The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup took centre stage in the rugby world, with emotions flowing as teams jostle for places in the four pools took before the final round of pool matches next weekend.
The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup took centre stage in the rugby world, with emotions flowing as teams jostle for places in the four pools took before the final round of pool matches next weekend.
South of the equator with Super Rugby’s start drawing closer, teams are beginning to take shape with squads announced, captains named and hopes raised.
Sevens has also come to the fore with HSBC SVNS Series season picking up and the venue for the World Championships Finals being announced.
Here’s what was rattling round ATR’s ears this week…
“Oh no Bulls, I’m close to tears, painful to watch!!!”
Former Springboks winger Breyton Paulse is ducking for cover as the Bulls get downed by Bristol Bears:
“Thank you to all the SR supporters who came to cheer us on today… We are very disappointed, but not downhearted. We will need all of you next week against the Harlequins… Let’s draw lessons from this and put them into practice.”
Ronan O’Gara uses X rather than the press conference to send his thoughts to La Rochelle fans:
“We’ve changed the training a bit to try and get some more rhythm into our attack, and we saw the benefit today. In addition, our defence was vastly improved than in recent weeks as we showed real fight to keep our line intact.”
Better attack and better defence equals a happy Quis head coach, Jason Gilmore:
“I just said to Caelan (Doris), I want it, I want to take it. I’d taken the one before and hit it well, but it came off the post, so I wasn’t going to miss that one.”
For Leinster hero Harry Byrne it isn’t a case of once bitten, twice shy:
“I got here last night. Just walking around town brings back all the memories.”
Manu Tuilagi takes a walk down memory lane as Bayonne take on Leicester Tigers:
“Last week it was one degree back in England, and you come here and on the first day it is 33 degrees, so a few of the boys were sun burned during the week.”
It wasn’t just the Bulls that Bristol Bears had to contend with down in Pretoria:
“It's what we want to be. It's the team we want to be. It's fuelled by disappointment and some tough conversations.”
It doesn’t take much to spark Saracens into life, just ask Jamie George:
“I’ll back myself against anyone on my day. I also know that I probably wasn’t consistently good enough to be like a Faz (Owen Farrell) or a Fordy (George Ford) – like a 100 capper. I was at the England game the other week against the All Blacks, and you do sit there, and you can’t help but be a little bit envious, ‘maybe I could still be here’, but then it’s like, I’d rather be thankful for the five caps that I’ve got, than bitter about the ones that I didn’t.”
One time England hopeful Freddie Burns reflects happily on his brief international career:
“With all due respect, I don’t really care. Anyone of Zac (Lomax’s) calibre, of course they’d be having discussions with, but we’ve got so many talented players here.”
Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott urges selectors not to overlook their in-house talent in favour of NRL stars:
“I’m a lover. I just said ‘good pass’ to Elliot after giving me a cheap shot in the first half. So, I thought, ‘one-one’ and yeah, he lost it a little bit. I’m sure we’ll make up, it’ll be alright.”
Leicester Tigers flyhalf Billy Searle is surely looking at dinner spots for reconciling with Saracen’s Elliot Daly:
“A great team has many leaders, and we definitely have that here. It’s not just the senior leaders, it’s the young leaders coming through, so giving a voice to the younger boys and even the boys who may be a bit scared to say stuff. That builds the club.”
New Queensland Reds captain Fraser McReight won’t be doing it all himself this season:
“We lost one right at the start of the season because he was head-hunted to go somewhere else, and there were various reasons for the previous one behind that. But the consistent theme is we haven’t had someone in that seat for long enough to give that person the ability to make a strong enough and consistent longstanding imprint on the programme. By changing it, with the frequency that we have, it’s had a massive knock-on effect to everyone else.”
Harlequins CEO Laurie Dalrymple knows where their problems stem from:
“USAP represents not only a city, a region, but also a people who have their own identity and culture. When you put on the jersey, you have to understand that you are representing something greater than just a place. That’s what Perpignan is.”
Perpignan scrumhalf Tom Ecochard sums up what playing in French Catalonia means:
“If I am being honest, I think Munster embarrassed us really. “They taught us a lesson on a few things that we pride ourselves on. That really stung us. When I looked at the table and saw we were bottom, it really hurt.”
Ospreys hooker Sam Parry explains what has driven Ospreys’ upturn in form:
“Greg is just really consistent in his work and the numbers he posts. And he is a young guy who is only going to get better, so I think it was the right time to bring him in and show him some recognition of how well he is playing.”
Exeter Chiefs boss Rob Baxter backs Greg Fisilau's England claims:
“I think it can be helpful for us to finish in Bordeaux and finish strong. The crowd can give us the power of an eighth player. After the Olympics, the French crowd loved sevens and wanted to keep coming to the stadium to watch it. We are more than excited to be playing in front of a home crowd.”
French Olympic champ Stephen Parez-Edo Martin hopes for a repeat of 2024 when the HSBC SVNS World Championship Finals heads to Bordeaux: