NH club rugby

[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)

[Bovidae]

@stargazer Was Smith a regular starter for NTT?

I wouldn't say no if he came back to Waikato, but without a SR contract he would soon be looking off-shore.

[Stargazer]

@bovidae Sorry, missed your question.

Smith played in 3 of Shining Arcs' 7 games and started all three of them. In those three games (won by Shining Arcs), he scored 2 tries and kicked 8 conversions (and missed 1). He only did the goal kicking if Greig Leidlaw wasn't on the field.
I don't know why he didn't play in the other 4 games; maybe injured?

[Stargazer]

Two players who won't come back to NZ:

Both Tom Franklin (Kobe Kobelco Steelers) and Dan Pryor (Munakata Sanix Blues) will play for San Diego Legion in the MLR for the remainder of the 2021 season.