Cillers, Tonks, Flynn, ENC, USA Rugby and World Rugby News

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NEW YORK, NY – It was a busy weekend of rugby this weekend. The Six Nations, returned to action along with regular season action from the three top European competitions. We also had the start of a new enlarged Super Rugby tournament plus the continuing Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) and not to be forgotten is are the dynamic duo or Rugby News and Transactions. With that said, lets get into the Global Rugby Recap.

News & Transactions:

Aviva Premiership: Leicester Tigers were busy over the weekend. They first announced the signing of wing Tom Brady, from Sale Sharks ahead of next season. They then upset the Newcastle Falcons by agreeing to terms with hooker George McGuigan. Finally they have confirmed the signing of South Africa international tighthead prop Pat Cilliers for the start of the 2016/17 season.

Pro 12: Edinburgh confirmed that versatile back Greig Tonks had signed with London Irish and would be leaving for London immediately.

Top14: Toulouse and Former New Zealand hooker Corey Flynn will join Pro 12 club Glasgow Warriors at the end of the season.

Super Rugby: Kieron Fonotia of the Crusaders has signed with the Pro 12’s Ospreys, subject to a work permit.

USA Rugby: USA Rugby Boys High School All-Americans Head Coach Salty Thompson has selected an assembly squad of 16 young rugby players for this week’s Las Vegas Invitational in Nevada. For the full information, click here.

World Rugby: The latest World Rugby Law Changes and clarifications can be found here.

The weekend’s fixtures:

Americas Rugby Championship: The inaugural Americas Rugby Championship continues to impress after 4 rounds of play. The action to date has been exciting and competitive with occasional surprises. Our Eagles expert and stats guru, Jake Frechette has a review of the USA game and its historical result, if you click here. For a full review of round three in the ARC and the result of our Expert Panel’s Picks, click here.

RBS 6 Nations: Round 3 of the 2016 6 Nations is done and in the books. We had a some incredibly interesting games that are setting up for a very big final two rounds. The RWU Wolfman Ronan Nelson has a great review of all the matches our Expert Panel’s picks, coming out later this week.

RBS U-20 6 Nations: The stars of the future of European rugby also have their 6N matches this weekend to give fans a preview of what’s to come. The young men’s table is shaping up to be as close as the big boys. Ireland edged out England , Scotland were too much for Italy and Wales surprised France.

Here are the results:
Fri – 26th Feb 2016
England U20s 20 – 26 Ireland U20s
Italy U20s 14 – 24 Scotland U20s
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
Wales U20s 16 – 10 France U20s

RBS Women’s 6 Nations: Though they don’t get as much coverage as they often deserve, the Women’s 6N will also be kicking off this weekend. The sparse coverage aside, it was a big weekend of results. England held out against Ireland, but the big story was that Wales stunned France and Italy’s victory over Scotland meant the two qualification places from the Women’s 6N had been decided. The spots were going to Wales and Italy.

Here are the results:
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
England Women 13 – 9 Ireland Women
Sun – 28th Feb 2016
Wales Women 10 – 8 France Women
Italy Women 22 – 7 Scotland Women

European Nations Cup: The ENC, or the 6 Nations “B” , is the premier tournament for the second-tier nations of Europe. Unbeknownst to some, 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, where the best teams in Europe not called England, Ireland, France, Italy, Wales or Scotland reside, has no promotion option – only relegation back to 1B. Hopefully promotion from 1A to the proper 6N will eventually occur… but we aren’t banking on it.

In 1A this weekend, Georgia cruised past Spain while Romania blanked Russia and finally Germany shocked Portugal under the Iberian sun.

Here are the results:
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
1A: Georgia 38-7 Spain
1A: Romania 30-0 Russia
1A: Germany 50-27 Portugal

Aviva Premiership: Due to the 2015 RWC, the 2015/2016 Aviva Premiership will take no breaks during the 6N. It is an interesting caveat as a lot of clubs are starting their playoff push. This weekend began with Saracens and Sale drawing, Northampton took out Worcester, and Gloucester thrashed Newcastle . Sunday saw Bath fall to Exeter, London Irish were no match for Leicester and Wasps crushed Harlequins.

Here are the results:
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
Sale Sharks 36-36 Saracens
Northampton Saints 38-18 Worcester Warriors
Gloucester 32-6 Newcastle Falcons
Sun – 28th Feb 2016
Exeter Chiefs 26-17 Bath
Leicester Tigers 47-20 London Irish
Wasps 42-10 Harlequins

Top 14: The Top 14 has a full slate of matches this weekend also. The first match of the weekend saw Brive get crushed by Toulon, Agen outlasted La Rochelle, Clermont-Auvergne romped over Oyonnax, Pau lost ugly to Bordeaux-Begles, Stade Francias were upset by Grenoble and Racing 92 narrowly fell to Castres. Sunday saw Montpellier barely edge out Toulouse to close out the round.

Here are the results:
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
Toulon 44-15 Brive
Agen 31-27 La Rochelle
Clermont Auvergne 44-16 Oyonnax
Pau 3-15 Bordeaux-Begles
Stade Francais 18-33 Grenoble
Racing 92 9-13 Castres
Sun – 28th Feb 2016
Toulouse 29-31 Montpellier

Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 has another full round of action this weekend. It started with Glasgow Warriors edging out Newport-Gwent. The round continued over the weekend as Ospreys lost on the road at Connacht. Sunday saw Treviso fall just short against Munster, Edinburgh won by the slimmest margin against Scarlets, Cardiff upset Ulster and the round ended with Zebre falling to Leinster.

Here are the results:
Thu – 25th Feb 2016
Newport-Gwent Dragons 15 – 18 Glasgow Warriors
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
Connacht 30-22 Ospreys
Sun – 28th Feb 2016
Benetton Treviso 13-16 Munster
Edinburgh 24-23 Scarlets
Cardiff Blues 23-13 Ulster
Zebre 10-27 Leinster

Super Rugby: Super Rugby is back!! It is the first full round the newly re-formatted tournament. It crosses at least 6 or 7 time zones. We will have in-depth review of the weekends action later this week. As for the opening round of results, it started with the Blues upsetting the defending champion Highlanders, the Brumbies crushed last year’s runner-ups the Hurricanes and new boys the Jaguares travelled to SA shocked the Cheetahs. Saturday saw the Sunwolves lose the franchise’s first game ever to the Lions, the Chiefs sent an early message to the Crusaders with their win, while one of the oldest rivalries in rugby continued as the Waratahs cruised past the Reds. The Force fell to the Rebels, the Kings were rolled by the Sharks and finally the Stormers made light work of old foes the Bulls.

Here are the results:
Fri – 26th Feb 2016
Blues 33-31 Highlanders
Brumbies 52-10 Hurricanes
Cheetahs 33-34 Jaguares
Sat – 27th Feb 2016
Sunwolves 13-26 Lions
Crusaders 21-27 Chiefs
Waratahs 30-10 Reds
Force 19-25 Rebels
Kings 8-43 Sharks
Stormers 33-9 Bulls