When Jonathan Joseph walked off the field at Twickenham on Valentine’s Day, he’d found an entire nation had fallen in love. In love with a man who had just put in a man of the match performance with his fleet-footed, fluid, and lightning quick style of play. The tabloids are already touting him as the new Jeremy Guscott. One thing is for sure, the young Bath centre has arrived in international rugby.

The 23-year-old has so far been the stand out player in the Six Nations for England, and possibly the whole tournament, scoring three tries, and has left the nation feeling like there is no hole at all left by Manu Tuilagi who has sat out the tournament so far due to a pelvic injury.

It’s been a sharp rise to fame for Joseph, with the former London Irish man the top-ranked centre in the country in the Aviva Premiership, forming a terrific partnership with Kyle Eastmond, and seemingly making him an integral part of England’s future.
Originally it may not have been Twickenham where he would be representing his nation however, with both Derby County and tennis coach Ashley Broomhead having high hopes for him. Broomhead even thought he was actually better than Murray when the two were just young players in the national futures scheme. Joseph is really a multi-talented sportsman!

A place at the academy at Pride Park followed before eventually settling on rugby with the London Irish development squad. But it was perhaps through dance where he found his rhythm, a rhythm that tore through the Italians just a few weeks ago.
Taking up dance in high school, he developed quick feet that stood out like nobody else in the country, earning call ups to England in his age group and breaking into The Exiles first team in 2009. His youth coach at the club, Justin Bishop, said, “If you had to single out one outstanding attribute it was his feet.
“He could double step you and you wouldn’t know which way he was going to go.”

A skill now noticed by world rugby. Many believe Joseph could be the key link to not only winning the Six Nations (they are favourites to do so with Betbright) but England could also win the World Cup on home soil this year should they overcome the monumental challenge of beating the All Blacks.
There’s still plenty to play for between now and then but England look up for the fight.

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He may be called Teddy, but Racing Metro and France winger Teddy Thomas is anything but soft, as this video of him becoming the meat in a George North and Samu Manoa sandwich proves.

Extremely elusive in tight spaces, the winger’s progress down the near side was halted by the combined might of Samu Manoa and George North, who, in a pincer movement, converged on Thomas.

Fortunately, neither North or Manoa clashed heads and Thomas was unscathed, despite being hit from either side by two of the most powerful men in Northern Hemisphere Rugby.

Youtube Credit: Habi Aftabi

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Regular watchers of the Pro 12 will know that, on song, Glasgow Warriors can produce Rugby of the highest calibre. Akin to a Super Rugby team, Gregor Townsend’s charges can go through the gears ruthlessly and quickly.

Last Sunday in their match away to Bath, the Scots impressively showed their wears to the wider European audience.

Even though they would eventually succumb to defeat, 20-15, the moment of the match had to belong to Glasgow’s Richie Vernon.

The number eight found himself on the end of an incisive eight pass move that filleted Bath’s defensive resistance.

Absolute class

Youtube Credit: Ruddy Darter

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Number 18- Brian O’Driscoll celebrates in his final Irish appearance as a 6 Nations winner

Number 17-  Fans get creative with their fancy dress at the NZ7s

Number 16-  Spectacular scenes from the Millennium Stadium for Wales’ 6 Nations opener.

Number 15- A brilliant action shot from the Leinster Senior Cup in awul conditions 

Number 14- Beer & Rugby in harmony

Number 13- The answer behind Germany’s success at this years World Cup in Brazil?

Number 12- Brad Barritt shows no sign of pain after bruising performance against the Wallabies

Number 11-  Two legends meet each other for the final time

Number 10- The Kiwis celebrate winning the Hong Kong 7s by performing the haka in the rain.

Number 9- Bryan Habana & Toulon continue the selfie trend 

Number 8 – Sam Burgess takes no prisoners with his first carry in his Bath debut

Number 7 – Ireland celebrate an unbeaten November Series after beating Australia 

Number 6 – Samoa & England link arms on the Twickenham pitch after a physical game

Number 5 – The Honey Badger & Alastair Cook enjoy a can after the Babas & Leicester game

Number 4 – Sonny Bill makes his return to union in the ITM Cup

Number 3 – South Africa end the All Blacks unbeaten run in thriller

Number 2- We say goodbye to one of the legends of the game

Number 1 – And to another…

A special late edition from a fan, great suggesion

Let us know which was your favourite or feel free to send in ones to our Facebook or Twitter!

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Upon his return to his former club, Leicester Tigers, in this evening’s European Champions Cup Clash, Martin Castrogiovanni launched an astonishing verbal assault on his former coach, Richard Cockerill, describing the Leicester Director of Rugby as, amongst other things, a c*nt.

Storming into the post game press conference, demanding to talk to the English media, the Italian international tight-head let rip on Cockerill, the man who he claimed handled his 2013 transfer to Toulon in a shoddy manner.

‘I thought f****** Leicester were f****** amateur,’ said Castrogiovanni, who made 149 appearances for the Tigers during his stint at Welford Road. ‘He was saying that people go for the money but he has a lot of f****** squad players who get paid as well. I paid my own f****** money to leave this club. I don’t need the money to play rugby. I love this game and I used to love this club – I still love this club, but when people are up to here in water, they talk this talk but don’t walk the walk.

Castrogiovanni continued in a similar expletive fashion: ‘I never want to speak with Cockers anymore. I am the kind of guy that if I hate you, if you are not clear with me or if you have been a c***, how you say in English, I never want to speak to you anymore. That’s it. That’s how I am. I am not fake. If I hate you, I say in your face and I will never speak to you again. Love me or hate me. I don’t hate anyone. Peace and love. I just don’t like c****.’

Much to the chagrin of Castrogiovanni was the fact he felt that his decision to leave the Tigers was portrayed as nothing more than an attempt to make money. The Italian refutes these claims, and says the rationale behind him leaving was to seek regular game-time, as he had been usurped at Leicester by Dan Cole, a player who had his wages supplemented by the RFU.

In fact, Castrogiovanni claims that he had to pay one hundred thousand pounds of his own pocket to seal his move to France.

‘I never had the opportunity to defend myself when I left,’ added the Italian. ‘People talked about this s*** and money. Cockers talks about the money, but the real reason I left this club is because you have Cole and you have me. Cole paid gets paid half the money from the RFU and I am foreign.

‘What the f*** you want? You have a good f****** tighthead prop playing for England and a hairy fat Italian. The thing is that they made it look like I went for the money but I paid £100,000 from my pocket to leave this club because I want to play rugby. That’s it.

Richard Cockerill was more diplomatic in his interpretation of the situation and tried to pour cold water on the furore.

‘I’ve a lot of time for Castro; he’s a fantastic player and icon for this club and a great guy,’ said the Tigers Director of Rugby.

‘I always said I would pick on merit and I did. Dan Cole was third choice behind Julian White and Castro and worked hard to become first choice. Castro was released from his contract a year early and we agreed a transfer fee with Toulon. One day he’ll realise that’s just sport.

‘This club made him the player he was. I don’t want him to feel bitter towards us. One day we’ll have a beer together and smile about it.’

Well, we know for sure that a certain R.Cockerill won’t be on Martin Castrogiovanni’s Christmas Card list.

Source of Article: Daily Mail

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Judging by this on air tirade by former England centre Will Greenwood, we think that Ben Foden may owe him a pint.

Greenwood opened a can of verbal whoop-ass on the full back, describing him as, amongst other things, a part.

Commentators giving their real opinions is both funny and refreshing, but did Greenwood go too far?

Youtube Credit: Ruddy Darter

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This weekend, George North put in a virtuoso performance befitting of his exulted status within the game; scoring four tries against the Ospreys in the European Champions Cup.

The former Scarlet exhibited all his strength, power & try scoring instincts, particularly for his last score.

Youtube Credit: weskimaster

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This is something you don’t see very often, a lock with the requisite dexterity to execute offloads with the authority of a back.

But, in Leone Nakarawa, Glasgow Warriors have a lock exactly capable of that.

The former Fijian 7’s player was in typically abrasive form last weekend in the Warriors comprehensive rout of Bath in the European Champions Cup, providing two sumptuous offloads.

Youtube Credit: Ruddy Darter.

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In case you didn’t already know it, Christian Wade is a veritable speed merchant.

If our word isn’t enough for you, ask Leinster’s Ian Madigan, the man whom the English winger burns for pace during Wasps Champions Cup defeat to Leinster last weekend.

This is a video, we suspect, Ian Madigan won’t want to see again.

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In what could only be described as a sequence of horrific proportions for George Pisi, the Northampton centre manages not only to drop the ball with the line at his mercy, but, in the process, also pick up what looked like a hamstring injury.

To add insult to injury, his team, the Northampton Saints, would go on to cede not only the game but what could have been a crucial losing bonus point.  Their opponents, Racing Metro, however, can count their lucky stars.

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