NEW YORK, NY – This week, despite a small number of fixtures, we there is plenty of news to report. Included in our Weekend Rugby Preview are: Oregan Hoskins, Vern Cotter, Gregor Townsend, Mike Ford, The Rugby Championship and more… so without delay, here you go.
News & Transactions:
World Rugby: South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins announced that he is resigning from his position after a decade of service and achievement. Hoskins advised the membership of SA Rugby at a meeting of the General Council in Johannesburg, this week.
Pro 12: The Scottish Rugby Union confirmed Glasgow Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend will replace Vern Cotter as Scotland head coach at the end of the 2016/17 season. Former Scotland fly-half Townsend will take up the role when his current contract with Glasgow Warriors also ends at the same time… Leinster have identified Mike Ford , recently dismissed by Bath of the English Premiership, as one of the leading candidates to become their new defense coach following the departure of Kurt McQuilkin. McQuilkin has decided to return to New Zealand, leaving Leinster with little time to fill his role.
Aviva Premiership: Northampton Saints announced the signing of Argentina international center Juan Pablo Estelles ahead of the new season… Sale Sharks confirmed that back-row Cameron Neild had signed a new four-year contract at the Premiership club. Joining Nield is center Sam James who also signed a new four-year deal with the club.
Top14: There are currently some talks about the creation of a third pro division below the Top 14 (first division) and the Pro D2 (the second division). This third pro division could include the Fédérale 1 (the current semi amateur third division) and clubs from the so called “development areas” which are the central, northern and western regions of France (where rugby is historically less popular than in the South and West of France). An alternate proposal is to divide this new pro division into two conferences of 14 clubs which include the current Fédérale 1 and the youth teams of the Top 14 clubs. Similar to the arrangement for Soccer clubs in some European soccer leagues, the Top 14 youth teams won’t be able to get promoted to the higher level and will have to remain in the third division.
The first proposition favors a better balance of the French rugby map and opens potential new market for rugby in France while the second option favors Top 14 clubs because their youth team will feature in a competitive league. This subject will be a main topic of discussion in the upcoming election race for the presidency of the FFR.
Super Rugby: The Blues will be without assistant coaches Paul Feeney and Glenn Moore next year after the duo confirmed they would be leaving Auckland… The Waratahs have received a timely boost with the announcement that Australia Men’s Olympic Sevens representative Cameron Clark has signed with the team until the end of 2018.
USA Rugby: The AIG Men’s Collegiate All-Americans Tour to Queensland sponsored by WellDog ended Saturday night at Ballymore Stadium, where they played the BLK Queensland Premier Rugby Barbarians in a tense 80-minute clash losing 43-40 to finish the tour 1-2.
AIG Men’s Collegiate All-Americans | Tour to Queensland sponsored by WellDog
v. Darling Downs Select Side – W 31-17
v. Brothers Rugby Football Club – L 36-34
v. Queensland Premier Barbarians – L 43-40
The AIG Women’s Collegiate All-American Sevens team will enter its second Rugby Sevens tournament in a year Aug. 19-20 at the ATAVUS Elite Women’s 7s Tournament held at Infinity Park. The Under-23 national team in the competition will be made up of players from four ATAVUS squads comprised of campers from the Aug. 16-20 ATAVUS Women’s Performing 7s Resident Camp and 2016 USA Rugby Emirates Airline Club 7s National Champion Scion Rugby Academy. Seattle Saracens’ Kelsi Stockert will captain the side.
The weekend’s fixtures:
The Rugby Championship: New Zealand will defend the Bledisloe Cup in Sydney against Australia’s Wallabies in the first match of the The Rugby Championship. Argentina will make the the long trip to the Republic to face their long time friend and rivals, South Africa. Although not as storied as the Bledisloe, the two sides have an important history as the Springboks were the first Tier 1 nation to host the Pumas and helped accidentally give them the Pumas nickname. A free beer when you see me, if you tell the story in our comments section.
Here is the schedule:
Sat – 20 Aug 2016
Australia – New Zealand
South Africa – Argentina
2016 Currie Cup qualification: The tournament is a competition that will be played between 5 August and 15 October 2016 and will feature nine teams that qualified through the 2016 Currie Cup qualification competition. The 9 South African provincial unions are Pumas, Sharks, Blue Bulls, Western Province, Eastern Province, Boland, Griquas, Free State and Golden Lions. This will be the 78th edition of South Africa’s premier domestic rugby union competition. The third round of fixtures begins with Boland welcoming the Sharks, Free State traveling to face Western Province, the Blue Bulls looking to romp over Eastern Province and finally Griquas face off against the Golden Lions.
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 19 Aug 2016
Boland Cavaliers – Sharks
Western Province – Free State Cheetahs
Blue Bulls – Eastern Province Kings
Sat – 20 Aug 2016
Griquas – Golden Lions
Mitre 10 Cup: The Mitre 10 Cup (formally known “National Provincial Championship” or “NPC“) is the highest level of New Zealand domestic professional rugby union competition, contested annually from late August to early November and managed by the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU). Building off competitions dating back to the National Provincial Championship in 1976, with teams from a number of provinces, the Mitre 10 Cup officially started with the 2006 season with 14 teams after the National Provincial Championship (NPC) was split into this professional competition and the amateur Heartland Championship competition. The competition was known as the Air New Zealand Cup to the end of the 2009 season; the name then changed to the ITM Cup for the 2010 season after ITM, the trading name of Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative Ltd., a New Zealand building supplies retailer took over as lead sponsor. In 2016 the New Zealand-owned home improvement and garden retailer, Mitre 10 took over sponsorship after out-bidding ITM. For the Mitre 10 Cup competition it will involve the top 14 provincial unions of New Zealand. We will hopefully have more information in our Southern Hemisphere preview. The schedule for week one began with North Harbour edging out Counties-Manukau. The weekend continues with Northland against Manawatu, Bay of Plenty tackles Taranaki, Hawkes Bay face Wellington and Canterbury face Auckland in a rematch of last year’s final.
Here are the results:
Thu – 18 Aug 2016
North Harbour 20-17 Counties Manukau
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 19 Aug 2016
Northland – Manawatu
Sat – 20 Aug 2016
Bay Of Plenty – Taranaki
Hawkes Bay – Wellington
Canterbury – Auckland
European Nations Cup: The ENC, or the 6 Nations “B” , is the premier tournament for the second-tier nations of Europe. Unbeknownst to some, 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, where the best teams in Europe not called England, Ireland, France, Italy, Wales or Scotland reside, has no promotion option – only relegation back to 1B. Hopefully promotion from 1A to the proper 6N will eventually occur… but we aren’t banking on it. In an exhibition match this weekend, Germany will host Switzerland.
Here is the schedule:
Sun – 21 Aug 2016
Exhibition: Germany – Switzerlend
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
