Aviva Premiership Semi Finals - The Road to Twickenham

The Aviva Premiership is down to four with the Semi Finals of England´s premier rugby competition to be played on Saturday in Leicester and London. The two winning sides will qualify for the final to be played at the home of English rugby, Twickenham Stadium on May 26. The same venue will host the Heineken Cup Final one week earlier between Leinster and Ulster. It will also be the central venue for Rugby World Cup 2015 with the RFU having said the venue will open the tournament as well as host the final.

The Aviva Premiership Semi Finals will be a further case in point for Argentina to host Rugby World Cup 2023 due to the involvement of Pumas players in both Semi Finals. No other country yet to host a World Cup will have players in both Semi Finals. The case for Argentina to host is also supported by the involvement of the USA with the North American country having a player involved in one of the two Semi Finals. With Japan hosting Rugby World Cup 2019 the Americas will be the onl region yet to have hosted a World Cup. The same region is the only to have produced a World Cup Semi Finalist yet to host a tournament.

Leicester Tigers vs Saracens

Saracens won the 2011 Final while Leicester won in 2010. In 2012, however, they will play at the Semi Finals stage. Leicester enter as heavy favorites having dominated the Aviva Premiership inr ecent times. Since the completion of the Six Nations no team has come close to playing the kind of rugby that Leicester have. 

Players from the Americas: Horacio Agulla and Marcos Ayerza (Argentina),  Chris Wyles (USA), Martín Castrogiovanni and Carlos Nieto (Argentine players who are Italian capped)

Prediction: Tigers to win by 12 points.

Leicester15 Geordan Murphy (captain), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 George Skivington, 3 Dan Cole, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza

Bench: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Logovi'i Mulipola, 18 Martin Castrogiovanni, 19 Graham Kitchener, 20 Craig Newby, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Billy Twelvetrees, 23 Scott Hamilton

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Owen Farrell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Will Fraser, 6 Jackson Wray, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Steve Borthwick (capt), 3 Matt Stevens, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Rhys Gill.

Bench: 16 Jamie George, 17 John Smit, 18 Carlos Nieto, 19 Hugh Vyvyan, 20 George Kruis, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Adam Powell, 23 James Short.

Harlequins vs Northampton Saints

The Quins dominated the first half of the season and were well out in front in the Premiership before other clubs closed the gap following the return of players from World Cup duty. Northampton were the final team to qualify for the Semi Finals but are no weak opponent. The match could go either way with the sides being of similar abilities.

Players from the Americas: Tomás Vallejos Cinalli

Prediction: Harlequins to win by 3

Harlequins

15 Mike Brown, 14 Tom Williams, 13 George Lowe, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Karl Dickson, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Chris Robshaw (captain), 6 Maurie Fa'asavalu, 5 George Robson,
4 Olly Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Joe Marler

Bench: 16 Rob Buchanan, 17 Mark Lambert, 18 Will Collier, 19 Tomás Vallejos Cinalli, 20 Tom Guest, 21 Richard Bolt, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 Matt Hopper.

Northampton15 Ben Foden,14 Chris Ashton, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Lee Dickson (captain), 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 James Craig, 5 Christian Day, 4 Mark Sorenson, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Andy Long, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha

Bench: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran-Jones, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Martin Roberts, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Tom May.

2010 Final 


2011 Final 

USA vs Tonga - Rugby World Cup 2007

Four days after facing England and giving the 2003 World Champions a good match, the United States of America was playing its second match of the tournament. The opponent was the Pacific Island nation of Tonga and it was the first match for the men in red. The USA had given England a good match in preventing a strong team from scoring four tries which meant the Tier One side missed out on earning a bonus point. England had no such issues vs its two other Tier Two opponents - Samoa and Tonga.

The clash in Montpellier between the USA and Tonga was to be a tournament defining match for both sides. Leading into the tournament the only team considered capable of giving either England or South Africa a good match was Samoa. What transpired proved that the predictions of many to be off the mark. Tonga were the biggest surprize in giving both Tier One nations hard matches. Tonga came very close to defeating South Africa and in the first half vs England were indeed looking strong. Samoa was thrashed by the Springboks in its first match, conceeding over 50 points and, despite improvement vs England, the men in blue were well beaten. Tonga, before facing England and South Africa, had already defeated Samoa and the USA.

The win over the USA was well documented by USA rugby officials as being a hard pill to swallow. The North Americans, to this day, believe it should have been a USA victory. The major reason why it was not is the start of the match with the USA letting in a try, something that proved fatal. Had the 2011 team been together and had the same experience the liklihood is that the Eagles would have been victorious over Tonga. The match was a strong learning curve and proved very useful for the USA in its preperation for Rugby World Cup 2011. The teams leaking of tries would not repeat itself in 2011 and the USA was a much better team as Ireland failed to score four tries and Italy´s bonus point came from a penalty try. The win over Russia was a defining moment in showing the maturity of the North Americans. It underlined the progress that had been made as a team and, especially in terms of preperation.

Four years earlier, the end of the match between England and the USA was ruined by a dangerous tackle by USA center, Paul Emerick. The tackle on Olly Barclay ended his World Cup as he was suspended. At the time Emerick was the USA´s most decorated player. He was a professional based in Europe and had been for several years. He was surrounded by USA based players, many have since gone to to pick up long term professional contracts for leading teams. The young fullback Chris Wyles, for instance, won the Aviva Premiership with Saracens in 2011 and Todd Clever is a Japanese Champion with Suntory Sungoliath. Other names to emerge include Lou Stanfill and Taku Ngwenya.

Despite the result not bing in the favor of the North Americans, the 2007 clash vs Tonga in Montpellier was nonetheless a great game of rugby. It came at a time when Tier One sides were pushing for a reduction in World Cup participants from 20 teams to 16. France 2007 showed that this argument was a weak one as Tier Two games not only gave Tier One teams good games but also had great games amongst themselves and did so with strong crowds. Curiously the only two matches which were not either sold outor close to it were Tonga´s matches vs the USA and Samoa in Montpellier.