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What Northampton made of Skosan, their hat-trick debut-making wing
Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd has praised the all-round game of winger Courtnall Skosan, who marked his Premiership debut with a hat-trick of tries in his new team’s 66-10 thrashing of Worcester. The twelve-cap former Springboks back signed for Saints from the Lions during the summer but had to wait for his Friday night bow at Franklin’s Gardens after completing his quarantine upon arrival in the UK.
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It was certainly worth that delay as Skosan played a full part in handing Worcester a ten-try drubbing, with a spectacular diving finish in the corner for his second Northampton score the stand-out moment. Boyd said: “He is a good man and he has been a good footballer for a long time – and he is not just a finisher either.
“He got three tries and all of them were pretty decent finishes, but he was busy around the paddock and was good in the air. He is a good defender, he works hard. He is a quality footballer – that is why he has played so many times for his country.
“By and large, we were pretty decent. There are still some rough edges that we need to smooth out, but I thought we were pretty good for our money most of the time. We knew if we hung on to the ball, went through our process and didn’t get impatient and try to stay in our system, then we would get some opportunities.”
Northampton had the bonus point wrapped up inside half an hour, as Dan Biggar, Alex Mitchell, Api Ratuniyarawa, Skosan and Rory Hutchinson all scored in the first half, with Will Chudley replying for Worcester. Skosan completed his treble after the break, while there were two tries for Tommy Freeman and another for Mitchell.
Before last night only three players had ever scored a hat-trick on their debut in #GallagherPrem history…@Skosan14 joined an elite list as @SaintsRugby ran riot ?#GallagherPrem highlights and full match replay ?? https://t.co/NUwttqp2wX pic.twitter.com/YvfsRULnFV
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) October 23, 2021
Worcester head coach Jonathan Thomas said: “At the moment we have got a lot of adversity. Pretty much our whole leadership group is out injured, which is naturally going to affect any team. Melani Nanai, Owen Williams, Willi Heinz, Ted Hill, Ollie Lawrence, guys like that. We always talk about the guys that come in getting opportunities and what it feels like at the moment is we are a little bit of a fractured group on the field.
“Off the field, the boys are working hard for each other, but the game is about 15 players working as one and we look very individual. They had lightning-quick ball, but the biggest thing is we gifted them about six tries – two intercepts, the kick-chase they catch it and go straight through, and a quick tap for the first try of the game. It felt like Saints weren’t even working that hard.”
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"I don’t understand it and I don’t get it…"
– So frustrated are Worcester over Ted Hill's 3?? game ban that they plan to lobby World Rugby about the tip tackle law#Worcester #England #WORvGLOhttps://t.co/rfNc4TtUBg
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 6, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments