NEW YORK, NY- Following up the largest weekend preview ever, we now have the largest recap ever. There were a plethora of games they all deserve their 15 minutes of fame. There were the June International Tours occurring in both the Southern and Eastern hemispheres. There were Tier 2 and Tier 3 international cup competitions. These competitions are also being played in the midweek with their numerous levels. Not to be forgotten, are the semifinal stages of the Junior World Cup matches. We have coverage of the weekends transactions and as always USA rugby news. Strap on a feeding bucket and devour all of the Weekend Rugby Recap:
As always, ladies first:
The Maple Leafs of Canada put together another top effort. However, the Black Ferns withstood the effort once again to get the win. Apparently you need to throw the whole kitchen and not just the sink at them.
Here are the results:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
W INT New Zealand 33 – 21 Canada
June Internationals – The Men’s June Internationals continue to deliver the excitement that they promised. Italy were stunned and shutout in Samoa, a place the All Blacks refuse to go to, those so and so’s!! RWU’s Kiwi ambassador, Jamie Wall, has already commented on the matter and has a review of the second test between the AIG All Blacks and England posted.It created an interoffice match-up against fellow staff member Nick Hall. England actually warm up for the final test this week with a match against the Super Rugby Crusaders, sans their All Blacks. France lost to Australia in a dire match that should leave fans demanding a refund. That match pitted staff members James Harrington of Castres against Working Class Rugger of Wollogong. In the other match-ups that don’t effect the RWU staff bragging rights, Ireland moved to 2-0 in the post-Brian O’Driscoll era by defeating a scrappy Argentina. Scotland continued their Americas tour as they survived a huge scare in Toronto against Canada.
Here are the results:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
TOUR Canada 17 – 19 Scotland
TOUR Samoa 15 – 0 Italy
TOUR Argentina 17 – 23 Ireland
TOUR South Africa 38 – 16 Wales
TOUR New Zealand 28 – 27 England
TOUR Australia 6 – 0 France
Here is the midweek schedule:
TUE – 17TH JUN 14
TOUR Crusaders – England
Tier 2 Cups – As part of the IRB’s ongoing commitment to increase the competition schedule for Tier Two nations, There was a bevy of cup competitions featuring Tier 2 nations mixed in with a few experimental sides from Tier 1 nations.
Pacific Nations Cup – The Pacific Nations Cup is a tournament held between the six Pacific Rim nations of Fiji,Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Canada and the USA. The tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby nations by providing competitive test matches in a tournament format. The PNC occurs along with the June internationals to ensure more games for these nations. With Samoa and Canada involved in tour matches, as already mentioned, the scheduled PNC matches for this weekend featured Pacific Islands rivals Fiji, who thumped Tonga and The USA coming up short against a Japan side that has won 9 in row. We have a triple plate of columns for you regarding the USA match. Nick Hall had a live blog so you can see how things transpired minute by minute. Our sister site, Meet the Matts has a wonderful piece on the match from a writer watching his first ever rugby game. Finally expect Jake Frechette to be back later this week with his analysis of the match.
Here is this weekend’s schedule:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
PNC Fiji 45 – 17 Tonga
PNC USA 29 – 37 Japan
Nations Cup – The 9th annual IRB Nations Cup, for the eighth time in a row, it will be held in Bucharest, Romania. It will be played between 13 and 22 June and will run alongside the 2014 IRB Tbilisi Cup in Georgia. Romania are not only the hosts, as all fixtures will be played at the 5,000 capacity Stadionul National de Rugby, they are also the defending back to back cup champions having won the title in 2012 and 2013 home stadium for hosts . The Romanians had no problem putting away Uruguay,While Emerging Ireland (Ireland’s C side) destroyed ENC side Russia. In the midweek, the two winning sides will swap and face the two sides that lost over the weekend.
Here are the results:
FRI – 13TH JUN 14
NC Emerging Ireland 66 – 0 Russia
NC Romania 34 – 16 Uruguay
Here is the midweek schedule:
TUE – 17TH JUN 14
NC Emerging Ireland – Uruguay
NC Romania – Russia
Tblisi Cup – The 2014 IRB Tbilisi Cup will be the second edition of this new tournament. It will be played from 14 to 22 June 2014 at the Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi. The hosts Georgia defeated a fiesty Spain side and the Argentina Jaguars defeated their rugby cousins Emerging Italy. In the midweek, the two winning sides face off while the two losers from the weekend try to get a win against each other.
Here are the results:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
TC Emerging Italy 20 – 45 Argentine Jaguars
TC Georgia 23 – 13 Spain
Here is the midweek schedule:
WED – 18TH JUN 14
TC Georgia – Jaguars
TC Emerging Italy – Spain
Junior World Cup: The JWC is the yearly World Cup held for U-20 teams of the top tier rugby playing nations. Italy had to qualify for it by winning last year’s Junior World Trophy, the second tier competition. This year’s tournament is being held in New Zealand. The third and final round of pool play occurred during the midweek and set-up the matches for the knock-out stages. The weekend saw Argentina easily defeat Fiji, Scotland barely defeated Italy, France scraped by Wales, England dominated Ireland, and South Africa for the second time in two weeks outlasted hosts New Zealand. The Finals will be covered in the weekend preview.
Here are the results:
SUN – 15TH JUN 14
9th Place Semi Final
JWC Argentina 38 -12 Fiji
JWC Italy 18 – 21 Scotland
5th Place Semi Final
JWC Australia 53 – 16 Samoa
JWC Wales 18 – 19 France
Semi Finals
JWC England 42 – 15 Ireland
JWC South Africa 32 – 25 New Zealand
Tier 3 – The NACRA Championship is the tournament similar to those in other IRB regionbs. This tournament is for the countries in North America and the Caribbean. NACRA has 2 zones with top level (championship) and a bottom level (cup). Each Championship zone has 3 teams while the Cup Zones have4 each. The Zones are regional 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 featured one match as North Championship foes Cayman Islands took on the USA South in a great contrast and came up short.
Here is this weekend’s schedule:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
NACRA CH NZC Cayman Islands 30 – 34 USA South
The Asian5N is short for the Asian 5 Nations, which is similar to the ENC but with 5 divisions and 5 teams in each. There were no matches this weekend but there are midweek matches scheduled for division 4 and division 3 west. In division 4, Brunei face Mongolia and then Mongolia take on Cambodia just two days later. in D3 west, India face Uzbekistan and Lebanon face tournament hosts Pakistan.
Here is the midweek schedule:
TUE – 17TH JUN 14
ASIA5N D4 Brunei – Mongolia
THU – 19TH JUN 14
ASIA5N D4 Cambodia – Mongolia
ASIA5N D3 West India – Uzbekistan
ASIA5N D3 West Lebanon – Pakistan
Africa Cup: The Africa Cup is an annual tournament of rugby that involves the best African national organized by the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR). Given the difference in level with other national continental the South African national has so far participated in the national tournament with only minor (under 23 and amateurs), however, winning it three times. The Africa Cup 2014 was the fourteenth edition of the continental competition, there ar eup to 15 rugby countries from Africa . The National participants in the main division were divided into three groups of 14 merit ( 1A, 1B, and 1C ), with promotion and relegation. Tournaments Divisions 1A and 1B were valid for the qualification for the Rugby World Cup of 2015 . This year’s 1B tournament will be held in Tunis, Tunisia, Senegal narrowly won against Uganda and hosts Tunisia won the tournament by dispatching Cote D’Ivoire. Division 1C’s matches will be held between 14 and 21 June 2014, in Gaborone, Botswana. Morocco were initially supposed to play in Division 1C, but withdrew; they were replaced by South African club side, the 2014 SARU Community Cup champions Rustenburg Impala. The remaining 4 nations are Mauitius, Swaziland, Nigeria and Zambia. Impala destroyed Mauritius, Botswana did even worse to Swaziland and Zambia had slightly more class than Nigeria.
Here are the results:
SAT – 14TH JUN 14
AFRC D1B 3rd Place Playoff Uganda 31 – 32 Senegal
AFRC D1B Final Cote D’Ivorie 6 – 26 Tunisia
SUN – 15TH JUN 14
AFRC D1C Rustenburg Impala 61 – 17 Mauritius
AFRC D1C Botswana 87 – 0 Swaziland
AFRC D1C Nigeria 20 – 30 Zambia
Here is the midweek schedule:
SUN – 15TH JUN 14
AFRC D1C Mauritius – Swaziland
AFRC D1C Botswana – Zambia
AFRC D1C Impala – Nigeria
Conversion Kick:
Signings/Player Moves: Brive have announced the signing of Sevens international finisher Benito Masilevu, who has become the latest Fijian player to arrive in French rugby. Former All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams has signed to play in the ITM Cup with the Counties Manukau Steelers in 2015.
USA Rugby News and Updates: The USA Rugby AIG Women’s Collegiate All-Americans concluded two regional camps and are preparing to take a team of 26 athletes to Toronto, Canada, to play in July. The regional camps took place at the University of Northern Colorado May 22-25 and James Madison University June 5-8. The games will be played July 18 and July 20 in Toronto. Click HERE for the roster… Tickets for historic match between USA Eagles, New Zealand All Blacks at Soldier Field on sale .
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, Jaime Loyd, Karen Ritter , Jamie Wall, Jake Frechette and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And until the next time… stay low and keep pumping those legs!
