It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.
THEY’RE ON FIRE!
Bordeaux-Begles’ historic success: Congratulations to the French giants, who won their first major trophy with a deserved victory over Northampton Saints in the final. It was a thoroughly entertaining game, with the teams going into the break level at 20-20, but the Bordeaux power and control came to the fore in the second period as they wrestled the momentum away from the Saints to earn a 28-20 win. It continued the French dominance in the Champions Cup with the Top 14 having the last five winners.
Stunning scrum-halves: Much of Bordeaux’s success was down to the brilliance of Maxime Lucu as the France international dictated the game after the break. During the Six Nations, Lucu went from Antoine Dupont’s deputy to Les Bleus’ linchpin after the Toulouse star’s unfortunate injury and he has maintained that form for UBB. He enjoyed a fine battle with England’s Alex Mitchell, who also impressed, while Bath’s Ben Spencer was imperious in their Challenge Cup win. It was a weekend of the scrum-halves.
Bath keep treble hopes alive: Two of the West Country outfit’s targets have been attained after they added the Challenge Cup to the Premiership Rugby Cup they won earlier in the campaign. The success on Friday was their first major trophy since 2008 as they produced a commanding display to overcome Lyon in Cardiff. The aforementioned Spencer was exceptional but he was aided by the equally excellent Finn Russell as Bath proved too strong for Frenchmen. On this form, it will take a remarkable performance to stop them from claiming the Premiership title.
Chiefs and Wallace Sititi: During the week, it was announced that 2024 breakout star Sititi had signed a new deal to commit him to New Zealand Rugby until the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup and then on Saturday he played 80 minutes in the Chiefs’ demolition of Moana Pasifika. Clayton McMillan’s men produced a statement display against the play-off challengers for their 10th victory in 13 Super Rugby Pacific matches.
Wallabies contract delight: It was another good week for Rugby Australia after Carlo Tizzano and Ben Donaldson signed new deals and Pete Samu agreed a contract to return home after a successful stint with Bordeaux. Despite concerns earlier in the year with Langi Gleeson and Noah Lolesio among those to announce they were heading abroad, the governing body have managed to keep hold of some top talent over recent months.
Legends unite for Barbarians: The first names were confirmed for the clash with the Springboks on June 28 with three players who have earned over 100 caps receiving an invitation. Ireland duo Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony were two of them, and they have been joined by All Blacks great Sam Cane. Interestingly, O’Mahony and Cane have a certain amount of history given that the Irishman once called the New Zealander a s*** Richie McCaw, so this will offer an opportunity to bury the hatchet.
Comment: Maxime Lucu ‘steps out of the shadow’ to lead Bordeaux-Begles to their ‘greatest moment’
Northampton Saints v Bordeaux-Begles: Five takeaways as half-backs put on ‘rugby connoisseurs dream’
BROKEN THERMOSTAT
Club World Cup: On Saturday, it was officially confirmed that there will be a Club World Cup in 2028, featuring 16 teams. Eight of those will be from the Champions Cup with Super Rugby sending seven and the final side coming from Japan. There have been consistent calls for the best club sides in the north and south to face each other, but there is plenty of scepticism over this idea. EPCR have stated that it will “elevate” the Champions Cup knockouts, but in reality that effectively means replacing them. Ultimately, all we were calling for was the winner of the Champions Cup facing the Super Rugby victors, but of course the bigwigs have to take the convoluted route. However, we will see how it all develops over the next few years.
COLD AS ICE!
Henry Pollock incident: At the end of the Champions Cup final, the rising star was involved in an unsavoury incident which saw his club, Northampton, accuse Bordeaux of ‘foul play’. The true facts have yet to emerge but, what is for certain, the French outfit have not been impressed by Pollock‘s attitude since bursting onto the scene. If, as Saints claim, UBB’s first instinct after winning the title was to rub it in the 20-year-old’s face then it is rather classless, while the continued mocking of a young player since then is pretty unbecoming. You have to use whatever you can as motivation for these huge matches but it has gone a bit too far.
Non-red card controversy: Sam Underhill can count himself fortunate that he was not red carded in the Challenge Cup showpiece event. It may not have played a part in the end result, given the dominance Bath had on Friday, but you can certainly understand Lyon’s annoyance. Underhill’s illegal shot on David Niniashvili caused an outcry online, including from La Rochelle boss Ronan O’Gara. The officials decided that Niniashvili stepped inside to provide enough mitigation but we’re not so sure.
Ethan de Groot: During the Highlanders’ clash with the Crusaders, the All Blacks loosehead seemed to headbutt opposition lock Jamie Hannah. Not content with just doing his job and clearing out the second-row, which he did very effectively, De Groot then decided to throw his head into a defenceless Hannah in what appeared a rather cowardly cheap shot. However, he was oddly not cited as Super Rugby Pacific once again took the lenient approach to foul play.
Damian Willemse blow for Stormers: The Springboks utility has not played much this season and he will spend at least a couple more weeks on the sidelines after receiving a red card in the Cape Town outfit’s last match. Willemse’s three-match suspension means that he will miss the Stormers’ URC quarter-final against Glasgow and also the last-four should they get there. However, he could be available for the showpiece event if the playmaker successfully completes tackle school. Should John Dobson’s men get knocked out in the last-eight, though, then it may impact the start of the Boks’ Test season.
Lenient ban for US thuggery: Just over a week ago, USA centre Alev Kelter was sent off for stamping on the head of Australia’s Georgie Friedrichs. It was quite rightly condemned by everyone who saw it and most expected a big ban. Kelter only received three weeks, however, as she successfully argued that it was reckless rather than intentional as the disciplinary panel came to an utterly ludicrous decision. A thuggish act such as that should not be the same as what Willemse copped.
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/whos-hot-and-whos-not-bordeaux-and-bath-celebrate-but-henry-pollock-mocking-goes-too-far-while-all-black-delivers-cowardly-cheap-shot
