Youngs ready to lead march of the veterans

CONGRATULATIONS to English referee Luke Pearce for doing a decent job of speaking in French to the Bordeaux players, during their match against the Sharks in Durban. Pearce displayed a jovial hint of self-deprecation at one stage saying: ‘ Ma Francais est terrible’. In fact, his linguistic efforts most certainly weren’t terrible and surely the gesture would have been appreciated by the Gallic players. Whenever this point is raised, there are people quick to protest about a lack of Italian, Spanish or even Japanese being spoken by officials too, but there are a lot of French teams in the Champions and Challenge Cups, so communicating better with them is a priority. More British and Irish referees should copy the example of Pearce.

THE highlight of the Champions Cup weekend was the Ospreys’ thrilling win over Montpellier in Swansea, which saw Toby Booth’s side complete a heroic double over the French champions. It is high time a Welsh region made an impact again in what used to be the European Cup and the Ospreys have set up a showdown with Leicester at Welford Road on Friday, knowing that a knockout place is within their reach.

The standout aspect of their victory over Montpellier was the long-range try started and finished by Justin Tipuric, who cross-kicked like a No 10 and was on hand to finish like a canny wing. What an enduring talent he is. This column always seeks to promote the modern-day genre of forwards doing silky-skill things and there were other examples over the weekend. Clermont lock Paul Jedrasiak’s break, dummy and galloping strike stood out, as did Saracens prop Eroni Mawi’s cheeky off-load against Lyon. Glorious.