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 

Chile to Qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015?

History was made this past weekend in Chilean rugby as for the first time ever the Chilean Under 20 team defeated the Argentine Under 19 team (Los Pumitas) by 33-14 in La Reina on Saturday. It marked the first time in the 100 year history of Chilean rugby that a national selection had defeated an Argentine rival. Chile is in preperations for the IRB Junior World Trophy to be played in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA next month. While Argentina will participate in the IRB Junior World Championship, considered to be the first tier of global junior rugby.  Eight players from the Argentine team which Chile defeated will participate in the IRB Junior World Championship, also in June. Chile is to face Russia, Tonga and the USA in the event, three teams from Rugby World Cup 2011, suggesting that Chile could well be dark horses for for World Cup Qualification.

Chile has been a regular participant in the IRB´s age grade competitions but has been unable to follow through and qualify for a Rugby World Cup. The country, seemingly, suffers from a massive loss of players after High School. Perhaps, however, this could well change soon with the Chileans having finally defeated Argentina. It is a recipe for growth and Chile could well be a contender to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2015. The team was very surprized to have won the match, such is the remarkable accomplishment. Whilst in other great news for Chilean rugby, the senionr mens side took on the  Ontatio Blues, one of Canada´s four teams and won the match 19-17. 

Aviva Premiership - Round 22 Wrap

Agulla scores try number seven of the season for Leicester

Round 22, the final round of the season´s regular play took place this past weekend in England, confirming the Top Four who will play in Semi Finals as well the two two other sides who have qualified to be England´s six teams in next seasons Heineken Cup. The Semi Finals will be contested by three of the same four teams from last season. Gloucester´s horror season means the team misses out not only on a Semi Final´s place but has also failed to qualify for the Heineken Cup. London based side, the Harlequins replace Gloucester in the top four and finished top of the table after being greatly advantaged in the early stages of the season due to other sides missing large numbers of players to World Cup duty.

The Harlequins will host the Northampton Saints in one Semi Final while the Leicester Tigers will host Saracens in the other. Both will be played this coming Saturday at the home venues of these clubs. Such is the lack of quality organization in English rugby that one of the Semi Finals will be played at a 12,000 capacity venue. It coincides with the RFU´s lack of international matches outside of London as Twickenham has hosted every home match over the past decade. The only match that England has played at a different venue was at Old Trafford in 2009 when the UAR moved the match from Buenos Aires to Manchester in an attempt to make a large profit from the fixture. The Greater Metropolitan area of Manchester is home to the Sale Sharks and now the club is the Northern most team in the Aviva Premiership following the Newcastle Falcon´s win over the London Wasps which sees the Falcons relegated due to the Wasps´ winning a bonus point. 

Both Newcastle and Manchester are to host World Cup matches in 2015 in big stadiums. yet these venues never host Aviva Premiership or Heineken Cup matches. The RFU needs to show vision here to collaborate with clubs so that there can be matches played at the likes of Leeds, Liverpool, Coventry and Southampton  between now and 2015. Tests should also be played in these areas. November 2012´s home test vs Fiji would be a good one to be played at Coventry. 

It is not yet clear who will be replacing Newcastle in the English Top Flght but it is likely to be Bristol who have been in the second division since being relegated in 2009. Bristol replacing Northampton is bad news for World Cup organizers just like Worcester replacing Leeds was last season. Bristol´s neighbour, the Exeter Chiefs made history on Saturday in finishing fifth in the Aviva Premiership to qualify for the Heineken Cup. The Chiefs and the sixth placed Sale Sharks will join the top four in next seasons European competition.

Leicester Tigers 28-3 Bath

Pumas winger Horacio Agulla continued his sublime season, which has earned him Leicester player of the year and try of the year as he scored a try in the Tigers win vs Bath. Agulla played the full match and was joined by fellow Puma, Marcos Ayerza who played 64 minutes at loosehead prop. This weekend the Buenos Aires pair were also named in the Aviva Premiership Dream XV by English World Cup Winning centre, Will Greenwood. While a third Argentine player started, with the Italian international Martín Castrogiovanni playing tighthead prop.

London Irish Exiles 52-18 Gloucester

Canada´s Jebb Sinclair did not play and nor did Argentina´s Matias Cortese. The former Pumas hooker will not be saint at Gloucester next season. The match was overshadowed by a fight between David Paice and Scottish international Jim Hamilton. 

London Wasps 10-14 Newcastle Falcons

USA centre Paul Emerick missed the match for the Wasps.

Northampton Saints 42-14 Worcester Warriors

USA secondrower Samu Manoa did not play for the Saints nor did USA hooker Chris Biller. 

Sale Sharks 10-24 Harlequins

Secondrower Tomás Vallejos Cinalli was on the bench for the Quins but departing inside back, Benjamin Urdapilleta was left out of the match day 23. Young Argentine wniger, Joaquin Tuculet did not play for the Sharks. 

Saracens 40-22 Exeter Chiefs

USA Eagles fullback, Chris Wyles played outside centre for the home side and was joined by the Argentine-Italian Carlos Nieto. Gonzalo Camacho missed the match for the Chiefs due to injury while Ignacio Mieres was on the bench.

Aviva Premiership Standings

1 Harlequins 75

2 Leicester 74

3 Saracens 73

4 Northampton 65

5 Exeter 59

6 Sale 49

7 L Irish 45

8 Bath 44

9 Gloucester 44

10 Worcester 36

11 L Wasps 33

12 Newcastle 32

* Qualified for Semi Finals and next seasons Heineken Cup

*Qualified for next seasons Heineken Cup
* Relegated 

Wasps vs Newcastle


Northampton vs Worcester


London Irish vs Gloucester Fight


Sale vs Harlequins


Saracens vs Exeter

England 2015 Qualifying - NACRA Update

Rugby World Cup Qualification in the Americas is proving to be a highly unpredictable task as despite having started with a convincing 68-14 win over Jamaica in Mexico City, los Serpientes have been eliminated following a 46-13 loss against the Cayman Islands in Grand Cayman. Curiously, the Cayman Islands lost 19-18 against Jamaica, the same side that Mexico utterly took apart. The results mean that Jamaica and Mexico are out and will take no further part in Rugby World Cup 2015 qualification while the Cayman Islands have advanced to the next round where they will meet Bermuda and the Bahamas.

Elsewhere in NACRA qualification Barbados have succeeded in advancing to the next round after the Caribbean country smashed fellow West Indies country, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 51-0 to win the two match series 85-3 on aggregate. The result means that Barbadoes are going to face Trinidad and Tobago as well as Guyana in May in the next round of the qualifaction series. Qualifying will continue on May 05 with Trinidad and Tobago vs Barbados vs Barbados taking place in the Port of Spain.

The winner of the NACRA section of Rugby World Cup qualification will face the winner of CONSUR B which will involve Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru and Venezuela. There is still a long way to go, however, to determine which of Barbados, the Bahamas, Bermuda the Cayman Islands, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago will advance to face the winner of CONSUR B.

NACRA Qualification Wrap

Eliminated: Jamaica, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Advancing: Barbados, Cayman Islands

Upcoming matches

May 05 Trinidad and Tobago vs Barbados, Port of Spain
May 19 Barbados vs Guyana, venue tba
May 19 Bermuda vs Cayman Islands, Hamilton
June 02 Guyana vs Trinidad and Tobago, Georgetown
June 09 Bahamas vs Bermuda, Nassau


Jamaica vs Cayman Islands

Can USA persuade Hanno Dirksen to play for them?

Hanno Dirksen has been on fine
form the Ospreys and become a very
popular player amongst fans for his
committed style of play

During the Six Nations period with Tommy Bowe playing for Ireland and Shane Williams now having taken a step back on his play duties before he fully retires at the end of the season, the South African born American winger Hanno Dirksen has come in and been a revelation for the Ospreys, and with the recent retirement of Kevin Swiryn due to injury he would be firmly in line for his first cap with the Eagles this summer.

But that is if he can be persuaded to play for the USA, he has previously pledged his allegiance to Wales and was expected to qualify for Wales at the end of the season after three years in Wales, and may well have been in with a chance of getting into the squad over the next 12 months on current form.

But according to a report from Welsh newspaper the Western Mail last weekend, he may not be available for Welsh selection so soon. The paper reported that because for the first two years of his stay in Wales, he was staying on a student visa, it means that those first two years don't count towards the three year qualification period. So after this season, Dirksen would have to spend another two seasons with the Ospreys before qualifying to play for Wales.

Dirksen in USA colours
back in 2008

If the report is accurate, then it means that the USA could have another two years to try and persuade him to play for them rather than Wales. If the new USA coach Mike Tolkin could manage to persuade Dirksen to play for the States it would be huge news for American rugby as Dirksen has really proved a very good player this season with potential to get even better.

There have been rumours that the Eagles management and coaching staff have already identified trying to persuade Dirksen to play for them as a key goal. It is also rumoured that if successful, he may play fly half for the USA, a position he played when he was representing the USA at youth level, and also a position where the USA have lacked quality in since Mike Hercus left the side.

Dirksen would be one of the USA's best players, and be unless any drastic misfortune occurs, a guaranteed member of the 2015 World Cup squad he would also be young enough to make 2019 and 2023. Whilst if he opted for Wales, he may well also be a great player for them too, but there would also be a risk of him winning just a handful of caps and then being lost to international rugby for good.

(Video: Hanno Dirksen's phenomenal individual try against Edinburgh in the RaboPro12, one of the best of the season so far)

Mexico vs Jamaica - 2023 implications

The need to have the Americaas host Rugby World Cup 2015 was further underlined last weekend as Mexico City was the venue for the first qualifying match for Rugby World Cup 2015. Mexico was playing its first match since officially entering the IRB World Rankings. The 2015 tournament will take place in England with the Welsh capital, Cardiff, acting as a subhost. Despite not being restricted to English territory, it is being billed as England 2015. It is to be the third time that World Cup matches will have been played in England and the fourth time that matches have ben played in Wales. Such is the lack of global scope that has been the history of the Rugby World Cup with the same Tier One sides always hosting and, even subhosting. Every second World Cup, including 2015, has been hosted in Europe and each time Cardiff has hosted matches. The Americas, in contrast, has never hosted and following Japan 2019 it will be the only remaining continent to never have hosted a World Cup tournament.

World Cup 2003 winner, Lawrence Dallaglio was in Mexico City to promote England 2015. he was joined by the William Webb Ellis Trophy and the man responsible for the onfield action was World Cup 2011 Final  referee, Craig Joubert. The IRB´s off-field chief was also there as IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset was amongst the 2,000 supporters at the venue. The IRB, had therefore invested extensive resources in promotting the match and the governing body of world rugby should certainly be in full support of Argentina 2023 as the best option, certainly ahead of the likely opposition of South Africa and a Celtic bid. 

The 2015 World Cup qualification set to get underway with Mexico taking on Jamaica in the opening match

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The first match of 2015 Rugby World Cup qualification gets underway this Saturday as Mexico (IRB ranking 71) take on Jamaica (IRB ranking 86).

Despite neither team having any chance of being one of the eight qualifiers from the 80 nations competing for a place at 2015, the match being staged in Mexico City is set to receive a lot more media attention than normal and hopefully to the benefit of Mexican rugby.

This is Mexico's first attempt at World Cup qualification, they have 1421 registered adult male players (more than four time World Cup nation Namibia) and only just entered the IRB rankings last week (along with Pakistan and the Philippines) despite being a full IRB member since 2006. Their coach is their number 8 Simón Pierre, who is from New Zealand.

Meanwhile the Caribbean side Jamaica who have far less players just 376 registered adult males, famous for sprinters and cricket will embark on their fourth World Cup qualifying campaign. Despite less players, they have more rugby pedigree than their opponents and even had a side in the 2008 Junior World Trophy tournament. Winger Marcel Garvey, is of Jamaican parentage but is unable to play unfortunately as he has represented England A. 

The Webb Ellis Cup

The match will be attended by England's legendary number 8 Lawrence Dallaglio a World Cup winner in 2003 and the 2015 World Cup ambassador. Dallaglio will present both teams with their matchday shirts which should be a memorable moment for the players who are all very much at an amateur level.

The match will be refereed by world class ref Craig Joubert who took charge of the World Cup final in October. And also the Webb Ellis Trophy will be at the match.

The game will be available to watch live on this link at 15:30 local time or 21:30 GMT

IRB World Rankings June Implications

Canada celebrate beating Tonga. Could Canada make the Top Ten?

Following the completion of Europe´s premier international competition, the Six Nations the IRB World Rankings of its participants tell a tale of two cities. There is a clear split between the top four and the bottom two. Champions Wales were undefeated and deserved the title but the teams wins over England and France were Ireland were by small margins and all could have been loses. Results against Italy and Scotland were clearer with bigger wins not only from Wales but from the other three teams. It is a continuation of a long term trend in which Scotland have been falling behind while Ireland and Wales have been eliminating the gap between themselves and that of England and Scotland. Italy, in contrast to Scotland, have been improving and the evidence on the international stage as well as within Italian rugby seems to underline the progress of the sport in the country. Scotland, like Italy, are seemingly now a far different prospect at home than in away matches. While the other four are able to perform well home and away.

Could the USA topple Italy in 2012?

The IRB World Rankings have neither Italy nor Scotland in the World´s Top Ten. Both teams are in fact ranked much closer to Canada than they are to Argentina. Canada ranked 13th in the world with Italy and Scotland in 11th and 12th. The points difference sees Canada less than one point behind Scotland and less than two behind Italy. Scotland are more than six points behind Argentina. The European team ranked closed to both Italy and Scotland (besides eachother) is not a Six Nations participant, but rather, Georgia. Similar to Argentina entering The Rugby Championship, Georgia needs to be integrated into the Six Nations. One thing that the current shape of the World Rankings does show is that the June 2012 tours are set up well with Italy to play Argentina in San Juan, the USA in Houston and Canada in Toronto. Scotland will face Australia, Fiji and Samoa. But these tours are not common, rather a rare thing. Scotland will also host Tonga in November, giving it a good chance of rising in rankings. 

Rupeni Caucau vs Scotland in 2003

Should Scotland end the year outside of the Top Ten then Georgia´s case for a place in the Six Nations would be greatly amplified. The matches against Tier Two sides will enable them to pick up IRB Rankings points, especially because the teams they will face are ranked closely. The lowest ranked side that Scotland will face is Fiji in 17th, the same team that ran riot vs the Scot´s at Rugby World Cup 2003 with Rupeni Caucau breaking the line at will. It took the boot of Chris Paterson to rescue Scotland that day. He has now gone to retirement, however, and Scotland´s goalkicking has suffered. Fiji and Samoa will be no easy games for the Scot´s and it could see the Scot´s appear more like a Tier Two than a Tier One side. Italy, in contrast,  have a tough first match in San Juan and then head north to Toronto and Houston. If Italy´s ambition is to be ranked as highly as possible than Jacques Brunel may well opt to field his strongest team in North America, especially given the schedule of facing Canada on Friday evening, having played Argentina on the previous Saturday some 8,380KM away. 

Both Canada and the USA will also play host to Georgia. Any slip ups from either Scotland or Italy would therefore sink the sides lower than their present rankings. Should Canada replicate the form it showed at Rugby World Cup 2011 it could well win all four tests this June. Such a scenario would see the Canadians move towards the Top Ten and if Scotland fail to win in Fiji and Samoa then Canada could be ranked even higher. The USA´s position of 17th could also change greatly. Should the USA Eagles have success in June then it will rise and further put into dispute the IRB´s distribution of qualification places for Rugby World Cup 2015. The USA is ranked behind all of its opponents for the June internationals which means that wins will be more significant for the Eagles than the Canadians. Curiously, the USA is ranked closer to Chile than it is to Canada. This is a sign of the lack of matches the USA has against lower ranked sides. The opposite is true of Namibia, which explains the Africans position in World Rankings.

The World´s Top 25 also features five countries from the Americas. In other words the Americas make up for 20% of the World´s top 25 teams. Three come from South America and two from North America. South America is the only region to not have automatic qualification granted to the winner of its phase of World Cup qualification. Not only does it go against performances at World Cup´s but it also goes against World Rankings. Rather than solving the issue of African participants, other than South Africa struggling, the IRB opted to continue giving Africa an automatic place with Africa one going directly to in Rugby World Cup 2015 while South America 1 will have to face North America 1 and the loser enter repercharge. The IRB, whether intentional or not, continues to fail to address its special treatment of gifting Africa 1 a place at World Cups. Unlike other regions, it is not a system based on merit. Japan, for instance, are clearly a team who should always be at World Cup´s despite not having won many matches. Both the USA and Canada have won more as has Uruguay yet Namibia has played 24 for zero wins, sits behind Spain in World Rankings and does not have a good record against sides from outside of Africa. 

Current IRB World Rankings

1(1)	New Zealand	91.43
2(2)	Australia	87.99
3(3)	South Africa	84.34
4(4)	England	83.62
5(5)	Wales	83.32
6(6)	France	81.91
7(8)	Argentina	80.28
8(7)	Ireland	79.85
9(9)	Tonga	76.63
10(10)	Samoa	75.81
11(12)	Italy	74.17
12(11)	Scotland	73.86
13(13)	Canada	72.92
14(14)	Japan	70.45
15(15)	Georgia	70.26
16(16)	Fiji	68.78
17(17)	United States	65.63
18(18)	Romania	63.81
19(19)	Spain	62.57
20(20)	Namibia	61.24
21(21)	Uruguay	60.47
22(22)	Russia	60.12
23(23)	Chile	59.52
24(25)	Belgium	58.88
25(24)	Portugal	57.75

For a complete list of IRB World Rankings click here.