MILLLENIUM STADIUM, CARDIFF, WALES – The Welsh team completed their Grand Slam, which involves winning all the Six Nations matches in a season, with a 16-9 win over France, 17 March. It was their third slam in eight years and brought comparisons with the great 1970s team led by Mervyn Davies,who died the previous day. It was not a particularly good game, except in the result, with only one try and long periods of rather negative defensive play by the French team. The Welsh team will not care too much about the manner of the victory.
The English forwards dominated as they crushed Ireland 30-9, including a penalty try. The match was balanced until half-time but then England took complete control at the scrums, aided by handling errors by the Irish.
Italy won the match with Scotland 13-6 to avoid the “wooden spoon” for the bottom team. Scotland’s manager Andy Robinson insisted he would stay on despite his team losing all five matches.
Links to other sites: Wales Online, Guardian, BBC
MURRAYFIELD, SCOTLAND – England achieved a rare win in Scotland, 4 February, but it did little convince the fans that there will be much attractive rugby coming from the team. The one try was from a clearance kick being charged down by Charlie Hodgson, while Scotland wasted many scoring chances with careless handling. The game ended 6-13. France looked far better as they swept past Italy 30-12. The most exciting game was Ireland against Wales, where the visitors fought back to take the game 21-23 in the final minute.
Links to other sites: RBS 6 Nations, Guardian, Wales Online
AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – Canada produced the first shock of the Rugby World Cup as they ousted Tonga from the Cup, 25-20 during a game on 14 September.
Few had given the Canucks much of a chance against the Pacific islanders.
Tonga and Canada, ranked at 12 and 14 respectively, have a long World Cup rivalry dating back to their first match at the tournament in 1987, which the Maple Leafs won 37-4.
Links to: Australia’s Courier Mail and CBC.
International sports, Six Nations rugby
Twickenham, London (GenevaLunch) – The England rugby team took a giant leap towards a possible Grand Slam in the 2011 Six Nations with a solid 17-9 win over France Saturday 26 February. The first half was even, with each side scoring three penalties but England went ahead with a try from Ben Foden early in the second half. Jonny Wilkinson came on for Toby Flood and immediately scored with a 45-metre penalty that sent him past Dan Carter’s record as the top scorer in international rugby. The match was tense, with handling errors from both sides.
In the other matches Italy lost at home against Wales 16-24 and Scotland were edged out by Ireland 18-21.
Links to other sites: Guardian, RBS6nations
International sports, Six Nations rugby
Millenium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales (GenevaLunch) - England started their quest for the Six Nations trophy with a win in Cardiff Friday evening 4 February. Two tries by Chris Ashton and a masterful performance by stand-off Toby Flood set up a 19-26 victory that could have been greater had England maintained the pressure. In the Saturday games Ireland needed a late drop-goal by Ronan O’Gara to edge past Italy 11-13. France showed some style as they fought off a late challenge by Scotland to win 34-21. The next matches will be played on 11th and 12th February, and feature England-Italy, Scotland-Wales and Ireland-France.
Links to other sites: Six Nations, Telegraph, Guardian
The famous haka performed by the All Blacks rugby team may become a trademark of the Ngati Toa iwi of New Zealand whose ancestors invented it to intimidate enemies before going into battle. The Maori tribe are in talks with the New Zealand Rugby Union, the sport’s governing body, which sees the haka as the team’s most effective rallying cry, according to the Wall Street Journal 17 December.
The tribe applied for registration with New Zealand’s intellectual property office to trademark four phrases from the famous haka that the All Blacks perform before rugby matches. The All Blacks would have to give up the pre-match ritual dance and chant if the IPO accepts the tribe’s claim.
Some see the haka as belonging to all New Zealanders and are surprised that the IPO accepted the application. Intellectual property lawyer Matt Sumpter says: “My view is that this should be off-limits. It’s a famous cultural icon that should be free for everyone to use.”
South African media have been keeping people informed of the blow by blow developments in the love triangle murder plot against 21-year-old rugby play Deon Helberg. Helberg, who plays for the Blue Bulls, was dating Jalien Reyneke, but he was also reportedly seeing her mother Manda, age 47. The mother said in a Pretoria court Monday that she hired two hitmen to murder the young man and that she had a backup plan in case they failed. The court released her on R5,000 bail, against the prosecution’s wishes, and she has been ordered to report to a psychiatric institution within 24 hours.
Links to other sites: Independent, South Africa, News24
International sports, rugby
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Syd Nomis, 69, who played 25 successive Tests for the Springboks from 1966-71, becoming a legend in South African rugby, has had a leg amputated during a visit to his son Gary and family in Zurich.
The former sports star came down with pneumonia, then developed blod clots during his visit, according to South Africa’s Sports24, and he is recovering after surgery above the knee Sunday 26 September.
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Saturday’s international between France and England was another game where one side tried to play attacking rugby and the other side relied on forward power and kicking penalties. The unusual feature was that it was England that scored the only try of the game, while France scored four penalties to win 12-10. The win secured the Grand Slam for France, who were already assured of the Championship.
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) – France beat Italy 46-20 Sunday 14 March to make it clear to all which team is the top of the northern hemisphere. Only England can stop a French Grand Slam and the English team is looking dull and undisciplined after a try free 15-15 tie with Scotland. Ireland beat Wales 27-12 at Croke Park.
Twickenham, London (GenevaLunch) – France dominated the first half of their game in Cardiff to take a 0-20 lead at half time. Wales responded with another spirited recovery but it was not enough and France ended with a 20-26 win. The French have now won their first three games: they face Italy and England for their final games.
Italy scored a rare Six Nations win when they beat Scotland 16-12.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - France sent out a message that their team is in fine form, and must now be favourites to win the Six Nations tournament and very likely take the Grand Slam as well. They powered past current champions Ireland with an impressive 33-10 victory. The Irish kept pace with the French for the first 20 minutes but then conceded 10 quick points when down to 14 men after a yellow card for Healy. Once France was on top they never looked back and dominated the game with a disciplined display of forward power backed up by incisive attacks.
Scotland dominated Wales for most of the match in Cardiff but then fell apart due to a combination of injuries, lack of discipline and Welsh passion. They ended the match with only 13 players, having transformed a 24-14 lead with three minutes left of normal time into a 31-24 win for the Welsh.
England play Italy in the Sunday game.
Links to other sites: Six Nations, South Wales Argus
Murrayfield, Edinburgh, Scotland (GenevaLunch) - France turned on the power as they crushed Scotland at Murrayfield. The French forwards dominated the scrums but the killer blows came from outside centre Mathieu Bastareaud who scored two tries to signal his return from disgrace after falsely claiming to have been attacked during the French team’s tour to New Zealand. He actually injured himself while drunk. The 9-18 scoreline did not do justice to the degree of superiority the French team displayed. Their next game is in Paris against Ireland, who were much less convincing in their win over Italy. England beat Wales in the centenary match at Twickenham.
Links to other sites: Planet Rugby
Twickenham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - England celebrated the centenary of the famed Twickenham ground with the same result as in the first match: a victory over Wales. The single player most responsible for the result was the Welsh second row forward Alun Wyn Jones who was given a yellow card for tripping the English hooker Dylan Hartley. While he was off the field for 10 minutes England scored 17 points.
England dominated possession in the first half, taking advantage of the vulnerable Welsh line-out, but were held to 3-3 until the 35th minute. Wales fought hard to come back from the 20-3 deficit and threatened to take the lead after a fine try by James Hook.
Twickenham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - The Barbarians rugby club, the self styled “United Nations of Rugby”, pulled off an already-famous victory with the help of three tries by South African winger Bryan Habana. It was the first win over the All Blacks by the Baa-Baas since the historic match in 1973 which featured perhaps the greatest try in rugby history (see video below). The Barbarians, selected on the basis of the ability to play exciting rugby, scored with a series of break-away tries finished off by Habana, one of the fastest sprinters in the sport.
Links to other sites: Telegraph, Reuters
Video, greatest try in rugby history
Croke Park, Dublin, Ireland (GenevaLunch) - The Irish rugby team put on a brave display to beat the South African Springboks, the current world champions, in a tight game which was played in a Dublin fog in front of almost 75,000 fans. The win meant that the Irish have now gone 11 games without defeat. The points were scored by Jonathan Sexton but the victory owed as much to the ferocious tackling of Brian O’Driscoll.
In the other Internationals the New Zealand All Blacks crushed France 12-39 and Australia beat Wales 12-33.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, Telegraph, UK
Twickenham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - England played better than in recent matches, holding the All Blacks to 6-6 at half time but could not match the New Zealanders in the second half and lost 6-19. At least the England women beat the New Zealand Ferns.
Scotland pulled off a surprise 9-8 victory over Australia where their heart was just enough to hold out against the technically better Wallabies. It was their first win against the Aussies for 27 years. Wales beat Argentina 33-16 with two tries by Shane Williams.
Links to other sites: The Guardian, The Times
Croke park, Dublin,Ireland (GenevaLunch) - Irish captain Brian O’ Driscoll celebrated his 100th cap for Ireland with a last minute try that allowed the home team to draw their match with Australia 20-20. In other matches a dull England side plodded their way to a 16-9 win over Argentina. The New Zealand All Blacks struggled against a tough Italian side before winning 6-20 in front of 80,000 fans in the San Siro stadium in Milan.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, The Times
Twickenham, London, England and Cardiff, Wales (GenevaLunch) - England lost to the Wallabies 9-18 despite the return of Jonny Wilkinson and a much improved performance in the line-outs. Wilkinson scored all the England points and put in some crunching defensive tackles but the England team was short of offensive ideas and was dominated in the second half. The star player for the Australians was their young scrum-half Will Genia.
In the other big rugby union match the New Zealand All Blacks extended their undefeated record against Wales, who last beat the New Zealanders in 1953.
Wellington, New Zealand (GenevaLunch) – The New Zealand All Blacks crushed the Australian Wallabies 33-6 in the final match of the Tri-Nations season. South Africa’s Springboks had already won the series. The Australian coach Robbie Deans criticized the lack of commitment of his players, especially in the final 10 minutes.
Perth, Australia (GenevaLunch) – South Africa, current world champions, inflicted another defeat on the Australians in the latest Tri-Nations match. The Wallabies have lost their last six matches in the tournament while the Springboks have won the last five. The South African scrum-half Fourie du Preez was the star player on the field in a match that was more one-sided than the 25-32 final score suggests, at one stage South Africa led 13-29 before a late rally by the Aussies.
[golf stars video] Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Women boxers will be able to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London and their participation in several other sports, including wrestling, cycling and swimming, as well as tennis doubles, is likely to increase following a decision by the IOC executive board on new sports for the Games. Boxing was the only Olympic sport without women competitors in the last Olympic games in Beijing in August 2008. There will be three weight categories, while the men will lose one of their 11 classes. The decision has been welcomed as a step forward for gender equality but also criticized by Headway, the brain injury association because of potential dangers.
Seven-a-side rugby and golf have been recommended for entry to the 2016 Games in South Africa and will now need the approval of the full IOC, which meets in Copenhagen in October. Golf and rugby federations are being invited to present their sports.
Capetown, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – South African fly-half Morne Steyn scored 24 points as the Springboks won their third successive Tri-Nations match of the season 29-17. The Wallabies were overpowered but contributed to their loss by poor discipline and careless mistakes. At one stage there were only 13 Aussies on the field as Matt Giteau and Richard Brown were given yellow cards.
Durban, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – South African fly-half Morne Steyn scored a record 31 points: a converted try and eight penalties, as the New Zealand All Blacks lost again. The All Blacks error-strewn performance meant that the South Africans could control the game and simply wait for the mistakes to come. Steyn smashed the previous record for an individual against the All Blacks.
Details: New Zealand Herald
Auckland, New Zealand (GenevaLunch) - The Wallabies lost again at Eden Park, Auckland, as they made too many errors against the New Zealand All Blacks. The kiwis were not that impressive but managed to maintain their composure and eliminate mistakes to take the game 22-16. Details, RugbyHeaven
Pretoria, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The British and Irish Lions dominated the first half but were pinned back in the second and eventually lost to a last minute penalty. South African flanker Schalk Burger was given a yellow card in the first minute for gouging the eye of Lions wing Luke Fitzgerald, a particularly nasty foul that could have seen a red card.
Colovray sports centre, Nyon (Lausanne in the distance)
Nyon, Vaud, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The town of Nyon is offering Uefa, the European football federation, its sports centre for the symbolic price of CHF1. Nyon will save CHF850,000 a year in maintenance and upkeep and Uefa will receive a 49-year lease on the Colovray centre that will allow it to build additional football fields near its head office, to be used for training referees and team trainers.
(GenevaLunch) – France scored a rare but entirely justified victory over the All Blacks, their first in New Zealand since 1994. The win was built around a solid defence that took advantage of their younger opponents, combined with rapid couter-attacking in traditional French style. France soon moved into a 17-3 lead but the New Zealanders fought back to 17-17 before conceding a try from an interception by Maxine Médard that allowed the French to win 22-27.
South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The British and Irish Lions were unconvincing in their opening match of the South African tour. They came back from behind to beat the Royal XV in what was designed to be a gentle opening match against modest opposition.
Murrayfield, Scotland (GenevaLunch) – Leinster showed that it really is the year of the Irish when they came back to beat the Leicester Tigers in the final of the Heineken Cup, played at Murrayfield in Scotland. The boots of Brian O’Driscoll and Jonny Sexton brought most of the points but the driving force of the Leinster team was Australian forward Rocky Elsom. Details, Guardian
