NEW YORK, NY – Rugby, rugby, rugby… everywhere. This issue of the recap is bursting at the seems. All of Europe’s 3 big leagues kicked off, plus action from the three southern hemisphere domestic leagues and – the coup de grace – The Rugby Championship. Finally, there are transactions and USA Rugby News. Let’s get to the Weekend Rugby Recap:
The Rugby Championship: The TRC roared back as the All Blacks chased a 20-match undefeated streak against Los Pumas, and the Wallabies renewed their UN-pleasantries with the Springboks, as the Nelson Mandela Plate was up for grabs. Our resident Kiwi, Jamie Wall, has great review of the matches. Please click here.
Top 14: The latest round of the #Top14 can be summed up in 3 adjectives: Good, Bad and Ugly. To elaborate on all of the action, our Top 14 expert , has an absolutely brilliant review of the action. Please Click Here for it.
Aviva Premiership: The Aviva kicked off this weekend and we at RWU are giving it the fanfare it deserves. Yesterday, our East Midlands Man released part one of his season preview and he will have more coming, including talking points… As for the matches on kickoff weekend, we had defending champions Northampton crush Gloucester, Sale go down to Bath, Saracens outfight Wasps, Leicester dismissed midlands rivals Newcastle, and London Irish lost a fierce battle to crosstown rivals Harlequins… Finally, Premiership newbies London Welsh got a rough welcome, as Exeter steamrolled and blanked them.
Here are the results:
Fri – 5th Sep 14
Northampton 53 – 6 Gloucester
Sat – 6th Sep 14
Sale Sharks 20 – 29 Bath
Saracens 34 – 28 Wasps
Leicester 36 – 17 Newcastle
London Irish 15 – 20 Harlequins
Sun – 7th Sep 14
London Welsh 0 – 52 Exeter
Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 is back with a new sponsor and we will have a preview of this league next week… As for kickoff weekend, Treviso were thrashed by the Neath-Swansea Ospreys, while Edinburgh managed an impressive road win against Munster… Ulster got a shock draw on the road at Scarlets, while Newport Gwent headed out to Galway and came up short against Connacht… In rematch of last season’s final Leinster, came up short at Glasgow, and in the final match of the round Zebre were outplayed by Cardiff.
Here are the results:
Fri – 5th Sep 14
Ospreys 44 – 13 Benetton Treviso
Munster 13 – 14 Edinburgh
Sat – 6th Sep 14
Scarlets 32 – 32 Ulster
Connacht 16 – 11 Newport Gwent Dragons
Glasgow 22 – 20 Leinster
Sun – 7th Sep 14
Zebre 26 – 41 Cardiff Blues
Currie Cup: South Africa’s Currie Cup is past its midway point and the playoff race is taking shape. East met West as the two Provinces met Friday and the gulf in class was evident by Western Province‘s win… The Cheetahs looked very against the Pumas, Sharks were upset by Griquas and the Blue Bulls powered past an in-form Golden Lions side.
Here are the results:
Fri – 5th Sep 14
Western Province 49 – 14 Eastern Province Kings
Sat – 6th Sep 14
Cheetahs 17 – 31 Pumas
Sharks 18 – 21 Griquas
Blue Bulls 36 – 26 Lions
ITM Cup: The 2014 ITM Cup fourth round started extra early with a midweek match. Manawatu edged out Bay of Plenty, and in the Thursday night game the unstoppable men from Canterbury outlasted a feisty Otago team. The win keeps Canterbury top of the table and undefeated in the Premiership… In the Championship, Southland were top until they were buzz-sawed by Taranaki, while in a tale of two halves Wellington remained winless as they lost by 1 point to Auckland… Prior to those match-ups, Tasman edged Waikato and Ranfurly Shield holders Hawkes’ Bay traveled to Northland and lost in the rain… Hawkes Bay still retain the shield as it has to be a home loss and recognized challenge to lose the shield… On Sunday, off of a quick turnaround Bay of Plenty surprised all including North Harbour for an upset victory… Counties Manukau were too busy licking their wounds after losing the shield and were easily put away by Manawatu.
Here are the results:
Wed – 3rd Sep 14
Manawatu 29 – 27 Bay Of Plenty
Thu – 4th Sep 14
Otago 16 – 23 Canterbury
Fri – 5th Sep 14
Tasman 23 – 16 Waikato
Northland 23 – 21 Hawkes Bay
Sat – 6th Sep 14
Auckland 31 – 30 Wellington
Taranaki 41 – 19 Southland
Sun – 7th Sep 14
Manawatu 26 – 10 Counties Manukau
Bay Of Plenty 21-14 North Harbour
Australia NRC: The inaugural National Rugby Championship is now in week 3. A brief explanation of the comp can be found here. The Greater Sydney Rams finally broke their duck against a formidable Perth Spirit side. That match was played in Adelaide as the competition seeks to grow support in an underdeveloped rugby region (Adelaide is a likely target for expansion should the comp continue to grow)… Meanwhile, Brisbane City were absolutely destroyed by very strong Melbourne Rising team… The other Saturday match saw Univ. of Canberra Vikings battle past Queensland Country. In the Thursday night match-up, NSW Country continued their impressive start to the season with a solid victory over North Harbour.
Here are the results:
Thu – 4th Sep 14
North Harbour Rays 21 – 33 NSW Country Eagles
Sat – 6th Sep 14
Brisbane City 18 – 79 Melbourne Rising
UC Vikings 26 – 21 Queensland Country
Perth Spirit 34 – 44 Greater Sydney Rams
Tier 3 news:
Hosts Colombia and Venezuela made it two wins from two in the CONSUR South American Division B Championship on Tuesday to set up a title decider this weekend in Apartadó…Namibia officially qualified for the Junior World Trophy after beating Kenya 52-17 in the final of the Confédération Africaine de Rugby (CAR) Under 19 Championship in Windhoek.
Conversion Kick:
Transactions: Brad Thorn, at 40 years young, has signed up for one more campaign with ‘s Leicester Tigers. Thorn’s awards and achievements as a player are the stuff of legends. Apart from his World Cup success with the All Blacks in 2011, Thorn has also won Super Rugby and Heineken Cup titles with the Crusaders and Leinster respectively. He also won several trophies while playing rugby league with the Broncos, Queensland and Australia and now wants to add the Premiership title to his list of challenges.
USA Rugby News and Updates: Aussie great Stephen Larkham hosting coaching courses in U.S. with Brumbies staff. Coaches attending the courses in New Jersey (Sept. 13-14) and Minnesota (Sept. 27-28) will earn 10 USA Rugby Professional Development Credits, while the one-day course in Tempe, Ariz., Sept. 21 is worth five PDCs. For more info go to here.
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.
