NEW YORK, NY – Welcome to my final article as a RWU pundit. If you are wondering why… then I gotcha, April Fool’s! Okay… enough of the jokes and let’s get to business…
Tokyo 7s – After the awesome event that was the Hong Kong 7s, Tokyo had a tough act to follow. And truth be told, despite the chilly weather, Tokyo held its own. Hosts Japan lost in the Shield final to a Canadian side that rebounded from a poor day 1. England also salvaged their tourney by shutting out Argentina in the Bowl Final. South Africa managed to keep the heat on New Zealand for the Series title by beating them in the Cup Final. The big news of the weekend was the US playing well and walking away with the Plate. The US began by winning their first match of the tournament, which they had failed to do all series. This set them up well to make the Cup QFs. The Cup QF was a hard fought and narrow loss to NZ. The American side, however, were undaunted by that loss and the loss of team captain and RWU friend Matt “Polar Bear” Hawkins and dynamic finisher Carlin Isles. With only 10 players available the US went on to win the Plate Semi and Final, shutting out Scotland in the Final. The win pushes the US out of the 7s series relegation zone. Here are the results:
Cup Final: New Zealand 19 – 24 South Africa
Third Place: Australia 31 – 7 France
Plate Final: United States 17 – 0 Scotland
Bowl Final: Argentina 0 – 38 England
Shield Final: Canada 27 – 14 Japan
China 7s: A few time zones east of Tokyo, The Womens 7s World Series had their 3rd stop, the China 7s. New Zealand won the cup over England. The US finished 4th after giving NZ a scare in the Cup Semi, but didn’t have enough left in the tank for the 3rd place match. Ireland won the plate over Netherlands and Japan denied the hosts the Bowl. Here are the results:
Cup Final: New Zealand 19 – 5 England
3rd/4th: United States 5 – 17 Canada
Plate Final: Ireland 14 – 10 Netherlands
Bowl Final: China 10 – 14 Japan
Aviva Premeirship:
The days are getting longer and the season is getting shorter for those teams hoping to avoid relegation. Gloucester squeaked by Harlequins, Bath downed the London Welsh. Exeter managed to get by Worcester and Leicester thumped Northampton. Saracens again showed their depth as they took down Wasps and, in an absolute thriller of a match, London Irish and Sale split the points. Here are the results:
Gloucester 17 – 15 Harlequins
Bath 40 – 25 London Welsh
Worcester 18 – 24 Exeter
Northampton 8 – 36 Leicester
Wasps 13 – 22 Saracens
London Irish 33 – 33 Sale
RaboDirect Pro 12: In the Pro 12, the match between Treviso and Connacht was postponed due to a waterlogged field. Meanwhile Edinburgh did enough to beat Zebre and Glasgow ran roughshod over Munster. The Scarlets were too much for the Dragons and so too were the Ospreys against the Blues. In the big match of the weekend Ulster were too hot to handle for Leinster, and they maintained their status as the #1 Irish Province. Here are the results:
Zebre 7 – 9 Edinburgh
Glasgow 51 – 24 Munster
Newport Gwent Dragons 20 – 28 Scarlets
Cardiff Blues 16 – 23 Ospreys
Leinster 18 – 22 Ulster
Top 14: Like their English cousin, the battle to avoid relegation is making everyone sweat in the Top 14. Biarritz stayed in good form against Grenoble. Toulon routed Stade Francais while Bordeaux thumped Bayonne. Clermont totally destroyed Agen and Montpellier beat up Mont de Marsan. Castres scraped by Perpignan by the slimmest of margins, which, bizarrely, was the same margin Toulouse beat Racing Metro. Here are the results:
Biarritz 33 – 16 Grenoble
Stade Francais 11 – 43 Toulon
Bordeaux-Begles 39 – 13 Bayonne
Clermont Auvergne 66 – 21 Agen
Mont de Marsan 17 – 30 Montpellier
Perpignan 20 – 21 Castres
Racing Metro Paris 26 – 27 Toulouse
Super 15: In Super Rugby, The Reds continued to keep the Highlanders winless. The Hurricanes beat up the Kings. The Chiefs beat the Blues while the Brumbies rebounded strongly against the Bulls. The Cheetahs maintained their good form against the Rebels. The Crusaders defeated the Stormers and the Waratahs won back to back games as they beat the Force. Here are the results:
Highlanders 33 – 34 Reds
Hurricanes 46 – 30 Southern Kings
Chiefs 23 – 16 Blues
Brumbies 23 – 20 Bulls
Cheetahs 34 – 16 Melbourne Rebels
Stormers 14 – 19 Crusaders
Waratahs 23 – 19 Western Force
That is it for now, feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @RugbyWrapUp, @JunoirBlaber, @Declan Yeats, @Mathew Drew Turner and @Ebstide52, respectively. And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs.
