NEW YORK, NY – Much like the week before, this issue of the preview will be served up like your favorite Scotch, quick and neat. Super Rugby has reached the knockout playoff stage and the Elgon Cup is in its return leg. We do have important news from the IRB to report plus the latest transfer news/rumors and USA Rugby updates. Let’s get to the Weekend Rugby Preview:
Super Rugby: The RWU Super Rugby Superman, Jamie Wall, is all fired up for the start of the Super Rugby Playoffs. Please CLICK HERE for the awesome preview.
Tier 3
Elgon Cup: The Elgon Cup is held annually and contested between the rugby teams of Kenya and Uganda. The competition and the cups are named after Mount Elgon, a mountain on the border of the two countries. The men’s and women’s teams of these countries compete for their respective Cups on a Home-and-Away basis. This year, the U-19 boys teams of each country has been added into the mix. The first leg was played last week in Uganda, so this weekend will be the return leg in Kenya.
Here is the weekend schedule:
SAT– 12TH JUL 14
ELC Kenya U-19 Boys – Uganda U-19 Boys – 12pm
ELC Kenya Women – Uganda Women – 2pm
ELC Kenya Men – Uganda Mens – 4pm
Unconverted Try:
Transactions: Tonga and Super Rugby Melbourne Rebels prop Eddie Aholelei was announced as the London Welsh’s most recent signing…Newcastle proudly announced the signing of Kane Thompson from the Super Rugby Chiefs ahead of the new season… Gloucester and former England center Mike Tindall has announced his retirement from the game.
Chiefs fly-half/fullback Gareth Anscombe is apparently planning to leave New Zealand to take up a contract in Wales with the Cardiff Blues. How the current mess in Wales as covered by our own, Nick Hall, will affect the matter is anyone’s guess. Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby was granted a release by the Welsh region, so that he can take up the role of Ireland‘s forwards coach going for the remaing 2014 season and thru the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Florian Cazenave, the former Perpignan scrum-half who lost an eye last year, has found a new club after joining Reggio in Italy. Cazenave had to move to the the D2 club after the Top14 prohibited him from playing…Veteran Argentina playmaker Juan Martin Hernández has confirmed rumors that he will not play for Racing Métro this season. Hernandez did not confirm who he expects to play for, however.
The Hurricanes have confirmed that AIG All Black center Ma’a Nonu will return to the capital city franchise from the Blues for the 2015 Super Rugby season. Bulls tighthead prop Frik Kirsten has been forced into retirement by doctors after it was deemed unsafe for him to return to the game after a serious neck injury. Former South Africa 7s standout and new Springbok wing Cornal Hendricks has signed a one-year contract extension with the Cheetahs.
Food-for-tickets: Under the slogan “o rugby é também solidariedade”, which loosely translated means “rugby means solidarity” the CBRu (Confederation Brazil Rugby) gathered a total of 1,334kg of non-perishable foods at the Bento Gonçalves Stadium (just outside Sao Paulo) and approximately 2,500kg in total during the 2014 South American Championship. The idea was simple, patrons were granted free admission in exchange for donating 1kg of non-perishable foods at the gate. For a full report on the heartwarming story please CLICK HERE.
National Rugby Championship: The rebirth of Australia’s National Rugby Championship, their answer to the New Zealand’s ITM Cup and South Africa’s Currie Cup, is officially on with the release of the season schedule. Please CLICK HERE.
Americas Rugby Championship: The IRB Americas Rugby Championship (ARC) will be for the third straight year held at the Canadian Centre of Excellence in Langford, British Columbia, in October. The ARC is a developmental tournament played between the USA Selects, Uruguay, Argentina Jaguars and Canada A, It is scheduled to be a round-robin competition, played across three match days – October 11, 15 and 19.
IRB Americas Rugby Championship 2014 Fixtures (all times are local)
Saturday, October 11
14:30 – USA Selects v Argentina Jaguars
16:30 – Canada A v Uruguay
Wednesday, October 15
18:00 – Uruguay v Argentina Jaguars
20:00 – Canada A v USA Selects
Sunday, October 19
14:30 – Uruguay v USA Selects
16:30 – Canada A v Argentina Jaguars
USA Rugby News and Updates: The has still been no confirmation from USA Rugby as to the new head coach of the 7s program. It has long be rumored to be Mike Friday but we await official confirmation. Once that occurs, we will have a review of the hiring and our thoughts soon following.
According to a USA Rugby Press Release, The USA Rugby AIG Boys High School All-Americans, sponsored by Aircraft Charter Solutions, opened their Argentina Tour Wednesday, July 14, with a scrimmage against Cordoba Academy which they boys technically lost, if you are keeping score. The boys still have 3 games scheduled to play, see below.
USA Rugby Boys High School All-Americans | Argentina Tour
v Argentina U18s – Saturday, July 19
v Italy U18s – Tuesday, July 22
v Uruguay U18/19s – Sunday, July 27
The Stripes side had a clean sweep in the Stars and Stripes Camp final day match-up. For more info on the matches CLICK HERE.
Here are the results:
Girls Stars 10 – 27 Stripes
Boys Stars 20 – 53 Stripes
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.
