RFU Podcast: Mike Catt, Damian Hopley, Rob Hunter, Joe Launchbury, James Rodwell

Posted on May 4, 2012 in English Rugby, RFU Podcast

This week’s RFU Podcast has an exclusive interview with Mike Catt following his call-up to the England coaching team.

Catt, who won 75 caps for England, will leave London Irish and join Stuart Lancaster’s coaching team for England’s game against the Barbarians on May 27 and the three summer Tests in South Africa.

“From what I’ve seen over the Six Nations and what Stuart has developed with a young England side I was very interested and very keen to move forward with him,” Catt told the RFU Podcast.

“He and Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell created something pretty special in a short space of time and I’d like to help carry that on.”

Also on this week’s podcast:

• Rugby Players Association boss Damian Hopley on supporting players facing mental health issues
• Head Coach Rob Hunter names his England Under 20 side for next month’s Junior World Championship
• Young lock Joe Launchbury previews London Wasps’ battle for Aviva Premiership survival
• Record-breaking James Rodwell heads for Glasgow with England Sevens.

Rodwell extends record run for England Sevens

Posted on May 2, 2012 in England Sevens

England’s James Rodwell goes into his 33rd consecutive HSBC Sevens World Series tournament intent on finishing the season on a high.

The 27 year-old forward from Birmingham is now fourth on the list of England’s most experienced sevens experts, having overtaken Richard Haughton (31) last month in Tokyo with three more backs – Rob Thirlby (35), Simon Amor (43) and Ben Gollings (70) – ahead of him on the all-time rankings.

England’s campaign has had its peaks and troughs this season, with a title triumph in Dubai followed by agonising exits at the hands of New Zealand in Wellington and Las Vegas, when wins would have put them on top of the table in the nine-event series.

So the former Worcester Warriors and Moseley forward heads to the Glasgow Sevens eager for England to lay down a marker for next season and prove they will be title contenders in the HSBC Sevens World Series as well as for the World Cup Sevens tournament in Moscow next summer.

“We’ve had an okay year. It’s not what we set out to do because we had the goal of winning the series but a couple of close games have got in the way,” said Rodwell.

“In all the tournaments bar one we’ve been knocked out by a score or less which shows how close the games are and how close we could have been this season but unfortunately we’re now sitting in fourth place.

“We want to finish the season on a high to show we haven’t set that unrealistic a target of winning the series. We can show we’re there or thereabouts so we can get some momentum going into next season.

“That starts in Glasgow and then we go into London and the Marriott London Sevens where it’ll be incredible to finish on a high at our home venue.”

Rodwell’s first sighting in England colours was in Edinburgh in 2008 but he didn’t get onto the pitch until the Dubai tournament later that year. Since then he has appeared in all bar a handful of around 150 games England have played in that time – all the more remarkable given his position as a forward who is England’s lineout and restart specialist.

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RFU Podcast: Danny Care, Dan Norton, James Rodwell, Gary Street

Posted on Oct 21, 2011 in English Rugby, RFU Podcast

In this week’s RFU Podcast we catch up with fast-recovering England scrum half Danny Care.

The Harlequins No.9 is close to a playing comeback after the disappointment of being ruled out of the Rugby World Cup by a broken toe.

"It was very hard to watch the boys out there," he said. "If we stay together as a squad we can really build on it and in four years time on our home turf hopefully we can win the World Cup,"

He also outlines why he’s supporting the Movember charity campaign for Prostate Cancer Care and men’s health awareness.

Elsewhere we find out about the England Sevens side’s build up to the start of the HSBC Sevens World Series next month.

Leading scorer Dan Norton and forward James Rodwell give their verdict from behind the scenes.

And head coach Gary Street tells us about the upcoming games against France for England Women before they tackle a three-Test series against New Zealand.

There are seven new caps in Street’s squad and he expects them to be fully tested in the passionate encounters in Marseille and Aix-en-Provence.

For the full interviews, check out today’s RFU Podcast. Here you can listen to the weekly podcast or subscribe to iTunes and have it delivered straight to your inbox each week.

England 7s reaction from the squad

Posted on Dec 6, 2010 in Rugby News

England produced a series of stunning performances to lift the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens trophy after coming from behind three times to beat Australia (24-21), New Zealand (19-14) and Samoa (29-21) in the knock-out stages and start the HSBC Sevens World Series in style.

They did so after losing on the opening day to Portugal and only rescuing a place in the last eight by beating Fiji with a try from the last play of the game.

England Sevens head coach Ben Ryan:

“We dug ourselves out of a great hole against Fiji and we played really well in the last three games. We all sat down last night and said it wasn’t the case of giving ourselves a pat on the back for beating Fiji. It was a reminder that we had to make the most of our chances and learn from what happened which we did. We can fight with the best of them and the boys proved that. We were relaxed and we were ruthless and it’s a good combination and they managed to hang on to that.

“Ollie Lindsay-Hague was brilliant, wasn’t he? He made a big difference as did Chris Cracknell. He was a rock and made some really good decisions. We’ve got some talented youngsters back home and Ollie played with the real exuberance of youth

“We’ve got to remain pretty humble. We’ve won one tournament at the beginning of the year but everyone will regroup and try and have a crack at us next weekend. The proof will be in how we run out in George next weekend.”

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England Sevens win South Africa plate

Posted on Dec 14, 2009 in Rugby News

England beat South Africa 21-7 to win the plate at the Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens.

It was only the second time England had beaten the Boks in sevens on South African soil in what was a hyper-competitive plate competition.

England had to bounce back from their cup loss against winners New Zealand to beat Australia 24-5 in the plate semi final.

The last time an England side had beaten a South Africa side on their home patch was in 2003, but with Christian Wade (London Wasps), Worcester’s Jake Abbott, Ben Gollings (Gold Coast) and Isoa Damudamu (British Army) in inspired form Ben Ryan’s side ground out an impressive win, the biggest defeat Paul Treu’s side had faced in 80 matches.

England add 12 points to their World Series tally which puts them in third place behind Fiji and New Zealand respectively after reaching the Dubai cup semi final earlier this month.

England: Jake Abbott (Worcester Warriors), Kevin Barrett (capt, Saracens), Chris Brightwell (Birmingham & Solihull), Dan Caprice (Blackheath RFC), Chris Cracknell (Unattached), Isoa Damudamu (British Army), Ben Gollings (Gold Coast, Australia), Dan Norton (Bristol Rugby), James Rodwell (Moseley RFC), Nick Royle (Fylde RFC), Matt Turner (Bristol Rugby), Christian Wade (London Wasps)

England Sevens Emirates Airline South Africa Sevens results:

• December 11, England 42-0 Tunisia
• December 11, England 17-7 Argentina
• December 11, Scotland 19-29 England
• December 12, cup quarter final England 19-22 New Zealand
• December 12, plate semi final England 24-5 Australia
• December 12, plate final England 21-7 South Africa