Lineout Calls of the Week and What to Watch this Weekend and Why

So, moving forward, a slightly different format. From now on, we’ll be looking at any particular matches that catch our eye in the weekend ahead and why. That’s in addition to anything that came out of the previous week and how it struck us, and as always, an attempt to be more regular in our musings. So without any further ado, here’s what got us talking after the weekend.

Canada’s extraordinary Women!!!

The highlight of the week if you ask us was our fabulous Canadian Women’s outstanding win over Australia in Brisbane which saw them clinch second place in this year’s Pacific Four Series as well as hold onto that cherished number two spot in the World Rankings ahead of New Zealand. Although the Black Ferns won the Tournament on points difference after putting the USA to the sword last weekend, having drawn with Canada a fortnight ago, there is very little between the sides. As a result, Canada start their preparations for the World Cup in August on a strong footing, with in all reality only themselves, France and New Zealand in the running to topple a seemingly invincible England.

It was a fantastic Pacific Four campaign for Canada’s women and set exactly the right tone for their preparations for the upcoming World Cup in August. After a rusty start, which nevertheless saw them get an ultimately comfortable win over the USA, Canada headed South to face off against New Zealand. Their second match of the series was an absolutely pulsating affair between two evenly matched sides who took no prisoners for the full eighty minutes. The intensity was nothing short of what we’d seen in this year’s Men’s Six Nations. Canada were hugely physical and exceptionally well organised, especially in their set piece work. It looked as if the match was in the bag for Canada, were it not for a try by New Zealand in the dying minutes to draw the game level. In short, as a spectacle, it was an enthralling match that highlighted how far the Women’s game has come since the last World Cup.

Canada’s demolition of Australia last weekend saw them seal second place in this year’s Pacific Four, as New Zealand got the better of them on points difference after their monster score against the USA on the final weekend. France, New Zealand, and Canada are clearly running at the same speed but will still need to find an extra gear to get past a seemingly invincible England in their own backyard this August. However, as evidenced in this year’s Six Nations, England can be found wanting in the Twickenham pressure cooker as a determined France only lost to them by one point in a thrilling encounter this year.

In short, this is a very good team. Winning the World Cup against an ominous looking England in their own backyard may be a very tall order, but it’s certainly a challenge that this team seems unphased by. What has perhaps been most impressive is how the team hardly seems to be missing a beat without their talismanic Captain Sophie de Goede. Alex Tessier has seamlessly stepped into the Captain’s role, but in addition to a team bristling with young talent there are so many leaders in this squad and their sense of unity and understanding of and commitment to each other is quite inspirational. To add to the upbeat mood, De Goede will hopefully be reunited with the team after recovering from injury when they head to England in August.

In preparation for their opening Pool Match of the World Cup against Fiji on August 23rd, Canada will tour South Africa for a two Test series in July followed by a one off match in Ottawa against the USA on August 1st before heading to England.

As Rugby Canada has limited resources which seem to be skewed towards the underperforming Mens’ programme (that’s a debate for another day), they are looking to seek public support to bolster our Women’s trip to the World Cup, so we hope like us you’ll make a generous donation, see link below. We very rarely fund raise on this blog if ever, but we think you’ll all agree we all want to give this remarkable team the best possible chance in England this year, so please if you can support a cause that is doing the red jersey proud.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-rugby-unionfederation-canadienne-de-rugby/

France dominate Europe at both Club and Country level

As our good friend Squidge Rugby has demonstrated in one of his excellent videos (the link for which is on the TV page), France is developing some rather extraordinary depth. Their TOP 14 national club competition is arguably the best in the world, and Bordeaux were very worthy European Champions Cup winners this year despite an exceptionally strong challenge from a very good Northampton side in a Cup Final for the ages. All that depth in spades at Club level played a huge part in helping France become this year’s Six Nations Champions. In short, France looks in extremely rude health as the buildup for the next World Cup in Australia in two years’ time starts to gather momentum.

The game in France appears to be in very good shape. Attendances for Club games are the envy of most leagues. There is a strong feeder system from the lower leagues such as PRO D2, and their U20s can consistently hold their own against the world’s best. French sides have been crowned European Champions for the last five consecutive years, and while the National side came short at their own World Cup and have yet to develop the consistency needed to win Rugby’s ultimate prize they would appear to be getting closer by the day. Given the kind of resources now at their disposal and talent coming through the ranks, it’s hard to see them misfire at the next global showdown. After years of mistrust between the clubs and the national union and a resulting clash of priorities, there finally seems to be a coherent development of common purpose and recognition that what is good for the clubs is good for the cherished blue jersey.

Remember how, for years, we always used to wonder which French side would turn up on the day? Well, that no longer seems to be the case, and the kind of clinical ruthlessness at club level that dictates so many closely fought games seems to have found its way into the national culture. French sides would tend to be either all flair or all brute muscle, but rarely a convincing mix of the two. Watch any TOP 14 or French national side performance these days, and it’s dramatically changed. The flair is all there in bucketloads, but so is a suffocating physicality that is increasingly difficult for opposition sides to cope with. Furthermore, their ability to adapt to and out think their opponents is becoming the stuff of legends.

France controversially tour New Zealand this summer, without many of their big names, but as we’ve been saying all along, despite New Zealand’s concerns about the potential of a sub par tour the All Blacks might want to be careful about what they wish for. There is a certain familiarity with their big names that it would be easy to prepare for, but bring in some of France’s raft of up and coming talent they haven’t seen before and suddenly there is potentially the risk of a huge banana skin lying in wait for New Zealand. This could be made worse if, towards the end of the tour, some of France’s big names are suddenly made available for the tour as is now being rumored.

Some have written this tour off as a non-event. However, we ourselves can’t wait and have a hunch that it is likely to be the one big surprise of the year in terms of rugby entertainment. New Zealand will probably win the series with all their big guns, but the rest of us will get a fascinating glimpse of the looming threat that France is becoming. While most eyes are on the upcoming Lions Tour, we have a hunch that some of the more interesting rugby is going to be played in New Zealand between les bleus and les noirs this July. Watch this space!

Ouch, got it wrong again – where’s it going to end?

For want of sounding like a broken record, again, we couldn’t help but watch some rugby violence in horror this weekend. However, over and above the nastiness unfolding on screen, our shock was more at the seeming indifference of the officials to both incidents.

Exhibit One. In the Challenge Cup Final Bath’s Sam Underhill aims his head at speed into Lyon fullback Davit Niniashvili connecting with the fullback’s head in a bone jarring collision. It looked horrendous and was. However, in Underhill’s case, there was no malice intended in the tackle and genuine remorse, and concern for his opponent was shown after the event. Nevertheless, it was still a nasty tackle and met all the criteria of foul and dangerous play. Underhill could have adjusted his position, and it is his responsibility as the tackler to exercise due care for his target. Unfortunately, none of these criteria were met, and as a result, it was an EXTREMELY dangerous tackle, regardless of the fact there was no malice in it. Underhill was issued a yellow card but the discussion over the microphone between on field referee Hollie Davidson and the TMO Mike Adamson was beyond farcical and made a mockery of the laws, the game and ultimately player welfare. Furthermore, the fact that neither player was immediately sent off the field for an HIA, Underhill apparently had one while in the sin bin, raises more red flags.

We felt especially bad as due to plenty of mismanagement and interference from the TMO box the game at times had some questionable decision making in terms of refereeing, which put a blight on Hollie Davidson’s first Cup Final. We would like to point out here that Davidson is one of our favourite referees and one we want to see plenty more of at this level, but sadly she will definitely need to review the tapes on this one going forward and hopefully learn from it. As for TMO Mike Adamson, surely this is proof enough that he has no place in the game at this level, as we have had constant issues with his refereeing decisions over the years and Friday’s events in Cardiff were completely inexcusable. Nobody wants to see that, especially anxious parents, and we need to make sure that incidents like that, even though it was not intended with malice, are an IMMEDIATE red card, no questions asked. Underhill has, unfortunately, now copped a lengthy ban, which is appropriate, but he should have received a red on the field instead of the yellow he got and no off-field review.

None of this would have changed the outcome on the day, Bath were clearly the better side and deserved winners, but the whole incident put a blight on what was otherwise an excellent game and a great occassion in terms of building the experience of a potentially excellent referee in Hollie Davidson.

Exhibit Two. There is only one way to describe this : blatant thuggery which should have absolutely no place in our game. The fact that it received no form of sanction whatsoever in the form of a card during the game or a citing afterward makes the rules governing our beloved game almost laughable. Highlanders Prop Ethan de Groot’s blatant head butt of Crusaders lock Jamie Hannah while he was lying prone on the ground trapped in a ruck is beyond disgusting. The fact that none of the officials picked this up during the match, and afterwards, despite a massive public outcry on social media that de Groot is not receiving any form of a citing beggars belief.

While De Groot may receive no sanction from all of this, hopefully All Blacks Coach Scott Robertson has seen it and made the call that there is no place for the Highlanders Prop in the All Blacks’ plans for 2025 – no huge loss as there are plenty of options. While some have argued that it was frustration that caused De Groot’s red screen moment, we simply can’t buy that. It’s not Jamie Hannah’s fault that the Highlanders are this year’s worst team in Super Rugby, and to be honest, have been for quite some time now. If De Groot is upset by the fact that he is in a poor team, then it doesn’t give him the right to take it out on his opponents on the field in acts of hooliganism. Take it to the punching bag in the gym or have a rant at your Coach in the sheds after the game – but cheap and ugly shots on your opponents simply have no place in the game full stop – especially as a professional athlete earning a generous six figure salary!

Is too much Rugby making competitions meaningless in pursuit of the almighty dollar and diluting both the quality and value of the sport????

This weekend’s Champions Cup Final was vintage stuff. We were treated to a cracking display of fast-paced, high skill rugby that had all the physical intensity and thrills of a full blown Test match. France’s Bordeaux edged out a classy English side in the shape of Northampton in front of a packed Principality Stadium with colorful, good natured fans from both sides as well as plenty of thrilled neutrals just there for a great rugby day out which they got in spades. However, the run-up to that Final caused plenty of dissent and has seen interest in a once much cherished competition diminish over the years. We can all remember being glued to our TV screens come Champions Cup time in the first 20 years of its inception. However, in the last 10 years it has become convoluted to say the least, and since COVID and the worthy introduction of South African sides the format has become overly complex, unwieldy and dare we say it not overly enjoyable as a spectacle.

In its current format in the Pool stages and even up to the Quarter-Finals, all that gets produced in six weeks of competition are endless rounds of one-sided matches with little if any jeapordy. This is all compounded by the fact that teams with relatively small player bases have to make almost impossible decisions about how to rotate their limited squads given regular club season duties and international commitments. In short, the balancing act has become almost impossible and the EPCR, the Champions League’s governing body, keeps tinkering with the format to the point where the final product looks like a Power Point presentation done by preschoolers.

Add to that comes the announcement this week that every four years there is to be a Club World Cup between the URC, Premiership, TOP14, Super Rugby, and probably Japan’s League One sides. Eyes glazed by the thought of yet more broadcasting money and sponsorship deals, the governing bodies have decided that this is what we as rugby fans apparently want. The reality was simply that the idea was mooted originally by fans that it might be a bit of a lark once a year to have a one off game between the winner of the Champions Cup and Super Rugby to settle the respective Hemisphere’s annual bragging rights. We don’t think for a moment that any of us wanted a tournament out of it all!

This is all now in addition to the utterly pointless Nations Cup to be held every two years and replacing the dearly loved annual Southern and Northern Hemisphere tours. Oh yes and we’re still going to have a Rugby World Cup every four years that is apparently paramount to all of this, but let’s now have it in places that are supposedly about to become genuine rugby heartlands like Saudi Arabia and which fully embrace the core on and off field values of our sport – excuse our scepticism and lack of enthusiasm on this one! According to World Rugby, this is furthering its objective of growing the game, but it actually looks more like expanding the coffers of World Rugby and its Board of Directors and their pension funds. Ask Canada’s Women how they feel about World Rugby’s largesse, considering they are having to fund themselves to attend this year’s Rugby World Cup!

In all of this, we can’t help wondering how a sport, with an incredibly small global player base compared to others, is supposed to play all this rugby without the use of performance enhancing drugs. What we run the risk of seeing is exhausted players burnt out by the age of 25 and plagued by long term health issues due to Rugby’s inability to effectively police the game in terms of player welfare (see above). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where this is all taking our beloved game, and it’s not a direction that looks positive.

It’s time for us as fans to say enough is enough when it comes to Rugby, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Let’s face it the governing bodies surely won’t. It’s all about quality, not quantity, people!

What to watch this weekend

Well, it’s Quarter Finals time in the URC and the last weekend of the regular Super Rugby season before the playoffs. England’s Premiership also wraps up the regular season while France’s TOP 14 as the longest competition in Club Rugby isn’t quite done yet. There’s also some Japan Rugby League One Semi-Finals if you want to see some of your favorite Internationals in action. As a result, there is quite a lot of rugby to get through this weekend. Head over to the TV page for our picks of the URC and Super Rugby, but if you only watch two games this weekend as like most of us your time is limited, these are the two we are not going to miss.

In the URC, there are some very tasty fixtures on offer, but our standout pick is Munster’s trip to the Shark Tank on Saturday. The third placed Sharks who boast a raft of Springboks should, in theory, have this in the bag, especially in front of the Durban faithful. Sixth placed Munster, on the other hand, have had a tough season and have not traveled well this year at all. However, a Munster side with its back against the wall is one of the most dangerous outfits in Club Rugby, and they invariably suddenly seem to find the form that eluded them all season. If you don’t believe us, just watch their trip to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Round of 16 fixture, which saw them knock the two times French champions out of the tournament. The Sharks meanwhile have fallen off the boil of late, and even their Springbok superstars have looked less than flash at times. They have got the wins, but none of them have looked all that convincing, especially given the big names in their ranks. With some of Munster’s old war horses like Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray having potentially their last outing in the famous red jersey, then expect the fireworks to fly in this one!

Meanwhile, in Super Rugby, as the sun comes up here on the East Coast on Friday, we are fascinated by the prospect of the Trans Tasman clash between New Zealand’s Crusaders and Australia’s Brumbies in Canberra. The Crusaders who have won the Super Rugby title for a staggering 7 years in a row, only deciding to take a year off from hoisting the silverware in 2024, are back with a vengeance and currently sit second on the log as we head into the final weekend of the regular season. Meanwhile, Australia’s Brumbies, as they do every year, finish the season in the top four of the log and as the best Australian side in the competition by a country mile. Australian sides have done slightly better in the competition this year than they normally do, which must be a relief to Wallabies fans ahead of a Lions Tour boasting some of the Northern Hemisphere’s biggest guns.

The Reds, Waratahs and the Force are all likely to run out of gas come the first round of the knockout stages, but the Brumbies have the potential to last the distance especially with a home playoff run. However, the Hurricanes, Reds, Blues and even Moana Pasifika could all jeapordise that this weekend, consequently the Canberra outfit need a big game against one of New Zealand’s toughest teams to seal their preferred route through the knockouts. This will have all the trappings of an All Blacks/Wallaby contest and, as a result, should be well worth your entertainment dollar this weekend.

You can head on over to the TV page for how and when to catch these two games this weekend. So we’ll leave it there for this week, but once again, from all of us, a HUGE heartfelt congratulations to Canada’s Women, and we hope you’ll consider aiding their worthy cause as suggested above. Enjoy the weekend!