NH club rugby
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Bundee Aki MOTM as Connacht beat Toulouse.
Nacewa and Gibson-Park got a win over a pretty terrible Castres.
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Toulon showing that you can have all that money and sign world class players, but it doesn't guarantee you wins. Toulon lost at home to Saracens: 23 - 31
Noteworthy is that in all Champions Cup and Challenge Cup games between French clubs and English/Celtic opponents, the French club lost. Still 3 games to play in the Champions Cup (all involving one French club), but it doesn't bode well for French rugby.
There was no mercy where Italian or Romanian clubs were the opponents. Some really big scores!
By the way, most points in the La Rochelle match v Treviso (41-10 to La Rochelle) were scored by Southeners: tries by Uini Atonio (2x), Hikaïro Forbes and Jason Eaton, and Brock James kicked most of the penalties & conversions.All Challenge Cup games of round 1 have been played. Results:
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@Bovidae said in NH club rugby:
@Stargazer Worcester losing to a Russian team has to be a huge upset.
Yes and no. Enisei beat another team at home last season when they were underestimated.
Connacht have a famous trip story from last season when they went to play them in Round 1 of the challenge cup. The game was played at subzero temps and the subs couldn't sit down on the bench for the whole match. Connacht ended up winning the match and then their plane couldn't take off and they spent the whole week,trying to get back home for their game the following week. Apparently it was the best bonding session the team had and forged a lot of their team spirit that helped to the title last season.
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Some good results for the Welsh regions. Ospreys thrashing Newcastle is a bit of karma. The English and French clubs got changes to the cup and competition in 2013/14 because they said PRO12 teams were resting their players before European weekends, and wanted to make qualification harder. So they did, and it has been. Newcastle then put out a weak team against Ospreys who promptly hammered them.
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@Pot-Hale said in NH club rugby:
@Bovidae said in NH club rugby:
@Stargazer Worcester losing to a Russian team has to be a huge upset.
Yes and no. Enisei beat another team at home last season when they were underestimated.
Connacht have a famous trip story from last season when they went to play them in Round 1 of the challenge cup. The game was played at subzero temps and the subs couldn't sit down on the bench for the whole match. Connacht ended up winning the match and then their plane couldn't take off and they spent the whole week,trying to get back home for their game the following week. Apparently it was the best bonding session the team had and forged a lot of their team spirit that helped to the title last season.
Enisei won two of their (home) games last season:
10-7 against Brive, and more spectacularly, 24-7 against Newcastle Falcons.
Obviously, they were smashed in the return games.The home game against Connacht in Siberia (played mid-November) ended in a 31-14 win to Connacht.
I'm getting cold just watching this highlights video (with Russian commentary): -
@Stargazer said in NH club rugby:
@Pot-Hale said in NH club rugby:
@Bovidae said in NH club rugby:
@Stargazer Worcester losing to a Russian team has to be a huge upset.
Yes and no. Enisei beat another team at home last season when they were underestimated.
Connacht have a famous trip story from last season when they went to play them in Round 1 of the challenge cup. The game was played at subzero temps and the subs couldn't sit down on the bench for the whole match. Connacht ended up winning the match and then their plane couldn't take off and they spent the whole week,trying to get back home for their game the following week. Apparently it was the best bonding session the team had and forged a lot of their team spirit that helped to the title last season.
Two things I like about those highlights. The Russians know how pronounce Connacht properly Con-nucked - and the bench shot at the end with lads in their Parkas and rugs wrapped around them. The few Connacht fans who went on that trip said it would be a lifelong memory cos the team took them in for the whole trip. Great story.
Enisei won two of their (home) games last season:
10-7 against Brive, and more spectacularly, 24-7 against Newcastle Falcons.
Obviously, they were smashed in the return games.The home game against Connacht in Siberia (played mid-November) ended in a 31-14 win to Connacht.
I'm getting cold just watching this highlights video (with Russian commentary): -
Sad news from the Champions Cup. The Racing92 v Munster game has been postponed due to the sudden passing (overnight in the team hotel) of Munster Head Coack Anthony Foley.
The other games started with a minute silence and tribute to Foley.
Racing 92 posted these two tweets with videos showing the reaction of Munster fans who had come to the game in Paris:
A minute silence before the Exeter Chiefs v ASM Clermont-Ferrand match:
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News in this afternoon that Anthony 'Axel' Foley, the former Munster No8, who captained them to their first Heineken Cup victory in 2006, got 60 odd caps for Ireland, and was the current coach of Munster, died in in the team hotel in Paris last night. Their game today against Racing 92, where Ronan O'Gara is assistant coach, was cancelled.
Brilliant player, great leader, who got great respect wherever he played. A proper rugby bloke as Martin Corry said today.
He was 42.
RIP Axel.
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Yesterday, I said the results didn't bode well for French rugby with all French teams that played Anglo/Celtic teams losing.
With 2 of the remaing 3 games now played, things look a little bit brighter, with two French clubs beating their Irish/English opponents, beating them well and Clermont even in an away game.These are the results of round 1 of the Champions Cup:
Not sure when the postponed game between Racing and Munster will be played, and whether Munster will play next weekend.
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http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/37730494
Good summary of a somewhat poignant day in European Cup rugby particularly in Munster and Ireland.
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@Pot-Hale said in NH club rugby:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/37730494
Good summary of a somewhat poignant day in European Cup rugby particularly in Munster and Ireland.
I have been impressed by the support all over Europe this weekend. Didn't see many games, but have seen a lot of photos etc on social media. I watched the Clermont v Bordeaux game and noticed a lot of people in the Clermont crowd were wearing Munster scarfs and were holding red, Munster flags and signs.
22K views · 832 reactions | L'hommage à Anthony Foley ! | La minute...
La minute d'applaudissements en la mémoire d'Anthony Foley ❤️🇮🇪
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Champions Cup results round 2
Challenge Cup results round 2
A few really big wins, and also some very close ones; and the Russians had another home victory!
Btw, highlights videos of the European club games can be found on this YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ercrugby/videos
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That was a lovely offload by the winger after the scrum-half tried to screw the entire backline.
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Bundee Aki and Ultan Dillane have signed new 3-year contracts with Connacht - a major boost for Lam and CEO, Ruane, - who has suffered a loss of quality players as soon as their first contracts near their end over the years.
*"Galway and Bundee Aki, evidently, are a well-matched couple. Same goes for Ultan Dillane. Both young men told Willie Ruane, Connacht native and chief executive, they had no intention of leaving the province. Dark forces were working against Connacht during this contract renegotiation process, but they are used to that.
“It was relatively straight forward,” Ruane told local media yesterday. “Speculation is one thing,” he said of the rumoured double swoop by Munster, “but a statement of fact in some cases I didn’t understand at all. Absolutely bizarre. The guys wanted to be here so really it was just about details after that.”
Details do matter. Relatively straightforward, maybe.
The Aki deal, a provincial agreement locking him in for three more seasons, two of which will see him available for Ireland, could not possibly have been a smooth process. There was some twitter activity. It is also established a host of French and English clubs were in the market for the Kiwi centre of Samoan heritage. There were even, quickly dismissed, suggestions he might return home to become an All Black. Of course it doesn’t work like that in New Zealand. Usually when you are gone that ship sails with you.
Samoa, however, would happily build their midfield around his powerful skill-set. That option only disappears if Joe Schmidt caps Aki in November 2017. That is no certainty, mind. By then Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose should have cemented their Leinster partnership at Test level. Stuart Olding has been a Schmidt player since he was 20.
The Ireland coach likes a certain type of character in his team. Hard working, diligent and not prone to any off-field misdemeanours. “Joe has spoken to me about how I am playing,” said Aki. “Not about contracts or anything, just been giving feedback about how I am performing.”There is nothing to suggest Aki cannot become a key figure at the 2019 World Cup in Japan. For Ireland or Samoa. Long road still ahead.
What is certain is the name Bundee Aki – already a folk hero throughout the western province following his always stunning performances last season en route to the Pro 12 title – will be ringing around Eyre Square until June 2020.
The 26-year-old has settled into small city life. His two daughters travelled over, he regularly talks about the value of family and religious faith. “There were a few people knocking on doors but I feel like I am home here, I feel happy here.”
Along with fellow Samoan Pat Lam, Aki has embraced this culture-driven environment over lucrative foreign offers. “People chase money some times and it doesn’t work out. If you are enjoying rugby where you are why move?”
He is not your average soul and Connacht, Lam in particular, grasped as much when recruiting him from Super Rugby with the Chiefs in 2014. It was a surprising coup as Aki seemed, from the outside, to be close to the All Blacks set-up. Sonny Bill Williams had returned to Rugby League so he was promoted from provincial rugby with Counties Manukau to fill the 12 jersey as the Chiefs, in similar fashion to what transpired at Connacht, regained the Super rugby title in 2013.
Now Aki and Dillane look set to help maintain the greatest era in Connacht’s history. They may also get to play in the badly needed new or renovated stadium. “It’s been frustratingly slow,” Ruane admitted of plans for a 10-12,000 capacity ground. “We are scoping out a number of different options, the whole of Galway to be honest. We are down to a relatively short short list.”
The downing of the once mighty Toulouse a fortnight ago proved a Munster-like sustainability is evident around The Sportsground. Something like we witnessed in those heady Limerick years from Munster’s first European final in 2000. It really does feel like Connacht are on the cusp. Still swimming against the tide of better-financed Irish provinces, never mind European super powers that so craved Bundee’s signature.
“Needless to say the signings are hugely significant in the context of what we are trying to achieve with Connacht Rugby,” Ruane added. “Finally, I want to thank the players for the manner they went about their business during the negotiations.”Sensible words words from the man at the helm of Connacht Rugby.
Out west they look after their own. Bundee, from the mean streets of Manurewa in south Auckland, and Dillane, a 22-year-old Kerryman via the Ivory Coast, are Tribesmen. They have been from the beginning of their Connacht journey.
Good day for what Ruane, Eric Elwood and Lam are building, with more promised."*
Aki shuns lucrative offers for adventure out West with Connacht
Kiwi can become a key figure at the 2019 World Cup – for Ireland or Samoa
