‘England must win Six Nations’ – Croft

Posted on Jan 29, 2013 in emb, England

By Paul Smith, Sportsbeat – Following the shock defeat of world champions New Zealand on their last outing, England flanker Tom Croft admits the Red Rose are under pressure to emerge victorious from the upcoming Six Nations campaign.

The Leicester Tigers ace earned a recall to Stuart Lancaster’s squad ahead of the opener against Scotland at Twickenham on Saturday, following eight months out through injury.

Croft is unlikely to be available to Lancaster until the later stages of the competition, particularly after leaving the field early in only his second game back from an eight-month injury layoff as his club side Leicester Tigers beat Wasps in the LV= Cup on Saturday.

But the 27-year-old admits he will have an eye on events in the Calcutta Cup, and is aware of the need for Lancaster’s men to get off to a good start.

"The win against New Zealand was massive for England as a whole in terms of restoring faith and giving the boys confidence," he said.

"Going into the Six Nations there will be a lot of pressure on them.

"After that win they will be expected to go well and in that first game against Scotland will expect a big show, with hopefully the right result going our way.

"I think if we are going to build upon where we were last year, only losing one game, we have really got to push on and aim to win the title this year.

"It’s a highly contested tournament. We have got the players that were blooded for the first time in the last Six Nations and now they have a few more caps through the summer and in the autumn.

"They are more experienced now, and hopefully we can push on and really put pressure on the other teams."

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Sa to join up with London Irish this week

Posted on Jan 22, 2013 in London Irish

London Irish have confirmed that Samoa International, Setaimata Sa, will join up with the London Irish squad this week.

The former Catalan Dragons’ star penned a three year deal last year and will be available for London Irish for the remainder of this season and the coming seasons, having secured his UK Visa.

The move to London Irish means that Setaimata will be returning to his sporting roots. Originally from Canterbury Crusader territory, as a schoolboy rugby union star in New Zealand he was scouted by NRL club, Sydney Roosters in 2006. He subsequently moved to the Super League and Catalan Dragons in 2010. Sa, as he prefers to be called, has a good try-scoring record in senior rugby league, scoring 13 tries in 66 games for the Sydney Roosters and 10 tries in 39 games for the Catalan Dragons.

A dual rugby league international, he has been capped three times by New Zealand, helping them to win the World Cup title in 2008 and five times by Samoa. He made his International rugby union debut for Samoa last November in their triumph over Canada.

London Irish Director of Rugby, Brian Smith said: “It has been a long process but we a delighted that Sa can now join up with the squad. He is itching to be involved and the squad is looking forward to having him on board. Once he gets the hang of playing rugby union again there will be no better all round midfielder in the country.”

England Sevens make changes for fourth leg of HSBC Sevens World Series

Posted on Jan 18, 2013 in England Sevens

England have made three changes to their squad for next month’s Hertz Sevens in New Zealand

Head coach Ben Ryan welcomes back Mathew Turner and Christian Lewis-Pratt from injury with Sam Edgerley also heading for Wellington for the February 1-2 tournament.

England, who depart for Wellington next week, face hosts New Zealand, the USA and Spain on the opening day of the fourth leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

And Ryan is happy to have more players becoming available as the injury crisis that struck England in the opening rounds begins to ease.

Turner – last year’s leading global try-scorer – broke an ankle in the opening leg of the series in October, while Lewis-Pratt missed out on legs two and three in Dubai and Port Elizabeth with an ankle injury.

Chris Cracknell (knee reconstruction), Tom Mitchell (broken leg) and former captain Ollie Phillips (calf) are sidelined but uncapped forwards Mike Ellery (back) and Jack Preece (knee reconstruction) are close to comebacks and in the final stages of rehabilitation. Also ruled out of the next leg were Mark Odejobi (foot) and Ollie Marchon (ankle).

"We’re slowly getting players fit again so by the time we get to (leg six) in Hong Kong we should have everyone available so the outlook’s getting brighter," said Ryan.

"It’s good to welcome back Mat and Christian, who are influential players, and we’ll be easing them back into action in New Zealand.

"But we face a very tough first day in Wellington. New Zealand will be a very difficult assignment in the opening game and the USA and Spain have both stepped up a gear this season.

"We’ve worked very hard since the last leg in Port Elizabeth and our aim is to continue improving the level of our performance on our previous three outings."

England’s recent record in Wellington is good. They won the title there in 2009, reached the semi finals in 2010, were beaten finalists in 2011 and Lewis-Pratt’s two tries helped them win the third place play-off against Samoa last season.

England squad: Dan Bibby, John Brake, Chris Brightwell, Sam Edgerley, Christian Lewis-Pratt, Dan Norton, Tom Powell, James Rodwell, Mathew Turner, Rob Vickerman (captain), Marcus Watson, Jeff Williams.

Navidi renews his contract with the Blues

Posted on Jan 9, 2013 in Cardiff Blues

Cardiff Blues have confirmed that back row forward Josh Navidi has signed a new contract with the Blues that will keep him with the region until 2016

The back row forward made his senior Blues debut against Heineken Cup champions, Leinster, at the RDS in 2009, coming on as a replacement for Scott Morgan. Josh earned himself a start against London Irish in the LV=Cup match in Cardiff the following month.

Speaking of his new contract Josh said,

“I’m happy with my form at the Blues and feel my playing has been consistent, but I can always keep pushing myself to see how I can improve as a player.

“Changing between six and seven doesn’t really worry me, as long as I am on the pitch and representing the Blues.

“I see a lot more of the ball in the breakdown when I play at seven but then playing at six alongside Sam Warburton is great for my overall game.

“I don’t think about being called up for Wales. I just get on with what I do each week and see what happens from there.

The former Brynteg Comprehensive pupil moved to New Zealand at sixteen to study accountancy and PE at Christchurch’s St Bedes school and went on to win the South Island College League and came third nationally. Upon returning to Wales, Navidi played for Wales U20 side in all of the 2010 Under 20’s Six Nations tournament and lead the Wales to victory against France at Newport.

“After two seasons in New Zealand I wanted to see if I could create a career in Wales. I came back and handed my CV around. After a meeting with Gethin Watts I ended up in the Blues academy.

“I would have loved to have stayed in New Zealand as their approach to rugby is phenomenal but I have so much in Wales so I couldn’t leave permanently.

“With the facilities at the Blues you can’t complain about playing here and I’m really pleased to be staying on.

“I played under 20’s two years ago including the Junior World Cup in Japan and Argentina when Phil Davies was the coach. He is a very constructive person to have in charge. He is always pushing the players and keeping us positive in the way we play. That is as true now as when he used to coach me at U20 level.

“He encourages us and I enjoy playing under him as a coach.

“Hopefully this next season will see us push forward as a team and I’m sure he will bring out the best in us.”

England Women’s squad announced for NZ Series

Posted on Nov 7, 2012 in England Women

England Women’s Head Coach Gary Street has today (Wednesday) named a 27-woman squad to take on the reigning world champions New Zealand over three international test matches later this month.

England are set to take on the Black Ferns on November 23 at Esher RFC, November 27 at the Aldershot Army Rugby Stadium and December 1 at Twickenham Stadium. The final game of the series will follow the men’s QBE International between England and New Zealand. The game will be shown live on Sky Sports 1 HD and there will be free entry to the match following the final whistle of the men’s game.

Bristol’s Amber Reed and Worcester’s Joanne Watmore are two notable inclusions in the squad. The duo made their England XVs debuts on Saturday against France and clearly did enough to impress Street. Watmore in fact scored a try and Reed added two penalties and a conversion in the 23-13 victory.

Also in the squad are sisters Francesca and Alexandra Matthew who are set to play their first ever England XVs match together. They will become the third set of sisters to run out for England, after Maxine and Jackie Edwards and the Mitchell twins – Emma and Jane.

Although England are without Margaret Alphonsi, Rachael Burford, La Toya Mason, Fiona Pocock and Joanna McGilchrist through injuries, Street has named a strong and experienced squad for this series.

Darlington Mowden Park Sharks’ fly-half Katy McLean returns to lead England, while Lichfield’s Sarah Hunter is named as vice-captain.

There are 13 players who played in Rugby World Cup 2010, while the squad can boast over 750 caps between them.

Street said: “Excluding a handful of injuries this is the strongest squad I could have selected for this series. It is an exciting mix of power and pace and we have got some real experience too.

“I am delighted that the likes of Alex Matthews, Jo Watmore and Amber Reed are in the squad. Alex may only have four caps but she has already played the world champions and knows what to expect of them while Jo and Amber showed they are ready to step-up to the next level after making their debuts at the weekend.

“Our game against France at the weekend was a vitally important match. It was a testing and physical battle and we showed character and resolve under some real pressure. The match was ideal preparation for this series.”

England last played New Zealand 12 months ago and England bounced back from their 2010 World Cup heartache to defeat the Black Ferns twice. The two sides then drew the final clash. It was a historic series for England as they became the first side ever to nil the world champions and inflict two consecutive defeats on them.

Street added: “The Black Ferns will need little motivation after their series lost last year. We are under no illusions that they’ll be even more determined than ever to come back here and reverse that result. They have selected a talented squad with a lot of experience, including some real stars of the NPC league.”

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