Munster’s Dowling calls it a day

Posted on Apr 5, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Following extensive medical consultation, Munster have announced Ian Dowling will retire from professional rugby, as a result of a hip injury sustained earlier in the season

Dowling (28) suffered a hip injury in the game against Ospreys last September.

In the course of a career that started in September 2005, the Kilkenny native won 97 competitive caps and played in both the 2006 and 2008 Heineken Cup finals and won a Magners League medal in 2009.. He would have added greatly to that final total but for injury in 2007 and last season when he was stretchered off in the Heineken Cup quarter final game against Northampton at Thomond Park Stadium.

It was a knee injury on that occasion that forced him to miss the rest of the season and he was only playing in his third competitive game that September day when he sustained the hip injury, four minutes into the game, that would ultimately end his career.

The hugely popular member of the squad made his debut in the Magners League game against Lllanelli Scarlets in Musgrave Park and ended his first season with 15 caps and a Heineken Cup winners medal having played in the quarter, semi and final of that competition.

A try scorer in the 2008 quarter final win over Gloucester at Kingsholm he won his second Heineken Cup medal lining out on the wing against Toulouse and a year later won the first of his two international caps against Canada on Ireland’s summer tour of North America.

Commenting Tony McGahan said, “To hear the news of Ian’s premature retirement is a blow to everyone at the club. Ian’s successful career was underpinned by consistency, hard work and honesty.

These values are highly regarded by the Munster squad and the supporters.

” Ian’s name was one of the first put down on the team sheet because of the way he played to his potential every week.

” He allowed himself this standard of performance because of the way he approached every day demanding the best out of himself and his fellow players. He can be proud of his achievements for Munster and the integral role he played in the success of the teams he was involved in.

As a teammate and friend there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do. He brought an attitude and application that was in the best traditions of Munster Rugby.

“I and all in Munster Rugby wish him every success in the future.”

Aironi’s flanker Gareth Krause calls it a day

Posted on Mar 30, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

After scoring a try in the first historic win for Aironi in the Magners League, South African flanker Gareth Krause announces his retirement from rugby at the end of the season.

“During the last weeks I spoke with Director of Rugby Franco Tonni and all the Aironi’s staff and the we all have the will to continue together” says Krause, born in East London, former Griquas and Cheethas and Springboks Seven, who arrived in Italy in 2007 to play for Venice before joining Viadana and Aironi. “The indecision of the Italian Federation about the rules on the use of foreigner players bring me to take this decision that I think to be the best one for me in this moment”.

Krause will end his career playing for Aironi against Ospreys on Friday 6th May in the last regular match of the Magners League season.

“I want to thank all the fans for their support and all the people involved in the rugby organisation for the help I received in all those years. I wish them all the best for the future”.

Aironi’s Director of Rugby Franco Tonni: “In Viadana Gareth confirmed to be a great player and a great guy. Probably he is one of the best foreigner players arrived to Italy in the last five years. The door will stay open for Gareth: if rules change or if Aironi will need help during the season, he could be back in Viadana. Meanwhile, we just can thank him for his behavior on and off the pitch”.

Wales stroll through opening game in HK7s

Posted on Mar 25, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Wales 35-12 Hong Kong

Wales came through their opening game against hosts Hong Kong unscathed in the first round of pool matches in the 2011 Hong Kong Sevens.

Wales strolled to a comfortable 35-12 victory with experienced sevens campaigner Jevon Groves leading the way with a brace of tries with Adam Thomas, Kristian Phillips and Alex Cuthbert adding the others with Rhys Jones knocking over five conversions.
However the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Rowan Varty who scored twice for the hosts.

The Welsh victory was revenge for a shock defeat to the same side last year and now sets Paul John’s men up nicely for the second day’s action where they will face Spain and group favourites South Africa.

John said: "The boys did what they had to do. We know from the past that Hong Kong can be tricky opponents so it was good to come through with a win.

"The win gives us confidence but we know we face a huge test tomorrow with South Africa in good form. However today has shown you can never rely on reputation to win games so we’ll go into both games giving it 100 per cent."
The opening day saw several upsets with Russia beating Kenya 22-5 and Canada sneaking home 22-21 against Argentina, among the surprise results.

Rayer expecting a hard day at Knights

Posted on Mar 25, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Bedford Blues head into the third game of the Championship play-offs knowing that an away win could truly get their play-off aspirations back on track but unfortunately there will be a pretty determined Doncaster Knights team standing in the way.

While the Blues have had to recover from a defeat in front of the Sky cameras last weekend, the Knights, in contrast, have been basking in the glory of overcoming their Yorkshire rivals Rotherham 41-26 last Saturday.

Bedford head into the encounter at Castle Park with an increasing injury list which already included Brendan Burke (ACL) and Sacha Harding (broken arm). Ollie Dodge misses the game with a knee injury while scrum half Darryl Veenendaal has a shoulder problem that rules him out. The Blues will also be without hooker duo Joe Clark who suffered bruising to a bone in his hand while Chris Locke is out with a back problem.

Looking ahead to the game, Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer said: "I think that it is fair to say that Doncaster will start as the favourites for this game following their impressive outing against Rotherham last weekend. Going to Castle Park is never an easy prospect and it is always harder when you are coming off the back of a disappointing defeat and the Knights being buoyed by their victory.

“It has been a short turnaround and we certainly haven’t been helped with the injury problems that we have. We may be picking from a squad of only 24, but the lads are in good spirits and are looking forward to getting back in the saddle this weekend.

“No one will deny that last week hurt us a little so it will be a real test of character for us now. We’ve bounced back before and we need to do it again. It’s backs to the wall stuff so we’ve got to front up."

Injuries mean that the Blues make several changes to the team that started against the Cornish Pirates last week with Edd Thrower starting at full back, Tom Bedford coming in at centre and Will Chudley taking over scrum half duties. The pack shuffles around with Paul Tupai moving to second row, Alex Rae going to blindside flanker and Chris Goodman coming in at number 8. Robin Boot, Gregor Gillanders, Nick Walshe and James Pritchard all come in on the bench.

Starting line-up:
15. Edd Thrower
14. Duncan Taylor
13. Tom Bedford
12. Ian Vass
11. Handre Schmidt
10. Myles Dorrian
9. Will Chudley
1. Sam Walsh
2. Dan Richmond
3. Dan Seal
4. Mike Howard
5. Paul Tupai (c)
6. Alex Rae
7. Ben Lewitt
8. Chris Goodman
Replacements: 16. Robin Boot, 17. Phil Boulton, 18. Sean Tomes, 19. Gregor Gillanders, 20. Nick Walshe, 21. Jake Sharp, 22. James Pritchard.

Pennell – Sixways support crucial to us

Posted on Mar 16, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Worcester captain Chris Pennell has issued a rallying cry for the Sixways faithful to make a wall of noise in the league play-offs – urging fans to create a hostile and intimidating atmosphere for away teams to face.

Worcester Warriors kicked off the RFU Championship play-off bid in Pool A with a 44-15 away day victory over Bristol and now prepare to welcome London Welsh to Sixways this Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

Pennell has stressed the importance of the Warriors really exploding into life and making home advantage count as the squad strives to make Sixways a difficult place to visit.

And he has urged the club’s dedicated and loyal followers to play a big role by cranking up the volume in the promotion bid.

“Home games in the play-offs are massive,” said Pennell. “This is a different competition and we have to make sure we take the form from the regular league season into these play-offs.

“Sixways has to be our fortress, especially looking ahead when we want home advantage in the latter stages. We have to play as we know we can and leave teams in no doubt that they face a very tough day at the office here.

“That has to start this weekend. Hopefully we can get a big crowd in and we can start with a big performance.

“We are all in this together and the fans have been fantastic so far. Now I want even more intimidating atmospheres and for teams to come here to face big crowds and really hear that noise and our support.

“It can be an incredibly intimidating place for the opposition to play when the stadium is really rocking and our players really feed of that. It lifts every one of us and we would love nothing more than to put in some massive displays for our fans.”

Full back Pennell, who has made an eye catching return to the team in recent weeks, admits the victory over Bristol was all important on day one of the play-offs but firmly believes the team can produce even more.

“It was very important to win first up,” he added. “The most important thing was the victory. We didn’t play how we really wanted, but we made massive improvement in certain areas and our defence was top class.

“Now we just need to sharpen our attack. We showed what we can do by scoring six tries when we didn’t really produce what we wanted. There is more to come and in these next set of five play-off games we have got to keep our focus and get even better.”