Argentina Players star for Italy vs Wales

Wales backed up last weekends impressive win over Scotland at Murrayfield with a 24-16 win over Italy at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome on Saturday. The win means Wales have won two of their three matches while Italy remain winless despite playing significantly better than they did in their previous match vs England two weeks ago. In Saturday´s match vs Wales Italy had six players from Argentina in their team of 22 players for the match which is an indication of just how much Argentina is contributing to Italian rugby.

Both Wales and Italy scored two tries each but superior goalkicking from Wales and a James Hook drop goal saw the men in red win the battle of Rome. Both of Italy´s tries were scored by players from Argentina with Italian outside centre, Gonzalo Canale scoring the games first try in the 4th minute of play which put Italy 5-3 ahead. Wales scored a try five minutes latter which put them in the lead and they looked firm until Argentina born Italian backrower and captain, Sergio Parisse scored Italy´s second try in the 50th minute which made it 21-16 to Wales. Italy had opportunities to close the gap but failed with penalty kicks at goal with both Mirco Bergamasco and Argentine born Luciano Orquera missing key opportunities. Argentina had a further three players in the Italian side with Martín Castrogiovanni playing tighthead prop in a dominant Italian scrum, Santiago Dellape playing secondrow and Pablo Canavosio was on the bench and came on for Italy in the 70th minute at scrumhalf.

Los Pampas XV 52-29 Griffons in Vodacom Cup

The best of Argentina´s domestic based players put on a solid debut display in South Africa´s Vodacom Cup competition on Saturday in defeating the Griffons 52-29 in a fine performance which included seven tries. First half tries to Juan Imhoff, Gabriel Ascárate, Martín Landajo and Miguel de Achával which were all converted by Nicolás Sanchez who also slotted a first half penalty gave Los Pampas XV a 31-8 lead. The South Africa side fought back well in the second half with three tries but the Argentina side scored three of their own in securing victory. The teams next match will take place next weekend against the highly fancied Johanesburg based Golden Lions, on Friday March the 4th.

Vodacom Cup Table

North Division
1 Griquas 5
2 Pumas 5
3 Leopards 5
4 Golden Lions 2
5 Griffons 1
6 Blue Bulls 0
7 Welwitschias 0
8 Valke Falcons 0

South Division
1 Free State 5
2 Eastern Province 5
3 Pampas XV 5
4 Sharks XV 5
5 Western Province 2
6 Border 1
7 SWD Eagles 1
8 Boland Kavaliers 0

With Thanks: www.scrum.com.ar

Los Jaguares to compete for Nations Cup 2011

The 16th edition of the IRB Nations Cup will take place in June at the home of Romanian rugby, Triumf National Stadium in Bucharest. It is to be a competition involving six teams, three of which will be at Rugby World Cup 2011. Hosts Romania will be joined by fellow European Nations Cup participants Georgia and Portugal as well as the Top Qualifier from Africa, Namibia. Argentina and South Africa will both participate with their A sides taking part in the form of Los Jaguares and the South Africa Kings. The six sides will all play three matches between June 10 and 19 but will not be split into two pools. Rather they will each face three other sides at random. Los Jaguares will begin their campaign against Portugal on June the 10th . Five days latter they ill go up against the impressive Georgia on June the 15th before facing the home side four days latter.

In the competitions history Argentina have participated three times - in 2006, 2007 and 2010. The teams best performance came in 2007 when the Argentina A side finished second behind South Africa A who were known as the Emerging Springboks. On that occasion the South Americans had defeated Italy A and Namibia before looking like defeating South Africa halfway through the final match but in the end falling short. On that occassion Argentina had players involved who have since gone on to play for Los Pumas such as centre Santiago Fernández.

Fixtures

Round 1

June 10 Romania vs Namibia (17:00 - local time)
June 10 Georgia vs. South Africa Kings (19:00)
June 10 Jaguares vs Portugal (21:00)

Round 2
June 15 Jaguares vs Georgia (17:00)
June 15 Romania vs. South Africa Kings (19:00)
June Portugal vs. Namibia (21:00)

Round 3 

June 19 Portugal v South Africa Kings (17:00)
June 19 Georgia vs Namibia (19:00)
June 19 Romania vs Jaguares (21:00)

Los Pampas XV to face the Griffons

Los Pampas coach Daniel Hourcade has named his side for the first Vodacom Cup match of the season to be played tommorrow in South Africa. The team is a mixture of youth and experience with current Argentina international players as well as some who are destined to play for Los Pumas in time. The youngest player to make the team is backrower Tomás De La Vega who is only 20 and has been selected ahead of two players, Tomás Leonardi and Leonardo Senatore, who toured with Argentina for international matches in 2009 and 2010. Julio Farías Cabello toured in 2010 and was selected in the backrow but has been picked as a secondrower for the match this weekend vs the Griffons in a move that suggests De La Vega is one to watch out for.

Julio Farías Cabello will form what is a highly impressive pack which includes four other players who played in Argentina´s European tour of November 2010. Agustín Creevy has returned from his brief time in france with Clermont and looks set to leave his mark in the competition as he has a big fight to secure his place at Rugby World Cup 2011. After the World Cup he will start a two year contract with Montpellier. Secondrower Mariano Galarza has returned from playing in Ireland for Leinster and appears to be certain to feature at this years Rugby World Cup. The pair of Genaro Fessia and Miguel de Achával will join De La Vega in the backrow and all three players will need to play to the best of their ability as places in the squad for the backrow are going to be limited and highly fought over.

The backs sees lots of young players involved as many from last season have moved on to professional contracts in Europe. There are nonetheless a number of highly impressive players who will be in the sights of the Pumas selectors. The likes of scrumhalf Martín Landajo, flyhalf Nicolás Sánchez and winger Juan Imhoff are all players to watch out for in the coming years.

PAMPAS XV

1 Mauricio Guidone
2 Agustín Creevy
3 Maximiliano Bustos
4 Mariano Galarza
5 Julio Farías Cabello
6 Genaro Fessia
7 Tomás De La Vega
8 Miguel de Achával
9 Martín Landajo
10 Nicolás Sánchez
11 Juan Imhoff
12 Maximiliano Nannini
13 Gabriel Ascárate
14 Agustín Gosio
15 Joaquín Tuculet

Replacements: 16 Matías Cortese, 17 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, 18 Benjamín Macome, 19 Leonardo Senatore, 20 Nicolás Bruzzone, 21 Santiago González Iglesias, 22 Román Miralles.

Classic Felipe Contepomi Try for Leinster

Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi played well over 100 matches for Irish side Leinster over a six year period with the club from 2003-2009. He was a popular figure with the club and was the teams flyhalf throughout his time at the club. He also captained Leinster in a number of matches in addition to becoming a qualified doctor as he recieved MB BCh BAO (NUI) LRCP&SI medical degrees from the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin in 2007 before working at the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin. While at Leinster he was both a Magners League and Heineken Cup champion. Contepomi was key to the sides success in winning the Magners League in 2008 and the Heineken Cup in 2009.


He scored many impressive tries for Leinster and one such example was his solo effort vs Welsh side the Ospreys in 2007 in which he linked with Irish international Rob Kearney to run down the wing, pause and brilliantly change direction. Tries such as this have left a lasting impression on Leinster and Irish fans who continue to hold Contepomi in a high regard.

Magners League - Round 15

Round 15 of the Magners League took place over the weekend with a full round of six matches starting on Friday as leaders and title favorites, Munster hosted Edinburgh in the first of two Ireland vs Scotland matches. Neither side was at full strength due to the Six Nations but both teams did have international players including the USA born Ronan O´Gara for Munster. Argentina international secondrower Esteban Lozada did not play for Edinburgh due to injury. The hosts won the match 23-13 which sees Edinburgh stay down the ladder in ninth position while Munster remain in first place well ahead of the pack.

Meanwhile Irisih province Connacht hosted the Glasgow Warriors in Galway and pulled off a massive result in humiliating the Warriors by a scoreline of 37-8. The former Argentina international duo of Bernardo Stortoni and Federico Martín Aramburu both played the full 80 minutes for Glasgow with Stortoni playing fullback and Aramburu playing outside centre. Two Canadian international players also features with DTH van der Merwe playing on the left wing and Kevin Tkachuk coming off the bench as a frontrow replacement in the second half. Another Irish province was also in action on Friday as Ulster played western Wales side the Scarlets in Llanelli and pulled off an important away victory which sees Scarlets clear of the top 4. The 18-16 loss for the Scarlets however did see them pick up a bonus point.

Two games were played on Saturday with another Welsh side hosting the fourth Irish province and pulling off an upset victory. The Cardiff Blues moved up the ladder into second place after knocking over Leinster in a dull match 11-3. Welsh glory continued in Italy as Benetton Treviso hosted the Ospreys in Treviso in what was the most exciting match of the round. The Italians, however came up short due perhaps to their missing players who are with the Italian side preparing for the next Six Nations match. The 34-18 win sees the Ospreys move ahead of Leinster into third place of the Magners League ladder and it means Treviso drop one to 8th position. The Italian side had four Argentina players with Ignacio Fernández Rouyet, Franco Sbaraglini, Pedro Di Santo and Gonzalo Padro all in the starting lineup..

The final match of the round was played on Sunday also in Italy as Aironi hosted the Newport Gwent Dragons in Viadana and were defeated by the Welsh side 18-3 which means all Welsh sides won this weekend. Yet another loss for Aironi sees them all but certain to collect the wooden spoon this season. Argentina international centre Horacio San Martín started for Aironi as did Gabriel Pizarro. While USA international scrumhalf Mike Petri was on the bench for the Dragons.



Table
1 Munster 54 
2 Cardiff Blues 45
3 Ospreys 44
4 Leinster 43 
5 Scarlets 42 
6 Ulster 38
7 Newport 31
8 Benetton Treviso 28
9 Edinburgh 28 
10 Connacht 26 
11 Glasgow 21 
12 Aironi 5

Americas Players in Top 14 - Round 19

Loads of players from Argentina were in action this past weekend in round 19 of the Frenhc championship - Le Top 14. The Americas also had players from Canada, the United States and Uruguay in action as the world was again reminded of the tremendous talent being produced in the Americas - the only region which will not have ever hosted a Rugby World Cup come 2019. The round saw some very surprizing results such as Brive winning vs Stade Français, Castres winning vs Montpellier and Agen defeating Toulon. As such the ladder continues to be highly competitive with 10 teams remaining in strong contention for a place in the play-off´s.

The round started on Friday with one match as Brive did themselves a tremendous favor in winning vs top opposition and in the process getting out of the relegation zone - for now. Stade Français continued to show how big their struggle has been to fill the boots of Argentina flyhalf Juan Martín Hernández. Since he left the team has lacked spark and loked a shadow of its former self. The two seasons post Hernández have been the worst in the history of the Top 14. Lionel Beauxis isn no longer wanted by France for international flyhalf duty and will play for Toulouse next season. he missed the game through suspension which made Stade Français look even poorer as they called upon an inexperienced flyhalf with no credentials whatsoever. Consequently, the Parisians had little to no organization from the pivotal position. There were four Argentine players in the Paris side with Martín Rodriguez Gurruchaga playing fullback, Gonzalo Tiesi inside centre, Rodrigo Roncero loosehead prop and Pedro Ledesma coming on as a second half replacement at tighthead prop. Argentina international scrumhalf Agustín Figuerola came off the bench for Brive and former Pumas prop Pablo Cardinali started at tighthead prop for the winners.

Paris was saved however as on Saturday Racing Metro travelled to play La Rochelle in La Rochelle and notched up a 32-24 victory. La Rochelle crucially missed a last mionute chance to close the gap which would have given them a bonus poin for their defeat. El Mago Juan Martín Hernández played inside centre for the Parisians and had a solid match including setting up his sides second try to Henry Chavancy after Hernández had fooled the defence with a dummy and side step. Pumas backrower Àlvaro Galindo also feature in the match for Racing Metro while the uncapped Argentine duo of Andrés Bordoy and Franco Pani both played in the front row for La Rochelle.

Retour sur le match ASR - RM92

A massive upset took place in South-Western France as the newly promotted Agen pulled off the upset of the season as they defeated Toulon 23-13 at home. USA international winger Kevin Swiryn played on the left wing for Agen and former Argentina centre Miguel Avramovic played 13. Toulon were close to being at full strength. Argentina´s Felipe Contepomi missed the game through injury but Pumas international backrower Juan Fernández Lobbe played the first 48 minutes before leaving the field following a blow. The result sees Toulon drop out of the top 6 and Agen rise to 11th on the table and thus clear, for the moment, of the relegation zone.

Castres maintained their 100% winning record this season for home matches as they defeated Montpellier 43-29 in the match of the round with Castres scoring 5 tries to 4 including one penalty try. Uruguay´s Rodrigo Capó Ortega came off the bench in the second half for Castres while Montpellier´s trio from Argentina all had fine matches with Santiago Fernández again fitting in well at flyhalf and prop Juan Figallo being highly visible around the field in rucks. Uncapped Argentina winger Martín Bustos Moyano scored 14 points including a beautiful individual try which he scored after a chip and chase effort. USA internatioanl centre Seta Tuilevuka also put in a good performance in the 13 shirt for Montpellier.

Clermont continued its charge into the top four with a 24-19 victory over Bayonne in Clermont on Saturday. the win sees them go ahead of Montpellier and claim third spot. Argentina born Italian international centre Gonzalo Canale put in a good performance for Clermont as he scored a try ibn what was a close a difficult match with Bayonne fighting until the end. Pumas international and eternal hooker Mario Ledesma was on the bench for Clermont.


Résumé Clermont Bayonne

Bottom of the table Bourgoin were again easily defeated as the club has seemingly lost track of what is going on. Some odd selections again took place and Perpignan had few problems in notching up a 32-15 victory. With the win Perpignan enter the Top 10 for the first time in months. Retired Argentina international secondrower Rimas Alvarez played the full 80 minutes in the secondrow for Perpignan. In contrast the Argentine pair of centre Matías Viazzo and flyhalf Alberto Di Bernardo both missed the game as their club opted to continue fielding players out of position.


Le résumé du match CSBJ - USAP

A repeat of the 2010 Heineken Cup final took place in the rounds final match with Toulouse pulling off a close 23-19 victory over Biarritz on Saturday evening. The win sees Toulouse continue to stay clear of the pack on the Top 14 ladder. Three pumas played for the home side with secondrower Patricio Albacete and scrumhalf Nicolás Vergallo both starting and hooker Alberto Vernet Basualdo coming off the bench. A real contender for the Pumas 13 shirt ahead of Gonzalo Tiesi, Marcelo Bosch, again played 13 for Biarritz and was joined by Eusebio Guiñazú in the final 20 minutes as the frontrower continues to loom as an outside chance of making the Argentina squad for the Rugby World Cup.


Top 14 Ladder
1 Toulouse 64
2 Racing Metro 57
3 Clermont 53 
4 Montpellier 52
5 Castres 51 
6 Bayonne 49 
7 Toulon 49 
8 Biarritz 49 
9 Perpignan 45 
10 Stade Francais 44
11 Agen 32 
12 Brive 31
13 La Rochelle 28
14 Bourgoin 5

Aviva Premiership - Round 15

Round 15 of Englands Premier Rugby compeition, the Aviva Premiership saw the Leicester Tigers stretch their lead as they look invincible and saw former leaders the Northampton Saints continued to fall as they struggle without their players on international duty for England. It also saw Newcastle, the side that produced both Englsih international flyhalves Johnny Wilkinson and Toby Flood, edge closer to relegation. The round again featured lots of action from players from the Americas with players certain to feature for Argentina and the United States in Rugby World Cup 2011 on show.

The newcomers to the premiership, the Exeter Chiefs continued their impressive rise as they knocked over the Newcastle Falcons in an away match on Friday with a ten point win which saw the hosts fail to pick up a bonus point. The 23-13 victory sees Exeter sit in ninth spot well ahead of last place and thus virtually guaranteed of not being relegated to the second division next season. Uncapped Argentina prop Ignacio Elosu came off the bench for Exeter in the second half but flyhalf Ignacio Mieres did not play. Friday´s other match saw Gloucester defeat London Irish 23-9. The victory sees the home side move into third place in the premership while the Exiles have drifted down to seventh. Argentine scrumhalf Alfredo Lalanne did not play for the London Irish Exiles and is rumoured to be eyeing a switch to France.

The Leicester Tigers 21-12 home victory vs London Wasps on Saturday saw the London based side drop to eighth place where they are less than one victory ahead of Exeter. The seemingly effortless win featured three Argentina players with Pumas international winger Horacio Agulla playing the full 80 minuets for the Tigers and Argentina born Italian international tighthead prop, Martín Castrogiovanni playing in the 3 shirt. Pumas loosehead prop, Marcos Ayerza came off the bench in the 51st minute for the Tigers but Montpellier bound Pumas winger Lucas González Amorisino was left out of the match day 23.



London based side the Harlequins impressed at home in defeating the Sale Sharks 21-9 to move up the ladder into fifth place but on equal points with fourth placed Northampton. Sale, in contrast, sit in tenth position as they continue to struggle and can only hope that Newcastle and Leeds Carnegie continue to lose their matches. The 2006 championship side have struggled in recent seasons sicne losing key players such as Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe to Toulon and Luke McAlister to the Blues. The former glory club has been anything but impressive this season. In the seides loss to the Quins Argentina international winger Gonzalo Camacho started at wing for the Quins  and was joined in the second half by uncapped Argentina second rower Tomás Vallejos Cinallo. Argentine flyhalf Benjamín Urdapilleta was also on the bench for the London based side.

Bath hosted and destroyed the Northampton Saints as they notched up a 38-8 victory which featured a hat-trick by English international winger Matt Banahan. 36 year old former Argentina international secondrower, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe came off the bench to play in the secondrow for Bath. the veteran who retired from international duty in June 2008 is playing his last season of professional rugby which has span more than a decade since he arrived in Bordeaux, France in 2000. His sides victory sees them move to within less than one victory of the top four.

The final match of the round was played on Sunday with London based side Saracens hosting bottom placed side Leeds Carnegie at Watford. Saracens were expected to win but nobody predicted a 39 point win, let alone a 39-0 win. The visitors played terrible rugby to the extent that it was 27-0 at half time and thus game over. USA Eagles international Chris Wyles scored one of Saracens´ five tries through a brilliant solo effort and was joined by his international team mate Hayden Smith who like Wyles was in the starting lineup. Smith played in the second row and was named man of the match. Argentina born Italian international prop Carlos Nieto played prop for Saracens while USA international Mike MacDonald was prop for Leeds and former Argentine international prop Juan Gomez came off the bench for Leeds Carnegie. The loss is great news for Newcastle as it sees Leesd remain in bottom palce. Saracens, in contrast, site pretty in second place.


Table

1 Leicester 52
2 Saracens 42 
3 Gloucester 40
4 Northampton 38
5 Harlequins 38
6 Bath 36
7 London Irish 35
8 London Wasps 34
9 Exeter Chiefs 31
10 Sale Sharks 20
11 Newcastle 12
12 Leeds 9

Miles Craigwell - an example of the future of USA Rugby?

The policy of the governing body of United States Rugby (USA Rugby) of attempting to attract young athletes to take up rugby by changing from sports such as American Football increasingly appears to be not only truely providing the USA with a larger pool of top players but also of increasing the profile of rugby in the country. Recently during the New Zealand and United States legs of the IRB World Sevens Series in Wellington and Las Vegas, a newcomer to international rugby, Miles Craigwell was recieving plenty of press about his move from the NFL to rugby in July 2010 which remarkably has seen him selected for his country and he has already proven to be a top performer playing wing for the USA Eagles Sevens side.

Born on March 24, 1986 Miles Craigwell lives in Boston, Massachusetts and is not only an eilte athlete but also extremely well educated. Craigwell graduated with a degree in Business Economics: C.O.E  (Commerce, Organizations, Enrepreneurship) from the prestigious Ivy League University, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Despite being based in Boston, Craigwell is listed as playing rugby in New York for NYAC, the same club that produced USA Eagles international backrower Louis Stanfill who now plays in Italy and scrumhalf Mike Petri who now plays in Wales. Craigwell is a very gifted player who will be pushing for a place in the USA squad for this years Rugby World Cup. He is also an example of the talent that is being unearthed as the management team of USA Rugby continue to make rugby a bigger sport in the country. Who is to say that he will not be the first of a long line of professional players from the NFL to play rugby and as such to change the shape of USA rugby as the side well and truely becomes one of the best teams on the planet?

Visit his personal website: http://milescraigwell.wordpress.com/
Follow him on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Five2Eighty

Argentina could play Four Nations matches at La Plata

The race to secure Los Pumas home matches during 2012 when Argentina enter the Four Nations seems to have already begun as a brand new stadium has been opened near the country´s capital city, Buenos Aires. On Thursday Argentina´s president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the governor of Buenos Aires Province, Daniel Scioli, were on hand to open the newest stadium in Argentina, el estadio Ciudad de La Plata. The venue was officially re-openned after renovations to give it world class facilities and a capacity of 53,000. It will not be the largest in Argentina but it will have the best facilities and is slightly larger than Velez Sarsfeld in Buenos Aires which has been used over the past decade to host at least one international rugby match per year.

Argentina´s Secretary of Sports for the State of Buenos Aires, Alejandro Rodríguez, made it clear that the venue is not simply going to be a soccer stadium. To the contrary, Rodríguez firmly believes that Argentina could play its Four Nations matches at the stadium. The upgrades make the venue as good as any in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. It has gigantic LED screens centred above the middle of the field which will be viewable by fans from all view points in the stadium and the venues modern seating place it amongst the best in South America.

In an interview with Argentine Rugby website http://www.rugbytime.com/ Alejandro Rodríguez said it is not confirmed but the stadium is going to have Los Pumas matches. With Los Pumas entering the Four Nations in 2012 against some of the best teams of the world Rodríguez´s ambition is clear and he has already had serious talks with the UAR. He is adament that the stadiums facilities combined with the rugby following within La Plata will create lots of excitement and attract fans in huge numbers.

with thanks: www.rugbytime.com

SANZAR impressed with Pichot and the UAR

Two days ago SANZAR´s CEO, Greg Peters spoke with English rugby website http://www.scrum.com/ and confirmed that the work meets and even surpasses expectations fo where Argentina need to be to in order to enter the expanded Tri Nations in 2012. The IRB encouraged SANZAR to expand to include Argentina and in 2009 an official offer was made from SANZAR to the UAR. In order for Argentina to take part SANZAR requested that all of Argentina´s players be avaliable for selection which was considered tough given that the tournament falls outside of the IRB test windows. A solution was reached in 2010, however, as the IRB modified Regulation 9 which will ensure Argentina has all its players avaliable and clubs will be compensated.

Peters has been in Argentina two times this year already and has been impressed with the progress  and praised former Pumas captain Agustín Pichot for taking a lead role with energy and passion. Peters also attributed progress to the UAR who have been taking the neccessary steps to move towards professionalism in Argentina. Peters declared that he has no doubt that Argentina will be ready to enter the expanded Tri Nations in 2012 and that the team will be competitive and in time will be involved in Super Rugby.

The long awaited participation of Argentina in an annual first tier tournament has been a long process but will certainly open doors to even bigger things - notably Argentina hosting Rugby World Cup 2023. By 2023 Argentina would have played over ten years of rugby in the expanded Tri Nations and will also be involved in Super Rugby. The country will be more than prepared to organize a Rugby World Cup and the Americas will be the only region to never have hosted a Rugby World Cup.

with thanks: www.scrum.com

Georgia loom as tough World Cup opposition

Former U.S.S.R republic, Georgia are looking very strong after two rounds of the current European Nations Cup which involves the six best European countries after the powerhouses competing in the Six Nations. Georgia will face Argentina at this years Rugby World Cup in what will be the final match for both country´s and will be held in Palmerston North. In Rugby World Cup 2007 Georgia scored an impressive 30-0 victory over Namibia and very nearly pulled off the greatest upset of all time vs Ireland. The Lelos will surely no be underestimated by their higher ranked opponents - Argentina, England and Scotland who will all need to bring their ´A´ game or the improving Georgians could repeat and even do better than they did vs Ireland in 2007. Romania are also in the group.

The European Nations Cup (ENC) started two weeks ago with a full round of three matches and it was Georgia who underlined themselves as the team to beat with an impressive 62-3 victory over Ukraine in Tblissi. In round one Rugby World Cup 2011 debutants, Russia were also successful as they defeated Spain 28-24 in Madrid while Portugal managed to shock Romania 24-17 in Lisbon. In round two, played one week latter, Georgia again impressed at home with a ruthless 60-0 victory over Spain. Russia hosted Portugal who repeated their performance vs Russia as os Lobos won 21-19. Romania vs Ukraine was postponed. In short, Georgia top the group and look untouchable as the team is packed with professional players based mainly in France and increasingly playing in the Top 14 for teams including Brive, Castres, Clermont, Montpellier and Toulon. The Lelos forwards have been able to take apart opponents and not only Ukraine and Spain but also both Canada and the United States in November 2010. Los Pumas will need to be prepared as it is not only the clashes vs England and Scotland that will be tough - Georgia are coming too. The emergence of Georgia is further reason for Rugby World Cup 2023 to be held in Argentina rather than in a place which has already hosted such as Australia or South Africa.  

Magners League - Round 14

Round 14 of the 2010-2011 Magners League took palce over the past weekend and saw some surprizing results with the Italian sides both doing very well vs the Irish giants of Leinster and Munster. On Sunday, Benetton Treviso shocked the world in defeating top of the table Munster 19-18 and the decisive blow was scored by a player from Argentina as Treviso´s backrower, Gonzalo Padró, scored the winning try for the Italian side. Both Munster and Treviso were missing players to international duty as Ireland faced France and Italy faced England in the Six Nations. But the loss couldcertainly not be attributed to the missing players as both teams, not only Munster, had players missing. Munster still fielded elite players including former All Black Doug Howlett and the Stade Français bound Australian Paul Warwick. Gonzalo Padró was joined by fellow Argentine players Franco Sbaraglini, Pedro Di Santo and Ignacio Fernández Rouyet. Despite the loss Munster remain in first place but Benetton Treviso rise up to seventh position. Sundays other match took place in Liberty Stadium, Swansea in what was a Wales vs Ireland affair as the Ospreys hosted the Irish province of Ulster. The two sides were also missing players to Six Nations duty but this did not stop them putting on a highly competitive match which saw the home side pull off a 23-22 victory.

Irisih province Connacht hosted Welsh franchise the Scarlets on Saturday and pulled off an upset in defeating the Scarlets 17-13. The result keeps Connacht in second to bottom position and has allowed the Scarlets to slip down the ladder. Welsh team the Newport Gwent Dragons hosted Scottish side Edinburgh at Rodney Parade in Newport in Saturday´s other match and the Welsh side were impressive in defeating their higher placed opposition. USA Eagles international scrumhalf, Mike Petri was on the bench for the Dragons and Argentina international secondrower Esteban Lozada was on the bench for the Scot´s. The Dragons won 30-22.

Another Scotland vs Wales clash took place in Glasgow on Friday evening as the Glasgow Warriors hosted the Cardiff Blues at Firhill and completed a double as the Welsh side won 26-15. The Scottish side had two former Argentina international players in the starting XV with Bernardo Stortoni playing fullback and Federico Martín Aramburu playing outside centre. The Canadian try scoring machine, DTH van der Merwe was unable to score this time around as Glasgow were tryless. van der Merwe was joined by fellow Canadian international, Kevin Tkachuk off the bench in the second half.



It was on Thursday evening, however, that the round started as the Irish capital of Dublin very nearly saw a history making home loss for the worldclass side of Leinster. In the end the Irish side got home to win 21-16 over Italian side Aironi. Leinster were without Mariano Galarza who is now in South Africa playing with Los Pampas XV in the sson to start Vodacom Cup. Aironi had Argentine players in theitr side with inside centre Horacio San Martín impressing in his debut for the club. He was joined by Gabriel Pizarro in the Italian lineup.



Magners League Table

1 Munster 50
2 Leinster 43
3 Cardiff Blues 41
4 Scarlets 41
5 Ospreys 39
6 Ulster 34
7 Benetton Treviso 28
8 Edinburgh 28
9 Dragons 27
10 Glasgow 21
11 Connacht 21
12 Aironi 5

USA win Shield Final in Las Vegas Sevens

The 2011 USA Rugby Seven held over the weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada was a tremendous success for USA rugby and for the national team itself. The two day event attracted big crowds and saw both North and South American countries performing. The USA gave home fans something to go away happy with as they won the tournament´s Shield Final with Zach Test scoring twice and captain Matt Hawkins once as the hosts knocked over Japan.

South America

In Pool A Argentina scored two wins out of three with a 21-19 win over France and a 47-0 win over fellow South Americans, Guyana. Argentina then faced England to determine who woud top the group with the Europeans securing a 17-14 victory. Ramiro Moyana, Francisco Cuneo and Francisco Merello all did well for Argentina in scoring two tries each in the match vs Guyana. Uruguay were in Pool B and faced tough opposition with matches against New Zealand, Kenya and Wales. Despite not winnng a match, Uruguay did play well even in their 40-0 loss vs New Zealand. The South Americans scored tries in their other matches in losing 33-10 to Wales and 28-7 to Kenya.

North America

Canada were another team gven a tough assignment  they faced elite opposition in the form of Australia, Fiji and Scotland in Pool C. It was hard from the get-go with Canada first going up against Fiji and losing 33-0. They responded with two tries in their second fixture as they lost 31-14 to Australia. Canada then played very well vs Scotland and felt hard done by in losing 21-19. The host, the USA, had a slightly easier group but another one that was extremely competitive as they faced off against Japan, 2010 champions Samoa ad the side who went on to win the 2011 event, South Africa. The USA faced South Africa first and went down 27-5. In their second match, which was against Samoa, the host nation played better but lost 28-12. The team scored one of the best tries of the tournament vs Japan with Paul Emerick finishing off a well worked try as the USA defeated Japan 24-7.

On day two the teams advanced to their respective play-off places with Argentina facing New Zealand in a Cup Quarter Final and scoring the first try of the match before losing shape altogether in losing 47-7. Canada had a chance of getting even with Scotland in the Bowl Final but again fell just short as Scotland won 19-15. Canada had defeated France 22-14 in the semi-final. The USA did one better however as the hosts won the Shield Final as japan also would have a second chance but the USA were te better side in winning 19-12. The hosts defeaed Uruguay 27-7 in their semi-final after losing 19-15 to Canada in he Bowl Quarter Final.

Aviva Premiership - Round 14

Round 14 of the current English Rugby Premiership, known as the Aviva Premiership took place over the weekend with international players from Argentina and the United States involved. The round started on Friday evening as strugglers the Sale Sharks hosted Bath with Sale needing a win to stay as far ahead of the bottom placed Leeds Carnegie as possible. In contrast, Bath were in need of a win to keep in touch with the top four. Bath succeeded as they scored two tries to one and notched up a 19-7 victory. Former Argentina international secondrower, Ignacio Fernández Lobbe came on for bath as a replacement.

Despite playing at the top table of English rugby for the first time ever, the Exeter Chiefs have already established a reputation as being a competitive side. This weekend they placed host to Harlequins, a side packed with big name players including former New Zealand flyhalf, Nick Evans, and the English international trio of Mike Brown, Ugo Monye and Chris Robshaw. Exeter in contrast are a team working on a low budget and without players who have represented England or other leading rugby nations. They were, however, better organized than the London based Harlequins and won the match 20-6. The win sees the Chiefs break clear of the Sale Sharks in tenth spot. Argentine international winger, Gonzalo Camacho played right wing for the Quins and was joined in the second half by uncapped Argentine secondrower Tomás Vallejos Cinalli.

London Irish have been up and down recently but were lucky to take on premiership strugglers, Newcastle on Saturday and notch up an important 23-14 victory which sees then jump ahead of the Harlequins and London Wasps and claim fifth place. Pumas international scrumhalf, Alfredo Lalanne did not play for London Irish. The second match of the round in London saw London Wasps hosting Gloucester in what was a dull match with less than twenty points scored in total as Gloucester secured an 10-9 important away victory to enter the top four and thus the semi final zone.

While winger Chris Ashton was scoring four tries for England in his country´s match vs Italy in the Six Nations his club continued to have a tough time in the Aviva Premiership. Northampton hosted London based side Saracens on Saturday and were overpowered by the visitors who turned around a 10-6 half time score to win 29-15 and claim second spot in the Aviva Premiership. Argentine born Italian internationa prop Carlos Nieto played for Saracens at tighthead prop. The USA international pair of secondrower Hayden Smith and wing Chris Wyles both played the full 80 minutes for Saracens.



The rounds final match took place in Northern England as bottom placed Leeds Carnegie hosted Premiership leaders, the Leicester Tigers and pushed the champions far with the Tigers unable to control proceedings and in the end managing to hold out Leeds and walk away with a 15-9 victory. The win sees the Tigers maintain their place at the top of the ladder and sees Leeds claim a bonus point which cuts the difference between Newcastle and Leeds to three points. USA Eagles international prop, Mike MacDonald played for Leeds as did former Argentine international prop Juan Gomez. Argentina international winger, Horacio Agulla and loosehead prop Marcos Ayerza both started and played the full 80 minutes for Leicester.

Standings
 
1 Leicester 48 
2 Saracens 42 
3 Northampton 38
4 Gloucester 36 
5 London Irish 35 
6 Harlequins 34 
7 London Wasps 34 
8 Bath 31
9 Exeter Chiefs 27
10 Sale Sharks 20 
11 Newcastle 12
12 Leeds Carnegie 9

Top 14 - Round 18

Round 18 of the 2010-2011 French Championship, the Top 14 Orange was played on Friday and Saturday with a full round of seven matches taking place to free up Sunday for the Six Nations match between Ireland and France in Dublin. Toulouse won again, to stay ahead of the pack in first place while Bourgoin lost again and are all but certain to be relegated. Brive also had an unhappy day which sees the former Heineken Cup champions stay in thirteenth place and in serious danger of relegation to the second division. It was another round to showcase Argentina as every match featured players who have represented Los Pumas. There were also international players in action from Canada and the United States.

Toulouse travelled to La Rochelle to face the Atlantic side for the first ever meeting between the two in La Rochelle in the history of Top 14 rugby. Toulouse were missing six players who will play for France today in the Six Nations match but were nonetheless expected to win by a big margin. La Rochelle showed just how competitive this seasons Top 14 is as they pushed Toulouse to the limited and the teams were tied at 19-19 at the interval. The only points after the break came from Toulouse replacement Nicolas Bezy as Toulouse completed a 22-19 win. Pumas secondrower Patricio Albacete captained Toulouse and was joined in the starting XV by Pumas scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo. Argentine hooker, Alberto Vernet Basualdo came on in the 53rd minute as a replacement. La Rochelle had two Argentine frontrowers in the uncapped pair of Franco Pani and Andrés Bordoy. The narrow loss saw La Rochelle pick up a bonus point.


Retour sur le match Stade Rochelais / Stade Toulousain

Toulon hosted Brive and were forced to play English centre Tom May at flyhalf in place of the absent Johnny Wilkinson and the injured Felipe Contepomi. Both teams scored one try each but it was Toulon who won a close match 22-16 with Argentine international backrower Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe playing a superb match as he played the full 80 minutes at 8 for Toulon and former Pumas prop Pablo Cardinali playing for Brive. The win sees Toulon stay in the play-offs zone as they are tied with Clermont for 4th place. Brive stay in the bottom two however they did secure a bonus point.


Tenth placed Perpignan hosted eleventh placed Agen with the 2009 champions looking to get back into the play-offs contention zone. Agen went into the match with a one point advantage over La Rochelle and a two point advatange over Brive and needed to secure at least a bonus point to stay clear. It was not to be however, as Perpignan put in a good performance running in five tries to two in notching up a 31-18 victory. USA international winger, Kevin Swiryn played for Agen as did Argentina international centre Miguel Avramovic who broke the line in the lead up to his sides secondhalf try. Puma backrower, Alejandro Campos looks set to return next match for Agen after returning from injury to play for the reserve side.


Résumé du match USAP vs AGEN - Février 2011

Bottom placed Bourgoin had yet another bad game as they travelled to the Spanish border city of Bayonne and were overpowered 24-7. The win sees Bayonne return to the top six after leading the competition in the early part of the season. Bourgoin who have financial problems and sit in last place with five victories behind Brive in thirteenth, seem to be out of ideas. Argentine flyhalf, Alberto Di Bernardo played fullback for Bourgoin.

Stade Français scored one try to nil but were clinical in defeating Biarritz 31-18 in Paris. The win means neither side are in the top six as this seasons Top 14 Orange continues to be the most competitive of all time. Stade Français had three international players from Argentina in the starting XV with Martín Rodríguez Gurruchaga playing fullback, Rodrigo Roncero loosehead prop and Gonzalo Tiesi inside centre. Biarritz had a centre of their own with Marcelo Bosch again playing at outside centre with USA Eagles international winger Taku Ngwenya playing 14 alongside Bosch.

Résumé de Stade Français Paris - Biarritz, le 12/02/2011 - Stade TV
Résumé du match Stade Français Paris - Biarritz.

El Mago Juan Martín Hernández put in a solid diplay for Racing Metro as both Paris teams were winners in Paris on Saturday. Hernández, playing flyhalf, scored a second half try which gave his side a 20-13 victory over Castres. The win keeps Racing Metro in second position ahead of a number of teams considered as being superior such as Biarritz, Clermont, Perpignan, Stade Français and Toulon. El Mago was joined by Pumas international backrower, Alvaro Galindo in the Racing Metro starting line-up.



Montpellier did one better in notching up a four tries to nil bonus point victory vs last seasons champions, Clermont in Montpellier. The 29-9 victory sees Montpellier overtake Clermont to claim thrid spot. Montpellier´s three Argentina players were all in the starting XV with winger Martín Bustos Moyano slotting three conversions and one penalty and prop Juan Figallo scoring a second half try. Santiago Fernández pulled the strings at flyhalf as he set up two tries. The first was from a clean linebreak from Fernandez and the second with a neat cross field kick. USA international centre, Seta Tuilevuka came off the bench in the second half while Canadian international secondrower Jamie Cudmore played for Clermont as did Pumas hooker Mario Ledesma.


Résumé Montpellier-Clermont

Top 14 Ladder

1 Toulouse 60 
2 Racing Metro 53
3 Montpellier 52
4 Clermont 49
5 Toulon 49
6 Bayonne 48
7 Biarritz 48
8 Castres 47
9 Stade Francais 44
10 Perpignan 41
11 Agen 28
12 La Rochelle 28
13 Brive 27
14 Bourgoin 5 

Eric Maroni Suarez to play in Australia

Gordon Rugby Football Club based in on the North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia have signed uncapped Argentina winger Eric Maroni Suarez for the new season on a one year deal. The Gordon club known as the Highlanders play in Australia's premier competition the Shute Shield and are an historically important team having won the championship on eight occassions, most recently in 1998. Some big name players who have played for the Highlanders include Australian international centre Stirling Mortlock, former English international flyhalf Rob Andrew and USA Eagles flyhalf Mike Hercus.

Maroni Suarez is to join Gordon from Buenos Aires club Olivos who finished ninth the the 2010 URBA Top 14. His move means there will be an Argentina vs Chile battle to look forward to in the 2011 Shute Shield as Chilean international forward, Cristobal Westenenk plays for one of the best teams in the competition, Manly. In addition to playing for Gordon, Maroni Suarez will use the opportunity to study Business Management in Sydney.

with thanks www.scrum.com.ar

Argentina 21-21 New Zealand - 1985

Two years before the first ever Rugby World Cup, Argentina hosted New Zealand for a two test tour with both matches being played at Ferrocaril Oeste in Buenos Aires. The All Blacks won the first test 33-20 but Los Pumas responded to come back from an 18-9 halftime deficit to draw the match 21-21 in front of 30,000 fans. Legendary Pumas flyhalf, Hugo Porta scored all of Argentina´s points and underlined himself as one of the best players of his generation. To this day he continues to be considered one of the best flyhalves of all time.

The match is a testiment to how far rugby in Argentina has come with the UAR now capable of hosting matches throughout the country. The former home of Pumas test matches, Ferrocaril Oeste, has known as the Cathedral of Argentine rugby and even suggested as being the Twickenham of Buenos Aires. Today the venue is not large enough to be used as a home venue for Pumas matches as larger venues in Buenos Aires such as Velez Sarsfeld and the River Plate Stadium are much larger and have attracted fullhouses for international matches. During the twenty-five years thats have taken place since the time of this match, in 1985, the sport has boomed in playing numbers and spectator interest and truely is a prime candidate to host a Rugby World Cup. Games are no longer restricted to Buenos Aires and with Argentina set to enter an expanded Tri Nations in 2012 crowds can only grow as the matches will be tournament fixtures not friendlies.

Sevens USA vs England from March 2010

With only one day to go before Las Vegas takes centre stage as Sin City hosts the 2011 USA Sevens. The home side has been bolstered by the return of Paul Emerick whose contract with Irish province, Ulster has ended. Emerick has long been a key performer for the USA in both Sevens Rugby and for the USA Eagles too. At the 2010 Adelaide Sevens event in Australia, Emerick was instrumental in seeing his side defeat England in a Pool match which saw England fail to make the Quarter Finals as they missed out on finishing as one of the groups top two sides. He set up Kevin Swiryn for a first half try and asisisted in creating a try for Matt Hawkins. Both Emerick and Swiryn attracted the attention of professional clubs with Emerick signing a short term contract with Ulster and Swiryn signing to play in the Top 14 for Agen.

The match result was a 24-21 victory to the USA which set them on track for a highly successful tournament in which the North Americans made the final after knocking over eilte opposition. The USA defeated Wales 12-10 in the Cup Quarter Final before pulling off an impressive 28-12 win over Argentina in the semi final. The USA were out of gas for the final, however as 2010 IRB World Series Champions, Samoa defeated the USA 38-10 in the final. The two sides will face each other in Las Vegas this weekend in Pool D which also includes Japan and South Africa. Can the USA repeat their heroics from Adelaide in 2010 and finish in the Top two of the group?

2011 USA Rugby Sevens - This Weekend

This weekend will see the USA taking centre stage as the country plays host to the fourth of eight events in the 2010-2011 IRB Sevens World Series. For the second concecutive year, Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada is the host venue. The USA is considered an important host by the IRB as rugby continues to boom as the second biggest sport on the planet. The inclusion of Rugby Sevens in the Olympic Games, starting in 2016 has resulted in the sport recieving a tremendous financial boost within the USA and this weekends event is expected to be bigger than 2010 which was won by South Pacific powerhouse, Samoa.



The tournament will feature sixteen teams, five of whom are from the Americas with Canada and the United States from North America, Guyana from the Central America-Caribbean region and Argentina and Uruguay as South America´s two participants. All four groups appear difficult for the competiting sides from the Americas with Pool 2 looking especially tough for Uruguay who have to face strong teams in Kenya, New Zealand and Wales. In contrast, the best placed side would appear to be Argentina who will be targetting first place in their pool as they go up against England, France and Guyana. Canada will be looking to do significantly better than they did in the 2010 event when they lost all four pool matches including a 26-5 smashing by the USA. The Canucks will have no easy games as they go up against Australia, Fiji and Scotland but will certainly be no pushovers. The USA will be looking to finish as high as possible in Pool 4 but also have a tough set of matches against South Africa and Samoa. They should, however, score a comfortable win over Japan. The USA won the 2010 Bowl Final after defeating Argentina in the semi final and France in the final itself.

Pools
Pool 1 Argentina, England, France, Guyana
Pool 2 Kenya, New Zealand, Uruguay, Wales
Pool 3 Australia, Canada, Fiji, Scotland
Pool 4 Japan, Samoa, South Africa, USA

For additional information go to: http://www.usasevens.com/

Motivation and Heroes - the Los Pumas Story

Over three years on from Rugby World Cup 2007, the heroics that Argentina performed have been captured on a six minute video by a Pumas fan who has produced a video showing the highlights of all of Argentina´s matches at France 2007 and the team briefly training in Pensacola, Florida, USA before the tournament. The video is a showcase to the importance of team unity, collaboration and sacrifice. It is essentially a story of motivation and heroes. It shows the pride of wearing the Pumas jersey, the feeling of winning Rugby World Cup matches against elite opposition and also the sadness of losing a semi final. The players gave everything for their country and exited the tournament as heroes.

It is a video that should be seen by rugby fans worldwide as a means of motivation. It is also a testiment to the sport in Argentina as a South American country was able to finish third in the world after shaking up the global order - which many percieved as being unshakeable. The teams achivements did not start or finish at Rugby World Cup 2007. A clear statement was made to the world - the future will not be like the past. Countries once considered to have little interest in rugby will rise just like Argentina have to the point where Los Pumas draw huge crowds wherever they play in Argentina. The future of rugby is global and part of making this happen is by encouraging growth. Rugby World Cup 2023 should be hosted by Argentina.

With Thanks: Esquiavy82

Argentina win but Brazil impress in CONSUR 2011 Sevens

Argentina are once again the Champions of Rugby Sevens in South America after defeating neighbours Uruguay 26-21 in the Cup Final on Sunday afternoon. The two day tournament was hosted in the Southern Brazilian city of Bento Gonçalves and it was not Argentina but the host side who impressed the most in the tournament. Brazil finished third - which is the best ever finish for Brazil as rugby continues to experience substantial growth across the world´s fifth largest country.

Brazil and Argentina were drawn in the same group alongside Paraguay and Peru and it was Argentina who were the hot favourites to take out the group but Brazil created history by defeating Argentina for the first time ever with a 7-0 victory which ended Day 01 and meant Brazil won the Group but Argentina as runners up advanced to the semi final to face the winner of the tournaments other group which was another surprize as Chile overcame Uruguay 19-14 to top the group and set up a semi final clash with Argentina. The two group winners came unstuck in the semi finals as Uruguay knocked over Brazil with a narrow 7-5 victory and Argentina defeated Chile 15-10.

Argentina fielded a weakened side due to the premier Sevens side participating in the IRB World Sevens tournament in Wellington, New Zealand also this past weekend. Most importantly, however, Brazil claimed the last remaining South American spot in the 2011 Pan American Games which will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Brazil were also successful in the womens section as the country´s womens side won their 6th championship title.

Match Results

Mens Section

Uruguay 43-0 Venezuela
Chile 36-0 Colombia
Brazil 19-10 Paraguay
Argentina 47-5 Peru
Chile 33-5 Venezuela
Uruguay 45-5 Colombia
Brazil 36-7 Peru
Argentina 36-0 Paraguay
Colombia 33-5 Venezuela
Uruguay 14-19 Chile
Paraguay 12-0 Peru
Brazil 07-0 Argentina

Plate Semi Finals
Paraguay 24-7 Venezuela
Colombia 26-5 Peru

Plate Final
Colombia 7-19 Paraguay

Battle for 7th place
Peru 40-0 Venezuela

Cup Semi Finals
Brazil 5-7 Uruguay
Argentina 15-10 Chile

Cup Final
Argentina 26-21 Uruguay

Bowl Final
Brazil 17-12 Chile

Womens Section

Uruguay 10-5 Chile
Colombia 12-5 Peru
Argentina 43-0 Venezuela
Brazil 44-0 Paraguay
Uruguay 26-0 Peru
Colombia 5-5 Chile
Argentina 32-0 Paraguay
Brazil 36-0 Venezuela
Chile 19-7 Peru
Colombia 5-24 Uruguay
Venezuela 33-5 Paraguay
Brazil 19-7 Argentina

Plate Semi Finals
Peru 31-0 Venezuela
Paraguay 0-33 Colombia

Plate Final
Colombia 15-0 Peru

Battle for 7th Place
Venezuela 36-0 Paraguay

Cup Semi Finals
Brazil 5-0 Uruguay
Argentina 19-Chile

Cup Final  
Brazil 32-5 Argentina

Bowl Final
Uruguay 10-15 Chile

Corruption in Namibia further supports South American Rugby World Cup Qualification

The IRB´s Head of Development and Performance, Mark Egan, has confirmed that the IRB has opened an investigation against the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) following accusations of corruption and financial problems. One of the concerns pointed out by Egan is that the country simply does not have sufficient funds to pay for the costs of playing at the Rugby World Cup which will take place in September and October in New Zealand. Large amounts of money, over US$500,000, have been unaccounted for and the IRB are even looking at taking over the management and operation of the Namibia Rugby Union.

Namibia will compete at the highest level of Rugby for the fourth consecutive time as the team won the African section of Rugby World Cup qualification. Namibia´s qualification means Africa will have two teams at New Zealand 2011 which maintains the status quo that has existed since Rugby World Cup 1995 when South Africa returned after being prohibited from participating due to the countries apartheid government. Africa has had two spots in Rugby World Cup´s since 1995 but no African team other than South Africa has been able to win a match at a Rugby World Cup ever. Zimbabwe participated in Rugby World Cup 1987 and 1991 and were winless. Cote d´Ivoire (Ivory Coast) participated in 1995 and were winless and Namibia competed in Rugby World Cup 1999, 2003 and 2007 and were winless on all three occassions. The IRB giving Africa an automatic qualification spot is therefore highly problematic and questionable. There is no grounds on ability to justify Africa recieving an automatic spot.

The extent of the controversy can be seen by looking at Rugby World Cup 1999 and 2003 in which South America had two participants following the qualification of Uruguay. The South American country won a match at both tournaments but South America did not have automatic qualification and to this day CONSUR is the only region in the World which does not see its champion advance to the Rugby World Cup. Uruguay missed out on France 2007 after losing by one point to Portugal on aggregate and missed out on New Zealand 2011 after losing to Romania who have competed at every Rugby World Cup and won pool matches against Fiji, Namibia, Portugal the USA and Zimbabwe. Namibia, on the other hand, qualified after defeating African teams ranked far lower.

Uruguay ranked 20th had to knock over sides who are today ranked 14th, 16th and 19th in the World. Namibia in contrast qualified after defeating teams ranked 35th, 45th, 49th and 55th in the World. Uruguay had to defeat teams loaded with Rugby World Cup experience from other continents such as Canada, the USA and Romania while Namibia knocked over African sides including Cote d´Ivoire, Senegal, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. The IRB have some explaining to do as the IRB´s own system of rankings show that the qualification system is not only wrong but highly controversial. The corruption scandal with the NRU begs the question of whether Namibia should play in the tournament at all. Uruguay with a clean record and higher IRB ranking could certainly fill the void. 

USA Rugby records a 40% Growth in four years

One of the worlds premier news and international affairs publications, The Economist printed an article yesterday titled Worth a Try about the future of rugby in the USA. The article pointed out progress made by USA Rugby authorities with the sport being the fastest growing team sport in the country and the union has recorded a boom of 40% in playing numbers over the past four years. Despite professional U.S. sport being dominated by the likes of the American Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey and WWE Wrestling it is rugby that is leading the war of attracting the youth to take up the sport. As reported in the article and by USA Rugby, close to 360,000 children played a non-contact form of rugby at school in 2010. This goes a long way to explain rugby´s growth at the expense of more traditional sports such as hockey. The USA’s Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association said that 750,000 Americans played rugby in 2009 which is over 20% more than in 2007.

The growth can be attributed to a number of factors. The first being the governing body of rugby in the country, USA Rugby which certainly appears to have a solid understanding of this and of how to turn it into a better USA Eagles side. In March USA Rugby will launch a College League which will provide teams with the opportunity of competiting in a national wide competition split into four regions with the top two from each advancing to the playoffs in May. The creators of the league are banking on it attracting potential young players from high-schools to further increase not only playing numbers but also quality.

The second crucial factor for USA rugby is the Olympics as the progress of the profile of the sport and quality of players already appears to have been influenced by the decision to include Rugby Sevens in the Olympic Games starting with the 2016 Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Whilst the USA are not considered to be one the the contenders for a Medal, there is no doubt whatsoever that Rugby´s inclusion is indeed attracting and will continue to attract more youngsters to the sport. In turn this will increase tv exposure in the country which is an absolutely key factor to showcase the sport to the public and to show what it has to offer to potential players.

This years Rugby World Cup which will take place in New Zealand in September and October will be the largest sporting event of the year and the USA will take on powerhouse countries including Australia, Ireland and Italy. The most attractive clash however will be that of the USA vs the newcomers to the Rugby World Cup - Russia. It will be broadcast on free to air television in the USA on the NBC network which will also be broadcasting the IRB World Sevens Series USA leg of the tournament which will be hosted this month in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With Thanks: www.economist.com