Jonny Wilkinson out with knee dislocation
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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.
Sale Sharks unbeaten run continues
The Sale Sharks continued their unbeaten start to the season as they downed star side Gloucester 23-9.
Sale sit atop the Guinness Premiership after four rounds much to the surprise of critics at the start of the season. Luke McAlister has been in sensational form for the Sharks and is the chief reason for their dominant performances this season.
In other weekend action Jonny Wilkinson became the all-time leading pointscorer in the Guinness Premiership after the Newcastle Falcons bounced back with a 17-3 victory over Bristol.
Wilkinson now sits atop the pointscoring record book with 1482 points, two points ahead of Andy Goode.
In other Guinness Premiership weekend results;
Bath 27 Worcester 19
Harlequins 27 London Irish 28
Saracens 26 Northampton 12
Leicester 19 Wasps 28
Guinness Premiership Results Round 3
Saracens finally registered a win 44-14 over the Newcastle Falcons to bring up their maiden victory under Eddie Jones reign as coach.
Saracens crushed the Falcons 5 tries to 2 but dropped off the pace in the last ten minutes after leading 44-0. Newcastle appear to have an uphill battle ahead of them to avoid relegation and will depend heavily on Jonny Wilkinson to keep them in the hun this season.
In other results from Round 3 in the Guinness Premiership;
Bristol 6 Sale 9
Gloucester 24 Harlequins 20
London Irish 16 Bath 20
Northampton 24 Wasps 20
Worcester 17 Leicester 19
Wilkinson returns in style for Falcons
Jonny Wilkinson the 2003 World Cup hero for England returned to the field to help his side Newcastle win 32-22 against Northampton. Wilkinson who has had a series of injuries that has cost him more game time than time on the field since 2003 returned from shoulder surgery and kicked his side to victory.
Wilkinson scored 22 points for the Falcons in their first win of the season and also setup a try for the team. Wilkinson was faultless in a perfect kicking display that will raise the hopes of all English fans that their star may be on the way back to save England in the upcoming Sic Nations.
In other results from the Guinness Premiership;
Sale 18 Saracens 15
Bath 17 Gloucester 21
Harlequins 31 Bristol 13
Leicester 24 London Irish 22
Wasps 10 Worcester 11
Guinness Premiership Results: Round 1
The Guinness Premiership kicked off over the weekend and the big game in the first round was Leicester up against Gloucester. Leicester were too good, successfully taking their chances to down their rivals 20-8 in a two tries to one victory.
Eddie Jones coaching start was not what he expected as Saracens went down 24-21 to Harlequins. While London Irish were too good for the Wasps 26-14.
Round 1 Results
Northampton 21 Worcester 13
Bristol 20 Bath 33
Newcastle 9 Sale 14
Gloucester 8 Leicester 20
London Irish 26 Wasps 14
Saracens 21 Harlequins 24
Guinness Premiership Round One Preview
The Guinness Premiership kicks off for another year tomorrow as the first round commences in England. The weekend will give fans an idea if the form demonstrated in the trials is genuine and we will soon get an idea which teams are pretenders and those that can go all the way.
An influx of foreign players will add spice around the world and new coaches will try and bring success to teams that have not achieved success in years such as Eddie Jones at Saracens.
Worcester are the only side that won all their trials, winning four straight while Saracens and Bristol won three of four matches. It will be intriguing to see if these sides can take this form into the regular Guinness Premiership.
The two big matches of Round One are the London Irish vs Wasps and Saracens vs Harlequins. Both matches will be keenly watched and will be a strong indicator of how impressive the season will be for sides like Saracens.
I believe Saracens could break their drought this year with their first trophy in years. Eddie Jones is one of the most astute coaches in the game and will guide them well through the season. Other top sides are likely to be last years winner Wasps, Leicester, Gloucester and Harlequins.
The Ruck and Maul will provide a roundup of the results over the weekend. I have bolded the teams I think will win this weekend. The Ruck and Maul will feature a poll in the next two weeks on who you think will win the Guinness Premiership.
Who do you think will win the Guinness Premiership?
Saturday 6th September
London Irish vs Wasps
Saracens vs Harlequins
Sunday 7th September
Bristol vs Bath
Gloucester vs Leicester
Newcastle vs Sale
Northampton vs Worcester
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.
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.
Guinness Premiership
The Guinness Premiership starts on 6 September and we here at The Ruck and Maul will aim to give you a weekly summary of results and any key news from the Premiership.
The season will commence with the London Irish taking on the Wasps and Saracens and Harlequins playing on Saturday 6th September. Sunday will feature Bristol vs Bath, Gloucester vs Leicester, Newcastle vs Sale and Northampton vs Worcester.
Will Gloucester be able to redeem themselves after last years defeat to Leicester before the final. Are Leicester capable of going one better. Can the Wasps back up for another crown.
This years Guinness Premiership will once again prove to be intriguing, a host of foreign players have started to inundate English and French Rugby, some of which are among the best in the game. The flood seems to be increasing but it it reducing chances for local talent?
One way or another we will see another great season of Rugby and it’s just over weeks away now.
If you have some news on the Guinness Premiership or would like to share your thoughts on who will win drop a comment in our Comments section or if your interested in contributing a weekly summary of the Guinness Premiership or any other news drop me an email to wes@theruckandmaul.com.
Chris Latham joins Worcester Warriors
Chris Latham the former inspirational Australian Wallabies fullback has joined the Worcester Warriors for the Guinness Premiership.
Latham, 32, who ended his rugby career in Australia early due to a season ending injury hopes to take part in the first game on 7 September for the Warriors.
Chris Latham has arrived at an interesting time in the clubs history as the home ground Sixways has been undergoing major improvements to the surface of the stadium and surrounding amenities.
The experience Latham will bring to the Warriors on the field and his professionalism off will play a big part in determining the success of Worcester in the Guinness Premiership