Montauban prop Bogdan Balan picked up an ankle injury during their impressive 45-31 win over Racing Metro on the weekend. Unfortunately for him though, his journey off the pitch wasn’t quite smooth sailing.
As you watch them walking off, you can see something isn’t right as there’s two tiny girls at the back who clearly don’t look comfortable with what has been asked of them.
Eventually he goes down to the turf in a heap as they struggle to hold him up. It’s pretty shocking to see, but luckily it didn’t seem to cause any further damage so we can have a chuckle about it and hope it never happens again. Someone please buy them a golf cart.
There is little doubt that Burke is one of the most successful and respected international fullbacks of recent times, notching up the second highest all time points tally for an Australian Test player.
For the Waratahs he is the highest ever points scorer and the second highest capped player, with his illustrious Sydney career spanning from 1992 to 2004.
With the 2010 Six Nations in full swing, we thought it would be great to have a look at some big hits of previous tournaments.
Here are some of the biggest hits in the 2008 Six Nations campaign…
Defending champions the Bulls proved too strong at Loftus Versfeld on the weekend in their Super 14 match as they notched up their second half century in two weeks, beating the Brumbies 50-32 in an entertaining match.
Flyhalf Morne Steyn scored two tries and kicked five conversions and five penalties as the home side picked up their second consecutive win in this year’s competition, with Steyn scoring 35 points in total.
This hit by Sale centre, Lee Thomas, rocked Harlequins’ Will Skinner to the point that he needed to take a few minutes to recover from a serious case of having the wind knocked out of him. To his credit, that’s all it was, and he got up shortly afterwards and soldiered on.
It was Currie Cup Semi final day last year in South Africa, as the Sharks hosted the Cheetahs in Durban, and the Bulls travelled to Cape Town to challenge Western Province.
The Bulls won 21-19, thanks to a late Morne Steyn penalty. But do you remember that infamous tackle on Fourie du Preez by Schalk Burger?
Ras Dumisani’s shocking performance at the France vs Springboks game.
The South African Rugby Union released a statement -
“As a union we were shocked and horrified by the rendition of the anthem, and I contacted the French Federation on Saturday morning to express our very grave concerns,” said the union’s president Oregan Hoskins.
“The performance of the anthem is a treasured part of any rugby international and we take great pains in this country in the selection and rehearsal of artists to ensure that we appropriately honour all anthems.
“Something went seriously awry in Toulouse and the upshot was that offence has been caused, not just to the Springboks and SARU but to South Africans in general.
“I congratulate France on their victory in the Test match but look forward to their response on this important issue.”
A Facebook group called “Ban Ras Dumisani from ever singing again” has already attracted about 600 members.
Leinster were as impressive as ever as they thumped London Wasps at the RDS on Saturday, earning themselves a valuable bonus point victory against a struggling outfit that have lost six matches out of eight this season.
Brian O’Driscoll, who had a great game last week, limped off with a ill-timed knee injury at half time, but not before he managed to cross the tryline twice as Leinster raced off to a great start.
While it was a commanding display throughout, the pick of the Leinster tries was probably this O’Driscoll masterpiece that he managed to create down the right wing.
His first chip and chase was executed perfectly before kicking it again, mid-air, he then re-gathered on the full just before falling over for a fantastic try.
The Vodacom Bulls remained the only unbeaten side in the 2009 Super 14 with a hard-fought 19-14 (halt-time 9-7) crucial away victory over the Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday. The victory, which sees the Pretoria-based side stay atop the log, was one earned from feeding off their opponents errors and notching up the points when they infiltrated enemy territory. It may not have been a great advert for Super 14 rugby at its best, but it was an effective percentage style rugby that saw the Bulls home to a key away win.
Adam Thompson and Israel Dagg scored two tries each as the Otago Highlanders overcame a slow start and poor goalkicking to beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 32-8 in Dunedin Saturday. A swirling wind plagued goalkickers from both sides and Otago managed only three goals from 10 attempts, but outscored the winless Cheetahs five tries to one for a bonus point and a critical home win. The Highlanders were down 8-5 at halftime after playing into the wind and missing all five first-half shots at goal. But they scored four second-half tries to beat the tournament’s last-placed team.
All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu scored four tries Saturday, setting a franchise record, as the WaikatoChiefs beat the Auckland Blues 63-34. Sivivatu’s first try after three minutes was his 33rd for the Chiefs in the Super 14, equaling the try-scoring record for Waikato previously held by winger Roger Randle. Sivivatu’s second, in the 14th minute, set a new mark at 34 tries before he added two more. Sivivatu was also the first Waikato player to score four tries in a Super 14 match. Those tries left Auckland breathless, 28-8 down after 25 minutes in a normally closely contested local derby.
The Stormers may have beaten the Lions by a record margin over the weekend, but it came with a great cost in the form of Andries Bekker’s toe injury which may sideline him for the remainder of the Super 14 season.
Stormers spokesperson, Frikkie Erasmus said on Tuesday that the big lock has torn a ligament in his big toe and he will not be travelling with the team to Australasia on Thursday.
“At the moment we are waiting for the doctor to indicate the extent of the injury,” said Erasmus.
“So at this stage we are not sure exactly how long he will be out but Andries will not be leaving with the team [to Australasia].
“We are hoping that he will make a recovery soon but it’s important that he fully recovers from this injury.”
Stormers coach Rassie Erasmus has been weighing up his options to replace the big Springbok lock having contacted former Stormers lock Ross Skeate, who is currently playing for Toulon in France. However, Skeate broke his jaw last weekend and is therefore no longer an option
Erasmus admitted in the pre-season that the lock departmentlacks depth but it appears that the Stormers will have to call on their current back-up locks to fill the void with loose forwards Francois Louw and Duane Vermeulen the options.
