Rugby

[deja vu]

Go Canada. Sorry Scotland but Im hoping for a canuck win.

OUCH! Boy was I wrong about this game.


Scotland 41 - 0 Canada: Emphatic victory brings Autumn test series to an end.

THREE players - John Barclay, Ben Cairns and Ally Strokosch - scored their first Test tries as Scotland
launched a valiant bid to rescue their top eight world cup seeding with a 41-0 victory over Canada
in front of 17,651 fans at Pittodrie, Aberdeen, today. Ultimately, though, the Scots efforts were in
vain as Ireland just edged out Argentina in Dublin.

Nevertheless, there was plenty for the workmanlike and efficient Scots to take forward into the Six
Nations Championship as they signed off the Bank of Scotland Corporate sponsored Autumn series in style.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/rugby/Scotland-41--0-Canada.4722255.jp

[dreamon]

All Blacks grind their way to third Grand Slam

Sir Edmund Hillary beat the big freeze to scale Everest and the All Blacks overcame polar
conditions to claim the inaugural trophy in his memory today and a third Grand Slam triumph.

The 32-6 victory at Twickenham came in viciously cold conditions which were more suited to the
grunt and grind merchants in the pack than the entertainers which inhabited the All Black backline.

But a three try second half burst allowed the All Blacks to break clear and cement their second
Slam under coach Graham Henry as they finished their tour with the remarkable record of not
conceding a try against any of the Home Unions.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10545769

[yukon]

Lo Cicero dropped
Veteran prop doesn't make pre- Six Nations camp

Italy rugby coach Nick Mallet on Monday left veteran prop Andrea Lo Cicero out of his 30-man
training camp for the upcoming Six Nations tournament.

Lo Cicero, 32, is the only player to have taken part in all of Italy's campaigns since it was admitted
in 2000. The Sicilian player, who has 78 caps, was upset he had not been informed of his omission.

''After 11 years in the Italy team I would have expected a phone call at least,'' he told ANSA on the
phone from Paris where he plays for second-division outfit Racing Metro Paris.


http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-01-12_112331941.html

[CielOnTap]

Rugby: Team for England match named
Flanker Bergamasco in as emergency scrum- half
(ANSA) - Rome, February 4 - Veteran flanker Mauro Bergamasco was moved to scrum-half as Italy coach Nick Mallett on Wednesday named his team to play England in their Six Nations opener at Twickenham on Saturday.

The surprise move came after Simon Picone, Pietro Travaglio and Pablo Canavasio were all ruled out by injury.

Stade Francais flanker Bergamasco, who picks up his 70th cap, will partner Padua fly-half Andrea Marcato who has been confirmed after solid displays in the autumn tests against Australia, Argentina and the Pacific Islanders.

Most of the backs have also been confirmed with Andrea Masi at full-back, Kaine Robertson and Mirco Bergamasco on the wings, and Gonzalo Garcia at inside centre. http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-02-04_104317720.html

[CielOnTap]

Welsh sure to dig in for a fight
February 7, 2009

The Six Nations kicks off this weekend with northern hemisphere teams looking to bounce back from humbling spring tour losses, writes Gareth Davies.

Right - for the sake of clarity this time round - the southern hemisphere nations are way ahead of their northern brethren in the rugby stakes; the recent spring tours by the nations from "down under" conclusively proved that, as they mercilessly swept all aside, with the Welsh victory against Australia being the sole credit entry on the European ledger. As the great Willie John McBride, the former Ireland and British Lions captain, said this week, "The southern hemisphere guys play to win; we play not to lose".

That, I trust, will find favour with the employee from the ARU who mentioned recently that I was an opinionated so and so. This time my opinion suits, I suspect.

This weekend, however, heralds the game's pre-eminent annual rugby tournament, as the RBS Six Nations Championship kicks off with more than a quarter of a million fans flocking to Croke Park in Dublin, Murrayfield in Edinburgh and to Twickenham in west London, on the opening weekend of a seven-week bonanza for the sport in Europe. RBS Six Nations.

[CielOnTap]

February 9, 2009

Mauro Bergamasco assists England on their journey
England 36 Italy 11
By David Hands, Rugby Correspondent


Every journey starts with a small step. England will find out with more accuracy in Cardiff this weekend whether victory at Twickenham on Saturday represented any degree of progress back to the uplands of world rugby or whether it was more a case of Italy slipping on the icy decision to name Mauro Bergamasco at scrum half.

It is important to remember, before dismissing this as a contest between two countries doomed for the lower reaches of the RBS Six Nations Championship, where England are coming from. Last autumn’s displays against the three southern-hemisphere powers eroded confidence and a succession of first-choice players, nine in all, subsequently fell by the way. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article5689903.ece

[CielOnTap]

From The TimesFebruary 11, 2009

Injury checks delay Scotland's plans
Geoff Cross and Simon Webster to undergo tests but Nathan Hines definitely out of game against France after surgery
Lewis Stuart
Scotland's selectors are ready to wield the axe for the RBS Six Nations Championship game against France on Saturday. Graham Steadman, the defence coach, yesterday admitted they may have got the team to face Wales wrong and warned: “Once selection has been finalised, there are going to be one or two disappointed players on the back of a poor performance.”

Scotland are facing a France side in Paris that shows four changes from the one that lost 30-21 to Ireland, the most significant being the decision to drop Sébastien Chabal, the Sale Sharks lock, in favour of Romain Millo-Chluski, of Toulouse. While Marc Lièvremont, the coach, was anxious to portray the change as rotation, it is clear that the French are targeting the scrum and breakdown, as Wales did last weekend, and Chabal is seen as not getting involved enough. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article5704756.ece

[fishandchips]

February 15, 2009

Ireland maintain their unbeaten start to Six Nations
Italy 9 Ireland 38
Times Online
Ireland joined Wales at the top of the RBS Six Nations table after a convincing victory over Italy in Rome.

Declan Kidney’s side, who next face England in a fortnight’s time, ran in five tries to none to maintain their 100 per cent start to the campaign.

Luke Fitzgerald, the winger, who scored two tries - Tommy Bowe, David Wallace and Brian O'Driscoll getting the others - admitted his team are growing in confidence.

"There's a certain amount of self-confidence but we know England are always a tough challenge - they're such a physical side, he said."

Italy were fired-up by the heavy criticism that greeted their 36-11 defeat by England last weekend but they ran out of ideas after putting on a display brimming with pride and passion for the first 35 minutes. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article5740251.ece


(Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)
Luke Fitzgerald touches down for one of his two tries

[CielOnTap]

VOTU IS IN
25-Feb-2009 09:25 AM

BA rugger, Watisoni Votu has been selected ahead of Vodafone Fiji Bati vice-captain Waisale Suka in the team to defend the Melrose Cup in Dubai next week.

Votu who can play both in the forwards and backs was named yesterday evening with 11 other players by the acting chief executive officer of Fiji Rugby Union, Keni Dakuidreketi.

Present at the naming were Dakuidreketi, selector Dan Lobendhan and team coach Iliesa Tanivula.

Votu alongside Pio Tuiwai were the two notable inclusions in the team which has six players from the 2005 winning team under former coach Wayne Pivac. The two, together with Seremaia Burotu, Vereniki Goneva and Peni Rokodiva as the only players from the team to New Zealand and USA leg of the IRB Sevens World Series. http://www.fijidailypost.com/news.php?section=3&fijidailynews=22207

[fishandchips]

From The TimesMarch 9, 2009

Danny McGuire punishes wasteful Warrington Wolves
Warrington 14 Leeds 20

Christopher Irvine
In terms of inspiring effort, the arrival of Tony Smith, the England coach, as Warrington Wolves’ director of coaching, had the desired impact. The paucity of skills on show yesterday were an entirely different matter and a wretched ham-fistedness fatally undermined the bottom club’s chances of upsetting Leeds Rhinos, the vulnerable but still unbeaten engage Super League leaders.

Warrington threw a succession of gilt-edged chances away against a Leeds side who were without five of their senior players, who lost Jamie Peacock with a shoulder injury and who were still feeling the effects of the previous Sunday’s World Club Challenge defeat to Manly Sea Eagles. Smith must have been squirming in his seat at a self-destruction that completed the Wolves’ ninth straight league loss since they beat Leeds last August in happier days at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Having led Leeds to Grand Final triumphs in 2004 and 2007, Smith is no stranger to the Rhinos striking at the opportune moment. They had defended solidly for half an hour of the second half, when they conjured the winning try by Danny McGuire. Some skilful interplay by Kevin Sinfield and the ever-willing Jamie Jones-Buchanan created space, but Chris Riley mopped up Lee Smith’s kick at the back of the Warrington defence, only to be clattered amidships by the chasing Jones-Buchanan. The ball bobbled loose and McGuire stepped past Michael Monaghan to score. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article5871248.ece