What a weekend of rugby that was! I managed to watch most of Tigers v Scarlets, Glasgow v Montpellier, Sarries v Munster, all of Quins v Wasps, Saints v Ospreys and Toulouse v Bath. Exhausted!!
It’s always great when a side that hasn’t had the most supportive of press going into a weekend absolutely shows how it should be done. I am of course referring to Wasps and Bath.
Stuart Lancaster must seriously be looking at his choices for his squad for the RBS 6 Nations; Joe Simpson played an absolute blinder for Wasps, as did Christian Wade. It’s great to see these young players developing. If I have one criticism, it’s that in the 2nd 40 minutes of Quins v Wasps, I didn’t see that much of Wade, but given his position on the Park, if he’s not fed the ball, we’re not going to see him. It was just a shame after all his hard work in the first half.
Joe Simpson has to be a player to watch this year. Under the watchful eye of Wasps Director of Rugby, Dai Jones and his coaching team, he’s really progressed, he simply can’t be ruled out of an England call up – at least to the preparation squad.
Bath and the buzzword is Joseph. Such a fantastic player, I could watch him break the gain line time and time again. Extremely creative and with an amazing perspective of the game, Jonathan Byron Alexander Joseph is another young player proving he fully deserves his place in the Bath squad and perhaps should partner Eastmond in the Centre.
I couldn’t believe it when Toulouse took undoubtedly their player of the match, Louis Picamole, off the pitch. Louis Picamole is a joy to watch, creating chances where there are none and leading the pack impeccably. Having said that, the Bath forwards fully had the measure of Toulouse.
Watching open rugby of the kind that Bath played this weekend and the amazing defensive prowess of Wasps, is testament to the openness of this current European Cup competition. At the time of writing, only ONE team had qualified for the next round. Perhaps the most open competition in years.
A little word though, if I may about diving. Yoann Huget, whilst an extremely talented player, is no actor. The shameless dive incident in yesterday’s game will go down in rugby folk lore as a ridiculous act, that actually does nothing for the professionalism of rugby and is completely disrespectful of his team mates and opposition. I just hope (as do many, if Twitter is any measure) that the IRB will take a VERY firm stance on this behaviour and cite him for conduct likely to bring the game into disrepute. This behaviour does not belong on a rugby pitch.
In other news, it was a good weekend to be an Old Coventrian… The Colts won by a stonking 54-0 and the 1st XV hampered by serious injuries right from the start of the season, have found their mojo and having lost very narrowly last week by one point, fought back against their inner demons and managed a win against local rivals.
Mention must also go to Coventry & Mid Warwickshire U17s who, through a try in the last minute beat Rugby & District by one point. Well done all.
I’m also very proud to say that Coventry RFC continue their record breaking streak with 15 wins from 15. I feel very naughty writing this, but as Boy’s injured, we won’t be going to watch his team play next Saturday (we’ve always watched every match if he’s been injured) – instead we’ll be going to watch Coventry RFC hopefully make it 16/16.
The future’s bright, the future’s egg shaped!
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