It is time for Planet Rugby’s Sunday Social, your quirky recap of the serious and not so serious talking points from the past week’s action.
We begin with the Bledisloe Cup clash and once again an international game in Australia went well over its scheduled kick-off time. After the Welcome to Country, both sets of anthems and the haka, the Rugby Championship fixture got underway 20 minutes later than planned. Why lie to us about kick-off times, guys?
Speaking of the haka, we enjoyed the passion on display here by an All Blacks supporter amongst the 83,944 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Epic.
While that supporter would sit back and enjoy the win, it was a sour day for Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones. At least the chocolate behind him was sweet.
New Zealand’s 38-7 victory included this amazing All Blacks crossing that was finished off by Rieko Ioane. Expect this score to be in the mix for try of the year.
Scott Barrett was the standout performer for New Zealand as his tackle on Tate McDermott set up their first try, but this shush to Nic White was also a highlight.
It’s always great to see new caps celebrate with their loved ones and here’s new All Black Cam Roigard with his family. A long future at Test level looks highly likely.
After Melbourne it was off to Ellis Park in Johannesburg where Springbok greats from 1995 and 2007 were in attendance on the field before kick-off. A nice touch.
Speaking of which, South Africa also found themselves a decent flag bearer for the anthems in current captain Siya Kolisi, who is on the road back from an injury.
It was a bruising affair with Los Pumas and their skipper Julian Montoya had to come off for treatment, with his appearance looking a lot like Breaking Bad’s Gus Fring.
While that fixture was going on there was also a Rugby World Cup warm-up match between Scotland and Italy, with a seagull taking centre stage at Murrayfield.
While the fans were amused and enjoying the bird’s cameo appearance, on a serious note the seagull did possibly look injured so hopefully he was well looked after.
However, there was no shadow cast on the player of the match Ben Healy, who was excellent on his first start at fly-half for Scotland. What a year Healy is having.
Elsewhere, we loved Fiji’s farewell from hotel staff ahead of their game against Samoa. Victory means they sit five points clear at the Pacific Nations Cup summit.
READ MORE: Ben Healy lauded as ‘excellent’ as first Scotland start impresses Gregor Townsend
The article Sunday Social: Bledisloe Cup round-up, that seagull, Bok legends and Gus Fring appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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