NEW YORK, NY – The End of the Year (EOY) Tours – as they are called in the Southern Hemisphere – have officially kicked off. Around here we call them the Autumn Internationals and they will fill up the next few weekends with big time test matches. The games will be played across all 3 tiers, along with Women’s Rugby. On top of that, there was still action in the Aviva Premiership, Rabodirect Pro 12, plus a Rugby World Cup Qualifier, European Nations Cup and the final game of a new tier 3 tournament this weekend. So, let’s get into the Weekend Rugby Preview.
Ladies First:
There is one women’s tour match to begin tour season and that is Canada traveling to France for a 2-match series that began this weekend. Our friends at Scrumqueens.com have a great in-depth report on the match. The also have some video footage covering the French ladies’ day from start to finish.
Here are this weekend’s results and the midweek schedule:
Sat – 2nd Nov 13
France 29-17 Canada
Tue – 5th Nov 2013
France – Canada
Autumn Internationals: New Zealand dispatched Japan with ease. However, it says something that it was not a complete steamrolling and the Brave Blossoms were indeed brave in defeat. Many predicted a 50+ point victory for the AIG All Blacks, so Japan did well to hold down the margin of defeat… The Cook Cup is going back to England, though they did not look threatening in attack for most of their match against Australia, yet they used their defense and were opportunistic as questionable calls by the officials fell in their favor. Both Nick Hall and WCR will address the match later this week… The big match in the Americas time zone saw Canada have a solid first half against the New Zealand Maori at a sold out BMO field in Toronto. However, the Maori All Blacks turned it on in the second half and pulled away to an easy victory.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Sat – 2nd Nov 13
Japan 6 – 54 New Zealand
England 20 – 13 Australia
Sun – 3nd Nov 13
Canada 15 – 40 NZ Maori
Aviva Premiership: Our East Midlands Machiavellian rugger Nick Hall will be back later in the week to discuss the talking points of this past weekend. But important to note was that 5 of the 6 home teams lost this weekend. Worcester looked horrible against Bath, Exeter stole a victory at Sale, Wasps sneaked by Gloucester and Harlequins made a statement by taking down Leicester… James O’Connor‘s new club, the London Irish, were bested by Northampton. The only home side to win and thoroughly at that, were Saracens, as they made light work of Newcastle.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Fri – 1st Nov 13
Worcester 6 – 21 Bath
Sale Sharks 16 – 18 Exeter
Sat – 2nd Nov 13
Gloucester 30 – 32 Wasps
Leicester 16 – 23 Harlequins
Sun – 3rd Nov 13
London Irish 14 – 19 Northampton
Saracens 40 – 3 Newcastle
Rabodirect Pro 12: There were only 4 teams in action this weekend. Newport-Gwent of Wales were bested at home by Leinster of Ireland, while Scotland’s Edinburgh took on Italy’s Zebre at home and emerged victorious – barely.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Fri – 1st Nov 13
Newport Gwent Dragons 19 – 23 Leinster
Edinburgh 25 – 23 Zebre
Tier 3 Action: The ENC/Rugby World Cup Qualifier of the week saw Sweden get thoroughly dispatched on the road against Ukraine… Lithuania thought they could pick up an easy win against Malta, only to be shocked at home by Malta’s resolute defense… Croatia surprisingly were dispatched with ease by Switzerland. Israel bounced back from their lost to the Netherlands last week by traveling to Denmark and clawing out a narrow victory… Tunisia‘s tour of Europe began with a hard fought loss to Belgium.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Sat- 2nd Nov 13
ENC/RWCQ Ukraine 35 – 11 Sweden
ENC Lithuania 10 – 13 Malta
ENC Croatia 11 – 26 Switzerland
ENC Denmark 13 – 15 Israel
TOUR Belgium 26 – 10 Tunisia
The mighty Les Makis of Madagascar have won the inaugural Serendib Cup! This is the IRB-sanctioned competition for emerging countries, to be held in Sri Lanka between hosts – Madagascar and Poland… Poland unfortunately has gone winless, as they fell to Sri Lanka this weekend. All the games in the tournament were hard-fought, close affairs and it bodes well for the tournament and the teams involved.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Sat- 2nd Nov 13
Sri Lanka 26 – 25 Poland
Quick Tap:
Heineken Cup restructuring update – The latest news has Head Coach of Rabodirect Pro 12 side Scarlets Simon Easterby speaking out in support of the revamped structure. In an interview with Planetrugby.com, Easterby “… believes that will help add interest and meaning to more domestic games come the business end of the season.” An idea that was once scene as crazy is developing steam. Although considering the Welsh teams have already left the Celtic Alliance, Easterby’s stance cannot be scene as a surprise. Stay tuned more news related to the drama.
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.
