South Africa 42 England 6
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South Africa have hit form at the exactly right time as they humbled England 42-6.
South Africa led 20-6 at halftime and went on with it after the break running away with a 42-6 win against an English side with no answers.
The Springboks scored 6 tries to nil to complete the humiliation for England.
England 39 defeat Pacific Islanders 13
England under new coach Martin Johnston were too strong for the Pacific Islanders running out 39-13 victors in a five tries to one victory.
The new star of English Rugby Danny Cipriani was a star in only his second test with a try and 14 points off the boot for a personal tally of 19 points. His performance will go some way to reassuring England that life may still exist after Jonny Wilkinson.
The Pacific Islanders were no easy-beats and pushed the English on many occasions but the English side had too much firepower and match fitness in the end.
All Blacks and England to play for Hillary Shield
In a move to commemorate the late Sir Edmund Hillary, the All Blacks and England will play for the inaugural Hillary Shield when they take on each other at Twickenham on 29 November.
The new Hillary Shield could one day develop a reputation like the Bledisloe Cup contested between Australian and New Zealand in Rugby?
Jonny Wilkinson out with knee dislocation
The injury curse that has befallen Jonny Wilkinson since the 2003 Rugby World Cup continued overnight as Wilkinson was again struck with a nasty injury. This time it was a dislocated knee in the match against Gloucester as his team lost 39-23.
Wilkinson who has been totally luckless in recent years will almost certainly be ruled out of the upcoming tests for England and once again his career goes into an extended hiatus.
The new focus of attention in England, Wasps Daniel Cipriani is most likely set to take Wilkinson’s place for England in the upcoming internationals. The loss of Wilkinson for Newcastle is a major blow as they are likely to continue to struggle without him in their side.
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.
Northern Hemisphere ELVs to start this weekend in UK
The new Rugby ELVs will come into force this weekend with the kick-off to the Guinness Premiership and the Magners League in the United Kingdom. While the ELVs have been in place in the UK trials it is this weekend that we will see how the teams perform under the new ELVs.
The Northern Hemisphere have been very vocal in the forced implementation of the ELVs but eventually succumbed from pressure from the IRB. The ELVs have been in place since late 2007 in the Southern Hemisphere and were used throughout the Super 14 and the Rugby Tri-Nations series.
Eddie Jones, the former Wallabies coach has been the most recent high profile critic of the ELVs with his comments regarding the ELVs. Jones labelled the ELVs a disgrace and that it was like turning Rugby into Twenty 20 Cricket.
It is clear from the comments how divisive the issue of ELVs has become particularly in the Northern Hemisphere where the traditional forward oriented game is seemingly under attack from the administrators of the game.
In the next few weeks we will start getting a clearer idea of how successful the ELV trial will be and what long term impact this is likely to have on the game of Rugby. The biggest risk would be that if both the Southern and Northern Hemisphere’s split due to the ELVs. While this would be considered unlikely the game does hang on the result of the next few weeks in the UK.
What do you think of the ELVs? Are they good or bad for the game.
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
England hatch plan to develop local talent
England have developed a plan to maintain the ongoing development of local players at the expense of imported talent in a sign that the English administration are gravely concerned about the influx of foreign players.
Southern hemisphere players have started flocking into the Guinness Premiership, French Top 14 and Magners League with the 2008-09 season set to be the biggest yet. English Rugby are concerned that the increase in players from overseas could send the local competition heading in the same direction as Premier League Football.
To combat this the English adminstration will provide 16 million pounds of rewards and incentives to teams that limit the influx of foriegn players. Rob Andrew, the director of elite rugby in England, who unveiled the scheme indicated that the current mix was about 65% English to 35% foreign and that for the good of English Rugby it should stay this way.
Starting in the 2009-10 season the RFU will offer 210,000 pounds to each club that throughout the year maintains an average of least 14 of their 22 man squad as English players. The incentive increases towards 300,000 pounds depending upon the level that clubs exceed the minimum requirements.
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
England rebuild under Johnson
Martin Johnson has started his phase of rebuilding England by naming a 32 man Elite Player Squad. Johnson has alot of work ahead of him and has wasted little time in cleaning the decks, thirteen players that toured New Zealand have not been included in the squad.
No captain has been announced at this stage, see the article from Planet Rugby below for further information.
Planet Rugby - Flutey makes England’s Elite
The full squad is;
Forwards: Steve Borthwick (Saracens), George Chuter (Leicester Tigers), Jordan Crane (Leicester Tigers), Tom Croft (Leicester Tigers), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (London Wasps), Nick Kennedy (London Irish), Lee Mears (Bath), Lewis Moody (Leicester Tigers), Luke Narraway (Gloucester ), Tom Palmer (London Wasps), Tim Payne (London Wasps), Tom Rees (London Wasps), Simon Shaw (London Wasps), Andrew Sheridan (Sale Sharks), Matt Stevens (Bath), Phil Vickery (London Wasps).
Backs: Olly Barkley (Gloucester), Danny Care (Harlequins), Harry Ellis (Leicester Tigers), Toby Flood (Leicester Tigers), Riki Flutey (London Wasps), Shane Geraghty (London Irish), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers), Josh Lewsey (London Wasps), Jamie Noon (Newcastle Falcons), Pete Richards (London Irish), Paul Sackey (London Wasps), James Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers), Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle Falcons).