The Rugby Championship Players to Watch - Manuel Carizza

27 year old secondrower Manuel Carizza has been around for a long time. So much so that he is one of only a few Pumas to have faced South Africa previously and to have played a test match in Mendoza, the same city that will host the Springboks in The Rugby Championship. He made his debut eight years ago and has played 23 tests, starting 16 of them and having made the Pumas number 4 shirt his own in recent times. He has become increasingly visible on the field in recent times with hard hitting tackles, solid scrumaging and ball carrying skills and has been used as the primary jumper at the front of the lineout. With a height of over 2 metres and weighing over 115KG Carizza has the build to match the skills necessary for international rugby.

Carizza for Biarritz

Carizza made his international debut in 2004 vs the Springboks in Buenos Aires. The test was played outside of the June / November international windows which meant professional players were not released by their clubs. His second test came in April 2005 vs Japan, again it was a match in which clubs were not obliged to release players. He was a replacement in the history making 25-25 draw with the Lions in Cardiff and then played in all three tests in November - vs South Africa, Scotland and Italy from the bench. Carizza was pushing hard to be Argentina´s fourth choice secondrower for Rugby World Cup 2007 to make up the squad. Patricio Albacete, Rimas Alvarez Kairelis and Carlos Ignacio Fernández Lobbe were certainties and Carizza was in competition with Esteban Lozada and Pablo Bouza. Carizza played three tests in 2006, facing Chile, Uruguay and Wales,  but was not picked for the November tour with coach Marcello Lofreda opting to give Esteban Lozada his debut, joining the three big name players. Lozada would go on to be Argentina´s fourth choice secondrower at Franbe 2007 despite Carizza starting vs Italy in Mendoza in June that year.

Carizza wins lineout ball vs England

Although Carizza was overlooked for Rugby World Cup 2007, he was developing greatly as a player in France. He had joined Biarritz in 2005. At the time the club was nothing short of a powerhouse, winning the French Championship in 2005 and 2006 as well as being the Heineken Cup runners-up in 2006. Biarritz next made the Heineken Cup Final in 2010 with Carizza being an important player for the club. The timing was ideal for Los Pumas as both Carlos Ignacio Fernández Lobbe and Rimas Alvarez Kairelis had retired from international duty despite still playing for Perpignan and Northampton. The year 2010 saw Carizza become Argentina´s first choice number 4 as he joined Albacete to form what is becoming a long term secondrow combination. They function very well together with Albacete being more of a loose player and Carizza more of a tight player. The combination worked well, going on to be used at Rugby World Cup 2011 and starting four of the five matches of the tournament. Carizza had a fine World Cup, getting through a high amount of work.

Carizza is a player bucking the historical trend of Los Pumas. At France 2007 Argentina´s 30 man squad had 26 players from Buenos Aires. At New Zealand 2011, however, the number was 18. Carizza was one of six players from Argentina´s third largest city, Rosario. The same city will host Argentina vs Australia in The Rugby Championship with Carizza likely to be the starting number 4. The pair could indeed still be the starting pair at Rugby World Cup 2015 considering the age and form of the two players. Together they ensure that Argentina has a solid and reliable secondrow in all areas of play. 

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
Week Eleven: Horacio Agulla
Week Twelve: Juan Figallo
Week Thirteen: Santiago Fernández
Week Fourteen: Tomás Cubelli 
Week Fifteen: Marcos Ayerza

Week Sixteen: Manuel Carizza

Week Seventeen: Nicolás Vergallo

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.

Manuel Carizza slams Jerry Collins

Carizza vs Ospreys

With Manuel Carizza potentially on his way to Wales next season to link up with the Llanelli based side, the Scarlets it is relevent to go back to the vault and show a piece of him in action for Biarritz against Welsh side the Ospreys in the Heineken Cup. In 2010 Biarritz took on the Ospreys in what was a Quarter Final in 2010 and took place at the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastien, Spain.  The 32,000 capacity venue was utilized as a home venue due to the scope of the match. The city is located 20KM from the French border and is the closest sizeable venue to Biarritz. The alterative options of relocating the match to a French venue would mean significantly larger travel times for supporters. San Sebastien is 50km from Biarritz while Bordeaux is 200km and Toulouse 300km from Biarritz. 

The match went down in history as the day that the Welsh Wizard, Shane Williams was out sprinted by the American Rocket, Taku Ngwenya. The USA Eagle´ try being one of the most talked about tries of 2010 as he went 85 metres getting past Williams and Mike Phillips. The match featured World Class players from all corners of the planet. Ngwenya and Carizza were representing the Americas while the Ospreys had former New Zealand backrower, Jerry Collins. The Samoan born All Black played 48 tests from 2001-2007 and started for his team in Rugby World Cup 2003 and 2007.

During his international career Collins earned himself the reputation of being one of the hardest men in test rugby. His tackling was considered the benchmark as his hard hitting style was a combination of brute force and picture perfect techinique. He was also regarded as a great ball carrier, regularly breaking the defensive line  and making plenty of yards around the pitch. Manuel Carizza got the better of him in San Sebastien, Spain however as he completed a low driving tackle on the former All Black, throwing him to ground on top of his colleagues at the previous tackle 

The Rugby Championship Players to Watch - Patricio Albacete

It is no exaggeration to say that Patricio Albacete is the best Argentine secondrower of his generation. Nor is it to say that he has been the best secondrower in France for a period of more than five years. The 31 year old stands at 2 metres tall and weighs 123KG. He was Argentina´s main lineout jumper in Rugby World Cup 2007 and was constantly seen around the park acting as a ball-carrier with great regularity. But what makes him such a key player for club and country is not his lineout work or ball carrying abilities but his agility as he is able to get around the park very well for someone in his position. His physical build is ideal for the position from a stereotypical perspective but his workrate goes is what makes him such a good player as he gets through much more work than what would be expected of him. He looms as being one of Argentina´s most important players this year with the South Americans set to debut in The Rugby Championship. Despite having accomplished so much he remains largely unknown in Australian, New Zealand and South African rugby circles due to the simple fact that Argentina has played so few tests against the three founding members of the Tri Nations. Incredibly, outside of World Cup´s Albacete has played only one test against the All Blacks and Springboks and has never faced the Wallabies.  

Albacete vs Australia, RWC 03

The man known in Argentine rugby circles as Pato has been a first choice player for his country ever since making his debut vs Paraguay in April 2003. Spotted at an early age by former Los Pumas boss, Marcelo Loffreda, Albacete was quickly turned into a first choice player following his arrival in Argentina´s 144-0 win over vs the Paraguayans. There was only a matter of months before the World Cup was to start but Loffreda was convinced that he was a special player and selected him for the tournament, joining Ignacio Fernández Lobbe in the secondrow and forcing Perpignan´s Rimas Alvarez Kairelis to the bench. The same three players would be used the same way four years latter and following the retirement of both, Albacete´s role has changed, making him one of the leaders in the pack. 

Albacete vs Ireland, RWC 07

In 2007 Albacete was surrounded by big name forwards with Pumas legends such as Ignacio Fernández Lobbe, Omar Hasan, Mario Ledesma and Gonzalo Longo joining him in the engine room. All have since gone to retirement as have many backs, with Argentina´s 2011 World Cup captain, Felipe Contepomi likely to make the 2012 season his last in Pumas colors. The void will be filled by a forward with the next captain to be either Juan Fernández Lobbe of Toulon of Patricio Albacete. Pato has the credentials to be a superb captain and will be aged 34 come Rugby World Cup 2015, the same age as Contepomi at New Zealand 2011. He is hihgly likely to still be Argentina´s leading secondrower in 2015 and would therefore join the elite club of players to have played at four Rugby World Cup´s. 

Albacete has a decorated career which started well in Buenos Aires with the awarding in 2002 of revelation of the year. He had gone through the ranks of Argentine rugby, starting with Club Manuel Belgrano which saw him play for the under 15 and under 20 teams. He quickly made the Buenos Aires selection at age grade and senior level, winning the Argentine Championship in 1998 and captaining the team in 1999 and 2000, still aged below 20. He also captained Argentina at under 19 level in 1999 and 2000 and then at under 21 level in 2001 and 2002. He was Buenos Aires´ captain in the under 20 and under 21 teams and captain in 2001 and 2002 as well as a finalist at senior level in 2001 and then a champion in 2002 and 2003.  This impressive list underlines his talent which was spotted from a very young age and could very well see him go on to captain Argentina, starting this year. 

Albacete for Toulouse

Albacete became a professional player after Australia 2003, joining the then French Top 14 club, Colomiers on a one year contract. He then moved to play for Pau for two seasons in the Top 14 and won player of the year for the club. In 2006 Albacete joined Toulouse on a four year contract and has since signed another. With Toulouse, Albacete has had tremendous success from a an individual standpoint and for the team. The bible of French rugby, Midi Olympique named Albacete as the best secondrower every year from 2006-2011 and in the ideal XV in each of these years. In 2007, Albacete won the award for being Toulouse´s best player. The same year saw Albacete win the award voted on by players and journalists as the best Pumas player at the World Cup. His form has not faded since with Albacete winning the award fo being Argentina´s best rugby player in 2010 and again in 2011. 

Heineken Cup Glory

With Toulouse, Albacete has done it all. Having been a beaten finalist in the 2005 European Challenge Cup with Pau, Albacete went beyond this by winning the Heineken Cup with Toulouse in 2010. He is also a two time French champion having won the Top 14 final in 2008 and 2011. On all occasions Pato has done so in the number five shirt. Toulouse´s desire to have him see out his professional career at the club remains highly likely with Toulouse having him on its books until Rugby World Cup 2015. Albacete has, however, said that he has a desire to play one season in Japan before hanging up his boots.

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
Week Eleven: Horacio Agulla

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