Darren Daniel signs for Pirates

Posted on May 4, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

Ending speculation reference the name of a new winger about to join the Cornish Pirates, it has been confirmed that former Llanelli Scarlets flyer Darren Daniel is the player in question.

Born in Burry Port, Wales, Darren began his career with Llanelli, making his way up through the club’s junior and youth teams before finally reaching the senior squad. At 18 he was a regular in the Llanelli first team and it wasn’t long before he was promoted to the Llanelli Scarlets, making his debut for them in August, 2005, in a friendly match against Worcester.

In 2005-06 he played mostly for Llanelli in the Principality Premiership but he also made five appearances for the Scarlets, scoring one try. In the following season he made 21 appearances for the region side and scored 10 tries, including a hat-trick in a Magners League game versus Glasgow Warriors.

After being released by the Scarlets in July, 2010, having scored a total of 21 tries in 65 appearances, Darren signed for Carmarthen Quins from where he joins the Cornish Pirates. Also, during this past season, the Wales 7s capped performer has played a number of games for the London Irish ‘A’ side.

Commenting with reference to signing Darren, Cornish Pirates high performance manager Chris Stirling has said:

"As with other signings we have announced, the coaching staff are very excited in getting Darren on board. Tipped for senior international honours just a couple or so years ago, he is a quality winger who is still only 24."

Chris added:

"Having proven finishing ability, he will suit our style of play which is so often entertaining for supporters to watch."

Wales U20 Starting XV vs England

Posted on Jan 31, 2011 in Rugby News

Wales Under 20 head coach Darren Edwards has announced his starting XV that will face England at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday evening (6.30pm) and has selected Blues lock Macauley Cook as his captain for the tournament.

Edwards said: “Macauley is a natural leader on and off the field and was a key player in last year’s Under 20 Six Nations side, so he will bring that experience to the table. There were some tough decisions to be made, especially at outside half. It was a tight call but Matthew Morgan has had the nod over both Steve Shingler of the Scarlets and Joseff Griffin of the Blues who has been called into the squad as extra cover in that position. All three were in action for their Regions in the LV=Cup on the weekend and they are all set to feature in this campaign.

“At centre we also have three experienced players in Jack Gadd, who has been performing well for Bristol in the England Championship, Owen Williams, and Ben John who has been called up to the squad after recovering from injury.

“This will be a tough opener for us but it will give us a clear idea of where we are and where we need to go. You don’t get many bigger challenges than playing a strong England side at home to kick off the Six Nations and we need to make sure we stay focussed on our own game.

Wales U20 v England: Liam Williams (Llanelli), Harry Robinson (Blues), Ben John (Ospreys/ Aberavon), Jack Gadd (Bristol), Eli Walker (Ospreys / Swansea); Matthew Morgan (Ospreys / Swansea), Aled Davies (Scarlets / Llanelli);  Rhodri Jones (Scarlets / Llanelli), Kirby Myhill (Scarlets / Llanelli), Will Taylor (Ospreys / Swansea), Macauley Cook (capt, Blues / Cardiff), Matthew Screech (Blues / Pontypridd), Edward Siggery (Pontypridd), Calum Thomas (Blues / Pontypridd), Ben Thomas (Ospreys / Bridgend).
Replacements: Rob Evans (Scarlets / Carmarthen Quins), Sam Parry (Llandovery), Cory Hill (Blues / Pontypridd), Luke Hamilton (Blues / Glamorgan Wanderers), Jonathan Evans (Dragons / Newport, Steve Shingler (Scarlets / Llanelli), Owen Williams (Blues/Cardiff). Travelling reserve: Adam Warren (Llandovery),

Wales Under 20 Six Nations fixtures 2011

Wales v England – Saturday 5 Feb – 18.30 – Parc y Scarlets
Scotland v Wales – Friday 11 Feb – 19.30 – Sterling
Italy v Wales – Friday 25 Feb – 19.00 – Cosenza
Wales v Ireland – Friday 11 March – 19.10 – Parc y Scarlets
France v Wales – Friday 18 March – 20.30 – Albi

Bristol vs Llanelli

Posted on Jan 21, 2011 in Rugby News

Bristol Rugby home to Llanelli RFC on Sunday 23rd January at 3.00 pm.
21st January 2011 published by Bristol Rugby

Bristol Rugby are at home to Llanelli RFC looking to repeat their first win of this season’s British and Irish Cup competition.

Bristol Head Coach Paul Hull has stuck largely with the squad that preformed well at Esher, last Friday.

The starting back line remains the same as last week. Richard Bolt and Nicky Little are on the bench.

Roy Winters starts in the second row with Mariano Sambucetti reverting to the bench. James Merriman replaces Jamie Miller, who joins the replacements.

The replacements bench shows a four/three forwards/backs split.

Bristol Rugby team to play at home to Llanelli RFC on Sunday 23rd January at 3.00pm

Jack Tovey, Anthony Elliott, Ed Barnes, Junior Fatialofa, George Watkins, Adrian Jarvis, Robbie Shaw; Mark Irish, Ross Johnston, Darren Crompton, Darren Barry, Roy Winters, Iain Grieve (C), James Merriman, Dan Montagu.

Replacements :
Ollie Hayes, Wayne Thompson, Mariano Sambucetti, Jamie Miller, Richard Bolt, Jack Adams and Nicky Little.

Esher chief remains upbeat

Posted on Dec 14, 2010 in Rugby News

Esher team manager Dave Page insists the Surrey side are not in crisis despite nine games without a win.

The Championship side lost their opening British and Irish Cup game 33-14 at home to Welsh Premiership side Llanelli last weekend.

It was their seventh successive defeat in all competitions as they head into their second B&I Cup game at Melrose on Saturday.

Esher then face a daunting challenge in the Championship at home to Nottingham next Tuesday in a rearranged game.

Nottingham won the reverse clash 40-13 at Meadow Lane in September but Page insists Esher have a squad capable of beating both Melrose and Nottingham.

He said: “Clearly confidence is a bit low but that can all change with a win and we have picked a team capable of doing that at Melrose. But I don’t think there’s a crisis of confidence or anything like that.

“But we have got to go back to basics. Rugby is a simple game but we have got to go back to zero and start from there.

“That starts with our defence. We are missing one-on-one tackles and we let in some soft tries against Llanelli.

“But we have also got to be capable to changing from plan A to plan B. We all want to play an all-singing, expansive game but if it’s not working, sometimes you have to change and stick it up your jumper for a while.

“We have selected a side to face Melrose with one eye on the Nottingham game but it’s a real chance for several players to show us what they can do.

“Jamie Mackenzie did well when he came on at scrum-half against Llanelli and he has a chance to prove he deserves the No 9 shirt.

“Then we have selected Chris Rowland at hooker on Saturday and the front row of Tim Tunnicliff and Darren O’Reilly all have a chance to show they should be first-choice starters.”

Esher won three out of their first six Championship games, including stunning home wins over mighty Bristol and high-flying local rivals London Welsh.

But Page believes that impressive start may have back-fired. He added: “When we had those good wins everybody expected the world of us.

“Maybe we thought we were world-beaters and obviously we weren’t. But we have to get back to doing the basics right and if we do that then we can start winning games again.”

Esher hope Saturday’ game against Melrose will go ahead despite the forecast of more snow. But the Borders side have set up a contingency plan to switch the tie to Gala or a pitch at Murrayfield if their own pitch is unplayable.

Delaney hoping to avoid more postponements

Posted on Dec 14, 2010 in Rugby News

Nottingham’s Rugby’s Glenn Delaney is hoping that snow and ice will not return to hinder any more fixtures in the 2010-11 campaign.

The Green and Whites last year suffered from a horror show fixture pile-up which the kiwi chief believes ultimately cost them their season after an emphatic opening to the Championship.

Delaney believes Nottingham will be able to recovery from the busy fixture period at the end of the December and through January but believes a similar situation to last year would be huge ask for any squad.

Speaking from Lady Bay where his side have resumed outdoor training, the Director of Rugby said: "We’re really glad to be back playing rugby following a couple of weeks where play was prevented, hopefully we can play as much of this season as possible without having to postpone any more.

"The situation we had last year was really the undoing of us, there’s no way any squad can give their highest levels of performance when they are having to play every couple of days, particularly when injuries set in.

"It will be pretty busy for us over the next six or seven weeks or so, there’s a couple of matches we have to catch up on as well as the British and Irish Cup, so it will be key for us to remain focus on the job we have to do before the second phase of the competition.

"The past couple of weeks have given the guys some good rest and there is no doubt they will be having to call on that in the latter stages of the season."

Green and whites on unfamiliar territory

The Green and Whites head to Wales this weekend to face an unfamiliar British and Irish Cup opponent.

Nottingham have only played three recorded fixtures against Llanelli, the last one coming more than 25-years-ago in 1984 when international Gary Hartley and Steve Holdstock scored tries to seal the 45-3 victory in the East Midlands.

That game also saw Tim Bennett, Neil Mantell, Peter Moss and Martin Northard cross the whitewash, while Martin Drane scored five conversions and a penalty.

This weekend will see the Green and Whites head for their first time on Llanelli territory since 1982–the only game prior to that coming in 1887.

Nottingham chief Glenn Delaney believes the long trip westwards will provide a tough test for his side but is sure his side can put in a strong performance.

He said:"Llanelli are a quality side and we know that this will be one of the toughest away trips we face all season, that’s something we are very aware of.

"But we also know how well we can play on the road, we’ve won successive fixtures away from home in the past two games, both against teams we hadn’t beaten for many years. We have huge respect for Llanelli and look forward to Saturday"

"We’ve got some good momentum going and we will be doing our all to continue that. Our opponents are third in their league and have played some quality rugby this year, but, after some of the results we have produced so far we are building confidence nicely."