Heineken Cup
This weekend was a busy one for the Heineken Cup as twelve matches were played in the third round of the competion. The weekend started on Friday night with a comprehensive win for Ulster over Northampton and a win by Connacht against Biarritz. Following Munster’s win over Saracens on Saturday it looked as if there may be a clean sweep of wins for the teams from Ireland and Northern Ireland.
However, Leinster stumbled to a narrow loss in their game against Clermont Auvergne on Sunday. This ended Leinster’s amazing 17 game unbeaten run in the Heineken Cup.
Head coach Gregor Townsend has made three changes to the Glasgow Warriors side which was beaten by Munster last week as they prepare to face French Top 14 team Castres Olympique in the Heineken Cup.
In the face of a determined Munster Edinburgh simply whimpered, pulled a pout and took a battering, with three tries coming in the last ten minutes.
Saracens will be playing at “home” in Brussels against Racing-Metro in an intriguing second round of European Cup action this weekend.
This weekend saw an action packed start to the Heineken Cup. All twenty four teams were involved in the round which started on Friday and ended on Sunday.
Ruan Pienaar’s last-gasp try gave Ulster a deserved bonus-point win over Castres in the Heineken Cup opener.
Leinster will target an unprecedented hat-trick of back-to-back European Cup titles when action in the continent’s showpiece club tournament gets under way on Friday. The Irish province were champions in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and now have a chance of matching Toulouse’s record of four titles (1998, 2005, 2008, 2010).
The Aviva Premiership and RaboDirect Pro12 leagues head into temporary hibernation and we look forward to the start of this season’s Heineken Cup competition this weekend. The Heineken Cup features the elite of the European clubs, with twenty four clubs taking part.
French clubs have revealed that they have no intention of leaving European Rugby tournaments the Heineken Cup and the Challenge Cup and playing with just English clubs in a new tournament.
It was reported earlier in the week that telecommunications company BT had secured the exclusive broadcast rights for the English Premiership rugby starting from the 2013/14 season in a complex deal involving rights to broadcast various other rugby matches. The contract is set to run to the 2015/16 season and was reported to have been worth up to a whopping £152m.
The launch of the RaboDirect Pro 12 Rugby tournament took place at Glasgow’s impressive Riverside Museum on Tuesday morning with coaches and captains from all twelve teams in attendance.
Early last month Edinburgh Rugby announced they had acquired the services of former England and Lions star flanker Neil Back; as forwards coach.
Yesterday, Edinburgh indicated they had bolstered their hooking options by signing another former Lions player, and one time Sale Sharks stalwart, hooker Andy Titterrell.
The Heineken Cup Final, to be played later today at Twickenham, will be Pedrie Wannenburg’s last game for Ulster, as reported on this site yesterday.
The Heineken Cup Final takes place at Twickenham this Saturday between Leinster and Ulster, kick off 18.00 SA time. Both teams have now been announced.
This season’s Heineken Cup culminates in the final between Irish sides Leinster and Ulster this weekend. The match takes place this Saturday, 19 May, at Twickenham, kick off 18.00 SA time.
The whole Southern Kings and Super Rugby situation in South Africa has gotten me thinking and after discussing it with a avid rugby & Lions supporter in Francois Nell, the following transpired:
Why don’t we have teams playing in both Super Rugby, Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup? We have enough teams to do this and it should strengthen South African rugby. Here are a couple of options SARU might well want to consider in going forward in to the future.
Ruan Pienaar’s Man of the Match-performance against Edinburgh in Saturday’s 22-19 Heineken Cup semi-final victory has made the Ulster scrum-half the most talked-about player in European rugby right now.
Sunday afternoon’s Heineken Cup sixth round pool clashes brought an end to the Pool phase of the Heineken Cup and the quarter finalists have now been decided.
World Cup-winning South African captain John Smit is set to play more regularly at prop for his new club, Saracens.
Springbok flank Francois Louw has been praised by rugby legend Sir Ian McGeechan for his contribution for Bath over the past two months, and hailed “a Test match animal.”
It is Round 2 of the Heineken Cup and today 3 games are broadcast live on TV in SA.
They are:
- Benetton Treviso vs Ospreys (SS6 & CSN)
- Castres Olympique vs Munster (SS6 & CSN)
- Leicester Tigers vs Ulster Rugby (SS6 & CSN)
This is the general discussion thread for these 3 Games, only the first 2 will be updated live.
Saracens have been forced to cancel their plans to take a Heineken Cup match to Cape Town South Africa and moved the match back to London due to a spat in Cape Town itself over the stadium.
Saracens hooker Schalk Brits has been given a three week suspension for a dangerous tackle on a Treviso winger in the Heineken Cup.
Saracens have been forced to move their Heineken Cup match against Biarritz in Cape Town from the new Cape Town Stadium to Newlands which is home to Western Province Rugby.
Springbok captain John Smit made the perfect debut for Saracens when he scored Saracens fifth try in their 42-17 hammering of Treviso in Pool 5 of the Heineken Cup at Vicarage Road.
It is Heineken Cup time and today 3 games were broadcast live on TV in SA.
They are:
- Montpellier vs Leinster
- Ulster Rugby vs Asm Clemont Auvergne
- Munster vs Northampton Saints
This was the general discussion thread for these 3 Games.
A new employment agreement signed by the New Zealand Rugby Union and the association representing its professional players has cleared the way for overseas players to join New Zealand Super Rugby teams for the first time.
Extracts from articles on News24 and Rugby Heaven.