A Welsh Hubcap, Irish and Saffa scuffles, and people still Give a F***
The weekend that was in Rugby.
Opening 40
Welcome to this week’s newsletter, with a different look. The URC bowed out with a blast and confirmed the eight quarter-finalists. Cardiff came within four points of the playoff as they ended their season by lifting the beautiful Welsh hubcap Shield on Judgement Day. Bath spoiled Harlequins’ party, whilst Leinster and Munster got up to some juiciness down in South Africa.
Let’s dive in.
Bath spoil the Big One
Let’s start at Twickenham, where Bath, with a backing track provided by the Kaiser Chiefs and the insufferable traffic that surrounds Twickenham on matchdays, crashed Harlequins’ Big Summer Kick-Off with a 45-35 to conclude both of their seasons.
Clearly, it’s a performance invigorated by their desire to prove that Quins’ summer party isn’t the only one in town. Obviously, they were a bit peeved that Quins had booked a rather recognisable band in the Kaiser Chiefs, whilst Bath had secured *checks notes* Cotswold party band The Shadow Monkeys?
All jokes aside, I’m sure Bath will put on a lovely day.
But look, for years we’ve been glancing over Bath’s teamsheet, with the likes of Anthony Watson, Taulupe Faletau, Sam Underhill and more, and thinking "why the **** aren’t this team doing better?”
But lord, if they don’t go into next season all guns blazing, with the likes of Ben Spencer and Ollie Lawrence firing on all cylinders - not to mention Finn Russell joining them - and don’t start pushing for playoff rugby soon then I don’t know what to tell you.
But Saturday was undoubtedly a big day for the Ollie Lawrence believers, with the former Worcester centre slicing and dicing his way through Quins numerous times. As AP put it, he is HIM.
England fans, please throw that everlasting hope of Manu Tuilagi rising like the messiah and booting the All Blacks like it’s 2012 again into the bin. Ollie Lawrence is here to save you.
Exeter wave goodbye to a generation
It’s been a weird season for Exeter. Hell, it’s been a weird week for the Chiefs. From Jack Nowell’s £10,000 fine for his tweet regarding Karl Dickson’s officiating in the xxx game, to Luke Cowan-Dickie reportedly boozing his way out of a guaranteed payday with Montpellier.
This is, of course, is without even mentioning the rather humbling 62-19 defeat to Leicester Tigers the prior weekend.
But their win against Bristol, by a single point, gave them a healthy injection of positivity as they secured Heineken Cup rugby for next season, and will surely have invigorated the side before a daunting trip to La Rochelle at the end of this week.
Equally, the win at Sandy Park represented an end of an era for the the Chiefs, who are saying goodbye to almost 20 players come the end of this season, including Stuart Hogg, Dave Ewers, Ian Whitten, Jack Nowell, and Joe and Sam Simmonds.
It leaves Exeter looking frankly, a little bit bare next season, with a big rebuild on the horizon. The next few seasons, perhaps even just next years’, will provide massive introspections and judgements on Rob Baxter and Ali Hepher’s ability to remold the squad and develop Exeter back into a side challenging for multiple honours.
We still Give a F***
If you missed Fi Thomas’ from The Telegraph’s excellent work on an investigation into Ireland Women’s setup recently, read this now.
The report prompted Rugby Twitter to adopt the hashtag of #IGiveAFuck, in response to the revelation that as senior figure in Irish rugby made a derogatory remark about the women’s game during a dinner in Dublin last month, asking “Who gives a f--- about women’s rugby?”
The response to that disgusting piece of disrespect, quite obviously proved that a lot of people give a fuck about women’s rugby.
The tension between supporters and the union elevated this past weekend, when security at Musgrave Park for Ireland’s clash with England in the Women’s Six Nations, snatched posters with the aforementioned hashtag upon them, claiming that the incendiary language used was unsuitable for the venue.
That it is posters and the protests, and not the allegations of sexism, neglect, or their own misdoings that have caused the very protests, that officials are apparently focused on is a colossal bit of gaslighting.
Even if the use of such language at an event with children may be considered inappropriate, isn’t that the point? That a protest is loud and grabs attention. I can’t speak for Ireland, but England is a country that has enforced a bill aimed at actively stripping away people's ability to protest effectively.
If your protest tactics are upsetting those you’re protesting against, then you’re doing it right.
Don’t poke the bear guys. Please.
Let’s move across to the URC, now. For the second week in a row Munster fought back against a South African side. Last week was a win against the Stormers where they broke the host’s two year unbeaten streak at home, and this weekend they overturned a mighty deficit to draw with the Sharks.
Chuck your analysis out the window here. Clearly whatever homework the Sharks did do, it most definitely didn’t include the subsection of ‘DON’T RILE UP PETER O’MAHONY.’
Seriously, starting shit with this guy never ends well for your team. The Stormers did it last week and Munster subsequently clawed their way back - the same happened to the Sharks.
Hell, he got yellow carded by Mike Adamson for his part in a scuffle not long into the second half, and his absence just seemed to galvanise Munster even more.
And I know this has been hammered home time and time again this season, but what even are this Sharks team? Stacked with Springboks and talent but without any clear identity, and a coach fired at the beginning of the season and never really replaced.
I mean, they’ve made the playoffs and have the misfortunate of playing Leinster, no doubt buoyed by the hope that Leinster, pulling double duty with the European Cup, take their eyes off the URC ball. But I wouldn’t bet on it.
Either way, it looks like John Plumtree is the lucky man to try and take the Sharks to the next level next season.
Leinster take a goring at Loftus
‘Leinster’s lambs cooked on the veldt’ said the Irish Times this morning, which is a neatly written line that perfectly recounts Leinster’s 62-7 defeat to the Bulls in just six words.
Obviously, the team Leinster fielded at the weekend, from the players to the coaching team, is of immense disparity from the quality of the side gearing to take on Toulouse next weekend.
But we can’t let that fact detract from the dominance the Bulls asserted over Leinster, ending their URC unbeaten streak with the remorselessness of, well, a bull goring an unsuspecting Spaniard.
Obviously, the talk of Sam Prendergast heading to the World Cup in France was a tad premature, and I think everyone knew that - hype trains are fun right?
The Leinster youngling is obviously immensely talented and promising, and let’s hope he has the mindset that allows him to fully take onboard the lessons that the Bulls served him at the weekend. We will watch your career with great interest.
Judgement Day verdict and the Welsh exodus
In Cardiff, Judgement Day returned to the Principality Stadium, where Dragons swept past the Scarlets, and Cardiff blew Ospreys out of the water.
The Dragons’ win ended a 10-game losing streak for them in the league, with Taine Basham confidently reaffirming his test level credentials as he wrapped up the Player of The Match award in roughly 40 minutes. With Aaron Wainwright in tow, the pair were combative and physical and will no doubt give Warren Gatland plenty to ponder.
A little further down the Dragons pack, Ben Carter was also supremely imposing on the Scarlets; and Rio Dyer absolutely COOKED Ryan Conbeer for the Dragons’ second try. Give it a bit of time, a bit more experience, and Rio Dyer will be feasting on international wingers soon enough.
The second match of the day saw Cardiff put a bullet through the Ospreys and end their season with a complete lack of grace and aplomb. Seriously, just a few weeks ago Ospreys were swashbuckling away in Europe and turning heads.
I’m not even sure where the leading angle is for this match, but it’s surely the performance of Thomas Young, who scored two tries and assisted another for Mason Grady with a magnificent one-handed pick-up, just a day after his father Dai Young was suspended from his role as Director of Rugby for Cardiff due to a number of complaints from club employees.
I think Netflix missed a trick by filming the Six Nations, and not turning the utter batshitness of Welsh rugby into a ‘Real Housewives’ style reality show, with bombastic side eyes and scandalous bombshells galore.
Continuing with the madness in Wales, the exodus that has steadily played out this season was taken to another level with a number of the country’s most notable names confirming their depature from their respective regions.
Gareth Anscombe, Dan Lydiate and Alun Wyn Jones (probably), and Rhys Webb are all leaving the Ospreys. Leigh Halfpenny departs from the Scarlets, as does Rhys Patchell. Josh Navidi and Aaron Shingler are both retiring. Whilst Rob Evans leaves Dragons.
It’s certainly the end of some sort of era in Welsh rugby, and equally represents a chance for the regions to concentrate their focus on young talent. With the landscape as tumultuous as it is, a clean break from the past generation could do the regions some good.
Josh Navidi bows out
Lastly, some words on one of Wales most understated and finest players of the past few years.
Wales, with it’s rugged beauty and rolling hills, has become a breeding ground for some of rugby’s finest back-rowers. The climate breeds a certain level of physicality, for which the national team have profited off over the last decade.
The likes of Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, or Justin Tipuric have espoused the country’s steadfast quality of producing test-level flankers and number eights.
But amidst the well-known names and legends of the game, there are those who often go overlooked. Josh Navidi, who has retired from the game at age 32, was one of them.
A player of quiet excellence and selflessness was Navidi, who championed the very essence of rugby union in blending raw simplicity with elite complexity. A natural hunger paired with esoteric technical skills.
He’ll be missed, good luck on the decks, Josh.
That concludes this week’s newsletter, in what is a rather different, and longer format looking at multiple parts of the rugby world from the latest matchdays.
Thanks for reading, see you later this week for another article!