Tuesday 5 May 2015 11:31, UK
Toulon, the Cherry and Whites, changing room cameras and Akira Ioane all feature in Rupert Cox's Off Load.
I like changing room cameras – even without audio they can open a rare window into the inner sanctum of a professional rugby team. The post-match scenes in the Toulon room, after their stunning Champions Cup victory over Clermont, taught us that club owner Mourad Boudjellal is a really bad dancer; and also gave an insight into how this Toulon side have managed a record three straight European Cups. Try-scoring superhero Drew Mitchell was celebrating with team-mates and posing for photographs with the new trophy, wearing some sort of comedy gum shield that made it look like he had gold teeth. Matt Giteau is then seen walking into shot, and has a quiet word with his Aussie team mate. Now, I'm no lip reader, but Mitchell seems to stop, remove the hilarious mouth guard and hand the trophy on to someone else. General revelry and celebrations continue.
Did Giteau discreetly tell his mate to ease off a bit, in case the pictures could be misconstrued as disrespectful by potential future opposition? There's every chance Toulon might have to face Clermont in another final this season. Perhaps Matt just reminded his buddy Drew the broadcasters were still running shots, and to be careful of how it all might play out on telly. We can’t know for sure, but what the cameras made clear was that for this extraordinary Toulon team, the job is only half done. They still have a Top 14 title to defend and they won't get ahead of themselves: minutes after making history they are already thinking about the next one.
Gloucester and Edinburgh gave the Challenge Cup the respect a European final deserved. The Cherry and White army made the trip down the M4 in big numbers, providing a buzzing final night atmosphere at the Twickenham Stoop. The Billy Twelvetrees try, expertly set up by James Hook and Jonny May, was worthy of the occasion, and quite rightly decided the game. The red card handed out to Gloucester centre Billy Meakes was an overreaction from the officials, and very nearly impacted the end result; that would have been an injustice. Gloucester were the better team, and unbeaten all season in Europe – they deserved the trophy – not to mention a play-off place for a shot at qualification for next season's Champions Cup. Fans like that deserve top flight European rugby.
The Sharks are the most successful side never to have won a Super Rugby title. They've been to four finals and lost the lot; they've been defeated in four semi-finals as well. Sadly for them, that long wait for glory looks set to continue. Conceding seven tries is never good news, but the way in which Durban's finest rolled over against the Highlanders was unsettling. Club captain Bismarck du Plessis was back from a four-week ban, but had elected not to resume leadership of the side until he had 'earned' back the right to have the C next to his name – so it was up to former Wasps man Marco Wentzel to show some honesty. When asked after the game what the Sharks might be able to take out of this game, he replied: "Nothing positive". Never two truer words said.
Akira Ioane. The disappointment of the Blues and All Blacks at losing Jerome Kaino for the season was offset by the birth of a new star in Auckland. There've been whispers in New Zealand rugby that Akira Ioane might be the next big thing to pack down on the side of a scrum, and the nineteen-year-old’s performance against the Western Force showed us why: Ioane was astonishing. Not even the Honey Badger, usually our post-match comedy king, could find anything amusing to say about Ioane's 40-metre individual try that blew right past him, and helped secure the Blues a try bonus point. And it’s also worth noting that Akira has a younger brother, Rieko, who will play for the New Zealand 7s team in Glasgow this weekend.
