Philadelphia, PA – Wow!! What a weekend of Autumn Internationals, aka the End of the Year Tours (EOYT). There were matches across all 3 tiers, including inter-tier battles and two Rugby World Cup Qualifiers along with Women’s test rugby this weekend. There is still high level domestic action with the start of the LV=Cup and USA Womens Premier League (WPL) Final. So, let’s get into the Weekend Rugby Wrap Up.
Ladies First:
There will also be one test this weekend between England and France and England won comfortably.
Here are this weekend’s results and the midweek schedule:
Sat- 9th Nov 13
England 25 – 12 France
Wed- 15th Nov 13
England – Canada
In Philadelphia, PA this weekend the USA Womens Premier League playoffs took place. With matches being played on Friday and Sunday all 8 teams played to not only win but decide their place in the standings. The final saw a new champion in WPL history as the Twin City Amazons of Minnesota took the title from two time defending champions the Berkely (California) All Blues.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Sun- 10th Nov 13
Twin Cities Amazons 25-12 Berkeley All Blues
Tier 1 & 2: We witnessed firsthand the AIG New Zealand Maori All Blacks having to battle past the USA Eagles in a soldout PPL Park Stadium, in Philadelphia expect a match review shortly. The All Blacks franchise preformed a double as France were unable to upend New Zealand in Paris. In the all Tier 1 matches, England comfortably dispatched Argentina, Italy were steamrolled Australia, Wales came of second best against South Africa. Ireland smashed Samoa surprisingly as the Joe Schmidt era began with a bang and Scotland crushed Japan. In the all Tier 2 derbys, Canada came up just short against a physical Georgia, Romania shocked Tonga, Our Friend Pedro Leal‘s Portugal were soundly defeated by Fiji in Lisbon. In a tier 2 v tier 3 match Spain traveled to Chile and won easily.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Sat- 9th Nov 13
England 31 – 12 Argentina
Scotland 42 – 17 Japan
Italy 20 – 50 Australia
Portugal 13 – 36 Fiji
Chile 3 – 26 Spain
Georgia 19 – 15 Canada
Wales 15 – 24 South Africa
Ireland 40 – 9 Samoa
Romania 19 – 18 Tonga
USA 19 – 29 NZ Maori
France 19 – 26 New Zealand
LV=Cup: In the developmental LV= Cup, Worcester finally got a win as they dispatched Cardiff, Saracens snuck by Wasps, Scarlets had too much for Newport-Gwent while Leicester were rampant against Ospreys. Bath outlasted Sale, Exeter were too much for Harlequins, Northampton hammered Gloucester and Newcastle had too much for London Irish.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Fri – 1st Nov 13
Cardiff Blues 16 – 21 Worcester
Wasps 21 – 24 Saracens
Scarlets 21 – 13 Newport Gwent Dragons
Leicester 39 – 16 Ospreys
Sale Sharks 20 – 27 Bath
Sat – 9TH NOV 13
Exeter 19 – 5 Harlequins
Northampton 33 – 6 Gloucester
Sun – 10TH NOV 13
Newcastle 29 – 21 London Irish
Tier 3 Action: In the ENC this weekend, two matches doubled as a Rugby World Cup Qualifiers (RWCQ). Sweden were demolished by Moldova, while Germany thrashed neighbors Poland. Lithuania were beaten thoroughly by Netherlands in Amsterdam. Malta had no problem with Croatia and the controversial Cyprus side travel to Slovenia and came a way with an easy victory. In a real minnow versus minnow match Luxembourg were easily beaten by Bosnia & Herzegovina. In one of the most interesting matches of the weekend will took place down the street from RWU pundit James Harrington, in Castres, France. It appears that two former french colonies and Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) members Senegal beat Cote D’Ivoire at the home field of the Castres Olympique Rugby Club, the Stade Pierre Antoine.
Here are this weekend’s results:
Fri- 8th Nov 13
Senegal 33 – 10 Cote D’Ivoire @ Stade Pierre Antoine, Castres, France
Sat- 9th Nov 13
ENC/RWCQ Germany 43 – 14 Poland
ENC/RWCQ Moldova 50-20 Sweden
ENC Malta 37 – 18 Croatia
ENC Netherlands 34-25 Lithuania
ENC Slovenia 3-34 Cyprus
ENC Luxembourg 12-24 Bosnia & Herzegovina
The Second Annual Tri-Nations Rugby Tournament (TNRT) is an IRB and CAR sanctioned competition for the 3 countries in CAR’s RWC qualifying pool 1A. The 3 countries are Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. The TRNT will be held in Windhoek, Namibia this week. Namibia powered by Zimbabwe and now Zimbabwe will have to pick itself up and take on Kenya.
Here are this weekend’s results and the midweek schedule:
Fri- 8th Nov 13
Namibia 35 – 26 Zimbabwe
Tues – 12th Nov 13
Kenya – Zimbabwe
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.
