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Owens nets Champions Cup semi-final gig after idle quarter-finals weekend

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Nigel Owens is back in business on the European stage, the veteran referee from Wales appointed to take charge of next Saturday’s Racing versus Saracens Champions Cup semi-final in Paris. 

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Eyebrows were raised when Owens was omitted from duties at any of last weekend’s eight fixtures across the Heineken Champions Cup and Challenge Cup quarter-finals.   

He took to Twitter on September 8 to explain what he would be doing with his unexpected free time, posting: “With no appointments to referee for next few weeks at least life on the farm is keeping one very busy and active.”

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JP Doyle guested on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

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JP Doyle guested on The Lockdown, the RugbyPass pandemic interview series

However, the 2015 World Cup final referee is now back on deck, ready to take charge of the big showdown in Paris, an unexpected semi-final fixture as the consensus prior to last weekend was that Leinster would be hosting Clermont in Dublin only for both clubs to lose their home quarter-finals.  

IRFU referee Andrew Brace, who was in charge of the recent Guinness PRO14 final featuring Leinster vs Ulster, will take charge of Saturday’s other Heineken Cup semi-final, the Sandy Park meeting of Exeter and Toulouse. 

Ireland’s Frank Murphy and Scotland’s Mike Adamson have been appointed to the respective Challenge Cup semi-finals, starting with Bristol vs Bordeaux on Friday followed by Toulon against Leicester the following night.  

HEINEKEN CHAMPIONS CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)

RACING 92 v SARACENS
Saturday – Paris La Défense Arena 14.00
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

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EXETER CHIEFS v TOULOUSE
Saturday – Sandy Park 15.30
Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)

CHALLENGE CUP SEMI-FINALS
(Kick-offs local time)

BRISTOL BEARS v BORDEAUX-BEGLES
Friday – Ashton Gate Stadium 19.45
Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)

RC TOULON v LEICESTER TIGERS
Saturday – Stade Félix Mayol 21.00
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)

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Flankly 20 minutes ago
Late Makazole Mapimpi try earns the Sharks win away to Edinburgh

Jake White described this as the strongest Sharks lineup ever. There is no doubt that it is at least an impressive roster. They did win, which is obviously an achievement against a good Edinburgh side. However …


For much of the first half Edinburgh seemed easily able to create 2 on 1 opportunities on both wings, with the defensive wingers biting in on the inside runner and cover defence being AWOL. Conversely the Sharks showed little ability to get behind the Edinburgh defensive line, with the sole exception of a nicely-exploited Am mismatch against a second row (which led to the Fassi try).


In general the Sharks, with their full complement of Bok firepower, do not look that dangerous in attack, and while tackling was good on the whole and goal line defence was impressive at times, they were exhibiting surprising breakdowns in open play defensive structures.


Also, the Sharks continue to be inaccurate, with material impact on the scoreboard. Missing two very kickable penalties is not the way to be the best. It looked to me like the Sharks contestable kicks were not well enough executed, and were too hard to recover.


Not sure what the running attack was trying to do, but my guess is that they were trying to pull off a Harlequins-style bash-and-offload game off of 12 (Esterhuizen). That’s not a terrible idea with the personnel available, but it would require creativity and a precision on second phase that was not in evidence.


Lastly, you have to have better discipline. It’s great that the team can cope with a 13 vs 14 period (of almost 10 minutes), but smart teams a avoid cards.


Having said that it was great to see the win. I thought that Edinburgh were cynical and niggly. Always hanging around on the wrong side of the breakdown, lots of intentional obstruction, illegal dummying at the base of the ruck, etc. They played a dirty game and the ref tolerated it. Always good to see that not succeed.


Overall the “best Sharks lineup ever” scraped the win, but under-performed their Bok-laden potential. Again.

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