NEW YORK, NY – This weekend was a whirlwind as we flew into Chicago for the big USA v All Blacks match at Soldier Field. and jetted back to RWU Headquaters in NY to complete the weekend recap. As for the recap, we will begin with our new format that starts with Player Transactions , USA Rugby News and IRB News first. We then, get into the unofficial start of the Autumn internationals with 3 matches not counting the USA match and the brief return of domestic action in Europe’s 3 premier leagues. We also have the final of the inaugural Australia’s National Rugby Championship and European Nations Cup action for Women and Men, plus Tier 3 action. Time for the newly revamped Global Rugby Recap:
Penalty Kick:
Transactions: London Welsh have confirmed that former Wales defence coach Rowland Phillips has joined the club’s coaching staff…Namibian utility back Byron McGuigan has joined Exeter for the rest of the season after completing his move ITM Cup side Bay of Plenty.
The Stormers have announced the addition of Pumas tighthead prop Vincent Koch to their Super Rugby squad for next year.
USA Rugby News and Updates: Our friend, Alex Goff reports that Troy Hall cannot play for the USA Men’s National Team for six months because he did not notify the US Anti-Doping Agency that he was making a comeback to international rugby early enough.
The 2015 National Development Summit is scheduled for January 23-25, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, in Chicago, IL.
IRB News: IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition 2014 (ConfEx) has announced that ITV Chief Executive Adam Crozier will join the speaker line-up to share his thoughts on the commercial importance of sport.
Ladies First:
Women’s European Nations Cup: The women’s European Nations Cup is similar to the men’s. It consists of 2 divisions, featuring 19 teams. The matches determine who will get promoted and relegated. The Netherlands hung tough in a defensive stand-off and kicking contest against Belgium. Switzerland and Russia played a match filled with tries for third place that was eventually won by Russia.
Here are the results:
Sun – 2nd Nov 14
WENC 3rd place play-off: Switzerland 24-31 Russia
WENC Trophy final: Netherlands 12-3 Belgium
Autumn Internationals: The Autumn Internationals that fall outside the IRB international window are developing a stigma of cramming the international schedule to grab more money from fans. However fans still flock to these matches as they remain enthralling. It was a good weekend for the All Black brand as The Maori All Blacks easily dismantled Japan and most of us are aware of the result of the USA v All Blacks game in Chicago which we have covered in detail and continue to cover in detail. For a match review please click here. The Barbarians played an absolute barn-burner of a match against Australia. As we predicted it was a tight one full with tries that Australia won at the end. Canada will traveled to England to warm up their tour against an all-star side made up of English players from the Green King IPA Championship, the division just below the Aviva Premiership. The Canadians were upset by the Championship boys. We would like to quote our comment from the weekend preview on Friday, “If you think it is an easy match then you have not paid attention to our transactions section and the number of players that were plying their trade in the Championship before they were snatched up by Aviva sides.”
Here are the results:
Sat – 1st Nov 14
TOUR Japan 21 – 61 Maori All Blacks
TOUR Barbarians 36 – 40 Australia
TOUR USA 6 – 74 New Zealand
Sun – 2nd Nov 14
TOUR RFU Champ XV 28 – 23 Canada
Top 14: Just when you think you have a good idea of how things are going to go in the Top 14, it whips around and here come the unexpected score lines. Our Ligue Nationale de Rugby expert has a great review of all the action and the upsets. Please click here.
LV=Cup:With the rugby calendar so full, the LV= Cup has developed into one of the premier developmental tournaments for young players in Wales and England. It has the 12 Aviva premiership teams along with the 4 Welsh regions battle it out to find a champion. The main thing it does is it lets starts of tomorrow showcase their abilities. Courtney Lawes and Dan Biggar are a couple of the internationals that have used this tournament as a stepping stone. Round one saw all the English sides face each other. Sale won at home against Wasps, Exeter scrapped by Gloucester and Bath defeated London Welsh to keep the Welsh win-less in all competitions. London Irish came up a point short against Leicester, Newcastle were easily defeated by Northampton and Saracens outlasted crosstown rivals Harlequins.
Here are the results:
Sat – 1st Nov 14
LV= Cup Sale Sharks 32 – 29 Wasps
LV= Cup Exeter 28 – 27 Gloucester
LV= Cup Bath 47 – 7 London Welsh
LV= Cup London Irish 16 – 17 Leicester
LV= Cup Northampton 37 – 23 Newcastle
Sun – 2nd Nov 14
LV= Cup Saracens 25 – 20 Harlequins
Guinness Pro12: The 2014/2015 Pro12 still had games because the Welsh contingent haven’t begun playing their matches in the LV= Cup. It was good weekend for the home sides Glasgow defeated Treviso, Leinster thrashed Edinburgh. Connacht were on the road against the Ospreys, who remained resolute against their visitors. Cardiff was the only home side to lose as they got out-muscled by Munster while Scarlets won easily against Zebre and finally Ulster roughed up their guest from Newport-Gwent.
Here are the results:
Fri – 31st Oct 14
Glasgow 17 – 9 Benetton Treviso
Leinster 33 – 8 Edinburgh
Ospreys 26 – 11 Connacht
Sat – 1st Nov 14
Cardiff Blues 24 – 28 Munster
Scarlets 28 – 13 Zebre
Ulster 23 – 6 Newport Gwent Dragons
Australia NRC: The inaugural National Rugby Championship has come to an end. Well the 2014 season is anyway. In a one-game season Brisbane City, the RWU staff fav who we backed from the start of the season, defeated the Perth Spirit in Brisbane for the title.
Here are the results:
Sat – 1 st Nov 14
Brisbane City 37 – 26 Perth Spirit
Tier 3 – In Tier 3, the men’s European Nations Cup consists of 7 divisions, each with 4-6 teams. The matches determine who will get promoted and relegated form groups 1A, 1B, 2A – 2Dd and 3A. Saturday’s fixture list saw Bulgaria hold fast at home and deny a tough Turkey (pun not intended) side a victory.
Here are the results:
Sat – 1 st Nov 14
ENC Bulgaria 26 – 19 Turkey
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 as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
