Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2019 i Rugby World

WEEKEND 29 NOV-1 DEC World Sevens Series (Men & Women, Dubai) TV Live on Sky Sports FRI 30 NOV Gallagher Premiership Harlequins v Exeter (7.45pm) TV Live on BT Sport Guinness Pro14 Munster v Edinburgh (7.35pm) Ospreys v Zebre (7.35pm) TV Both live Premier Sports/eir The Championship Cup Nottingham v Coventry Principality Premiership Cardiff v Swansea SAT 1 DEC International Friendly Barbarians v Argentina (2.30pm, Twickenham) TV Live on BBC Gallagher Premiership Bristol v Leicester (1pm) Gloucester v Worcester (3pm) Northampton v Newcastle (3pm) Saracens v Wasps (3pm) TV Live on BT Sport Guinness Pro14 Cheetahs v Connacht (3pm) TV Live on Free Sports/eir Ulster v Cardiff Blues (3pm) TV Live on Premier Sports/eir Dragons v Leinster (5.15pm) TV Live Premier Sports/eir/TG4 Glasgow v Scarlets (5.15pm) TV Live Premier Sports/eir/S4C…

Most important person in phone Mum. We speak every day Last person texted Tadhg Furlong. Just catching up and talking scrums Favourite social network Probably Instagram. It’s the trendy thing at the moment Music app Apple music Last app downloaded Rightmove or Zoopla. I’m looking to buy another house Last song played Pretty sure it was Ice Cube – It Was A Good Day Favourite WhatsApp group One with Wade, Joseph, Watson, (footballer) Tyrone Mings… 24/7 banter Guilty pleasure app There’s a game called Snake VS Block that kills time…

1 JOEL KPOKU Age 19 (22 June 1999) Born East London Club Saracens Country England Position Lock What got you into rugby? I got into it at school but I was initially scouted by London Skolars in rugby league. I started there at U12s. I then went to Saracens Amateurs and joined the Sarries U17 academy. Were you always a lock? I started off at prop in U14 level and then I moved to second-row when I got bigger. I played at prop in rugby league as well. Did you play any other sports when you were growing up? I also played basketball when I was around eight to ten. I was playing at guard – I was sort of like the centre-back, so I was protecting things under the…

ONLY A couple of months into the Gallagher Premiership season, most directors of rugby being interviewed looked like they had just come off a stag weekend in Blackpool. Only, to the best of my knowledge, they hadn’t. They had just flogged themselves. All the focus is on player welfare and it’s vital we get that right, but I want to shine a light on coaches. From late July to late May, practically every weekend is taken up with matches. Players will get time off during the week but generally most of the staff will not. Sometimes it does feel like it’s a bit of a ‘man’ test to get in as early, and leave as late, as possible, but there is work to do and it’s on the increase. Compare…

LET’S GET to the point. Everyone knows that there is far too much top rugby, that the number of games is way past the danger level for exhaustion, burnout and injury. Everyone knows, but a serious number of people in various organisations find it inconvenient to admit it. Easily the best measure – and, in fact, the only measure guaranteed to work – is to have fewer major games. You can tinker with laws to reduce the silly number of heavy contacts, but fewer games in a structured season is the only way to go. It would be nice if the structure also allows every event to have a proper window, with real rest periods and a balance between the two hemispheres. Are you with me so far? So, the…

SOME YEARS ago now, my friends and I were in a taxi tearing through the Limerick night. Our driver, a chatty, red-faced fella, was talking about how close-knit his community was. “Hey, I even pick up and drop off Paul O’Connell all the time,” he bragged. Hold on. We stopped yammering to pick up the name he had just dropped. Then we pleaded. We liberally sprinkled our next questions with “please”. We asked to see where he lived – was it nice? Overwhelmed and perhaps a little confused by us, the driver blurted: “Oh, you can’t wake the Big Man!” It was an incident I had thought little about until, on the day that Munster host Glasgow in the Guinness Pro14, some of their hardy supporters cheerily involve us in…

Age 25 (28 Oct 1993) Birthplace Cape Town Club Toulouse Position Winger or full-back Height 5ft 7in Weight 11st 9lb SA caps Six (2T) Twitter handle @Cheslin_Kolbe11 SHORTLY BEFORE Cheslin Kolbe flew from Blagnac airport to Paris to join his team-mates for the second Test of South Africa’s November 2018 tour, Toulouse confirmed the winger had signed on for three more years with them. It’s an indication of the value the club place on him that they tied him to a new contract until 2023. “I’m a guy who’s loyal, wherever I go,” Kolbe says. “Toulouse have granted me another stage in my career and I’m playing some of my best rugby right now. I’m just glad I’ve got the opportunity and I’m enjoying my rugby.” Club commitments meant he…

LIONS’ DEN “This is the first Test in Durban – I can tell from the scoreboard. I felt I’d had a good season, whether in the blue of Cardiff or red of Wales. All of a sudden I was on a Lions tour, I was rubbing shoulders with legends of the game I’d grown up admiring. Then I was forming a partnership with Brian O’Driscoll in midfield and playing in the Tests. A whirlwind! “It’s the best tour I’ve been on. There was a sense of the old school about it and South Africa is my favourite place to tour anyway. “I’ll never forget the second Test – probably the most brutal Test match I’ve played in, so much so that five of us ended up in an ambulance. To…

Centurion Katy Daley-Mclean, who led England to victory in the 2014 World Cup final, made her 100th Test appearance when facing USA at Allianz Park last month. Drive for girls Northern RFC have teamed up with motor retailer Lookers to encourage more girls to take up rugby. They want to establish U11, U13 and U15 teams over the next three years. Irish goals The IRFU has set big targets as part of its Women in Rugby Action Plan 2018-2023. Over the next five years, the goals include increasing female participation by 20%, winning at least one Six Nations title and qualifying for the 2020 Olympics. TV boost BBC ALBA will screen Scotland Women’s Six Nations home games next year, plus the final of the domestic competition, the Sarah Beaney Cup.…

FLYING VISIT Dylan Hartley, England’s co-captain, arrived by helicopter when making an unscheduled appearance to present the trophies at an annual youth community festival staged by Finborough School, near Stowmarket. He saw 300 boys from the region compete in a tournament involving 15 schools and clubs. Norwich School (Shield), Southwold RFC (Vase), Langley School (Plate) and St Faith’s School, Cambridge (Bowl) all won trophies. YOUNGS WELCOMED Leicester Tigers hooker Tom Youngs, a former England team-mate of Hartley, was the guest of honour at a celebration lunch before the official opening of Wymondham’s £4.5m ground at Barnard Fields. He then watched the Red & Blacks lose 25-17 to his former club Holt in a top-of-the-table London Three Eastern Counties game. Later, 200 club members and VIP guests attended a dinner featuring…

“When a wing gets the ball in space, he needs to know how to beat the last defender. Let’s say Wasps have done a move and Willie (le Roux) has hit me in space and I’ve broken the line on the edge. I’m on my wing and the defender is coming across. What do I do? First, I start angling in towards him.” “By running towards the defender, squaring him up so we’re basically chest on chest facing each other, I’m now in control. With the defender ‘sat down’, with my speed I can use my inside leg to angle back out – giving me a free run into the corner. While he has slowed down, I haven’t changed speed.” “Angling in puts doubt in the defender’s mind because he…

1 MOVE FRUIT JUICE is meant to be good for you. But did you know that some bottles can contain 50g of sugar (depending on brand and size)? Natural or not, it’s still sugar. According to our resident nutritionist James Morehen, there are good times to get sugars in – during pre-match loading, for example – and bad times. “Having a fruit juice first thing in the morning with breakfast or last thing in the evening when sitting on the sofa with the feet up, resting, can be similar to eating a Mars Bar first thing or last thing at night,” Morehen says. He believes that if you want to buy a drink from the supermarket that’s made up of several pressed mixed fruits, you would be far better off…

I took my 11-year-old son, Ben, to watch Scarlets play at Leicester in the Heineken Cup. He was dressed in his Wales shirt with his Welsh flag proudly wrapped around his shoulders, so there was no mistaking which side we were supporting! Yet on arriving at Welford Road, we were welcomed warmly by the Leicester fans. During half-time my son noticed Sam Warburton on commentary duty in front of us. Sam is his favourite player, so he begged me to see if he would agree to a selfie. I’m not normally one to disturb players but as my son was unlikely to get another opportunity to meet his rugby idol, I politely approached. Spotting my son dressed as he was, Sam jumped to his feet and posed for this photo…

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER 2019 STEAMROLLER Jonah Lomu bowls over England’s Mike Catt as the All Blacks book a place in the 1995 World Cup final JANUARY IT’S A WRAP! Stephen Ferris snares Will Genia in a choke tackle as Ireland beat Australia in 2011 FEBRUARY ROOM WITH A VIEW Two young fans take in the match in Galashiels during RWC 1999 Ð Uruguay triumphed 27-15 MARCH ISLAND PARADISE Semisi Naevo shrugs off Alun Wyn Jones during Fiji’s famous 38-34 win over Wales at France 2007 APRIL FRENCH TOAST France celebrate stunning New Zealand 43-31 at Twickenham to reach the RWC 1999 final MAY THE EYES HAVE IT Viktor Kolelishvili and Georgia beat Tonga in 2015 and went on to qualify automatically…

DUBLIN’S KING’S HOSPITAL became the first school to win the Rugby Rising festival. Set up by retired Ireland and Lions wing Tommy Bowe and Ulster’s Louis Ludik, the idea is to pit six schools who would never meet outside of the traditional Schools Cup against each other over a week. Also competing were Royal School Armagh and Sullivan Upper from Ulster, plus CBC Monkstown, St Mary’s College and Wesley College from Leinster. Hartpury College will again compete in the World Schools Festival in South Africa in 2019. The 20-team event – the brainchild of Heyneke Meyer – will be staged at Paul Roos Gymnasium. Hartpury head coach Wayne Thompson said of the side’s return to the tournament: “We produced 11 schoolboy internationals last season and we wanted to be tested…

KIWI HOSTS New Zealand will host the 2021 Women’s World Cup, beating Australia to the rights. CHANGE AT TOP Steve Brown will step down as RFU chief executive at the end of the year, with Nigel Melville taking over on an interim basis. WOMEN’S DATES France (right) start their Women’s Six Nations title defence against Wales in Montpellier on Sat 2 Feb. On the Friday, Scotland face Italy at Scotstoun and Ireland play England at Donnybrook. In the U20s tournament, it’s Ireland v England (Cork) and Scotland v Italy (Gala) on 1 Feb and France v Wales (Vannes) on 3 Feb. For all the fixtures, see sixnationsrugby.com COUNCIL SEATS Fiji and Samoa have both been elected onto the World Rugby Council. Rugby World reported earlier this year how the unions…

Age 23 (31 Jan 1995) Born Exeter Position Second-row Club Exeter Chiefs Height 6ft 5in Weight 17st 6lb Scotland caps Two Instagram @samskinner005 WHEN Gregor Townsend named his Scotland squad for the autumn Tests there was one bolter, one player who very few saw coming. Townsend had been tracking Sam Skinner, the Exeter Chiefs lock, from the minute he knew that his father had been born and raised in Ayrshire. Skinner made his international debut in the second-row in the victory over Fiji and was named Man of the Match, a high that was followed a week later by a low when he started at blindside in the narrow loss to South Africa. Regardless, with the World Cup closing in fast, he has now put himself firmly in the picture…

Home Limerick or Cork. Forget the five-line poem or stopper in your bottle. We were in Limerick, the fourth-largest city on the island. Team colours It’s all the rage in red round here. Shirts, shorts, socks – the lot. But they have been known to rock a moody, greyish-blue-y or sky-blue alternative kit. Stadium Thomond is atmospheric but they play at Irish Independent Park in Cork too. Either way, fans sing Stand Up and Fight! Greatest player Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara, Anthony Foley – there are loads from the pro era before we even look back.…

FAMILY CIRCLE Centre Alex Grove, 31, who won three caps for Scotland in 2009, is back with village club Claverdon, of Four West (South). Grove retired from the pro game this year, having helped Coventry to win the National One title. He had a long career with Worcester that included loan spells at Stourbridge and Birmingham & Solihull, and a season at Moseley. Solihull-born Grove is focusing on his business interests, but his decision to return to Claverdon has renewed family links with the South Warwickshire club where his father Lawrence once played. WAGONS ROLL Old Halesonians DoR Dan Grant believes his players are reaping rewards from a tough training schedule. The Black Country club endured a torrid time last season in which most of their senior players defected and…

KINDRED SPIRIT Community spirit is a powerful draw at Aspull, table-toppers in Lancs-Cheshire Two, with captain and fly-half Sam Kindred to the fore. Three years ago he was playing for Preston Grasshoppers and, after a serious injury, turned down a contract there to return to Aspull, his boyhood club. Not only that. He gathered others around him, including pack leader Liam West, who rejected a paid role at Sedgley Park, and ex-captain Liam Reeve, then with Firwood Waterloo. In turn, Reeve talked Rhodri Carlton-Jones, a newcomer to the area, into joining Aspull and he is still the record point-scorer for RGC 1404 in the Welsh Championship. Spokesman Allan Martin said: “Many more players have flooded to the club from higher leagues. No one is paid. In fact, all of them…

10th Want to see the shirt Jonah Lomu wore in the RWC 1995 semi-final up close? Head to Twickenham’s World Rugby Museum – fast. The legendary All Black’s jersey has been lent to the museum until mid-December so this will be one of the last days you can see it. Plus, there is a new exhibition on Japan to explore. 19th  Looking for some last-minute Christmas gift ideas? There’s a spate of new rugby books out, including Matthew Rees’s Reasons 2 Smile, the Eddie Jones biography Rugby Maverick and Mike Ross’s Dark Arts. For the chance to win rugby books, head to rugbyworld.com/competitions 6th  It’s a Varsity Match double header at Twickenham as both the men’s and women’s teams of Oxford and Cambridge universities take to the field. The women…

8 Wales  Gethin Jenkins, Wales’ most-capped player, has retired. The 38-year-old played 129 times for Wales, five for the Lions and 195 for Cardiff Blues, and went out “on his own terms” against Zebre last month. 9 Australia Perth’s Optus Stadium has sold out for next year’s Australia v New Zealand double header on 10 August. The city’s first Bledisloe Cup tie will be preceded by a women’s Test between the Wallaroos and Black Ferns. 10 Uruguay Uruguay’s Rodrigo Capó Ortega, who turns 38 on 8 December, has broken the Top 14 appearances record. The Castres lock overtook Thibaut Privat when playing his 343rd match, against Pau in November.…

The World Cup was expanded? Smithy Okay, so when did the World Cup expand to 24 teams? Clara It happened after they promised to give it to the USA in the future Smithy Is it to give them more chance of making the knockouts? Rob Dunno but World Rugby must be concerned about teams getting pasted by more than 60 points in the build-up Will Would still be cool to see Belgium in a World Cup, right? Rob Sure thing. Seeing them against the All Blacks will be a great advertisement for competitive rugby… Clara Could help long-term. But not sure who exactly is getting helped by planning for the next RWC Will Oh yeah! They’re drawing the pools for the next World Cup an hour after this one finishes!…

“Train as you’re going to play is the advice I lived by. It’s hard to do it in a match if you’re not striving for those standards midweek.” “People said my cameo in my wife’s show Finding Joy was my acting debut but I’d been in an episode of The Clinic, which my wife was also in. I didn’t get a line then, so this felt more like a breakthrough!” “All the focus for me on Sundays now is slow cooking. I saw a lot of ex-players on Instagram talking about smokers and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get involved’. So I got a Kamado Joe smoker. It’s a bit of a change from playing.” “I loved rooming with Gethin Jenkins (on the Lions tour in South Africa in 2009).…

“I’M BACK in New Zealand after retiring (in 2007 at Munster) and I live in Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast. I’ve got four young kids and I do a bit of stuff for Sky TV during the rugby season, on Super Rugby and the ITM Cup as well. “Golf would be my hobby. If I could, I would play every day. I love it. I don’t run; I don’t like running or anything physical, so golf is number one. “You get the opportunity to play on some pretty cool courses, which is part of the beauty, whether you come over to the UK or South Africa or Australia, or in New Zealand. I haven’t done Kauri Cliffs yet but I’ve done pretty much all of the courses in Queenstown. “As…

PLAYERS AT Gallagher Premiership and Greene King IPA Championship clubs are now required to pass online modules about the game’s major welfare issues. Coaches and support staff in the English elite game must also take part. The online courses consist of a short animated, educational video on the subject – concussion, for example – followed by five multiple choice questions. By mid-October, 1,916 personnel had completed the process. Previously, players had been educated about issues like anti-doping, anti-corruption and concussion through an array of forums, but last year it was agreed the “piecemeal” set-up was not cutting it. So the Professional Game Board agreed on a roll-out of up-to-date education modules by the Personal Development Group in January 2017, with everything centrally monitored. In the first year of a four-year…

THE PLANET’S top coaches may have had a tricky time selecting their teams for the myriad Tests that took place this year, but they had it easy compared to the Rugby World panel charged with the task of picking a global XV for 2018. Twelve writers from eight countries trying to agree on Team 2018. Difficult. In all, 63 players were nominated and only one swept the board with 12 votes out of 12. Step forward Tadhg Furlong. The rest? Based on votes won, this is the Rugby World Team of 2018… 15 BEAUDEN BARRETT (NEW ZEALAND) Okay, Barrett didn’t start a Test at full-back in 2018 – but he did finish a fair few there. And with the vote evenly poised between the All Black and Ireland’s Johnny Sexton…

ATMOSPHERE This was near 13,000 fans compared to 23,000 the week before. It’s 10/10 on big days, but what about that finish… FOOD Okay, we’re not lighting any fires with the outside offerings. Sure, hospo is better but we’re for the people! PINT Great boozers near the ground. As well as JJ’s, there’s The Curragower and Tom Collins. The in-ground offerings are good. TOILETS Absolutely no complaints here, at least when it comes to access from certain bars and East and West Terraces. OVERALL…

“We’re bullish on the sport of rugby. We’ve grown our rugby portfolio with the additions of the Rugby World Cup, Six Nations and Champions Cup in recent years. Our coverage of the Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco delivered the most-watched live rugby telecast on record on NBC (nearly 9m viewers across the weekend). “We’re thrilled by the excitement surrounding the sport and look forward to showcasing unprecedented live coverage of the Rugby World Cup in 2019.”…

Age 33 (20 Jan 1985) Born Taunton Nickname Nolli Twitter @nolli15 Favourite film Notting Hill TV show I’m more into boxsets. I’ve just watched all of Suits Last book read Ben Ryan’s Sevens Heaven. It’s insightful How you switch off Taking my dog, Coya, out and spending time with my family Dream dinner guests Prince Harry and James Corden Rugby highlight Scoring in the 2014 World Cup final and winning it Rugby lowlight Having concussion in the 2017 semi-final, so missing the final…

CAVALRY NEEDED Old Elthamians survived an injury crisis to go joint top of National One with seven wins, a draw and two defeats. They had 23 players missing when they went down 42-38 to Sale FC at Heywood Road, prompting DoR Gavin Lach to say: “Several people questioned why we needed such a large squad going into the campaign. Well, there’s your answer.” Fly-half Tom White, Old Elthamians’ record point-scorer, celebrated his 250th league game for the club with a try at Sale. White, 29, a teacher, made his debut at the age of 17 in an 11-11 draw with Old Dunstonians 11 years ago. TITANS HIT FORM After losing three of their first four games, Rotherham rocketed from 12th place to second with five successive wins, including a 25-14…

CORNISH TRIBUTE The Recreation Ground, home to South-West Premier club Camborne, has been designated as a Fields in Trust ‘Centenary Field’ in honour of Cornishmen who gave their lives in World War One. It’s the first public green space in the county to be awarded that distinction. It will be protected for the term of the 99-year lease that the town council secured after more than 4,000 people signed a petition to ‘Keep Rugby At The Rec’. A commemorative plaque was unveiled and The Last Post was played before Camborne beat Brixham 32-14 on a poignant day. BULLISH BEN Reading coach Ben Wills saw his team lose three consecutive games before a 39-5 win against Slough in Southern Counties North justified his faith. He said: “I think we have the…

Georgian ambitions I’d like to make a few points with regards Georgia joining the Six Nations: 1. I would love Georgia to be included, but I do not want rugby to die in Italy. 2. Around 10,000 Georgians travelled to Italy for the game in November. So does anyone believe there will be a problem with spectators or ticket prices? 3. The Six Nations play each other every year to become champion of... of what? Not the world, not even Europe. Do you believe that is the way for progress? Levan Namoradze, via Facebook Union takes high road I watched a recent England v New Zealand rugby league match and high tackles seem to be an accepted part of the game, only the most flagrant noticed by the officials. Are…