Canada 13th

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Canada is still rated 13th in the world rankings.
But today's game against the Maoris All Blacks was their best game in a long time.
Losing 19-25 at 1 minute of the end of the game...
Too many mistakes cost them penalties against. And number 9 still needs to defend a bit better, like running after an opponent who just passed him and tackle him arund the waist and hips, not not just look at him...
A good game overall for Canada who is working hard to establish itself into the 12th position they long for... qualificative for the future world cups.
Keep it up lads...

2015 world cup - preliminary...

England trashed Fiji islands 50 something to not much, the coach will sleep well tonight, and the world cup in 3 years is already underway...
Wales received Argentina, and... got beaten... ho ho... I knew that having Argentina playing in June the South Hemisphere games would help them improve... New Zealand, Australia and South Africa will make you learn fast...
And France received Australia, which they did not beat since 2005 or so. Score was 30 to 6. For... France... The old guys were left onb the benchm, and the new kids came on the grass with all intentions to win. A magnificient game,,, in defence France was sublime,,, stopping Australia four times on their own goal line... and bacl from South Africa the French number 9 and half was simply brilliant, along with the full back, pocket size, and... the shole team! A final between France and England at the 2015 world cup? Don't rule it out, and bet on it right now for better odds from the English bookmakers...

O Canada...

Canada got a lesson from Samoa islands in their game in Wales today...

Wanted to see a penalty taken quickly but the ball never left the hands of the player taking it? Canada had it, but the referee turned a blind eye... Thanks ref...
Wanted to see a touch with both feet right across the touch line? Canada had it, but the referee turned a blind eye... Thanks ref...
Wanted to see a penalty taken quickly 5 metres from the goal line and a try scored, like in high school games? (Universities don't let it happen...)... Canada let it happen, once at the beginning of the first half, and once at the beginning of the second half... Thanks Samoa for the lesson... and the copy - paste...
Wanted to see a wing trying a long pass for a sure try but passing the ball forward and knocking the grass 10 feet short of the player... Canada had it on their only possession in the opponent's 22m in the first 30 mn...
Wanted to see again this number 11 I talked to you about during the last world cup... screwing up the above pass... or being unable to prevent 3 or 4 tries scored against him, even with the last minute help from the number 9? Yes number 11 was still there...
Canada was behind by 40 to 0 or something like that 15 minutes before the end of the game. Then the wing number 11 and the number 9 finally got replaced, and... Canada scored two tries in the last 15 minutes...
For the next game, I recommend to leave number 11 on the bench...
I also recommend singing the Canadian hymn in its bilingual version, first verse in French and second verse in English, as well as include some players from Quebec in the team... Might give the Canadian team a boost, who knows... It seems that the team needs all the help it can get... as well as some professional coaching and training drills available in most Quebec high schools and Universities...

New England tomorrow?

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England is preparing the next world cup on home turf. The new England team is under construction. The young ones have been asked to produce... as soon as tomorrow against Fiji... Of course Fiji also would like to advance one or two places on the world rankings... DOnt miss the game this Saturday November 10!

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Best tries ever... except for the ones I scored I guess...? ha ha ha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VY1RjEMQhE&feature=b-vrec

Tackles and hits...

Rugby is a contact sport... but some of these tackles or hits deserve a yellow card (or red?) from the referee... Can you spot which ones?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmzWVjOlqYE&feature=related

Enjoy...

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_pVKIOrjY&feature=b-vrec

New rules...

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So the new rules are being applied now on all continents.
They will be appled in the Quebec CEGEP games starting right now... I'll let you know how it went later on... From what I have seen on the French rugby games, looks nice...

For the scrum, only three commmands now... CROUCH... TOUCH... SET!
Makes sense. Referee can check that number 8 is in and bound after TOUCH, but watch for early push! get ready for free kicks...

For the ball in touch directly after a knock on, referee can now give the choice of a scrum or a line out to the non offending team. Makes sense to let the offended team have the choice depending of their strength or position on the field.

For the beer after the game, rules stay the same... dont drink and drive, but if you dont drive, the sky is the limit...

North and South Hemispheres

It used to be that South Hemisphere rugby was a clear notch above North Hemisphere rugby. Even today, the countries ranked first by the IRB are the famous three, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
Well... I just saw the summer tour games between Wales and Australia, and Ireland and New Zealand. In both cases, the South Hemisphere countries won the game in the last two minutes...!
Clearly the gap is getting as small as can be...
Partly because New Zealand coaches have been spreading all over the North Hemisphere, partly because South Hemisphere players have been emigrating and play in many teams of the Northern Hemisphere.
So my educated guess is that the winner of the next world cup in 3 years in London, England (not London, Canada... yet!) will be a Northern Hemisphere team. Your choice: England, Wales, Ireland or France... possibl a first ever final between two teams of the North Hemisphere...
Why not Scotland? because they have had a New Zealand coach for some time now and they cannot last a full 80 minutes yet... As for Scotland's ranking - number 12 by the IRB, they better watch it, Canada is coming after them, ranked number 13...
I certainly plan to go and watch the next Scotland - Canada (both coached by New Zealand coaches) in Canada...

PS: as for the referees, I still think that high tackles should be reffed as the IRB book says, ie... a hand above the tip of the shoulder is high tackle, and a hand or an arm too close to the neck is dangerous play and a yellow card... Maybe the North Hemisphere refs should start first... the South Hemisphere will then have to adapt... at the 2015 London world cup...

Europe Heineken Cup

Two Irish teams battled for the European championship this week end.
Lenster beat Ulster (both provinces of Ireland) fair and square, 40-12.
There were a couple of New Zealand players on the grass, and one South African player.
There were also people from Wales and France on the grass (referee and touch judges...) and lots of English in the stadium (final was played in London Twickenham stadium)!
But seriously... the first game and in particular the first half was the best half of rugby I have ever seen...! Flowing game, very few penalties or scrums, a pleasure and a credit to the game of rugby. I recommend to show this game to all rugby schools over the Village.

Amazing rugby tricks

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No comment... never seen anything close to it...!
http://www.videobash.com/video_show/amazing-rugby-tricks-6730

Wales France...

Wales 16 - France 9, and Wales wins a Grand Slam at the 6th Nations tournament in Europe.
Sing a song of six pence... or rather sing a song to Halpenny, the new full back of Wales who got to kick all the penalties. Wales must have wished he had kicked all the penalties at the world cup...
As for France, I think thye should now be known as the 1,000 tackles team... as they kept tackling 80% of the game! Heroic defence, but... you need to score to win. And the key moment was when the French centre tackled a Welsh player in a ruck without trying to even pretend to stay on his feet... and the ruck was a couple of feet away from the Welsh goal line...
As for the referee, same one as the one of the world cup, he made sure... this time... that he was 100% impartial... congratulations Mr ref... I knew you could do it... when you wanted to...

France lost to Ireland

France lost to Ireland 17-17.
It was in Paris...
The Irish team dominated the game in most aspects...
France new full back was not at his best and the coach might have to make some changes again at this key position...
France wings were not at their best in defense...
In short, if you did not see the game, you did not miss much...
And...
England is going to believe in their possible victory next week end...
and Wales is going to believe in a Grand Slam against France in 2 weeks...
But... France can give us the worst and the better... so wait and see...

6 Nations

Ireland beat Italy by a landslide... and they would have done it even without the one sided referring, in their favor... same referee from South Africa who had reffed the final NZ - France, and was kind of slightly biaised for NZ...

Wales beat England in a very good rugby game, close call too... and England played very well... but the ripping of the ball from an English lock arms in the last minutes was a piece of anthology by the Welsh player, followed by a run... to the goal line...
Both teams were lousy in their attempts to reach the touch lines with kicks... (maybe the cold weather...? and the kickers over estimating the power of their quicks under such cold air conditions...?)
The Australian referee was superb, watch the game just for him...
Mind you the English were sorry that the TV referee could not conclude after 3 minutes examination of their possible try in over time, but it seems that the ball never touched the grass with a hand in control of it...
May I also remind the English fans that...
- at one point a pass to a Welsh wing was deflected into touch by an English player who should have been sanctionned by a yellow card in my opinon, as a try was very much feasible...
- in the last ten minutes, an English player tackled a Welsh player around the neck and should have been sent out, meaning England should have played with one man short for the last 10 minutes...

As for France... they beat Scotland after Scotland dominated the first half like 80% of time and field possession! but score of 10-10... and I confirm that Medard is not a full back but a wing... He plays wing in his club, and did play full back some time ago, but again in this game... he was nowhere to be seen on both Scottish tries...! but he made up for it by... scoring a try when coming to help the backs... When Medard got injured, he was replaced by Beauxis, a real full back... who stayed in the back... no more tries scored against France... a nice drop goal scored by him... and some long defensive kicks which found the touch line... I vote for Beauxis as the permanent full back for France, and for Medard as the replacement, for full back or wing, or centre...

Sunday March 4: Ireland - France in Ireland... (see comment - in France...!)
Saturday March 10 (or Sunday): France - England in Paris...
Saturday March 17 (St Patrick): Ireland - England...
Same Saturday or Sunday March 18: Wales - France, possibly a grand slam for the winner...

Rugby 7s in Vegas

Canada has beaten the United States 19-12 but both teams need to be refreshed on the difference between a rugby tackle and an American or Canadian "football" tackle...
South Africa scored the first of many tries against Uruguay after less than 2 minutes by a sprint of... you guessed it number 10 Cecil Afrika!
And Wales was given the victory over France by the referee 14-12, but the last try by Wales was not a valid try, as the Frenchman put his hand under the ball and turned with the Welsh player, ending up both on their backs, so the ball never touched the ground! The commentator from Setanta said the Frenchman was upset at the try and vented his frustration to the referee (even got a verbal reminder from the referee) but the fact is that the Frenchman was right to complain that the ball never touched the ground. Oh well... the referee is part of the game, like sun, rain or mud... in this case it was rather mud...
And Kenya gave another demonstration against Scotland that they can run... mind you, we all knew that already from the athletism competitions.
Enjoy the rest of the games this week end.

Ireland Wales

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What a game... Wales had not won in Ireland for 4 years... Wales had beaten Ireland in the quarter finals of the world cup when all forecasters were waiting for Ireland to go all the way to the final...
Today, Ireland had their chances, but Wales never quit and deserved to win, a game to keep on a DVD and to show your kids or students.
Of course, if you are Irish and you have a pacemaker,... don't watch!
Referee was not bad in the end, better than in New Zealand. The two red cards he gave were red cards in my books... but I guess at least it was consistent.
If you have not seen the game... find a friend who recorded it! and watch it!

PS: on a scale of 1 to 10, I would give an 8 to this game. And... a 2 to the Superbowl of this afternoon...

My guess is that the grand slam will be won or lost at France - Wales in Wales... unless Ireland wants revenge when the French come and visit... dont miss these coming games...

Rugby 7s - GO Canada...!

Canada beat France 3 tries to 2, and both French tries came when Canada had a player in the sin bin!
Canada beat Kenya, Keny beat Australia, and... Canada tied with Australia 2 tries each, but Canada missed a not so difficult transformation.
In the end... Australia is eliminated and will not play the quarter finals! Canada will play Tonga.... and could show they deserve to be in the top 12 of the rugby nations.
England will play TOnga, SOuth Africa will play Fidji and... France will play... New Zealand...!

PS: At the start of the second half time against France, an Australia player forgot to kick the ball properly on a penalty kick and only barely touched it with his hands, but the referee let it go... don't show it to your students, or show it to show what not to do!

France - Italy / England Scotland

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Italy scrum dominated France scrum... every time...! but France won easily 35-12.
The Italians backs were not well organised and a bit short individually to contain the French backs.
If France wants to keep dreaming of the great slam in the 2012 six nations tournament, they need to fix quickly the scrum. The change of the green loose head prop after the half time did not really solve the issue.
France number 10 (Trindhuc) was also often offside when the Italians had the ball, and he could have gotten a few scrums against him for incidental offside.

PS: Don't miss tomorrow morning Ireland - Wales...

PS: England and Scotland had a good game of "hurrah" rugby, with more drop passes and give away than real openings, and the referee took the whole first half to take control of the game... don't keep the game on a DVD...

World Rugby 7s in New Zealand

SOUTH AFRICA
The USA lost 21-0 against South Africa in the world 7's tournament this week in New Zealand.
If you are called to play rugby 7s in an internationl tournament, make sure you don't play against South Africa and their number 10 (Cecil Afrika). Why?... well, better watch him from the stands score a few tries in every game rather than play against him...

France Chabal for sale

In France, the Paris Racing Metro rugby club has announced today that they were letting their international Chabal go. Apparently he had a... strong disagreement with the coach, in front of the president.
The "man of the caverns" as he is nicknamed in France, is therfore up for sale, after a few years in England and a couple of years back in France.
Anyone interested...?
The old soccer players from Europe often come and play their last years in the USA. Are we going to see Chabal in North America? wait and see...

PS: Dont miss Ireland Wales this coming Sunday morning, a revenge of the last world cup quarter final...

French grand mother?

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Steven Shingler is the young fly-half of a team playing in London, England, called... the London Irish...
He has already played for the "Wales under 21" team in official tournaments.
He has just been selected in the Scotland team for the 6 nations tournament.
The IRB has tentatively asked that he remains with the Welsh team.
I was wondering if he has a French grand mother by chance...!

Anyway, dont miss the 6 Nations tournament this year, with France, Ireland and Wales expected to win. But dont count out England, which is hosting the next world cup in 4 years and will be rebuilding. Without Steven Shingler of course...