Billy Moss joins London Welsh

Posted on Jul 26, 2011 in Bath, London Welsh

England Academy prop Billy Moss has joined London Welsh on a season long dual registration from Bath.

At 6’2″ and 108kg 23-year-old, who is comfortable on both sides of the scrum, came through the ranks at The Rec and was given a taste of the Championship last season at Bristol.

As well as playing England U20, Moss also gained representative honours at Under 18 and 19 levels.

He featured at the IRB U19 World Championships in Belfast in 2007 and was part of the England side that reached the final of the U20 World Championships in Wales the following year.

A product of Tonbridge School, Moss also played for England Students while studying at Exeter University, and was in the team that beat the full Dutch national side 68-7 in April 2009.

“My target next season is to be London Welsh’s first choice loosehead,” said Moss. “I know that may take a little bit of time, but by the end of the season my aim is to be first choice.

“The fact that it’s a season long loan makes me think London Welsh is now my team and I want to become part of it – these will be my team-mates.

“If you go on loan somewhere for a month you tend to just get put into the team, but if you’re there for a year you’re just the same as everybody else.

“I really enjoyed playing in the Championship with Bristol, I really enjoyed the level. I found it challenging at times, but satisfying. The standard in the Championship was very high, but I never expected it to be anything else.”

Prop Gethings joins Esher

Posted on Jun 28, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Esher have beefed up their pack with the capture of Irish powerhouse prop James Gethings.

The 24-year-old former Ireland Under-19 star joins the Championship side from Trinity College in Dublin.

Gethings, who can play both tighthead and loosehead, brings the total of major summer signs at Molesey Road to seven.

But Director of Rugby Mike Schmid says there could still be further additions to the squad, who started pre-season training last week.

Schmid said: “”We had been looking to add another prop to our squad and we got James through an agent we trust.

“He referenced very well through our connections in Ireland and we are very pleased he has decided to join.

“He seems a lovely fella and I’m sure he will fit very well into our squad. We’ve only just started training but he looks to have a good set of hands and a good work ethic.

“We are still looking at one or two more guys and we may be in a position to announce a couple of more names in the next week or so.

“I am looking to add another second row forward or back row but we also have a few guys who are trialing with us and they are looking very promising.

“But I’m very pleased with the new guys we have signed and we are very close now to our final squad.

“We may add one or two guys in the summer but we may also wait until after the World Cup to see if there are one or two people who can help us, if we can afford them.”

Esher have been back at training for over a week and Schmid says the signs look good as Esher build up to their second season in the Championship.

He said: “I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far. The attitude and commitment have been excellent and the new guys are starting to bed in.”

Meanwhile Esher’s brothers in arms Phil and Jamie Mackenzie have both been named in Canada’s provisional 50-strong World Cup squad.

Centre Phil started for Canada in their recent Churchill Cup final defeat by England Saxons while scrum-half Jamie came on as a second- half replacement.

Canucks coach Kieran Crowley will name his final 30-man squad for New Zealand next month.

Dual role for Chief’s Jon Vickers

Posted on Jun 22, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Exeter Chiefs forward Jon Vickers believes his impending loan move to Championship side Plymouth Albion will help offer him some "priceless" experience as he looks to further his playing career.

The 22-year-old, along with club-mates Herbie Stupple and Addison Lockley, are set to head for the Brickfields this season after joining Graham Dawe’s side on dual-registered forms.

With the Aviva Premiership A League programme curtailed somewhat due to it being Rugby World Cup year, Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is keen for a number of the club’s highly-rated youngsters to get game time in a testing environment like the Championship.

Vickers, Stupple and Lockley will all link up with Albion, whilst fellow Academy starlets Dave Ewers, Sam Hill, Lloyd Fairbrother and Tom Cowan-Dickie will be carrying out a similar role with the Cornish Pirates.

It’s a move Baxter and the Exeter coaching staff will provide huge benefits – not only to the Chiefs, but also the players and clubs like Albion and the Pirates.

Certainly Vickers, who joined the Chiefs last summer from Premiership counterparts Northampton Saints, is keen to get a taste of Championship life. He said: "I’m very excited about the new season. I had a really good first year with the Chiefs last season and learnt so much. This year, though, I am 12 months down the line, I feel very settled now and this is the chance for me to kick on and hopefully get some good game time under my belt in the Championship.

"My game has come on a lot, especially changing from prop to hooker. That was a bit of an eye opener and there were a few dark times early on, but through hard work and faith from the coaches I’ve managed to improve under the guidance of people like Rob [Baxter], Robin Cowling and Neil Clark.

"Working with Graham Dawe now I am sure will help even more. I’ve heard he is a bit of a tough nut, but he’s a very experienced player and coach, so hopefully he will show me a few tricks."

Vickers is well aware, however, that getting into the Albion squad will be no formality and hopes the work he does not only this pre-season, but also in training with both the Chiefs and Albion will be crucial.

"My priority will be to try and play in the Championship on a regular basis," he added. "First, though, I’ve got to get the respect of the Plymouth coaches and players and force my way into the match day squad and hopefully the starting XV.

"Last year the A League and the odd game with the first team helped me so much, but equally I think playing week in, week out, in a competitive environment like the Championship will be priceless for all us young guys."

Although Bristol-born Vickers has never played in the Championship previously, he has watched a number of games on TV and has been impressed by the standard shown by a number of clubs at that level.

"The Championship is a tough league in terms of forward play," he said. "There seems there is a big emphasis on set piece play, which will be very valuable to me, although teams like the Pirates and Bedford like to throw the ball around as well. I think compared to a few years back the gap between the Premiership and Championship is not what it was. There is some good rugby being played both in the open and in the tight, so it should be a good experience for me to go out and see what I can do."

Before heading to Albion, Vickers will first link up with his Chiefs team-mates for the first stages of the club’s pre-season build up. Although a number of the squad are already back in the Sandy Park gymnasium, Exeter will welcome back their full contingent of troops on June 30 when they are set to undergo a punishing programme of tests put together by the club’s strength and conditioning chief Paddy Anson.

"The off season has been good so far," said Vickers. "Paddy has given us a programme which has been quite challenging to keep us in shape. That said, everybody has stuck to it well and I’m sure come the start of pre-season the boys will have reaped the rewards from that.

"As a player you know pre-season is going to be tough, but we’ll just have to get on with it and make sure we get ourselves in the best possible condition for the start of the season."

Exeter young guns in loan moves

Posted on Jun 16, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Exeter Chiefs are to allow a number of their future stars to go out on loan during the 2011/12 season in a bid to help further enhance their playing careers.

Youngsters Jon Vickers, Herbie Stupple and Addison Lockley will all be heading for Plymouth Albion, whilst Sam Hill, Lloyd Fairbrother and Dave Ewers will make the move to the Cornish Pirates, where hooker Tom Cowan-Dickie will again continue on dual registered forms as he did last season.

With the Aviva Premiership A League programme somewhat curtailed this year because of the impending Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, the Chiefs are keen to ensure that their potential stars of the future are not only given sufficient game time, but also exposed to a decent standard of rugby.

Last season Cowan-Dickie and Drew Locke both spent a successful spell with the highly-successful Pirates in the RFU Championship – and others such as Stupple and Charlie Walker-Blair (both Taunton), Lockley and Jack Andrew (both Cornish All Blacks), Fairbrother and Jack Nowell (both Redruth) all benefitted from experiencing playing within the National Leagues.

Chiefs’ team manager Robin Cowling certainly sees the benefits of allowing the players to combine their time between daily life at Sandy Park and that of a local Championship outfit.

"It’s a super opportunity for all of them," he explained. "Last season we clearly saw the benefits from seeing a few of the lads go out on loan to clubs like the Pirates, Taunton, Redruth and the All Blacks. This year we are looking to expand on that structure by allowing a few of the academy lads to dual register with Championship clubs.

"This is, we feel, a chance for all of them to go to a Championship club and not only develop their game within a different environment, but it is also a chance for them to go out and prove their worth and look to get within a Championship squad on a regular basis.

"Dual registration for players like this is a ‘win-win situation’ for not only ourselves and the players, but also for the clubs that they are going to be joining. For them to go away and experience life in the Championship can only be a good thing and it will help make the step up to Premiership level that little bit easier."

Although many of the current crop have been within the Exeter ranks for at least a season, the club have introduced a number of new, full-time academy recruits during the close season with the likes of Nowell, Hill, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Will Carrick-Smith and Henry Slade joining the Chiefs from the start of pre-season later this month.

Cowling added: "The most important thing is that these young players are playing rugby. We have seen in recent years the benefits putting lads out on loan to local clubs can have. We are confident that we can achieve similar, if not better, results from all of them this season."

Eighty minute Miles as RFU Championship reaches climax

Posted on May 17, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Deadly finisher Miles Benjamin will hope to mark his 100th appearance for Worcester with promotion to the Aviva Premiership.

Benjamin’s tries – 25 in 29 appearances this season – have helped Worcester get to within 80 minutes of an immediate return to top-flight rugby.

His most recent score came in the fifth minute of the first leg of the RFU Championship play-off final against Cornish Pirates to settle any nerves the Warriors might have had going into last week’s tricky away tie.

Worcester went on to win 12-21, with Andy Goode supplying the rest of their points, and the nine-point advantage they take into Wednesday’s return leg sees them installed as favourites to take the title.

Warriors are well acquainted with Pirates, having already met the Cornishmen four times this season, and they lead the way in the head to head stats with three wins to the Pirates’ one.

However the Pirates’ sole success came on enemy territory at the end of October when Chris Stirling’s men came away from the West Midlands with a 21-23 win. Prolific points machine Rob Cook landed the match-winning penalty four minutes into stoppage time on that occasion to hand the Pirates their first away win in the league for 10 months.

Cook fell short of his own high standards when missing two attempts at goal last week, and he will need to be back to his best in the goal kicking stakes if Pirates are to overhaul the deficit from the first leg.

RFU Championship final

Worcester Warriors vs. Cornish Pirates, Sixways Stadium, Wednesday May 18, 1945 (live on Sky Sports HD)

Extra time

In the Championship final if in the second match, after 40 minutes of play each way the aggregate scores from both Championship Final matches are level, after an interval of 5 minutes there shall be a period of extra time between the teams of 10 minutes each way, with a one minute interval and the team with the higher aggregate score at the end of this period shall be determined the winner.

Should the scores remain equal the team with the higher aggregate number of tries in the Championship final (including extra time) shall be determined the winner.

Should the aggregate score and the number of tries by each team in the Championship final (including extra time) be equal then there shall be a place kick competition to determine the winner.