Adios y Gracias Martín Scelzo!

The playing career of Pumas veteram prop, Martín Scelzo has reached its conclusion. The 126KG tighthead prop is nothing less than a rugby legend having competed at four Rugby World Cup´s and contributing massively to Argentina´s rise to becoming a Tier One rugby nation and World Cup contender. His international career stretches a decade and a half as he played his first international match back in September 1996 vs the USA and played his last in October 2011 vs New Zealand in the World Cup Quarter Final. Scelzo played a total of 59 tests and was at his peak in France 2007 when he created global headlines for his performances as part of the Bronze Medal team that defeated France, Georgia, Namibia, Ireland and Scotland to shake up the global rugby order and change it for the better. At the tournament, Scelzo was Argentina´s starting tighthead prop, holding off Omar Hasan who would go on to be voted as the greatest tighthead prop in the history of the Rugby World Cup.

Scelzo leaves O´Driscoll  behind
(see video below)

Regarded as a complete player, Scelzo was commonly seen clearing out rucks and bullying opposition scrums whether it be for club of country. He was also a quality ball carrier and was regarded as being amongst the best tighthead props on the planet. Scelzo was also a very humble guy who played for his teammates and put everything he could into playing for Los Pumas. He formed a formidable combination with Mario Ledesma for both Clermont and Argentina with the pair joining Rodrigo Roncero to be considered the best frontrow of Rugby World Cup 2007. Four years latter Scelzo, as a 35 year old, was still good enough to make the squad and was used as Argentina´s replacement prop with Juan Figallo joining Ledesma and Roncero as tghe starting frontrow combination. Scelzo proved to still have it in him as he put in a strong performance in Argentina´s do-or-die win over Scotland in Wellington. Scelzo came on as a firsthalf replacement for Roncero. In his international career, Scelzo scored ten test tries, a very high number for a prop forward. His final try came in 2011 vs Wales in a World Cup warm up match. 


Scelzo played professional rugby at the highest level in Europe winning the Heineken Cup with the Northampton Saints in 2000 and the Top 14 with Clermont a decade on in the year 2010. He has opted to stop now despite still having one year remaining on his contract with Agen with whnm he played 15 matches this season. Scelzo leaves rugby aged 36 but is not returning to Argentina just yet. He may take up a coaching position with a espoirs Top 14 side. He is a father of four.

Agulla Try with Scelzo running over Brian O´Driscoll, 2007

Argentine National Anthem - Rugby World Cup 2007

Top 14 Final, 2010

Final Try vs Wales, 2011

Jamie Cudmore Tribute video

Cudmore breaking through a tackle vs Leicester

Jamie Cudmore is a legendary rugby player in both his home country of Canada and his French club, Clermont.  The secondrower is a hard man both on and off the field and is well respected in French rugby circles. He has played in three Rugby World Cups and four French Top 14 Finals and, in 2010, was crowned champion of France. Now aged 33 he is into the twilight of this career but could join the elit club of players to have played in four Rugby World Cup´s but he will be turning 37 come September 2015. Cudmore has been playing for the French club since 2005 and previously played one season for Grenoble and before that he played two seasons in Wales with Llanelli. 

His   performances over a long period of time at the top level in France speak wonders for his abilities and underline his contribute as a representative of Canada to the global game. Off the field, Cudmore leads an active life in France and is even the owner of a wine bar. The following video is a fitting tribute to the player and the person. 

Heineken Cup - Semi Finals Wrap

 
Ulster 22-19 Edinburgh

1999 Heineken Cup champions, Ulster are into the final after defeating Scottish side, Edinburgh in Dublin on Saturday. The match saw one try being scored per team with Ulster scoring a first half try and Edinburgh leaving it too late as the team´ try was in the 80th minute. Curiously, neither side will play in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 Semi Finals in May. The match was a reminder of the power of rugby with the Irish province of Ulster which, in effect, is essentially Northern Ireland winning the match in the capital of the Republic of Ireland. The venue, Aviva Stadium, attracted a strong crowd despite it being the Northern Irish team, the enemy of the Republic of Ireland in others sports including soccer. While the two Ireland´s are united in rugby and play without any political or religious issues the same is not true in soccer. Neil Lennon, for instance, retired from international duty with Northern Ireland in 2002 following death-threats from supporters  Following a statement of Lennon saying he wished to play for a combined Irish team. While soccer calls itself the beautiful game rugby is the gentlemans game. The USA´s Callum Black did not feature for Ulster while neither of Edinburgh´s Argentine players, Esteban Lozada and Ulises Gamboa, played either.

Clermont Auvergne 15-19 Leinster

Bordeaux was the venue for the second final with a packed stadium yet again in South-Western France.   Many Leinster fans made the trip for the match and it was a memorable match for them, unlike Ireland´s two matches at the same venue in Rugby World Cup 2007. It was far from being a Clermont Semi Final for this reason as the competition organizers srt aside a number o tickets for fans of each team making it closer to being a neutral macth than anything else. With Leinster winning it will be a Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland final with the match being played in London. Canada´s Jamie Cudmore started in the secondrow and played the full match for Clermont. He came close to scoring a try in overtime. It would have won the match for the French team. The Argentine-Italian centre, Gonzalo Canale, missed the match as he has been pushed out of the team due to France´s new worldclass centre, Wesley Fofana. Canale is rumoured to be leaving France to play in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 for the new Italian side set to replace Aironi for next season and beyond.

Agustín Pichot´s try in 2007 Top 14 Final

Three months before the kick-off of Rugby World Cup 2007, Stade Français took on Clermont Auvergne in the Top 14 Final at the same venue as the sports showcase tournament´s opening fixture - the Stade de France. The match marked history with a foreign player, Agustín Pichot, captaining a team to glory in French rugby. Pichot´s try in the 68th minute was the first of the match and proved to be the turning point in the final as Clermont had been leading 15-9 with Australian Brock James responsible for all his teams points thanks to his goalkicking. The try  was a great way of showing kids the art of the scrumhalf position as Pichot bossed around his forwards to advance with the players doing what they were told. At the same time he remained in constant contact with his flyhalf and with Stade Français four metres from the try line and looking dangerous Pichot sold a dummy pass to his flyhalf which Clermont bought 

Pichot was joined by three fellow Pumas in the Stade Français team that evening. Rodrigo Roncero and Pedro Ledesma were the teams starting props and Juan Martín Hernández was the flyhalf. There was a forth Argentine in the team with the Argentine-Italian, Sergio Parisse coming off the bench in the secondhalf. Clermont also had three Argentine players with Mario Ledesma starting at hooker and Martín Scelzo at tighthead prop and backrower Gonzalo Longo entered the match as a secondhalf replacement. 

Hernández was the player of the match and was in the best form of his career he landed the conversion to put Stade Français in the lead. Clermont reclaimed the lead with James landing his sixth penalty but it was to be Stade Français´day as Hernández threw a long cut out pass to Australian international Radiki Samo who dived over in the corner. With Hernández´s conversion, the Parisians claimed the title with a 23-18 victory.

For complete highlights of the match see here.

Heineken Cup - Quarter Finals Wrap

Edinburgh 19-14 Toulouse

Patricio Albacete

A record breaking crowd and an unlikely victory at Murrayfield as the favorites, Toulouse were unable to play any rugby due, in large part, to the selection of Lionel Beauxis in the pivotal position of flyhalf. The former Stade Français flyhalf made a mess of things while being the leading number 10 for the Parisians and since he left the club it has been playing a significantly better brand of rugby and winning much more matches with Felipe Contepomi replacing him in the position. France´s recent Six Nations performances were hardly impressive with Beauxis unable to create opportunities for the backline after he was selected at flyhalf over François Trinh-Duc. Edinburgh have been struggling to win a match in the Rabo Direct Pro 12 and if the competition was the same as the Top 14 Orange then the Scottish team would have no chance of playing in the 2012-2013 Heineken Cup. The team which defeated Toulouse, nonetheless, was packed with stars and was close to being the Scottish international team with the likes of Ross Rennie, David Denton, Ross Ford, Geoff Cross, Allan Jacobson, Mike Blair, Greig Laidlaw, Nick de Luca and Lee Jones all in the team. Tim Visser was in the team too with the Dutch winger certain to debut for Scotland this June with the Scot´s touring Australia, Fiji and Samoa. Edinburgh´s Argentine players did not feature while Patricio Albacete played the full 80 minutes in Toulouse´s secondrow. Edinburgh will play a Semi Final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Leinster 34-3 Cardiff Blues

The second Quarter Final was over by the 30 minute mark as Leinster dealt with Welsh region, the Cardiff Blues easily in front of a near fullhouse at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Despite being known as the Blues the side was in fact playing in a pink strip. The teams downfall was its lack of response time to Leinster´s counterattack and the lack of creation with Scottish international Dan Parks kicking away too much ball. His opposite, Jonny Sexton had a solid match in creating opportunities for his backs. The return of Brian O´Driscoll to Heineken Cup rugby was a success and he scored one of Leinster´s four tries. Leinster´s reward for winning is a Heineken Cup Semi Final match in France. Cardiff are set to lose a number of players who are to take up offers from other clubs. As such the teams chances of playing in the Quarter Finals next season are remote. 

Munster 16-22 Ulster

USA Born Ronan O´Gara

History was made in Limerick as for the first time in history Munster lost a Quarter Finals match at Thomond Park. Ulster´s victory was set up from the get go as the Northern Irish province went to a 19-0 lead after only 31 minutes. From there it was just a case of playing out the remainder of the match and this is, indeed, what Ulster did. When Munster finally started to play rugby it was too late. The USA born Irish international flyhalf Ronan O´Gara played at 10 for the hosts while fellow USA born player, Callum Black was left out of the team for Ulster. Having both provinces plus Leinster in the Heineken Cup Quarter Finals appears to suggest that Irish rugby is strong at the moment and that the recent Six Nations performances will not be repeated. The worrying thing for Ireland, however, is that Munster has dropped away from where it was several years ago and Ulster´s return to the Heineken Cup knock-out stages comes due in no small part to its imported players, particularly South Africans. Munster also fielded its share of imports in the loss vs Ulster.

Saracens 3-22 Clermont Auvergne

Canadian Jamie Cudmore

The contribution of the Americas to the global game featured in the final quarter final with Canada´s Jamie Cudmore starting in the secondrow for the French side. USA Eagles fullback, Chris Wyles started for Saracens on the left wing and the teams Argentine-Italian prop, Carlos Nieto was on the bench. Cudmore played 58 minutes, Nieto entered for the final 12 minutes and Wyles played the fullmatch. The Clermont hero was Australian Brock James who contributed 17 points with the games only try being scored by Wales´ Lee Byrne for the central French side. James had not been in the starting lineup but replaced former French international, David Skrela in only the 3rd minute of play. The result is a kick in the face to the tournamewnt organizers who have arranged for Twickenham to host the Heineken Cup Final but there will be no English teams even in the Semi Finals. Clermont will have the luxury of playing its Semi Final in France but it will not be a home encounter, ratrher the match will take place in Bordeaux. It will be Clermont vs Leinster.

Edinburgh vs Toulouse (Toulouse Try)

Leinster vs Cardiff Blues


Munster vs Ulster


Saracens vs Clermont