Bullscot
The Premiership clubs have been dealt a huge blow in their quest for a new European competition as the French clubs today agreed to stay in the Heineken Cup for another season.
Australia comprehensively beat England in the first Ashes test that was played at Brisbane, with a day to spare. Victory, by a whopping 381 runs, was secured late on day four as Mitchell Johnson claimed the final wicket of James Anderson. England failed to get beyond 200 runs in either of their innings as Man of the Match Johnson bowled with venom and ended up with 9 England scalps.
The prospect of two rival European club tournaments next season grew on Thursday when the four RaboDirect unions and France announced the Heineken Cup would continue and the English and French clubs insisted their Rugby Champions Cup would go ahead regardless.
Round Eight of the Pro12 kicks off on Friday night with both Scottish teams in action – early season leaders Glasgow Warriors welcoming Newport Gwent Dragons to Scotstoun, whilst Edinburgh travel to Belfast to face Ulster.
Scotland have made four changes to their pack and finalized their back division for Saturday’s viagogo Autumn Test against Australia, having declared winger Tommy Seymour fit to play and take his spot in the starting line up.
South Africa defence coach Richie Gray – whose namesake plays in the Scotland second row – said the Springboks’ win on Sunday saw them destroy a “myth” about their breakdown play.
In another significant development regarding the ongoing impasses over the future of European club rugby, representatives from the French, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian unions will meet in Dublin on Thursday in an attempt to break the current logjam, and to that end will begin drawing up plans for a Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup without the English clubs.
More than 600 delegates and 30 exhibitors representing nearly 120 countries are attending the inaugural IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition in Dublin, which will be opened officially by IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset at 1.45pm today.
Australia have suspended six players for one match for drinking in midweek before Saturday’s win over Ireland and warned nine more.
Wallabies coach Ewan McKenzie acted after “a group of players made the decision to stay out late and consume inappropriate levels of alcohol”.
A World Cup winning rugby star is joining forces with leading researchers in a new partnership to tackle motor neurone disease (MND).
South African Joost van der Westhuizen – part of the victorious Springboks team of 1995 – will launch the collaboration with scientists from the University of Edinburgh today (Friday, 15 November).
Teenage lock forward Jonny Gray is the only uncapped player in Scotland’s 23-man squad to face South Africa in the viagogo Autumn Test at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Scotland have injury concerns over five players ahead of next Sunday’s Test against South Africa at Murrayfield.
Ground staff at Murrayfield have been spraying the home of Scottish rugby with garlic in a bid to eradicate a turf parasite. Nematodes are roundworms that damage the grass root structure.
Kelly Brown will captain Scotland against Japan at Murrayfield on Saturday in the first viagogo Autumn Test. Back-row forward Brown, 31, returns after recovering from the leg injury which cut short his involvement in Scotland’s summer tour to South Africa. It will be his tenth Test as Scotland captain and 59th cap overall.
The top-of-the-table clash at Thomond Park between Munster and Ospreys on Saturday headlines Round Seven of the Pro12. Munster currently lead the pack thanks to winning one more game than Ospreys, but Ospreys have garnered more bonus points in the six rounds than their hosts, so the scene is set for an epic battle.
Glasgow scrum-half Nikola Matawalu has been cleared of biting Munster lock forward Donncha O’Callaghan in last Friday’s PRO12 game at Scotstoun.
Kieran Low is not one to beat about the bush. The 22-year-old was born in the south of England and grew up in Chichester with a Welsh-born father and mother who hails from Scunthorpe, but if he is handed an opportunity to stride out on to Murrayfield this autumn, one that he never grew up dreaming of, it will be the highlight of his life so far.
RaboDirect PRO12 log leaders Glasgow Warriors face second-placed Munster in a tantalising top-of-the-table clash at Scotstoun on Friday.
As the competition gets back into full swing with Round Six this weekend after a successful European double header, it’s clear that the Pro12 is going from strength to strength.
The English, French, Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Italian governing bodies have agreed to change the structure of European club rugby. After meetings in Dublin, they agreed in principle on the formation of two tweaked competitions of 20 teams each as well as a change in revenue distribution.
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.
Perpignan’s strong second-half showing overwhelmed Heineken Cup opponents Edinburgh at Stade Aimé Giral. Tim Visser’s converted try helped the visitors into a deserved 7-3 lead at the interval. But they were undone by two tries early in the second half as Joffrey Michel and Wandile Mjekevu crossed.
What a breathtaking start to this year’s Heineken Cup competition! In case you missed it, here are the results from last weekends Round 1 opener.
Today is the third and final day of matches in the first round of the pool stage of the Heineken Cup. In what is arguably the pick of the day’s matches Glasgow Warriors travel to France to take on Toulon. These teams currently top the RabboDirect PRO12 and French Top 14 respectively. The game is due to kick off at 16.00 South African Time.
The first round of Heineken Cup 2013/14 matches kick off this weekend in what may be the very last tournament with the European premier club rugby competition going through a much publicised meltdown.
Scotland have not ruled out capping Tommaso Allan, despite the 20-year-old being called up by Italy.
The Perpignan fly-half has represented Scotland at U17, U18 and U20 levels but is in the Azzurri training squad for the November Test series.
Italy stands ready to stage a major European club rugby final for the first time with the 20th Heineken Cup decider scheduled to be played at Milan’s world-famous Stadio Giuseppe Meazza San Siro in 2015.
Exeter Chiefs might have just got one over local rivals Gloucester Rugby in their own back yard, but head coach Rob Baxter insists there is plenty more to come from his side this Aviva Premiership season.
Glasgow Warriors maintained their winning start to the PRO12 with a hard-fought victory over Scarlets in Wales on Saturday evening.
Edinburgh Rugby will welcome the return of captain Greig Laidlaw this Sunday as they look to repeat last season’s away success against Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park (6 October, kick-off 3.05pm South African Time). The 27-year-old scrum-half – who kicked the winning drop-goal on that day last year – has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him side-lined since the summer to make his first competitive outing of the season.
Fly-half Duncan Weir returns to the Glasgow Warriors starting line-up for the game against Scarlets at Parc Y Scarlets tomorrow night, after almost six months out through injury.
The 22-year-old, who broke his leg against the Ospreys at Scotstoun last April, is one of ten changes to the team which beat Zebre in Parma last Friday.
Aussie flank Ben White says Exeter Chiefs cannot wait to get stuck into Leicester Tigers in their latest Premiership encounter this Sunday.
Buoyed by back-to-back league wins over London Wasps and London Irish, the Chiefs are now busy preparing themselves for the visit of the defending champions to Sandy Park.
As the Pro12 enters Round Four, Glasgow Warriors – the last remaining team with a 100 percent winning record – are in action in Parma on Friday night when they face Zebre.
Having waited so long for their first win in the competition, the Italian outfit will have their work cut out to make it back-to-back victories as table-topping Warriors have already defeated champions Leinster and last season’s runners up Ulster so far this season.
Edinburgh hooker Aleki Lutui has been given a two-week suspension for a reckless tackle on Tom Smith during Saturday’s 44-10 defeat at Ospreys.
Lutui was cited after appearing to catch Smith near the face with a swinging arm as he was brought down at a ruck.
Captain Al Kellock returns to the Glasgow Warriors starting line-up for the game against Zebre at Stadio XXV Aprile in Parma tomorrow (Friday 27 September). The second-row was stretchered off in the opening game against Cardiff Blues three weeks ago, but has recovered to take his place in the team.
Players from Edinburgh Rugby, Glasgow Warriors and Scotland 7s have been drafted to the four British & Irish Cup teams, ahead of the cross border competition that starts on Saturday 12 October.
At the beginning of the season the same players were distributed between the ten RBS Premiership clubs. A further re-draft has now taken place to split them between Ayr, Gala, Stirling County and Edinburgh Accies.