Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2022 i Rugby World

“Spread the love this Test summer” THE SUMMER means touring time and if you’re a fan of variety in your match-ups, there is more than enough spice to flavour the schedule. And that’s before we get to the men’s World Cup qualifiers still to be decided. This month we see Uruguay face Japan out there, twice, as they continue to build. Then Grand Slam champions France are in the Land of the Rising Sun. Chile welcome Scotland A, an historic meeting on the way to the Scots’ stay in Argentina – a welcome sight as it’s the first Test series there in years. Portugal face Italy and in July, Georgia will get a run at the Azzurri too. There are the typical big-hitter crossovers, sure. Ireland will be in New…

HOW HAVE you settled into Belfast? I’ve been getting used to the wet and cold! The first part was great as I had my family here for a couple of months but they went back to South Africa. It’s difficult being on your own but I’m enjoying the club and the culture. Hopefully I’ll get to learn more and see more of this beautiful country. Apart from your family, what do you miss most about South Africa? A proper braai – I can’t say barbecue! Are you a good cook? That’s my hidden talent! I love to cook, it’s just not great when you’re cooking for one person. When I was younger I started to make my own dishes, like lemon-and-lime rice and peanut butter spinach. It may sound a…

AS SOON as they touched down at Ivato International Airport, they were treated like superstars. There were crowds to greet them as they made their way through the terminal and media interviews to do, not to mention a trip to Iavoloha Palace to meet the president. The reason for the fanfare? Madagascar’s women’s team had qualified for this year’s Sevens World Cup in Cape Town – the first time a team from the island off the east coast of Africa has qualified for a global showpiece event. Andry Rajoelina, the President of the Republic, hailed the achievement, saying: “You have carried the colours of Madagascar high, you are making us proud. A new page is being written in the history of Malagasy rugby.” He backed up his words with deeds,…

KIERAN CROWLEY guided Italy to a win over Wales in March but his path to Cardiff begins six years ago, when he resigned as Canada coach. In Crowley’s shift lies the story of rugby in Canada. Canada crashed at the 2015 World Cup but Crowley was committed to the project. He had become fluent in how the game, far from a top sport in the country, is thought of and the quirks of how rugby is run in the Great White North. He didn’t really want to go and yet he did. And since his departure, nearly everything else has gone south. The women’s sevens squad won bronze in Rio but collapsed in Tokyo. The women’s XVs team, who finished second at the 2014 World Cup, slumped in 2017 and,…

ENGLAND RFU CHAMPIONSHIP EALING TRAILFINDERS Captain Rayn Smid Coaches Ben Ward (DoR), Kieran Campbell (assistant), Andy Holloway (skills), Glen Townson (forwards-defence), Steven Neville (scrum) There were a few bumps along the way but Ealing secured their first Championship title with a 60-10 win over Richmond in their final league game of the season. They pipped Doncaster Knights, who beat Ealing home and away, to top spot by three points. Ward said: “I’m incredibly proud of this group. It’s not all been plain sailing; this league has been really tough.” Across the 20 matches, they scored 890 points and finished the season with a points difference more than double that of Knights’. Craig Willis was Ealing’s top point-scorer (143) and Simon Uzokwe crossed for the most tries (16). Despite topping the…

MIDLANDS PREMIER NEWPORT Captain Tom Cowell Coaches Bob Adams (DoR), Craig Ingram (co-ordinator), Craig Wilson (lead-forwards), Benny Elliott (backs) The Shropshire club clinched promotion to the National Leagues for the first time with 23 wins in 26 games. They scored 1,008 points, with full-back Jake Leonard contributing 223, and conceded 464. Their biggest win was 89-5 against Doncaster Phoenix and they finished 13 points clear of runners-up Sheffield. Wing Sam Evans scored 15 tries and centre Hendry Vaka 13. Success was special for the Adams family with father Bob the DoR and his son and fly-half Connor playing in all but two games. They also won the North Midlands Cup, beating Bromsgrove 24-7 in the final. MIDLANDS ONE EAST BEDFORD ATHLETIC Captain James Wallace Coaches Andy Phillips (head), Edd Rhodes…

1 Georgia Black Lion (below) won the inaugural Rugby Europe Super Cup after beating Lusitanos 17-14 in Lisbon. Tries from Luka Ivanishvili and Tengiz Peranidze, as well as seven points from the boot of Giorgi Babunashvili, gave the Georgian franchise the win. Captain Merab Sharikadze said: “It was a tough game and finals are always tough until the end. The key factor was physicality, that’s what won us the game.” 2 Canada Canada will follow this month’s Pacific Four Series by hosting Italy and Wales as warm-up Tests for the women’s World Cup. They will face the Azzurre on 24 July in Langford before playing Wales, who they beat 24-7 last autumn (above), on 27 August in Halifax. Wales will also hold a training camp in Canada before their Test.…

TRAILBLAZERS. PIONEERS. Groundbreakers. Whatever word you choose, on 13 June 1982 a group of them took to the field to play in the first-ever women’s International: Netherlands v France in Utrecht. Yet at the time they were unaware of the significance of what they were doing. As Hanneke Brouwer, who played at full-back for the Dutch team, says: “We didn’t realise how important it was. It’s only when I saw on ScrumQueens (in 2013) about the 1,000th International that I thought, ‘We were the first’.” That historic first will be celebrated in Utrecht this month, but what was it like to play women’s rugby 40 years ago? Brouwer started in 1977 having found she wasn’t tall enough to excel at basketball and says: “Once I went to training I was…

“He’s a very funny, fantastic guy. But he doesn’t allow standards to drop” IT’S NINE years since Leicester won the Premiership. Dan Cole was there for that one, as he was when they won it in 2009 and 2010. And here we are again, the Tigers in the play-offs and Old King Cole at the heart of their advance. England’s fourth-most capped men’s player, he is no merry old soul. Rather, he has a reputation for grumpiness. “I think he’s grumpy in the nicest sense of the word. It’s grumpiness blended with frustration,” says Toby Flood, who played with Cole for England and shared a house with him during his Leicester days. “He keeps himself to a level where not many sportsmen hold themselves. When he feels others around him…

“It’s easier to watch your children play in the sunshine with a hot dog” PART OF the appeal of rugby at school was getting muddy. In this country it’s a winter sport. But we need to look at things from a participation point of view. Could summer rugby help with that? The biggest challenge for a professional sport is that it requires spectators. And traditional rugby crowds are often people who have grown up with the game and understand it as it is. They’re probably largely former players too, so will share a lot of sentiments from the game down the years. However, we’re in the entertainment business and if we want this sport to take off and become more global and increase participation again, there are a number of…

ACROSS DOWN THE WINNER OF THE MAY CROSSWORD IS MARK JONES FROM COWBRIDGE, VALE OF GLAMORGAN ACROSS 7. James Chisholm 8. Harri Deaves 12. Strang 14. Polish 16. People 18. Matteo 19. Strathclyde 23. Broken-hearted. DOWN 1. Bath 2. Gear 3. Acting 4. Line-up 5. Chav 6. Ales 9. Airport 10. Evicted 11. Theo 12. Sepp 13. Nil 15. Oga 17. Eating 18. Mickey 19. Seru 20. Riki 21. York 22. Eden. The crossword winner will receive £20. You may choose to use it for new rugby kit, a book or a Rugby World subscription (see P30-31 for the latest offer). Closing date for entries is Wednesday 29 June and the result will appear in our September 2022 issue. One entry permitted per household; the editor’s decision is final. Send…

ENGLAND PREMIERSHIP RUGBY CUP (M) WORCESTER WARRIORS A dramatic final between Worcester and London Irish finished 25-25 after extra-time, the Warriors winning on tries scored to lift their first major trophy. Irish had led 25-18 as the clock turned red at Brentford but Kyle Hatherell’s late try, converted by Fin Smith, took the game into extra-time. Exiles No 10 Paddy Jackson then missed three penalties and with no change to the scoreboard Worcester were declared winners having scored three tries to one. Worcester boss Steve Diamond, who won the cup with Sale in 2020, quipped: “I’ve won it two times on the trot now, they’ll be calling me Mourinho next!” ALLIANZ CUP (W) EXETER CHIEFS This was the inaugural season of this women’s cup competition and Chiefs stormed to their…

LONDON PREMIER SEVENOAKS Captain Nigel Gumbleton Coaches Adam Bowman (DoR-head), Paul Dawson (defence), Michael Hebden (attack), Tom Swallow (breakdown) Winning 16 consecutive matches was a formidable performance in a competitive environment that takes Sevenoaks to Level Four, their highest league status. It was their second title in three years, discounting the cancelled campaign in 2020-21. The Oaks secured the trophy with a 37-17 win over Hertford. They had the best defence in the division, won 23 of their 26 matches and picked up four more league points than runners-up Dorking. Leading scorers were wing Ben Adams with 18 tries and 313 points, and fly-half Patrick Pellegrini (16 tries). The second team also won their league and Bowman said: “It has been a huge squad and club effort.” LONDON ONE NORTH…

IT’S FAIRLY incredible that as rugby union races to professionalise more and more, branching off into new money-making opportunities as it goes, that the issue of what shirt your team will wear on the field can still cause utter confusion for spectators. Extraordinarily, the kit clash is still happening in 2022. In the Champions Cup this season, we saw Connacht and Leinster run out in European kits just a skoosh on either side of the blue-green spectrum, with shirts similar enough in shade to have fans squinting. Up in the gods of the stadium it must have been an eye-ache – it certainly was on telly. And it was the second week in a row they had run out in these kits. In the URC early in the season, the…

WE’VE HAD to be patient but the third International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament (IMART) takes place in Cork from 5-10 June – and it’s going to be stupendous. Mixed ability rugby brings together players with and without physical and learning disabilities. Some of the participants, being more vulnerable in terms of underlying health conditions, were hit severely by the pandemic that put IMART 2020 back by two years. “Like Chivasso, a Turin-based team, they got absolutely hammered,” says Alan Craughwell, founder of Mixed Ability Sports Ireland. “And South American teams, their healthcare systems may not be the same standard as ours. Not having regular sport (during Covid) really has been hard. And getting players back at the very start was hard. “But the appetite for it is humongous. We have…

S DADDY rips off yet another growling face, behind the camera little Grace cannot help but clap away. Something is going on. She’s not quite sure what but she’s loving it. In fact, fittingly, it’s a family affair here. Wife Lineti watches on while Charles Piutau gets his photo taken with the flag of Tonga, having just relinquished his grasp on a team jersey. Only eldest son Zion isn’t in the room, as he naps upstairs. That family feel is the reason we are in Bristol: to discuss the desire to represent your heritage and one day pull on a shirt you feared you might never get the chance to wear. Piutau is an All Black. In 2013 he made his full Test debut against France in New Plymouth, coming…

MICHELE LAMARO says that for him captaincy is all about leading by example. “I can’t ask other guys to empty themselves for the shirt if I’m not doing it myself,” reasons the Italy skipper, and the stats from this year’s Six Nations suggest he is as good as his word. No player from any country made more successful tackles than Lamaro’s 86, a tally that saw him finish some 16 clear of nearest challenger Hamish Watson, the Scotland flanker. Those numbers speak to the energy and industry that the Benetton man brings to the back row, whether in the No 8 shirt he inherited during Jake Polledri’s long injury lay-off or in the openside berth he has favoured since the childhood days when Richie McCaw was his idol. Work-rate is…

IN THE summer of 2018, France and England met in the final of the U20 World Championship. It was, as they say, a wonderful advertisement for the sport, with the French edging their old foes 33-25 for their first title of that age group. Four years later those players are entering their prime years as professional athletes, their minds and their bodies fully matured. Romain Ntamack and Cameron Woki (right) were certainly impressive in this year’s Six Nations, crucial members of the France team that won their first title in 12 years, while Demba Bamba and Jean-Baptiste Gros were also important components of the Grand Slam squad. Of the 23 young Frenchmen involved in the U20 triumph in 2018, nine have been capped and a tenth, No 8 Jordan Joseph,…

INITIATIVE, PERSEVERANCE, inclusivity – qualities that are needed more than ever as the grass-roots game struggles in the wake of Covid. And all evident at Garstang, the small-town Lancashire club nestling in old flood pastures by the River Wyre. Formed in 1995 by current president Mike McGowan and Graham Wilding, the club strived hard to field two senior teams and a vets’ XV, and harder still to create a minis and junior section that is now over 200-players strong. And the fruits of their labour are manifest in the Garstang Colts team that won a Halbro North-West Colts league-and-cup double. The squad is the first group of lads to go all the way through the club from U6 level. “The team spirit and togetherness is outstanding,” says coach Mark Sutcliffe.…

SOUTH-WEST PREMIER EXETER UNIVERSITY Captain Luke Bury Coaches Keith Fleming (DoR), Richard Hodges (coach), Les Barrow (S&C) The students achieved a memorable treble and will play in the National Leagues for the first time next season, having also won the BUCS Championship and the Devon Cup. They beat holders Durham University in a thrilling BUCS final at Worcester. Wing James Botterill set a Level Five try-scoring record of 44 in a season and finished with 220 points. His haul included six tries against Okehampton. Exeter won 23 out of 26 league matches, with their first ten – each with a try bonus point – giving them a flying start and helping to pip Old Redcliffians to the title by two points. SOUTH-WEST ONE EAST OXFORD HARLEQUINS Captain Allan Purchase Coaches…

NORTH PREMIER OTLEY Captain Brett Mitchell Coaches Peter Clegg (DoR), Kyle Dench (head), Luke Cole (assistant head-player), Callum Irvine (skills-player), Simon Willet (S&C-player) A fitting triumph for Otley legend Clegg, who is handing over the DoR role to Andy Rock, who will also become the coach mentor. Dench said: “We blew everyone away in early season but a late win against Sandal and a defeat at Blackburn put us under pressure to play better.” Otley won all 13 home matches, scoring 1,076 points, but were chased all the way by Preston Grasshoppers. The side even survived being stuck in a blizzard on the way to Kirkby Lonsdale, where they won 72-0. Joe Rowntree (221 points) and Elliot Morgan (19 tries) were top scorers. NORTH ONE EAST ILKLEY Captain Joe Lowes…

“In the pro game former brickies from Buenos Aires can kick goals” WALK INTO any amateur club and you’ll find students, police, advocates, brickies, sparkies and accountants. You’ll get a mix of absolutely everyone. And when you jump into the pro game, it becomes just as diverse but more so from an international perspective. I’ve been lucky enough to play with people from different cultures and countries, guys who think in different languages. They often operate in a second language but suddenly you have friends totally different to you. Without naming everyone, I’ve played with Georgians, Argentinians, Fijians, Aussies, Kiwis, Saffas, Chileans, Spaniards, Romanians, Uruguayans and every mix of British and Irish. And there’s a point where both of the above intersect, because in the pro game former brickies from…