NEW YORK, NY – Once again, there is a light fixture list. However, that won’t stop us from reporting all the important news of the week. It has been a long week and nothing better to help you unwind than the Weekend Rugby Preview with updates re: Jonathan Joseph, Anthony Watson, Willie Le Roux, USA Rugby, Super Rugby Final and Currie Cup and more… so without delay, here you go.
News & Transactions:
Aviva Premiership: Bath announced that England duo Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson have both agreed long-term contract extensions until at least 2019… Wasps made a big splash with the announcement of the signing of Springbok full-back Willie le Roux, who will arrive at the Premiership club from the Canon Eagles… Newcastle Falcons have announced the signing of former Scotland back-row Tyrone Holmes… Saracens had a very busy week. It began when they secured the future of one of their most promising young players with England Saxons center Nick Tompkins penning a three-year deal. Saracens then signed prop duo Richard Barrington and USA Eagle Titi Lamositele to new 3 year contracts along with flanker Michael Rhodes, who signed until 2019… Worcester Warriors announced the signing of Samoa international back-rower Alafoti Faosiliva… Harlequins announced that wing Charlie Walker and center Winston Stanley had both signed new contracts with the Premiership outfit. In addition to those two players, Harlequins also announced that 21 year-old loosehead prop Cameron Holenstein has joined them from Pau with immediate effect.
In some seriously troubling news, Newcastle and England U20 wing Zach Kibirige is set to stand trial on sex charges, which allegedly dates back to 2015. The young player has/had a talented future and rugby wise this will be a blow to Newcastle. If he is guilty though, may he face the full wrath of the court system.
Top14: Defense coach Grant Doorey has joined Top 14 giants Toulon after his release earlier this year by London Irish.
Super Rugby: Melbourne hooker Jordan Uelese has become the third home-grown player to sign his first professional Super Rugby contract with the Rebels. The Rebels also bolstered their backrow by adding Japanese back-rower Amanaki Mafi after he signed with the Super Rugby franchise… The Waratahs announced the signing of former international Sevens and Brumbies representative, Michael Wells for two seasons.
USA Rugby: November’s “The Rugby Weekend Presented by AIG” in Chicago announced match start times. The USA Men’s Eagles will meet the New Zealand Maori All Blacks, November 4 at 7 p.m. CT at Toyota Park; World Champion New Zealand All Blacks will take on No. 6 Ireland at 3 p.m. CT November 5 at Soldier Field… The Girls High School All-Americans powered by ATAVUS kicked off their second tour of 2016 at Magnuson Park against BC Rugby U18 Women. The All-American Twitter handle (@aarugby) will provide match updates… Head Coach Gavin Hickie has selected his first starting XV of the AIG Men’s Collegiate All-Americans Tour to Queensland sponsored by WellDog, with Central Washington University‘s internationally-capped Aladdin Schirmer captaining the side against a Darling Downs Select Side. Match updates will be provided on Twitter via @aarugby, with a match recap to follow on USARugby.org… The 2016-17 competitive collegiate rugby season is about to get underway, and USA Rugby has announced the playoff dates for the Fall Championship, Spring Championship, and National Championship postseasons for 15s and sevens, click here to see the schedule… The schedule for the 2016 Women’s Premier League (WPL) has been finalized and released…A National Tracking Camp will be held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif., Sunday, Aug. 28, for women interested in being considered for a residency contract this fall. For more info, go here…The 16-team men’s division and 16-team women’s division at the 2016 USA Rugby Club 7s National Championships at Dick’s Sporting Good Park in Commerce City, Colo., have been claimed. Tickets are now on sale. For tickets and information on the qualifying teams, click here.
World Rugby: Brazil is set for sustainable rugby legacy with IMPACT Beyond Rio 2016 already reaching more than 175,000 players, coaches and young match officials since its launch in March 2015.. Click here for details.
The weekend’s fixtures:
Super Rugby: It has been 5 long months, 4 if you count the international season break, since the start of the Super Rugby season but we have finally reached the final. As only fitting, the two best teams all season will face off when the top seeded Hurricanes face the second seeded Lions. The Lions could have been hosting this match decided to rest their players in the final match of the season, which they lost, giving the Hurricanes first place and a chance to host the final in Wellington.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 6 Jul 2016
Hurricanes – Lions
Premiership 7s: The quater-finals of England’s Premiership Rugby 7s will be played in the Ricoh Arena on Sunday weekend. The 8 teams playing for the title are Cardiff Blues, Sale Sharks, Exeter, Northampton Saints, Harlequins, Wasps, Newcastle Falcons and Ospreys.
Here is the schedule:
Sun – 7 Aug 2016
Cardiff Blues 7s v Sale Sharks 7s
Exeter Chiefs 7s v Northampton Saints 7s
Harlequins 7s v Wasps 7s
Newcastle Falcons 7s v Ospreys 7s
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 the 1A, this weekend Zimbabwe will travel to face Namibia.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 6 Aug 2016
1A: Namibia – Zimbabwe
2016 Currie Cup qualification: The tournament is a competition between which It will be played between 5 August and 15 October 2016 and will feature nine teams that qualified through the 2016 Currie Cup qualification competition. The 9 South African provincial unions are Pumas, Sharks, Blue Bulls, Western Province, Eastern Province, Boland, Griquas, Free State and Golden Lions. This will be the 78th edition of South Africa’s premier domestic rugby union competition. Before the first round kicked off, there was off the field drama. There was an approved request by the defending champion Lions, who asked to have their Round One encounter – with Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday, August 6 – postponed to a later date due to their Super Rugby commitments. The second was from the Eastern Province Kings – asking that they withdraw from the competition altogether. Shockingly their request was denied due to the pettiness of the smaller Griffons union. Griffons feels that if they knew they could have won promotion to the premier division, they would have played better and not lost their final match in the qualification tournament. For the full details, please go here.
The first round of fixtures began with the Sharks winning comfortably against the Pumas and the Blue Bulls spanking Western Province. The remaining fixture sees Boland take on Free State.
Here are the results:
Fri – 5 Aug 2016
Pumas 10-26 Sharks
Blue Bulls 45-26 Western Province
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 6 Aug 2016
Boland – Free State
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, Luke Bienstock, Ronan Nelson, James Harrington and Declan Yeats.
