Amlin Challenge Cup - Semi Finals Wrap

Toulon 32-29 Stade Français

Toulon struggled to a tight win against Stade Français to reach the final, thanks to the boot of Jonny Wilkinson securing a late drop goal for the win.

At home, against a very much weakened Stade Français team, Toulon were expected to win much more comfortably, but with a massive wind helping Stade Français in the first half they helped themselves to an early lead as young fly half Jules Plisson looked comfortable and assured with the boot.

When Toulon had the wind on their backs, several penalties from Jonny Wilkinson soon put them back into the lead, but Stade didn't give up and were in the match right up until the end when Wilkinson struck the winning drop goal.

There was no representation from the Americas in this match, with Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe on the sidelines.

American Takudzwa Ngwenya
evades the tackle of Argentine
Agustín Figuerola

Biarritz 19-0 Brive

Biarritz made it two home wins out of two in the semi finals as pretty much everybody expected as soon as the semi final draw was made.

Like Stade Français, Brive played a weakened side, but only slightly weakened compared to Stade's ransacked side.

The game was a very dull one, played in soaking conditions with two teams not playing much rugby, the excitement of the match lessened further when it became clear early on that Biarritz were not going to lose as well.

For Biarritz American Takudzwa "Zee" Ngwenya played the entire match on the wing, as did Argentine centre Marcelo Bosch who started at fly half, lock Manuel Carizza who is leaving the Basque side at the end of the season also started, whilst tighthead prop Franciso Gómez Kodela came off the bench.

For Brive Argentine scrum half Agustín Figuerola played the entire match whilst loosehead prop Pablo Henn came off the bench.

The Amlin Challenge Cup final will be played at the Twickenham Stoop on Wednesday the 18th of May between Toulon and Biarritz.


If Toulon win, the team that finishes seventh in the Top 14 will qualify for the 2012/13 Heineken Cup, if Biarritz win then they will qualify instead.

Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals Wrap

Stade Français 22-17 Exeter
Exeter, who look likely to be playing in the Heineken Cup next season, really gave a sleepy Stade Français a large fright at the Stade Charlety. They dominated most of the match, but failed to ever take a big lead on the scoreboard, and late on failed to take their chances with kicks, got some bad luck with some Stade ruck infringements going unseen and the lack of a camera at the right angle for a probable try whcih saw it disallowed meant Stade could score late on with a try from Paul Williams set up by some Julien Dupuy brilliance to take the match.

Ignacio Mieres making a break against Stade Français

This game also saw an interesting match up between two Pumas contenders for the number 10 shirt Felipe Contepomi and Ignacio Mieres. But both had mixed matches. Contepomi was less prominent in the match but stupidly sin binned after reacting to a borderline foul tackle and what looked like taunting by the Exeter hooker Chris Whitehead, but ultimately it was his chip kick to set up Djibril Camara's well finished try  that was crucial to the result.

Mieres on the otherhand, was better than Contepomi throughout the match, but failed to make a difference where it counts on the scoreboard. It was his sensational 40 metre break which set up Exeter disallowed try which was probably a try in the first half, and in the second half he quite simply bottled two opportunities to secure the match with a medium difficulty conversion and very easy drop goal miss, although it could be argued Stade were offside for the charge down. He will be gutted to have missed the chance to knock out the team which massively underused him and preferred to pick Lionel Beauxis on his one man mission to whack the leather of all rugby balls.

It will be interesting to see who is chosen for the Pumas 10 shirt as there are good arguments for all of Hernández, Contepomi and Mieres to start there for the Pumas later this year.

As a sidenote Stade Français continue to get some very poor crowds at the Stade Charlety, whilst they seem to always sell out the Stade de France for matches and played in front of a packed crowd in Mans two weeks ago their attendances at just average home matches has been dismal, only 4,693 turned up to this match.

Toulon 37-8 Harlequins
Whilst the first match had a scoreline which didn't reflect the match, the second certainly did as Toulon thumped the English leaders Harlequins which extends their unbeaten run at the Stade Mayol to 13 matches. Toulon were dominant in all areas of the pitch and just scored from any penalty conceded by Quins and added tries towards the end to sweeten the scoreline for them. Notably Steffon Armitage was outstanding in this match and must be working towards an England recall as a specialist number 7, a place he has never really been given a fair run before.

Harlequins had two Argentines playing, starting was Tomás Vallejos and Benjamín Urdapilleta off the bench, neither were particularly prominent in this match.

Wasps 23-26 Biarritz
This was a match that was Biarritz's to lose and they almost did, they had a dominating pack and created two excellent try opportunities in the first half only for Iain Balshaw to wreck them, nevertheless they were led 23-9 in the second half with a try from Blashaw and South African prop Eugene van Staden. But Wasps scored tow tries in three minutes to level the scores. After another ruined easy try opportunity by Florian Faure this time, the Basque side eventually went through thanks to the trusty calmness of Dimitri Yachvili's boot.

Two Argentines were in the Biarritz team, Eusébio Guiñazu started at hooker and had a mixed day with one or two poor lineout throws, whilst Francisco Gómez Kodela came off the bench in the second half.

Brive 15-11 Scarlets
This was Brive's second string side, but it managed to defeat the Scarlets first choice side at home thanks mainly to a couple of factors. Brive dominated the Scarlets scrum and it is thanks to that Brive got most of the territory and their points from.

Whilst the Scarlets malfunctioned badly at the scrum, they also malfunctioned at the lineout with Matthew Rees who has been having a very poor season losing the first four or five lineouts. The Scarlets much talked about backs didn't get into the match. If the Scarlets want to compete at Heineken Cup level they will simply have to buy a better front five as their numbers one to five simply aren't good enough for Heineken Cup level rugby. And Brive proved that a worse team on paper, can beat a better team when the set pieces are so dominant.

Out of interest, France may want to keep an eye on the 19 year old loosehead prop Jefferson Poirot who on his first start for Brive destroyed the Scarlets tighthead, who was destroyed even more when Davit Khinchagishvili came on.

One Argentine, scrum half Agustín Figuerola played in this match coming off the bench late on for Brive.

Semi Final draw:
Toulon v Stade Français
Biarritz v Brive

The semi finals are an all French affair, and look very easy to predict, with the home teams having a massive advantage in each match, it would be a huge surprise not to see a Toulon against Biarritz final at the Stoop.

Final to be played at the Twickenham Stoop

The Rugby Championship Players To Watch - Gonzalo Camacho

27 year old winger, Gonzalo Camacho is a player to watch out for this year for Los Pumas. The Exeter Chiefs winger has been a starter for the Aviva Premiership team all season and carries the misleading statistic of not scoring a try at all for the club since his arrival following Rugby World Cup 2011. The Chiefs signed him in what was a major coup for the club considered as big one of the most likely for relegation to the second division. His arrival, however, has proven to be good for him and for the club. Despite only having scored one try thus far he has been a constant threat in attack and despite his small stature he has been like a brick wall in defence. 

Camacho in Dubai 2009

The rise of Camacho into Los Pumas was no easy road. As an amateur player in Buenos Aires his chance came while playing Rugby Sevens for his country. He had come through the Argentine system and emerged as a Pumas player at the right time - just as the IRB were waking up to the need to help the UAR go professional. It took Argentina´s performance at Rugby World Cup 2007 to alert the sports gobal governing body and Gonzalo Camacho was a young player who was quickly selected  and prepared by the PladAR system. While the system was coming together, Camacho made his test debut, scoring two tries vs Uruguay in March 2008. he earned his second test cap latter that year and scored a try vs Chile. His big break, however, did not come in 2008 but the following year and from Sevens rugby rather than rugby union. Camacho was in Argentina´s Sevens team and was a key player. He was a part of the team that finished second in the 2009 World Cup in Dubai. His performances had attracted the interests of scouts and English side, the Harlequins signed him no a two year deal starting in August 2009. 

Camacho evades Chris Robshaw

With Argentina missing players to injury and the form of some not being what it perhaps should have been, Santiago Phelan, named Camacho in his squad for the June 2009 internationals vs England. Camacho started both tests on the right wing, scoring a try in the home match at Salta. The try was a finalist for the IRB Try of the year. It underlined his potential as a player who could go on to start for Argentina at the World Cup. It also saw him give English rugby fans an indication of his abilities. Two months after helping Argentina to a test victory he was in London with the Harlequins. He was expected to start on the wing for Argentina in the November 2009 international tour of England, Wales and Scotland but he missed out due to injury. He also missed Argentina´s home series in June 2010 and had to wait until November 2010 to make his return to the international stage. He started vs Italy and France and put in solid performances to underline his credentials.

Camacho lifts the Amlin Challenge Cup

After seeing out his two year deal, Camacho was signed by Exeter despite the Harlequins eagerness to resign the Pumas winger. He played for the Harlequins for two seasons, with the 2010-2011 season being his better one as he recieved significantly more game time and had also secured the Pumas 14 shirt as his own. Camacho wrote his name in the history books in his final match for the club as he scored the only try of the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup Final to give the London side a championship title, defeating Paris´ Stade Français. His impressive season cemented his place in the starting XV for Argentina for World Cup year and he, indeed, went on to be the teams starting right winger in Los Pumas´ key matches as he started all three crunch matches - vs England and Scotland in the group phase and vs New Zealand in the Quarter Final.   

Camacho tackles Ben Foden

Despite not scoring a try at the World Cup, Camacho was an important player for Los Pumas. It was his defence that seemed to leave the biggest impression as he showed the world that it does not take a big mane to put in a big tackle. His tackles vs England´s Ben Foden and New Zealand´s Richie McCaw were amongst the best of the tournament. He was able to shut down defences and see to it that Argentina would not be leaking tries down his side of the field. Teams tried hard to attack him but were unable to as he was able to keep big name players from England, Scotland and New Zealand at bay. 

His defence may well be what works out for him this year as Camacho´s place in Argentina´s starting XV is being challenged by the performances of Martín Bustos Moyano and Juan Imhoff in France and regular Pumas left winger, Horacio Agulla in England. All players are certain to feature for their country this year with Argentina having a much larger schedule that in previous years. The form and depth of Pumas wingers could well give the team an edge compared to Argentine teams of the past. 

Week One: Juan Manuel Leguizamón

Week Two: Lucas González Amorosino

Week Three: Marcelo Bosch

Week Four: Agustín Creevy

Week Five: Juan Martín Hernández 
Week Six: Martín Bustos Moyano
Week Seven: Leonardo Senatore

Week Eight: Rodrigo Roncero
Week Nine: Gonzalo Camacho
Week Ten: Patricio Albacete

Agustín Figuerola signs new contract with Brive

It was initially called to be an emergency and the case of the Leicester Tigers vs Horacio Agulla had alarm bells ringing as it sounded a warning to Argentine international players that maybe they would have to be forced between playing club rugby as a professional or playing for Los Pumas in The Rugby Championship. Since then ice has thawed and a number of players have resigned, are negotiating with their clubs or have offers to change to rival teams. The lattest such player is former CASI scrumhalf, Agustín Figuerola who has been playing in France for Brive since 2010 and has just signed a new deal with the central French club.

His form for the club this season has been solid as he has  case for a return to Los Pumas after having been left out of the squad for Rugby World Cup 2011. This season he has played twelve Top 14 Orange matches for Brive, seven in the starting lineup and has also played five times in the Amlin Challenge Cup.  He is pusing hard to take the number 9 shirt from Nicolás Vergallo.