Bullscot
European Rugby Champions Cup pool stages draw
The draw for the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup has taken at the Stade de la Maladière in Neuchatel, Switzerland with many fancied teams facing tricky paths to the knockout stages.
Pool 1 appears to be the toughest with Heineken Cup finalists drawn against Munster, Clermont Auvergne and Sale Sharks, while Ulster will face reigning European champions Toulon, Leicester Tigers and Scarlets in Pool 3.
PRO12 champions Leinster will be bidding to return to the top of European rugby when they take on Castres, Harlequins and London Wasps in Pool 2.
Glasgow Warriors, who were beaten in the PRO12 final by Leinster, face Montpellier, Bath Rugby and Toulouse in Pool 4, while Aviva Premiership champions Northampton saints have been drawn with Racing Metro in Pool 5 alongside Ospreys and Benetton Treviso.
The Springboks completed a successful first match of their season on Saturday against Nick Mallet’s World XV at Newlands but the first proper international action for them starts this weekend as the Castle Lager Incoming Series gets underway with a Test against Wales in Durban on Saturday.
There often is debate and criticism about the make up of squads that Northern Hemisphere countries send on these mid-year tours which take place after their taxing domestic seasons. This year though the two teams due to play against South Africa have got good reason to be fielding teams which are going to be under strength in certain areas. The Test against Scotland falls outside the international window and so their players who ply their trade outside Scotland will not be making the trip over. The tour for Wales has been made much harder due to numerous injuries, no least to inspirational captain Sam Warburton.
USA (3) 6 / 24 (17) Scotland (Final Score)
The USA Eagles and Scotland did battle in the June Internationals at
BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston at 02:30 SA Time (01:30 BST, 00:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast by Universal Sports and streamed Live online on dailyrecord.co.uk.
*******************
Saracens forward Hayden Smith has been restored to the USA side to face Scotland, while Seattle fly-half Shalom Siniula will be handed his first start.
Siniula is rewarded for a try in the second leg after earning his first two caps in the World Cup qualifying victory over Uruguay.
Seattle lock Louis Stanfill was preferred to Smith for the second leg.
But Smith returns alongside Stanfill in a XV that includes six players who ply their trade in England.
Head coach Vern Cotter has named three starting debutants in his first Scotland selection for this Saturday’s summer Test match against USA in Houston, Texas (7 June, kick-off 7.30pm local time, 1.30am BST, 2.30an SA Time). The match will be streamed live on dailyrecord.co.uk.
Glasgow Warriors pair Gordon Reid (prop) and Finn Russell (stand-off), and London Irish back-row, Blair Cowan, will start their first international outing at the BBVA Compass Stadium, while prop Alex Allan (Glasgow Warriors) and scrum-half Grayson Hart (Edinburgh Rugby) could debut from the bench.
The late Kenny Nuzum’s son – Andrew
Shontayne Hape
While rugby spent the past week looking back on the glorious careers of two of its departing heroes, Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O’Driscoll, there was forensic analysis of a very different kind going on elsewhere close to the game.
Last Tuesday morning, at the Coroners Court in Dublin, it was found that a former amateur rugby player, whose family had donated his brain for research, had died prematurely because of repeated blows to the head on the field during his rugby years.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, accepted evidence from two neuropathology experts, one of whom was Dr Willie Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital and a world leader in the examination of head trauma of sport.
The findings were that Kenny Nuzum, a prop forward with the Lansdowne club in Dublin and a former team-mate of the legendary Moss Keane, passed away in March last year because of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In layman’s terms, punch-drunk syndrome.
Hawkeye technology used in tennis
Technology company Hawkeye says it is in talks about providing a replacement to the television match official (TMO) system in rugby.
Hawkeye, which operates systems in football and tennis, could be used in domestic rugby and internationally in time for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Hawkeye founder Paul Hawkins said: “We are in conversation with Premiership Rugby and the IRB.”
The International Rugby Board would not confirm any talks with Hawkeye.
Tom Heathcote
Edinburgh Rugby are delighted to announce the signing of 22-year-old Scotland stand-off Tom Heathcote, from Bath Rugby, on a one-year deal to 2015.
Born in Inverness, Heathcote won his first cap for the nation as a replacement in the 2012 EMC Test against Tonga at Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen.
He was selected in Scotland’s 2013 RBS 6 Nations squad and subsequently started at stand-off for Scotland A, kicking eight points in the 13-9 win over England Saxons, the side’s first win on English soil.
He then went on to make two starts for Scotland in the 2013 summer quadrangular tournament against Samoa and Italy, and is considered one of the brightest young contenders for the national number 10 jersey.
Zane Kirchner was in fine form for Leinster
It was a solemn farewell for Brian O’Driscoll but an electric Zane Kirchner ensured the Leinster legend bowed out with back-to-back RaboDirect PRO12 titles.
O’Driscoll, playing in his last professional match, was forced off the pitch early on at a sun-soaked RDS but Kirchner lifted Leinster spirits with a try before setting up Shane Jennings in the first half.
Finn Russell ensured Glasgow Warriors were never too far off the pace with an accurate kicking display but Kirchner crossed over again late on before Gordon D’Arcy completed the scoring to make it 34-12.
Jonny Wilkinson for Toulon in the 2014 Top 14 Final against Castres, his last game before retirement.
Jonny Wilkinson ended his career by helping Toulon to the French title with victory over Castres in Paris.
The former England fly-half, 35, kicked all but three of his side’s points in an 18-10 victory in the Top 14 final.
His display included four penalty kicks and a drop goal reminiscent of his winning kick against Australia to win England the World Cup in 2003.
Alex Waller’s try in the last minute of extra time won Northampton their first Premiership title with a dramatic victory over Saracens.
Saints led 7-6 at the break through Ben Foden’s converted try, with Owen Farrell replying with two penalties.
Farrell added a further penalty before George Pisi crossed for Northampton’s second converted try.
Marcelo Bosch’s try levelled the scores but Charlie Hodgson’s kick hit the post to send the game into extra time.
Today is almost Groundhog Day in France as Toulon once again take on Castres in the Top 14 final, but this year there is one crucial difference. Jonny Wilkinson, as the rugby world and his wife is well aware, will hang up his boots on Saturday evening having played the final 80 minutes in his glittering career. Worryingly for Castres, it would be hard to imagine that Wilkinson’s Toulon team-mates will allow him to sign off with an anti-climax.
It’s not just Wilkinson that Toulon will be aiming to win for – the whole team have a score to settle with their opponents. Castres upset the applecart last season by defeating Toulon 19-14 in the final to claim their first league title in 20 years. Having become the first French club to secure back-to-back Heineken Cups last weekend, Toulon are now aiming to secure a league and cup double that will send their already devoted fans into absolute pandemonium.
Defending Champions Leinster will face Glasgow Warriors in the final of the RaboDirect PRO12 in front of a capacity crowd in Dublin tonight. Kick off is at 18:15 BST, 19:15 SA Time.
Leinster will be more familiar with the experience having played in and won many finals in the PRO12 and elsewhere in European Rugby, while it will be Glasgow Warriors first appearance ever in a final at this level.
Leinster stalwarts Brian ‘O Driscoll and captain Leo Cullen will be playing their final match for the club before they retire. The Glasgow Warriors also features players competing in the their final match for the team- Chris Cusiter, Ruaridh Jackson and Moray Low, who will be furthering their careers with clubs in England next season.
Northampton Saints have named captain Dylan Hartley among their replacements for Saturday’s Premiership final against Saracens at Twickenham.
But the hooker’s England team-mate Mako Vunipola is missing for Sarries having had surgery on a dislocated patella.
Saints are aiming for their first-ever Premiership title, after losing to rivals Leicester in last year’s final.
A parent who tripped up an under-16s rugby player during a cup final in Hertfordshire has been handed a two-year touchline ban by the Rugby Football Union.
The incident, in last month’s game between Watford club Fullerians and Royston, attracted widespread publicity in the UK and abroad after a photograph showing the father stepping on to the pitch was published in newspapers and on social media.
Leinster Rugby’s Jamie Heaslip talks about this weekends Rabo Pro12 final against Glasgow.
After the Heineken Cup double, last year Leinster settled for an Amlin trophy, but after being knocked out by the eventual winners, now look to the Pro12 to retain the trophy-winning streak they have cultivated over the last five years.
“They’re the positions you want to be in at this time of the year, to be playing in those games (European finals). I was awful jealous at the weekend not being involved in any sort of competition. It was the first time in a couple of years that happened.”
“We want to kick on come this week and we know the challenge ahead of us. We played these guys last year in the semis, we played them I don’t know how many times over the last couple of seasons in Europe and the league. We know that margins that are there; last year could have gone either way. I think Rob made a great tackle on the line and held a guy up over the line, one score separated the team.”
Lock Bradley Davies will miss Wales’ two-Test tour to South Africa in June because of a hamstring injury.
The Cardiff Blues lock, 27, who is heading to Wasps, suffered the problem in training and has undergone surgery.
Meanwhile, Racing Metro flanker Dan Lydiate is out of Friday’s Wales Probables v Possibles trial in Swansea.
But Lydiate’s hamstring strain is not expected to rule him out of the tour, which starts with a warm-up against Eastern Province Kings on 10 June.
Tommy Seymour is determined to help the Warriors finish off the season in style by claiming their first-ever RaboDirect PRO12 league title.
It will be the perfect end after a season that has seen Tommy come to the fore with Glasgow and Scotland.
Scottish Rugby is delighted to announce today that it has secured a long-term, multi-million pounds deal with global communications and broadcasting giant BT.
The four-year partnership, unveiled at the home of Scottish Rugby this afternoon, sees BT
- Secure the naming rights for Murrayfield Stadium, which becomes BT Murrayfield Stadium.
- Become sponsor of the Scotland 7s side from the outset of the 2014-15 HSBC Sevens World Series.
- Become principal and exclusive sponsor of Scotland’s domestic league and cup competitions from next season.
- Become sponsor of Scottish Rugby’s four new academies which will drive forward standards for young players who have aspirations to play professionally.
Cheetahs and South Africa hooker Adriaan Strauss has been banned for three weeks for a tip-tackle, ruling him out of the Wales series.
The Sanzar duty judicial officer Adam Casselden has accepted a guilty plea from Strauss for contravening Law 10.4 (j) Lifting Tackle, after he was cited during a Super Rugby match at the weekend.
Strauss has been suspended from all forms of the game for three weeks up to and including 21 June 2014.
Toulon celebrates the 2014 Heineken Cup win against Saracens
Comic magnate Mourad Boudjellal’s Toulon retained the Heineken Cup trophy with a comprehensive victory, by seventeen points, over English club Saracens at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff yesterday. The final score was Saracens 6/23 Toulon.
This victory proved that in the modern era of sports it is most often the team who has the biggest pot of gold available to it who will win the trophy as on the same day Toulon’s football equivalent Real Madrid lifted the Champions League trophy just hours later in Lisbon. The final score of 4/1 to Real Madrid may make their victory seem as comprehensive as Toulon’s.
The build-up to one of Europe’s greatest sporting weekends is almost complete as the clock ticks towards the Cardiff 2014 finals kick-off.
With a galaxy of international stars ready to take the stage at the atmospheric Millennium Stadium for tomorrow’s Heineken Cup decider between RC Toulon and Saracens, and at Cardiff Arms Park for this evening’s all-English Amlin Challenge Cup confrontation featuring Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints, fans from all over Europe are flocking into the Welsh capital to savour a unique celebration of club rugby.
Both matches – which will feature players from as many as 15 nations including luminaries of the global game such as Jonny Wilkinson, George North, Matt Giteau, Schalk Brits and Bryan Habana – will be broadcast in more than 150 countries worldwide.
One of Scottish Rugby’s most capped backs will return to the Scotland 7’s squad, where his international career started, at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (Ibrox Stadium, 26-27 July).
Glasgow Warriors’ winger Sean Lamont who has won 86 caps for his country and who was in the 2002 Scotland 7’s Commonwealth Games squad in Manchester has been named in Stephen Gemmell’s 12-man squad for Glasgow 2014. Lamont won his last World Series cap at Murrayfield in 2009.
Gemmell has also completed a major coup by securing the services of Scotland and Glasgow Warriors winger, Tommy Seymour who has won eight Scotland caps, but has not yet been involved with Scotland 7s. His selection follows some impressive performances for club and country that display a pedigree for the abbreviated game.
Former England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson says it would be “amazing” to one day coach his country after announcing he will retire from playing this month.
The 34-year-old will play in the Heineken Cup and Top 14 finals for Toulon, at which point he will join the French club’s coaching staff.
Wilkinson played 91 times for England, famously kicking a winning drop-goal in the 2003 World Cup final.
Robbie Diack has been called up to Ireland squad for the summer test tour in Argentina next month, along with fellow South African and Ulster team mate, hooker Rob Herring.
Nine Ulster players have been named among the 30-man squad with Diack set to make his international debut should he be called into action.
Cardiff Blues have appointed former New Zealand international hooker, Mark Hammett, as their Director Of Rugby.
The 41-year-old, currently head coach of the Hurricanes, replaces Phil Davies, who left the post in March.
Hammett has agreed a three-year deal and will join up with Cardiff at the end of the Super Rugby season.
London Wasps will take a one-point lead into the second leg of their European Rugby Champions Cup play-off after defeating Stade Francais.
A last-minute Andy Goode penalty gives Wasps a slender advantage for the return fixture in Paris next Saturday.
We have reached the knockout stage of the 2013 / 2014 RaboDirect PRO12 season with the semi-finals to be played this weekend. The first game takes place in Glasgow tonight (Friday) and will see Glasgow Warriors, who finished in second spot on the log host third placed Munster. This is the first time that Glasgow Warriors have hosted a semi-final game in the PRO12.
The second game, to be played tomorrow (Saturday) will be an all Ireland affair with first placed Leinster hosting fourth placed Ulster. Johan Muller, in his last season at the club, will be captaining Ulster and will be hoping for a win to make it one more game before the curtain falls on what has been a very good time for him at the Belfast club.
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.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has warned that he might consider not selecting England-based players in future.
The Premiership clubs have said they may not release Welsh players for a trial game on 30 May in Swansea as it is not a Test match.
Negotiations are ongoing, but Gatland remains concerned by the continuing uncertainty over player availability for Wales duties.
The New Zealand Rugby Union confirmed on Tuesday the All Blacks will travel to take on the USA in Chicago on 1 November.
The world’s best will take on their American counterparts at the 61,000-seater Solider Field stadium, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears.
Though rumours and speculation regarding this fixture have bubbled away for nearly six months, it was only on Tuesday that the match was publicly announced as the Kiwis’ newest overseas initiative, with the purposes of drawing on the developing market – boasting huge potential – in the USA, generating a ballpark figure of at least $1 million NZ dollars for the NZRU, and offering the Test side important preparation for the subsequent fixtures in Europe.
Wales have named 52 players to prepare for the Probables v Possibles trial match on May 30th, including Bath centre Gavin Henson.
The two 26-man squads will be captained by Alun Wyn Jones (Probables) and Matthew Rees (Possibles) respectively as the sides go head-to-head for their chance to tour South Africa in June.
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett believes the players selected for his World XV squad are in top form for their match against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday 7 June.
The squad of 23 players, comprising of Test stars from New Zealand, France, Australia, Ireland, Samoa, Tonga, Georgia and South Africa, boasts a total of 707 caps between them.
“The group of players who have been selected for this match are not only very experienced, but are all in very good form at the moment,” said Mallett.
Following the first of two matches in the build-up to their IRB Junior World Championship next month in New Zealand, Scotland’s under-20 squad take on Wales in Bridgend this (Wednesday) evening.
Edinburgh Rugby have confirmed that nine players will leave the club at the end of the season, at the conclusion of their current contracts.
Among the nine are capped internationalists Lee Jones (Scotland), centre Ben Atiga (All Blacks) and back-row Dimitri Basilaia (Georgia).