NEW YORK, NY – There are not that many games on the docket this weekend. Some competitions are over while others have taken a break to prepare for the start of the Spring Tours. There was still plenty of Rugby News and Transactions to report though. So with less fan fare but same commitment, let’s not delay and begin the Weekend Preview:
News & Transactions:
Super Rugby: Sonny Bill Williams has recommitted to New Zealand Rugby through to the end of the 2019 season and signed for the Blues in Super Rugby… The Chiefs announced the re-signing of centre Charlie Ngatai, through til the end of 2018 season. According to reports coming out of Australia, former Wallabies center Anthony Fainga’a will likely be heading to Japan… The Waratahs barely waited a day after Sekope Kepu’s agreement to leave France before they announced that he has decided to re-join the franchise for three seasons… The Australian Rugby Union and RugbyWA have finalized an agreement, enabling the Western Force to continue as a Western Australian team… The Bulls confirmed the contract extensions of wing Jamba Ulengo and loosehead prop Pierre Schoeman until October 2018. Schoeman will be important becaue the Bulls just lost two props to the French Top 14, this week. The Bulls announced that their Springbok tighthead prop Marcel van der Merwe has signed a contract with Top 14 outfit Toulon and will be leaving at the end of the season while loosehead prop Dean Greyling has been released from his contract to join Top 14 club Oyonnax with immediate effect… Cheetahs tighthead prop Maks van Dyk looks set to move to the Top 14 at the end of the season and join Toulouse, according to a report. Eastern Province Rugby Union president Cheeky Watson is set to step down from his position although it is only likely to happen in August… In-form Lions back-row Jaco Kriel will join Japanese club Kubota Spears at the end of the 2016 Super Rugby season. Kriel will link up with them on a two-year deal that will see him miss the Currie Cup but he will be available to the Springboks and for Super Rugby during this time.
English Premiership: Wasps backs coach Lee Blackett has extended his stay in Coventry, having signed a new contract, which ties him to the club until at least 2019. The former Rotherham coach arrived at Wasps this season having made a significant impression in the Championship after becoming the league’s youngest head coach when he took over at Rotherham Titans as a 30-year-old (2013). He went on to steer the Titans to the play-offs for the first time in the modern Championship era. Wasps added to the good news by announcing that props Jake Cooper-Woolley, Alex Lundberg and Simon McIntyre along with locks James Gaskell and Will Rowlands have agreed long-term contract extensions with the club.
Pro 12: Treviso have completed the signing of Italy international outside center Tommaso Benvenuti. Benvenuti will return to the PRO12 club from Bristol, where he spent the past season… Glasgow Warriors have signed experienced Fiji international scrum-half Nemia Kenatale on a one-year contract, subject to a visa and medical. The Warriors then announced that Canada international prop Djustice Sears-Duru has signed a new one-year contract with franchise… Ospreys announced that lock Lloyd Ashley has signed on until the 2019 season.
Top 14: Australian full-back Jesse Mogg has signed a new contract with Top 14 contenders Montpellier to remain at the club until 2019… As we mentioned earlier, Australia Wallabies tighthead prop Sekope Kepu came to an agreement with Bordeaux-Bègles to leave the club at the end of the Top 14 season in order to return to Australia.
PRO Rugby: PRO Rugby has been running a fan-driven team name competition for the past couples weeks and has now revealed shortlists for each of the five franchises. They announced the apparent ‘finalists’ and you can see them if you Click here.
USA Rugby: The 2016 Mens and Womens’ Club Championships will take place at Infinity Park in Glendale, Colo., and will air free of charge on The Rugby Channel. Check out the website for kick-off times. The final for each division will be as follows:
- Men’s Division I – Austin Blacks v Mystic River
- Men’s Division II – Tempe Old Devils v Detroit Tradesmen
- Men’s Division III – Faifield Yankees v Euless Texans
- Women’s Division I – Seattle Saracens v Chicago North Shore
- Women’s Division II – Life West v Wisconsin
World Rugby: A number of minor law amendments, approved and announced in September 2015, will come into effect in the northern hemisphere on July 1. For more info on these amendments, follow this link… Tickets are now on sale for the final qualification tournaments for the rugby sevens events at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Fans have an opportunity to be a part of rugby’s Olympic story at the Monaco Sevens (18-19 June) and Dublin Sevens (25-26 June). Tickets are priced very competitively, making this world-class sevens action accessible to all. Tickets are available HERE… Fresh from leading Australia to their first-ever HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series title, head coach Tim Walsh has agreed a two-year extension to his current contract with the ARU… Great Britain Sevens are about to take to the field for the first time with two teams – GB Royals and GB Lions – selected for the first leg of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series in Moscow, Russia… World Rugby will broadcast this year’s U20 Championship to 111 countries around the world showing how big this tournament has become as an important event in the rugby calendar. In the USA, the U20 Championship can be seen using the Watch ESPN app on your Roku, Firestick and other devices or on ESPN3.com.
The weekend’s fixtures:
PRO Rugby
: Heading into the eigth week of action in the inaugural season, Denver traveling to face San Diego will be the lone match of the weekend.
Sun – 5 Jun 2016
Top 14: The regular season that feels like it is neverending actually comes to a close this weekend. With relegation already decided, it is all about making the playoffs or securing a spot in the Champions Cup for next season. According to the schedule, Agen will travel to Oyonnax, then Brive plays Pau, Castres host Stade Francais. Clermont-Auvergne will go against La Rochelle, Grenoble will clash with Toulouse and in a preview of the final Montpellier plays Racing 92. Toulon lining up against Bordeaux-Begles is the last on the list. For a list of who has to do what in order to qualify and/or finish with the highest seed possible for the playoffs, please Click Here. For added tension, all the matches will kickoff simultaneously.
Here is the schedule:
Sun – 5 Jun 2016
Agen – Oyonnax
Brive – Pau
Castres – Stade Francais
Clermont-Auvergne – La Rochelle
Grenoble – Toulouse
Racing 92 – Montpellier
Toulon – Bordeaux-Begles
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 weekend in the Top 3, Hong Kong will host South Korea.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 4 Jun 16
Top 3: Hong Kong – South Korea
Sudamerica Rugby: Formerly the SAMC now just Sudamerica Rugby, is the same as the ENC – except it’s South America, a minor detail – and 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 divisions after that known as Divisions A, B, and C. This weekend will see a Sudamerica Rugby Cup division match as Chile take on Argentina.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 4 Jun 16
SR Cup: Chile – Argentina
Africa Cup: The Africa Cup 2016 will be the sixteenth edition of the continental tournament that involves the best African national teams, organized by the Rugby Afrique, formerly known as the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR). Given their superiority, the South African national team has rarely participated in most tournaments. The four times the SARU has participated, they sent either a U-23 team or amateur side, and went on to win it. Beyond South Africa, there are up to 27 rugby countries in the Cup with the national participants in the two divisions with each division divided into three groups (1A, 1B, 1C, 2 West, 2 East, and 2 South), with promotion and relegation. In 1A action this weekend Kenya will travel to Kampala to face Uganda in the first match of the Elgon Cup. The Elgon Cup is held annually and contested between the rugby teams of Kenya and Uganda. The competition and the cup are named after Mount Elgon, a mountain on the border of the two countries. The men’s and women’s teams of these countries compete for their respective Cups on a Home-and-Away basis. The mens’ competition has been rolled into the 1A matches for both sides, so the match will be both a RWC qualifier and an Elgon Cup match.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 4 Jun 16
1A: Uganda – Kenya
Rugby Americas North: Another regional tournament in full swing is the Rugby Americas North (formerly the North America and Caribbean Rugby Association or NACRA) Championship. The RAN Championship is for the countries in North America and the Caribbean. RAN has 2 zones with top level (championship) and a bottom level (cup). Each Championship zone has 3 teams while the Cup Zones have 4 each. The Zones are regionally divided, so there is a North Zone and South Zone. USA Rugby competes in the North Zone Championship division. The USA is represented by the USA South Regional all-star team, in order to develop talent and make the competition a much fairer one. This weekend in the North, the Bahamas will be on the road, as they take on Bermuda.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 4 Jun 16
North: Bermuda – Bahamas
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 eight’s fixtures begin with Eastern Province taking on the Sharks, then the Griffins take on the Blue Bulls, Pumas play the Golden Lions, Griquas and Free State tangle and finally Leopards and Western Province.
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 3 Jun 16
Eastern Province Kings – Sharks XV
Sat – 4 Jun 16
Griffons – Blue Bulls
Pumas – Golden Lions XV
Griquas – Free State XV
Leopards – Western Province
That’s all for now, please feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Page and follow us on Twitter@: RugbyWrapUp, Junoir Blaber, @MeetTheMatts, Ronan Nelson, Crawford Miller, Luke Bienstock, James Harrington and Declan Yeats.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
