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Two months this week before the start of the start of the club rugby competition season in Wellington.
We are into February this week, so pre-season planning and training is well underway at all clubs.
Still fairly quiet, so just a few bits and pieces this week – if more comes up we will add in below.
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The 2023 Premier Swindale Shield and Premier Reserve Harper Lock Shield draw release must be close now.
Communication has always been key for sports organisations.
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Coming up later in February the Hurricanes and Hurricanes Women’s sides are both in action in Levin and further afield as their competitions get underway, and the Wellington/Hawke’s Bay/Manawatu Academy games are starting up, leading up to the Hurricanes U20s campaign in March.
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Marist St Pat’s has named its touring squad for their upcoming Sydney trip:
There are two fundraising events on 10 February to support their tour:
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Another well run and well contested sevens tournament on Saturday. Unfortunately the weather didn’t play ball, but the Whanganui union officials and referees did a great job in trying conditions at the picturesque Marton Park in downtown Marton.
There were two pull-outs on the morning of the tournament, owing to the weather, so a five-team men’s and three-team women’s tournament went ahead and ran from approximately 10.30am to 2.30pm. Kaierau (women’s) and Palmy Steel (men’s) were the tournament winners, beating Palmerston North Old Boys Marist and Havelock North respectively in the finals.
We have hammered this point several times in this space already, but to be as brief as possible, there is definitely scope for a series of these interconnected tournaments throughout the lower North Island/Hurricanes region each summer. And composite teams – such as Saturday’s winners Palmy Steel who are Palmerston North BHS old boys but not necessarily club mates – is the way to go to complement the club teams entering. Obviously the calendar dictates limited weekends for these tournaments for maximum participation, but there is still time in February for a couple of such tournaments, in large part given that the ties between the community and high performance game are almost severed now.
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Double delight for the New Zealand Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams this weekend in Sydney. The men beat South Africa 38-0 in their final and the women defeated France 35-0 in their final. Both sides top the World Rugby standings.
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Last week Club Rugby’s Adam Julian profiled Oriental-Rongotai’s Roderick Solo for the All Blacks website.
Read his story HERE
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Sarah Hirini has captained 43 of her 54 tournaments with the Black Ferns Sevens. They are on a win streak of 18. They’ve had win streaks of 29, 44 and 50.
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England’s Rugby Football Union (RFU) has apologised, after its new low tackle guidelines were met with widespread criticism, adding it will conduct workshops with volunteers, players, coaches and match officials to explain the proposals.
The RFU announced last week that tackling above the waist would be banned in community rugby matches from next season to reduce head impact exposure and concussion risk.
Made amid increasing concerns about how head impact exposure and concussions affect players’ health, the move would affect English clubs in divisions below the Premiership, Championship and Premier 15s.
The RFU says the wording it used to explain the proposals is based off a similar move in France, and acknowledged that it has “caused misunderstanding and confusion”.
Read more HERE
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The World Rugby U20 Championship and U20 Trophy return for the first time since the pandemic with the tournaments hosted in South Africa (24 June-14 July) and Kenya (15-30 July) respectively.
After three cancelled editions (2020-22) on the back of the pandemic, rugby’s two biggest men’s U20 tournaments are returning in 2023 and will feature the world’s best young talents in the sport’s bicentenary year.
South Africa will host the World Rugby U20 Championship for the next two years (2023 and 2024).
he World Rugby U20 Championship 2023 participating teams are: Argentina, Australia, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and Wales.
Read more on World Rugby’s website HERE
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Rest and rotation for Super Rugby this year, with the All Blacks announcing last week that all players (presumably there is a list of names out there somewhere) won’t be allowed to play more than five consecutive matches. A match also constitutes one minute off the bench at the end or the full 80 minutes. Unsure if a suspension or a short-term injury counts either.
Last time there was a Rugby World Cup in France in 2007 it didn’t go too well for the All Blacks, so hopefully those in charge know this will help this year!
Hope the broadcasters and the franchises selling live tickets themselves are happy, with the prospect of blockbuster derbies with several leading players watching from the stand and fans and eyeballs on these matches staying away accordingly. The tragic demise of the NPC anyone?
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An interesting newspaper piece about Eddie Jones and his recent appointment with the Australian Rugby Union.
Read HERE
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