Be sure to see our Q&A with USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville re Team USA’s loss to Canada.
NEW YORK, NY – The Team USA v Canada match was the main focus on the North America front but there was Bledisloe 2, The Rugby Championship and heaps of other action. Let’s “Now 9!” into action with our Weekend Rugby Review.
USA v Canada: We have both a match report and analysis of this game from the Rugby Rain Men and Matt McCarthy up already. Both are worth the read and will cover all the angles of this game. In short, the USA played much better and it was a spirited contest. However, Canada did just enough to win the game and with an 18-point victory from the first leg, they secured qualification for Rugby World Cup 2015. Final Scores:
Sat – 17th AUG 13
USA 9 – 27 Canada
Sat – 24th AUG 13
Canada 13 – 11 USA
Canada wins Qualifier series by an aggregate score of 40-20. Canada qualifies for RWC2015.
The Rugby Championship: The New Zealand All Blacks will retain Lord Bledisloe’s Cup for another year as they defeated Australia’s Wallabies at home. NZ’s FH for the match, Tom Taylor, was on debut but he steadied the ship enough for the ABs to win. Meanwhile, in Mendoza, Argentina… Los Pumas showed the Springboks what a difference a week makes. After getting embarrassed last week in South Africa, the Pumas were all over the Springboks. It took two late second half penalty kicks from Morne Steyn to save the game for SA and complete their comeback. Here are the scores:
New Zealand 27 – 16 Australia
Argentina 17 – 22 South Africa
Womens NAS7C: Courtesy of Your Scrumhalf Connection… here are the results for this year’s Womens National All-Star 7s Championship.
Location: Chula Vista, California
7th Place Match: South 22 – 5 West
5th Place Match: NRU 10 – 5 MidWest
3rd Place Match: SoCal 24 – 12 Stars & Stripes
Championship Match: MARFU 17 – 15 PacCoast
Womens 7s World Series: As per IRB, the Womens World Series has been expanded to six stops and the US leg will now be in Atlanta instead of Houston. The press release stated ” The Series will now feature six tournaments, kicking off with Dubai (November 28-30), then Atlanta (February 15-16), Sao Paulo (February 21-22), Guangzhou (April 4-6) and Amsterdam (May 16-17). The sixth tournament will be confirmed later this year.”
France Top 14: Last week, we released our Top 14 Season Preview and though these weekend’s results make some of the predictions look mad, please remember it is a very long season. Toulon thumped Racing Metro… Oyonnax stunned Clermont… and Biarritz did enough to get by Montpellier… Castres took apart Grenoble… Stade Francais scraped by Perpignan by the slimmest of margins… Toulose steamrolled Bayonne and Brive hankdled our man Pyk’s Bordeaux-Begles with ease. Here are the scores:
FRI – 23RD AUG 13
Toulon 41 – 14 Racing Métro
SAT – 24TH AUG 13
Oyonnax 30 – 19 Clermont
Biarritz 19 – 12 Montpellier
Castres 34 – 6 Grenoble
Perpignan 27 – 28 Stade Français
Toulouse 40 – 3 Bayonne
Brive 25 – 12 Bordeaux-Bègles
The Currie Cup: There were 2 tight matches and one blowout this weekend. The Sharks defeated the Cheetahs by one penalty kick, allowing them to leave the Free State with a victory… Western Province defeated Griquas by smallest margin possible, 1 point… The Golden Lions on the other hand, stepped their game up and crushed the Blue Bulls on the road – completing a road team clean sweep of the round. Here are the scores:
FRI – 23RD AUG 13
Free State Cheetahs15 – 18 Sharks
SAT – 24TH AUG 13
Griquas 19 – 20 Western Province
Blue Bulls 23 – 62 Golden Lions
The ITM Cup: The topsy-turvy season of ITM action continues. Wellington dismissed Taranaki, while Otago held on against Waikato… Northland did enough against Southland… Canterbury were too clinical for Tasman… Bay of Plenty won the battle of the Bays by defeating Hawkes Bay and Manawatu’s 32 -year drought against Auckland continues. Here are the scores:
FRI – 23RD AUG 13
Taranaki 10 – 29 Wellington
Waikato 19 – 26 Otago
SAT – 24TH AUG 13
Northland 13 – 9 Southland
Tasman 13 – 28 Canterbury
SUN – 25TH AUG 13
Bay Of Plenty 24 – 20 Hawkes Bay
Manawatu 18 – 21 Auckland
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, @ckuxmann and @Ebstide52, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs.
