Sports Rugby

Please note: Game dates/times are stated in NZ times – not local time.

All results are provisional until 6pm Monday night following the latest round.

When you first take an interest in rugby it may help to know the names of some of the major rugby tournaments, who they are between and a little competition terminology. You will find them here:

Bledisloe Cup – The annual competition between Australia and New Zealand. This event has been held since 1931 and is always highly contested.

Calcutta Cup – Matches involving teams from England and Scotland.

Grand Slam – A term used in a tournament, when one team beats all the others in the one season. It may also be used to describe an international team winning all major tests on a tour.

Hong Kong Sevens – This tournament has been a highlight of the international rugby calendar since the early 1970’s. The world’s best rugby players are usually not involved in seven-a-side as the schedule clashes with the major rugby events. Some countries use the tournament as a series build up and test new, promising players.

New South Wales Premiership – This is the name of the New South Wales, Australia, club competition.

Ranfurly Shield – A provincial championship competition in New Zealand. The Ranfurly Shield is a highly sought after ‘log of wood’ for the extra financial returns to the province holding the shield. The shield is usually defended on home territory.

Rugby World Cup – A competition held every four years to determine which nation has the best rugby union team in the world.

Six Nations – The annual tournament played by England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, France and Italy.

Super 14 – The annual tournament involving the 14 top provincial teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The tournament changed from the Super 12 in 2004.

Test Match – This is a match between teams from two different countries.

Tri-Nations – The annual tournament involving Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Triple Crown – The term used in the Six Nations tournament when the team from England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales has beaten the other three teams.

Webb-Ellis Trophy – The trophy played for in the Rugby World Cup.

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Rugby World Cup 2007 – A rugby try or not?

Sky Sports Rugby Presenter Simon Lazenby, Stuart Barnes, Dewi Morris and Sean Fitzpatrick discuss the Rugby world Cup 2007 final between South Africa vs. England, the controversy whether it was a try or not, reasons for England loosing and looking at the future of English rugby – Words of wisdom taken from Sky Sports Rugby Club.

Duration : 0:9:59

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Great rugby tries Rugby World Cup 2007

Duration : 0:2:44

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I want to know where rugby ranks among all professional sports around the world, as far as popularity is concerned.

Murphy and Dangerous do provide valid points in terms of countries where rugby is played. Contrary to ambiguous retort, it is the Third Largest Sporting event globally watched by television viewers. Of course we are talking about the Rugby World Cup.

In terms of popularity, we would have to define popularity as meaning to say total numbers in each country that play the game. These figures I do not have available but there are websites that provide indicative numbers in addition to the traditional playing countries. I refer to players that are registered with their own home own Union.

I have coached Handball at the German Bundesliga in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany and whilst this sport is popular in Europe, Asia (China, Japan and South Korea), North and South America (USA & Brazil) in terms of popularity its most likely to be on par with Rugby but only within those countries where it is play at international level.

Rugby has a good following in Germany with a structured National Competition, the areas around Munich/Muenchen, Bavaria/Bayern have strong clubs with several universities like Erfurt where the game has a good base. Rugby League also has a good base particularly northern Germany where a few years ago when residing in Eisenach I had an opportunity to implement development programs. All Blacks and Kiwi Fan Go the Warriors and the Hurricanes

Love Rugby? Wish you had more time to play, or even to watch your favourite players in action? It’s time to book your tickets for the Seven (7s) Rugby Festival at Bournemouth, UK. The Bournemouth Rugby tour brings together the best performing teams from the nation in a grand finale that surpasses any other Rugby Sevens event in the region.

Rugby Sevens is a growing phenomenon, and what began in early 1900s as a localized adaptation of the popular Rugby format, is now becoming one of the most acceptable ways to play this exciting game. In Rugby sevens speed is the key because everything is running against the clock. That’s why the Bournemouth Rugby tour has attracted so much attention in UK. Rugby fans looking for a thrilling time attended the Seven (7s) Rugby festival at Bournemouth and had such a fun time that they told everybody about the Bournemouth Rugby Tour.

The festival is held in May when the weather is suitable for a good, energetic game of Rugby. The teams who’ve performed well through the year meet to discover who will be the ultimate champion. Unlike a regular Rugby game, only seven players from the each time are allowed on the field and the game lasts from 7 to 10 minutes. This makes the Bournemouth Rugby tour an event chock-filled with quick delights. With one game happening after the other, you’ll never get a chance to settle down in the Seven (7s) Rugby festival.

The best thing about a Sevens tournament is that it doesn’t last very long. The Bournemouth Rugby Tour starts on a Friday and is done by Sunday. A tournament of regular Rugby matches would not end in a week. If you can’t make that kind of investment in Rugby anymore, it’s better to attend the Sevens (7s) Rugby Festival instead and have the same kind of Rugby fun in a lot less time.

The details of the Bournemouth Rugby tour are available on the Internet, and you can keep a tab on the teams that will be participating. Even the tickets to the Seven (7s) Rugby festival are available online and you can book them easily.

Another good thing about the Bournemouth Rugby Tour is that it will be alongside a Netball tournament and a music festival. This means that there’s ample opportunity for everyone in the family. If you are a Rugby fan, and your wife and children are not, you can still bring them along to participate in the music and Netball events while you take part in the Seven (7s) Rugby festival. This way everyone can have a great shared vacation.

Many Rugby fans believe that Sevens will be the dominating Rugby format in the years to come due to its instant results, and extra energy and that Seven (7s) Rugby festival will be held in more and more places. Others are afraid this will dilute the game of Rugby, the proponents say that it will contribute to keeping Rugby alive and healthy in the hearts of fans who are too busy with the pressures of job and life.

So if you’re one of these Rugby fans who wants to connect with the game, participate in the Bournemouth Rugby Tour for a complete weekend of nothing but pure Rugby.

For more resources about Sevens (7s) Rugby Festival or even about Bournemouth Rugby Tour please review this page http://www.bournemouthsevens.com

Groshan Fabiola
http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/get-your-adrenaline-pumping-with-rugby-sevens-716716.html

In recent times, the implications of the Crisis on sports, rugby included, has began to show. Teams have started to feel the pinch and many have started taking measures to brace for the looming tough times ahead.

While every rugby team aims to crown their season with some sort of silverware to mark their success, more and more teams are becoming wary when it comes to signing new players. This is due to the high transfer fees demanded for players.

Continental Glory
As a result of this, club coaches are making do with what they have, even at the expense of continental glory. Rugby clubs in Europe seem to be more concerned with maintaining their top flight status in their domestic rugby leagues and less concerned with concurring the continent. And can you blame them? To win a continental trophy like the Heineken Cup requires a team to have depth in the squad. To attain this depth, a team needs to have a few big name signings on their team sheet.

700 000 Spending
To have such players a club has to splash out about 700 000. But with the cash crunch starting to bite hard on the sport in Europe, few clubs if any are willing to spend such an amount on one player.

Negative BalanceSheet
The situation is the same across the board. Big clubs are also crying out for cash injection; with many barely been able to remain liquid. Many have reported negative results in their end year results.

Financial Plea
In the UK, Wasps reported a £2.8million loss; while Bath and Newcastle were lucky that their benefactors were willing to dip into their pockets to assist them. Others like Bristol are finding it difficult to even meet their players wage demands and have resulted to making public plea for funding.

Salary Caps
If will be interesting to see what will happen at the start of the next season if the current situation prevails. According to the games Chief Executive in the UK – Mark McCafferty, there are two ways of dealing with the crisis. One is to drop from the top flight rugby. This will leave a total of 10 teams which will share the revenues generated. The revenues are set to grow in 2010 when the new broadcasting deal commences. Should this happen, then there will be no need of reducing the salary cap.

Conversely, however, the salary cap is not likely to be raised as that would not reflect a true picture. In addition raising the cap would only do more harm to clubs with less liquidity. News that Italians will be bidding to have 4 teams representing them in the Magners League during the 2010/11 season is no doubt good news to the Celts. The three nations Scotland, Ireland and Wales seem to have little option but to let the Italians in given the size of the Italian market and the revenue potential it holds. France clubs will be faced with an interesting challenge given the fact are less restricted when it comes to spending. Clubs like Toulouse and Stade Francais, however, will definitely be shy to splash their money during the new season.

Peri Witny
http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/how-global-financial-crisis-is-affecting-rugby-football-in-europe-706837.html

The best tries from the 2007 USA Sevens Rugby. The USA Sevens is the premier American rugby event. Featuring 16 nations playing in 44 matches over the course of the weekend

The tries: 1. Fiji vs. New Zealand 2. Kenya vs. Australia 3. Samoa vs. France 4. New Zealand vs. Canada 5. Fiji vs. Samoa (tournament final) 6. England vs. USA 7. France vs. Canada 8. USA vs. Kenya 9. Samoa vs. Fiji (tournament final) 10. USA vs. England 11. South Africa vs. Fiji 12. England vs. New Zealand.

Duration : 0:3:42

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I’m going to be in Buenos Aires from 12 Oct to 21 Oct and will be watching the Rugby World Cup Semi and Finals with 10 New Zealand friends. Great rugby sports bars to watch the games. Been trying to find some tips on the Net but no luck.

This isn’t specific for rugby but you could go to sports planet, they always play major sporting events

What were the results in previous Rugby World Cup Finals?

In New Zealand at Eden Park in 1987 New Zealand beat France 29-9.

In England at Twickenham in 1991 the Australians, well David Campese, cheated their way to victory over England 12-6.

In South Africa at Ellis Park in 1995 South Africa intimidated New Zealand and won 15-12.

In Wales at the Millennium Stadium in 1999 Australia stuffed the French 35-12.

In Australia at the Telstra Stadium in 2003 England beat the Aussies 20-17 in extra time.

In France on 20 October 2007 South Africa beat England 15-6.

The next Rugby World Cup is due to be contested in New Zealand in 2011.