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Weekend Round-up: Nick Evans takes his bow at the Stoop

Nick Evans (Photo: Getty Images)

Catch up on the best end-of-season thrillers in the Premiership, Pro 12 and Top 14 – and a fearsome display of attack in Super Rugby.

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Aviva Premiership: Exeter Chiefs vs Northampton Saints
Full Game | Condensed
A respected English rugby journalist at Sandy Park at the weekend was moved to tweet: “Jeez, @ExeterChiefs are good.” Another, heading home from the same venue after seeing the Chiefs record their seventh Premiership bonus-point victory in a row, added: “A merry Exeter fan just got on the shuttle bus and loudly proclaimed: ‘Bloody hell we are a good side!’ Hard to argue.” There’s no more to add about an eight-try match in which the visitors had both the first and last word, but in which the hosts held court for the rest of the game.

Super Rugby: Highlanders vs Stormers
Full Game | Condensed
Speaking of visitors scoring first and last but getting wiped off the park in between… Most expected the Stormers to bounce back from their crushing loss to the Crusaders last week, and when they crossed for the opening try it was game on. For about the next 15 minutes at least. Once the Highlanders seized control of the game they didn’t give the visitors a look in, running in spectacular tries like it was no big deal. We should all be very afraid of the Highlanders down Super Rugby’s home stretch.

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Pro12: Leinster vs Glasgow Warriors
Full Game | Condensed
The lights went out on Leinster’s RDS ground  – literally – for 20 minutes as the clock ticked into the final 120 seconds of a blistering encounter. The game had already seen the Pro 12 leaders roar into an 23-6 half-time lead before the visitors hauled them back to set up an edge-of-the-seat finish. The tension mounted in the blackout, before the teams returned to play the final two minutes, with Warriors hunting down their fourth try to keep their slim hopes of a top four place alive.

Top 14: Pau vs Brive
Full Game | Condensed
The Top 14 weekend kicked off with three playoff places up for grabs. To be fair, one of those places was Toulon’s to lose – and they dutifully didn’t with a routine win at Bordeaux. But the French championship is so close that when this match kicked off seven teams were still effectively fighting for two still-open slots in the postseason. Two of the more unlikely challengers for a top-six berth met at Pau’s Stade du Hameau and played out a hard-hitting – and occasionally sickening -–thriller (Benjamin Petre’s injury was nearly Ieuan Evans-level gruesome) that was decided only by the odd try in seven, and remained in the balance until the final whistle.

Aviva Premiership: Harlequins vs Wasps
Full Game | Condensed
Forget the playoffs. Forget European Champions Cup places. Usually these things take top priority as the end of the season looms – but not here, not this week. This match turned into something more, as ex-All Black-turned-Harlequins legend Nick Evans bade a glorious farewell to a rapturous crowd. Evans is due to retire at the end of the season, after nine years at the London club. And with Quins away at Northampton next weekend, this was his Stoop swansong. He nailed it.

Watch every game of Aviva Premiership Rugby streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!

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B
BeamMeUp 11 minutes ago
The Springboks have something you don't have

A few comments. Firstly, I am a Bok fan and it's been a golden period for us. I hope my fellow Bok fans appreciate this time and know that it cannot last forever, so soak it all in!


The other thing to mention (and this is targeted at Welsh, English and even Aussie supporters who might be feeling somewhat dejected) is that it's easy to forget that just before Rassie Erasmus took over in 2018, the Boks were ranked 7th in the world and I had given up hope we'd ever be world beaters again.


Sport is a fickle thing and Rassie and his team have managed to get right whatever little things it takes to make a mediocre team great. I initially worried his methods might be short-lived (how many times can you raise a person's commitment by talking about his family and his love of his country as a motivator), but he seems to have found a way. After winning in 2019 on what was a very simple game plan, he has taken things up ever year - amazing work which has to be applauded! (Dankie Rassie! Ons wardeer wat jy vir die ondersteuners en die land doen!) (Google translate if you don't understand Afrikaans! 😁)


I don't think people outside South Africa fully comprehend the enormity of the impact seeing black and white, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa and all the other hues playing together does for the country's sense of unity. It's pure joy and happiness.


This autumn tour has been a bit frustrating in that the Boks have won, but never all that convincingly. On the one hand, I'd like to have seen more decisive victories, BUT what Rassie has done is expose a huge number of players to test rugby, whilst also diversifying the way the Boks play (Tony Brown's influence).


This change of both style and personnel has resulted in a lack of cohesion at times and we've lost some of the control, whereas had we been playing our more traditional style, that wouldn't happen. This is partially attributable to the fact that you cannot play Tony Brown's expansive game whilst also having 3 players available at every contact point to clear the defence off the ball. I have enjoyed seeing the Boks play a more exciting, less attritional game, which is a boring, albeit effective spectacle. So, I am happy to be patient, because the end justifies the means (and I trust Rassie!). Hopefully all these players we are blooding will give us incredible options for substitutions come next year's Rugby Championship and of course, the big prize in 2027.


Last point! The game of rugby has never been as exciting as it is now. Any of Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Argentina, Scotland, England & Australia can beat one another. South Africa may be ranked #1, but I wouldn't bet my house in them beating France or New Zealand, and we saw Argentina beating both South Africa and New Zealand this year! That's wonderful for the game and makes the victories we do get all the sweeter. Each win is 100% earned. Long may it last!


Sorry for the long post! 🏉🌍

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