NEW YORK, NY – We can all exhale a bit now that the dust has settled on a busy weekend of rugby. (Never mind that an even busier weekend awaits). The Rugby Championship had a break but we still saw the top three leagues in Europe and the SANZAR domestic leagues all in action. Plus, we’ve got USA Rugby News and Player Transactions to cover. With that, here’s the Weekend Rugby Recap:
The Rugby Championship: Though our TRC man, Kiwi Jamie Wall, didn’t have matches to cover, he did put together a thoroughly entertaining “must see” piece on the Top 10 Craziest Moments in test rugby history. Please click here.
Top 14: After a week where the #Top14 headlines were hijacked by Mourad Boudjellal, the owner of the Top 14 and Heineken Cup Champions, Toulon, we were finally able to focus on the exciting and unpredictable action on the pitch. Our Top 14 expert covered all of the action and the newly released Autumn International squad featuring several Toulon players (to Boudjellal’s discontent) and the controversial Rory Kockett. Please click here for a his piece.
Aviva Premiership: This season of the Aviva Premiership is proving to be unpredictable after the first 3 weeks. Our East Midlands Man will be back later in the week with an in-depth recap of the 3rd round. Our Philadelphia-based Statistician Jake Frechette has an interesting piece up regarding kicking statistics and the AP. As for the matches that went on this weekend:
Exeter traveled to Gloucester and going against Frechette’s statical logic, won. London Welsh did not give up 50+ points for a third straight week when they faced Sale, however they allowed 46 and didn’t score nearly enough to make it close. London Irish were brave but couldn’t defeat Saracens. Harlequins bounced back from a horrid performance last week to narrowly edge Wasps. Bath and Leicester faced off in what was expected to be a possible playoff preview match and ended with a steamrolling of the tigers that left Mr. Hall crying. Finally Northampton ran over Newcastle in a match that went as expected.
Here are the results:
Fri – 19th Sep 14
Gloucester 22 – 25 Exeter
Sat – 20th Sep 14
Sale 46 – 8 London Welsh
London Irish 32 – 36 Saracens
Harlequins 26 – 23 Wasps
Bath 45 – 0 Leicester
Sun – 21st Sep 14
Newcastle 10 – 35 Northampton
Guinness Pro 12: This weekend was not good for the Welsh regions and the Scots (well those that voted for independence, anyway). Interesting enough the Scottish sides were on the road and Glasgow trounced the Newport-Gwent Dragons, while Edinburgh were throttled in Swansea by the Ospreys. Elsewhere, Zebre were easily defeated by Munster… Connacht defeated Leinster by the slimmest margin possible – and stunned all but Declan Yeats in the process… Cardiff were overly welcoming to Ulster and Treviso never got on the board against Scarlets.
Here are the results:
Fri – 19th Sep 14
Munster 31 – 5 Zebre
Connacht 10 – 9 Leinster
Cardiff Blues 9 – 26 Ulster
Sat – 20th Sep 14
Newport Gwent Dragons 13 – 33 Glasgow
Scarlets 43 – 0 Benetton Treviso
Sun – 21st Sep 14
Ospreys 62 – 13 Edinburgh
Currie Cup: South Africa’s Currie Cup is beginning its playoff push. Teams like Western Province solidified their place at the top with a win over Griquas, who will still be fighting for a place. The Lions win over the Pumas will only tighten the race between the two for a playoff place. The Blue Bulls can start making plans for the links as they were easily outplayed by the Sharks. The Cheetahs still cling on to their playoff hopes as they defeated the win-less Kings who were booked for a vacation long ago.
Here are the results:
Fri – 19th Sep 14
Lions 29 – 15 Pumas
Sat – 20th Sep 14
Western Province 36 – 12 Griquas
Blue Bulls 22 – 37 Sharks
Eastern Province Kings 15 – 26 Cheetahs
ITM Cup: The 2014 ITM Cup is getting ready for its playoffs and the results are unpredictable. In the mid-week match, Tasman made light work of Southland and Taranaki was too much for Northland on Thursday night. As for the weekend matches, on-fire Canterbury survived a fierce match against Counties Manukau, Hawkes’ Bay vanquished Bay of Plenty for a second straight successful Ranfurly Shield defense. Auckland easily defeated North Harbour in the border war known as “the battle of the (North Harbour) bridge.” Manawatu defeated Southland to go top of the Championship table. On short rest, Tasman upset Wellington and won their first ever game against the capital city province, finally Waikato were treated rudely by their hosts, Otago.
Here are the results:
Wed – 17th Sep 14
Southland 14 – 38 Tasman
Thu – 18th Sep 14
Northland 20 – 31 Taranaki
Fri – 19th Sep 14
Counties Manukau 20 – 28 Canterbury
Sat – 20th Sep 14
Hawkes’ Bay 36 – 17 Bay Of Plenty
Auckland 32 – 7 North Harbour
Manawatu 36 – 17 Southland
Sun – 21st Sep 14
Otago 38 – 7 Waikato
Wellington 20 – 42 Tasman
Australia NRC: The inaugural National Rugby Championship is at its midway point. Our resident, Australian rugby expert, , should be back with an in-depth recap later in the week… In the Thursday night game, Queensland Country put away a spirited Greater Sydney Rams side… New South Wales County travels to Melbourne to face the Rising and were promptly defeated… Perth also came up empty handed in their their trip to Sydney against the North Harbour Rays and the Sydney Stars had to split the spoils with the UC Vikings.
Here are the results:
Thu – 18th Sep 14
Queensland Country 24 – 13 Greater Sydney Rams
Here is the weekend’s schedule:
Sat – 20th Sep 14
NSW Country Eagles 16 – 37 Melbourne Rising
North Harbour Rays 32 – 29 Perth Spirit
Sydney Stars 37 – 37 UC Vikings
Penalty Kick:
Transactions: Reports coming out of New Zealand are that Aaron Cruden will miss the travel leg of The Rugby Championship because of a late-night drinking binge that resulted in him missing the flight to Argentina. That is a quick way to get blacklisted by the coaches. Jamie Wall will confirm in the comments and in his preview this week.
Precocious young talent and former England U20 player, Henry Slade has confirmed he will stay at Exeter for another 3 years after signing a contract extension…The Rugby Football Union and Premiership Rugby have agreed a range of measures to address the demands of the Rugby World Cup 2015 on the English club season. will have more.
In the Pro 12, The Dragons have brought in center Ben John on a month-long loan contract from fellow Welsh region the Ospreys… Ulster may be without the services of lock Dan Touhy after he suffered and injury in their win over the weekend.
USA Rugby News and Updates: 28 Players have been invited to the second USA 7s high performance camp. The HP Camp runs Sunday, Sept. 21, through Saturday, Sept. 27, at the United States Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and is the last opportunity for athletes to play their way into the 12-man roster for Gold Coast Sevens. The full list of players and coaching staff can be found HERE. (still no sign of RWU favorite Kyle Granby)
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, Jaime Loyd, Karen Ritter , Jamie Wall, Jake Frechette and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
