Rugby

• A Matty Williams brace, but Knights go home empty handed
  A brace from Matty Williams in far flung Cornwall wasn’t enough to see Lynn Howells men rack up any points last weekend, but the new look Knights squad back in front of its home crowd will be a different proposition. Moseley, who finished 2 points and 2 places below the Knights in last seasons RFU Championship , won the first encounter of the 2009/10 season 33-25 in a game featuring a virtuoso kicking display for Tristan Roberts The Fly Half, who now wears the Number 10 jersey for Doncaster slotted over 3 cool penalties and added two conversions to put the game out of the reach of the double salvo of tries from Dougie Flockhart. In the reverse fixture at Castle Park Doncaster triumphed 14 -3 courtesy of a big team effort and tries from Tonga’uiha and Boyde with both conversions from Warnock. Once again Roberts chipped in with penalty points for Moseley in a season that saw him convert an astounding 55 penalties for a team that ended up in the relegation pool. Result aside the Knights performance at the Mennaye showed promise. The cutting edge may have been missing first half but as the Armthorpe Rd side warmed [...]
• Colin Slade signs with Highlanders for 2011
  Highlanders Coach Jamie Joseph today announced that Canterbury first five-eighth Colin Slade will play for the Highlanders franchise in the 2011 Investec Super Rugby competition. After two seasons with the Crusaders, 22-year-old Slade, will be moving further South to cement his place as a specialist in the No 10 jersey, after signing a contract with the Highlanders for the 2011 Super Rugby season. Joseph said Slade’s signing was a crucial acquisition for the franchise as he works towards building a successful team and campaign next year. “We’re very excited he is going to be a key part of our campaign.  Colin is confident that the Highlanders will provide the platform to enable him to work on his aspirations to play in a black jersey in next year’s Rugby World Cup. “This is a great opportunity for Colin to showcase his talent.  I have been impressed with his qualities as a player and as a leader and he will be a great addition to the Highlanders,” Joseph said. Slade said he was excited about the challenge of moving to a leadership role within the Highlanders next year. “I’m really keen to shift my playing ability up to the next level, and [...]
• Clarke Dermody confirmed as Exiles Captain for new season
  London Irish have announced that former All Black prop forward Clarke Dermody will captain the team for the 2010/11 season. Dermody, who joined the club in October 2007, takes over the captaincy from Bob Casey, who has led the side with distinction for the past three seasons. Speaking about the appointment, London Irish Head Coach, Toby Booth said: “I am very pleased to announce that Clarke will be captaining the side this season. He is hugely respected within the squad and always leads by example out on the pitch. “He is a natural captain with a wealth of leadership experience at Provincial and Super 14 level in New Zealand. “I would like to thank Bob for his fine captaincy in the past three seasons and stress the important role that players of his experience have on the continued development of our squad. “The physical nature of Premiership rugby encourages the need for leaders all over the pitch and teams can no longer rely on one leader. Clarke will be our figurehead but the contribution of Bob and our other senior players will be paramount to our success on the pitch.” New Captain Dermody added: “I am thrilled to have been [...]
• Leeds step up preparations
  Leeds Carnegie Head Coach Neil Back says his side will take a step up in their preparations for the new Aviva Premiership Rugby season when they travel to Belfast on Thursday night to take on Ulster. So far this pre-season, Leeds Carnegie have lost out to French side Agen, Magners League Champions Ospreys and Championship outfit Doncaster. However, each game has seen a number of changes throughout and Leeds have led for the majority of the game in their last two outings. Leeds will take on Ulster on Thursday looking to continue their improvement to be ready for the kick off for the new season against Bath at Headingley Carnegie on Sunday 5th September. Looking ahead to Thursday’s game, Head Coach Neil Back said, “From the outside people probably look at the three results so far in pre-season and make the wrong presumption. The purpose of the games is to build up the players conditioning and we have been clinical about how much game time the players have been getting in pre-season. “Ulster are a strong side and we are looking forward to building up our preparations against them. We have ten days after that game to fine tune our [...]
• England?s women talk about the Kazakhstan game
  England players’ reaction to their 82-0 pool game win over Kazakhstan in the WRWC England and Worcester back Danielle Waterman said:“I’m really pleased with the game. I came off the bench, but the girls started well and we all carried that on. I have to give all credit to Kazakhstan. They hit us hard, they disrupted our ball and they played to the end. It was a great result for England and now I’m just looking forward to the next pool game against USA. “Playing at scrum half brought back a few memories from way back when, when I started playing rugby! It was good fun to play there this evening and it was a great experience with LaToya at ten and Amy Turner at 12. Having three nines on the pitch was awesome!” England and Worcester winger Katherine Merchant said: “I really enjoyed the game. It was great to get another win. Unfortunately as Michaela got injured I got more time than I expected on the pitch.I got one touch and scored from that first touch so the girls will give me banter for that. I also made a big tackle which I don’t usually do on the wing! [...]
• England run in 12 tries in WRWC Kazakhstan victory
  England 82 Kazakhstan 0 England marched to an emphatic 82-0, 12 try victory over Kazakhstan on Tuesday in the second round of the Women’s Rugby World Cup pool games at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford. The host nation, who also defeated Ireland 27-0 in the tournament opener last weekend, put on a dominant display which left Kazakhstan with few answers for most of the match. Richmond’s Fiona Pocock, who grabbed a hat-trick of tries, was named Woman of the Match but there were many stand out players during this clash. No. 8 Sarah Beale enjoyed a storming game while Charlotte Barras grabbed a hat-trick. Both Beale and Barras were also playing in their first match for England this year having been out of action through injury and illness. England Head Coach Gary Street said: “It’s really pleasing to get a result like this, especially in these windy conditions. We have still got to look to iron out some errors so there are things to work on but Kazakhstan certainly put on a physical and committed performance tonight. Our defence was good, the forwards grafted hard and got the good clean ball out to our backs, so really they deserve a [...]
• Heartland Championship fires up
  The pride of Heartland rugby will be on show with the Meads and Lochore Cups once again up for grabs when the 2010 Heartland Championship kicks off on Saturday. Last year’s Meads Cup champions Wanganui will open their campaign at home against South Canterbury. Current Lochore Cup holders North Otago will make the trip to Ruatoria to take on East Coast. Also taking on a challenge, is former professional rugby boot Glen Jackson who makes his first class debut as a professional referee when he steps out onto Paeroa Domain for the Thames Valley v West Coast match. As with previous years, teams are split into two pools and play each of the teams in their pool over the first five weeks of the competition. The top six teams from that initial two-pool round go on to play for the Meads Cup and the remaining six teams will play for the Lochore Cup. The Meads Cup and Lochore Cup semifinals will be played on Saturday 23 October, with the two Cup Finals being played on Saturday 30 October. The 2010 Heartland Championship teams are: POOL A POOL B Wanganui Mid Canterbury South Canterbury Poverty Bay Horowhenua Kapiti Wairarapa Bush West [...]
• Black Ferns name team vs Australia
  Black Ferns Coach Brian Evans and his Assistant Coach Grant Hansen have named their team to take on Australia in New Zealand’s second pool game at the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup in England early tomorrow morning (NZT). The starting line-up sees five changes from the side that beat South Africa 55-3 in the opening pool match with Canterbury prop Steph Te Ohaere-Fox and Auckland’s Victoria Grant and Linda Itunu coming in as winger and flanker respectively.  Canterbury prop Mel Bosman and Wellington utility back Rebecca Hull come off the bench from the opening pool game to make their first start of the tournament. Auckland utility back Trish Hina and loose forward Aroha Savage will both make their Test debut should they come off the bench in Wednesday morning’s game. Despite a strong start in their opening match against South Africa, Coach Brian Evans will be looking for his side to improve on some areas of their game. “Overall, it was a good team performance first up – we got off to a fast start and kept the pressure on for most of the game and the forwards created some great space which resulted in some fantastic tries out wide. [...]
• SANZAR appoints new CEO
  Current Hurricanes CEO Greg Peters to take up Sydney-based role The three country SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) joint venture today moved another step forward in its evolution with the appointment of experienced rugby administrator Greg Peters as its CEO. Mr Peters has been the CEO of the Hurricanes and Wellington Rugby Football Union since 2006, and has previously led the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union and worked for many years for the New Zealand Rugby Union. He brings significant experience to the role including his time at the helm of the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, and his previous work on behalf of SANZAR in the role of Tournament Director and also managing broadcast contract negotiations in 2003 and 2004, while the SANZAR secretariat was managed by the NZRU. Mr Peters first started with the NZRU in 1998 and held a variety of roles with the organisation over the next eight years before taking charge of the Wellington Rugby Football Union and Hurricanes. Current SANZAR Chairman Mike Eagle said Mr Peters is a great fit for SANZAR given his previous roles and SANZAR experience, and with his insight as CEO of one of the participating franchises in Super [...]
• Can the Pirates repel the Knights?
  Necessary friendly matches completed, it suddenly gets ‘real’ this weekend as the Cornish Pirates welcome Doncaster Knights to The Mennaye Field for their opening game in this season’s RFU Championship. The two sides first met at National Two level back in November, 2002, when the Pirates lost 9-5 away. Of  interest, that was one only three league defeats suffered in a season which the Pirates gain revenge at The Mennaye Field in March (38-15) and soon after promotion as league Champions. The teams next met again in 2005-06, when the ‘Knights’ were promoted to National One, and they have opposed each other regularly ever since. However, because the Pirates were at Kenwyn for one season, and Camborne for four, Sunday will mark just their second meeting at Penzance. There have been some particularly memorable games against the Knights, including a 13-10 away victory for the Pirates in March, 2007, when Jimmy Moore’s match winning drop goal put the club through to the semi-final of the EDF National Trophy competition. Then, a year later, there was the joy displayed by prop Dan Seal who was a rare try-scorer when the Pirates won 63-36 at Camborne. That was a tremendous game to [...]

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