European Rugby

RaboDirect PRO12 balls 5/8/2011Edinburgh_Rugby_logoEdinburgh Rugby will welcome the return of captain Greig Laidlaw this Sunday as they look to repeat last season’s away success against Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park (6 October, kick-off 3.05pm South African Time).  The 27-year-old scrum-half – who kicked the winning drop-goal on that day last year – has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him side-lined since the summer to make his first competitive outing of the season.

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RaboDirect PRO12 balls 5/8/2011glasgowrugbyFly-half Duncan Weir returns to the Glasgow Warriors starting line-up for the game against Scarlets at Parc Y Scarlets tomorrow night, after almost six months out through injury.

The 22-year-old, who broke his leg against the Ospreys at Scotstoun last April, is one of ten changes to the team which beat Zebre in Parma last Friday.

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Aviva PremiershipAussie flank Ben White says Exeter Chiefs cannot wait to get stuck into Leicester Tigers in their latest Premiership encounter this Sunday.

Buoyed by back-to-back league wins over London Wasps and London Irish, the Chiefs are now busy preparing themselves for the visit of the defending champions to Sandy Park.

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RaboDirect PRO12 balls 5/8/2011As the Pro12 enters Round Four, Glasgow Warriors – the last remaining team with a 100 percent winning record – are in action in Parma on Friday night when they face Zebre.

Having waited so long for their first win in the competition, the Italian outfit will have their work cut out to make it back-to-back victories as table-topping Warriors have already defeated champions Leinster and last season’s runners up Ulster so far this season.

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ScotlandPlayers from Edinburgh Rugby, Glasgow Warriors and Scotland 7s have been drafted to the four British & Irish Cup teams, ahead of the cross border competition that starts on Saturday 12 October.

At the beginning of the season the same players were distributed between the ten RBS Premiership clubs. A further re-draft has now taken place to split them between Ayr, Gala, Stirling County and Edinburgh Accies.

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Manusamoa TuilagiJamie-Roberts-8With the end of year tours just over six weeks away there is some bad news for two of the top centres who would have been looking forward for turning out for their countries against Southern Hemisphere opponents. England’s Manu Tuilagi joins team mate Brad Barritt on the sidelines while Lions and Wales centre Jamie Roberts also looks set to miss out on the action due to injury.

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ScotlandScottish rugby has its first positive steroid test – but the problem could run deeper, says former international John Beattie.

Scottish rugby suffered two body blows this week and, rather like boxer Ricky Burns who “drew” with his opponent after getting one heck of a hiding from opponent Raymundo Beltran, it’s a little battered, a little broken and in need of time off the canvas.

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nick-wood-burger-stampIn what can surely only be described as a moment of madness Gloucester’s  loose head prop Nick Wood looked down lifted his right leg and brought it down on former Bulls flanker Jacques Burger’s head as he lay prone at the bottom of a ruck. This meant Wood’s participation in Gloucester’s Premiership match away to Saracens on Saturday ended within a minute and a half of it starting as the referee quite rightly brandished the red card.

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Rugby World Cup 2015Twenty scrum machines will be required for Rugby World Cup 2015 in England
With just over two years to go until Rugby World Cup 2015, tournament organisers England Rugby 2015 and Rugby World Cup Limited are right on track to deliver a spectacular six-week celebration of rugby.

A massive amount of planning goes into the delivery of any major international sporting tournament, and RWC 2015 is no exception.

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Manusamoa TuilagiEngland centre Manu Tuilagi has apologised for making a “bunny ears” gesture behind the head of British Prime Minister David Cameron in a photocall at 10 Downing Street.

“Apologies for messing around on Lions photo. No offence intended,” Tuilagi said on Twitter.

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ERCEuropean Club Rugby (ERC) president Jean-Pierre Lux has accused English and French clubs of using “guerilla” tactics in the ongoing row over the format of the European Cup.

Lux said the English and French teams were not showing any willingness to compromise in their demands, but he rejected the idea that they could form a breakaway competition next season.

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Nigel WraySaracens chairman Nigel Wray is thought to have pumped more money into the English club game than any other owner.

Saracens chairman Nigel Wray has added fuel to the debate about the future of the European club rugby landscape by suggesting the Welsh regions could join the Aviva Premiership.

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RaboDirect PRO12 balls 5/8/2011Leinster and Munster will look to solidify themselves as early pace-setters in Round Two of the Pro12 this weekend.  These two teams were the only sides who collected maximum points from their first-round Pro12 games, between them running in ten of the 22 tries that were scored last weekend.

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glasgowrugbyStuart Hogg, Ryan Grant, DTH van der Merwe and Josh Strauss all return to the Glasgow Warriors starting line-up for the game against Ulster at Ravenhill tonight, Friday 13 Septemeber, kick-off 8.05pm South African Time.

Gregor Townsend’s squad kicked off their new season with a 22-15 win over Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun Stadium last Friday and now face last season’s RaboDirect PRO12 finalists in Belfast. The Warriors were the last Scottish team to win at Ravenhill back in December 2009.

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Edinburgh_Rugby_logoWingers Tim Visser and Nikki Walker will bookend the back division when Edinburgh Rugby face Dragons at Murrayfield Stadium tonight,  Friday 13 September, kick-off 8.45pm South African Time.

The outing will double as Walker’s debut for the club since signing in the summer; with the club hoping the pair, currently second and fourth in the league’s all-time top try-scoring chart, will add firepower to the side.

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Lote TuqiriFormer Wallaby Lote Tuqiri will return to Rugby Union, with Irish province Leinster, after three years playing for Wests Tigers in Australia’s National Rugby League.

The 33-year-old wing was a huge star in League before switching codes to Union and enjoying seven successful years with the Waratahs and the Wallabies, before joining the Tigers in 2010.

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avivalogo2Newcastle Falcons will be keen to prove they are worthy when they get the 2013/14 Premiership season underway against Bath at Kingston Park tonight.  While the opening round has a number of intriguing fixtures – London Irish v Saracens, Gloucester v Sale Sharks, Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs, London Wasps v Harlequins and Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors – it is the Falcons that will hog most of the early limelight.

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