French Rugby Top 14: Round 2 Results
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Round 2 of French Rugby Top 14 compeition saw some spirited matches and some near major upsets on a day when France was sweltering.
Little fancied Mont-de-Marsan came within a whiskers length of defeating the highly fancied Paris side Stade Francais. Stade Francais were lucky to get away with the win at home as the minnows of the Top 14 game them a real fright.
Toulon and Brive played a dour and uninspiring 3-3 draw. Neither side delivered in the warm conditions and both kickers had chances to win but neither could claim victory. Clermont and Toulouse both bounced back to win but Toulouse did it tough against another minnow in Dax. Clermont were showing signs of returning to their form of last year with a convincing 43-20 win over Montpellier.
The full results from Round 2 are below;
Toulon 3 Brive 3
Toulouse 32 Dax 25
Bayonne 22 Montauban 20
Stade Francais 27 Mont-de-Marsan 22
Clermont 43 Montpellier 20
Biarritz 32 Castres 17
Bourgoin 16 Perpignan 22
McCaw likely to sit out Samoa match
Richie McCaw is likely to miss the All Blacks clash with Samoa after he has been slow to recover from a knock to his ribs in New Zealand 19-0 victory over South Africa two weeks ago.
Such is McCaw’s importance to the All Blacks coach Graham Henry would not risk him unless absolutely fit. The key clash for the All Blacks is Australia on 13 September and McCaw is key to the All Blacks claiming the Rugby Tri-Nations series and Bledisloe Cup. The All Blacks previous loss to Australia was when McCaw was unavailable through injury and his leadership acts like a talismen to his team-mates.
Rugby Tri-Nations: South Africa 53 Australia 8 Video Highlights
The Springboks were devastating easily turning in their best performance of the year in their destruction of the Wallabies in an eight try to one effort. The Wallabies were only in the match for the first five minutes until the Boks to total control of the match,
Check out the video highlights below from the match.
South Africa flag interest in hosting Rugby World Cup
South Africa have indicated they intend to bid for the 2015 or 2019 Rugby World Cup. The South African Rugby board decided at their recent board meeting that they were intending to bid in a hope they will be able to host one of the next two Rugby World Cup’s. The IRB will announce the hosts for the 2015 & 2019 World Cup at the same time next year.
The South African’s may be able to leverage off the Football World Cup in 2010 as the infrastructure will be in place for the South African RUgby board to leverage off in their bid application.
Percy Montgomery retires after 102 appearances
Percy Montgomery retired today after a record 102 test’s for the South African Springboks. Montgomery, 34, holds the record for the most caps for the Springboks retires after a long and successful career where he holds the Springboks point scoring record of 893 points his place in South African Rugby is guaranteed.
Montgomery made his debut in 1997 against the British Lions and quickly established himself as a point scoring machine for the Boks. Montgomery would have clocked up many more appearances but spent two years in exile when he moved to the United Kingdom to continue his rugby career.
Montgomery got what he deserved for such a distinguished career and went out on a high with the Springboksa 53-8 victory over the Wallabies in Johannesburg. Montgomery will continue his career next year for the Stormers in the Super 14.
The Ruck and Maul congratulates Percy Montgomery for his achievements and his wonderful international career.
Wallabies look for answers after crushing defeat
The terrible performance by the Wallabies when they had so much to play for is at the root of the problems that Robbie Deans faces with only two weeks till the Rugby Tri-Nations decider in Brisbane against the All Blacks.
Just how Deans can pick his side up from this crushing defeat will not only seal for fate of a number of players but also determine if Deans can really turn around the problems in the Wallabies team.
The loss was clearly the worst performance of the year for the Wallabies as they turned off set-piece ball and showed a genuine lack of urgency on the kick chase and at the breakdown.
Only in the second half when George Smith, Stephen Moore, Drew Mitchell and Ryan Cross came on within several minutes of each other did the Wallabies look like they were capable of putting several phases together. Evety chance they got they kicked the ball whereas the Boks opted to hold the ball at their every chance which built up pressure and momentum.
The Boks were destructive and had far more desire than the Wallabies were chased their kicks as though they were scared to commit to tackle. The backrow of the Boks destroyed the Wallabies as Elsom and Palu were barely sighted and Waugh tried hard but was a lone force.
What was so disappointing from the Wallabies was the old heads in the team such as Mortlock were totally off their games throwing wild and erratic passes as times to no one and leaving immence pressure on the kick of Giteau.
Matt Giteau tried hard throughout but the Wallabies lacked the desire and intensity which points not to a lack of skill but a clear mental weakness. Singled out for particularly poor performances were Dunning who was hooked after 3o minutes and Polota-Nau who could not throw straight all game, killing any chance of the Wallabies building phase play.
Big things were hoped for from Timana Tahu but he failed to deliver spectacularly as the Boks exploited his every weakness in defence as the Boks had a field day. The only reprieve came when Tahu was taken from the field in the second half. I don’t think we will see Tahu back anytime soon as the Wallabies would be much better served with Ryan Cross in the starting lineup.
Dean will be desperately hoping that Berrick Banes will be fit for the All Blacks in two weeks time.
The good performances by the Wallabies were few and far between with only second half replacements George Smith, Stephen Moore, Ryan Cross and Drew Mitchell able to be given a good mark while Matt Giteau, James Horwill and Adam Ashley-Cooper played well in a side badly beaten.
Just where Deans goes from here will determine not only how good a coach he is but also how strong this Wallaby side is or just how little has changed when the pressure is on. No doubt a few of the starting players such as Tahu and Polota-Nau may not be making a starting appearance again anytime soon.
What did you think of the Wallabies, share your thoughts in our comments.
Rugby Tri-Nations: South Africa 53 Australia 8
The Springboks were sensational in their massacre of the Wallabies as they ripped them to shreads all around the ground running away with a 53-8 record breaking victory in front of 54,219 fans. This was the Boks side that promised so much at the start of the Rugby Tri-Nations but failed to deliver until tonight the result that this talented side was capable of producing.
The Boks gave their fans in Johannesburg a rousing final home test for the year as the Wallabies had no answers to the firepower in the forwards or the speed of the backs in a blistering performance. For the Boks it was hard to single out any one player such was the amazing team effort.
For the Wallabies it was hard to pick a good performer with George Smith, Brett Sheehan, Ryan Cross, James Horwill, Stephen Moore and Adam Ashley-Cooper the only players that could hold their head up after the loss. The fact that the majority of them came off the bench tells you a clear story.
Robbie Deans must be lamenting the performance of the Wallabies after their win last week in Durban, their 45 year hoodoo will continue and is unlikely to be broken unless the Wallabies came bring considerably more to any future encounters in Johannesburg.
The Wallabies were let down continually by the lack of experience by Tahu who was continually exploited with poor positional play and the performance by Polota-Nau in lineout was terrible. The absense of George Smith was clear as Phil Waugh tried valiently but could not produce the heroics of Smith in previous tests.
The performance of Dunning was that terrible that Deans did the near unthinkable by replacing him after 31 minutes. This was a clear reaction to the poor performance early on in the scrum and also the lack of involvement from Dunning around the ground.
The game started vigorously with both sides launching themselves at each other with the vigour and passion that was lacking from the match last week. The first points of the match came to Giteau who converted after 5 mins from a clear professional foul by Butch James who was ruled offside.
The South African’s soon kicked into top gear and the Wallabies had no answers at the Boks scored two tries to Bekker and Nokwe in three minutes after tearing holes through the Wallaby defence with rampaging runs and vigorous work at the breakdown.
The Wallabies had no answers on to the intensity of the Boks and the backrow of Burger, Spies and Smith dominated the breakdown. The Australian Wallabies were ineffective, lacking numbers and were blown away by the Boks backrow.
Both sides butchered certain tries in the first half but on the back of the dropped ball by Spies on the tryline the Springboks won the ball against the feed and through several phases launched the ball wide for Nokwe to score again out wide. The South Africans were out to a 17-3 lead after only 26 minutes. It was soon extended to a 20-3 lead after James converted a penalty.
The Wallabies were desperate and replaced Dunning after 31 minutes in a clear sign of the dominace of the Boks at the scrum and in general play. Baxter was unable to make any impact before the Boks scored again after stetching the Wallabies off the back of the lineout and using the width of the field to allow Nokwe to score again virtually strolling over the tryline in the 35th minute. James converted and the Boks were blitzing the Wallabies at 27-3, which was the score at half-time.
If the result was in any doubt just after the break then it only took 4 minutes for Jean de Villiers to flip a fantastic pass to Adrian Jacobs who sprinted 30 metres to score off the back of a scrum. In the 50th minute the Boks scored again with a kick ahead by Janjtes off the back of another scrum that allowed Nokwe to score his 4th try of the match.
The Wallabies were killing themselves with their inability to secure lineout with terrible throwing from the lineout from Polota-Nau and their inability to muscle up at the scrum and breakdown.
It took till the 56th minute for the Wallabies to finally show some urgency after Australia secured their first lineout ball since the 22nd minute and it was the new legs of George Smith, Stephen Moore and Drew Mitchell that got the Wallabies on the board with a Mitchell try.
The South African’s soon extended their lead to 46-8 after another easy try to the promising Ruan Pienaar who stepped through the Wallabies defense as though he was going on a walk in the park such was the lack of intensity from the Wallabies.
The final insult which gave the Boks a record winning margin was a try to Odwa Ndungane after another break through a Wallaby defence that had gone home early as Roussow got on the outside of his man to give Odwa Ndungane a gift try, the conversion was the final insult for the Wallabies and capped of the best performance of the season for the Springboks.
South Africa 53
Tries: Jongi Nokwe 4, Andries Bekker, Adrian Jacobs, Ruan Piennar, Odwa Ndungane
Goals: Butch James 3 conversions, penalty and Percy Montgomery 2 conversions
Australia 8
Tries: Drew Mitchell
Goals: Matt Giteau conversion
The Ruck and Maul Mailing List: Competition
The Ruck and Maul has recently released a mailing list to provide the latest news while giving our mailing list subscribers the opportunity to win free gifts and enter rugby competitions to win rugby merchandise.
The first giveaway is the new George Gregan Autobiography Halfback, Half Forward released on 26 August. The Ruck and Maul will randomly select a person who has joined our mailing list before 14 September and will announce the winner on 15 September. The book will be sent to the winner anywhere in the world.
If you are keen to gain a chance to win this and you have not joined The Ruck and Maul Mailing List yet then join now for your chance to win.
The Ruck and Maul will regularly provide giveaways and free rugby merchandise so don’t miss you chance to win.
Simply complete the Mailing List for with your name, email and who you support and hit Submit.
Rugby Poll: Best Openside Flanker
The Ruck and Maul’s Rugby Poll on who our visitors think is the best openside flanker in the game at the moment is doing showing a clear win to Richie McCaw.
RIchie McCaw is widely hailed the best flanker in the game and it seems our visitors have no doubt McCaw is the best in the game. At the time of writing this article we have had 37 votes, with Richie McCaw scoring 50%, George Smith 22%, Schalk Burger 11% and Other 8%.
If you have not voted yet, vote now before our next new Poll starts. This Poll will stay open on our Polls page for a while to allow visitors to keep voting should they wish to nominate their favourite openside flanker in world Rugby.
British Lions 2009 Tour Dates
THe British Lions will tour South Africa in 2009. The British Lions tours are one of the best touring occasions in Rugby and the chance to see a Lions outfit is always highly recommended.
In 2009 thr British Lions will play 10 matches in South Africa, including three tests against the Springboks.
Below are the tour dates for the British Lions 2009 tour of South Africa;
| 30 May 2009 | Highveld XV vs British Lions | Rustenburg |
| 3 June 2009 | Golden Lions vs British Lions | Johannesburg |
| 6 June 2009 | Cheetahs vs British Lions | Bloemfontein |
| 10 June 2009 | Sharks vs British Lions | Durban |
| 13 June 2009 | Western Province vs British Lions | Cape Town |
| 16/17 June 2009 | Coastal XV vs British Lions | Port Elizabeth |
| 20 June 2009 | South Africa vs British Lions | Durban |
| 23 June 2009 | Emerging Springboks vs British Lions | Cape Town |
| 27 June 2009 | South Africa vs British Lions | Pretoria |
| 4 July 2009 | South Africa vs British Lions | Johannesburg |