Here are your rugby evening headlines for Saturday, 28 May.
La Rochelle crowned European champions
Arthur Retière's last-gasp try snatched victory for La Rochelle as they sealed a dramatic 24-21 victory over Leinster in the Champions Cup final in Marseille.
Leinster started quickly, building a 6-0 lead after some early pressure. However, a brilliant score by La Rochelle winger Raymond Rhule handed the French outfit the lead.
Sexton quickly fired the Irish province back ahead from the tee, but Ronan O'Gara's side looked the better for the remainder of the first-half. They might have led at the break too, only for Leinster to win a scrum penalty when under the cosh and then go up the other end to hand Sexton the chance of another three.
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The third-quarter saw both sides land penalties as Leinster built an eight-point lead. However, a powerful driving maul resulted in hooker Pierre Bourgarit crashing over and reducing the gap to just a point.
A mindless trip by Thomas Lavault for a trip on Jamison Gibson-Park resulted in the second-row being sent to the sin-bin just as La Rochelle were on the up, with replacement Ross Byrne making no mistake with the resulting penalty to move the lead to four points.
Despite that numerical disadvantage, the French side piled on the pressure to the very end- with Retière reaching over 70 seconds before the death to snatch victory.
Twickenham set for southern hemisphere clash
South Africa and New Zealand will reportedly meet at Twickenham next year ahead of the World Cup.
According to the Daily Mail , the match will form part of a blockbuster double-header with England also expected to play on the same day. It is unclear whether the potential Boks v All Blacks clash will be part of next year’s Rugby Championship or a one-off ‘friendly’.
In 2016, Argentina faced the Wallabies at Twickenham in a Rugby Championship encounter. The report also adds that England are likely to play one of their home warm-ups away from HQ - as was the case in 2019 when they faced Italy at St James' Park.
Moana Pasifika produce Super Rugby upset
Moana Pasifika produced one of the upsets of the Super Rugby Pacific season, stunning title contenders Brumbies to close their maiden campaign with a victory.
The basement side overcame an early red card to captain Sekope Kepu – playing in his 150th Super Rugby match – to topple the Brumbies 32-22 in Auckland on Saturday, denying the Brumbies a third-place finish.
That means the Australian side will likely have to play away from home if they qualify for the semi-finals
The Brumbies didn’t help themselves on the discipline front, conceding two yellow cards within minutes of each other to play with 13 men for a lengthy period, but Moana Pasifika’s fortitude and commitment to the cause was enough to get them over the line.
Led by former Brumbies pair Christian Lealiifano and Solomone Kata, Moana Pasifika’s win denies the Brumbies a third-place finish, meaning they will likely have to play away from home if they qualify for the semi-finals.
By contrast, Moana Pasifika will bask in the glory of notching their second-ever win, their first since they shocked the Hurricanes with an extra-time victory in March.
Springbok coach hoping to avoid bio-bubbles for Wales tour
Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber hopes to avoid bio-bubbles ahead of Wales' upcoming summer tour.
Wayne Pivac's side travel to South Africa for a three-match Test series in July that will be the first Test rugby the Springboks have played this year. And Nienaber is hopeful of finding some “normality” in planning this season without bio-bubbles, despite being wary of how quickly things can change.
“Hopefully, it is not bubbles again, but you never know how things are going to pan out.” Nienaber said at an SA Rugby and Betway event. “But currently it is looking like there will be some sort of normality and we can actually plan accordingly.
Last year, planning was very diverse because we were playing in Australia, in the UK and back in SA again. Then there was the Rugby Championship that started in SA and went to Australia and that was the tough part.
"You almost had 10 different scenarios you had to roll out and see which one was going to play out and went with that one. I think there is going to be some sort of normality.”
