Monday 15 October 2018 17:16, UK
Stuart Barnes looks at 10 players who caught the eye after round 1 of the Champions Cup.
1. Let's get the horror story out the way. Freddie Burns made a total hash of it at the Recreation Ground. The kick was the miss of the season to date but these things happen. The badge grab and the blown kiss as he decelerated over the try line, that is quite another magnitude of mess up.
He was distraught. So he should be. Taking to social media and apologising does not change the dumbness of what he did. When you consider it wasn't that long ago that Tom Homer blew a sitter against Bristol, you have to wonder what the Bath management is doing to inculcate handy habits, like finishing off tries for one?
2. Nothing anything near as awful happened to Danny Cipriani in the Gloucester Sunday lunchtime game against a weakened Castres team. But he did not stay the full eighty and was far from the guiding light he has been throughout the domestic season. A couple of kicks clumsily struck and out on the full, combined with a questionable decision made to carry instead of pass in the second half. Some reports talk about a blown try. It wasn't that clear cut and DC wasn't that bad - in fact he was his usual interesting variety of tricks in the first half. But Eddie was there and there were enough negatives for the former school teacher to put a few crosses through the fly-half's report page.
3. Now to the positive side for the fly-halves. Okay, I know Finn Russell has a reputation of playing the percentages poorly but you had to enjoy the way he played it on the gain line in the horrible conditions in West Wales. The Scarlets' defence were kept on their toes as Russell made half breaks here and slipped subtle inside passes there. His form in France leading into the tournament has been excellent. He maintained it in Europe. A brave and enjoyable little individual cameo in conditions conducive to sitting deep and kicking.
4. Gareth Anscombe made a move towards the Welsh starting team. The New Zealand- born player made things happen in the Blues' superb win against Heineken rookies, Lyon. He performed at full-back but is perhaps just as likely, if not more so, to start at fly-half. Dan Biggar is unavailable due to the international window on November 3, while Rhys Patchell missed the Scarlets loss with concussion and has less than three weeks to prove his fitness and press his case.
5. Patchell's regular partner for club, Gareth Davies, was in the news for good and bad. The headlines were for the collapsed driving maul which gave Racing a priceless away win in the same sort of conditions the Scarlets failed to handle at home to Bath in round one last season. I'm not knocking him.
The French pack were going over; might as well pull it down and hope to get away with it. On the plus side, his sneaking try around the back of the scrum was as clever an individual moment as the weekend witnessed while his coverage in defence, especially in the first half, was outstanding.
6. Had Leigh Halfpenny kicked Johnny McNicholl's conversion from close range on the 22, the penalty try would have given Racing nothing but a bonus point. Instead of a six-point lead it would have been eight. Approximately a quarter of an hour left...I reckon that would have been enough of a buffer. We'll never know but what is for certain is that Halfpenny's reputation wasn't built on this sort of important missed kick.
7. Perhaps a touch indelicate but, on the subject of reputations, Maxime Medard's was hardly forged in battle, giving it all he's got.
From the Toulouse school of immaculate touches, the France international back-three man is definitely one in the likeness of the glorious Clement Poitreneaud. On Saturday, he decided to try a bit of graft and the reward was a match-winning intervention.
8. The media love affair with the personable James Lowe grows game by game. And why not? The man from the Chiefs (not the Devon variety) plays with a smile on his face and a swagger in his step. A team as expertly organised as Leinster need a joker to break up the game. He does just that. Wasps didn't know what to do with him Friday night. It is quite a chilling thought for New Zealand's opponents to know that he was not in contention for the All Blacks when he headed north.
9. Another winger worthy of a mention. Saracens brought Dave Strettle back from Clermont where he was such a success and he's playing as well as ever. His basics are brilliant. His pace remains rapid and he's a much more powerful runner than the wiry lad we remember from his Harlequin days. He didn't do anything too headline making in Saracens tough fought victory against a good Glasgow team but he did just about everything right.
10. And lastly, Billy Vunipola. The breaking news is that he is out 12 weeks with a broken arm. This is a hammer blow for man and country. The sense of jinx that surrounds Manu Tuilagi now has the unfortunate Saracens No 8 in its grip.
Even if Nathan Hughes is not banned for punching in the face this remains the worst piece of news that could have reached the ears of Eddie Jones. There is only one Billy Vunipola. But he is an increasingly fragile one. With the Springboks first up, it is a loss England will have to be smart to withstand.
P.S: So much for the week's individuals, as a collective effort, a magnificent effort from Newcastle Falcons, joining Saracens as the only teams to win Champions Cup matches in Felix Mayol.
