots.
The Christchurch-born prop, the latest of the Kilted Kiwis with 14 test caps to his name, entered the fray at the 68-minute mark for WP Nel in the 28-17 win over Toulon at Stade Mayol last weekend. Former Auckland skipper Simon Hickey was an unused sub for the victors. It caps an Edinburgh sweep of Toulon in their two pool matches.
Toulon left wing Julian Savea, who returned to action after a short, much-discussed, break to attend his brother Ardie’s wedding in Fiji, scored a late consolation try for Les Rouges et Noirs, whose fans are hurting due to poor results in both the Top 14 and Europe this season.
Munster, with Rhys Marshall, Alby Mathewson and Tyler Bleyendaal all featuring off the bench, defeated Josh Hohneck’s Gloucester 41-15. Newcastle’s Tane Takalua and John Hardie were on the receiving end of a 45-8 hiding at Montpellier.
Jamison Gibson-Park’s Leinster is still flying high, downing Toulouse 29-13. Charlie Faumuina, Joe Tekori and Jerome Kaino all played in the Toulouse pack.
Jackson Willison’s Bath edged Wasps 18-16, meaning the Coventry club still has not recorded a European win in five outings this season. No 8 Nathan Hughes scored a try for Wasps, while Brad Shields also featured off the side of the scrum. It was an eventful day for No 10 Lima Sopoaga, whose coach Dai Young has felt the need to go into bat for his form.
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The former All Black kicked three goals but was also shown yellow for a no-arms tackle on his compatriot Willison.
Former Steelers and Patumahoe club loose forward Sean Reidy was in the No 6 jersey as Ulster beat Ben Tameifuna’s Racing-Metro 26-22. Scarlets looked in fine fettle in dispatching Leicester 33-10. Fullback Johnny McNicholl scored a try, set up by a sweet no-look pass from former Manu Samoa and Crusaders centre Kieron Fonotia. Hadleigh Parkes wore the No 12 jersey. Mike FitzGerald scored a try off the bench for the Tigers, while Brendon O’Connor and Valentino Mapapalangi also featured.
Exeter accounted for Castres 34-12, with David Smith, Maama Vaipulu and Alex Tulou turning out for the latter.
Sean Maitland’s Saracens won 28-10 at Lyon, who fielded Toby Arnold and Rudi Wulf. Callum Gibbins’ Glasgow took out Cardiff Blues 35 24, the latter including Willis Halaholo and Nick Williams.
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In the Challenge Cup, Iliesa Ratuva Tavuyara recorded a double for Treviso in the 38-24 win over Agen. Alongside the former Stags and Rams flyer were Monty Ioane, Dean Budd and Toa Halafihi. Sam Vaka scored a try and was binned for Agen. In the visiting pack were Tom Murday and Paula Ngauamo.
Alofa Alofa and Mat Luamanu tasted victory for Harlequins, 38-20 over the Grenoble of Taleta Tupuola and Edgar Tu’inukuafe.
Connacht, and Bundee Aki and Tom McCartney, edged Bryn Evans and Denny Solomona of the Sale Sharks 20-18.
Ben Teo’s Worcester sealed playoffs qualification with an identical 20-18 result at Ospreys. Clermont stays atop Pool 5 with a thrilling 48-40 win over Chris Boyd’s Northampton, which has just signed Matt Proctor for 2019-20. George Moala (13) and Loni Uhila (17) suited up for the home team, while Ahsee Tuala and Ben Franks were alongside No 8 Teimana Harrison, who registered a losing hat-trick.
George Tilsley showed his pace to score a key try for Bordeaux-Begles in the 34-27 victory at Perpignan, while Kiwi-born wing Stephen Shennan was powerless to prevent his Romanian side Timisoara Saracens from copping a 59-3 hiding to the Dragons.
Hikairo Forbes scored a try and Ihaia West kicked four goals, alongside Uini Atonio and Victor Vito, as La Rochelle defeated Zebre – which fielded Jim Tuivaiti and Josh Renton – 32-12.
Bristol, with Jake Heenan in the No 7 jersey, crushed Enisei 65-9 before just 100 people in Sochi.
There were contrasting fortunes for the Kiwis at Stade Francais. Fullback Tony Ensor scored a try, while prop Ziggy Fisi’ihoi copped a yellow card in the 35-14 win over Colin Slade’s Pau.
Rugby World Cup City Guides – Fukuoka:
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 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
3 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 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.
30 Go to comments