Australia
There seems to have been so many injuries already in this tournament which is barely halfway through the group stages. One feels sorry for the players who have had their World Cup short and wish them all a speedy recovery, it just shows what an attritional game Rugby Union is.
We could theorize all day on the possible reasons for all of these injuries: too many games, players bulking up, laws not being sufficient or those that are there not sufficiently enforced, players possibly carrying injuries into the tournament. The harsh reality for those who have been ruled out is that the game involves high speed collisions of big men and they have been reduced to being spectators for the rest of the tournament as well as having to undergo a period of rehabilitation, for some this involves surgery.
Wallabies (31) 65 / 3 (3) Uruguay (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Uruguay did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Villa Park, Birmingham, England at 13:00 SA Time (12:00 BST, 11:00 GMT, 21:00 AEST, 08:00 Uruguay Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Wallabies (18) 28 / 13 (3) Fiji (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Fiji did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 17:45 SA Time (16:45 BST, 15:45 GMT, Thursday 01:45 AEST, Thursday 03:45 Fiji Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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A popular topic of debate heading into the Rugby World Cup is that of eligibility, particularly that resulting from the residency method. We take a look at the foreign-born players in each squad, where they were born and how they are eligible.
An interesting fact – only Argentina can claim that all 31 players in their squad are native to their country. The other 19 teams all have players born abroad, including significant numbers in some of rugby’s most powerful nations.
All told, Rugby World Cup 2015 will have a grand total of 33 countries involved in the tournament. Players born in various African countries – Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Zimbabwe join the participating Namibia and South Africa. Zimbabwe has players representing 4 countries, more than any other non-competitor.
Spain is another country not present at the Rugby World Cup who have players representing multiple countries while other countries include Belgium, Israel, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands are also all represented.
Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa lead the way in terms of players representing others at the Rugby World Cup.
South Africa moved up to 3rd place in the World Rankings without even kicking a ball.
It means the Springboks have climbed 2 places in the World Rankings since their last match – a win over Argentina in Buenos Aires, last month.
Their rise, despite the team’s inactivity, is the result of Ireland’s dramatic slump – the men from the Emerald Isle having lost to Wales (10 / 16) and England (13 / 21) in the past fortnight.
As a result, Rugby Championship heavyweights New Zealand, Australia and South Africa will go into the Rugby World Cup as the Top 3 nations in the rankings.
Ireland’s rating fell by 0.79 points and resulted in a 3-place drop to 6 for the Six Nations Champions, placing them below the Springboks.
England gained the same amount of points to leapfrog their Pool A opponents Wales into 4th.
Long-time leaders New Zealand remain untouchable – for a fortnight at least – on 92.89 points, with Australia 6.22 points behind in 2nd and South Africa a further 1.52 points back in 3rd.
Australia were unable to make up any ground on their arch rivals, despite being the only one of the 3 in action over the weekend.
Their 47 / 10 win over the USA Eagles in Chicago did not come with any ratings points, given the double-figure difference in rankings positions and rating points between the nations.
Serious injuries to star fullback Leigh Halfpenny and scrumhalf Rhys Webb, made it a day to forget for Wales, who scraped home 23 / 19 against Italy at the Millennium Stadium.
Geraint John
Welshman Geraint John on Monday quit as coach of Australia’s Sevens team to take up a new role for the Welsh Rugby Union.
The sudden announcement comes barely a year out from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
John, who had served as the Sevens director and head coach since June 2014, resigned to take up a new position with the WRU as the leader of the elite coach development.
Wales ended Ireland’s hopes of a Six Nations Grand Slam and in the process climb above Australia to 5th in the World Rugby Rankings.
Wales have climbed 1 place to 5th in the latest World Rugby Rankings after their 23 / 16 victory over Ireland, setting up a thrilling climax to the RBS 6 Nations with 3 sides tied on 6 Log points.
The Welsh victory, in a match which saw Sam Warburton surpass Ryan Jones’s record for the most tests as captain, leaves them, Ireland and England battling for the title this coming Saturday.
Wales’ climb comes at the expense of Australia, who have now fallen to their lowest ever position since the World Rugby Rankings were introduced in October 2003.
Jack Payne
Former Wales and Llanelli flyhalf Phil Bennett has questioned Scarlets’ move for Welsh-qualified flanker Jack Payne from Queensland Reds in Australia.
Payne, 20, has arrived in Wales, but any move cannot be made official until passport issues have been resolved.
Scarlets president Bennett would prefer to see local players at Scarlets, but admitted importing Welsh-qualified players from abroad could help Wales.
“There’s a lot of mixed feeling from Llanelli,” he said. “We’re kind of old fashioned here. People still go back to the great Llanelli days . . . they all want to be Welsh, Welsh-speaking if they had their way,” joked 66-year-old Bennett.
“But let’s be honest, look at the Australians, the All Blacks and how they’ve milked the situation of getting players from Fiji, Samoa and different places. You’ve got to get and live with the very best in the world.”
Captains for the Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament: Ed Jenkins, Osea Kolinisau, DJ Forbes & Kyle Brown
After climbing into the top four after two rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series, Australia and New Zealand know it’s far too early to rest on their laurels with Olympic qualification also up for grabs this season.
As the 16 captains assemble for the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth, Australian skipper Ed Jenkins and his New Zealand counterpart DJ Forbes reflect on their respective team’s elevation to the all-important top four after the first two rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series.
Australia have slipped another place to fifth in the latest World Rugby Rankings with France, Japan, Tonga, Canada and Namibia also falling after defeats.
Australia’s 26-23 loss to Ireland on Saturday has seen the Wallabies slip another place to fifth – equalling their lowest ever position since the World Rugby Rankings were introduced in October 2003.
The Wallabies headed into the match in Dublin sitting just one hundredth of a rating point above England, but will now travel to Twickenham to face Stuart Lancaster’s men this weekend behind two northern hemisphere nations with Ireland strengthening their hold on third place with the win.
Argentinian tenor Marcelo Zalada managed to cock up the words of Advance Australia fair, but at least, unlike Ras Dumisane, he still managed to make it sound decent.
In case anyone forgot what Ras did to Nkosi, have a listen.
There has been no change in the Top 12 of the IRB world rankings following the opening round of The Rugby Championship.
Despite seeing their 17-Test win streak end in Sydney thanks to a 12-12 draw with the Wallabies, New Zealand continue to lead the way on 93.42 points.
The Wallabies, courageous in their efforts – and perhaps a little unlucky – remain in third position on 87.32.
There will be a new name on the Women’s Rugby World Cup as New Zealand are the high profile absentee in the final four of the competition.
In the last round of the pool stages in Marcoussis, England’s draw with Canada saw both into the semi-finals where they will be joined by Australia and Ireland.
New Zealand, who have triumphed in the past four World Cups, won their last game of the pools but they went into their game against the USA already knowing they were out of the competition.
Defending champions New Zealand got their World Cup defence off to a strong start on day one of the tournament while wins for hosts France, Canada, Australia, England and Ireland mean the competition is set for more classic match-ups before the 17 August final.
The seventh Women’s Rugby World Cup saw sell-out crowds watch six top-quality matches at FFR headquarters in the French capital.
Ireland beat their Pool B rivals USA in a match that could be crucial for the progress of the girls in green, while Australia and England impressed in their pool openers.
There is a palpable level of excitement in the country ahead of the Commonwealth Games which will be held in Glasgow this year. Driving up the road over the weekend one was reminded by overhead sign boards long before reaching Glasgow of the need to plan ahead and potential difficulties in travelling as a result of the Games.
The online search engine Google has the theme of the games on its page, there is a lot of coverage in the media both online, in print and of course in audio and visual. Radio schedules have already been changed on some stations providing coverage already ahead of the Games which are due to get kick started with the opening ceremony tonight. In advertising it’s radio coverage the national broadcaster has even made a pledge to bring all the action of Scotland’s medal winning events live to the public. Colleagues have members of their family involved on a voluntary basis as ambassadors for Glasgow 2014 with some having already been helping out in the Athletes Village for the last two weeks.
Sean McMahon
Liam Gill
Wallaby Liam Gill and Rebels flank Sean McMahon are all but certain starters for the Australian Sevens side in next month’s Commonwealth Games.
Provided the pair get through this weekend’s Super Rugby fixtures unscathed, they will be released to join the Australian Sevens camp next week and be included in new coach Geraint John’s final squad of 12 for Glasgow to be named on 7 July.
Reds openside flank Gill won a Sevens silver medal with Australia at the 2010 Delhi Games, while blindside flanker McMahon played his last Sevens tournament as recently as late last year in Dubai.
Geraint John
Geraint John has joined the Australian Sevens team as head coach, from Canada who enjoyed their most successful season to date.
The 51-year-old has been head coach of the Canada’s Sevens team since 2010.
John, from Carmarthen, Wales, takes over the reins from Michael O’Connor, who stepped down as Head Coach in February after six years in the role.
Scottish Rugby is immensely saddened to learn of the death on Monday night of the former Hawick, Scotland and Lions internationalist Hughie McLeod. He was 81.
Hugh Ferns McLeod was a pioneer, ahead of his time. His achievements as a player were the stuff of legend but, arguably, it was the manner in which he moulded future success in Hawick that marked him as a truly special character.
Hugh drove himself very hard as a player. He set high standards and expected the same of others. Into retirement he still followed a fitness regime which might have proved – no, would have proved too onerous for younger folk. Whether it was cycling, swimming up in Edinburgh or walking, Hughie loved to be active.
Veteran Toulon flyhalf Frederic Michalak has been preferred to Montpellier’s Francois Trinh-Duc in France coach Philippe Saint-Andre’s squad to tour Australia in June.
Saint-Andre named a 31-man squad on Wednesday and once again Trinh-Duc finds himself out in the cold, with Michalak recalled as back up for first-choice flyhalf Remi Tales.
Although first choice under Saint-Andre’s predecessor Marc Lievremont, Trinh-Duc has found himself eased out of international reckoning under the new coach.
Former Rugby League player Lausii Taliauli is set to make his World Sevens Series debut after being added to the Australia squad for the Glasgow leg this weekend.
Australia head coach Michael O’Connor made the late change to his squad after Taliauli was declared fit by the Australian Rugby Union medical staff.
South Africa and Australia battled each other in the 3rd and last T20 Cricket International at SuperSport Park, Centurion, from 18:00 SA Time on Friday 14 March.
This was the last game for the 2 sides, before departing for the T20 International World Cup, starting on Sunday.
Australia won the match and the T20 Seires by 2 / 0, after the 1st game in the series was rained out and abandoned and after the 2nd game was reduced to 7 overs a side, where Australia won earlier in the week.
Australia won with 5 full overs to spare and by 6 wickets.
The score cards was updated at regular intervals here on Rugby-Talk.
South Africa: 128 / 7 (20 Overs)
Australia: 129 / 4 (15 Overs)
South Africa and Australia battled each other in the 3rd and last 5-Day Test at Newlands, Cape Town, from 10:30 SA Time on Saturday 1 March to Wednesday 5 March.
South Africa and Australia were 1 / 1 in the series, after South Africa convincingly beat Australia in the 2nd Test at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth.
The score cards was updated at regular intervals here on Rugby-Talk.
Australia took control of the match from the first ball of the test, declaring their innings twice, whilst South Africa fell cheaply in the first innings and almost batted for a day and a half in the second innings.
Australia knocked the last wicket over, that of Morne Morkel, with only 27 balls left in the Test.
Australia win by 245 runs and win the Test Series 2 / 1.
Australia:
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First Innings – 494 / 7 Declared (127.4 Overs)
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Second Innings – 303 / 5 Declared (58 Overs)
South Africa:
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First Innings – 287 All Out (82.5 Overs)
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Second Innings – 265 All Out (134.3 Overs)
Since South Africa’s return from international sporting isolation, two teams have tormented the county’s sporting heroes and sports-mad public alike – the All Blacks and the Baggy Greens.
Lead by a succession of hard-nosed captains and spear-headed by some of the best players in history, Australia has been the cricketing nemesis of the Proteas and the team South African fans most ‘loved to hate’. ODIs and Tests between the teams have produced some of the most memorable games in cricket history.
Even though fans hated playing second fiddle to the Baggy Greens, their acknowledgement of Australia’s cricketing excellence ranged from grudging respect to open admiration.
South Africa and Australia battled each other in the 2nd of three 5-Day Tests at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth.
Australia were 1 / 0 up in the series, after beating South Africa onvincingly in the 1st Test at Centurion Park, Pretoria.
The score cards were be updated at regular intervals here on Rugby-Talk.
See you in the comments section!
South Africa squared the series with a 231 run win, the series now 1 / 1 with the final 5-Day Test set up nicely for Newlands, Cape Town.
There was still 1 full day to go in the Test, but South Africa asked for the extra half an hour on Day 4 to finish the Australians up, which they duly did.
South Africa:
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First Innings – 423 All Out (150.5 Overs)
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Second Innings – 270 / 5 Declared (64 Overs)
Australia:
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First Innings – 246 All Out (57 Overs)
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Second Innings – 216 All Out (73.4 Overs)
South Africa’s Proteas cricket team and Australia went head to head and toe to toe in the first of 3, Five-Day cricket Tests at SuperSport Park, Centurion from Thursday 12 February. THe match ended more than a full day early, with Australia winning by 281 runs..
The match started at 10:30 SA Time on 12 February 2014.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bowl first.
This was the Live Game Article, where we updated the scores from time to time during the Day’s play and where the cricket supporters amongst us had have the opportunity to discuss the game.
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.
Glasgow 2014 has today (Tuesday January 14) confirmed the teams and pools for the Rugby Sevens competition at this summer’s Commonwealth Games.
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.
Round 1 of the End Of Year Tours of 2013 is upon us and it is that time of the year where we see the teams from the South migrate to the North to go do battle with those from Europe and beyond.
The Test rugby games of the End Of Year Tours or November Internationals are always a nice spectacle to see. Some teams use this as an experimental base, whilst other teams use this competition to prepare for other competitions like the 6 Nations. The big thing here is that the 3 Southern Hemisphere giant teams are ranked No 1 to 3 in the world. So, every team wants to beat these sides for bragging rights and to also get an indication of where they stand in preparation of the next Rugby World Cup.
So let the battles begin!
Andrew Trimble has missed out on a place in Ireland’s squad for the November games against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium. The Ulster wing fails to make Joe Schmidt’s 34-man squad which includes uncapped trio David Kearney, James Coughlan and Jack McGrath.
With the Pumas hosting the Wallabies this weekend it is still all to play for for both sides to avoid the wooden spoon in The Rugby Championship.
These two teams are facing their own demons this season as the Pumas have recorded no wins and the Wallabies only one win in this year’s competition. The Pumas will be backing themselves for a win against a struggling Wallaby team who also aeem to be full of internal politics about pay disputes.
The losing team in this clash will finish at the bottom of the Log. This clash will be an interesting one as both teams want to prove a point.
With the Wallabies having arguably their worst season ever, flyhalf Quade Cooper has voiced his concerns regarding the team.
After losing against the Springboks in their match on Saturday, Cooper told the guys to come together and support the coach.
A win in this match is crucial for the Springboks if they are to still have a chance of winning the tounament at the conclusion of the Test against the All Blacks next weekend, a loss could mean season over as far as silver wear goes.
The Wallabies are battling under new coaching staff and winning has become an extinct species down under.
They managed their first win this year in The Rugby Championship in their last encounter against the Pumas, with one solitary point, having scored zero points in the second half.
All in all it is doubtful that the Wallabies will walk away with a win in this match, having said that, they will not make it easy for the Springboks, in a must win match.
In a Springbok medical update, it still seems as though some players are still recovering from minor niggles as a result of the last test against the All Blacks.
Wallaby James O’Connor has now been dropped from the Wallaby squad, indefinately, due to his recent escapade at the Perth airport.