NEW YORK, NY – No Rugby Championship, no problem. We have USA Rugby news, Women’s Rugby, the Aviva Premiership, the Rabodirect Pro 12, the ITM Cup, the Currie Cup and 7s news. So lets not muck around and get straight into the Weekend Wrap.
But… Ladies first.
Our friends at Scrumqueens.com will give you a solid wrap-up of all the French Top 10, Irish Division 1, RFU Womens Premiership, and New Zealand NPC action. For USA Women’s Premier League, Division 1 and 2, I recommend you look no further than Your Scrumhalf Connection. They will let you know how our predictions are holding up.
USA Rugby Coaching Staff: Before we get into the scores and 7s news we wanted to report this important bit of news, courtesy of our friend Alex Goff and Rugbymag.com. For the upcoming Americas Rugby Championship, ARC, Eagles Coach Mike Tolkin has added to his staff. Tolkin needed to replace forwards coach Dan Payne , scrum coach Derek Dowling and attack coach Tony Smeeth, all of whom stepped down last month following a dismal summer for the Mens National Team. In their place steps current Seattle-OPSB Head Coach Justin Fitzpatrick, a former Ireland prop, who will take over the forwards and likely the scrums while Brett Taylor will be the new attack coach. This will be Taylor’s second stint as attack coach for the Eagles, in his last go round he was able to take the eagles from 19 ppg (points per game) in 2002 to averaging 27 ppg from 2003-2007.
Aviva Premeirship: Round 4 of the Aviva featured good news for USA Rugby. Fullback Blaine Scully scored a try on debut for Leicester as they smashed Newcastle. First choice fullback Chris Wyles started at Outside Center and helped Saracens ease past Bath. It appears winger Luke Hume will move from trail to full-time contract with Gloucester. “Glaws” could have used Hume as they narrowly defeated Northampton. In earlier weekend action, Harlequins dismissed Worcester, Sale survived at home against Wasps and Exeter outlasted London Irish.
Here is this weekend’s schedule:
Fri – 20th Sep 13
Worcester 13 – 37 Harlequins
Sale 26 – 22 Wasps
Sat – 21st Sep 13
London Irish 23 – 29 Exeter
Leicester 31 – 6 Newcastle
Gloucester 26 – 24 Northampton
Sun – 22nd Sep 13
Saracens 31 – 17 Bath
Rabodirect Pro 12: The resurgent Glasgow Warriors won a kicking slugfest against Leinster to find themselves alone at the top of the table. Ulster broke their duck against Connacht, while Newport-Gwent won their clash against Scarlets. The two Italian sides Zebre and Benetton Treviso shocked their opponents Cardiff Blues and Munster, respectively. Meanwhile, Ospreys continued their fine form as they steamrolled Edinburgh.
Here is this weekend’s schedule:
FRI – 20TH SEP 13
Newport Gwent Dragons 23 – 16 Scarlets
Cardiff Blues 25 – 30 Zebre
Benetton Treviso 29 – 19 Munster
Glasgow 12 – 6 Leinster
SAT – 21ST SEP 13
Ospreys 44 – 10 Edinburgh
Connacht 7 – 18 Ulster
The Currie Cup: Western Province defeated Griquas but not by the score that a first versus last clash is expected to produce. The Sharks are now tied at the top with Province after they demolished the Cheetahs. Meanwhile the Golden Lions did Griquas a favor by defeating the Blue Bulls and keeping the two sides only separated by a point at the bottom of the table.
Here is this weekend’s schedule:
Fri – 20th Sep 13
Western Province 19 – 13 Griquas
SAT – 21ST SEP 13
Sharks 50 – 26 Cheetahs
Lions 35 – 26 Blue Bulls
The ITM Cup: Wellington’s defeat of Canterbury, has allowed Auckland to move up to second as Wellington remains in 1st in the race for the ITM Premiership title. It appears Bay of Plenty will drop to the Championship, where it is a dogfight between Tasman and Hawkes Bay for promotion.
Here are the weekend’s results and this midweek schedule:
Fri – 20TH SEP 13
Otago 52 – 41 Manawatu
Sat – 21ST SEP 13
Counties Manukau 37 – 25 Waikato
Wellington 25 – 19 Canterbury
Taranaki 21 – 3 Bay Of Plenty
Sun – 22ND SEP 13
Tasman 18 – 9 Hawkes Bay
Southland 34 – 31 North Harbour
Wed – 25th Sep 13
Canterbury – Manawatu
Thu – 26th Sep 13
Northland – Tasman
7s News:
Ben Ryan: The game of 7s manager musical chairs continues and we assured one ginger manager. Ryan was named as the head coach of Fiji Rugby National 7s team. With the first event, The Gold Coast 7s less than a month away, Ryan has his work cut out for him. However in the long run, Ryan’s coaching ability combined with Fiji’s natural talents will make them a dangerous proposition.
Bucharest 7s: England, Wales, France, Portugal, Scotland and Spain used this tournament as warm-up for the Gold Coast 7s. England split their squad as they sent half to Kenya for the Safaricom 7s as did Wales whose second squad went to a Tournament in South Africa.
Cup: England
2nd place: France
3rd place: Russia
Plate: Portugal
Bowl: Romania
That’s 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, DJ Eberle, Nick Hall, James Harrington, Cody Kuxmann and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs.
