NEW YORK, NY – We’ve got plenty to talk about – the three top leagues in Europe; the #Top14, the Aviva Premiership and the Guinness Pro 12 and their playoff race since they were in action over the weekend. So too must we discuss round 11 of Super Rugby. We also have matches from tier 3 international rugby championships, including womens, in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Before we get to all of that we usually discuss all of the Transfers, Player Transactions, USA Rugby and World Rugby news. This weekend though the most discussed bit of news was the talk of a North America 6 Nations tournament occurring in 2016. So without dragging it out, let’s get into the Global Rugby Recap:
North America 6 Nations: The news of a possible North America 6 Nations caught fans by surprise but did generate excitement. Executive members of the top-6 ranked rugby nations spanning North and South America met in Miami, FL this week to discuss the creation of a new annual International Championship set to begin in 2016. The tournament, which has yet to be named, would be a groundbreaking endeavor strengthening rugby competition across the two continents. The 6 nations involved are the USA, Canada, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Chile. It appears it will be and expanded version of the Americas Rugby Championship but run during the time of the year as Europe’s 6 Nations, to coincide with the international availability calendar. Though it seems it’s initial design is for domestic players, there appears to be an eye to the future and international competition. For the full article, click here.
Player Transactions:
Aviva Premiership: London Welsh announced the signings of Josh Drauniniu, Martyn Thomas and Guy Armitage for the 2015/16 season… Saracens confirmed that back-row Jackson Wray is the latest player to commit his future to the club after signing a long-term contract…Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea revealed that signing inside center Jamie Roberts would be a “big statement” for the club and that he is waiting to hear from Robert’s camp.
USA Rugby News/Updates: The D1A quarterfinal playoffs turned out to not be close affairs as the winners were Davenport, St. Mary’s College, Lindenwood and Life University, a review of the matches can be found here… The D1AA playoffs were wilder affairs and the review can be found here. The semi-final match-up will see Arkansas take on UC Davis and Central Florida face West Virgina… Kutztown won the ACRC 7s in Virginia Beach, and defeating American International College 36-27 , click here for the review.
World Rugby News: Gloucester will appear before an independent panel after selecting a player who didn’t hold effective registration for the Premiership side. In the domestic match against Sale Sharks on March 29, Gloucester breached Regulation 3.3(a) by selecting Argentine lock Mariano Galarza, who wasn’t registered. The case will be heard by an independent panel of Jeremy Summers, Bonike Erinle and Robert Horner at 5.30pm Monday, April 27.
As for the weekend’s fixtures:
Super Rugby: Australia New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) weekend is over in Super Rugby. It is tough to describe ANZAC day/weekend so we will let our Super Rugby expert, Kiwi , cover it in his review. Click here to read it.
#Top14: Between the battle to avoid relegation and qualification for the playoffs, there are very few teams in the Top 14 with nothing to play for. Just by watching the desperation and hunger each club is playing with, it is impossible to tell which end of the table they are playing for. Our Top 14 expert, has a great review if you click here.
Aviva Premiership: There are only 2 games left in the 2014/2015 season of the Aviva Premiership after this weekend. This didn’t make the race for the playoffs any easier for fans and pundits. The weekend began with Bath crushing London Irish. On Saturday, Sale came up short against fellow mid-table side Harlequins, while Leicester had to work for their win against the London Welsh, Gloucester won a wide open game against Newcastle. In a possible finals preview, Northampton came from behind to take down Saracens in the marque match of the weekend and Wasps kept their playoff hopes alive in their win over Exeter.
Here are the results:
Fri – 24th Apr 15
Bath 43 – 18 London Irish
Sat – 25th Apr 15
Sale 23 – 25 Harlequins
Leicester 38 – 17 London Welsh
Gloucester 42 – 40 Newcastle
Northampton 25 – 20 Saracens
Sun – 26th Apr 15
Wasps 36 – 29 Exeter
Guinness Pro 12: Call the coroner, Leinster‘s playoff hopes can be pronounced dead, leaving Ulster, Munster, Ospreys and Glasgow Warriors to be in the playoffs. Who will finish top 2 and get the all important home field is yet to be determined. The weekend began with Edinburgh blanking Zebre while Ulster stuck the knife into Leinster. On Saturday, Connacht had no answer for Glasgow, while Cardiff came up short against Ospreys. Newport-Gwent lost to Scarletswhile Munster got bonus point win against Treviso.
Here are the results:
Fri – 24th Apr 15
Edinburgh 37 – 0 Zebre
Ulster 26 – 10 Leinster
Sat – 25th Apr 15
Connacht 13 – 31 Glasgow Warriors
Cardiff Blues 23 – 31 Ospreys
Munster 30 – 19 Benetton Treviso
Newport Gwent Dragons 10 – 29 Scarlets
European Nations Cup:The ENC, or the 6 Nations “B” , is the premier tournament for the second-tier nations of Europe. Believe it or not, the ENC consists of seven divisions, each featuring between four and six teams. The matches played will determine who will get promoted and relegated from groups 1B, 2A – 2D, and 3A over a two-year cycle. Division 1A aka the 6 Nations B is where the six best teams in the rest of Europe reside and there is no promotion to the Europe’s premier international rugby competition, only relegation back to 1B…There will be several divisions in action this weekend. In 2A, Malta were edged out by Switzerland, while the Czech Republic drew with Israel. In 2B, Lithuania crushed their neighbors Latvia, meanwhile in 2C, Denmark had a tough lost to Serbia and Austria lost to Slovenia by the slimmest margin possible. Finally in 2D, Turkey upset Bulgaria and Bosnia & Herzegovina won easily against Finland.
Here are the results:
Sat – 25th Apr 15
2A: Malta 20 – 23 Switzerland
2A: Czech Republic 26 – 26 Israel
2B: Lithuania 46 – 11 Latvia
2C: Denmark 22 – 25 Serbia
2C: Austria 16 – 17 Slovenia
2D: Bosnia & Herzegovina 29 – 7 Finland
2D: Turkey 28 – 26 Bulgaria
South American Championships (SAMC) 2015: The SAMC is the same as the ENC – except it’s South America, a minor detail – and that has 4 divisions featuring 15 teams. It is the battle to find the 2nd best team in South America with Argentina the firm number 1. The top division is called the CONSUR division and features Argentina’s B team, Uruguay and Chile. The A division saw Brazil travel to Chile lose in a tough match.
Here are the results:
Sat – 25th Apr 15
Chile 35 – 26 Brazil
The Asian Rugby Championship, which is similar to the ENC (European Nation’s Cup) but with 5 divisions with the 3 most dominant teams, the tri-nations of Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan in the top division. There are 4 teams in division 1 and 2 then division 3 is broken up into East, Central and West with 3 teams each before we finally get to division 4 with 7. Believe it or not this is allegedly streamlined from previous years where it was just 5 divisions and 5 teams in each… There women’s championship will also begin this weekend. The top division in that championship is a 4 nations tournament featuring Hong Kong, Japan, Kazakhstan, and Singapore.
As for the weekend’s results, Hong Kong lost a tough one against Korea in the top division while in the Women’s 4N, eigning champions Kazakstan crushed and shutout Hong Kong. Not a good weekend for Hongers rugby.
Here are the results:
Sat – 25th Apr 15
Top: Hong Kong 26 – 33 Korea
Women’s 4N: Kazakhstan 40 – 0 Hong Kong
NACRA Championships 2015: Another regional tournament in full swing is the North America and Caribbean Rugby Association (NACRA) Championship. The NACRA Championship is for the countries in North America and the Caribbean. NACRA has 2 zones with top level (championship) and a bottom level (cup). Each Championship zone has 3 teams while the Cup Zones have 4 each. The Zones are regionally divided, so there is a North Zone and South Zone. USA Rugby competes in the North Zone Championship division. The USA is represented by the USA South Regional all-star team, in order to develop talent and make the competition a much fairer one…Upstarts Mexico were no match The win for Mexico against regional powerhouse Trinidad & Tobago in the final.
Here are the results:
Sat – 25th Apr 15
NACRA Championship League Final
Trinidad & Tobago 30 v 16 Mexico
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, James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Nick Hall, DJ Eberle, Jake Frechette, Scheenagh Harrington, Jamie Loyd, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter, Audrey Youn, Akweley Okine, Rocky Brown and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
