Rabo Direct Pro 12 - Round 22 Wrap

Final match in Glasgow for Puma Federico Martín Aramburu

The final round of the regular season in the Celtic-Italian League was played over the weekend and has confirmed its top four with two Irish sides, a Welsh and a Scottish to compete in the Semi Finals next weekend. Top of the table Leinster will take on the Glasgow Warriors on Sunday while the Ospreys will host Munster one day earlier. The top three was already confirmed and all eyes were on Glasgow to see if the Warriors could claim the final spot or not. It ahs been a big season for Scottish rugby with both sides making the play-off´s of a major competition as Edinburgh were a Semi Finalist in the Heineken Cup. Glasgow´ place in the Semi Final´s raises questions, hoewver, as many teams have not taken the Rabo Direct Pro 12 all that seriously. Edinburgh´ great performance in the European tournament are testiment to this as the same team finished second from bottom in the Rabo Direct Pro 12. The team that eliminated Edinburgh, Ulster, was demolished by Munster, the same side who Ulster had defeated with a great win in Limerick in this seasons Heineken Cup Quarter Finals. Ulster fielded many second string players.

The competition lacks the same pressure as the English and French championships due in large part to the competition having no relegation. Many teams prioritize the Heineken Cup to the extent that the Rabo Direct Pro 12 has, at times, been used for nothing more than training. The competition organizers ought to do something to change this or the competition will never reach the levels that is should. The Semi Finals of the Pro 12 will be played at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea and the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin. Neither stadium has a notably large capacity. In contrast, the much larger Aviva Stadium hosted the Heineken Cup Semi Final between Ulster and Edinburgh last weekend. It attracted a strong crowd yet was an a away match for both sides.  

The competition will change next year with Aironi being replaced by another Italian side. The identity of the new team is yet to be confirmed but it has been speculated that it will be based in Rome. Airno will now be cease to exist. Perhaps a major shake up is needed to attract stronger crowds and for the competion to be the comercia, succes that it really should be. Otherwise either or both of Scottish and Welsh teams may well be better off joining the Aviva Premiership.

Edinburgh 44-21 Benetton Treviso

Treviso had three Argentine players with Ignacio Fernández Rouyet and Franco Sbaraglini startnig and Gonzalo Padro coming on from the bench. Canadian, Roberto Barbieri started in the backrow. Neither of the Scot´s Argentine players, Esteban Lozada and Ulises Gamboa featured. Both players are to now leave Scotland.

Munster 36-8 Ulster

The USA´s Callum Black was on the bench for Ulster. He played the final 25 minutes.  

Newport-Gwent Dragons 18-22 Leinster

No players from the Americas were involved.

Scarlets 29-20 Cardiff Blues

No players from the Americas were involved.

Glasgow Warriors 23-3 Connacht

Argentine winger Federico Martín Aramburu captained Glasgow, playing on the right wing. He is set to retire after this season. He was joiend by Canadian, DTH van der Merwe who played on the other wing and was a try scorer.

Aironi 11-18 Ospreys

Three Argentine players featured for the home team with Gabirel Pizarro and Matías Aguero starting while Luciano Orquera was a 63rd minute replacement. USA Junior international, Hanno Dirksen was a try scorer for the Welsh region. Canada´s Chauncey O´Toole did not feature for the Ospreys.

Final Standings
1 Leinster 81
2 Ospreys 71
3 Munster 67
4 Glasgow 65
5 Scarlets 62
6 Ulster 56
7 Cardiff 50
8 Connacht 37
9 Treviso 36
10 Dragons 36
11 Edinburgh 32
12 Aironi 22

* Semi Finalists

Dragons vs Leinster

Rabo Direct Pro 12 - Round 21 Wrap

van der Merwe returns to secure victory for Glasgow. glasgowarriors.org

Ospreys 31-12 Newport Gwent Dragons

The Ospreys secured a home Semi Final with a comfortable victory over Welsh rivals, the Dragons in Swansea. The four tries to zero win included two penalty tries with the Dragons being unable to score a try at all. The Ospreys will take on the third ranked team in a home Semi Final, with the match probably being against Munster. A USA age grade player is likely to feature for the Welsh region in the match as Hanno Dirksen continues his run in the 14 shirt. 

Ulster 8-16 Leinster

The all-Irish clash of the weekend has likely ended Ulster´s chances of a Semi Finals appearance as the Northern Irish province was unable to collect any competition points from the eight point loss. Both Leinster and Ulster will play in next weekends Heineken Cup Semi Finals and it is the European competition that has the interested of the Irish as the clubs field significantly weaker sides for matches in the Rabo Direct Pro 12. The USA´s Callum Black did not feature for Ulster. Leinster will host the fourth ranked team in a Semi Final. The probable opponent is the Glasgow Warriors. 

Connacht 19-16 Aironi

A heart-breaking loss for the Italians in Galway as a late try by the Irish province gave Connacht the victory and confirmed Aironi as the wooden spooners for the second time in a row. The Italian franchise now has one final match before being dismantled and replaced by a differnt Italian side in next seasons Rabo Direct Pro 12 and Heineken Cup competitions. The new teams remains unknown but has been rumoured to be based in Rome. Argentine-Italian flyhalf, Luciano Orquera put in a good showing, kicking eleven points for Aironi. A second Argentine player started with Matías Aguerio playing in the frontrow.

Scarlets 20-20 Munster

Welsh region the Scarlets completed an unlikely draw in Llanelli to keep its faint chances of a play-offs appearance alive. Both teams scored two tries each but Munster really ought to have won this match as the Irish province was leading 20-10 after 55 minutes of play. Both teams face difficult final round matches with the Scarlets taking on the Cariff Blues in a must win contest and Munster facing Ulster.

Cardiff Blues 38-13 Edinburgh

While the Celtic-Italian League will account for three of the four teams in the Heineken Cup Semi Finals, the rugby would not appear to be of a better quality than that shown by the leading teams in the Aviva Premiership or the Top 14 Orange. With the competition having no relegation teams have no reason to field their stars and in many cases the league functions as match practice for the Heineken Cup. Edinburgh will take on Ulster in a Heineken Cup Semi Final despite sitting in tenth place in the Rabo Direct Pro 12. the team was badly beaten by Welsh region, the Cardiff Blues as it fielded a team vastly different from that which will compete next weekend. Neither of Edinburgh´s Argentine players recieved game time vs the  Cardiff Blues. 

Benetton Treviso 8-13 Glasgow Warriors

A late win in Italy seems to have confirmed the Glasgow Warriors place in the Semi Finals. A miracle of some kind is required now to remove the Warriors from the Final Four as the Scottish club has four point points than the Scarlets and five more than Ulster. For either side to go ahead of Glasgow they need to win with a bonus point and need the Warriors to lose its final match of the regular season. The possibility of this ahppeneing is low considering the Glasgow will play host to Connacht. Glasgow´s victory in Treviso  came thanks to a late try and it was a player from the Americas doing the business as the returning Canadian, DTH van der Merwe went over for the 77th minute try. He had come on from the bench in the 60th minute. His try was a great solo effort scored from a 40 metre run. The USA also had a player on the field for the Scot´s with Tommy Seymour starting on the right wing. Argentina´s Federico Martín Aramburu did not feature however. Treviso fielded Canadian-Italian Robert Barbieri in the backrow, he started at 8. Argentina´s Ignacio Fernández Rouyet also played for Treviso as a replacement late in the match. Flyhalf Alberto di bernardo was unused from the bench.

Rabo Direct Pro 12 Standings
1 Leinster 77
2 Ospreys 67 
3 Munster 62 
4 Glasgow 61
5 Scarlets 57
6 Ulster 56
7 Cardiff 50
8 Connacht 37
9 Treviso 36
10 Dragons 35
11 Edinburgh 27
12 Aironi 20

* Semi Finals placings

Ulster vs Leinster


Benetton Treviso vs Glasgow Warriors

Rugby World Cup 2007 - Canada vs Japan

Canadian legends Rod Snow, Mike James and Morgan Williams together for the last time

One of the most exciting matches of Rugby World Cup 2007 was the tournaments only draw. It was a pool match between Canada and Japan at the Stade Chaban Delmas in the Southern-west of France in the wine Mecca of Bordeaux. The city hosted four matches with Canada being involved in two of them. Canada played its third and fourth matches in Bordeaux after having taken on Wales in Nantes and Fiji in Cardiff. the Canadians had put in good performances but incomplete ones as they had blown opportunities in both matches for a victory. Canada had put in a solid first half vs Wales which had given the favorites a massive scare which, no doubt, brought back memories from the 1993 clash between the two teams in Cardiff. On that day the North Americans left their mark forever on global rugby.

But in 2007 Canadian rugby was in need of a boost and the boost that Canadian rugby authorities and followers had been seeking for from France 2007 had not yet occured, despite 80 good minutes of rugby in the first 160 minutes at the tournament. Coach Ric Sluggo Suggitt had summed up the situation perfectly in a pre-match interview before the Japanese match in saying that Canada had played two good halves - the first vs Wales and the second vs Fiji. Canada now needed to put it together and defeat Japan. The match was built up as an interesting one due to not only both sides eeding a win but due to how both had played. The Japanese fielded a B team in its match vs Australia and were well beaten. They then fielded a team packed with the best Japanese rugby has to offer for the teams clash with Fiji in Toulouse four days latter. The match between Japan and Fiji was a back-and-forward game with Japan pushing Fiji to the limit in a highly entertaining try-scoring feast of a contest. Fiji held on to win the match 35-31. 

Canada fielded a team with more to offer in the forwards than the backs. Despite not having the services of Clermont´s Jamie Cudmore the team was nonetheless strong in the forwards with secondrower Colin Yukes playing in the backrow. Canada had five forwards and onyl two backs on the bench and of the forwards three were props. Suggitt had selected Aaron Carpenter at 8 for the match. He was considered Canada´s back up hooker to Pat Riordan. The backs featured a running flyhalf with Ryan Smith playing 10 rather than 12. It was an indication of Canada´s intentions but the match failed to be as highscoring as it could have been. The match also saw secondrower Mike James play for his country for the final time before retirement. James had been a key player for Canada for a long time and had won the French Championship with Stade Français earlier in the year.

The most important thing to come out of the game was not the result, but, rather the importance of having 20 teams at World Cup´s. A number of Tier One sides were pushing for the World Cup to be reduced to 16 teams and the idea appearwed to have the backing of the IRB. France 2007 destroyed the idea however as Argentina got the tournament off to the perfect start with a win over France in Paris. Canada vs Japan acted as a reminder that great games do not require Tier One teams and that both Canada and Japan are vital participants of World Cup´s. 

Canada vs Wales - Rugby World Cup 2007

RWC 2007 captain, Morgan Williams

Canada produced some of the biggest shocks in the 1990´s with wins over elite opposition including Ireland, Italy and Wales. The North Americans also made the Quarter Finals of Rugby World Cup 1991 and for a large period were the best teams from the Americas. With the advent of professionalism, things were never the same for Canada but this has not stopped the country´s team performing well at subsequent World Cups. While the team has not been able to repeat the Quarter Finals appearnace, Canada has, nonetheless, scored some good wins over Namibia, Romania and Tonga and two draws with Japan. 

Canada´s debut match at Rugby World Cup 2007 was against Wales, the team who had surprized everybody in the 2005 Six Nations with a Grand Slam victory. Wales entered the World Cup as the second seed from its pool which also included Australia, Canada, Fiji and Japan. The Europeans were keen on putting up their hand to show they were the real thing. Canada had other ideas, however, and Wales were pushed very far. It took the introduction of Stephen Jones and Gareth Thomas int the secondhalf to change he shape of the match. Wales had been ahead 9-0 but Canada had turned the first half around to be ahead 17-9 to the delight of the Nantes crowd. Wales´s second half come back was too good for the Canadians but the match was another reminder of the power of rugby in the Americas.