Scotland 41 defeat Canada 0
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Scotland continued to show good form in a 41-0 win in a six try victory against Canada.
New Zealand 32 roll Scotland 6
Can the All Blacks machine be stopped, after a slow start to the Tri Nations in 2008 the All Blacks juggernaut fought back to claim the Tri-Nations, then the Bledisloe and now Scotland 32-6 at Murrayfield.
The All Blacks scored four tries to nil in a convincing win that put Scotland to the sword in a game that saw the All Blacks referred by their nemesis from the World Cup loss to France last year.
The All Blacks were never headed with tries to Anthony Tuitavake, Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui and Anthony Boric in a convincing display.
The Scottish team may have felt still slightly in the match at half-time at 18-6 but two tries on the second half snuffed out any distant hopes the Scots may have had.
IRB Awards - Top 5 Rugby Stars of 2008
The International Rugby Board (IRB) player of the year award will be awarded on 23 November where five players will all compete for the biggest honour in the game.
Four players from the northern and one from the southern hemisphere were shortlisted by the panel after watching almost 50 hours of rugby and 35 tests.
The shortlisted players were Dan Carter (New Zealand), Shane Williams and Ryan Jones (Wales), Mike Blair (Scotland) and Sergio Parisse (Italy).
THe players stood out after the panel went through each match and selected the three best players from each match. The panel consists of Tana Umaga, Raphael Ibanez, Will Greenwood, Francois Pienaar, Agustin Pichot, Gavin Hastings, Scott Quinnell, Paul Wallace and is chaired by John Eales.
If Dan Carter was to win he would be the first player to win two IRB player of the year awards.
Who do you think was the best player of the year?
Scotland deal with English snub
Scotland’s Rugby coach Frank Hadden had a less than desirable start to his preparations for the upcoming November test matches. Hadden’s first training camp with his squad of 50 commenced on Monday less 10 players from England.
Scotland were without players from the Guinness Premiership after the respective teams would not release Scotland’s squad members for the camp.
Could Rugby have a World Series?
Reports from the Daily Mail in the UK have claimed the IRB are looking at organsing a Rugby World Series that would occur every two years.
The World Series would start as a round robin as part of the Six Nations and the current Tri-Nations teams including Argentina with results counting towards the World Series. Tests between the hemisphere’s rugby teams would continue to take place between June and November.
The top two teams would play-off every two years, most likely at the new Wembley Stadium in front of 90,000 people where the winner could take over in excess of AUD $20 million.
Chances are any plans of getting this up and running before the next World Cup would be unlikely but if the IRB can get all the Union’s on board then it could start by 2010.
Scotland name 50 man squad
Scotland coach Frank Hadden named his 50 man training squad for the upcoming internationals in November. The training squad will go into training on 22 September at Murrayfield in preparation for the clashes against New Zealand on 8 November, South Africa on 15 November and Canada on 22 November.
The full Scotland squad is;
Backs: Mike Blair, Ben Cairns, Chris Cusite, Simon Danielli, Nick de Luca, Rob Dewey, Max Evans, Thom Evans, Phil Godman, Andrew Henderson, Stephen Jones, Rory Lamont, Sean Lamont, Rory Lawson, Calum MacRae, Mark McMillan, Graeme Morrison, Dan Parks, Chris Paterson, Gordon Ross, Hugo Southwell, Nikki Walker, Simon Webster
Forwards: John Barclay, Johnnie Beattie, Kelly Brown, Dave Callam, Geoff Cross, Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford, Dougie Hall, Craig Hamilton, Jim Hamilton, Nathan Hines, Allister Hogg, Allan Jacobsen, Alastair Kellock, Gavin Kerr, Scott Lawson, Moray Low, Scott MacLeod, Euan Murray, Scott Murray, Matt Mustchin, Ross Rennie, Alasdair Strokosch, Simon Taylor, Fergus Thomson, Dan Turner, Jason White
IRB World Rankings
South Africa have reclaimed the second spot on the IRB World Rankings after their win over Australia 53-8 in Johannesburg. Australia can reclaim second spot with a win against New Zealand in Brisbane.
No other changes occured in the Top 10 due to a lack of international rugby matches.
The list of the top 10 are below;
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
England
Wales
France
Ireland
Scotland
Italy
IRB World Rugby Rankings
The IRB latest world ranking’s have been a major blow to the South African Springboks as they have dropped from No 1. at ths start of the year to No 3. behind the New Zealand All Blacks and Australian Wallabies.
South Africa have had a horror Rugby Tri-Nations series while Australia have improved dramatically after being fourth at the start of the Rugby Tri-Nations series.
The list of the top 10 are below;
New Zealand
Australia
South Africa
Argentina
England
Wales
France
Ireland
Scotland
Italy
Scotland coaching shake-up
The Scotland coach Frank Hadden has added Mike Brewer and Graham Steadman to his coaching squad. In a canny recruitment move they have secured the former All Blacks captain Mike Brewer and former Irish assistant coach Graham Steadman.
Mike Brewer, 43, who has most recently been with Leinster as forwards coach will become the new Scotland forwards coach. Brewer’s international experience and pedigree will be of huge assistance to the Hadden and the Scots.
Graham Steadman, 46, the former rugby league international has been appointed as the defensive coach for the Scots. Steadman has delivered a similar role in recent times for Munster and the Ireland.
Scotland have recruited very shrewdly and look to be on the cusp of a rejuvenation at the international level. Hopefully with the strong coaching team they can bring this on sooner rather than later.
Scotland’s next match is on 8 November against New Zealand.
IRB World Cup bids confirmed
The IRB have confirmed bids for the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and 2019. 10 unions have expressed an interest and including exotic Rugby nations like Russia and Jamaica alongside stalwarts such as Australia, England, South Africa and Ireland.
Australia, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales have submitted an interest in 2015.
While Australia, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Russia, Scotland, South Africa and Wales are looking towards 2019.
The next Rugby World Cup will be held in New Zealand in 2011. The 2015 and 2019 World Cup’s will be announced in July 2009.
If the IRB is serious about expanding the game which I believe they are then they need to award at least one of the World Cup’s to a developing Rugby nation like Italy or Japan. Japan was overlooked for the 2011 World Cup after getting pipped by New Zealand for hosting rights. In July 2009 the IRB will be able to undo the mistake of not selecting them for 2007.
Who do you think should be awarded the 2015 and 2019 Rugby World Cup?