NEW YORK, NY – The big Rugby World Cup final was the most important game of the weekend but it wasn’t the only game going on this weekend. We have action from the 3 top competitions in Europe plus the final in Australian domestic rugby. We also have some tier 3 European rugby action. We also have news and transactions to cover. So with no further adieu, here’s the Global Rugby Recap.
News & Transactions:
Aviva Premiership: France eightman Louis Picamoles has confirmed that he will join Northampton next season on a three-year deal. The 29-year-old was one of France’s best players at the World Cup, and has been at Toulouse for six seasons since joining in 2009.
USA Rugby: USA Rugby confirmed the date and location for The 2016 National Development Summit. They information is as follows:
Dates: January 22-24, 2016
Location: San Francisco Airport Marriott Waterfront
Conference Registration: $150
World Rugby: Following the World Cup final on Saturday, World Rugby held its end of the year awards gala. Here is the final list of award winners:
Full list of World Rugby Awards winners
World Rugby Player of the Year in association with MasterCard – Daniel Carter, New Zealand
World Rugby Team of the Year – New Zealand
World Rugby Coach of the Year – Michael Cheika, Australia
World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year – Kendra Cocksedge, New Zealand
World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year – Nehe Milner-Skudder, New Zealand
World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC – Werner Kok, South Africa
World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year – Portia Woodman, New Zealand
World Rugby Referee Award – Nigel Owens
Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service – Nigel Starmer-Smith
Award for Character in association with Land Rover – Pakistan Rugby Union
Rugby World Cup Best Match Moment – Japan (v South Africa, RWC 2015)
IRPA Special Merit Award – Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland) and Nathan Sharpe (Australia)
IRPA Try of the Year – Julian Savea, New Zealand (v France)
The weekend’s fixtures:
Aviva Premiership: The 2015/2016 Aviva Premiership keeps rolling along. Round 3 kicked with Saracens defeating London Irish, Bath fell short against Harlequins and Gloucester just edged out Worcester. On Saturday, Newcastle were stomped by Exeter, Sale were too much for Northampton and finally Leicester fought off a big challenge from Wasps.
Here are the results:
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
Saracens 24-14 London Irish
Bath 28-38 Harlequins
Gloucester 24-22 Worcester Warriors
Sun – 1 Nov 2015
Newcastle Falcons 3-41 Exeter Chiefs
Sale Sharks 20-13 Northampton Saints
Leicester Tigers 24-16 Wasps
Top 14: The 2015/2016 #Top14 is close to getting its full compliment of world class players, accordingly the intensity will just keep going up level after level. This weekend began with Agen edging out an injury decimated Stade Francais, Bordeaux were too much for La Rochelle, Oyonnax outgunned Pau. Racing 92 snuck by Brive, Montpellier fell to Toulouse, Castres were crushed at Clermont and little Grenoble upset giants Toulon.
Here are the results:
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
Agen 28-23 Stade Francais
Bordeaux Begles 21-16 La Rochelle
Oyonnax 42-23 Pau
Racing 92 17-14 Brive
Montpellier 25-33 Toulouse
Clermont Auvergne 42-13 Castres
Sun – 1 Nov 2015
Grenoble 33-29 Toulon
Guinness Pro 12: The Pro 12 season have had their international stars back already and the action has kicked up accordingly. Munster edged Ulster in a 9 try thriller and Scarlets were to strong for Newport-Gwent on Friday. On Saturday, Zebre shocked Cardiff Blues, Connacht edged out Edinburgh. Sunday saw the Glasgow Warriors overpower the Ospreys and Treviso were smoked Leinster.
Here are the results:
Fri – 30 Oct 2015
Munster 32-28 Ulster
Scarlets 25-15 Newport-Gwent Dragons
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
Zebre 26-15 Cardiff Blues
Connacht 14-9 Edinburgh
Sun – 1 Nov 2015
Glasgow Warriors 31-19 Ospreys
Benetton Treviso 3-27 Leinster
European Nations Cup:The ENC, or the 6 Nations “B” , is the premier tournament for the second-tier nations of Europe. Believe it or not, the ENC consists of seven divisions, each featuring between four and six teams. The matches played will determine who will get promoted and relegated from groups 1B, 2A – 2D, and 3A over a two-year cycle. Division 1A aka the 6 Nations B is where the six best teams in the rest of Europe reside and there is no promotion to the Europe’s premier international rugby competition, only relegation back to 1B… In action this weekend in 2B, Lithuania crushed Andorra and Hungary lost on the road to Latvia.
The Rugby Europe Women’s Championship was also going on this weekend. The four remaining seeds played each other this week. Switzerland beat Russia and Belgium dominated Czech Republic in the midweek. The match-ups for the weekend the Czech Republic were dominated by Russia in the 3rd Place match and Belgium had too much firepower for Switzerland in the final.
Here are the results:
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
2B: Lithuania 49 – 17 Andorra
2B: Latvia 39 – 10 Hungary
Rugby Europe Women’s Championship
Here are the results:
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
Third Place: Czech Republic 15 – 41 Russia
Final: Belgium 50 – 20 Switzerland
Aus. NRC: Australia’s third tier competition goes into its second year as the National Rugby Championship has kicked off. We took the time to provide a preview and explain the competition, just CLICK HERE. Those with New York Rugby Club ties like me, will be supporting the defending champs Brisbane City since one of their feeder clubs, is New York’s sister club West (Brisbane) Bulldogs. The defending champs, Brisbane City and the UC Vikings have topped the table all season. The two sides were the one and two seeds going into the 4 team playoffs. The two teams will faced off for the the title this weekend. Brisbane city became back to back champions by cruising to a victory over the Vikings.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 31 Oct 2015
Brisbane City 21- 10 University of Canberra Vikings
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, James Harrington, Jamie Wall, Nick Hall, DJ Eberle, Jake Frechette, Scheenagh Harrington, Jamie Loyd, Cody Kuxmann, Karen Ritter, Ronan Nelson, Kaitlin McCabe, Rocky Brown and Declan Yeats, respectively.
And remember to stay low and keep pumping those legs!
