Tag: Rugby

Wasps have suffered an early-season blow after back-row Brad Shields was ruled out for between three to eight weeks with a broken cheekbone.

Shields sustained the injury during the Premiership game against Exeter.

“Having attended hospital this evening, it was decided that Shields needs to see a specialist on Monday, to decide whether an operation is necessary,” read a short statement from Wasps.

“It is estimated that the back-rower will be out for three to eight weeks.”

Wasps lost 42-31 to the Chiefs at the Ricoh Arena and face Leicester at the same venue next Sunday.

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The Dragons overcame the Southern Kings before the Ospreys, Connacht, Scarlets and Benetton won later on in Saturday’s PRO14 action.

Dragons 27-22 Kings

The hosts started the game off on the front foot, with Ollie Griffiths scoring the first try after just three minutes following a break from deep. Aaron Wainwright then added a second 10 minutes later after charging down Masixole Banda’s clearance.

With two conversions and a penalty to their name in addition to the early tries, Dragons led 17-0 after 21 minutes, but their momentum was derailed five minutes later when Rhodri Williams was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on.

After a sustained spell of Kings pressure, Michael Willemse scored in the corner following a lineout maul immediately after the yellow card. Just three minutes later, the South African side added another try through Bjorn Basson, who surged down the touchline from halfway to get the ball down in the corner.

The visitors carried their momentum into the second half, and although the Dragons kept them at bay with some solid defending initially, Godlen Masimla scored in the corner 15 minutes after the break.

Following Banda’s conversion, the scores stayed level until Josh Lewis’ penalty 62 minutes into the game. Four minutes later, Lewis got on the end of an up-and-under from Rhodri Williams and ran all the way to score, extending the lead beyond a converted try.

An 80th minute consolation try from Yaw Penxe came too late for the Kings as they came up just short of their first away win in PRO14 history.

The scorers:

For Dragons:
Tries: Griffiths, Wainwright, Lewis
Cons: Lewis 3
Pens: Lewis 2
Yellow Cards: R Williams

For Southern Kings:
Tries: Willemse, Basson, Masimla, Penxe
Cons: Banda

The teams:

Dragons: 15 Jordan Williams, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Tyler Morgan, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Josh Lewis, 9 Rhodri Williams, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Cory Hill (c), 4 Matthew Screech, 3 Leon Brown, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Brok Harris
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Lloyd Fairbrother, 19 Brandon Nansen, 20 Huw Taylor, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Arwel Robson, 23 Adam Warren

Kings: 15 Yaw Penxe, 14 Michael Makase, 13 Harlon Klassen, 12 Berton Klassen, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Masixole Banda, 9 Rudi van Rooyen, 8 Andisa Ntsila, 7 Martinus Burger, 6 Stephan De Wit, 5 Bobby De Wee, 4 Schalk Oelofse, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 Michael Willemse (c), 1 Justin Forwood
Replacements: 16 Alandre Van Rooyen, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Lupumlo Mguca, 19 John-Charles Astle, 20 Ruaan Lerm, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Martin Du Toit, 23 Ulrich Beyers

Referee: Frank Murphy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Leo Colgan (Ireland), Gwyn Morris (Wales)
Television match official: Sean Brickell (Wales)

Connacht 32-13 Zebre

Connacht ran in five tries in their 32-13 win over Zebre at Galway’s Sportsground.

The first half was mostly one-way traffic in favour of the hosts. After Jack Carty’s early penalty had put them ahead, Caolin Blade pounced on a loose ball inside Zebre’s territory, setting up Paul Boyle for the opening try of the game eight minutes in.

12 minutes later, the number eight had his second after capitalising on a Connacht rolling maul. For the second time in a row, Carty converted, and the only other points before the break came through a Carlo Canna penalty for Zebre.

Things went from bad to worse for the visitors after the break, with Giosue Zilocchi and Oliviero Fabiani picking up yellow cards within six minutes.

Blade went over for Connacht just two minutes after Zebre were reduced to 13 men, with the hosts capitalising after piling pressure on the Italian side at the scrum.

Canna clawed back a penalty for Zebre, but in the 60th minute, Carty’s grubber set Eoin Griffin up for another Connacht try.

10 minutes later, substitute Niyi Adeolokun went over for Connacht’s fifth try, and although Zebre scored a late consolation through Guglielmo Palazzani, the damage had already been done.

The scorers:

For Connacht:
Tries: Boyle 2, Blade, Griffin, Adeolokun
Cons: Carty 2
Pens: Carty

For Zebre:
Tries: Palazzani
Cons: Brummer
Pens: Canna 2
Yellow Cards: Zilocchi, Fabiani

The teams:

Connacht: 15 Tiernan O’Halloran, 14 Cian Kelleher, 13 Eoin Griffin, 12 Kyle Godwin, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Caolin Blade, 8 Paul Boyle, 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Sean O’Brien, 5 Quinn Roux, 4 Gavin Thornbury, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Denis Buckley
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 Conán O’Donnell, 18 Dominic Robertson-McCoy, 19 James Cannon, 20 Colby Fainga’a, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Niyi Adeolokun

Zebre: 15 Edoardo Padovani, 14 Mattia Bellini, 13 Giulio Bisegni, 12 Nicolas De Battista, 11 Giovanbattista Venditti, 10 Carlo Canna, 9 Marcello Violi, 8 Renato Giammarioli, 7 Johan Meyer, 6 Matu Tevi, 5 George Biagi (c), 4 David Sisi, 3 Giosué Zilocchi, 2 Oliviero Fabiani, 1 Andrea Lovotti
Replacements: 16 Massimo Ceciliani, 17 Daniele Rimpelli, 18 Roberto Tenga, 19 Apisai Tauyavuca, 20 Jimmy Tuivaiti, 21 Guglielmo Palazzani, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Tommaso Boni

Referee: Lloyd Linton (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Fin Brown (Scotland), John Carvill (Ireland)
Television match official: Brian MacNeice (Ireland)

Ospreys 46-14 Cheetahs

The Cheetahs succumbed to their second heavy defeat of the season, going down 46-14 to the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium.

The team from South Africa struggled to deal with the Ospreys’ attacking lineouts, and it took just seven minutes before Alun Wyn Jones slipped through a gap in the defence to open the scoring.

The Cheetahs levelled the score at a converted try apiece after Jasper Wiese crashed over in the 18th minute, but another move off a lineout nine minutes later sent George North through a gap in the defence. He was unable to go all the way, but Scott Otten finished off.

North finally got himself on the scoreboard in the 37th minute, finishing off a well-worked move in the Ospreys’ left corner. After a Sam Davies penalty on the stroke of half-time, the hosts went into the break 22-7 up.

It took until the 59th minute for the second half scoring to open, but at last, Alex Jeffries crashed over to secure the bonus point, with the formidable Ospreys lineout once again paying dividends.

Just four minutes later, the Ospreys’ lineout maul took them over for their fifth try, with Justin Tipuric getting the ball down.

69 minutes in, Rabz Maxwane chipped, chased, and went all the way for a superb Cheetahs try on the left, but it proved nothing more than a consolation as the Ospreys lineout maul took Tipuric over again before Jones crashed over to cap off a dominant display.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Tries: Wyn Jones 2, Tipuric 2, Otten, North, Jeffries
Cons: S Davies 4
Pens: S Davies

For Cheetahs:
Tries: Wiese, Maxwane
Cons: Schoeman 2

The teams:

Ospreys: 15 Dan Evans, 14 George North, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Owen Watkin, 11 Tom Williams, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Aled Davies, 8 James King, 7 Justin Tipuric (c), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Rhodri Jones, 18 Alex Jeffries, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Sam Cross, 21 Tom Habberfield, 22 James Hook, 23 Joe Thomas

Cheetahs: 15 Malcolm Jaer, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 Nico Lee, 11 William Small-Smith, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Aidon Davis, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 JP du Preez, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Aranos Coetzee, 19 Walt Steenkamp, 20 Gerhard Olivier, 21 Tian Meyer, 22 Ernst Stapelberg/Marnus van der Merwe, 23 Ryno Eksteen

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: George Clancy (Ireland), Gareth John (Wales)
Television match official: Tim Hayes (Wales)

Scarlets 23-21 Leinster

Scarlets claimed a hard-fought victory over Leinster at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.

Leinster suffered a blow early on with Josh Murphy being sin-binned after just five minutes. Scarlets would capitalise on their numerical advantage when Ken Owens bashed over after 12 minutes, converted by Leigh Halfpenny.

But the visitors would find a response through Fergus McFadden, as Ross Byrne added the extras to level matters at 7-7 after 25 minutes. Halfpenny slotted another penalty in the 35th minute.

The game would turn on its head when it was Leinster this time who enjoyed the extra man as Samson Lee was yellow carded for Scarlets on the hooter, allowing James Lowe to go over for a 14-10 lead heading into the interval.

Two Halfpenny penalties after the break would edge the home side back in front at 16-14 and, when Gareth Davies dotted down in the 69th minute, it appeared to be a bridge too far for Leinster.

However, the defending champions hit back through a converted try from Rhys Ruddock, setting up a tense final five minutes as they trailed the hosts by just two.

But Scarlets would held on for the victory, enacting revenge for their PRO14 final defeat and European Champions Cup semi-final loss last season.

For Scarlets:
Try: Owens, Davies
Cons: Halfpenny 2
Pens: Halfpenny 3
Yellow Card: Lee

For Leinster:
Tries: McFadden, Ruddock, Lowe
Cons: Byrne 3
Yellow Card: Murphy

The teams:

Scarlets: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Johnny McNicholl, 13 Kieron Fonotia, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Tom Prydie, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Josh Macleod, 7 James Davies, 6 Blade Thomson, 5 Steve Cummins, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee, 2 Ken Owens (c), 1 Rob Evans
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Phil Price, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Lewis Rawlins, 20 Ed Kennedy, 21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Paul Asquith, 23 Ioan Nicholas

Leinster: 15 Jordan Larmour, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Rory O’Loughlin, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 James Lowe, 10 Ross Byrne, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Rhys Ruddock, 6 Josh Murphy, 5 Ian Nagle, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Seán Cronin, 1 Cian Healy
Replacements: 16 James Tracy, 17 Peter Dooley, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 Max Deegan, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Noel Reid, 23 Joe Tomane

Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: David Sutherland (Scotland), Wayne Davies (Wales)
Television match official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

Benetton Rugby 27-25 Cardiff Blues

Benetton claimed a 27-25 come-from-behind victory over Cardiff Blues at Stadio Comunale di Monigo.

Tomasso Allan gave the home side a 3-0 lead from the tee in the 12th minute before Jarrod Evans responded in similar fashion nine minutes later for the Cardiff Blues.

Allan would then get himself on the try column in the 29th minute, converting his own try for a 10-3 lead with 10 minutes to go until the interval.

But the away side were beginning to turn the screw up front and were rewarded with a penalty try after winning another penalty at the scrum. Evans would slot a second three-pointer to give the visitors a 13-10 advantage heading into the break.

11 minutes after the interval, Jayden Hayward put Braam Steyn through. Allan converted to give Benetton a slender 17-16 lead. Soon after, Allan extended the lead to four with another penalty.

Gareth Anscombe would slot three penalties in succession to wrestle the lead back for the visitors at 25-20. However, they would lose both Olly Robinson and Rhys Gill to the sin-bin in the final few minutes, allowing Monty Ioane to cross three minutes into injury time and level the scores.

Allan had the responsibility of taking the all important kick and kept his nerve to claim a dramatic victory for the home side.

The scorers:

For Benetton:
Tries: Allan, Steyn, Ioane
Cons: Allan 3
Pens: Allan 2

For Cardiff Blues:
Try: Penalty Try
Pens: Evans 3, Anscombe 3
Yellow Cards: Robinson, Gill

The teams:

Benetton: 15 Jayden Hayward, 14 Ratuva Tavuyara, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Tommaso Allan, 9 Tito Tebaldi, 8 Robert Barbieri, 7 Sebastian Negri, 6 Abraham Steyn, 5 Dean Budd (c), 4 Marco Fuser, 3 Tiziano Pasquali, 2 Hame Faiva, 1 Nicola Quaglio
Replacements: 16 Engjel Makelara, 17 Cherif Traore, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Irne Herbst, 20 Marco Lazzaroni, 21 Marco Barbini, 22 Dewaldt Duvenage, 23 Marco Zanon

Cardiff Blues: 15 Matthew Morgan, 14 Jason Harries, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Owen Lane, 10 Jarrod Evans, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Ellis Jenkins (c), 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Rory Thornton, 4 George Earle, 3 Dmitri Arhip, 2 Kristian Dacey, 1 Brad Thyer
Replacements: 16 Ethan Lewis, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Josh Navidi, 20 Olly Robinson, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Gareth Anscombe, 23 Garyn Smith

Referee: Seán Gallagher (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Stuart Gaffikin (Ireland), Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Television match official: Stefano Pennè (Italy)

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Springbok wing Makazole Mapimpi has returned to South Africa after he sustained a knee injury in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

No replacement will be added to the South African squad.

Mapimpi was withdrawn from action just before half-time at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday and replaced by Cheslin Kolbe, who earned his debut Test cap for the Springboks.

The injured player arrives in South Africa on Tuesday and will undergo a specialist review of his injured right knee. Apart from Mapimpi, there are no other Springbok injury concerns.

“We have a squad of 30 players here in Wellington and we’re not going to call up a replacement,” said Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus.

“Makazole flew back today (Monday) and if we call up someone in his place, he will only arrive here on Wednesday and have one training session with us.”

The injury withdrawal of Mapimpi has however forced Erasmus to relook at his back-three options for Saturday’s clash with the world’s top ranked team.

“We have Cheslin Kolbe with us who played a full second half last Saturday on the wing, but we have some other options as well such as Jesse Kriel and even Lukhanyo Am, who has played some rugby out on the wing,” added Erasmus.

“We will try and pick the most experienced side for this match, with the least amount of changes.”

Meanwhile, the Springboks kicked off their week’s preparations on Monday with a lively late afternoon training at Porirua Park, their training base for rest of the week.

Tuesday is another full training day, followed by a non-training day on Wednesday, while Erasmus will announce his Springbok match-23 at lunchtime on Thursday.

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Australia have cut the gap on England in the World Rugby Rankings after responding from successive losses with Saturday’s win over South Africa.

The Wallabies picked up a fraction under half a rating point for the win to move on to 84.45 points – 1.22 behind England in fourth position.

Rassie Erasmus’ South Africa stay in seventh place in the World Rankings, behind Scotland, with 2.25 points between themselves and France.

Elsehwere, New Zealand‘s victory over Argentina maintains their perfect start to the season, and they remain 4.39 points clear of Ireland.

World Rugby Rankings
Previous position in brackets

1(1) New Zealand 94.52
2(2) Ireland 90.12
3(3) Wales 85.94
4(4) England 85.68
5(5) Australia 84.45
6(6) Scotland 83.02
7(7) South Africa 81.35
8(8) France 79.10
9(9) Argentina 77.02
10(10) Fiji 76.54

With thanks to World Rugby

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Click:OKK Vape

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen is not underestimating the Springboks ahead of the teams’ Rugby Championship Test in Wellington on Saturday.

Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus believes his side’s underdog status will make preparing to play the All Blacks easier but Hansen knows the strength of the old rivalry will make South Africa – who lost their last two matches to Argentina and Australia – dangerous.

A bonus point win for New Zealand would secure another Rugby Championship in Wellington, with two rounds still to play.

“They’ll be a big challenge,” Hansen told the All Blacks’ official website.

“They pride themselves on lifting their performance particularly when they play us. They’ve lost two now so they’ll be pretty desperate and we’ll need to match that and be desperate ourselves.”

With more time to reflect on Saturday’s win over Argentina, Hansen said the positives to come from it were securing a bonus point win, scoring some nice tries and the chance for players to grow.

Lock Brodie Retallick’s rotator cuff shoulder injury will rule him out of consideration to play South Africa and with Luke Romano suffering a calf strain the replacement would be Auckland lock Patrick Tuipulotu, who marked his return to rugby with a hat-trick of tries in the Mitre 10 Cup win over Tasman.

A scan on Monday would confirm how long Retallick would be out of action but a worst case scenario was six weeks and a minimum of three weeks.

Inside centre Ngani Laumape had grade one ligament damage to his knee so would be out for two to three weeks.

Sonny Bill Williams was having an X-ray on Monday and if it was clear he would be available while Rieko Ioane was already set to play.

Hansen said hooker Dane Coles had turned the corner in his recovery and was starting to look more like an athlete with definition showing in his calf muscles while he was also exhibiting some of his more familiar chirpy traits. That was important, he said, because when high performance sportspeople had injury-enforced breaks from the game it could start to effect them. But Coles was back to his usual self.

The play of full-back Ben Smith had again demonstrated the worth in players having sabbatical breaks and Hansen said it was a consistent pattern that had been seen with players.

When Ma’a Nonu returned from a long break after suffering a broken arm he had played the best rugby of his career while similar qualities had been seen from Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, who suffered an injury upon his return but who once clear showed the benefits, he said.

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Pau held on to seal a 24-21 win over Grenoble before 14-man Toulon ended their drought with a 28-27 victory over champions Castres at Stade Mayol.

Grenoble 21-24 Pau

Pau made it two wins out of three in the Top 14 this term after they beat struggling new boys Grenoble 24-21 at Stade des Alps on Sunday.

Leading 14-6 at the break, the visitors kept their recently promoted hosts at arm’s length until a late score set up a nervy finish for them.

Jesse Mogg got Pau going with a 14th minute crossing before Julien Blanc went over five minutes from the break to give them a handy buffer.

Grenoble responded nine minutes into the second-half when Pablo Uberti crossed, but Lourens Adriaanse hit back for Pau to make it 24-14.

And despite Grenoble number eight Loic Godener scoring with six minutes to play, Pau managed to hold on for an important win on the road.

The scorers:

For Grenoble:
Tries: Uberti, Godener
Con: Pourteau
Pens: Pourteau 3

For Pau:
Tries: Mogg, Blanc, Adriaanse
Cons: Taylor 3
Pen: Taylor
Yellow Card: Pesenti

Grenoble: 15 Lolagi Visinia, 14 Taleta Tupuola, 13 Pablo Uberti, 12 Alaska Taufa, 11 Daniel Kilioni, 10 Franck Pourteau, 9 Lilian Saseras 8 Loic Godener, 7 Fabien Alexandre, 6 Killian Geraci, 5 Hans Nkinsi, 4 Leva Fifita, 3 Halani Aulika, 2 Mike Tadjer, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg
Replacements: 16 Duncan Casey, 17 Mihaita Lazar, 18 Francois Uys, 19 Antonin Berruyer, 20 Taiasina Tuifua, 21 Ben Lucas, 22 Raymond Rhule, 23 Ali Oz

Pau: 15 Charly Malie, 14 Jesse Mogg, 13 Benson Stanley, 12 Florian Nicot, 11 Frank Halai, 10 Tom Taylor, 9 Julien Blanc, 8 Paddy Butler, 7 Martin Puech, 6 Ben Mowen, 5 Baptiste Pesenti, 4 Daniel Ramsay, 3 Malik Hamadache, 2 Laurent Bouchet, 1 Jamie Mackintosh
Replacements: 16 Lucas Rey, 17 Geoffrey Moise, 18 Fabrice Metz, 19 Antoine Erbani, 20 Thibault Daubagna, 21 Antoine Hastoy, 22 Jale Vatubua, 23 Lourens Adriaanse

Referee: Alexandre Ruiz
Assistant referees: Mathieu Noirot, Bruno Gabaldon
Television match official: Éric Briquet Campin

Toulon 28-27 Castres

Toulon claimed their first win of the season on Sunday as they beat Toulon 28-27, this despite Mathieu Bastareaud being red carded late on.

It had looked like being a third straight loss for Patrice Collazo’s men when 27-20 down and with Bastareaud being sent-off for use of the forearm to the head of a Castres player on the ground. However they ground out a victory to get their season up and running at Stade Mayol.

Filipo Nakosi scored the winning try in the 78th minute but for Bastareaud he is surely now set for a spell on the sidelines after his act.

The match began well for Toulon when new signing Liam Messam crossed after just four minutes but wing Martin Laveau responded for Castres.

7-5 became 10-5 to Toulon when fly-half Anthony Belleau slotted a penalty on 15 minutes. However, then Castres found their rhythm with two Benjamin Urdapilleta penalties and scrum-half Rory Kockott’s try pushing the visitors and Top 14 holders into an 18-10 lead on 28 minutes.

Stéphane Onambele Mbarga did reduce the margin to three points when he scored but an Urdapilleta drop-goal meant it was 21-15 at the break.

The always reliable Urdapilleta was on target again early in the second period with two penalty goals either side of a much-needed try for Toulon from loosehead prop Sebastien Taofifenua, which meant Castres were 27-20 up with 28 minutes remaining on the clock at Stade Mayol.

But while Toulon’s hopes were dented with 10 minutes remaining when centre Bastareaud was sent-off, Castres lock Christophe Samson was also yellow carded. Step forward wing Nakosi who took Messam’s pass to sprint over on the right wing to seal a much-needed four points for Toulon.

The scorers:

For Toulon:
Tries: Messam, Mbarga, Taofifenua, Nakosi
Con: Belleau
Pens: Belleau, Carbonel
Red Card: Bastareaud

For Castres:
Tries: Laveau, Kockott
Con: Urdapilleta
Pens: Urdapilleta 4
Drop goal: Urdapilleta
Yellow Cards: Stroe, Samson

Toulon: 15 Jonah Placid, 14 Filipo Nakosi, 13 Mathieu Bastareaud, 12 Josua Tuisova, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Rhys Webb, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Stéphane Onambele Mbarga, 6 Swan Rebbadj, 5 Romain Taofifenua, 4 Juandre Kruger, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Anthony Etrillard, 1 Sebastien Taofifenua
Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Jaques Potgieter, 19 Jean Monribot, 20 Malakai Fekitoa, 21 Louis Carbonel, 22 Eric Escande, 23 Emerick Setiano

Castres: 15 Julien Dumora, 14 Martin Laveau, 13 Thomas Combezou, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 David Smith, 10 Benjamin Urdapilleta, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Anthony Jelonch, 7 Camille Gerondeau, 6 Mathieu Babillot, 5 Steve Mafi, 4 Christophe Samson, 3 Marc Clerc, 2 Jody Jenneker, 1 Antoine Tichit
Replacements: 16 Kevin Firmin, 17 Tudor Stroe, 18 Victor Moreaux, 19 Baptiste Delaporte, 20 Ludovic Radosavljevic, 21 Armand Batlle, 22 Florian Vialelle, 23 Paea Fa’anunu

Referee: Laurent Cardona
Assistant referees: Cyril Lafon, Richard Duhau
Television match official: Philippe Bonhoure

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Leicester interim head coach Geordan Murphy hailed his players for their support after they beat Newcastle 49-33 at Welford Road on Saturday.

Following Matt O’Connor’s departure, Murphy took over the reins at the Premiership outfit with his first game seeing him face the Falcons.

It resulted in an impressive triumph as a fast start from the Tigers – that gave them lead 40-19 at the break – proved crucial in their win.

“It was a win so I’m pleased with that. We were sloppy at times, but we had a really good start and that put us in control. Overall, I’m pleased but we have plenty to work on,” he told BBC Sport after the home victory.

“The senior players had big games, but we weren’t the finished article today.

“It’s been a tough week, and it’s bound to be after losing the head coach with an interim coming in tweaking a few things, but the players stood up and led really well.

“The support they’ve given me in a tough week has been world class.”

Monday: Sack head coach ??

Saturday: Score FIVE first-half tries ??

So @LeicesterTigers had their bonus point wrapped up after 23 minutes today ?? pic.twitter.com/kbVgUnn9MZ

— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 8, 2018

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Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill has confirmed that centre Mark Bennett is set to miss part of the season after picking up a hamstring injury in last weekend’s PRO14 match against Ulster.

The 22-times capped Scotland international was stretchered off in the 19th minute of the 30-29 defeat to the Irish province at the Kingspan Stadium.

“He’ll have a scan today, so we’ll know in the next 24 hours, but clearly it’s something quite significant,” Cockerill explained at Monday’s media conference. “The extent of that we don’t know yet.

“He’s on crutches. At the moment we think – it’s yet to be confirmed – that he has ruptured his hamstring at the very top. Similar to the one Tom Brown had last year. If it is completely ruptured it is a serious injury. If it is what we think it is, it will be months.

“I feel very sorry for Mark, because he missed half of last season and now he’s probably going to miss a big chunk of this year. Thankfully it’s nothing to do with his knees.

“People recover from hamstring issues and, as severe as this one is, he will hopefully be fit for the New Year, give or take – we’ll see.

“Mark is over the ball, one guys tries to clean him and does not quite get him and then he gets cleaned again and gets caught with his leg straight and got bent into a position where he got past his flexibility. Something had to give and it was his hamstring. Nothing wrong with the clean-out – it was unfortunate, purely bad luck.”

Cockerill also confirmed that Fijian international Bill Mata picked up a shoulder injury in the defeat to Ulster and is questionable for this weekend’s encounter with Connacht at BT Murrayfield.

However, scrum-half, Henry Pyrgos – who was substituted with a leg injury in Friday’s match – has recovered and is in contention for selection.

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All banter aside, Wallabies assistant coach Stephen Larkham is wary of an improved Argentina side coached by his former colleague Mario Ledesma.

Ledesma had previously been forwards coach of Australia prior to leaving that post to take up a role as head coach of Super Rugby franchise the Jaguares at the beginning of last season.

A whirlwind 12 months later and Ledesma had been appointed Argentina head coach, guiding los Pumas to a memorable victory over the Springboks in Mendoza in only his second game in charge a fortnight ago.

And Larkham was in a playful mood when asked about his former colleague Ledesma whilst speaking to Australian Associated Press on Tuesday ahead of the sides’ Rugby Championship clash at Robina Stadium on Saturday.

“He was here for a couple of years as an assistant coach and, honestly, I don’t know how he’s a head coach now,” Larkham told AAP.

“He struggled as an assistant coach.

“I don’t know what he’s going to come up with this weekend.

“I expect a fair bit of scrummaging, because that’s what he’s good at.

“I can’t see how he’s had the limited success he’s had already.”

Larkham continued the sledging by saying he expected Ledesma to use his previous in-depth knowledge of the inner workings of the Wallabies team to mastermind another victory against the odds.

“I’ve seen it already, particularly the scrumming stuff. A lot of the techniques I’d spoken to him about he’s implementing now,” he said.

“It’s going to be an interesting game and something I’m looking forward to watching, probably more so for the number of errors they’re going to make.”

Finally Larkham dropped all pretence and admitted this was an in-form Pumas outfit the Wallabies are wary of.

“As much as we joke about it, these guys are starting to play some good footy under Mario,” Larkham said.

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The All Blacks have been boosted by the news that Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty and Sam Cane have been passed fit for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with the Springboks.

After having just had Brodie Retallick and Ngani Laumape ruled out for six and three weeks respectively, the return of three key players comes as timely relief for the world’s number one side.

Williams is the only one of the three not to have played any part in the tournament thus far, but scans have revealed he is ready to return from a shoulder complaint.

“Sonny had his scan yesterday and he’s all clear, ready to go, but he was sick this morning so he didn’t train, but the good news is his scan’s all clear,” coach Ian Foster told Reuters on Tuesday.

“He’s in contention to play, it’s just some bug or something.

Meanwhile, Crotty and Cane have been cleared of concussion symptoms and are also back in contention.

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