The Heineken Cup weekend was nothing short of spectacular. Yes Dan Carter played awesome in clash of the titans between Leicester and Perpgnan but it was another All Black that stole the show. For the second week in a row the game of the week was Quins vs. Stade de France. The game was a mud bath and a battle from the beginning. It was cold, muddy, and ugly from start to finish. Both packs fought each other from start to finish and even though it was a slow game there was nothing lost in physicality or intensity. After a Juan Martin Hernandez drop goal took the lead for the French outfit late in the game the Quins did not give up. It was after several phases, 29 to be exact all of which after the 80th minute, a Nick Evans drop goal in extra time won this soon to be historic clash at the stoop for the beloved Quins. These 29 phases took close to three minutes – three of the longer minutes of my life. I was literally sitting on the edge of my couch and my girlfriend yelling at me, I went berserk two or three times in my living room and finally completely mental when Evans slotted the mud soaked ball through the uprights. Brilliant brilliant game!
In the Leicester game it was former WP & Stormers flank Gerrie Britz (Or Jerry as the English commentators put it) that scored two tries, one of which was an unbelievable individual effort. True to the French reputation Perpinagn played with much greater intensity and ferocity at home and kept themselves alive in the European Championship. Dan Carter was his usual solid self he had a few moments of brilliance and had a great steal late in the game by ripping the ball from Seri Rubeni’s arms three meters from the goal line. He kicked great and his distribution was solid. After more than a week of practice with his new team they will be very dangerous. Leicester fought hard but just didn’t quite have enough to take home victory.
Munster made life hard for themselves in their game against Clermont. In the 19th minute Paul O’Connell made a comment about Canadian international Jamie Cudmore’s mother. Cudmore took exception to this and envisioned his youth of Pond Hockey and dog sledding, and rocked the Munster Captain in the face with what was my count, 3 great shots. He left Paul O’Connell, already a ginger, even redder around his mouth and nose for the rest of the game. O’Connell tried to get some shots in but it was too little to late, the referee awarded Cudmore the victory, and a break for the rest of the game with a shiney red card and said, “Hit the showers Jamie, you earned it!” O’Connell was also given a 10 minute break to think about how he offended Cudmore’s mom, dog sledding and horseshoeing. Muster failed to take advantage of this until later in the game. Aussie Brock James continued on a tear in Europe controlling the game with his tactical kicking playing a man down for over 50 minutes. Ronan O’Gara had an uncharacteristically poor goal kick day and almost cost his team the game. It was only when the Prop – scored an awesome try for Munster to take the lead. With little time left opensider Niall Ronan had an awesome chip and chase to put the game away 23-11. This was not a great performance from the red Army, but in this competition - a win is a win.
Scarlets 16 - Ulster 16
Castres 18 - Leinster 15
Dragons 13 - Toulouse 26
Treviso 16 - Ospreys 36
Biarritz 6 - Cardiff 10
Gloucester 48 - Calvisano 5
Muster 23 - Clermont 13
Quins 19 - Stade Francais 17
Montauban 16 - Sale 12
Wasps 19 - Edinburg 11
Glasgow 19 - Bath 25
Perpignan 26 – Munster 20
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