Ibanez, Nadolo, #NY7s, Rio Qualifying, World Rugby News

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NEW YORK, NY – We are back after a long weekend of Rugby Fun in our NYC backyard (#NY7s). But now it’s time for business. With that, lets dive into the Global Rugby Review.

News & Transactions:

Aviva Premiership: Bath props Nick Auterac and Nathan Catt have signed contract extensions with the Premiership club.

Top 14: Bordeaux-Bègles will be keeping hold of rising coach Raphaël Ibañez until at least 2019, with the former France star set to sign a new deal… Clermont announced the signing of Sitaleki Timani for next season, with Brock James leaving the club to join La Rochelle… Nemani Nadolo will be forever grateful to the Crusaders as he confirmed that this will be prepares for his final season in Super Rugby with the franchise.

Super Rugby: The Highlanders have embarked on a new era with local provincial unions and South Island private investors being granted a license to operate the team until 2020… The South African Rugby Union (SARU) said it expected to be able to announce details of its plans for the Southern Kings early next week… According to reports in the South African press, former All Blacks coach John Mitchell has put pen to paper on a three-year contract with the the Stormers… The Crusaders announced that Todd Blackadder will step aside as Head Coach at the conclusion of the 2016 Super Rugby season.

USA Rugby: The New York 7s were this past weekend. The largest amateur 7s tournament in the USA (with a large representation from Canadian clubs). There is a wonderful piece in the New York Times about the tournament, Click here. The winner of the premier division in the NY7s were the Northeast Academy and Team Quebec in the men’s and women’s brackets respectively.

World Rugby: Latest rankings are out and Germany are at their highest place ever, click here, View Full Rankings Here… World Rugby has announced results of the anti-doping testing and education program undertaken during Rugby World Cup 2015. The program saw 468 samples undertaken across all 20 participating teams with 200 in-competition samples and 268 out-of-competition samples collected.

The weekend’s fixtures:

Japan women qualify — Japan Women qualify

Regional Olympic Qualifiers: Each of World Rugby’s regional rugby unions must hold playoffs for their teams to book their places in the XXIX Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 for the Men and the Women. The regional unions are Rugby Afrique, Oceania Rugby, Rugby Europe, Asia Rugby, NACRA, and ConSuR.

Asia Rugby – The Japan women’s sevens team booked their ticket to the Rio Olympic Games on Sunday by beating Kazakhstan 14-7 in the final of the second leg of the Asia Rugby sevens qualifier at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground in Tokyo. China beat Hong Kong for the second time in the space of a few hours to claim third place. Both sides will join Kazakhstan in next year’s global repechage which will determine the 12th and final qualifier for Rio 2016.

Qualified to Rio 2016:
Women: Japan
Qualified to Repechage:
Women: Kazakhstan, China, Hong Kong

Aviva Premiership: The 2015/2016 Aviva Premiership enjoyed a big weekend of action. The early match of the weekend saw Northampton win ugly against Gloucester. The rest of the week match-ups began with Sale and Newcastle sharing the spoils. Harlequins scrapped by Exeter by the slimmest margin possible, defending champs Saracens dominated against newly promoted Worcester and London Irish fell to Wasps. The final match of the weekend was the match of the round as Leicester were too strong from Bath.

Here are the results:
Fri – 27 Nov 2015
Northampton Saints 15-3 Gloucester Rugby
Sat – 28 Nov 2015
Sale Sharks 15-15 Newcastle Falcons
Exeter Chiefs 26-25 Harlequins
Saracens 48-18 Worcester Warriors
London Irish 15-33 Wasps
Sun – 29 Nov 2015
Leicester Tigers 21-11 Bath Rugby

Top 14: The 2015/2016 #Top14 was back after the Champions Cup break and it was a return to rivalries. Friday saw Montpellier edge out La Rochelle. The big clash between Racing 92 and Toulouse ended with a Racing victory, Agen fell to Castres, Bordeaux-Begles crushed Pau, Brive surprisingly won at Oyonnax and the match of the round saw Clermont beaten badly at home by Toulon. The final match of the round saw Grenoble face Stade Francais.

Here are the results:
Fri – 27 Nov 2015
Montpellier 25-20 La Rochelle
Sat – 28 Nov 2015
Racing 92 28-13 Toulouse
Agen 18-23 Castres
Bordeaux Begles 46-10 Pau
Oyonnax 9-34 Brive
Clermont Auvergne 9-35 Toulon
Sun – 29 Nov 2015
Grenoble 19-21 Stade Francais

Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 season returned to a round of big action, after its Champions Cup break. The Newport-Gwent fell to Edinburgh, Glasgow Warriors struggled past Treviso, and Leinster won a turgid affair against Ulster. Ospreys beat Welsh rivals Cardiff and the shock of the round saw USA fly-half AJ McGinty help Connacht break a 29 year drought and won at Munster. The final match of the round saw Scarlets take down Zebre.

Here are the results:
Fri – 27 Nov 2015
Edinburgh 32-13 Newport Gwent Dragons
Glasgow Warriors 13-6 Benetton Treviso
Leinster 8-3 Ulster
Sat – 28 Nov 2015
Ospreys 13-6 Cardiff Blues
Munster 12-18 Connacht
Sat – 28 Nov 2015
Scarlets 20-12 Zebre

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… In action this weekend in 2B, Andorra won against Cyprus.