NH club rugby

[Bones]

Ok so NH refs maybe not much better. Champions cup final and Ntamack kicks it, Skelton stops dead and Ntamack runs straight into him from miles away, penalised and Pearce almost cards him (Skelton). Bollocks.

[sparky]

La Rochelle 12 Toulouse 9. Kolbe try just ruled out.

[Catogrande]

@bones said in NH club rugby:

Ok so NH refs maybe not much better. Champions cup final and Ntamack kicks it, Skelton stops dead and Ntamack runs straight into him from miles away, penalised and Pearce almost cards him (Skelton). Bollocks.

Pearce is normally very good ref but that one was just crap. Funny listening to him as well, he obviously has a few rugby phrases in French that he's practised but then lapses into stuff like "let's have a good game boys".

[Bones]

@catogrande yeah he is. Funnily enough I know a Luke Pearce who just moved back to Welly from Spain to ref and is already doing Swindale stuff (top club comp), so we could have a couple of them soon if he keeps up his rise ..

But back to the rugby.

[sparky]

Kerr-Barlow huge for La Rochelle.

[sparky]

Victor Vito and Jerome Kaino both coming off at the venue where they were part of the squad that won the All Blacks' Third World Cup.

[sparky]

Mallia with a try for Toulouse. 19-12

[sparky]

Toulouse 22-12 up with the extra man with 10 to go.

[sparky]

Try for Kerr-Barlow. Sniping break on the blind side. 22-17

[sparky]

West hits the post with the conversation. 5 minutes to go.

[sparky]

Kerr-Barlow with the break again.

[sparky]

Silly kick by West giving the ball back to Toulouse.

[sparky]

All over. Toulouse 22 La Rochelle 17. Toulouse win their 5th European Cup.

[sparky]

Pleased for Jerome Kaino that he got to lift the European Cup. He is arguably the greatest NZ player of the pro era never to play in a Super Final.

[pakman]

Toulouse were very lucky. Had Bourgarit not developed butterfingers a foot from the line, I think they would have been out of sight.

TKB stood good up well in comparison to ‘best player on the planet’!

[Bovidae]

I was hoping for a La Rochelle victory. TKB and Vito would then be in a small group of players to have won a Super Rugby and European Champions Cup title.

[mofitzy_]

Some interesting stats: 3/4 starting locks were Aussie, 3/4 starting wings were South African and 4 members of the AB 2015 RWC final team started (2 per side - including both 8s).
Wasn't a great game. If West had a better day off the tee, LR would've won, but there was a (proper) red card less than 30 minutes in which really should have been the difference.

[Stargazer]

[Stargazer]

Shaun Treeby is hanging up the boots

[Stargazer]

@stargazer said in NH club rugby:

I'm keeping an eye on the announcements from Top League clubs about players and staff leaving the club.

Obviously, some of these players may just go to other Japanese clubs, but others may come back to NZ (like Perenara and Retallick). Some of those coming back may retire because they're older; others may be available for NPC.

Here's the first list of names:

DoCoMo Red Hurricanes: TJ Perenara, Marty Banks, Tom Marshall

Mitsubishi Dynaboars: James Wilson

Canon Eagles: Jesse Parete

Kobe Kobelco Steelers: Brodie Retallick

More names of players/coaches leaving their Japanese clubs (some already back in NZ for a while):

• Kintetsu Liners: Pasqualle Dunn, David Milo
• Coca Cola Red Sparks: Jotham Wrampling (now coaching Te Awamutu Sports)
• Shimizu Blue Sharks: player/coach: Luke McAlister; coach: Steve Jackson
• Kamaishi Seawaves: Oliver Polson, Sam Malcolm; coach: Scott Pierce
• NTT Comms Shining Arcs: Fletcher Smith, Piri Paraone (former Wellington player)