Tag: Rugby

Racing 92 halted Stade Francais’ fine start to the Top 14 season following a narrow 17-16 triumph in the Paris derby at the Stade Jean-Bouin.

The match was close throughout but the hosts did manage to open up a 10-3 lead via Kylan Hamdaoui’s try and Morne Steyn’s penalty.

However, Racing edged back into the contest and were in front by the break via Virimi Vakatawa’s effort and a pair of Finn Russell three-pointers.

Steyn and Russell then traded penalties in the second period and that was enough for Racing to claim the win and move to within one point of their rivals.

In a typically physical affair, the visitors began on the front foot and went ahead via the boot of Russell before Stade got themselves into the contest.

As has often been the case for Heyneke Meyer’s men this season, their midfield partnership of Jonathan Danty and Gael Fickou caused Racing problems. They duly earned a penalty, which Steyn converted, to level matters.

The hosts were now on the front foot and they touched down first as Hamdaoui spotted a gap, scampered through the hole and crossed the whitewash for a 10-3 lead.

Although the home side continued to challenge the gain line, the 2016 champions remained in the contest and, after Russell had reduced the arrears, the fly-half produced a moment of excellence to regain their advantage.

Having seen that the Stade defence was disorganised, the pivot took a neat outside line, found Henry Chavancy and the centre duly fed Vakatawa to finish.

The second 40 minutes remained tense as, although Russell moved the away team 14-10 clear, successive Steyn penalties put Stade back in front heading into the final quarter.

Meyer’s charges failed to build on those scores, however, and Racing’s fly-half snatched the victory from the tee after Djibril Camara was sin-binned.

The scorers:

For Stade:
Try: Hamdaoui
Con: Steyn
Pens: Steyn 3
Yellow Card: Camara

For Racing:
Try: Vakatawa
Con: Russell
Pens: Russell 4

Stade: 15 Kylan Hamdaoui, 14 Djibril Camara, 13 Gael Fickou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Julien Arias, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Sekou Macalou, 6 Tala Gray, 5 Yoann Maestri, 4 Paul Gabrillagues, 3 Paul Alo-Emile, 2 Laurent Panis, 1 Heinke van der Merwe
Replacements: 16 Laurent Sempere, 17 Siegfried Fisi’ihoi, 18 Alexandre Flanquart, 19 Ryan Chapuis, 20 Clement Daguin, 21 Julien Delbouis, 22 Jules Plisson, 23 Giorgi Melikidze

Racing: 15 Louis Dupichot, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Virimi Vakatawa, 12 Henry Chavancy, 11 Juan Imhoff, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Xavier Chauveau, 8 Antonie Claassen, 7 Baptiste Chouzenoux, 6 Boris Palu, 5 Leone Nakarawa, 4 Donnacha Ryan, 3 Cedate Gomes Sa, 2 Teddy Baubigny, 1 Guram Gogichashvili
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Vasil Kakovin, 18 Dominic Bird, 19 Edwin Maka, 20 Teddy Iribaren, 21 Ben Volavola, 22 Jordan Joseph, 23 Ben Tameifuna

Referee: Alexandre Ruiz
Assistant referees: Pierre Brousset, Patrick Pechambert
TMO: Eric Briquet-Campin

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George Ford kicked 14 points off the tee as Leicester Tigers defeated the Premiership’s bottom side Sale Sharks 19-15 at Welford Road.

The Sharks began well and went 5-0 in front through Marland Yarde before the Midlanders responded when Kyle Eastmond crossed the line and Ford kicked two penalties.

That gave Leicester a 13-5 advantage at the break but that was reduced when Rob Webber went over for Sale. However, Ford eased the nerves with a couple more three-pointers to complete a crucial victory for Geordan Murphy’s team.

Curtis Langdon did go over to rescue a losing bonus-point but the visitors have now lost four of their five matches in the Premiership.

Both sides have endured difficult starts to the season but it was the Sharks who opened the brighter and scored first via a well-constructed effort.

Will Cliff’s chip through was gathered by Denny Solomona and good interplay between the wing, Tom Curry and Andrei Ostrikov took play inside the 22. Sam James then found Byron McGuigan, who duly fed Yarde to touch down.

Back came Leicester, however, as they displayed their quality in attack. The Tigers have not struggled to score points, particularly at home, and Ford was creating opportunities on the gain line.

The Sharks’ defence eventually succumbed when Gareth Owen carried hard and off-loaded for Eastmond to finish. Ford kicked the conversion and then added a brace of penalties as the Midlanders went into the interval 13-5 in front.

It had been a dire first half and the start of the second period was similarly mistake-ridden, with the Greater Manchester outfit losing possession when two metres out. The hosts also had the odd chance but too often errors prevented the sides from gaining any continuity.

However, it was the visitors who were beginning to get on top and they were eventually rewarded in the final quarter. Steve Diamond’s men had not scored a point in the last 20 minutes of matches before this game, but they finally broke that duck through Webber’s try off the back of a maul.

It set-up a tense finale, despite Ford briefly easing the Tigers’ nerves, as Sale pushed for a score which could potentially win them the game, but they conceded a late penalty which the hosts’ pivot converted to secure the victory.

Langdon touched down for the Sharks in the final minute to give them a losing bonus-point but it was another poor day at the office for Diamond’s charges.

The scorers:

For Leicester:
Try: Eastmond
Con: Ford
Pens: Ford 4

For Sale:
Tries: Yarde, Webber, Langdon

Leicester: 15 Jordan Olowofela, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Gareth Owen, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben White, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Guy Thompson, 6 David Denton, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Mike Williams, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Greg Bateman
Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 David Feao, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Valentino Mapapalangi, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Jonah Holmes

Sale: 15 Byron McGuigan, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Luke James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Sam James, 9 Will Cliff, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Curtis Langdon, 17 Alexandru Tarus, 18 Joe Jones, 19 James Phillips, 20 Josh Beaumont, 21 Ben Curry, 22 Gus Warr, 23 Rohan Janse van Rensburg

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Paul Dix
TMO: Stuart Terheege

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Argentina head coach Mario Ledesma was annoyed that his team failed to take advantage of an under par New Zealand display on Saturday.

The All Blacks came away with a 35-17 victory to secure another Rugby Championship title and condemn the hosts to a third defeat in the competition.

Los Pumas have improved under the guidance of Ledesma and were impressive in overcoming South Africa and Australia recently, but their boss was unhappy by their efforts in Buenos Aires.

“They weren’t the normal All Blacks that we were playing tonight,” he said. “I don’t think they were that clinical but we couldn’t deliver; we underperformed in terms of delivery from scrum and lineout. In your (All Black) scrums we got dominated and we couldn’t do the simple things right.

“We had a lot of missed opportunities from scrum and lineout and even simple breaks. I think we had as many breaks as they did but we couldn’t score.

“The only thing I wanted to see from the boys was ourselves and I couldn’t see it.”

Meanwhile, All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen was content with their performance but admitted that improvements still need to be made.

The defending world champions were stunned by South Africa two weeks ago and, although they displayed developments from that display, Hansen insisted that it was nowhere near perfect.

“We were better. But you don’t go from naught to 100 straight away,” he said. “There will be some more learnings for us but, when you look at who was out there on the park at the end, it was a pretty young group, so you have to be really pleased with how they coped with some of the pressure.

“I thought our kicking was better tonight, maybe not as accurate as we would like, but we kicked to the right places, and at the right times, a lot more than we did a couple of weeks ago.

“At times we played some good footy and at other times we didn’t play that great. But you’ve got to give a wee bit of credit to Argentina, too, they’re a very difficult side to play against, particularly here.”

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Under pressure Australia boss Michael Cheika insists that he can alter the fortunes of the current set-up, despite seeing his side suffer yet another defeat.

The Wallabies succumbed to the Springboks 23-12 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, leaving them with just one win from five Rugby Championship matches so far this campaign.

They finish the competition with a match against Argentina and a victory is becoming increasingly important, with the head coach under fire following their poor run.

Chief executive Raelene Castle has publicly backed the 51-year-old, however, and Cheika is adamant that the team will improve under his guidance.

“You keep asking the same question every week, I’m not changing from week to week,” he said. “No one wants to win more than me, trust me. I think that’s pretty obvious.

“Like I’ve said before, the tough situations come and then they go away and the tough people will stay. You either cry about it and sook or get on with getting improvements – and we want to improve.”

“You’ve got to ride that out and come out the other side. We’re a strong group together and the staff around me and we’re feeling it but together we know we’re going to come out of it.”

Captain Michael Hooper also backed Cheika after their reversal at the hands of South Africa, despite the team being bottom of the Rugby Championship table.

They will need to beat Argentina away from home next weekend and prevent the hosts from claiming a losing bonus-point if they are to move ahead of Los Pumas.

Hooper said: “I’m clear on the things we did well and clear that there’s a way forward for this team. Our team, Our coaching staff is doing everything we can to get us on that path and that course. I am very proud of where we are at.”

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Highlights from New Zealand‘s 35-17 victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

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Highlights from Round Seven of the Mitre 10 Cup, starting with Otago’s victory.

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Leicester Tigers interim coach Geordan Murphy feels there is still room for improvement despite his side’s Premiership victory over Sale at Welford Road on Sunday.

The Tigers claimed a 19-15 triumph but were outscored by three tries to one and secured the win thanks largely to the goal-kicking of George Ford, who finished with a 14-point haul courtesy of four penalties and a conversion.

And Murphy admitted afterwards that although his side were triumphant, they have plenty to work on.

“Obviously it is great to get the win and the points, but I don’t think our performance was great,” he said.

“It is a bitter-sweet one. The points are important and the win is important but I thought out performance was probably below par.

“I thought our defence was better. We conceded early and it was from unstructured play. The ball was all over the place and Sale are good enough with the bodies they have that if you give them unstructured ball they will score and Marland Yarde did a very good job.

“They scored two tries from line-out drives which is obviously an area we will have to improve on. We can probably tighten that up a little but easier than our open-field defence but I thought that was very good at times.”

Meanwhile, Sale Sharks director of rugby Steve Diamond was left to rue some missed opportunities.

“We did enough to get a little bit closer in that game,” he said.

“There were a couple of instances where we were on their tryline and we couldn’t convert for one reason or another.

“A couple of decisions didn’t go our way, which happens, but the positives are we were difficult to beat and that’s what we haven’t been in a couple of games.

“I’m really happy with the way we’ve trained this week and the way they’ve turned up, but I just think we’ve left a little bit in the changing room again – not in endeavour, just in application and skill.

“They’ve got some injury problems as have we, so in the last ten minutes I thought we could get on top of them, but George Ford controlled the game pretty well for them.”

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Sharks head coach Robert du Preez has made a number of changes to his line-up for their final match of the regular-season, against Griquas.

There is a new captain in scrum-half Louis Schreuder as season skipper Chiliboy Ralepelle swaps with Akker van der Merwe, handling the latter a start.

Also in the front-row, and the only other change amongst the forwards, Coenie Oosthuizen comes in for Thomas du Toit for a straight rotational swap.

Curwin Bosch has been handed a start at fly-half, with Robert du Preez shifting to centre in place of Marius Louw.

There is a welcome return for Sbu Nkosi after being called up for the Springbok squad ahead of their final game against the All Blacks, and he will be raring to go.

In the final change, Aphelele Fassi takes over Bosch’s place in the vacated full-back position.

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Robert du Preez, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Louis Schreuder (c), 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Tyler Paul, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Gideon Koegelenberg, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 JJ van der Mescht, 19 Jean-Luc du Preez, 20 Grant Williams, 21 Marius Louw, 22 Kobus van Wyk

Date: Saturday, October 13
Venue: Griqua Park
Kick-off: 15:00 local (14:00 BST, 13:00 GMT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Jaco Kotze
Television match official: Lourens van der Merwe

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Take a check on the highlights from Round Five of the Premiership.

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Having secured another Rugby Championship with their 35-17 win over Argentina, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was pleased with a dominant performance, especially up front.

They claimed the title by picking up a bonus point for their try advantage but once again there were aspects that left improvements to be worked on.

“Parts of it were messy but there were other parts that were really good and at times we played some good footy and other times we didn’t play that great,” Hansen told Sky Sports.

“But you’ve got to give a bit of credit to Argentina. They’re a very difficult side to play against, and particularly here. (We scored) five tries, got the bonus point and got the Rugby Championship so I can’t complain too much.”

Hansen said number eight Ardie Savea, who was a late replacement for an ill Luke Whitelock, had been outstanding. While the All Blacks scrum had performed outstandingly, Savea had shown great control of the ball at the base of the scrum.

“He controlled the ball at the back and won us a lot of penalties because of that control, he showed a lot of pace off the back of the scrum too and his play round the park was good,” he said.

There had been more progress in terms of game management. It was an evolving process and at the end of the game it had been a ‘pretty young group’ of players on the field.

“We’ve got to be really pleased with how they coped with some of the pressure,” added Hansen.

Defensively the side had demonstrated more consistency in the application of their systems in what was a high tackling night.

Another to impress was replacement tighthead prop Angus Ta’avao who had to cope with coming in late to join the side and to learn the systems but he had scrummed well and lifted well in the lineouts.

“I thought he did really well, he should be proud of himself,” said Hansen.

“Four or five weeks ago he wasn’t even thinking about being an All Black now and his dream has come true.”

There was also satisfaction with a 100 percent goal-kicking effort by fly-half Beauden Barrett.

Hansen rated goal-kicking to golf when things didn’t necessarily always go to plan and he said when playing 25 games of rugby there were probably two or three times when things didn’t go that well.

“You can’t beat yourself up too much about it,” he said.

“It was a good learning experience for him to have to deal with that mentally and I think he’s done that.”

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