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'Oh my Bastareaud, have you seen the size of him at No8?'
The impact that ex-France midfielder Mathieu Bastareaud made for Lyon while playing at No8 last Sunday in the Champions Cup didn’t go unnoticed by The Rugby Pod in their assessment of an opening-round weekend where French clubs won seven of their eight matches.
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The eminence of the French, who had four away winners, eclipsed the form shown by the English clubs who managed just two wins from eight games, while the participating PRO14 clubs fared just one better than the Premiership with three wins from eight.
Bastareaud returned to club rugby in France during the lockdown following a brief stay at Rugby United New York and the former centre has settled into a new position, playing as the No8 at Lyon.
He was to the fore in their 55-10 demolition of Gloucester, scoring a 23rd-minute try from close range and clocking up 54 metres from his dozen carries while carrying additional poundage for back row duty compared to how he looked during his midfield heyday.
This beefier complexion was referenced in this week’s Rugby Pod show co-hosted by Jim Hamilton and Andy Goode, the pair of former internationals who couldn’t resist a giggle at the expense of Bastareaud, the 32-year-old who tips the scales at 125kgs according to the Lyon club website but looks to be heavier than that.
A tough afternoon for @gloucesterrugby's young guns as @LeLOURugby put on a stunning attacking display ?
They ran in some absolute belters and kicked off with an important home win ?#HeinekenChampionsCup highlights ?? pic.twitter.com/GOq2OIetWk
— Investec Champions Cup (@ChampionsCup) December 14, 2020
It was ex-Scotland lock Hamilton who opened the discussion on Bastareaud, a topic ex-England out-half Goode quickly warmed to:
JH: I have only seen clips of Lyon-Gloucester but oh my Bastareaud, have you see the size of him at No8?
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AG: He has got bigger, hasn’t he?
JH: He could arguably be the biggest No8 in world rugby. My goodness me.
AG: He played well, though. Short bursts. He was getting involved in mauls. It must be horrible. If you are a back and you get involved in a mauling session, how sore is your face after mauling?
JH: Ridiculous. Energy sapping. I heard (Sam) Warburton talking about it on comms and I was ‘Sam, you were at the back of mauls, mate. You don’t know what it means to be in a maul.’ It’s energy-sapping, but Bastaureud…
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AG: He’s had a big lockdown, hasn’t he?
JH: Yes!
Switching to the impressive opening weekend form of the French clubs in the Champions Cup, Goode added: “It’s not a surprise really. If you look back at the pandemic, the French Top 14 clubs ended their season, they said ‘we’re not going to see the season out, we’re not going to play all the games’.
“They have been going in the Top 14 for about ten, eleven weeks since they just restarted the new season in normal time around September. They are primed.
“Look across at some massive performances: Clermont going to Bristol, a hell of a game. Toulouse going over to Ulster, massive win for them. La Rochelle beating Edinburgh. Bordeaux going to Northampton – you don’t necessarily always look at French teams and say ‘there’s going to be four of them winning away from home’.
“Toulouse, Clermont, Racing, they are all potential favourites to win this tournament. A really good weekend for the French clubs, not so much the English. But two English clubs did win, the two (league) finalists, Exeter and the mighty Wasps. Tough one for English clubs and I just think it is a knock-on effect (from the Premiership).”
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An important topic to cover this week, so we got a legal (@timoconnorbl) and medical expert (Bill Ribbans) on to give us the lay of the land around the concussion litigation facing Unions ?
iTunes- https://t.co/5ITJc3tuyY
Acast – https://t.co/v4i8Zzcozn pic.twitter.com/GcuPUtdPmp— The Rugby Pod (@TheRugbyPod) December 15, 2020
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