Francis up for the cup, but gloom remains on the horizon
IT was another busy weekend in rugby as European competitions reached the semi-final stage.
As well as the penultimate rounds of the Champions and Challenge Cups, there was also a friendly between the Scarlets and Ospreys ahead of the start of the PRO14 season this weekend.
With all that in mind, here are the winners and losers from the last few days.
WINNERS
TOMAS FRANCIS
Welsh prop Francis hasn’t quite been with Exeter from the very start of their journey from the second tier to the elite of European rugby, but he’s been there for most of it.
And he’s had a similar journey himself. Before he made his Exeter debut in 2014, he had been playing in the Championship with London Scottish.
Welsh caps, a Grand Slam and a
Premiership title have all followed, but now he has the chance for one more piece of silverware to add to the collection as Exeter reached their first Champions Cup final after beating Toulouse on Saturday.
JONATHAN DAVIES
The Wales and Lions centre couldn’t have really expected much more from himself in his first run out in almost 11 months.
Davies started in the behindclosed-doors friendly against the Ospreys on Friday and put in a fine performance across the 40 minutes he played. There were no real errors to speak of and the old flashes of brilliance came to the fore with a lovely one-handed offload out of a tackle and a well-judged grubber kick in behind off his left foot.
Consider the latest box on his comeback trail well and truly ticked, and it will have been a joy to watch for Glenn Delaney and Wayne Pivac, who was also in the stands.
JOSH THOMAS Not a name that will be entirely familiar with followers of Welsh rugby, but he’s worth knowing about.
Most of the interest ahead of Friday’s game was directed towards Wales Under-20s fly-half Sam Costelow, making his first appearance for the Scarlets since joining from Leicester Tigers.
He had a solid outing but was outshone by his opposite number, Thomas.
The 20-year-old Pontarddulais RFC product kicked brilliantly throughout, his distribution was solid and he was a handy running threat.
He showed a good eye for a gap and turn of pace to skip beyond Tevita Ratuva in the build-up to Mat Protheroe’s try and gathered a misshit Scarlets kick at full speed and dinked the ball back in behind the hosts without breaking stride.
A confident, eye-catching performance.
JAC MORGAN
The youngster captained the starting Scarlets side who contained the likes of Jonathan Davies, Uzair Cassiem and Werner Kruger – all of whom are vastly more experienced.
It speaks volumes of the 20-yearold from Brynaman that he was handed the armband, even if it was for a pre-season clash.
But his actions on the field spoke louder than the little ‘c’ next to his name on the teamsheet.
He won an early turnover and continued to be a total nuisance at the breakdown, regularly causing problems for the Ospreys and generally slowing the game down.
Morgan was physical both in defence and attack in what was a polished performance.
There’s a fair bit of hype around the Wales Under-20s skipper and, based on Friday’s outing, it’s justified.
TOMMY REFFELL
Leicester Tigers were no great shakes on Saturday night as they fell to Toulon in the Challenge Cup semi-final.
England fly-half George Ford had a shocker, with one local outlet’s set of ratings struggling to give him anything more than a 3 out of 10.
In fact, few Leicester players put
forward their finest performances.
But uncapped Wales flanker Reffell wasn’t going to lose this semi-final wondering if he could have done any more. It was a solid effort from the 21-year-old in a losing cause.
LOSERS ALED DAVIES
The Wales scrum-half couldn’t do much to stop Saracens’ European charge falling at the penultimate hurdle on Saturday.
Davies was introduced just after a piece of Finn Russell magic had helped put Racing ahead with only a
few minutes left on the clock.
The issue now is what happens next for Saracens and Davies. Out of Europe, relegated from the Premiership – they don’t know when the Championship season will even get under way.
Heading into the unknown will be strange for Davies and the club.
“God knows what we are going to be facing,” said Saracens team-mate Jamie George.
“The element of the unknown is horrendous.
“The way we saw it that was our last chance to compete for a little while. We wanted to finish it off right.”
THE SCARLETS
Calling the Scarlets losers may seem harsh, and maybe it is.
But the general consensus is that last week’s agonising defeat to Toulon in the Challenge Cup quarter-final was a missed opportunity.
And any fan in West Wales watching Toulon take on Leicester Tigers in the semi-final on Saturday would have been kicking themselves.
The Scarlets would have seriously fancied their chances of reaching a first European final had they got through to face the Tigers. What could have been. To add injury to insult, they also saw Johnny Mcnicholl ruled out for eight weeks with a knee injury on Friday.
WELSH GRASSROOTS RUGBY
It’s not been a great year for anyone in sport, with coronavirus grinding things to an abrupt halt.
And at the moment, it’s grassroots rugby that appears to be feeling it more than most.
On Sunday, it was revealed that one of Wales’s most iconic club sides, Maesteg, are on the brink of extinction, while another 30 clubs are reportedly close to going to the wall.
Worrying times.