Rugby Union internationals [R]

Re: Rugby Union internationals

forgot about this. the 'nz tour' is being show live on FSW, but b/c of its time (3:30am est, usa) i forgot about it. the ireland/SA match is on at 9am, a bit more of a respectable time, but not too much interest for me.

 

Re: Rugby Union internationals

damn, looks like i should have Tivo'd it- seems like there would have been some good highlights (well for kiwi fans at least)

All Blacks destroy champions

1. all blacks got 3 trys in the fist half
2. near capacity crowd of about 38,000
3. It was Eng's biggest defeat since losing to NZ 64-22 here six years ago

oh, i added the {R} to the subject line for those who DO have tivo

 

Anybody know where I can see the Argentina-Wales game? Looked like a great one.

 

The Churchill Cup is taking place this week. The Men's semi-finals are played in Calagry.

NZ Maori 69 USA 31

England "A" 39 Canada 11

The Consolation match and Final are June 19th in Edmonton.

 

Australia is playing Scotland today (Sun 13 June 2004 @ 3:30 pm AEST - GMT+10) in Melbourne under the closed roof of the Telstra Dome.

Finishes off the 4 UK & Ireland teams' first games in the Southern Hemisphere.

Hopefully AUS will put away Scotland and complete the Southern Hemisphere domination of Northern Hemisphere teams.



Cheers.

Andy T.

 

AUS 35-15 Scotland.

It was tougher for AUS than the scores indicate. The Scots were unlucky to be out-muscled in the last 20 minutes of the game.

Andy T.

 

Wallabies Labour to Victory
Australia 35 Scotland 15
A RUSTY Wallabies side has opened up their Test season by retaining the Hopetoun Cup in an unconvincing win over Scotland at the Telstra Dome.

The Australians were expected to demolish the injury ravaged Scots – who have won just one of their last seven Tests – but struggled to hold onto the ball and were surprisingly manhandled by the Scottish defence.

Pumas outlast Wales in a Thriller
NEW coach Mike Ruddock came face-to-face with the schizophrenic nature of Welsh rugby in the intimidating Estadio Atletico today as Argentina ran out winners in an 11-try opening Test thriller

DoyleG- is that a 7's tournament, of full squad?

 

It's a full squad tourney.

I made an error on the last post. the Canada-England 'A' result I posted was actually a women's game between full international sides. the real men's game was played today.

Engalnd 'A' won that game 48-23.

The other game in the women's competition say New Zealand blank the USA 36-0

Finals on June 19 in Edmonton.

Women's Consolation: Canada v. USA
Men's Consolation: Canada v. USA
Women's Final: England v. New Zealand
Men's Final: England 'A' v. NZ Maori

 

Churchill Cup Results

Women's 3rd/4th: USA 29 Canada 10
Women's Championship: New Zealand 40 England 0

Men's 3rd/4th: Canada 32 USA 29
Men's Championship: NZ Maori 26 England 'A' 19 (OT)

 

Chandu,

Good game all round.

[result]Australia 51 (6 tries) beat England 15 (2 tries) comprehensively[/result]

 

Chandu,

Yes it's called the Cook Cup (as in Captain Cook), but is just a recent development (2 years old). It's come about as the Southern Hemisphere (AUS, NZ, SA & to some degree ARG) national teams have been too strong for the Northern Hemisphere teams over the past 10 years or so. This particular competition was a device whereby there was at least some competition between AUS & ENG on an annular basis.

In Rugby Union it's not as intense as the "Ashes Series" (of games) in Rugby League (against a combined UK team - the British Lions) or in Cricket (where the "Ashes" were actually first named).

The first touring AUS Cricket team beat the English team in a series of games in England. One person sent an Urn "containing the Ashes of English Cricket" to the MCC (the governing body of English cricket) as an act of condolence & protest. This "Ashes Urn" became the symbol of cricketing supremacy between the two countries and is played for, but never leaves England whatever the result (quite unfairly to AUS as even the America's Cup had to be handed over when lost by the USA). Rugby League then started to use the "Ashes" as a term to do likewise. It's never been quite the same in Rugby Union. Other sports also use the "Ashes" term in AUS v ENG national teams competitions (eg women's Netball; Field Hockey of both genders).

AUS v NZ (eg the annual Bledisloe Cup in Rugby Union) is about the most intense rivalry we have, but both countries love nothing better than beating England at ANYTHING (even tiddly-winks).

You can imagine then what it was like for AUS to beat England 3-1 in football in England last year, in what the English like to now characterise as a "meaningless friendly". AUS doesn't play "meaningless friendlies" in ANY sports at National Team level.

It's a completely different attitude to the rare honour afforded the elite of a sport to play in their AUS national team, at any time, in any game, anywhere in the world. It's with some dismay to all other sports persons in AUS that some of our English-based football "stars" have caught the "English disease" and are selective as to when & where they show up for national team duty. It's the insidious English view of clubs being more important than country, which is quite foreign in AUS but very strong in English football (where most of our NT players ply their trade).

Phew, hope that load of gas-bagging has helped.

 

The other thing about Australia v England (or NZ v England for that matter) is that it was hard to get a real rivalry, as they hardly ever played.

Until recently England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales only ever toured as the combined British (later & Irish) Lions. So, you only played the home countries once every 4 or so years on a Grand Slam tour.

 

Yes, the Lions still exist - last toured Australia a couple of years ago. They wear red jerseys (Wales), white shorts (England) and blue socks with green tops (Scotland/Ireland).

The Barbarians games are basically exhibition games. The original Barbarians are the English, but there are also less famous NZ & Aust versions.

Basically they are invitational teams. The organising comittee can invite any one in the world to come and play. Usually a few recently retired players make comebacks, and also a young up & comer is usually picked to get a taste of international football. The games are usually very spectacular and attacking, as noone cares about the result.

Traditionally the English Barbarian match was the last one that a Grand Slam touring team would play at the end of their tour. A coupel of the greatest ever matches were the 1973 (v NZ) and 1984 (v the Grand Slam winning Australians).

One of the interesting 'touches' is that players wear their own clubs socks, which makes for a pretty colourful look at the ruck & scrum.