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!
Siya Kolisi returns home: South Africa‘s captain got his wish as the Sharks confirmed his signing last week after Racing 92 agreed to terminate his contract. While some have suggested that the comments by Racing owner Jacky Lorenzetti may have played a part in his exit, Kolisi has rejected that notion and insisted that it was his Springboks ambitions that made him return home, and you can understand why. With him being back in South Africa, the back-rower certainly has a better chance of leading them at the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Pacific Nations Cup finalists: Congratulations to Fiji and Japan who will compete in the final of the Pacific Nations Cup after their respective victories in the last-four. The Pacific Islanders were far too strong for the USA in their semi, claiming a 22-3 triumph, and they will face the Brave Blossoms, who eased past Samoa 49-27. It was an impressive performance by the Japanese and it suggests that they are beginning to find their feet under Eddie Jones after a difficult start.
Currie Cup thrillers: Speaking of finalists, the Lions will play the Sharks in the Currie Cup showpiece event after a spectacular Saturday of action. In a couple of outstanding matches, 157 points were scored in total as the Johannesburg outfit defeated the Cheetahs 43-34 and the Durban side drew the Bulls 40-40. It was level at 33-33 after 80 minutes before the two teams traded tries in extra-time, with Trevor Nyakane going over for the crucial score. Due to the Sharks having scored a greater number of tries (six to four) during the match, that was enough to take them into final.
Antoine Dupont receives top honour: The awards just keep on coming for the France superstar, who was given the Legion D’honneur, which is the highest French order of merit. At at an event celebrating France’s success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Dupont was given the honour by the country’s president Emmanuel Macron. The awards are stacking up for the rugby superstar, who is already one of the sport’s greats despite only being 27.
Tane Edmed and D’Angelo Leuila: Waratahs fly-half Edmed appears to be enjoying his time in New Zealand as he scored 33 points in North Harbour’s 58-19 victory over Manawatu. It was a record haul for the club, the most in the NPC since Damian McKenzie in 2020 and was just four shy of the competition best set by Ben Blair in 1999. However, Edmed was remarkably surpassed by D’Angelo Leuila on the same day, who touched down four times, kicked six conversions and scored a penalty in Waikato’s 50-5 triumph over Hawke’s Bay. It was quite the weekend down under.
COLD AS ICE!
British and Irish league proposal: On Thursday, it was reported that the Premiership are seeking to merge with the URC, with a British and Irish league the preferred option. An Anglo-Welsh competition was also discussed but the Premiership investor board, which comprises the club owners, would apparently like to see the home nations join forces, potentially excluding Italy and South Africa. To be perfectly honest, it is a ridiculous idea and one we can’t see getting off the ground. It seems to be a desperate attempt by financially-stricken English clubs to manipulate the rugby landscape for their own ends without any consideration for the game as a whole.
Super Rugby’s ‘lucky loser’ play-offs: It was quite right to change the play-off system but we cannot understand a structure which rewards a team when they lose. Super Rugby Pacific organisers have decided to reduce the number of participants from eight to six but, unlike the Top 14, which has a Barrages round (third playing sixth and fourth facing fifth), they have not decided to go with that. Instead, they have effectively kept the ‘quarter-finals’, with the highest seeded losing team taking the final spot in the last-four, which is ludicrous. There are competitions which allow higher seeds who have lost in play-off qualifiers to go again (for example, first face second for a place in the final, with the loser having to go through a repechage against lower ranked teams), but at least they have to win to get through. This system, as in keeping with a lot of Super Rugby decisions at the moment, is absolutely bizarre.
Rugby Championship injury issues: It is inevitable that players will be forced to sit out matches in a sport as physical as this but it is shame when some of the best don’t get a chance to feature through injury. The biggest names who will miss this weekend’s matches are at prop with South Africa’s Steven Kitshoff, New Zealand’s Fletcher Newell and Argentina’s Eduardo Bello all absent, while behind the scrum the Springboks will be without scrum-half Grant Williams.
Stuart Hogg arrested again: Just days after making a try-scoring return to professional rugby for Montpellier – after coming out of retirement – Scotland’s former captain was released on bail after he was arrested for allegedly breaching previous bail conditions ahead of his trial for domestic abuse. It was the third time this year that the 32-year-old full-back was taken into custody after previous arrests in February and July, and the latest incident occurred less than 24 hours before he was set to appear in court.
Rugby’s cocaine issue: It appears that rugby union has a real problem after a total of nine positive tests for cocaine in rugby across both 2023 and 2024 to date was reported by the French anti-doping agency’s chairperson Béatrice Bourgeois. Those statistics led to leading Top 14 clubs Bordeaux Bègles and Racing 92 announcing that they will now subject their players to random drug testing. Bordeaux president Laurent Marti said his club’s players will now be subjected to random drugs tests, and that his players are now ‘under surveillance’.
