Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: The Rugby Club Plays of the Week

Thursday, July 01, 2010

The Rugby Club Plays of the Week - Yes Yes Yes!

It’s Plays of the Week time again and I can promise that this week there’s no naked bums on show, unlike last week’s edition where we got to know a few Kiwis a little too well. This week there’s a giraffe playing rugby, Greg Martin all fired up, and the Puma’s showing the French a thing or two in Buenos Aires.

Starting with the Wallaby win over Ireland where both sides had a case of the dropsies at times. It was anything but a polished performance from the home side, but Digby Ioane seems to have a special relationship with a certain someone, so they should be able to lift their game in time for the Tri Nations.

Hosea Gear is probably the most impressive wing of the past few weeks, as his performances for the New Zealand Maori included a hat trick against England. He was snubbed for the initial All Black squad though, with coach Graeme Henry acknowledging his talent.

"He's unlucky. It's just that you can't pick them all and I feel for him because he played some exceptional football. But we made a decision on Super 14 form that Joe Rokocoko and Cory Jane were our two specialist wings, and they played in the first two tests and played exceptionally well.

"It's hard on a guy like Hosea Gear. We certainly have been told about him. I went to the game in Napier and I guess about 250 people yelled out to me in the stand, so I do know he exists," he added.

Gear himself was disappointed, but realises he isn’t quite the finished article yet. "I haven't heard a lot, but I know pretty much what I need to work on... my guess is the high ball and my overall workrate," the brother of former All Black, Rico Gear, said.

In East London, South Africa hosted Italy in what was a one side affair. One of the tries of the match went to Pierre Spies after great work from Schalk Burger and the rugby playing giraffe, Andries Bekker.

The performance of the weekend goes to Argentina though, as they brushed aside the travelling French in what was a record score against the country where a lot of their players play their club rugby, probably making the win all the more sweeter.

Highlights of each match can be seen right here on RD, so which was your Try of the Week?

Time: 02:26

Yes yes yes! Vamos Los Pumas!

By Flinto, at July 01, 2010 8:45 am
Haha funny. Congrats to Los Pumas they were amazing last week. I still don't get how the french can be so good and then so bad in such a short time!

By Anonymous, at July 01, 2010 9:11 am
Very good. Hosea Gear is a machine. His try against England from the kick that hit the upright is my fav.

By Laz, at July 01, 2010 10:29 am
How can that be try of the week? The Maori try from the failed penalty kick was clearly amazing. Or the one when they attacked from England's lost scrum... Or any Maori score, and I'm English..

By Rog, at July 01, 2010 11:29 am
Its 'Argentines' not 'Argentinians!'

Stupid Australines!!!

:O)

By ConnachtFan, at July 01, 2010 12:35 pm
My god.....they mentioned argentina. that must be the first time ever !

By Third Centre, at July 01, 2010 12:48 pm
What does Hosea Gear have to do to get in the All Blacks squad? Personally I am delighted he isn't currently because it means we (England) might not get reamed by as many points in the next game we play them.

Is Graeme Henry a popular choice overall as All Black coach? Just interested, not trying to stir too much!

On a seperate note - well done the Puma's. I hope your entry into the tri-nations competition is beneficial.

By NiWiTa, at July 01, 2010 2:25 pm
Love these...just too farking short!!

By Anonymous, at July 01, 2010 6:14 pm
that's the thing anonymous;;; the french aren't so good then so bad in such a sort time, their just 'so bad'... ne alles pas le bleus!!!!

By Ryan, at July 01, 2010 7:54 pm
@ 2:07

Opening hit of TSRB 12 anyone?

By The Mad Mailman, at July 01, 2010 8:26 pm
Well is the french are just 'so bad' then the whole NH is reaaaally shitty since Les Bleus won the grand slam this year. And that's coming from an Irish supporter

By Anonymous, at July 01, 2010 11:20 pm
Loving these!

By Fridge, at July 02, 2010 12:51 am
hahahah YES YES YES, this was hilarious! I agree though, the Maori length of the field try finished off by Gear was incredible... Definitely try of the week, ill never forget it!

By Nicko, at July 02, 2010 1:19 am
Jose Almatante ESTADIO!! Hilarious, if mildly racist, gotta love it!!!

By Alexander, at July 02, 2010 1:29 am
High shot on the pitch invader but I guess he had it coming.

By Tag2, at July 02, 2010 1:42 am
Not the best Rugby Club effort but still some good stuff. There are two reasons why the fantastic Maori try was not try of the week - they wanted to get in the giraffe joke, and they've noticed how whiny some Saffas get when they realise the whole world doesn't worship the Boks 24/7 and are trying to shut them up for five minutes.

By Devon05, at July 02, 2010 2:19 am
@NiWiTa Henry is an idiot, anyone who leaves Hosea Gear and Luke McAlister out of his squad in favour of Bensen Stanley and Joe Roko needs his head checked.

By Anonymous, at July 02, 2010 2:47 am
So is Argentine the plural and Argentinian the adjective?
Does it matter?

By Jono, at July 02, 2010 3:56 am
@Devon5, I highly doubt they care. It's an Aussie show, for Aussie rugby fans. It was a great try (more than just what they showed), but yes the Gear effort was outstanding.

By Benson, at July 02, 2010 9:53 am
Hosea, sign with a GP club, stay in UK for 3 years, then represent one of us :) We realise your talent!!!

By Alexander, at July 02, 2010 12:49 pm
ssssppppiiieeesss best nr 8 in the world

By Unknown, at July 02, 2010 1:10 pm
Spies is not the best number 8 in my opinion. He's a very good player (he wouldn't be in the Bok squad if he wasn't!), and he has amazing physical qualities, but there is much more to the role than that. If you see him running around and through a broken field, he is amazing, but how often has he done that in a big game?

Think of the difference between Ngwenya and Habana - he might be faster than Habana, but there is so much more to Habana's game that makes him (arguably) the best winger in the world.

There are definitely 3 or 4 guys I can think of that I would have in my team before Spies.

By Mike, at July 02, 2010 2:01 pm
agree with mike,there are a number of better no. 8's than spies such as harinordoquy,fernandez lobbe,parisse,and heaslip.

By Leeners93, at July 02, 2010 2:17 pm
Those four guys mentioned are all good in their own way, but Spies is the youngest and getting better each time he plays Test rugby.

The only one on that list I'd pick ahead of him is Harinorduquy though. In fact, I'd quite like Kankowski to start rather :)

By Scotsdale, at July 02, 2010 2:40 pm
Heaslip and Harinordoquy I've seen a lot of. Those two guys are very often (or even usually) the most influential player on the pitch at Heineken Cup and International level. Again, I'm not doubting that Spies is good, but he's not the Bok's key man the way that Heaslip, Hari and Parisse are for their teams. I've only really seen Spies playing for the Boks though, so I can't say too much.

By Gavin, at July 02, 2010 2:52 pm
@scotsdale

i don't believe spies is getting better;he's going to be the same player for the rest of his career.
he's always going to be physically huge,but he'll never have the ball skills or rugby brain that the 4 players i have mentioned do have

By Leeners93, at July 02, 2010 5:10 pm
I disagree. What are you basing that on? There's nothing wrong with his ball skills (or rugby brain) and he works helluva hard in the tight loose. He not only contributed to winning the Super 14 twice in a row, but keeps a guy like Kankowski out of the springbok side.

By Scotsdale, at July 02, 2010 6:12 pm
Leeners,

Just to explain a bit better what I mean about how influential Heaslip and Hari are, I would say that both of these players is man of the match in about a quarter of the games they play at HC and international level. In other words, the most (positively!) influential player out of the 30 on the pitch. Always in the right place, winning possession, turnovers, creating space, scoring tries, making big tackles etc - the all-round game.

Now as I said, I haven't seen much of Spies at S14 level, nearly always I've seen him playing for the Boks, and he doesn't have the same massive impact in as many games as the other named guys do. I know he's keeping a super player like Kankowski on the bench, but I think that is a strategic decision based on having a balanced backrow.

All IMHO, of course...

By Gavin, at July 02, 2010 8:05 pm
Oops, that comment was really for Scotsdale :)

By Gavin, at July 02, 2010 8:17 pm
Those no 8s you talk about might be outstanding in the 6 nations or at club level, but against the top teams they aren't sao great.
Spies is just as good.

By Henri, at July 04, 2010 7:00 am
Henri, 6 Nations isn't the top level? So there are only two teams that can be described as top level who Spies performs great against - NZ and Aus? (I'm guessing he has not played against the Boks) And Aus haven't been great for a few years now, beaten by a poor England a couple of weeks back (although hopefully they are coming back). So that means the top level means ONLY games versus NZ. Right.

Can everyone remember all of Spies's great games against NZ?

Seriously, think before you post man.

By Gavin., at July 05, 2010 5:11 pm
^^ and by the way, I remember his MOM at Rustenburg, I'm just talking about the tiny sample of games you are claiming he should be judged on. I could cite Heaslip's performances against the world champs for the Lions, Harinordiquy against the Kiwis at the world cup etc etc...

By Gavin, at July 05, 2010 5:17 pm
Yes, NZ and Aus are the top teams, the tri-nations is the toughest comp and the S14 is the toughest below international level.
The 6 nations is obviously the second strongest international comp (disregarding the WC), but is much, much easier to compete in than the tri-nations, and facing off against the top European national and club/provincial sides is much, much easier than facing off agaisnt the top tri-nations national and club/provincial sides.
And overall, while guys like Harindonquay and Heaslip have dominated in Europe, they struggle to make nearly the same impact against the top (SH) teams.
Again, I simply said that Spies is just as good as any of the top european no 8s.
He is faced with tougher competition more regularly.

By Henri, at July 06, 2010 8:10 am