Another weekend with a feast of rugby and it’s becoming gluttony with one tournament taking a rest another will come back. 6 Nations took a rest and the 7s World Series returned. Here’s my round-up of all the action.
Again I’m sorry that life, work and the amount of rugby mean that I can’t give individual roundup of the games.
Aviva Premiership
Newcastle Falcons 14 – 15 Worcester Warriors
Sale Sharks 29 – 23 Harlequins
Gloucester Rugby 13 – 10 Wasps
Bath 25 – 17 London Irish
Saracens 15 – 20 Northampton Saints
Leicester Tigers 31 – 27 Exeter Chiefs
2 from 6, there were plenty of upsets but even so it was a shocking weekend of picking.
The top three sides all lost this week and a couple of weeks ago the top four did. The 6 Nations has been a real leveller in what was already a close league. Saracens and Chiefs are still the two favourite to make the playoffs with another 6 teams that could take the next two places. At the other end Irish are looking in trouble as they are eight points behind Falcons.
Super Rugby
Crusaders 28 – 13 Blues
Brumbies 32 – 15 Waratahs
Chiefs 32 – 36 Lions
Highlanders 17 – 16 Hurricanes
Reds 6 – 22 Force
Bulls 45 – 25 Rebels
Cheetahs 10 – 20 Stormers
Sharks 19 – 15 Jaguares
5 from 8, I let my heart rule my head this week.
An Tana said about the Blues performance, you don’t win the league in week 1 and you don’t lose the league in week 2. Basically it’s early days, how ever the Brumbies are looking strong and the Stormers and Sharks started well. Lions are also looking impressive especially as their win s have been on the road. The Kings, Reds and Force all look like you should avoid their games and the SunWolves are only worth watching as they are new.
Pro 12
Scarlets 24 – 15 Benetton Treviso
Edinburgh 23 – 28 Connacht Rugby
Ulster 32 – 0 Zebre
Leinster 19 – 16 Ospreys
Munster 26 – 5 Newport Gwent Dragons
Glasgow Warriors 27 – 20 Cardiff Blues
5 from 6, looks good but with no upsets I really should have got all 6.
Connacht and Leinster are still clear at the top of the table with Scarlets and Ulster dually trying to apply pressure and keep ahead of Munster. The bottom five teams all lost and are slipping further away.
Top 14
Grenoble 12 – 45 Clermont Auvergne
Brive 21 – 21 Toulouse
Section Paloise 19 – 12 Stade Francais
Racing Metro 92 38 – 13 Agen
Bordeaux Begles 48 – 20 US Oyonnax
Montpellier 22 – 19 Castres
La Rochelle 19 – 14 Toulon
Racing and Clermont took advantage of Toulon’s loss to leapfrog them at the top of the table. At the bottom of the table Oyonnax and Agen are eleven points adrift and it’s looking unlikely they will bridge the gap up to Stade who were last seasons champions.
Las Vagas 7s
Fiji won their second tournament of the series and are heading the table. They are setting them selves up as the team to beat and favourite for Rio. But it wasn’t plain sailing as they lost in the group stages to Samoa. There were other surprising results such as Kenya not only beating New Zealand but also nilling them. Australia are the other side on the up after making the final of the last two tournaments only to fall at the last.
Americas Rugby Championship
Uruguay 29 – 25 USA
Chile 13 – 64 Canada
Brazil 7 – 42 Argentina XV
Argentina won the first Americas Rugby Championship and even though the USA lost their last two games they came second. The lower ranked teams stepped up well and that’s where this tournament has been a success.
