Showing posts with label Willie le Roux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Willie le Roux. Show all posts

Sunday, 20 December 2015

Toulouse 23 - Ulster 25


Ulster kept their hopes of Champions Cup quarter-final qualification alive by completing back-to-back victories over Toulouse with a 25-23 success.

A Ruan Pienaar try helped the visitors to a 10-3 half-time lead and Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall added second-half touchdowns for the Irish province.

Gael Fickou crossed for Toulouse, with Louis Picamoles adding a late try.

Ulster lie second in Pool One, 10 points behind Saracens, with a game in hand, but Toulouse's hopes have ended.

With two matches against bottom side Oyannax still to come, Les Kiss' side retain realistic hope of making the last eight by finishing at least second in their pool.

Having triumphed 38-0 in Belfast a week ago, Ulster began the game at the Ernest-Wallon Stadium in confident fashion and Paddy Jackson landed a third-minute penalty to give his team an early lead.

Ulster continued to enjoy territorial dominance but Pienaar and Jackson were off-target with long-range penalty attempts.

Just after the half-hour mark, Pienaar picked up and dived over the ruck to score the opening try under the posts, following a rolling maul that set up the score.

Jackson converted but three minutes later was sent to the bin when his deliberate knock-on denied the hosts a likely try-scoring opportunity.

Just before the break, replacement Rory Scholes touched down for Ulster but his 'try' was chalked off for an earlier forward pass.

Sebastien Bezy's penalty after the interval reduced the deficit, but Trimble's 45th-minute try, his 24th in the competition, put his side in control again.

Centre Stuart McCloskey broke through the Toulouse defence and Pienaar and Franco van der Merwe played their part in a slick passing manoeuvre, before Trimble stretched to touch down in the corner.

Fickou's try completed a flowing Toulouse move in the 51st minute, Bezy's conversion reduced the home side's deficit to two points and the scrum-half then kicked a penalty to nudge Toulouse in front.

Jackson replied with his second penalty and then helped set up Marshall, who collected an inside pass from Alan O'Connor, before crossing for the ultimately decisive try.

The fly half converted to put nine points between the sides but the four-time champions responded with a late try by French international Picamoles to reduce the winning margin to two points and clinch a bonus point.

Picamoles, the back-row replacement, rumbled over for a try following a maul as Ulster's hitherto reliable defences were breached, with Jean-Marc Doussain adding the additional points.

For Ulster, this was only their third-ever success on French soil while Toulouse have suffered their worst start to a European campaign since 2003.

The Irish province now face important Pro12 assignments against Connacht and Munster, while Toulouse take on fellow Top 14 title challengers Toulon and Stade Francais in their next domestic encounters.

Toulouse: 
Alexis Palisson; Kunatani Kunabuli, Gael Fickou, Florian Fritz, Timoci Matanavou; Jean-Marc Doussain, Sébastien Bézy; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Census Johnston, Gregory Lamboley, Yoann Maestri, Yacouba Camara, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy
Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gert Muller, Joe Tekori, Louis Picamoles, Gillian Galan, David Mele, Clément Poitrenaud

Ulster: 
Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Kyle McCall, Rory Best, Wiehahn Herbst; Alan O'Connor, Franco van der Merwe; Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Roger Wilson.
Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ricky Lutton, Lewis Stevenson, Nick Williams, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.


Saturday, 31 October 2015

South Africa Secure Bronze


South Africa finished third at the World Cup as they beat Argentina 24-13.

A JP Pietersen try and Handre Pollard's boot gave South Africa a 16-0 half-time lead before Nicolas Sanchez finally got the Pumas on the scoreboard.

But Eben Etzebeth's try put the Boks out of sight and Juan Pablo Orlandi's late reply was little consolation.

The only disappointment for the Boks was that Bryan Habana was unable to claim the all-time World Cup try scoring record on his own.

Bryan Habana narrowly failed to become the World Cup's sole all-time top try scorer

The 32-year-old winger came within inches of scoring in the first half, only to be denied by the fingertips of Argentina full-back Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino as they both chased a kick.

But with the record on his mind - he entered the game tied on 15 World Cup tries with New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu - he had a mixed game, and several spilled passes suggested it was not to be his night before he was taken off to a rapturous farewell from a packed Olympic Stadium with 15 minutes remaining.

South Africa fielded a near first-choice XV and the power of their pack ultimately told in east London.

Argentina enjoyed the majority of the possession but they ran into an unbreachable wall, with giant lock Etzebeth adding a game-high 20 tackles to his try and fellow second row Victor Matfield - captaining the Boks in his last-ever Test - weighing in with 16 in his hour on the pitch.

With open-side flanker Francois Louw winning a remarkable five turnovers on his own, to add to a dozen tackles, Argentina were never able to reproduce their attacking fizz from earlier in the tournament.

Argentina had most of the possession, but gave away 15 penalties to South Africa's 10

The Pumas, seeking to match their third-place finish in 2007, made nine changes as a result of injury and exhaustion, and they were unable to match the sheer physicality of the Boks.

They enjoyed the better of both territory and possession but with their pack out-gunned up front, dangerous runners such as Santiago Cordero and Horacio Agulla were never given a sniff of the Springbok tryline.

They made an impressive 564 metres as a team with ball in hand but were forced to attack from deep and every time they approached the South Africa 22 a thumping tackle or classy steal saw them repelled.

South Africa captain Victor Matfield, who is retiring from international rugby: "We would loved to have played in the final tomorrow but unfortunately things didn't go our way.

"We have a lot of respect for Argentina. A bronze medal is better than fourth place.

"I'm just so relieved we won the game. We'll have a beer with Schalk Burger and the guys I've spent so much of my life with."

Nicolas Sanchez scored eight points in the game, taking his tally to 97 points for the tournament and making him the top scorer at the 2015 World Cup so far.

Schalk Burger played in his 20th World Cup game, only ex-England prop Jason Leonard (22) and New Zealand's Richie McCaw (21) have played more games in the tournament (former Australia scrum-half George Gregan also played 20).

JP Pietersen scored his ninth World Cup try, only Bryan Habana (15) has scored more in the World Cup for the Springboks (former centre Jaque Fourie also has nine).

Teams
South Africa: Le Roux; Pietersen, Kriel, De Allende, Habana; Pollard, Pienaar; Mtawarira, B du Plessis, Malherbe; Etzebeth, Matfield; Louw, Burger, Vermeulen.
Replacements: Lambie for Le Roux (64), Serfontein for Habana (67), Paige for Pienaar (77), Nyakane for Mtawarira (40), Strauss for B du Plessis (48), J du Plessis for Malherbe (60), de Jager for Matfield (62), Alberts for Burger (53).

Argentina: Gonzalez Amorosino; Cordero, Moroni, De la Fuente, Agulla; Sanchez, Cubelli; Figallo, Montoya, Herrera; Alemanno, Lavanini; Ortega Desio, Fernandez Lobbe, Leguizamon.
Replacements: Gonzalez Iglesias for de la Fuente (70), Socino for Agulla (58), Landajo for Cubelli (52), Noguera for Figallo (61), Garcia Botta for Montoya (77), Orlandi for Herrera (55), Petti Pagadizabal for Alemanno (47), Isa for Fernandez Lobbe (52).

Sin bin: Cubelli (5).
Att: 55,925
Ref: John Lacey (Ireland).