NEW YORK, NY – It was a busy weekend of action. We had the Cape Town 7s going on this weekend, at the same time as the European Champions and Challenge Cup. In addition there was tier 2/3 action and news and transactions that we must cover.With no time to waste, lets dive into the Global Rugby Recap.
News & Transactions:
Aviva Premiership: Former England and British & Lions prop Alex Corbisiero has opted to take a year long sabbatical at the end of this season. The 26-year-old has struggled with injuries in recent years and is set for more surgery in the coming months.
Pro 12: Cardiff Blues have confirmed that Wales fly-half Rhys Patchell will leave the region at end of the season.
Super Rugby: Japan World Cup star Male Sa’u will join the Blues in Super Rugby this season, as Dan Bowden leaves the franchise. The Auckland-born utility back, Sa’u, has signed a one-year contract to play for the Blues, while Bowden has been set free to pursue overseas opportunities… The Southern Kings announced the signing of the first 20 players to their new Super Rugby squad. The group will report for duty at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium for the continuation of administration and logistical preparations as well as working on strength and conditioning programs. More signings will be made before the completed squad report for duty on 4 January. For a full a list of players, click here.
USA Rugby: Registration is open for the USA Rugby Annual National Development Summit being held January 22-24 in San Francisco, California.
World Rugby: Mike Catt, Andy Farrell and Graham Rowntree will leave their positions as England assistant coaches. This was only a matter of time after the RWC debacle. In that same vein, Saracens defense coach Paul Gustard has been offered a position with England by new head coach Eddie Jones... The HSBC Womens World Rugby Sevens Series has been given a further boost with the announcement that Clermont-Ferrand will host the fifth and final round on 28-29 May, 2016. The world’s top women sevens players will travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil (20-21 February), as well as back-to-back events in Atlanta, USA (9-10 April), and Langford, Canada (16-17 April), before heading to Europe and the rugby-mad city of Clermont-Ferrand for the series finale.
The weekend’s fixtures:
Cape Town 7s: The 2015/2016 HSBC World Rugby Mens 7s Series continued this weekend in Cape Town. We have a complete review of the tournament from a USA perspective and an overall perspective, check out our review.
European Champions Cup: The pool stages of the European (Rugby) Champions Cup has reached its midpoint. The third round of matches were played with no off the field issues or security threats. Our Ronan Nelson will have a fantastic review of the round, later this week.
European Challenge Cup: The second tier European Challenge Cup is an entertaining tournament in its own right. Yes it is played by mid-table European clubs but they play good rugby and are looking to graduate to the Champions Cup. The weekend begun with Grenoble doubling up on Agen and Gloucester beating their Aviva Premiership rivals Worcester. Then we saw La Rochelle beat up on Zebre, Cardiff were too much for Montpellier, Connacht won against Newcastle. Enisey-STM edged out Brive in Siberia, Harlequins travelled to Italy and crushed Calvisano, Newport-Gwent shutout Pau, London Irish steamrolled Edinburgh and Castres fell short against Sale.
Here are the results:
Thu – 10 Dec 2015
Agen 20-40 Grenoble
Worcester Warriors 22-34 Gloucester
Fri – 11 Dec 2015
La Rochelle 27-19 Zebre
Cardiff Blues 37-27 Montpellier
Connacht 25-10 Newcastle Falcons
Sat – 12 Dec 2015
Enisey-STM 10-7 Brive
Calvisano 10-50 Harlequins
Newport Gwent Dragons 22-0 Pau
London Irish 38-6 Edinburgh
Castres 10-17 Sale Shark
Sudamerica Rugby: Formerly the SAMC now just Sudamerica Ruby is the same as the ENC – except it’s South America, a minor detail – and that it has 4 divisions featuring 15 teams. It is the battle to find the 2nd best team in South America with Argentina the firm number 1. The top division is called the CONSUR division and features Argentina’s B team, Uruguay and Chile. Speaking of the CONSUR, there is a B and C division and the C division is playing this weekend. The weekend sees the final match in the division as Costa Rica crush Panama and El Salvador fell to Guatemala, who are now the C division champions and will play in a relegation/promotion match. Speaking of promotion and relegation, Consur B champs Colombia will took on A division bottom dwellers Brazil. It was a big game for both sides. Colombia has population wise just gone past Argentina to be the second largest country in South America, and they were in good form. Brazil has been accepted in the Americas 6 Nations kicking off in February but just lost a two match series to Germany in front of a record crowd and really need to stay in Consur A to justify their place in the A6N. Brazil thoroughly crushed Colombia and more than proved they are fit to stay in the A division.
Here are the results:
Sat – 12 Dec 2015
CONSUR C – Third Place: Costa Rica 93-3 Panama
CONSUR C – First Place: El Salvador 6-28 Guatemala
Division A/B Promotion/Relegation Play-Off: Brazil 44-0 Colombia
There was a parallel Womens Sevens Tournament Women played that weekend. Peru won the Gold over Costa Rica, Panama took Silver and Guatemala took home Bronze.
Here are the results:
Sat – 12 Dec 2015
Gold: Peru 17-12 Costa Rica
Silver: Panama 12 – 10 El Salvador
Bronze: Guatemala 49-0 Nicaragua
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And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
