IRB
Brett Gosper
International Rugby Board Chief Executive Brett Gosper urged international unions to play their star names at the Rio Olympics Sevens to maximise the sport’s opportunity on the world stage.
Gosper said that while the value of having regular Sevens players must be properly respected, Rugby Union’s chances of becoming a permanent Olympic sport may rely on an injection of star power from the traditional, more high-profile 15-a-side game.
“In 2017, straight after Rio, they’ll decide if Rugby continues to be a core sport at the Olympics. We will be in Japan in 2020 as well, but that may be it,” Gosper told reporters in Sydney.
The late Kenny Nuzum’s son – Andrew
Shontayne Hape
While rugby spent the past week looking back on the glorious careers of two of its departing heroes, Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O’Driscoll, there was forensic analysis of a very different kind going on elsewhere close to the game.
Last Tuesday morning, at the Coroners Court in Dublin, it was found that a former amateur rugby player, whose family had donated his brain for research, had died prematurely because of repeated blows to the head on the field during his rugby years.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, accepted evidence from two neuropathology experts, one of whom was Dr Willie Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital and a world leader in the examination of head trauma of sport.
The findings were that Kenny Nuzum, a prop forward with the Lansdowne club in Dublin and a former team-mate of the legendary Moss Keane, passed away in March last year because of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In layman’s terms, punch-drunk syndrome.
Hawkeye technology used in tennis
Technology company Hawkeye says it is in talks about providing a replacement to the television match official (TMO) system in rugby.
Hawkeye, which operates systems in football and tennis, could be used in domestic rugby and internationally in time for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Hawkeye founder Paul Hawkins said: “We are in conversation with Premiership Rugby and the IRB.”
The International Rugby Board would not confirm any talks with Hawkeye.
The newest addition to Vodacom Super Rugby in 2016 will not be a team of “mercenaries” put together with a big budget.
That’s the word of Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters, who said the 18th team that will go out to tender to join the Southern Hemisphere competition will need to be sustainable, and have the support of the market it bases itself in.
So far Sanzar has received interest from Spain, Singapore, Japan and the USA, but it is doubtful if any of these countries could put together a team that could be competitive over 17 weeks of the competition in 2016.
A push to move June internationals back and create an integrated global rugby season by 2016 remains a ‘long shot’, New Zealand Rugby Union chief Steve Tew has warned.
The International Rugby Players’ Association (IRPA) has campaigned for the June Test window to be pushed back to the end of July to allow southern hemisphere-based players to finish the Super Rugby tournament and have Europe-based players start their domestic campaigns later.
With 500 days to go until Rugby World Cup 2015 in England kicks off, Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset is confident that preparations are on track to deliver “an unforgettable and special” record-breaking event that will further the growth of the sport worldwide.
With fans snapping up tickets in record numbers through the official supporter tour programme and with Rugby community ticket sales beginning today, tournament organisers England Rugby 2015 Limited have announced that tickets for all 48 matches will go on general sale globally from September 12-29 2014.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has defended its decision to allow controversial French referee, Romain Poite, to take charge of a Springbok Test later this year.
The Springboks start their season with a match against a World XV on 7 June (venue to be confirmed but believed to be in Cape Town).
No, this is no April Fools joke, it is true… the IRB has released the names of the Match Official Appointments for the June International Test window!
Romain Poite (FFR), hated by most South Africans, will referee the match between South Africa and Wales on 14 June 2014 at Growthpoint Kings Park and will be assisted by Steve Walsh (ARU), Francisco Pastrana (UAR) and Vinnie Munro (NZR).
One could be forgiven to believe, despite our assurances, that this MUST SURELY be an April Fools joke, because apart from the run-in with Romain Poite, South Africans have had run-in’s by Steve Walsh too and just recently Francisco Pastrana was taken off the Super Rugby officiating lists till further notice for his abhorrent and totally inept refereeing performance against yet another South African side.
Let’s cut to the chase and just place the Official Appointments list here for you…
South African rugby fans need not worry about securing match tickets for Springbok matches at Rugby World Cup 2015 in England following the establishment of SA Rugby Travel, it was announced on Tuesday.
The new company – a joint venture between the South African Rugby Union and Tourvest Destination Management – has secured thousands of tickets for likely Springbok matches and tailored packages to suit a wide range of fans’ pockets and experience choices.
The International Rugby Board clamped down on foul play in the Pacific Cup tournament this week.
Four players from Samoa were handed bans for various acts of foul play.
Five players from the Samoa A team were cited, following the Pacific Cup match between Argentina Pampas and Samoa A in Canberra on Tuesday (11 March).
The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the dates for the HSBC Sevens World Series 2014 / 2015, which has gained in significance with the recent announcement that the top four-ranked nations will qualify from it directly for the Olympic Games in 2016.
According to the IRB’s official website, the 16th edition of the record-breaking series will visit the same nine countries as the current 2013/14 season with two changes to the order of rounds. The event in the USA will be played the weekend after New Zealand’s, and Japan’s tournament will follow on from Hong Kong.
Australian John O’Neill has quit as director of the 2015 Rugby World Cup citing personal reasons, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said on Tuesday.
O’Neill, a former chief of the Australian Rugby Union as well as the Football Federation Australia, confirmed his departure was effective immediately.
The South African Rugby (SARU) Union announced a group of 76 players on Tuesday for the start of the SA Under-20 preparations for the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship tournament to be hosted in Auckland, New Zealand, in June.
SARU also unveiled a comprehensive preparation plan aimed at ensuring the Junior Springboks are battle ready for the 2014 JWC showpiece.
South African Rugby Union (SARU) medical consultant Dr Jon Patricios has been appointed to an expert International Rugby Board (IRB) concussion advisory panel aimed at promoting best-practice concussion management, education, prevention and research.
The cash-strapped Fiji Rugby Union on Friday hailed a new US$21.3 million sponsorship deal as a “game changer” for the sport in the Pacific nation.
FRU chairman Filimoni Waqabaca said the five-year agreement gave the organisation certainty after a troubled period when it had to sack the national team’s coach to save money and had financial aid from the International Rugby Board (IRB) suspended.
The International Rugby Board has announced that the Brazil men’s and women’s teams will automatically qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Rugby Sevens events.
Confirmation follows ratification by the International Olympic Committee of the inaugural Rugby Sevens qualification process that will feature a blend of the existing men’s and women’s Series structures, regional competitions and a world play-off, ensuring universal representation and the participation of the best teams and players.
The decision to automatically qualify the host nation in both the 12-team men’s and women’s competitions underscores the growing strength of Rugby in Brazil and the IRB’s commitment to further drive growth of the sport across a nation where Rugby participation has grown by more than 25 per cent since 2011.
International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Bernard Lapasset has spoken out against the “increase” in public criticism of referees ahead of the start of this season’s Six Nations.
Rugby Union, in common with many sports, has long set great store by respect for match officials.
The International Rugby Board which approves what players wear or disapproves of something that players wear of want to wear, has approved has approved the use of a particular kind of goggles for those with seeing problems.
A lot of rugby will be played this weekend, with the much awaited friendly between Saracens and the Cell C Sharks, the HSBC Sevens World Series tournament in Las Vegas and the LV Cup, amongst others, happening.
The Referees & Match Officials have been named.
Australia’s best emerging talent will compete against national representative teams from Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and Argentina in the 2014 IRB Pacific Rugby Cup (PRC).
The competition was established in 2006 to help develop rugby in Pacific nations, but for the first time in 2014, it will include the Argentina Pampas and will be held entirely in Australia.
Concussion protocols in English rugby will be tightened up to protect players who have suffered head injuries with the aim of ensuring they do not return to the field of play.
The IRB made the following statement:
The International Rugby Board has confirmed that it is to suspend all direct financial support to the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) with immediate effect until the Union adopts key financial reporting, administration and governance reforms.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is considering stricter protocols to prevent players with possible concussion from returning to the field during matches.
According to a current protocol being tested in some tournaments, a player can return to the playing field if he passes a cognitive test within five minutes. It is called the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) trial – or ‘five-minute test’.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is set to ditch the ‘YES NINE’ scrum call in favour of a non-verbal, pre-agreed instruction.
The change will take place with immediate effect, and will be introduced at all levels of the game.
Referees will no longer give a verbal instruction of ‘YES NINE’, and instead will issue a non-verbal instruction to the scrumhalf when he considers the scrum to be square and stable.
The non-verbal instruction must be agreed by the referee and both scrumhalves prior to the start of the game and could be in the form of a tap on the back while the referee is on the side of the put-in, or an agreed signal (nod of the head or hand signal) by the referee while he is on the other side of the scrum.
All Blacks and Crusaders vice captain Kieran Read has been named the International Rugby Board’s Player of the Year for 2013.
New Zealand rugby claimed a triple scoop on the awards as the All Blacks were also named team of the year while coach of the year went to Steve Hansen.
Wales dropped out of the top five on the IRB World Rankings following their 26-30 loss to the Wallabies in Cardiff on Saturday.
With only three international fixtures over the weekend, the focus was on the pulsating encounter between Wales and the touring Australians at Millennium Stadium.
Civil rights organisation AfriForum has warned SARU in a letter that its decision to implement racial quotas in the Vodacom Cup would constitute a violation of the IRB’s prohibition on racial discrimination.
SARU was also informed in the letter that the Olympic Charter, with which rugby has to comply as Olympic sport, explicitly prohibits racial discrimination.
The Dubai leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series was played, with Day 1 on 29 November and Day 2 on 30 November 2013.
Here are the Results & Fixtures.
Fiji won the Tournament against the Blitzbokke of South Africa, by 29 / 17.
The Junior Springboks were grouped with hosts New Zealand, Samoa and Scotland when the pools and fixtures of the IRB Junior World Championship 2014 were confirmed earlier today in Auckland.
The future stars of world Rugby will come together in New Zealand from 2-20 June 2014 for the seventh edition of the Under 20 tournament which will see matches played at North Harbour Stadium and Pukekohe Stadium during the pool stages and semi-finals on 2, 6, 10 and 15 June 2014.
The prospect of two rival European club tournaments next season grew on Thursday when the four RaboDirect unions and France announced the Heineken Cup would continue and the English and French clubs insisted their Rugby Champions Cup would go ahead regardless.
In another significant development regarding the ongoing impasses over the future of European club rugby, representatives from the French, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian unions will meet in Dublin on Thursday in an attempt to break the current logjam, and to that end will begin drawing up plans for a Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup without the English clubs.
Former Springbok coach and current selector Ian McIntosh has been presented with the IRB’s Vernon Pugh Award for Distinguished Service, recognising his achievement in changing the face of rugby in South Africa.
Georgina Robinson of the Sydney Morning Herald, a pleasant lady who sat next to me at Loftus Versfeld during Super Rugby… or was it a Test between the Springboks and Wallabies, wrote an article about Ewen McKenzie, Wallabies coach, complaining bitterly about the unfair treatment the Wallabies scrum gets, due to the perceptions of the quality or lack of quality of Wallaby scums of recent years.
Now understand me clear here, I do not moan over Georgina article, after all she has a duty to report the news when it presents itself – and generally she is a fair lass as far as rugby matters go, in my opinion one of the better rugby scribes from Down Under.
The beef that I have is the smoke and mirrors, the side-show that Ewen McKenzie is trying to conjure up and the smoke he is trying to blow up the IRB and our combined arses, to make up for absolutely woeful Wallaby scrummaging!
We’re going to look at Georgina’s Article in the Sydney Morning Herald first… thereafter we will look at a video clip analising all 17 scrums in the recent Test between England and the Wallabies (a must watch clip) and finally, each will come to his or her own conclusion, mine being to laugh at McKenzie’s antics in disgust and disbelief!
World rugby supremo Bernard Lapasset has warned English and French clubs wishing to form a breakaway European club competition that they do not have the right to impose their will on other leagues reluctant to join them.
The 66-year-old Frenchman – president of the International Rugby Board since replacing Irishman Syd Millar in 2008 – has kept his own counsel while the English and French clubs have tried to persuade their counterparts in Wales, Ireland, Italy and Scotland to leave the European Rugby Cup (ERC), who organise the European Cup and Challenge, and join the planned 20-team Champions Cup from next year.
The first Tournament of the HSBC Sevens World Series of the 2013 / 2014 season happened at the Gold Coast, Queensland, at Skilled Park.
Here are the results of the Tournament: