New Zealand have retained their HSBC Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third place finish at the Marriott London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of closest rivals Fiji.

The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.

The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.

A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.

"It’s pretty special, we worked extremely hard to get this one and I think everyone knows how competitive the Sevens Series is now. We came here with an 11-point lead but still with an opportunity of blowing it," said NZ captain, DJ Forbes.

"The quarter final win (36-0 win against South Africa) was probably our only complete game of rugby this weekend, but there was a lot of passion, a lot behind it to make sure we wrapped up the Series.

"At the end of the day it comes down to consistency and that’s where we were probably a little bit ahead, but taking nothing away from Fiji, they’ve done extremely well to win here.

"I guess for us you could see that we’re used to playing under pressure, regardless of where we’re playing. If you’re wearing a black jersey everyone expects you to do well."

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "Once again New Zealand have proved that, over the course of an entire season, they are the finest Sevens side in the world and our congratulations go to them.

"And yet even on this, their day of triumph, they were denied in the Cup semi-finals by their closest challengers Fiji, which again underlines just how competitive our global Game of Rugby Sevens has become.

"In the women’s event too we have seen a wonderful tournament from the Netherlands in reaching a first Cup title and congratulations to England on winning their second title of the season.

"Twickenham has provided a wonderful and fitting stage for the finale of another superb season, capped off by another record crowd for a two-day event. We can look forward to a bright future as we gear towards the 2016 Olympic Games."

Australia took the Plate in London, beating England, who finished the season in third place ahead of Samoa in fourth and South Africa in fifth.

A record two-day Sevens crowd of 103,027 attended Twickenham over the weekend, a fitting climax to another thrilling season of international Rugby Sevens.

The Fijians stormed to the London title to cap a season of achievement for them, matching New Zealand’s three Cup titles and underlining just how tight things are at the top of the Sevens game.

The New Zealanders sealed a 10th Series title with a ruthless 36-0 quarter final win against South Africa, but fell to a brilliant Fijian performance in the semi final. However, the New Zealanders recovered to end the season on a high note, beating Argentina in the play-off for bronze.

Sixth placed Australia won the Plate, Wales lifted the Bowl, France were triumphant in the Shield whilst England won their second IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup.

Australia pip hosts England to Plate

England narrowly missed out on the consolation of a Plate trophy when Dan Bibby missed a conversion and a penalty drop goal in the second half of the Plate final, allowing impressive Australia to hang on to a 14-12 victory and collect 13 Series points.

However, Mat Turner’s try in the final did put him one ahead of teammate Dan Norton as the season’s leading try scorer.

England reached the Plate final after a Turner try and Tom Mitchell conversion clinched a late 17-15 victory against South Africa. Australia reached the final after the Tokyo Sevens winners overturned a 12-5 half time deficit to beat Spain 17-12 in the semi.

Wales beat Scotland in Bowl

Twelve points from Alex Walker hands Wales a 27-5 victory against Scotland in the Bowl, as the reigning RWC Sevens champions collect eight points for the Series.

Two second half tries, one after the final buzzer had sounded, from Dan Fish booked Wales’ place in the Bowl final after a 28-26 victory against Portugal. They met Scotland following Graham Shiel’s side recorded a 31-19 victory against Zimbabwe in the second semi final thanks to two tries from Michael Fedo.

Earlier, 11 points from Alex Walker helped Wales beat USA 28-19 in the second Bowl quarter, entering this competition having lost to Spain and Fiji on day one.

Carl Murray scored twice for Portugal in the day’s opening match against RWC Sevens 2013 hosts Russia. The sides last met in the core team qualifying quarter final in Hong Kong, with Portugal narrowly winning 17-10 on their way to claiming one of the three places for next season’s Series, and recorded a 24-17 victory in London.

In the third match Scotland beat crowd favourites Kenya 21-5 before Dubai Sevens runners-up France suffered a 19-17 defeat to Zimbabwe with Jacques Leitao scoring the winning try for the Cheetahs.

England claim London women’s crown

England’s women produced a superb performance to win their home IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup event, beating Netherlands 34-7 in the final.

England’s greater power and precision proved too much for first time Cup finalists the Netherlands as the hosts eased to a 34-7 victory in the IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup at Twickenham.

England have now won two of the three IRB-sanctioned Challenge Cup events this season, having defeated Australia in the previous final in Hong Kong. They lost out to Canada in the first event, in Dubai.

The Netherlands’ Anne Hielckert had opened the scoring in this Twickenham final to momentarily quieten the crowd. But England’s Hong Kong heroine Joanne Watmore combined power and balance to pierce the Netherlands’ defence twice before Alice Richardson produced a step and hand off to put England 17-7 up at the break.

Watmore completed her hat trick with the first play of the second half to dash any hopes of a Netherlands comeback before Kat Merchant touched down twice late on to complete an impressive victory.

"We came out in the semi final and had a really tough game (against Canada)," said England captain Michaela Staniford. “We made it hard work for ourselves and we didn’t perform, so coming out for the final and putting to bed some of those wrongs and hopefully putting on a show for the crowd was what we really wanted to do.”

For Netherlands coach Gareth Gilbert, whose players are full-time athletes funded by the Dutch Olympic Committee, the final was a promising step forward.

"You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg so far with regards to the (Dutch) programme. The progress we’ve seen in the last year with these players has been unbelievable. A lot of these ladies have stopped their jobs and their family lives in order to train and play rugby. They train 20 hours a week, which they need to if we are going to compete with the big nations." Gilbert said.

Dramatic route to Cup final

Earlier on day two, England defeated Russia 19-10 and Netherlands triumphed 19-0 over France in the Cup quarter finals.

The Cup semi finals produced two dramatic matches. England Sevens debutant Emily Scarratt scored the decisive try in extra time to edge the hosts to a 19-12 win over Canada. Then the Netherlands produced arguably the shock of the competition, edging RWC Sevens 2009 champions Australia 14-12.

Canada claimed third place with a 19-14 victory over Australia. USA won the Plate, defeating Russia 22-7. South Africa, for whom Zenay Jordaan was the tournament’s highest points scorer with 43, edged past France 14-7 to end up seventh. China defeated Portugal 43-5 to win the Bowl and Kazakhstan prevailed 19-17 over Brazil in the battle for 11th place.

More than 90,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament – launched today at the EDF Energy London Eye and the London Marriott Hotel County Hall with coaches and captains from the competing nations – and this weekend’s total attendance is expected to climb past last year’s high of 100,094.

The Marriott London Sevens is also the final major event in the calendar before the sport is welcomed into the Olympic family after the London 2012 Games, and for the first time both men’s and women’s events will be staged at Twickenham.

New Zealand are close to completing the defence of their overall HSBC Sevens World Series title, with Fiji in second place. Dubai champions England are in third and aiming to finish on a high after their impressive performances at Glasgow last weekend.

The IRB Women’s Challenge Cup sees England aiming to add more silverware to their collection after lifting the Hong Kong title with hot competition expected from the likes of World Cup winners Australia and Dubai title-holders Canada.

The tournament’s ‘70s Disco theme will attract thousands in fancy dress and create a carnival atmosphere with house band Love Train playing live inside the stadium and a Funky Town fan village in the West Car Park as well as a host of other entertainment for supporters of all ages.

Rob Andrew, RFU Professional Rugby Director, said: “The Marriott London Sevens continues to grow and get bigger and better each year both on and off the pitch, which is a testimony to the strength of the event and the appeal of the sport.

“This weekend, for the first time, Twickenham Stadium is the finale of what may be the most competitive HSBC Sevens World Series of them all.

“The athleticism and skill levels of the players are astonishing now and that goes for the women’s game as well as the men’s, with two competitions running alongside each other throughout the weekend.”

Ben Ryan, England Sevens Head Coach, said: “We get great support around the world from England fans but there’s nothing we enjoy more than coming home to Twickenham Stadium, where we get great support and where the atmosphere will be electric this weekend.

“Over this season we’ve made some decent progress and England has got two players at the top of the try-scoring charts for the first time ever in Dan Norton and Mat Turner. They are part of a team committed to playing an exciting brand of sevens that we hope will have the crowd on their feet.

“It’s important for us to finish on a high here. We believe we’re at the start of something special with England Sevens and we want to increase the momentum all the way from here to challenge for the title next season before heading to the World Cup in Russia next summer.”

Beth Coalter, IRB Sevens Tournament Director, said: “It is hugely exciting for everyone to be in London for the climax of 2011/12 HSBC Sevens World Series. The prospect of playing at a packed Twickenham is something that is very special for all of the players and to launch it today on the London Eye with a birds-eye view of the city is stunning.

“From the top you can just about make out London’s new Olympic venues, which also serves of a stark reminder that Rugby Sevens makes its Olympic debut in Rio in just four years’ time. I’m sure the finest men’s and women’s Sevens players in the world will put on a show this weekend, deliver a taster of what is to come at Rio 2016 and repay what is expected to be another record crowd for Sevens.”

Join the 70s Disco at the Marriott London Sevens. Tickets are now available for the ninth and final leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series this weekend on 12th & 13th May 2012, with weekend passes starting from £30, single day tickets from £18 and kids tickets at £5 each day.

Tickets will be available in advance until midday on Friday 11thMay, and then in person from the RFU Ticket Office across the weekend. Visit www.rfu.com/londonsevensfor further details.  (Tickets are subject to availability and booking fees apply).

The programme is run in partnership with Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Football Union, the Metropolitan Police, Active Communities Network, the Mayor’s Office, the Rugby Football Foundation and rugby charity Wooden Spoon and is delivered by the Premiership Rugby clubs. It targets young people at risk of anti-social behaviour and exclusion from school.

After making a shortlist that included programmes from Tottenham Hotspur, RBS, BSKyB, Premier League, Football Foundation and Barclays and British Cycling, Hitz triumphed at a star-studded ceremony attended by 1,750 key figures from the world of sport, including a huge number of high-profile media, entertainment and sporting celebrities alongside the most influential figures in British and European sport.

Nick Keller, the Chairman of the Sport Industry Group paid tribute to the programme which is managed by former England captain Helen Clayton.

Premiership Rugby is hoping for a unique double to be completed in July as they have been shortlisted for the best Federation or Governing Body of the Year at the worldwide Beyond Sport Awards which would ensure a stellar year for the umbrella organisation of the 12 Aviva Premiership Rugby clubs.

"It is well recognised that sport can have a hugely positive impact on communities, and rugby has a particular role to play in the crucial area of excluded youth,” said Keller.

“Hitz is a standout example of best practice – a fact not only acknowledged within the UK, as demonstrated by its success at the Sport Industry Awards, but also globally through its nomination for the Beyond Sport Awards.”

Hitz, based in the heart of the toughest inner city areas, introduces young people to rugby, helping build confidence and respect, whilst inspiring players of the future.  It also identifies opportunities for apprenticeships, as well as workshops, training and education programmes for young people.  This month Hitz registered its 1000th participant.

The very best work that the industry produced across 2011 was rewarded at the Sport Industry Awards ceremony, with the winners of each category announced following an extensive judging process involving more than 40 key figures from across the industry and 50 hours of intensive judging – fully overseen by Deloitte, the Official Independent Scrutineer of the Sport Industry Awards.

Wayne Morris, Head of Community at Premiership Rugby, said “Hitz has been running in the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Croydon, Ealing, Hackney, Hounslow, Islington, Newham, Lambeth, Tower Hamlets and Southwark and we’re seeing some great results.

“This award demonstrates the impressive work being done by the programme, inspiring a generation of young people.”

Bill Hill CEO Wooden Spoon said “ Hitz has been a significant investment for Wooden Spoon and we are delighted that the project has been honoured in this way. We are looking forward to working with Premiership Rugby to take the programme out to other regions outside London”

Sally Pettipher, Campaign Director at the RFU said “HITZ constantly shows its value in the way young people on the programme are stepping up to the mark and making positive life changing decisions. Rugby union has the ability to do this through its Core Values – Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.”

The winners of the Sport Industry Awards 2012 were unveiled on 2nd May at a glittering ceremony in London.

Pic: Jamie Oliver presents Hitz Project Manager Helen Clayton and Premiership Rugby’s Marketing Manager James Tyler with the award

As part of the hugely popular London Sevens weekend Twickenham Stadium will now also open its doors to some of the world’s finest female rugby talent as the HSBC Sevens World Series comes to a close.

As part of the IRB’s on-going commitment to develop international women’s Sevens ahead of the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens in Russia and the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, London and Hong Kong are the latest events to be added to the IRB international sevens programme. Dubai hosted the inaugural Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup in December and Hong Kong will host the second event on March 23-24th.

12 of the best international women’s sevens team will compete over the two-day tournament for the Women’s Challenge Cup, including hosts England, who recently reached the final of the Women’s Challenge Cup in Dubai beating world champions Australia on their way to the final. The teams competing in London will be: England, Australia, Canada, USA, Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, China, Kazakhstan, France, South Africa and Portugal.

Rob Andrew, RFU Professional Rugby Director, said: “The RFU is delighted to be hosting the IRB sanctioned international Women’s Sevens tournament as part of the London Sevens this year. Dubai held the first ever IRB Women’s Sevens event in December 2011 so for Twickenham Stadium to be added to that calendar is a prestigious honour.

“With Rugby Sevens making its debut in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games it is important we, and our other member unions, strive forward to develop the international programme for our women’s teams and this announcement represents a significant step on the road to Rio de Janeiro for these international teams.”

Last year’s Beach themed event at the London Sevens saw more than 100,000 fans head to Twickenham Stadium and the 2012 event promises to be even bigger. The party atmosphere generated by the fans is almost unrivalled in the Twickenham calendar and this year’s event takes up a 1970s theme.
Sophie Goldschmidt, RFU Chief Commercial Officer, said: “We are looking forward to an exceptional international Women’s tournament in London in May which will run alongside the HSBC Sevens World Series. Last year’s event saw more than 100,000 fans head through the gates over the two days including a record breaking 54,612 crowd on the Saturday. The 2012 event promises to be even bigger and better especially with the London leg being the final event of the HSBC Sevens World Series.”

"These are exciting times for Women’s Rugby around the world," added IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset. "Participation is growing while we continue to work with our member unions to ensure elite Women’s competition goes from strength to strength ahead of our debut in the Olympic Games 2016.

“These invitational IRB Women’s Sevens Challenge Cup events are the first step on the road to delivering an annual IRB Women’s Sevens World Series along similar lines to the hugely successful men’s HSBC Sevens World Series. I am sure that London will be a resounding success and give fans in the stadium and around the world another opportunity to see just how competitive Women’s Rugby is."

Tickets are now available for the London Sevens weekend on 12th & 13th May 2012 and for the month of March Weekend Tickets are available from just £20. After that, weekend passes start from £30, single day tickets from £18 and kids tickets at £5 each day.  Visit www.rfu.com/tickets or call 0844 847 2492.  (Tickets are subject to availability and booking fees apply).

Aviva and the University of Bath’s quest to find the Aviva Premiership’s “most passionate fans” continues

Harlequins and Saracens edged out their rivals London Irish and London Wasps respectively in an epic Aviva Premiership weekend. However, while they might have lost out on the pitch, Irish and Wasps fans can take pride from the fact that their fans have been scientifically shown to be more passionate than their opposition on the day.

Premiership Rugby’s title sponsor Aviva has partnered with the University of Bath to scientifically investigate which Aviva Premiership Rugby club has the most passionate fans to settle the debate once and for all.

The research team undertook a variety of experiments on a sample set of 48 fans (12 from each club) who applied to take part. Their anxiety and testosterone levels were measured, as well as their heart rate throughout the match.

The university has devised an equation for passion, which is calculated from the interaction of four variables:

1) fan loyalty (commitment to the team)
2) fan match evaluation (before and after the match)
3) fan psychology (mood and anxiety levels)
4) fan physiology (hormone and heart rate changes)

The results are weighted alongside an independent review of the match by a former England player, to allow all 6 ‘crunch’ matches, and 12 sets of supporters, to be compared. So far, 8 clubs have now been analysed, with 4 left to play.

Here is a summary of the fans’ results from the London derbies:

The figures from each test section were combined into a passion equation and then scaled so all four categories have a possible maximum of 100.

London Irish fans were more passionate than the Harlequins fans and the Wasps fans were more passionate than the Saracens fans. Overall the London Irish fans just edge it, but currently lie 2nd in the Aviva Premiership Passion Table, behind Gloucester.

The project continues on March 30 when Newcastle Falcons host Sale Sharks, and finally Worcester v Exeter on April 14. At the end of the season, the Aviva Premiership Passion League Table will be revealed on www.avivapremiership.com/passionate

A researcher from the University of Bath said: “Aviva’s ‘Most Passionate Fans’ project represents an interesting opportunity to examine fan’s passion scientifically. There will always be arguments about how this can be done, but we believe we have devised the most objective way to identify and quantify passion.”

Louisa Cheetham, Senior Sponsorship Manager at Aviva, said: “Our most passionate fans project shows that rugby truly is a fans game. Aviva want to get fans as close to the action as possible, and this experiment does just that. The two matches last weekend between the four London clubs were close affairs, and that is reflected in the results of the experiment. It’s interesting that the two losing clubs showed more passion!”

Holden has made six changes from the starting line -up that lost to Northampton Saints last weekend.

Richard Haughton is out of the game as a result of an injury picked up last weekend, meaning that Mark van Gisbergen returns to the starting line-up at full back while Dom Waldouck, who pulled out of the side last weekend in the warm-up, returns to partner Riki Flutey in the centre. Joe Simpson returns to his favoured position of scrum half, allowing Christian Wade to take his place on the wing and make his first start in the Aviva Premiership Rugby.

The front row of Tim Payne, Rob Webber and Zak Taulafo remains unchanged from last weekend but in the second row Marty Veale returns to the team, replacing the injured captain Richard Birkett, to partner Simon Shaw.

John Hart keeps his place on the blind-side flank and is named as captain in the absence of Birkett. Joining him in the back row is Will Matthews at open-side, who impressed playing for the Wasps A team on his return from injury last week, and Andy Powell at eight, who was rested for the Northampton clash.

Looking ahead to the game Leon Holden said: “Despite a couple of injuries we have picked up, it is great to see a number of guys return to the squad who will give the team a really lift. Nobody was pleased with last week’s result and the squad has worked really hard this week to avoid a repeat. I was very happy with how well the Wasps A team performed in the week in beating their Gloucester counterparts and to reward that effort we have brought in Christian Wade on the wing and Joe Launchbury on the bench who are two young players with a huge future at Wasps.”

“As I said last week, with the middle section of the table being so tight, a run of good results at this stage of the season could drastically change the outcome of our season.”

London Wasps team to face London Irish on Sunday 3rd April, KO 3pm

15 Mark van Gisbergen
14 Christian Wade
13 Dom Waldouck
12 Riki Flutey
11 David Lemi
10 Dave Walder
9 Joe Simpson
1 Tim Payne
2 Rob Webber
3 Zak Taulafo
4 Simon Shaw
5 Marty Veale
6 John Hart (c)
7 Will Matthews
8 Andy Powell
16 Tom Lindsay
17 Charlie Beech
18 Ben Broster
19 Joe Launchbury
20 Dan Ward-Smith
21 Nic Berry
22 Josh Lewsey

Things didn’t start so well for the England, after a scrappy opening ten minutes the away side found themselves 7-0 down courtesy of a converted Edward Higgardy try after a quick break away from the pacy Wales No. 10 Matthew Morgan.

Minutes later England made it one try apiece. A quick passing move between the backs opened things up for London Wasps centre Elliot Daly who drew the defender in before offloading to Northampton Saints wing Jamie Elliott who dived over in the corner. Leciester Tigers fly half George Ford was unable to convert from a difficult angle.

Wales extended their lead through the boot of Morgan on 23 minute, making the score 10-5. This appeared to spark England into life as Mako Vunipola came close to burrowing over before the second try eventually came from Worcester’s Matt Kvesic, converting after a strong burst forward from Ford, who added the conversion.

England maintained their pressure and scored again soon after, courtesy of captain Alex Gray (Newcastle Falcons) who dashed through the posts, Ford added two more with the boot to make the score 10-19.

Moments later England got their fourth try, the impressive Kvesic jumped and caught an England restart before showing a quick turn off pace to score a try Wales really should have prevented.

A late penalty for Wales brought them back to within 13 points at half time with the score 13-26.

The second half was a somewhat different affair, England’s flowing, expansive rugby deserted them as they were pushed onto the back foot for the majority of the half. With ten minutes left to play Wales pressed hard and were almost rewarded after a strong drive from the forwards, the ball did cross the line but was deemed not to have been touched down by the TMO.

With England camped in their own 22, they then had to cope with the sin-binning of Sale Sharks prop Henry Thomas by Irish referee Dudley Phillips. Wales soon capitalised on their man advantage, carving out space for No. 8 Ben Thomas who scored to bring the home side to within a converted try of the lead at 20-26 with ten to play.

Wales, roared on by local support, continued to push but England’s defence stood firm and held out for the win.

Attendance: 2,989

England starting XV:

15) Ben Ransom (Saracens)
14) Andy Short (Worcester Warriors)
13) Elliot Daly (London Wasps)
12) Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)
11) Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)
10) George Ford (Leicester Tigers)
9) Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)
1) Mako Vunipola (Bristol Rugby)
2) Mike Haywood (Northampton Saints)
3) Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)
4) Kieran Low (London Irish)
5) Charlie Matthews (Harlequins)
6) Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)
7) Matt Everard (Leicester Tigers)
8 ) Alex Gray (C) (Newcastle Falcons)

Replacements:

16) Rob Buchanan (Harlequins) on for Mike Haywood 54 mins
17) Ryan Bower (Leicester Tigers) on for Mako Vunipola 54 mins
18) Addison Lockley (Exeter Chiefs)
19) Ollie Stedman (Leeds Carnegie) on for Matt Everard 62 mins
20) Chris Cook (Bristol Rugby)
21) Guy Armitage (London Irish) on for Elliot Daly 75 mins
22) Christian Wade (London Wasps) on for Andy Short 54 mins

London Irish prop Alex Corbisiero comes in for Tim Payne (London Wasps) who has returned to his club for treatment to a sternum injury.

Gloucester Rugby wing James Simpson-Daniel has been added to the group training at Pennyhill Park as cover for Nick Abendanon (toe). Bath Rugby full back Abendanon remains with the squad for further assessment.

Bristol Rugby return to league action at home to London Welsh, looking to maintain their run of success in the British and Irish Cup Competition.

Bristol Head Coach Paul Hull has stuck largely with the squad that has performed well in recent matches.

The replacements bench shows a five/two forwards/backs split.

Bristol Rugby team to play at home to London Welsh on Sunday 30th January at 3:00pm

Jack Tovey, Anthony Elliott, Jack Adams, Junior Fatialofa, George Watkins, Adrian Jarvis, Richard Bolt, Mako Vunipola, Ross Johnston, Wayne Thompson, Roy Winters, Darren Barry, Iain Grieve ©, James Merriman, Dan Montagu.

Replacements:
Ollie Hayes, Darren Crompton, Mark Irish, Mariano Sambucetti , Jamie Miller, Robbie Shaw, Ed Barnes.

Both teams will be packed with English players as the Cup again demonstrates it has rapidly become the breeding ground for the Clubs’ best emerging talent.

After 13 Rounds of Aviva Premiership Rugby, the Clubs are running at an all-time high average of 67% English Qualified Players (EQP). But in the LV= Anglo Welsh Cup they are already running at an average of 72%, with some of the biggest Clubs like Leicester Tigers and Gloucester Rugby hitting 87% in the last round, meaning 20 of the 23 players involved were EQP.

In the short history of the LV=Anglo Welsh Cup players like Dan Cole, Joe Simpson, Andy Saull, Joe Marler and Owen Farrell have all made their debuts in the competition and are now making their mark in Aviva Premiership Rugby, Europe and even with England.

Corin Palmer, Head of Academies and Development at Premiership Rugby said “The Clubs have been investing strongly in their Academies for several years now and they are beginning to see a real return on that investment with the emergence of some immensely talented players who have been able to establish themselves very quickly at the top level.

“Our Clubs have been very excited for some time now about the quality of players coming through their academies and the LV=Anglo Welsh Cup provides a great competitive environment for them. It bodes very well for England over the coming years and in the lead up to Rugby World Cup 2015.”