#360Rugby: Top 14s, Saracens, UAE Premiership

A sell-out crowd of 40,000 watched an enthralling game in Lille, where Dan Carter thought he had given the Parisians victory with a late try only for Freddie Michalak’s penalty to ensure the bragging rights went south to Toulon.

On one hand it is excellent for rugby as a whole to have such star-studded teams attracting hoards of fans, but the compensation is a national team that has never looked more devoid of talent in its decorated history due to a lack of opportunities for talented French youngsters – another story English football knows only too well.

In less than a fortnight the two teams clash in a mouth-watering European Champions Cup quarter-final. After such a poor show from Les Bleus in the recent Six Nations, all eyes will be back on the clubs to provide the best rugby entertainment once more.

SARACENS HAVE BEST CHANCE OF EUROPEAN GLORY YET

One team that will fancy their chances of breaking the French monopoly of European club rugby’s most prestigious prize will be English champions Saracens.

The Londoners’ recent sketchy form (caused by a string of Six Nations call ups) was put to bed with a reinstalled first fifteen demonstrating their worth with a thumping win over England’s form team Exeter.

The international returnees showed no sign of fatigue, but No. 8 Billy Vunipola was head and shoulders above the rest. The one-man wrecking ball justified Eddie Jones’s ‘world-class’ tag by making over 100m with ball in hand and scoring a try.

Owen Farrell showed that he has the composure and BMT (big match temperament) to lead his side to glory, while they have potentially the best second-row combination in the world in Maro Itoje and Six Nations player of the tournament George Kris.

Out wide Duncan Taylor picked up where he left off for Scotland with a well-taken try, while Alex Goode produced one of the finest finishes of the season for his score.

ITALIAN JOB A BACKWARDS STEP FOR O’SHEA

This week rugby’s worst kept secret was let out of the bag when Harlequins’ Director of Rugby Conor O’Shea announced that he had accepted an offer to become coach of the Italian national team.

As a member of the Six Nations (for now) the Azurri play regularly against the world’s best teams throughout the year and at first glance this would appear to be another step towards the Ireland head coach job that is no doubt his intended destination.

However with Italy’s only two professional clubs (Treviso and Zebre) both being severely beaten last weekend and growing calls for Italy to be relegated from the Six Nations, this may well turn out to be a disastrous move from the former London Irish full-back.

A more advisable move would have been to achieve more success with a very stable Harlequins side before seeking a move to one of the four Irish provinces. This would allow O’Shea to gain the trust of the IRFU, develop better knowledge of the players and follow a recent recruitment trend for the Ireland head coach’s role.

Can anyone recall the last Italy coach that went on to achieve greater things in their managerial career?

QUINS AND EXILES AT WAR AFTER OVER DATE OF TITLE-DECIDER

Dubai Exiles meet Abu Dhabi Harlequins in the biggest game of the UAE Premiership season this Friday, but off-the-field issues are dominating the build-up to the title-decider.

Quins wanted to switch the date of the crunch clash as a host of players, coaches and officials travelled to South Africa to attend the wedding of former first team player and current vets captain and club vice chairman David Stolzenberg.

“It’s such a shame that what should be a major match and the climax of the season has come to this, especially as we beat them twice this season and narrowly lost the West Asia Championship (WAC) by a point,” said Quins chairman Andy Cole.

“Do we want to weaken our team so they can then put out their strongest team? There’s a balance that needs to be met,” said Exiles director of rugby, Jacques Benade. “We did our best to accommodate them and it just hasn’t worked.”

The game will go ahead on Friday at The Sevens as originally planned.

Despite weeks of negotiations, Friday's epic clash will go ahead

Despite weeks of negotiations, Friday's epic clash will go ahead

Quins' Chiwawa and Al Hendi excel at USA Sevens

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Conor O'Shea confirmed as new Italy coach

QUINS PLAYERS DEMONSTRATE UAE POTENTIAL AT USA SEVENS

Abu Dhabi Harlequins youngsters McMillan Chiwawa and Adel Al Hendi certainly caught the eye when they travelled Stateside for the USA Sevens earlier this month.

The 21-year-old Chiwawa was so impressive that he was approached by several scouts, and a scholarship to an elite rugby college programme is now on the cards.

The duo played for the Selects team at the tournament, held in Las Vegas from March 4-6. They were recommended by former Quins player-coach Jeremy Manning, who had previously played for the team.

Chiwawa took full advantage, scoring six tries and adding four conversions for a personal tally of 38 points, which also helped him earn his team’s MVP award.

Chiwawa said: “I haven’t decided where to go yet but with a few options on the table I will definitely end up back in the US for sure. For now I’ll continue to train hard and prepare for the next sevens tournament in Amsterdam.”

EXTRA TIME

It has taken some time but Australian fly-half Quade Cooper is finally rediscovering his mercurial form for Toulon. It may have been Michalak’s kick that stole the headlines but this offload from Cooper is simply unteachable and Toulon fans will hope to see more like it as the warmer weather approaches.