The Offload: Jenkins doesn’t miss a thing in excellent Leinster debut

Jason Jenkins’s choice of song, required of all debutants, Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing, proved to be quite appropriate in a high-calibre performance in his first outing for Leinster. He did not miss much, if anything.

He got his Leinster career off to an auspicious start with an excellent 53-minute contribution before being replaced by Brian Deeny in the province’s 33-29 victory over Zebre Parma. He marked the occasion with a try, powering over from close range, with a little help from a couple of team-mates.

His general performance was impressive from clearing out at rucks, evident in the build-up to Luke McGrath’s try, to his set piece work. Speaking in the aftermath of the win, the 26-year-old South African said: “It is a massive honour to put on this jersey and represent Leinster.”

“There were a lot of errors out there, but it is never easy to travel to Italy. They are passionate sides over here and they obviously came hard for us, but we were still good enough to get the win. Now we have another Italian side [Benetton] but we will fix our errors and come back [stronger and better].”

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Jenkins was asked about having to cope with the frustration of being sidelined for a large part of his time at Munster and whether his broad smile after scoring the try was just a simple delight at playing again.

“It is sort of a dream start. The last 12 months have been tough on me, it is just a bit of pressure release for me and it’s just a nice way to get back into it.”

Australia lodge formal complaint over referee Raynal role in Bledisloe Cup loss

According to The Australian newspaper, Rugby Australia has lodged a formal complaint with World Rugby over the refereeing of Mathieu Raynal during their Bledisloe Cup defeat to New Zealand at the weekend.

There were several contentious issues in the game, foremost among them a horrendous clear-out at a ruck by Australia’s Darcy Swain that left New Zealand centre Quinn Tupaea with a ruptured medial cruciate ligament (MCL) as well as a partial anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in his left knee that is likely to sideline him for nine months.

However, the Australians were incensed by the fact that Raynal awarded a scrum against outhalf Bernard Foley for unnecessarily delaying the kicking of a penalty to touch. The All Blacks, trailing at the time, went on to snatch a match-winning score.

The French official gave the Australians fair warning. This is a transcript of what he said to Foley. “Play on please, we play, we play. Time Off. We play, we play, no, no. I will switch on the time, and we will play now. Time on. 10?”

Raynal then blows his whistle and awards a scrum to New Zealand for undue delay. He continued: “Scrum. I told you, I told you. Time off, I will explain it.”

The Australians haven’t a leg to stand on in this incident but they are likely to protest that there were other moments, including one where New Zealand outhalf Richie Mo’unga takes 85 seconds rather than the 60 permitted for a penalty kick at goal.

It will be interesting to see the substance of their complaint but one thing that should ensue is that if a referee tells a player to play, he better do so.

In quotes

“We’ve got supposed talent in this squad, but I don’t see it at the moment. I don’t see the work rate that was needed or the desire to be in the right position. We need to hold some hard conversations about how that can happen in the first game of the season.” - Dragons director of rugby Dean Ryan doesn’t mince his words after his side lost 44-6 to Edinburgh.

In numbers

3: The number of Irish-born players, Conor Maguire, Stephen Kerins and Paul Kiernan that started Richmond’s 34-32 defeat to Caldy, while two-try scorer Alex O’Meara was a former Ireland Under-20 international.

South Africa deny unsubstantiated claims of failed drug tests

SA Rugby has hit out at what they allege were unsubstantiated claims of “failed tests for recreational drugs” among the squad ahead of their Rugby Championship win over Argentina. In a statement South Africa said: “SA Rugby is aware that unsubstantiated allegations of failed tests for recreational drugs by Springbok players are circulating among members of the media.

“Disappointingly, these allegations have already appeared online despite the absence of any evidence to support them. SA Rugby has consistently advised inquiring media that no such reports have been received by SA Rugby or any player from the only authority permitted to perform such tests, the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport. SA Rugby does not conduct its own tests.

“Despite the absence of any such reports, players and management in Argentina have been contacted to ‘tell their story’, distracting and destabilising the entire camp.”

“SA Rugby wishes to repeat that it has no evidence of any adverse analytical findings for any kind of drug – be it performance enhancing or recreational – by Springbok players and regards the publication or the threat to publish such allegations as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the team’s preparations.”