GOOD DAY
For Agustín Ormaechea, the Uruguayan who had the most mixed of nights as he led his team in their bid to show their fighting spirit in both the right and the wrong way against Fiji on Tuesday.
Ormachea’s performance was so impressive that even in defeat he was voted man-of-the-match.
However he had already been sin-binned for a dangerous tackle before that decision was made, so when he was then yellow-carded a second time, this time for taking a man out without the ball, a red card was automatic and, to add further insult, albeit rather curiously and after social media users had suggested that his receipt of it would send out the wrong message to youngsters, the man-of-the-match award was then withdrawn and given to Fiji’s Glasgow Warrior Leone Nakarawa.
At a disciplinary hearing it was, however, decided that he had received sufficient punishment for would be given no further sanction and is consequently free to face England in his team’s final match tomorrow.
BAD DAY
For Dan Lydiate … but maybe not for the reason being given by the Wales management.
According to Warren Gatland, his head coach, the flanker is missing tomorrow’s big match against Australia because he’s had a serious knock on his eye, but has been told that: “…if we were playing in the final then I would have picked him this week.”
However plenty suspected last week that Wales might try to take the Wallabies on at their own game by playing twin-opensides against them, all the moreso when Michael Hooper, one of the Aussie pair, was then ruled out through suspension and Lydiate’s absence conveniently leaves room for skipper Sam Warburton to be accompanied by Justin Tipuric.
That is the sort of opportunity a player of Tipuric’s ability could easily grasp and if he seizes it then it could be very difficult to then revert to a more orthodox back-row for the knockout stages. Those are the breaks at Test level.
WHAT’S ON TODAY?
It may be a little less dramatic than the events of the last two weekend’s at the English game’s headquarters, but there is still a great deal at stake when the third match in an exceptional sequence at Twickenham takes place today.
Topping Pool A looks to have taken on added importance given the way the Springboks seem to have turned up the power in a way that may prove tough for even the resilient Welsh and Southern Hemisphere champions Australia to resist.
That said any sense of relaxation could yet play to Scotland’s advantage if, as expected, they see off Samoa today to earn their place in the quarter-finals while it remains slightly hard to believe that hosts England are involved in what is now, by a long way, the less important rugby match being played in Manchester today as Wigan face Leeds in Rugby League’s Grand Final.
Result: New Zealand XX Tonga XX
Fixtures: Samoa v Scotland at St James’ Park, Newcastle 2.30pm; Australia v Wales, Twickenham 4.45pm; England v Uruguay, Etihad Stadium, Manchester 8pm
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