NEW YORK, NY – It was another exciting weekend of rugby with the continuation of the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) and the 6 Nations in all its forms. There were also important news threads and significant transactions. Without further delay, here is your Global Rugby Recap.
News & Transactions:
Guinness Pro 12: Connacht announced that Ireland international back (and RWU Class of 2013 alumni) Robbie Henshaw will not be extending his contract with the province beyond this season. The 22-year-old had for a long time been expected to leave the province and the PRO12 high-flyers confirmed his exit.
#Top14: According to French TV, Japanese fullback Ayumu Goromaru will join RC Toulon after he finishes the 2016 campaign for the Super Rugby Reds. Apparently he likes red.
USA Rugby: The USA Rugby AIG Men’s Junior All-Americans Fly half Ben Cima nailed a last-second penalty goal from beyond midfield to propel the MJAAs to the win in what was a physical encounter against Canada. The victory ends a four-match losing streak to the neighbors in interim Head Coach JD Stephenson‘s first match at the helm of the under-20 national team. The MJAA’s 19-18 defeat of their border rivals at Dell Diamond on Saturday, cemented their place in this spring’s World Rugby U20 Trophy. For a full match recap, click here.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE, WHAT I JUST SAW!” Cima kicks the game winner!#USAvCAN #MJAA https://t.co/dphKUElAHU
— USA Rugby (@USARugby) February 14, 2016
World Rugby: France have suffered a setback after loosehead prop Eddy Ben Arous was ruled out for up to four weeks due to a fractured rib cartilage.
The weekend’s fixtures:
Americas Rugby Championship: The inaugural Americas Rugby Championship complete its second round of play. The on the field action was great with some unexpectedly close and tense competitive matches. Our Eagles expert and stats guru, has a review of the USA game if you click here . For a full review of round two in the ARC and the result of our Expert Panel’s Picks, come back later this week.
RBS 6 Nations: Week 2 of the 2016 6 Nations was filled with the different types of matches for each type of fan. The RWU Wolfman has a great review of all the matches for week 2 and our Expert Panel’s picks coming out later this week.
RBS U-20 6 Nations: The future stars of European rugby have their own 6N tournament. Their 6N matches match the big boys schedule and provide to the coming attraction trailer to the big boys big show. Over this weekend, Scotland fell narrowly to Wales , while England romped over Italy and Ireland were no match for France.
Here are the results:
Fri – 12th Feb 2016
Wales U20s 18 – 15 Scotland U20s
Italy U20s 7 – 42 England U20s
France U20s 34 – 13 Ireland 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, Saturday began with Italy falling short against England, followed by Ireland falling short against France. On Sunday it finished with the Welsh women overpowering Scotland.
Here are the results:
Sat – 13 th Feb 2016
Italy 24 – 33 England
France 18 – 6 Ireland
Sun – 14th Feb 2016
Wales 23 – 10 Scotland
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, but sadly 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, Russia had to work hard to get past Germany while Portugal were rolled by Georgia and finally Spain nearly pulled off a massive upset against Romania.
Here are the results:
Sat – 13th Feb 2016
1A: Russia 46-20 Germany
1A: Portugal 3-29 Georgia
1A: Spain 18-21 Romania
Aviva Premiership: Due to the 2015 RWC, the 2015/2016 Aviva Premiership cannot take any breaks during 6N weekends this year. This means each teams squad depth will be severally tested. The weekend began with Newcastle getting a priceless win over Leicester. Saturday saw Sale extend their home winning streak to 10 games against Exeter, Gloucester were too strong for Harlequins and Northampton got a bit of revenge by taking down the London Irish. Sunday saw Bath returned to their winning ways against Worcester and Saracens were hammered by Wasps.
Here are the results:
Fri – 12th Feb 2016
Newcastle Falcons 26 – 14 Leicester Tigers
Sat – 13th Feb 2016
Sale Sharks 23 – 17 Exeter Chiefs
Gloucester 28 – 6 Harlequins
Northampton Saints 35 – 7 London Irish
Sun – 14th Feb 2016
Worcester Warriors 14 – 16 Bath
Saracens 23 – 64 Wasps
Top 14: There was one Top 14 game this weekend as result of the rescheduling due to the Paris Attacks and the European Cup matches. The match saw giants Toulon fall on the road against Bordeaux-Begles.
Here are the results:
Sun – 14th Feb 2016
Bordeaux-Begles 15 – 12 Toulon
Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 had a full round this weekend. With the 6N going on simultaneously each squad had to lean hard on its young academy players to step up to the challenge. This weekend began with Connacht outlasting Newport-Gwent followed up by Leinster thumping Zebre, Ulster fought back to defeat Glasgow and Scarlets held off Edinburgh courtesy of some decisions that left Edinburgh’s coaching staff fuming. Saturday we witnessed Treviso shock Cardiff for their first win. Sunday saw Munster upset bythe Ospreys to close out the round.
Here are the results:
Thu – 12 th Feb 2016
Newport Gwent Dragons 21 – 26 Connacht
Fri – 12 th Feb 2016
Leinster 52 – 0 Zebre
Ulster 13 – 10 Glasgow Warriors
Scarlets 22 – 21 Edinburgh
Sat – 13th Feb 2016
Benetton Treviso 13 – 7 Cardiff Blues
Sun – 14th Feb 2016
Munster 17 – 21 Ospreys
That is 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, Ronan Nelson, Kyle Phillips and Declan Yeats, respectively
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
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