Six Nations
Scotland have made four changes to their starting XV and a further positional switch in their team to open the 2014 RBS 6 Nations Championship away to Ireland on Sunday.
The Super Rugby warm-up match between the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers on Saturday in Polokwane won’t be broadcast on TV, as confirmed by SuperSport.
The 2014 RBS Six Nations tournament kicks off this weekend with current holders Wales hosting Italy on Saturday, while England travel to Paris to play France on the same day. The final fixture of the weekend sees Scotland playing against Ireland in Dublin.
The senior mens Six Nations tournament attracts most of the attention but let us not forget that the women and juniors (under 20s) also take part in their section of the competition. Ireland won the womens tournament last year while England are the current holders of the U20s title.
Wing Chris Ashton and scrum-half Ben Youngs have been left out of England’s opening Six Nations match in France. Uncapped Exeter wing Jack Nowell is in a 26-man squad along with Gloucester’s Jonny May, who has one cap.
Alun Wyn Jones will captain defending champions Wales in their Six Nations opener against Italy on Saturday, with Sam Warburton on the bench, the Welsh Rugby Union announced on Tuesday.
Experienced flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc was on Saturday called into the France squad for next weekend’s Six Nations opener against England after Remi Tales was forced to withdraw with an arm injury.
Wales captain Sam Warburton has ended speculation about his future by signing a national contract with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
Warburton’s salary will be paid by the WRU but he will continue to play for Cardiff Blues and will be released for games outside his Wales duties at no cost to the region.
The 2014 RBS 6 Nations launched in London today as coaches and captains convened at the Hurlingham Club. Wales, led by victorious British & Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton and coach Warren Gatland, will seek to make history by becoming the first side to win a third successive RBS 6 Nations title.
The Scotland squad came together yesterday with head coach Scott Johnson’s first task being to re-focus minds away from Heineken Cup disappointments and on to a Six Nations Championship.
Ryan Jones has been ruled out of Wales’ Six Nations campaign because of a hamstring injury. The 32-year-old back-row forward led Wales in three of their matches in the 2013 tournament as they retained the Championship title.
Hi,
After an Off-season which certainly drove me slightly more batty than I already was, the new Rugby Season is now close at hand.
The coming weekend sees some of Super Rugby’s warm-up matches, with the Lions playing the Leopards on Friday evening 24 January, the Cheetahs playing against NMMU and again against the Kings on Saturday and of course the Sharks playing Saracens on Saturday 25 January in London. In addition there is the HSBC Sevens World Series Las Vegas tournament on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday and slightly into Monday very early morning.
Round 6 of the European Cup, which includes the Heineken Cup (Premier Competition) and Amlin Challenge Cup (secondary Qualification Competition) happened this past weekend and there was high drama and lots of action!
Sunday evening the full puzzle of who plays where in the Play-Off’s of both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge cup was revealed.
In the Heineken Cup, Ulster will host Saracens, ASM Clermont Auvergne will host Leicester Tigers, whilst the defending champions Toulon will host Leinster and Munster will host Toulouse at Thomond Park. The Quarter-finals will take place on the weekend of 4 to 6 April.
In the Amlin Challenge Cup Northampton Saints, Harlequins and Gloucester have booked their spots in the Quarter-finals along with the amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners Bath, London Wasps, Stade Francais, Sale Sharks and Brive.
Bath will host Brive, London Wasps will host Gloucester, Stade Francais host Harlequins and Sale Sharks will host Northampton Saints.
The race to these Cup winners will be interrupted by the Six Nations tournament, which takes place from 1 February 2014.
France have suffered a major blow for the Six Nations as Top 14 Rugby club Toulouse have announced that their captain Thierry Dusautoir has been ruled out of the championship.
The 32-year-old flanker – capped 65 times and world player of the year in 2011 – will be out for four months after he tore a tendon in his right biceps, Toulouse head coach Guy Noves said.
Chris Robshaw will continue as England captain in this year’s Six Nations, the Rugby Football Union said on Friday.
Kelly Brown has been told the Scotland captaincy is his to keep – if he proves himself as their best openside flanker. Head coach Scott Johnson has named the 31-year-old Saracens skipper every time he has played.
Uncapped 23-year-old Edinburgh wing Dougie Fife was named in a senior Scotland squad for the first time – ahead of the Six Nations next month.
Fife, a product of Edinburgh’s development system and also nurtured by the Currie club, has been in prolific form for the capital pro-club, scoring five tries in his last seven outings.
The Ireland coaching staff have announced an extended squad of 44 players for the forthcoming RBS 6 Nations Championship and the O2 Ireland Wolfhounds fixture against England Saxons. Ulster’s uncapped former South African duo Robbie Diack and Rob Herring have been included in the squad.
Gethin Jenkins has been included in a 32-man Wales squad for the Six Nations despite concerns over his damaged knee. The 33-year-old prop had a scan on Monday after he was injured in Cardiff Blues’ Heineken Cup defeat by Toulon.
Injury concerns are threatening to overshadow Wales coach Warren Gatland’s Six Nations squad announcement on Tuesday.
Wales are bidding to win a third outright title in succession, something never achieved before in the tournament’s history.
Scottish Rugby continues to monitor carefully the international pitch at Murrayfield Stadium. The playing surface at the home of Scottish Rugby has been regarded with justifiable pride for many years; therefore its current condition is a matter of understandable concern.
Versatile back Mirco Bergamasco was named in Italy’s pre-Six Nations 30-man squad by coach Jacques Brunel Thursday, for the first time in more than a year.
The 30-year-old has not played for Italy since November 2012 when he broke his knee against Australia in Florence.
opean RugbyUncapped Bath fly-half George Ford has replaced Toby Flood in England’s elite squad (EPS) ahead of the Six Nations.
The dropped Flood, 28, has won 60 caps for his country but is leaving Leicester at the end of the season for an as-yet unspecified French club.
Toby Flood’s 60-cap England career could come to an end on Thursday when Stuart Lancaster names his initial elite player squad ahead of this season’s Six Nations.
Euan Murray’s hopes of being involved in Scotland’s Six Nations campaign were hanging in the balance last night. The veteran Lions prop will be out of action for another month after suffering Achilles tendon damage during the autumn Test series.
When interim head coach Scott Johnson and the rest of the Scotland management group sit down to select the team to play Ireland in Dublin on the opening weekend of the Six Nations, one name that will not be bandied about is that of Tommy Allan, despite the player having turned out for the Scotland Under 17, 18 and Under 20 teams.
France scrumhalf Morgan Parra is set to miss the Six Nations opener against England after being ruled out for 10 to 12 weeks with a knee injury, his Top 14 club Clermont said.
Stade Francais saw their surging Top 14 form rewarded when a trio of uncapped players were on Monday called up for France’s Six Nations squad, notably fly-half Jules Plisson ahead of the experienced Francois Trinh-Duc and Frederic Michalak.
The crisis in Wales deepened on Saturday as both the Welsh Rugby Union and the regional teams issued statements in the long-standing and nasty public spat.
Wales looks set to be without Jonathan Davies for most, if not all, of the Six Nations.
Back row forward Sean O’Brien is in danger of missing Ireland’s entire Six Nations campaign, as he requires surgery on the dislocated left shoulder he suffered against Ulster last Saturday.
Warren Gatland has extended his contract as Wales coach until the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
This is the second extension of the contract between the WRU and the New Zealander who was originally appointed as head coach of Wales in 2007.
Ireland prop Cian Healy looks set to miss the start of next year’s Six Nations tournament after undergoing surgery on an ankle injury.
South Africans Craig Joubert and Jaco Peyper have been appointed by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to referee in next year’s Six Nations.
On the European and UK rugby front preparations for the Six Nations tournament of 2014 is gathering momentum, with news trickling through of injuries at this stage ruling some players out of the start of the Six Nations whilst others might miss the whole tournament.
England fullback / wing Ben Foden will likely miss only the start of the Six Nations, with a knee injury suffered for Northampton on the weekend against Newcastle.
England and Wasps wing, Christian Wade is out for 6 months after suffering a foot injury against London Irish over the past weekend.
Wales scrumhalf and “naughty boy” who was axed by Bayonne, Mike Phillips has reportedly signed a two and a half year deal with Racing Metro in France and will be available from Tuesday 3 December 2013.
A rip-roaring contest and magnificent entertainment it may have been, but Welsh faces after yet another defeat by Australia spoke only of more misery and another missed opportunity.