NEW YORK, NY – This weekend sees the return of European Champions/Challenge Cup action, Super Rugby, Tier 2/3 championship contests and more. There is a lot to cover and not nearly enough time when you add in the latest Rugby News and Player/Coach Transactions. Loosen a belt buckle because here comes more than full plate’s worth of rugby… Let’s dig into the Weekend Rugby Preview.
News & Transactions:
Premiership: Exeter Chiefs tighthead prop Moray Low committed his long-term future to the club by agreeing to a new two-year extension until 2018… England Sevens scrum-half Sam Egerton will be a Newcastle Falcons player from next season. The 24-year-old made his Sevens World Series debut for England last weekend in Singapore having spent the previous month at Harlequins, for whom he scored one try in two Premiership appearances… Sale Sharks have improved their fly-half options for next season after signing Dan Mugford from Championship side Nottingham… London Irish back-row Luke Narraway signed a one-year contract extension at Madejski Stadium, the club announced…
#Top14: Former Toulon prop Carl Hayman is set to become fellow French side’s, Pau, new assistant coach next season. Pau recently won promotion to the Top 14 by winning the PRO D2 in 2015 and are currently being coached by a New Zealander in Simon Mannix… Connacht second-rower Aly Muldowney will join Top 14 side Grenoble on a two-year deal at the end of the season… Super Rugby Blues lock Josh Bekhuis signed a two-year contract with French club Lyon and is set to leave New Zealand at the end of the 2016 season… Oyonnax back Silvère Tian was suspended by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby for 15 months after abusing referee Romain Poite. Though I don’t regard Poite as one of the better refs in the game, Tian’s actions brought the game into disrepute and I fully agree with the long suspension that effectively ends the 35 year-old’s career. It is a tough way to end a career but Tian has only himself to blame. Here is a clip of the events that day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni_G5jUPwEM
Pro 12: Ospreys announced that centurion Ashley Beck signed a new two-year contract with the region. Along with Beck, the Ospreys announced that veteran back-row Joe Bearman has signed a new one-year contract with the region… Newport Gwent Dragons announced the departure of their director of rugby Lyn Jones. It follows a period away from the region through illness for Jones and the improved leadership of the side under head coach Kingsley Jones, who has now been promoted to the DoR role. In more positive Dragons news, South African born, Northampton utility back Pat Howard has put pen to paper on a contract with the Dragons which will see him join up with the Welsh region next season… Glasgow Warriors scrum-half Mike Blair has retired with immediate effect and will take up a new coaching role at the club next season. The 35-year-old will remain with Scottish Rugby as an assistant coach at the Warriors.
Super Rugby: The Waratahs received a welcome boost when three of their home-grown talents, eightman Jed Holloway, outside back (and RWU Class of 2016 member) Andrew Kellaway and tighthead prop Matt Sandell, re-committed this week. Jed Holloway signed for an extra three years while Andrew Kellaway and Matt Sandell signed on for an extra two with the Waratahs… Brumbies back-row Jarrad Butler re-signed with the club on a new one-year deal.
PRO Rugby: San Francisco lock Nick Grass has been suspended for a week by team officials with the possibility of further sanctioning looming. The suspension stems from a second half incident where Grass threw a punch at a player laying on the ground and then appeared to go for that player’s face.
USA Rugby: For the first time since 2010, the Bingham Cup is returning to the United States! Festivities around the event kick off on Sunday, May 22 and run through Sunday, May 29 in Nashville, Tennessee. The official tournament begins Friday, May 27…. USA and France complete the eight-team field for the wheelchair rugby competition at the Paralympic Games in Rio after reaching the final of the Paris qualifier… The finalists for the first-ever Women’s D1 Elite National Championship will be determined this weekend at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Wash. The CWU Wildcats will attempt to reach a second consecutive National Championship Final, but must compete with fellow D1 Elite West Regional contenders Brigham Young University, New Mexico, and Stanford. On the east coast, defending National Champions in the old Division 1, Penn State will welcome Lindenwood and Life University for the East Regional D1 Elite Playoffs. Indiana dropped out of the competition, leaving Penn State with a bye in the quarterfinals… The USA Rugby Collegiate Women’s Division II Spring Champion will be determined at University of California, Davis, this weekend, with Humboldt State University, Salisbury University, Tulane University, and University of Southern California in town for a chance to play for May’s National Championship.
World Rugby: Blagnac Rugby Club in Toulouse was the scene earlier this month for a successful coaching course run for 26 players of Pacific Island heritage currently playing in France. The course was run by World Rugby with a number of experienced coach educators, including Olivier Magne, John Schropfer, Rob Cliverd, Anthony Granja and Mark Harrington. Piri Weepu, Stan Wright, Hosea Gear and Alan Maka among those who completed the course… The Rugby World Cup champion New Zealand All Blacks extended their dominance to a truly global scale, collecting the team of the year trophy at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin. The All Blacks were the third rugby side to claim the Laureus team of the year award, with England (2004) and South Africa (2008) both honored after winning their respective World Cups. The All Blacks were up against the NBA’s defending-champion Warriors and FC Barcelona – winners of four trophies in 2015, Great Britain’s Davis Cup-winning squad, Formula 1 team Mercedes AMG Petronas and the World Cup-winning United States women’s soccer side. It was a good for the Kiwis as earlier in the night, Dan Carter claimed the comeback of the year award.
The weekend’s fixtures:
PRO Rugby: After months of expectation and being drip fed news, the inaugural season of professional rugby is finally here in America. The second week of action will see Sacramento welcome San Diego and Denver at San Francisco.
Here is the schedule:
Sun – 24 Apr 2016
Sacramento – San Diego
Denver -San Francisco
European Rugby Champions Cup: And then there were four. The European (Rugby) Champions Cup has reached the semi-final stages and it remains an Anglo-Franco affair. Once again, the RWU Wolf Man Ronan Nelson has put together an enthralling preview featuring the RWU Analysts’ picks. It will be out shortly
European Rugby Challenge Cup: The second tier, European Challenge Cup tournament should not be dismissed because it is a second tier competition You will find it filled with European clubs with real ambitions and playing a very entertaining brand of rugby. As for the matches this weekend, they begin on Friday with Harlequins hosting Grenoble while Saturday sees Montpellier and Newport-Gwent meet.
Here is the Schedule:
Fri – 22 Apr 2016
Harlequins – Grenoble
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Montpellier – Newport-Gwent Dragons
Aviva Premiership: The 2015/2016 Aviva Premiership headed into its home stretch and the push for European Cup places and playoffs increased the intensity of every clash. This weekend, there will be one game and it is a make up game. The match – originally scheduled to be held during Round 9, on 8 January 2016 – was postponed due to a European Rugby Champions Cup fixture for a Bath rearrangement that occurred as a result of the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015. It was further rescheduled from 13 April 2016, after Sale were eliminated from the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Bath – Sale Sharks
Super Rugby: Super Rugby continues into the eighth round of the newly re-formatted tournament that crosses 7 time zones. As for this round of fixtures, it started with the Sharks winning against a 14 man Highlanders by the slimmest margin possible while the Rebels ran rampant over the Cheetahs. The rest of the weekend will see an expansion side clash as the Sunwolves meet the Jaguares, the Hurricanes will host the Chiefs in a big New Zealand derby, the Force and the Waratahs do battle, the Stormers and the Reds meet and Kings and Lions finish of Saturday. In a clash of former Super Rugby giants on Sunday, the Brumbies host the Crusaders.
Here are the results:
Fri – 22 Apr 2016
Highlanders 14-15 Sharks
Rebels 34-14 Cheetahs
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Sunwolves – Jaguares
Hurricanes – Chiefs
Force – Waratahs
Stormers – Reds
Kings – Lions
Sun – 24 Apr 2016
Brumbies – Crusaders
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 2B this weekend, Lithuania hosts Cyprus and in 2D, Turkey welcomes Finland.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
2B: Lithuania – Cyprus
2D: Turkey – Finland
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. This week, Division 3 west/Central are having their matches to determine who wins promotion. A result from earlier in the week saw Lebanon convincingly beating Iran. Lebanon will have a short turnaround and face Qatar.
Here are the results:
Tues – 19 Apr 2016
D3 West/Central: Lebanon 34 – 12 Iran
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 22 Apr 2016
D3 West/Central: Qatar – Lebanon
Regional World Cup Qualifiers: Each of World Rugby‘s regional rugby unions must hold their Rugby World Cup Qualifiers for the at-large qualification spots for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. The regional unions are Rugby Afrique, Oceania Rugby, Rugby Europe, Asia Rugby, Rugby Americas North and ConSuR. RAN were the first to start theirs and round 1 continues this weekend. The first of this round sees Guyana host Barbados and two heavyweights meet when Jamaica visits Trinidad and Tobago.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Guyana – Barbados
Trinidad and Tobago – Jamaica
Sudamerica Rugby: Formerly the SAMC now just Sudamerica Ruby is the same as the ENC – except it’s South America, a minor detail – and that it 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 Sudamerica Rugby Cup division and features Argentina’s B team, Uruguay and Chile. There are 3 division after that known as Division A,B, and C. This weekend is the South American A Championship and will see Brazil welcome Uruguay while Chile clashes with Paraguay.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Division A: Brazil v Uruguay
Division A: Chile v Paraguay
Junior World Rugby Trophy – The Junior (Under-20) World Rugby Trophy is a tournament for the second tier nations of rugby at the U-20 level. The winner gets promoted to the Junior World Cup competition which features, the top tier nations in international rugby. It is being held in Harare, Zimbabwe this year. The teams playing this year are the USA, Uruguay, Zimbabwe, Spain, Namibia, Fiji, Samoa and Hong Kong. This week will be the start of pool play. Fans can watch live streaming of the tournament around the world on the World Rugby site. In the second round of fixtures, Pool A will have island rivals Samoa and Fiji doing battle while hosts, Zimbabwe take on Uruguay. In Pool B, Spain and Namibia will tangle and the United States faces Hong Kong.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 23 April 16
Pool A: Samoa – Fiji
Pool A: Uruguay – Zimbabwe
Pool B: Spain – Namibia
Pool B: United States – Hong Kong
2015 Currie Cup qualification: The tournament is a competition between which will be played between 9 April and 23 July 2016. It will feature all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the Welwitschias from Namibia and will also serve as a qualifying competition for the 2016 Currie Cup, the 78th edition of South Africa’s premier domestic rugby union competition. Nine teams from this competition will play in the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division, while the remaining six teams will play in the 2016 Currie Cup First Division. Round 3’s fixture list sees Free State and Western Province do battle, Leopards and Falcons clash, and Pumas welcome Boland. Elsewhere in the round, Eastern Province and Border will meet, Golden Lions go up against the Blue Bulls, Griquas and South West District renew un-plesenatries and finally the Sharks will host the Welwitschias.
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 22 Apr 2016
Free State XV – Western Province
Leopards – Falcons
Pumas – Boland Cavaliers
Sat – 23 Apr 2016
Eastern Province Kings – Border Bulldogs
Golden Lions XV – Blue Bulls
Griquas – SWD Eagles
Sharks XV – Welwitschias
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 and Declan Yeats, respectively
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
