NEW YORK, NY – We enjoyed the Labor Day weekend here in the USA, hope you all of our USA based readers did too. Now for all our fans, lets cut through all the nonsense and get to the match results and all the big news that occured this weekend in The Global Rugby Recap:
News & Transactions:
Aviva Premiership: Former England and Leicester fly-half Andy Goode has called time on his playing career after failing to recover from surgery. Goode had joined London Irish for the new season from Wasps, and was due to play for one final year, but has not been able to recover from injury… Northampton announced the shock signing of Springbok legend Victor Matfield for the coming season on a one year contract post the RWC… Exeter Chiefs have moved to extend the contract of young second row Mitch Lees ahead of the new Premiership season… Premiership Rugby are set to officially halt their investigation into alleged salary cap breaches by Saracens and Bath, according to a report in the Rugby Paper.
Top 14: After speculation that Toulon could be bringing on Fabien Galthie to help departing manager, Bernard Laporte, deal with the slow start to the season, Laporte said thanks but no thanks. Laporte is expected to take over as President of French Rugby Federation in January and explained that it would have been impossible to work with Galthié and has changed his schedule at Toulon to better focus on the club. Toulon have announced the signing of former Crusaders playmaker Tom Taylor. The club did not specify when Taylor would arrive… Bayonne, who miss out on Taylor due to relegation had have secured o Fiji and former Toulon center Gabiriele Lovobalavu returning to the Basque club.
Pro 12: Back-row Josh Turnbull has pledged his future to Cardiff Blues after signing a new contract extension with the Welsh region on a new deal until at least 2018.
USA Rugby: The Pennsylvania State University has named Blake Burdette and Kate Daley head coaches of the Men’s and Women’s programs respectively. Following a three-month search led by Director of Rugby, Chris Amoratis, the two were selected to fill the first ever full-time coach positions in the program’s history.
World Rugby News: World Rugby has confirmed that former South African international Chiliboy Ralepelle has been suspended for two years for a doping offence. The 28-year-old underwent an out-of-competition doping control on March 19, 2014 while recovering from an operation on an anterior cruciate ligament following a knee injury he sustained while playing for Toulouse against Biarritz in France in February of that year… The Youth Commonwealth Games rugby sevens event kicks off on Wednesday in the Samoan capital of Apia… Referees are under orders to focus on scrums and safety. World Cup match officials will strictly police time-wasting at set-pieces, dangerous play and maul infringements according to a World Rugby press release
The weekend’s fixtures:
Top 14: The 2015/2016 #Top14 completed round 3 and is slowing building momentum. Our Ligue Nationale de Rugby expert has put together a great preview of the season if you Click here. The schedule for this weekend saw Oyonnax get dominated at home by Clermont Auvergne, La Rochelle edge out Brive, and Grenoble trounced new boys Pau. Agen were to much for Racing 92, Toulouse easily beat Castres, Bordeaux just came up short against Montpellier, and finally in a clash of titans Stade Francias fell to Toulon as the giants got their first win of the new season.
Here are the results:
Sat – 05th Sep 15
Oyonnax 24 – 41 Clermont Auvergne
La Rochelle 21 – 18 Brive
Grenoble 41 – 15 Pau
Agen 30 – 18 Racing Metro
Toulouse 37 – 20 Castres
Sun – 06th Sep 15
Bordeaux Begles 22 – 24 Montpellier
Stade Francais 13 – 20 Toulon
Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 is back and just had its kickoff weekend. Our newest expert and Pro 12 correspondent will be offering a season preview shortly and will also attempt to recap the weekend’s action. As for the action itself this weekend, Connacht were to much for Newport-Gwent, Edinburgh out-muscled Leinster, and Ulster made light work of Ospreys. Glasgow Warriors went down to Scarlets, Munster struggled to get by Treviso and finally Cardiff absolutely destroyed Zebre.
Here are the results:
Fri – 04th Sep 15
Connacht 29 – 23 Newport Gwent Dragons
Edinburgh 16 – 9 Leinster
Ulster 28 – 6 Ospreys
Sat – 05th Sep 15
Glasgow Warriors 10 – 16 Scarlets
Munster 18 – 13 Benetton Treviso
Sun – 06th Sep 15
Cardiff Blues 61 – 13 Zebre
World Cup Warm-up: This weekend was the final weeked of RWC warm-up matches before the World Cup. On Saturday, England edged Ireland, Wasps play well but still lost to Samoa, and Leicester Tigers lost to Argentina in Argie prop Marcos Ayerza‘s testimonial match for Leciester. Japan just got by Georgia, Wales snuck by Italy but possible lost two starters in the match. Romania came up short as they were tested by Tonga, France wonugly against Scotland, and of course the big USA versus Australia match saw the Aussies win big. Uruguay‘s final warm-up against a Basque Selection side saw the win easily and Canada were pounded by Fiji.
Here are the results:
Sat – 05th Sep 15
England 21 – 13 Ireland
Wasps 34 – 55 Samoa
Leicester Tigers 19 – 25 Argentina
Japan 13 – 10 Georgia
Wales 23 – 19 Italy
Romania 16 – 21 Tonga
France 19 – 16 Scotland
USA 10 – 47 Australia
Sun – 06th Sep 15
Uruguay 19 – 41 Basque Selection
Canada 18 – 47 Fiji
ITM Cup: We still have a preview of the season available, CLICK HERE to check it out. The fourth round began with Taranaki taking down Counties-Manukau, Canterbury completely destroyed Manawatu, Tasman doubled up Otago. The upcoming matches Waikato were outclassed by Auckland, Southland were pummeled Wellington, and Hawkes Bay were too strong for North Harbour. On Sunday we saw the two clubs from Wednesday have a quick turnaround as Taranaki travel to Northland and Counties will host Bay of Plenty.
Here are the results:
Wed – 02nd Sep 15
Taranaki 17 – 10 Counties-Manukau
Thu – 03rd Sep 15
Manawatu 7 – 57 Canterbury
Fri – 04th Sep 15
Otago 17 – 34 Tasman
Sat – 05th Sep 15
Waikato 28 – 50 Auckland
Southland 3 – 53 Wellington
Hawkes Bay 48 – 32 North Harbour
Sun – 06th Sep 15
Northland 7 – 50 Taranaki
Counties Manukau 26 – 37 Bay Of Plenty
Currie Cup: The 77th edition of the Currie Cup is covered in our season preview, HERE. As for round 5, this weekend, we have seen the Blue Bulls fight off the Free State Cheetahs . We will see the Natal Sharks will host the Pumas, Western Province tackle Griquas, and the Golden Lions will face the Eastern Province Kings.
Here are the results:
Fri – 04th Sep 15
Blue Bulls 24 – 17 Free State Cheetahs
Sat – 05th Sep 15
Natal Sharks 27 – 26 Pumas
Western Province 33 – 15 Griquas
Golden Lions 37 – 21 Eastern Province Kings
Aus. NRC: Australia’s third tier competition goes into its second year as the National Rugby Championship has kicked off. We took the time to provide a preview and explain the competition, just CLICK HERE. Those with New York Rugby Club ties like me, will be supporting the defending champs Brisbane City since one of their feeder clubs, is New York’s sister club West (Brisbane) Bulldogs. To kickoff the weekend, in a Thursday match, the Melbourne Rising won a shootout against the North Harbour Rays. Over the weekend, we will see the Canberra Vikings welcome the Greater Sydney Rams, the Sydney Stars will host the Perth Spirit. Sunday will see the second installment of the Queensland derby as Queensland Country welcome their city cousins, Brisbane City, to Toowoomba.
Here are the results:
Thu – 03rd Sep 15
North Harbour Rays 40 – 45 Melbourne Rising
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 05th Sep 15
University of Canberra Vikings 58 – 26 Greater Sydney Rams
Sydney Stars 45 – 24 Perth Spirit
Sun – 06th Sep 15
Queensland Country 24 – 44 Brisbane City
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!
