Monday 2 February 2015 12:55, UK
Rupert Cox shares his highlights from the week's rugby action in his round-up blog...
It has started. League convert Sam Burgess has failed again to match all the hype and make the desired impact in a game of rugby union. His performance for the Saxons against the Wolfhounds on Friday night didn't quite stand out for the right reasons. The chattering classes are beginning to ask questions - and who can blame them?
But fear not rugby man, Burgess will come good. He's a proven winner, and it's only a matter of time until Russell Crowe's 'sparkly-eyed' boy slams his way into the hearts of rugby union fans all over England.
But for that to happen, something fairly basic has to change - and fast! Sam Burgess needs to switch position. It's evidently clear that he is not a natural centre. For me, he should be playing with the grunts up front and he should look to another code-hopper for inspiration.
Sam Burgess needs to switch position. It's evidently clear that he is not a natural centre. For me, he should be playing with the grunts up front.
Peter Ryan is not a name all that familiar to sports fans in this part of the world, but he is the example that Burgess should follow. Ryan left the Brisbane Broncos after three Premiership titles and a decade of great service to play rugby union with the ACT Brumbies. He became the first person in history to win grand finals in both the NRL and the old Super 12. This feat has been matched by just four others: Brad Thorn, Will Chambers, Sonny Bill Williams and most recently Israel Folau.
Like Burgess, Ryan was a back-rower in league, known as one of the best defenders in the game. Ball carrying was always an added bonus. After making the switch he slotted into a Brumbies loose forward trio alongside George Smith and Jim Williams with a brief from head coach Eddie Jones that proved very effective indeed: tackle, tackle and tackle again.
It worked. Ryan's performance against the Natal Sharks in the 2001 final in Canberra, the Brumbies’ first ever, was match-winning stuff. A young George Smith picked up all the plaudits but it was Ryan who laid the foundation. And that should be the template for Sam Burgess. Get close to the action and put the fear into opposition ball runners. Carrying, lifting and work at the breakdown will all develop with time. But first things first, get out there and smash some blokes. With a single digit on his back, Slammin' Sam can come very good, very soon.
Someone must have lost a wedge on the Top 14 this weekend. Round 17 threw up some properly mad results. Here they are in no discernible order:
Unheralded Oyonnax completed the Paris double, inflicting a first home loss of the season on Stade Francais. The men from the Rhone-Alpes had already beaten Racing Metro in the French capital back in November - now they have ended the last remaining unbeaten home record in the competition.
Racing Metro snuck their third away win this season. Europe's high flyers overcame relegation battlers Lyon in filthy conditions at the Matmut Stadium.
Jake White's Montpellier played 60 minutes with 14 men but still managed a 10-point win over top-six mainstays Bordeaux-Begles. White's appointment looks like a keeper. That's four straight home wins now for Montpol.
Toulouse bounced back from a humiliating Champions Cup exit last week to beat Castres on the road. Toby Flood produced a match-winning performance, scoring all the Rouge et Noir's points including a first half try to put the 19-time champs into the top six, which looked little more than a pipe dream earlier in the season.
But the biggest shock was in La Rochelle. The bottom dwellers knocked over one of the form teams in Europe, Clermont Auvergne, to haul themselves off last spot. It was spicy stuff at the Stade Marcel-Delfrandre - former All Black Jason Eaton and France veteran Julien Bonnaire were both yellow carded after a proper old school dust-up. Clermont led most of the way but Mali Hingano scored a late try out wide for La Rochelle and South African fly-half Peter Grant nailed the conversion to steal it. It'll still be a major battle for La Rochelle to survive in the top flight, but this was a win for the ages.
The mysterious departure of Gary Street. England Women's World Cup winning head coach has cleared his desk at Twickenham and no one seems to know why. England Rugby - please explain!
Fans showed the love for the LV= Cup. It may be seen as little more than a development competition these days but big numbers turned up to see some great games in round three of the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
A whopping 24,000 tickets were sold at Welford Road where the Tigers beat Northampton. Over 12,000 descended on Kingsholm to watch the Cherry and Whites beat the Ospreys. More than 9,000 rocked up to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry where the Cardiff Blues staged a thrilling comeback against Wasps. And the Sky cameras saw almost 14,000 visit the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday where Bath sneaked a win over Harlequins. Some doubt the legitimacy of the LV= Cup. Nobody told the fans.
