NEW YORK, NY – Normally, it is not smart to admit or announce that an issue made your work assignment tardy. In this instance, however, I am proud to announce the reason was the birth of my first child. So thank you in advance for the congratulations and apologies for the delayed update. That said, this Global Rugby Recap has news re Tana Umaga, Jordie Barrett, 2016 OlympicWheelchair Rugby, The Rugby Championship and more. Off we go.
News & Transactions:
Super Rugby: Former All Blacks captain and Blues Head Coach Tana Umaga has been appointed as assistant coach for the Maori All Blacks. Maori All Blacks Head Coach Colin Cooper announced the coaching and management team for the Maori All Blacks’ 2016 northern tour at the end of this year. Umaga will be joined by fellow assistant coach and former All Blacks prop and Waikato forwards coach Carl Hoeft… The Brumbies have announced that 2016 Australian U20 representatives Jordan Jackson-Hope and Faaleleli Sione have both signed on with the Super Rugby side’s Extended Playing Squad for 2017… The Crusaders have completed their coaching team for next season, appointing Jason Ryan as their Assistant Coach Forwards on a three-year deal. Ryan will work alongside Scott Robertson as Head Coach, Brad Mooar as Assistant Coach and Leon MacDonald as Assistant Coach Backs… Jordie Barrett has signed a contract to play for the Hurricanes and will join his brother Beauden in Wellington for Super Rugby 2017 and 2018.
USA Rugby: On top the Rugby Weekend match against the Maori All Blacks, the USA is scheduled to play Romania and Tonga in Europe this November.
World Rugby: Australia beat USA 59-58 in double overtime to be crowned Rio 2016 Paralympic Games wheelchair rugby champions in what will go down as one of the greatest games in the sport’s history. A turnover within the final three seconds of the second period of overtime was ultimately all that separated the two teams in an epic final, handing Australia back-to-back Paralympic gold medals. for the full story, please go here… Uruguay ensured their place at the World Rugby U20 Trophy 2017 with a 23-13 win over hosts Chile in the final of the South American U19 Championship in Santiago… A panel of experts will debate how to safeguard good governance in sport in a plenary session entitled Protecting sport from corruption at the World Rugby Conference and Exhibition 2016 (ConfEx). Taking place at the Hilton London Metropole on 14-15 November, ConfEx 2016 will address the issues currently facing sport globally and look at ways sport governing bodies and regulatory authorities can retain and restore faith in the honesty of sport.
Leading the discussion will be:
- Karl Bennison – Chief of Enforcement, Nevada Gaming Control Board
- Ronnie Flanagan – Chairman, International Cricket Council Anti-Corruption Unit
- Simon Greenberg – Head of Dow Jones Sport, and Global Head of Rights, News Corp
- Heather Rabbatts (moderator) – Independent Non-Executive Director, Football Association
- Matt Slater – Chief Sports Reporter, Press Association
The weekend’s fixtures:
The Rugby Championship: New Zealand soundly defeated South Africa keeping their unbeaten streak intact and secure The Rugby Championship title for another year. In the other match, Australia were too strong for Argentina as the Wallabies push to claim second place.
Here are the results:
Sat – 10 Sep 2016
New Zealand 41-13 South Africa
Australia 36-20 Argentina
Aviva Premiership: The 2016/2017 Aviva Premiership will be the 30th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition, and the seventh to be sponsored by Aviva Insurance. The current champions are Saracens. The most recently promoted side is Bristol, who won the 2015-16 RFU Championship Play-Off Final. This weekend sale Sale fall to Gloucester and Bath come back against Worcester. Exeter were to strong for Harlequins, Saracens outfought the Northampton Saints. Wasps obliterated Bristol and finally Newcastle lost narrowly to Leicester.
Here are the results:
Fri – 16 Sep 2016
Sale Sharks 13-26 Gloucester
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Bath 37-22 Worcester Warriors
Exeter Chiefs 36-25 Harlequins
Saracens 27-12 Northampton Saints
Sun – 18 Sep 2016
Wasps 70-22 Bristol
Newcastle Falcons 13-14 Leicester Tigers
Top 14: If it feels like the Top 14 season just ended, it did. It was less than 60 days between the end of the #Top14 final and the start of the season, not to mention the players also had to deal with pre-season. The season was extended a month because of the Rugby World Cup so hopefully this year, it won’t last as long. The twelve returning teams this season are champions Racing 92, runners-up Toulon, Clermont, Montpellier, Toulouse, Castres, Bordeaux, Brive, La Rochelle, Grenoble, Pau and Stade Français… Two new teams from the 2015–16 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Bayonne and Lyon in place of the two relegated teams, Agen and Oyonnax. It marks the first time that both teams relegated are both promoted in the following season (Bayonne and Lyon where both relegated during the 2014–15 Top 14 season). The line-up for the weekend began with Lyon defeated Toulouse in a tough match… There was also Bayonne falling to Montpellier, Brive snuck past La Rochelle, Pau dominated their match against Stade Francais and Clermont-Auvergne crushed Bordeaux-Begles. Finally, Castres thumped Grenoble and in a heavyweight bout and rematch of last year’s final Racing 92 held off Toulon.
Here are the results:
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Lyon 25-20 Toulouse
Bayonne 9-21 Montpellier
Brive 29-28 La Rochelle
Pau 23-6 Stade Francais
Clermont-Auvergne 40-16 Bordeaux- Begles
Sun – 18 Sep 2016
Castres 46-9 Grenoble
Racing 92 41-30- Toulon
Pro 12: The 2016–17 Pro12 (also known as the Guinness Pro12 for sponsorship reasons) will be the sixteenth season of the professional rugby union competition originally known as the Celtic League, and the seventh with its current four-country format. It is the third season to be referred to as the Guinness Pro12. The weekend started with Cardiff being too tough for Glasgow, Ulster doubled up against Scarlets and Edinburgh came up short against Leinster. Zebre had their match against Connacht called due to whether while other Italian side Treviso got trashed by the Ospreys while Newport-Gwent came up short against Munster finish off the weekend.
Here are the results:
Fri – 16 Sep 2016
Cardiff Blues 23-19 Glasgow Warriors
Ulster 19-8 Scarlets
Edinburgh 20-33 Leinster
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Zebre – Connacht (Match called off)
Newport-Gwent Dragons 16-20 Munster
Ospreys 64-10 Benetton Treviso
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 fifth round of fixtures began when Free State surprised on-lookers by outlasting the Golden Lions. The weekend saw Blue Bulls thump Griquas, the Sharks demolish Eastern Province and then Western Province fought off Pumas.
Here are the results:
Thu – 15 Sep 2016
Free State 37-29 Golden Lions
Here is the schedule:
Fri – 16 Sep 2016
Blue Bulls 57-20 Griquas
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Sharks 53-0 Eastern Province
Western Province 31-23 Pumas
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. With 12 All Blacks released back to the provincial sides for the weekend, it guarantees that the action will only get more intense. The schedule for week 4 began with Taranaki scrapping by Counties-Manakau. Hawkes Bay won soundly against Southland on the Thursday night ticket, with Northland losing on the road against Tasman in a Friday night lights affair and Wellington defeated Bay of Plenty. Saturday saw Otago top North Harbour, Manawatu upset Canterbury, Auckland were taken down Counties-Manukau while Waikato ended the weekend with a draw against Taranaki.
Here are the results:
Wed – 14 Sep 2016
Counties Manukau 29-30 Taranaki
Thu – 15 Sep 2016
Southland 29-43 Hawkes Bay
Fri – 16 Sep 2016
Tasman 33-23 Northland
Wellington 24-10 Bay Of Plenty
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Otago 24-13 North Harbour
Manawatu 19-13 Canterbury
Sun – 18 Sep 2016
Auckland 26-30 Counties Manukau
Waikato 20-20 Taranaki
The midweek matches will see Southland tackle Bay of Plenty and Northland challenges Wellington.
Here is the schedule:
Wed – 21 Sep 2016
Southland – Bay Of Plenty
Thu – 22 Sep 2016
Northland – Wellington
Aus. NRC: Australia’s third tier competition goes into its third year as the National Rugby Championship kicks off. Those with New York Rugby Club ties like me, will be supporting the two-time defending champs Brisbane City since one of their feeder clubs, is New York’s sister club West (Brisbane) Bulldogs. This weekend saw the Sydney Rays outclassed by the NSW Country Eagles, the Melbourne Rising upset Brisbane City, Canberra Vikings defeated Western Sydney Rams to hold on to the Horan-little shield and Queensland Country were crushed on the road at the Perth Spirit.
Here are the results:
Sat – 17 Sep 2016
Sydney Rays 16-36 NSW Country Eagles
Melbourne Rising 46-28 Brisbane City
Sat – 18 Sep 2016
Canberra Vikings 22-16 Western Sydney Rams
Perth Spirit 66-36 Queensland Country
That’s all for now, please feel free to comment below, look for and “Like” our Facebook Rugby Wrap Up Pageand follow us on Twitter@: @RugbyWrapUp, @Junoir Blaber, @MeetTheMatts, @Luke Bienstock, @Ronan Nelson, @Brian C Cole and @Declan Yeats.
And as always, stay low and keep pumping those legs.
