Who's hot and who's not: Antoine Dupont's 'sensational' return, red ...

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.

Croke Park turnout: Leinster hosted Munster at a packed Croke Park in Round Four with a whopping 80,468 attending the game in the iconic ground. The match itself lived up to the equation with the Dublin-based side putting together a master-class of performance beating Munster 26-12 on the day with the visitors’ hero-turned-villain RG Snyman scoring for the men in blue against his old team. The crowd attendance was a record for the United Rugby Championship and is another indicator of how strong the league is at the moment.

Surprise package Lions: What a start to the 2024/25 season it has been for the Jo’burgers. Ivan van Rooyen’s side have gone back-to-back-to-back with a hat-trick of wins in the URC collecting two bonus points as well, which sees them sit in third place on the overall table. The Lions are far from the star-studded Springbok-laden outfit in comparison to their Juskei rivals, the Bulls, or even the Sharks but have been ruthless so far defeating Ulster and Edinburgh at home before holding out for a 19-23 win the Dragons this weekend. Last season, they just missed out on the playoffs but their surprising start to this season could lay the platform to go one better.

Harlequins end Saracens hoodoo: The Famous Quarters finally got one over their London rivals this weekend, claiming a 17-10 victory over Saracens, ending an eight-game losing streak against their neighbours. While Harlequins are renowned for their attacking prowess and brilliance with the ball in hand, it was their defensive effort that got them over their line in Sunday’s Premiership encounter. Quins repeatedly repelled Saracens’ onslaught on attack and eked out the seven-point victory, delivering Sarries’ first defeat of the new season.

Harlequins v Saracens: Five takeaways as ‘baby-faced powerhouse’ enhances England claims in another ‘fierce’ London derby

TJ Perenara statement: In his final game in Wellington the veteran scrum-half put together an epic performance where he got the better of Counties Manukau prodigy Cam Roigard who is seen as Aaron Smith’s heir. Perenara scored a try in a 29-14 win to send his side through to the semi-finals. The performance of the experienced star will give All Blacks boss Scot Robertson plenty to think about as Perenara heads on his last tour with the side before moving to Japan next year.

Nine-minute hat-trick: Bristol Bears boss Pat Lam has backed Gabriel Ibitoye to make the step up to Test rugby and rightly so after the star speedster grabbed a stellar nine-minute hat-trick in the 40-35 victory over Exeter Chiefs. The 26-year-old’s triple fired Bristol to the top of the table after four rounds of action – with the Bears winning three games so far. Ibitoye has been the heartbeat of the Bears’ effort this season with his performance against Exeter perfectly illustrating that.

13-minute hat-trick: Antoine Dupont marked his return in typical style as he came off the bench for Toulouse and hit the ground running immediately bagging a try after just two minutes. This wouldn’t stop as in the next 11 minutes the scrum-half scored two more to sensationally announce his arrival to the Top 14. Anyone thinking the Les Bleus man would taper off after his Olympics gold medal is sorely mistaken.

WATCH: Antoine Dupont scores 13 MINUTE hat-trick off the bench in sensational return for Toulouse

Tom Roebuck flying for Sale: Back-to-back doubles! The Sale Sharks winger has been in sensational form at the start of the Premiership campaign notching four tries in his last two games. Roebuck’s latest brace was in the 43-10 thumping of Newcastle Falcons on Friday evening and has many predicting that he could shake up England’s back-three this November but one thing is for sure, the 23-year-old’s form will have Steve Borthwick on notice after he was also included in the training squad last week.

Rocky Elsom saga: An international arrest warrant has been issued for the former Wallaby around misuse of corporate assets in his tenure as president of French club Narbonne. Elsom is believed to have both paid an individual who never arrived at the club and elsewhere a former coach a significant amount when ‘nothing could justify it’.

Chalk and cheese Stormers: From full control last week to desperation this week. It was not the performance the Stormers looked for as they fell 38-7 down to Edinburgh in Scotland. There was loads of effort from the Capetonians who in the end were guilty of constantly overplaying and as a result, never got into the game. John Dobson will certainly be happy to have his general Manie Libbok back in the mix after some time off.

Sharks slayed in Italy: The Durbanites will be boosted by the likes of Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth this week and the timing of the injection of experience and energy is sorely needed after they were crushed 38-10 by Benetton. The Sharks underperformed last season in the URC and looked to turn the corner by winning the Challenge Cup and Currie Cup, but on Saturday, they were comfortably outplayed by the Italians.

SA Rugby would SUPPORT Premiership-URC merger providing certain conditions are met – report

Northampton off the pace: After ending a 10-year wait for Premiership glory, the Saints haven’t exactly marched in tandem during their title defence, losing two from four. Their latest defeat came in the East Midlands derby as Michael Cheika’s Tigers clinched a gritty 24-8 victory. This has left the defending champions in seventh place on the table and needing to play a bit of catch-up before the international break.

Exeter miss a golden chance: In recent seasons, we have learnt that big leads are never really safe when fronting up against the likes of Harlequins and Bristol in the Premiership. On Saturday, Rob Baxter’s men learned that lesson the hard way as they led the Bears 32-12 with just 15 minutes left to play before Gabriel Oghre kicked off Bristol’s charge to victory followed by an Ibitoye hat-trick. It was the perfect opportunity for the Chiefs to finally get off the mark in the league but alas it was not to be and they are now zero from four in 2024/25.  

Josh Murphy’s costly red: A coach killer. Connacht lock Josh Murphy was given his marching orders in the final ten minutes of the Interpro derby between Ulster and Connacht on Saturday when he thundered into an out-of-possession Callum Reid. The scores were level at 24 apiece at the time of the incident and having received a yellow card earlier in the game, Murphy was sent for an early shower. It was a silly act of thuggery and that may have even warranted a red card by itself. John Cooney would put Ulster ahead from the resulting penalty and Ulster would not relinquish that advantage from that point.

Newcastle hit unwanted landmark: Steve Diamond has certainly made improvements with the Falcons but those have yet to translate into results as the club fell to their 25th successive Premiership defeat this weekend. Sale Sharks ran amok on Friday evening claiming a comprehensive 43-10 victory and with promotion and relegation returning this season, there surely has to be fears that Newcastle will be facing a potential drop.

READ MORE: ‘We allow too many substitutes’ – World Rugby boss the latest to question rugby’s bench law with Springboks Bomb Squad again under the microscope