Here are the latest rugby headlines on the evening of Saturday, April 2
Six of the best from Biggar
Dan Biggar came out on top in the battle of the Wales fly-halves as he helped Northampton claim a 39-22 Premiership victory over Callum Sheedy’s Bristol.
There had been much debate over whether the Welsh skipper should have been carded for an upright hit on Fijian star centre Semi Radradra in the first-half, but referee Karl Dickson decided it was just a penalty offence. You can read more about that contentious incident here.
Able to stay on the field, Biggar proceeded to land six successful shots at goal - four conversions and a penalty.
Sheedy did have the consolation of scoring one of the day’s nine touchdowns, which helped Bristol claim a four-try bonus point, but it was the Saints who went marching in to keep alive their hopes of a play-off spot.
Luckless Halaholo vents frustration
Wales centre willis Halaholo has bemoaned his wretched luck after his season was ended by another injury.
Halaholo has been ruled out for 12 weeks with a hamstring problem, ending his season with Cardiff and potentially scuppering his chances of making Wales' summer tour to South Africa. A similar injury saw his Six Nations largely disrupted, while he has also missed matches through Covid this campaign. He had looked back to his best, picking up the man-of-the-match award in Cardiff's 32-28 win over Glasgow Warriors last weekend.
Halaholo vented his frustration on Twitter, saying: "Just can’t catch a break this season. One of the toughest parts about pro sport [especially] mentally. . .season pretty much over picking up an injury last week against Glasgow. . .back on the mend and support my @Cardiff_Rugby brothers."
Cardiff are currently 14th in the United Rugby Championship standings and have only seven regular-season matches remaining, starting with tonight's derby away to the Scarlets.
Another controversial call
Ulster have found themselves on the receiving end of another controversial decision during a United Rugby Championship defeat in South Africa. Last week, they were denied what would have been a match-winning try against the Stormers in Cape Town, with URC head of officials Tappe Henning later admitting the score should have stood.
Now they have been involved in a further contentious decision with their second row Kieran Treadwell yellow carded at a crucial point of today’s clash with the Bulls in Pretoria. The men from northern Ireland were trailing by just four points at the time, 20-16, but immediately conceded a try when reduced to 14 men, with the hosts going on to record a bonus point 34-16 victory.
Speaking after the game on Premier Sports, ex-Ulster and Ireland forward Stephen Ferris hit out at the yellow card decision, arguing it wasn’t even a penalty, stressing the initial contact was on the ball. And former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton agreed, tweeting it wasn’t a yellow card and adding that Bulls flanker Marcel Coetzee then received a yellow for a head contact tackle that should have been a red.
Conversely, others took to social media to support the ref’s call in the sin-binning of Treadwell, with the debate on disciplinary decisions this weekend continuing to rage. One other point of note was an impressive crowd of 19,436 turned out at Loftus Versfeld for the Bulls-Ulster game, with Covid restrictions on crowds in South Africa having being lifted.
Irish and South African wins in URC
The two other United Rugby Championship results so far today have seen victories for Connacht and the Lions.
Connacht left it late against Benetton out in Treviso, claiming the match-winning try four minutes from time as replacement prop Tietie Tuimauga went over for his first touchdown for the west of Ireland province, who triumphed 21-17.
Then over in Johannesburg, the Lions denied Edinburgh back-to-back victories out in South Africa, following the Scots’ landmark success away to the Sharks last week.
It was a tight old affair, but the hosts came out on top 15-9 thanks to first-half tries from fly-half Jordan Hendrikse and back row Vincent Tshituka.
Edinburgh pushed hard in the closing stages, only to be denied when centre Mark Bennett was held up over the whitewash, but they do have the consolation of a losing bonus point to round off a productive tour.
