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L'Italie de retour dans le Top 10 mondial
L’Italie est de retour dans le top 10 du classement mondial masculin de World Rugby présenté par Capgemini pour la première fois depuis juin 2013.
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Le match nul 13-13 du dimanche 25 février contre la France à Lille a permis aux Azzurri de gagner un point et d’améliorer leur classement général à 76,58 points, ce qui les place juste devant les Fidji.
L’Italie se serait rapprochée de la huitième place, son meilleur classement dans l’histoire, si la pénalité de dernière minute de Paolo Garbisi était passée entre les poteaux au lieu de frapper le montant.
L’Italie a également été privée de sa première victoire sur la France dans le Tournoi des Six Nations, sa seule victoire sur les Bleus sur le sol français ayant eu lieu à Grenoble en 1997.
La France reste à la quatrième place malgré la perte d’un point d’évaluation.
Le match nul – le huitième seulement dans l’histoire de la compétition – a clôturé un nouveau week-end passionnant du Tournoi des Six Nations, qui a vu les victoires de l’Irlande et de l’Écosse lors des deux matchs du samedi.
L’Irlande a remporté trois points de bonus sur trois, en marquant son quatrième essai dans la dernière action, grâce à une victoire 31-7 sur le Pays de Galles à l’Aviva Stadium.
Cependant, étant donné que l’Irlande avait 12,57 points d’avance sur le Pays de Galles avant le match à Dublin, le résultat n’a pas eu d’incidence sur le classement des deux équipes.
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L’Irlande, championne en titre, reste deuxième derrière l’Afrique du Sud avec 92,11 points, tandis que le Pays de Galles est huitième avec 79,54 points.
Une quatrième victoire consécutive en Calcutta Cup contre l’Angleterre a permis à l’Ecosse de se rapprocher de ses plus vieux adversaires au classement, mais le score de 30-21 n’a pas suffi pour que les deux équipes échangent leurs places.
Cinquième, l’Angleterre abordait le match avec un avantage de 2,56 points sur l’Écosse, mais cet avantage n’est plus que de 0,64 point.
Une victoire de plus de 15 points est nécessaire pour que l’Écosse puisse dépasser son adversaire du jour et égaler son meilleur classement de tous les temps, à savoir la cinquième place.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Scott Barrett. End of story.
1 Go to commentsDu Plessis Kirifi will not be selected by the All Blacks. He is nowhere near 6’0” tall. He looks good in Super Rugby in wide open , fast pace rugby. That is not Test rugby. He would be rag dolled by South Africa, Ireland, France, and England.
7 Go to commentsIt’s Razor so Blackadder and Grace for starters. Although on second thoughts K Read looked in great shape on TV the other day.
33 Go to commentsGreat piece Nick, plenty to chew on. Loved this ‘biases’ line from Geoff, shows he is a thinker - “If you asked me for a shortlist of coaches who appealed to my biases, he would be on it.” I think Schmidt is towing a similar line to Rennie in regards to OS players, he is publicly saying he prefers local talent, but almost certainly will be fighting to have the likes of skelton in the team. Interesting to hear the backroom on the rebels and what a cockup that is, just when you think RA admin has hit rock bottom it digs deeper. Other bit that caught my eye was his skills focus on things like passing from 7s at the base of the lineout, great little details. but also scary that a SR level 8 didn’t know how to operate within a lineout - telling!
20 Go to commentsThoroughly enjoyed this thanks Nick. ‘The lineout starts on the ground…’ wish I’d thought of that line when discussing Will’s place in the Wallabies.
20 Go to commentsShannon Frizell’s second year is optional is how I heard it. Given nothing has been confirmed yet it gets more and more likely he signs to return next year. Cant wait to see Finau doing more work on Internal players.
33 Go to commentsBlindside flankers should be hard hitting defenders, good lineout jumper with height, and a hard worker who hits and cleans rucks. If he can be a destructive ball carrier it’s a bonus but not a necessity. Samipeni Fineau and Cullen Grace are excellent at those core skills and my choice at blindside. Brad Shields is dismissed because he is 33 but not sure why that should be a consideration for this season. Shields too does these core roles well. Just don’t pick an 8 and shift him to 6 like the wingers on The Breakdown suggest, as if 6 and 8 are interchangeable. They are not. An 8 is first and foremost a dynamic ball carrier, not necessarily a destructive defender as a 6 should be. Devon Flanders and Akira Ioane are #8 s forced to play blindside because their teams have better options at 8 than them. Do not pick them at blindside
33 Go to commentsSaints obviously didn’t get the memo, or needed an ego boost?
1 Go to commentsReturning to the Chiefs would be another good change that could only put him into a better position to succeed in black
7 Go to commentsSimply outrageous and demonstrably false to say Finau’s tackle on Lynagh was “2 seconds late” In reality it was probably 0.5 seconds after he passed the ball. If you carry the ball at speed to within 5m of the defensive line you can expect to get tackled. Finau could have pulled out of it and not absolutely flattened him for sure, but there was going to be contact either way. He seems like a high risk selection at the moment, but there is no one else like him in NZ at the moment. His big tackles make the highlight reels but he is also a great athlete, very fast for such a big man, spent most of his days at lock so also very strong in the line out.
33 Go to commentsYes, Finau looks like the best option. Blackadder is not big enough for an international 6 - he should join the queue at 7. Frizzell had the power and heft and line-out height to play lock, so maybe that is where the ABs should be looking, not at a 7 who’s not big enough for 6, but at a lock who might have the agility to play 6, like Scott Barrett, or… Natai Ah Kuoi, who absolutely fits that bill, but seldom gets to play 6 because the Chiefs have so many loosies.
33 Go to commentsPaul Quinn was a National MP.
7 Go to commentsNo need to worry about losers’ mentality hysteria from Australia. Finau has all the attributes, I don't recall a high or no arms tackle from him, and his timing has been controlled very well since the round 3 Lynagh tackle. It's an easy decision for Razor, the only question is who should back him up from the bench. He can't be overworked like Squire was in his first full season.
33 Go to comments“Reds coach Les Kiss saying later: “I think every player has the right to feel safe.” Maybe Rugby is the wrong sport for people who want to feel safe..?
33 Go to commentsNot sure what the context was, but the highlights showed one scrum against Aussie where the baby Blacks were going backwards at a pace. The pack has been the issue since 2017, so they might be in for another reality check soon. This tournament should really have been two rounds, would have learned a lot more.
1 Go to commentsPeter Lakai has a ‘lot of size’? Since when? To Kirifi maybe. I think Laidlaw clearly saw he’s too small for 6 or 8, so plonked him at 7. Has potential to be Ardies understudy in black for 7.
7 Go to commentsDalton for skipper?
16 Go to commentsOh he's ‘Irish qualified’ isn't that convenient. If Ireland get any more Kiwis (and Aussie) in their backline they might need to run out in green and black kit soon. How is the supposed best rugby system in the world in need of trawling for journeyman Kiwi players?
2 Go to commentsCallum Grace is playing well now that he's finally back in his best position. But given it was Razor who somehow thought Grace was dynamic enough to be a No8 when he's clearly not, Im not sure he’d backtrack on that. Finau is risky with his style, and there's almost no point picking Blackadder when he can’t stay on the field more than five minutes.
33 Go to commentsThe team on paper has more supposed ‘stars’ than a lot of the sides they’re losing to. They’ve got the Razor-blues and aren't playing for Penney. He should jump before he's pushed.
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