England
This weekend sees a return to action in the 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship with the third round of games to be played, following a week’s break. Two matches will be played on Saturday, one in Rome and the other in London. The third and final match of the weekend takes place on Sunday in Edinburgh.
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British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland says that he is wary of selecting too many English players for the Lions tour to Australia in June.
Ireland (0) 6 / 12 (6) England (Final Score)
Ireland and England did battle in the Six Nations tournament at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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The Ireland team to play England in the RBS 6 Nations Championship on Sunday has been named with Ireland head coach Declan Kidney naming an unchanged side from the one that beat Wales in Cardiff last week.
Billy Twelvetrees has kept his place in England’s starting XV for Sunday’s match against Ireland in Dublin, while James Haskell makes his first start in the Six Nations since 2011.
The first weekend of Six Nations 2013 has come and gone with two of the results as expected by many as Ireland and England claimed victories over Wales and Scotland respectively. The final match of the weekend saw Italy score what was seen as a surprise victory over France in Rome.
The intensity of the games took their toll though with various injuries incurred by the teams. We bring some of the news from the various squads regarding the injuries and player availability.
Let’s start with the good news.
Scotland, a disorganised and calamity-prone shambles against Tonga in November, rejoined the international community with a display that was impressive in parts, effective in critical areas and well organised throughout.
And the bad news? They were up against England. New England. England on fire.
England (19) 38 / 18 (11) Scotland (Final Score)
England and Scotland did battle in the Six Nations tournament at Twickenham, London at 18:00 SA Time (16:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 6 & SHD4 on TV in SA.
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Gloucester centre Billy Twelvetrees will make his England debut in Saturday’s Six Nations match against Scotland at Twickenham. Twelvetrees, 24, replaces Manu Tuilagi and forms a midfield partnership with Brad Barritt of Saracens.
The only other change from the starting XV that beat New Zealand 38-21 in December is Joe Marler in for Alex Corbisiero at loose-head prop.
England have suffered another injury blow ahead of their Six Nations Championship opener as centre Manu Tuilagi will miss the match due to an ankle injury.
Richmond centre Abigail Chamberlain will make her England Women’s debut in their Six Nations opener against Scotland on Saturday.
Chamberlain, who has played for England A and captained England Sevens, is part of an entirely different backline from the autumn Tests against New Zealand.
The RBS Six Nations Championship is due to kick off this weekend. The first game of this year’s tournament sees current holder Wales playing at home against Ireland this Saturday afternoon.
England flanker Tom Johnson has been ruled out of the Six Nations with a knee injury.
Both Gloucester fly-half Freddie Burns and London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero are doubtful for the opening two matches against Scotland and Ireland because of knee problems.
Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi is also a doubt for the Calcutta Cup match with a leg injury.
England coach Stuart Lancaster has included uncapped pair Calum Clark and Billy Twelvetrees in his 33-man squad for the Six Nations.
South African-born former England international Hendre Fourie has been told by immigration officials that he does not have to leave Britain, despite fearing he was on the brink of deportation having retired with a shoulder injury.
Retired flank Hendre Fourie was good enough to play for England, but now that he has quit rugby he is set to be repatriated by the country he represented in eight Tests.
Fourie revealed on Monday that he is poised to return to South Africa, because he cannot get a visa to remain in England.
The last remaining bastion of the amateur era’s traditions looks set to fall.
I am always nervous of drawing too many conclusions from the annual burst of Autumn Internationals, especially because it’s the final round of games for all the Southern Hemisphere sides at the end of a long season. Nonetheless, there are some fascinating observations to make as many sides rebuild towards the next World Cup.
Springbok and Bath flank Francois Louw will attend an RFU disciplinary hearing following his red card for punching against Leicester on Saturday.
Louw was not the only Bath player in hot water and will be joined by teammates Matt Banahan and Lee Mears at the hearing.
All credit to New Zealand for not blaming the virus in the team or end-of-year-tiredness for their loss at the hands of a committed England team.
The All Blacks players looked more than a bit pale and lethargic as they entered the field and even the Haka lacked its normal spark.
Punctiliously I don’t however think it was either the virus or tiredness that saw the All Blacks lose this match. It was the England tactics and their good defence that won them the match.
England (12) 38 / 21 (0) All Blacks (Final Score)
England and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 Dec NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 2 & SH2 on TV in SA.
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Scorers:
England:
- Penalties – Owen Farrell (4), Freddie Burns (2)
- Drop Goals – Owen Farrell (1)
- Tries – Brad Barritt (1), Chris Ashton (1), Manusamoa Tuilagi (1)
- Conversions – Owen Farrell (1)
All Blacks:
- Penalties – 0
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Julian Savea (2), Kieran Read (1)
- Conversions – Daniel Carter (2), Aaron Cruden (1)
Teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (Captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ben Smith.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 December NZ time)
Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 7°C, dropping to -1°C.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
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Wales (6) 12 / 14 (9) Wallabies (Final Score)
Wales and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 Dec EAST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SHD 4 on TV in SA.
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Scorers:
Wales:
- Penalties – Leigh Halpenny (4)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – 0
- Conversions – 0
Wallabies:
- Penalties – Kurtley Beale (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Kurtley Beale (1)
- Conversions – 0
Teams:
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Ian Evans, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Scott Williams.
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Michael Hooper, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Digby Ioane.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 December AEDST)
Expected weather: There is a chance of rain, but with the roof set to be closed it should not be an issue. However, as we have seen, the surface cuts up badly regardless. It will be a high of 7°C and a low of 1°C
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite, Greg Garner (England)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
The Southern Hemisphere Rugby season is fast approaching a welcome close for players , administrators and coaching staff, but at the same time some of us are are a bit despondant that we would have to watch cricket & golf as substitute in place of our crazy rugby addiction…. oh and lest we forget those things in and around the house we failed to have time for in the year.
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However, tomorrow and on Saturday there is still the HSBC Sevens World Series Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, and on Saturday we get our last brief fix of full Test match rugby when England meet the All Blacks and Wales host the Wallabies (pity these two games are on at the same time again) at the End Of Year Tours to the Northern Hemisphere. PLUS of course we get a sprinkling of Northern Hemisphere Club Rugby to view too.
So, what’s in stall for us as far as TV rugby viewing is concerned this weekend?
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Herewith the viewing schedule:
The All Blacks side has already been known and reported about, herewith the remaining 3 sides for this weekend’s End Of Year Toursgames on Saturday.
Courtney Lawes was on Tuesday included in England’s 23-man squad for Saturday’s Twickenham Test against world champions New Zealand as coach Stuart Lancaster promised to meet the All Blacks’ challenge “head-on”.
England (6) 15 / 16 (9) Springboks (Final Score)
England and the South African Springboks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Joe Launchbury will make his first Test start as England make six changes for Saturday’s Test against South Africa. The lock, 21, replaces Wasps team-mate Tom Palmer, who drops out of the 23, as one of four changes to the pack.
Seems that the planners of the End Of Year Tours all colluded to make it as difficult as possible for us to see all the games. This afternoon no less than 3 important Tests takes place at the same time, being Italy vs All Blacks (16:00 SA Time), England vs Wallabies (16:30 SA Time) and Scotland vs Springboks (16:30 SA Time). The other matches following are the Ireland vs Fiji (19:30 SA Time) and France vs Pumas (22:00 SA Time) matches.
England have made one change to the team that beat Fiji for this weekend’s clash against Australia at Twickenham with Chris Ashton replacing Ugo Monye on the wing.
England coach Stuart Lancaster has named his team with Leicester Tigers hooker Tom Youngs to make his debut at Twickenham against Fiji on Saturday.
The customary time of the year when Southern Hemisphere International teams descend on the Northern Hemisphere is now upon us. We can look forward to four action packed weekends with twenty matches involving the various international teams (nineteen of which will be test matches).
England have called Gloucester duo Freddie Burns and Billy Twelvetrees into their training squad ahead of the opening Autumn International against Fiji at Twickenham.
England coach Stuart Lancaster recalled a couple of big guns for his team’s year-end Tests against the three Southern Hemisphere powerhouses.
The 4th Cricket ODI between England and South Africa (4 of 5), played at Lords, London – 2 September 2012 – 50-over match.
England won by 6 wickets (with 20 balls remaining)
The 3rd Cricket ODI between England and South Africa (3 of 5), played at Kennington Oval, London – 31 August 2012 – day/night (50-over match).
England won by 4 wickets, with 12 balls to spare.