In a Competition That's Become As Lopsided As Super Rugby, with Kiwi
“In a competition that’s become as lopsided as Super Rugby, with Kiwi teams dominating all comers, keeping line-ups a secret until matchday might give lesser sides a shot at upsetting the contenders.” - Jake White Volume 19, Number 17 16 May 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za Tough, Uncompromising European Rugby As we mentioned last week, it was Heineken Cup weekend with the finals of both competitions playing out at St James Park in Newcastle, England. The lower tier Challenge Cup final took place on Friday night between two French clubs, ASM Clermont Auvergne and La Rochelle. While Clermont has won the Challenge Cup twice before (and been runners-up in the higher-tier Champions Cup three times), this final was their opponents’ first shot at a title at this level. It was a match that featured dogged defence – mostly from Clermont – and plenty of typical flair from both sides Saturday night saw kick-off in the big one: the but by the 60th minute the contest appeared pretty Champions Cup final, where four-time champions much over with La Rochelle trailing 26-9. Leinster were bidding for a fifth star. It was a spectacular game of rugby, most of which the referee But they weren’t giving up and they scored to close missed. Despite that, the Irish side established an to within ten points, only to see it stretch out again early lead of 10-0 after about 30 minutes. shortly after. Then, with four minutes to go, Clermont were down to 14 men but the 17-point gap But then, taking full advantage of the inconsistency – (at the time) was too big.
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