NEW YORK, NY – With the Heineken Cup kicking off this weekend, along with its game little brother, the Amlin Challenge Cup, plus ITM Cup and Currie Cup action, we were in Rugby Heaven. And that’s without even mentioning the very entertaining Gold Coast 7s, the Americas Rugby Championship and European Nations Championship games. So, let’s get right into the Weekend Rugby Wrap Up.
Gold Coast Sevens: As predicted New Zealand who are coached by IRB Hall Of Famer and living legend Gordon Tietjens won the GC7s. In a shock they took on hosts Australia in the final. The top tier nations (England, South Africa, and Fiji) with their new coaches showed up well. The tournament was filled with wall to wall action and here are a collection of its 7 best tries .
Here are the results:
Cup: New Zealand 40 – 19 Australia
Third: England 47 – 0 South Africa
Plate: Fiji 36 – 0 Kenya
Bowl: Canada 14 – 19 France
Shield: United States 22 – 0 Portugal
Heineken Cup: Wow!! What a weekend of action. Our staff predictions came under fire from teams that did not want to play their role. Underdogs rose up, Favorites stumbled and there were few games where one side cut up the other. The results of note were Saracens escaping Connacht with a narrow win, Ulster taking down Leicester, Castres beating Northampton and Racing squeezing by Clermont.
Here are this weekend’s results:
FRI – 11TH OCT 13
Connacht 17 – 23 Saracens
Toulouse 38 – 5 Zebre
Ulster 22 – 16 Leicester
SAT – 12TH OCT 13
Castres 19 – 13 Northampton
Ospreys 9 – 19 Leinster
Harlequins 26 – 33 Scarlets
Benetton Treviso 10 – 27 Montpellier
Edinburgh 29 – 23 Munster
Gloucester 27 – 22 Perpignan
SUN – 13TH OCT 13
Exeter 44 – 29 Cardiff Blues
Toulon 51 – 28 Glasgow
Racing Metro 92 13 – 9 Clermont Auvergne
Amlin Challenge Cup: Unlike the Heineken Cup, there were a good number of matches that saw an inferior side get pasted by an obviously superior side. Stade Francais’ destruction of Lusintanos and Dragons ripping apart Mogliano are perfect examples. There were two draws this weekend too. Oyonnax sent out their seconds and got a draw against Worcester, while Brive continued to their poor Top 14 form by drawing Italian 1st division side Calvisano (Yes! The team with the arguably the ugliest kit ever).
Here are this weekend’s results:
THU – 10TH OCT 13
Sale Sharks 33 – 10 Biarritz
Bayonne 37 – 6 Grenoble
Stade Francais 61 – 3 Lusitanos
FRI – 11TH OCT 13
Newport Gwent Dragons 50 – 8 Mogliano Rugby
London Irish 60 – 11 Cavalieri Prato
SAT – 12TH OCT 13
Oyonnax 9 – 9 Worcester
Bordeaux-Begles 6 – 15 Bath
Bucuresti 12 – 13 Newcastle
Calvisano 20 – 20 Brive
Viadana 17 – 90 Wasps
Americas Rugby Championship: This year’s first round of matches were more hotly contested than last year’s. The teams seem to be more even across the board. The USA Eagles kept pace with Argentina for a the first 50-55 minutes of their match before Argentina kicked into next gear and the USA attack stalled, to give Los Yaguaritos the victory. In the second match, it can argued that Uruguay deserved a draw and not to go down by a converted try as they kept Canada under intense pressure and almost pulled it off by forcing Canada to play an unfamiliar style.
Here are this weekend’s results and the midweek schedule:
FRI – 11TH OCT 13
USA Select XV 9 – 27 Argentina Jaguars
Canada A 17 – 10 Uruguay
TUE – 15 OCT 2013
Uruguay – Jaguars
Canada A – USA Select XV
The Currie Cup: The regular season is done and for four teams they can focus their attention on the playoffs. Western Province, The Sharks, the Golden Lions and the Free State Cheetahs can start looking at their line-up for the playoffs. They have fought their way thru a physical season to be in playoffs. While those four look toward the playoffs, Griquas will have to accept their fate and turn their attention to the promotion/relegation match. We will cover the playoff schedule and match-ups in later in the week, in the weekend preview.
Here are this weekend’s results and season standings:
SAT – 12TH OCT 13
Lions 35 – 28 Griquas
Cheetahs 22 – 7 Blue Bulls
Sharks 13 – 17 Western Province
Pos Team P W D L F A PD B Pts
1. Western Province 37
2. Sharks 33
3. Cheetahs 26
4. Golden Lions 26
5. Blue Bulls 17
6. Griquas 11
The ITM Cup: Through some mystery that the world may never understand, it appears that our friend*Jed Thian is Otago’s lucky charm. Otago did just enough to squeeze by Auckland and book their place in the ITM Championship playoffs for promotion; the winner will replace Bay of Plenty, who are being relegated from the ITM Premiership. Despite the weekend loss to Otago, Auckland qualified for the ITM Premiership playoffs along with Wellington, Canterbury and Counties Manukau. We will cover the playoff schedule and match-ups in later in the week.
Here are this weekend’s results and season standings:
SAT – 12TH OCT 13
North Harbour 0 – 38 Canterbury
Northland 20 – 19 Bay Of Plenty
Waikato 22 – 14 Taranaki
SUN – 13TH OCT 13
Otago 37 – 33 Auckland
Tasman 57 – 14 Manawatu
PREMIERSHIP
Pos Team P
1. Wellington 42
2. Canterbury 40
3. Auckland 36
4. Counties Manukau 28
5. Waikato 21
7. Taranaki 14
8. Bay of Plenty 8
CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Tasman 36
2. Otago 30
3. Hawke’s Bay 29
4. Southland 20
5. Manawatu 18
6. Northland 13
7. North Harbour 10
European Nations Cup: In the European Nations Cup and Rugby World Cup Qualifier when Poland went down at home to Czech Republic. Finland couldn’t get turn home field advantage into a victory against Norway. Bosnia & Herzegovina came up just short against Greece in a quality match-up while Latvia took a huge step toward being a European force by doing away with Serbia.
SAT – 12TH OCT 13
Poland 9 – 27 Czech Republic
Latvia 25 – 14 Serbia
Finland 12 – 24 Norway
Bosnia & Herzegovina 17 – 20 Greece
That’s it for now… feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter @: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Cody Kuxmann and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs.
