Bonkers Northampton-Bath thriller sealed by Fin Smith’s last-kick penalty
Bonkers Northampton-Bath thriller sealed by Fin Smith’s last-kick penalty Source link
All posts tagged: Rugby Union
Meg Jones at heart of England juggernaut – but Wales rewarded with bonus point
England starting XV: 15 Ellie Kildunne; 14 Millie David, 13 Meg Jones (captain), 12 Helena Rowland, 11 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald; 10 Holly Aitchison, 9 Lucy Packer; 1 Mackenzie Carson, 2 Amy Cokayne, 3 Sarah Bern, 4 Abi Burton, 5 Delaney Burns, 6 Sadia Kabeya, 7 Marlie Packer, 8 Maddie Feaunati. Replacements: 16 Connie Powell, 17 Kelsey Clifford, 18 Maud Muir, 19 Haineala Lutui, 20 Demelza Short, 21 Flo Robinson, 22 Zoe Harrison, 23 Jess Breach. Wales starting XV: 15 Kayleigh Powell, 14 Seren Singleton, 13 Courtney Keight, 12 Jenna de Vera, 11 Jasmine Joyce, 10 Lleucu George, 9 Keira Bevan, 1 Gwenllian Pyrs, 2 Kelsey Jones, 3 Sisilia Tuipulotu, 4 Jorja Aiono, 5 Gwen Crabb, 6 Branwen Metcalfe, 7 Bethan Lewis, 8 Bryonie King. Replacements: 16 Molly Reardon, 17 Maisie Davies, 18 Donna Rose, 19 Georgia Evans, 20 Alisha Joyce, 21 Seren Lockwood, 22 Catherine Richards, 23 Freya Bell. Source link
Unstoppable Noah Caluori inspires record Saracens win – but they cannot spell his name right
Scrum half Charlie Bracken was also exceptional while centre Olly Hartley and No 8 Tom Willis provided a continual stream of go-forward. Again, there was very little resistance from Sale and this will bear a long and painful review. Sale’s season may already be at an end and they have a horrific injury list but the absence of fight and heart was inexcusable, particularly at a point when the club were launching their season-ticket drive. At the very minimum, the CorpAcq should be a horrible place to visit for the opposing teams; the rugby equivalent of your cold Tuesday night at Stoke City. The inquest will begin in earnest on Monday morning as Sanderson gathers his squad to address what exactly their motivation is and where it has disappeared to. “I thought I was pretty clear at the start of the week around some of the things that were motivating the group,” Sanderson said. “Now I have asked them to come in tomorrow and tell me what’s motivating them individually. Some of those collective motivational …
England spoil Scotland’s party to take top spot in Women’s Six Nations
A record-breaking party for Scottish sport, and England spoilt it. On the day of the largest standalone crowd for a women’s sporting fixture north of the border, beating the near-19,000 who witnessed Scotland defeat Jamaica at Hampden Park in 2019, England’s march towards an eighth successive Six Nations title continued with aplomb, as John Mitchell’s world champions delivered a 12-try clinic at Murrayfield. England were depleted but one might not have known, inflicting Scotland’s heaviest defeat in this fixture since 2011. In hindsight, and taking into account the extraordinary depth at Mitchell’s disposal, it seems bonkers to peg them with an availability crisis but the truth is that no other side – women’s or men’s – in the world could cope with England’s absentee list and continue with such dominance. Three second rows, Zoe Stratford, Abbie Ward and Rosie Galligan, are pregnant, as is hooker Lark Atkin-Davies, while five others have suffered championship-ending injuries. Seven of the 13 forwards who played in last autumn’s World Cup final win were absent, including Alex Matthews who is …
Red Roses rusty but still relentless in pursuit of more history
Ireland will take pride from how they conjured two second-half scores via McGann and captain King. Bringing an energy late on that the Red Roses could not match, Scott Bemand, their head coach, implored his team to use their much-improved display as a springboard for the rest of the championship. Intriguingly, no England side – male or female – have won a Six Nations in the year following a World Cup. The team of part-time teachers and plumbers who triumphed in 2014 endured a miserable championship the following spring. That is the next challenge facing this world-beating Red Roses team if they are to create the “dynasty” that Mitchell mentioned earlier this week. On this evidence, there is still work to be done. Match details Scoring sequennce 5-0 Cokayne try, 7-0 Rowland con, 12-0 Bern try, 14-0 Roland con, 19-0 Bern try, 21-0 Roland con, 26-0 Breach try, 28-0 Rowland con, 33-0 Kildunne try, 33-5 McGann try, 33-10 King try, 33-12 O’Brien con. England E Kildunne; J Breach, M Jones, H Rowland, C Moloney-Macdonald; H …
Bath break Northampton hearts on one of European club rugby’s great nights
It would be doing Bath a massive disservice to suggest they were all route one as they demonstrated with their third try which was strike play perfection. The scrum was solid and Redpath felt Russell, who faked pumped once to draw a gap to send Henry Arundell scurrying under the posts. Then right on half-time came a try that both coaches identified as a key momentum shift as shortly after Smith missed a penalty to touch, replacement Francois van Wyk was driven over. Russell missed leaving the game tantalising poised at 35-26 to the visitors. After the madness of the first half, Smith took the first conservative decision of the game, by kicking a penalty in front of the posts. However, Saints were reduced to 14 men when JJ van der Mescht was sin-binned following repeated offences in the 22. Bath kicked to the corner and piled what seemed like half of Somerset into the maul with replacement Kepu Tuipulotu grounding the ball. Russell’s conversion made it a five-point game. Another Smith penalty gave Saints …
Bordeaux tear Leicester apart to set up mouthwatering quarter-final against Toulouse
Leicester did not help themselves at times – some of the front-line defence, particularly in the first half, was woeful – but the Tigers were fighting fires everywhere. If Bielle-Biarrey, with that iconic red scrum cap, is not cutting you to shreds, then Jalibert will, or Lucu, one of European rugby’s most underrated players, will squeeze you out of the contest with his calmness, kicking and control. The ovation Lucu, Bordeaux’s scrum-half and captain, received on 50 minutes as he departed was cacophonous; as was the roar Ben Tameifuna ignited when the wardrobe-on-wheels thundered over for a score soon after coming on. If Bordeaux cannot go round you, they will go through you, instead. Outclassed, outfought and out-thought, the challenge for Leicester now is to ensure that there is a response in the league. For Bordeaux, it might only be Toulouse who can stand between them and an historic European and domestic double. Match details Scoring sequence: 3-0 Lucu pen, 8-0 Woki try, 10-0 Lucu con, 15-0 Rayasi try, 20-0 Lucu try, 22-0 Lucu con, …
Toulouse play rugby from the gods to demolish Bristol
Ramos was ubiquitous in the Toulousain assault, offering one sumptuous offload from an audacious counter for Gourgues’s first –but Bristol often did not help themselves. Williams, often distributing beautifully, had a couple of howlers which led to two tries while Ibitoye and Rees-Zammit never quite looked comfortable in the backfield against a Dupont-Ntamack-Ramos three-pronged aerial bombardment. Thomas added a quickfire double to a rapidly increasing scoreline, but what made it more remarkable was that it was during the period in which the hosts had been reduced to 14 players. Toulouse were in cruise control, knowing the game was over, while the Bears attempted to salvage some pride. Thankfully, the visitors managed it. For Toulouse, with the crowd jumping to the sounds of the stadium’s sunset DJ, the victor of Bordeaux’s hosting of Leicester awaits; for the Bears, some claw-sharpening and wound-licking is required. Match details Scoring sequence: 0-5 Harding try, 0-7 Williams con, 5-7 Willis try, 7-7 Ramos con, 12-7 Mauvaka try, 14-7 Ramos con, 19-7 Gourgues try, 21-7 Ramos con, 26-7 Mauvaka try, 28-7 …
Bath overcome Saracens in thrilling encounter to book spot in Champions Cup quarter-finals
Bath starting XV: 15 Santiago Carreras, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Henry Arundell, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ben Spencer, 1 Beno Obano, 2 Tom Dunn, 3 Archie Griffin, 4 Quinn Roux, 5 Charlie Ewels, 6 Josh Bayliss, 7 Guy Pepper, 8 Alfie Barbeary. Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Thomas du Toit, 19 Ted Hill, 20 Sam Underhill, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Miles Reid. Saracens starting XV: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Noah Caluori, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Tobias Elliott, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Charlie Bracken, 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Jamie George, 3 Marcus Street, 4 Maro Itoje, 5 Hugh Tizard, 6 Theo McFarland, 7 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 8 Tom Willis. Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Marco Riccioni, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Nathan Michelow, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Max Malins. Source link
Northampton Saints and Henry Pollock land late knockout blow on Saracens
Saints, who shifted George Furbank to fly-half in Smith’s absence, were struggling without their talisman, while Tommy Freeman was uncharacteristically quiet. They had Pollock to thank for preventing a third for the hosts, as Hugh Tizard, who reassembled something of a circus act as he juggled the ball over the whitewash, was ambushed by a mop of blonde hair. Saints endured further misfortune when Trevor Davidson, who was on as a replacement, limped off injured, but their heads refused to dip. They mounted a head of steam and JJ Van der Mescht was somehow held up deep in the corner and, even after Farrell’s penalty, they had enough nous to get over the finish line after Litchfield – the man who started the show – broke through to set up McParland at the death, and spark Pollock’s celebrations. Match details Scoring sequence 0-5 Litchfield try, 0-7 Smith con, 0-12 McParland try, 0-14 Smith con, 5-14 Elliot try, 7-14 Farrell con, 12-14 Dan try, 14-14 Farrell con, 17-14 Farrell pen, 17-19 McParland try, 17-21 Hutchinson con. …