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This Week's Biggest Matches on Rugby Pass

By RugbyPass
Clermont's encounters with Toulon are always tough affairs. Picture: Getty

The weekend’s four most mouthwatering matches from the Aviva Premiership and Top 14 … Probably

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Aviva Premiership: Northampton v Bristol (Saturday, January 7, 11pm HKT)

While Newcastle v Bath could be an entertaining and high-scoring affair, and second face third as Saracens entertain Exeter, for sheer tension and drama, you could do worse than look at the teams at the other end of the table. It would be disingenuous to say that basement club Bristol are on ‘a run’ – two wins in two would not normally constitute ‘a run’ but after 10 defeats in 10, it marks a definite turnaround in fortunes. They edged past Sale by a single point at the AJ Bell Stadium last week – and would take a similar result this week, especially as nearest rivals Worcester are at Gloucester, and Sale – who are nervously looking over their shoulders at the looming relegation zone after that loss – are at Harlequins.

Top 14: La Rochelle v Castres Olympique (Sunday, January 8, 3.45am HKT)

La Rochelle’s Stade Marcel Deflandre is a fortress. Visiting sides rarely breach its defences. So far this season eight Top 14 teams have tried – all have failed, though three came close and returned home heads held high with a hard-earned draw. And second-placed La Rochelle are a team on fire. They have notched 40 points in their last three games, against Gloucester in the Challenge Cup, and against Bayonne and Grenoble in the Top 14. Accepting the Deflandre challenge this week are fifth-placed Castres Olympique – who themselves ran in seven tries in a 47-18 demolition of Bayonne last time out. There’s not much to choose between the two sides – La Rochelle have scored 394 points and conceded 285, while Castres have scored 392 and conceded 300. So expect a high-scoring encounter as the second and third-most potent attacks in the Top 14 go head to head.

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Aviva Premiership: Wasps v Leicester Tigers (Sunday, January 8, 11pm HKT)

In his worst nightmares, Leicester’s interim boss Aaron Mauger could not have dreamt of a more difficult start to his tenure in the Tigers’ big chair. On top of news that Manu Tuilagi is out for the rest of the season, he faces a mission impossible at free-scoring Premiership leaders Wasps, who have won five out of their last six games in all competitions. Dai Young’s side scored more than 100 tries in the 2016 calendar year, including 48 in the current campaign alone – to put Newcastle’s professional-era 85-tries-in-a season record set in 1998-99 in sight (even Richmond’s 96 tries in a 26-game campaign is not out of reach); while long-forgotten England man Christian Wade equalled Mark Cueto’s 90-Premiership-try record, and also set a new mark for individual touchdowns in a single year – 19. It could be a tough first match-day at the office for Leicester’s new man in charge.

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Top 14: Clermont v Toulon (Monday, January 9, 4am HKT)

Two of the biggest teams in French rugby round up the weekend’s action at Stade Marcel Michelin. And it is set to be a juicy encounter, because 2014 champions Toulon are something of a bogey side for Clermont, who – like La Rochelle – have an unbeaten home record to defend in front of their vociferous and passionate fans. But Toulon – in a competition where away wins are historically as rare as hens’ teeth – have one of the best away records of any team in the French league … and have beaten their rivals six times in their last seven meetings, including a ground-shaking 35-9 thumping in the Auvergne last season.

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Jon 5 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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