McBryde Looking Forward to Summer Tour

Posted on Mar 21, 2013 in Wales

Fresh from witnessing Wales retain the RBS 6 Nations title, forwards coach Robin McBryde believes the success will breed new confidence in his side.

Wales lifted the RBS 6 Nations trophy for the fourth time in nine years on Saturday as they beat England 30-3 in a thrilling encounter at the Millennium Stadium. The victory meant Wales retained the title, winning it in back-to-back years, for the first time since 1979.

As he did back in 2009, McBryde will step up to lead Wales on their summer tour later this year and he will be in the stands at the Millennium Stadium on March 30 to run the rule over contenders for tour places as the Judgement Day encounters pit all four Welsh regions against each other. He believes the squad that heads to Japan will be brimming with confidence.

“The squad we take to Japan will head over there full of confidence and belief,” he said. “Players who played in the Championship will have the belief behind them but also players who maybe didn’t feature will be boosted as success breeds success. It was a very accomplished performance on Saturday.

“We spoke during the week that it was just another test match that we had to go out and win and that’s exactly what we did. We didn’t focus on the points difference or the advantage they went into the match with, we were focused on the 80 minutes in front of us.

“The side went out and started well, controlled the early exchanges and took us into the break with a small cushion. In the second half we stepped it up and showed the sort of performance we all knew we were capable of and it was a fantastic way to win the Championship.

“In was a huge day. The city and the stadium were packed and the crowd were at their best and it was great to put that sort of performance together to reward them. It was a very physical and I thought our defence and physically was fantastic. We were always on the front foot and the pack did really well at set piece and around the park and really gave us a really good platform.

“The squad worked extremely hard to retain the title. After the disappointment of the Ireland game to put themselves back in contention and to then go out and win the Championship was impressive and they deserved that reward.”

Wales head to Osaka and Tokyo on their two-test tour of Japan this summer and McBryde will announce his squad following the British and Irish Lions squad selection later this spring. The former Wales hooker is looking to blend experience and youth in his squad and believes it will be a valuable trip for less experienced Test players.

“For North America in 2009 we took a good mix of experience and youth and I’m sure that will be the case again this summer,” he added. “It’s a good chance to reward players with more international game time and give players the opportunity to play at this level.

“Back in ’09 we took boys like Sam Warburton, Jonathan Davies, Dan Biggar and Craig Mitchell with us and look at where they are now. It’s great to see how far they have come and what they have achieved since that tour.

“The Lions will obviously impact on selection but it will be taking experience out to Japan with us. We will also be looking to reward players who have performed for their regions week in and week out and who put their hand up towards the end of the season.

“There are some big games coming up and some very big head-to-heads on Judgement Day and it’s a chance for players to show us what they can do and to fight for their chance to play for Wales this summer.”

RFU Championship Round 19 preview

Posted on Mar 21, 2013 in Championship

For the second round in a row, albeit with a week’s grace in between, Championship leaders Newcastle are pitted against their nearest rivals in the league table. Dean Richards’ men will certainly be hoping for an easier ride than the one they encountered against Bedford on March 8th, when they take on second-placed Nottingham at Meadow Lane this Friday evening. The Blues were within a whisker of becoming the first team to beat the Falcons until Noah Cato went over for a last-gasp converted try to ruin their evening.

Nottingham leapfrogged Bedford into second place after winning at Bristol the same evening; a position they cemented with a hard-fought victory at Jersey on Saturday. As well as earning his side four more precious points, skipper Brent Wilson’s brace took him to the top of the division’s try-scoring charts on 12 alongside Matt Evans of Cornish Pirates and Leeds’ Dave Doherty.

Three second-half tries saw Newcastle beat Nottingham 29-9 in the first fixture at Kingston Park. A bonus-point win for Nottingham would guarantee them a play-off spot with three rounds to go.

Saturday is one for the traditionalists with all the remaining games in Round 19 scheduled for a 3.00pm kick off.

The game between Bedford and Doncaster at Goldington Road has a lot riding on it for both teams. The Blues need a win to secure their place in the play-off zone, while bottom-of-the-table Doncaster cannot afford to come away from the Midlands with anything less than four points. Encouragingly for the Knights they held the Blues to an 18-all draw in last season’s corresponding fixture. The Blues secured the narrowest of victories at Castle Park back in November – by 22 points to 21, when winger Josh Bassett went over for a converted try 13 minutes into stoppage time.

Jersey go into their game against Bristol six points clear of the Knights thanks to the losing bonus point they gained last time out against Nottingham at St Peter. Bristol, who won the first-ever clash between these sides (39-16), need a win to keep in the hunt for a place in the top four. Last weekend’s defeat away to Moseley saw them slip three points off the pace.

A win of any sorts at the Athletic Ground against London Scottish would secure Plymouth Albion’s place in the Championship should Doncaster fail to beat Bedford. Albion kept up the recent trend of four-point winning margins in fixtures between the sides when they won the Brickfields clash in Round 9, 24-20. Both the home teams won by an identical margin in 2011/12.

Moseley, too, could retain their Championship status for another year if they beat Leeds at Billesley Common and other results go their way. Last weekend the Birmingham-based club produced a marvellous comeback to down Bristol and complete the league double over the men from the West Country. Moseley are currently 11 points clear of danger. Play-off hopefuls Leeds won 43-32 on their last visit to Billesley Common.

Cornish Pirates need to extend their winning run over Rotherham to eight matches if they are to maintain any hope of reaching the end-of-season play-offs.  The Pirates won twice at Clifton Lane last season: 19-14 in the regular season and 17-14 in the play-offs. A hat-trick of tries from Phil Burgess helped Pirates record a 53-21 when the sides met earlier this season.

Friday March 20
Nottingham v Newcastle Falcons, KO 19.45

Saturday March 21
Bedford Blues v Doncaster Knights, KO 15:00
Jersey v Bristol Rugby, KO 15:00
London Scottish v Plymouth Albion, KO 15:00
Moseley v Leeds Carnegie, KO 15:00
Rotherham Titans v Cornish Pirates, KO 15:00

Titans hoping to fly to victory

Posted on Jan 24, 2013 in Rotherham Titans

Rotherham Titans take to the air this weekend as they make their maiden voyage to the island of Jersey, for Round 14 of the RFU Championship.

Ahead of the match Titans Head Coach Alex Codling has made six changes to the side that impressively beat Plymouth Albion 21-3 at Brickfields, last time out in the B&I Cup.

There are two changes along the backline; returning from injury are Lee Blackett who comes in at outside centre and Eamonn Sheridan who will start on the wing.

In the pack Marshall Gadd and Ted Stagg come into the front row, Latu Makaafi returns at blind side flanker, whilst Alex Rieder gets the nod for the number 8 shirt.

The only previous competitive meeting between the clubs came back in September at Clifton Lane. That day Rotherham ran out 54-31 winners; picking up a bonus point following their 6-try performance.

Jersey however, are a much improved side to the one that played at Clifton Lane and their home form of late has been impressive. In their last four Championship home games they have beaten Leeds Carnegie, Plymouth Albion and London Scottish; their only reversal was a respectable 3-24 defeat to runaway league leaders Newcastle Falcons.

Previewing the challenge ahead, Titans Alex Codling said, “All games are tough in this division and away games particularly so. Jersey will be desperate for the points, they’ve had a good run of results at home recently and they will fancy their chances. But we have been playing well of late also.

“We have been frustrated with the weather for the last couple of weeks and that’s restricted us in terms of how much training we have done. In an ideal world we would have liked to have had a full week’s normal preparation, but that’s not been possible due to the weather.

“However, we can’t do anything about that, we’ve managed the situation as best as we could and we’ve just got to get on with things. We done some indoor work at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield and that’s been beneficial, although we would have preferred to have done some contact work.

“Jersey has gone through a natural cycle coming into the league, very similar to London Scottish last year and when you’re new to the Championship it takes time to adapt and they’ve done that very well.

“One of Jersey’s major forces is their scrum, but I wouldn’t say that’s their only force and I think we would be doing them a disservice if we said it was. But it is an area of strength for them as it for us. We are looking forward to the battle and it’s a great opportunity for the boys to build on the last few weeks.

“If the boys play to their potential, then I would back them against any team in the division on their day. So, it’s a case of us being as prepared as possible for the challenge and it’s a challenge we are looking forward to.”

Titans: 15 Fergus Mulchrone, 14 Mike Doneghan, 13 Lee Blackett, 12 Pale Nonu, 11 Eamonn Sheridan, 10 Garry Law (Capt.), 9 Charlie Mulchrone, 1 Marshall Gadd, 2 Ted Stagg, 3 Gareth Denman, 4 Ben Thomas, 5 Dan Sanderson, 6 Latu Makaafi, 7 Joe Ellyatt, 8 Alex Rieder.

Replacements: 16 Harry Hannan, 17 Jamie Kilbane, 18 Ross Davies, 19 Toby Freeman, 20 Rory Pitman, 21 Joel Gill, 22 James McKinney.

Moseley Expecting Battle Royal with Jersey

Posted on Jan 4, 2013 in Jersey, Moseley

For their first Championship fixture of 2013 Moseley entertain Jersey at Billesley Common in what promises to be a nerve-jangling bottom of the table clash on Saturday.

Before Christmas Jersey gained a tremendous win at home against Leeds in the last round of Championship matches, and this took them above Moseley in the table for the first time this season. Meanwhile the Birmingham side played creditably well at Nottingham without reward, a performance which Coaches Kevin Maggs and Dave Hilton will want to build on.

These sides faced each other in the Channel Isles back in September, with Moseley taking the spoils. Since then Jersey have gained experience though, and a close contest is expected.

Starting 15: 01. Steffan THORP; 02. Sam WILKES; 03. Ben EVANS; 04. Addison LOCKLEY; 05. Buster LAWRENCE; 06. Neil MASON; 07. Ben PONS; 08. Ben PIENAAR; 09. Sam BROWN; 10. Glynn HUGHES; 11 Simon HUNT; 12. Charlie HAYTER; 13. Greg KING; 14. Anders MOGENSON; 15. Billy ROBINSON.

Replacements: 16.Danny HERRIOTT; 17. Tom HICKS; 18. Adam CAVES; 19. Nigel BURROWS; 20. Oliver ROBINSON; 21 Oliver THOMAS; 22. Anthony CARTER.

Momentum is key for Chiefs

Posted on Dec 18, 2012 in Exeter Chiefs

Exeter Chiefs take their seven-game winning streak to Kingsholm this Saturday with flanker James Scaysbrook insisting he and his team-mates must maintain their recent momentum over a busy festive period for the Devon club.

After back-to-back Heineken Cup victories over the Scarlets in the past fortnight, the Chiefs return to Aviva Premiership action against Gloucester this weekend, before then tackling Bath and Northampton Saints in successive weeks.

It’s signals the start of a crucial period in the season for the sixth-placed Chiefs, but one which 30-year-old Scaysbrook says the club are relishing after they showed their worth once more in European rugby’s top competition.

"Momentum is important," said Scaysbrook, who scored Exeter’s final try in last Saturday’s 30-20 win over the Welsh region. "We have had two big victories over the last two weeks and it has really lifted the squad. The Scarlets are a top-quality team with a lot of experienced internationals and we couldn’t ask for much more moving forward.

"Our focus over the last two weeks has just been to put in two really good performances and maintain our momentum. We hoped those good performances would lead to results and whatever comes after that we’ll take.
"We knew it was going to be a tough old game and it certainly was. I’m really pleased we managed to come away with the win again."

Scaysbrook, who led the side in the absence rested club captain Tom Hayes, was not only able to celebrate the win, but also his first try for the Chiefs since the Championship play-off encounter against London Welsh in March 2010.

"I think that was my first try since the Championship years, so I was really pleased to get over," added the all-action flanker. "That hole was so big, anyone could have run through it though."

Now, though, the former Bath forward wants more of the same against the Cherry & Whites, who themselves will be seeking revenge for last season’s defeat by the Chiefs on home soil.

"It is important to keep the momentum going through the different competitions," said Scaysbrook. "We have some tough games over Christmas and the next few weeks so we will do all we can to maintain that form.

"Now we’re involved in the Heineken Cup the squad becomes more and more important and you have to use everyone. We have got a good strong squad now and it is building up all the time. It is going to be vital come the end of the year.

"We have had some tough battles with Gloucester over the years and I think this weekend will be no different."