Rampant Leinster and La Rochelle, Raymond Rhule and URC Quarterfinals preview
Shaun and Thala review the weekend’s European Champions Cup semi-finals and Leinster and La Rochelle’s dominating wins.
Starting with Leinster v Toulouse, we discuss the similarities of Leinster’s approach to Ireland’s for their victory over France in the Six Nations, Ugo Mola’s bizarre call to shift Dupont to the midfield and Rodrigue Neti’s yellow card (and Josh van der Flier’s dive). Jack Conan, Dan Sheehan and Jamison Gibson-Park are singled out for praise for their roles in the victories.
Moving to La Rochelle’s 7-try victory over Exeter, we discuss whether Raymond Rhule is the most underrated South African player right now, his connection with Antoine Hastoy and the star performances from Gregory Alldritt and Ulupano Seuteni. We look forward to an epic rematch of last year’s Champions Cup final.
We also preview the URC quarterfinals coming up. We ask whether the Bulls can break their losing streak against the Stormers if a near-full strength Bulls team cannot beat a 2nd string Western Province team in the Currie Cup. We ask what chances the Sharks have against Leinster without Eben Etzebeth and Siya Kolisi (very little) and we predict some extra time shenanigans in the Glasgow v Munster game.
Shaun provides us with an update in our Coach Fight bracket, with Johan Ackerman and John Mitchell getting surprising wins.
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