Bedford Blues have announced they will be parting company with eight players following the club’s failure to win the Championship.
Currently there are eight members of the squad who will be leaving Goldington Road this week and all go with the best wishes of the Board of Directors, coaches and fans.
After four seasons with the Blues, prop Sam Walsh is heading off to pastures new as is fellow front row compatriot Nico Steenkamp. The Blues will also be bidding a fond farewell to three second row forwards in Sean Tomes, Sam Pailor and Billy Johnson.
In the backs, fly half Jamie Lennard has put pen to paper on a deal to take him back to Doncaster Knights where he played before joining Premiership outfit London Irish while wingers Handre Schmidt and Dave Vincent are also leaving the Blues this summer.
Speaking about the departures, Blues Director of Rugby Mike Rayer said: “We’ve enjoyed a fine season and everyone is disappointed to have fallen at the semi-final stage as we pushed for the Championship title.
“All of the players who are leaving us were an important part of the team that did so well this season but we have identified some areas that we need to change and unfortunately it means that we have to say goodbye to some familiar faces.
“On behalf of all the coaches, directors and the fans, I want to say a big thank you to all of the lads for their hard work and dedication during their time with us and we wish them all the best for the future.
“Looking ahead to next season I can confirm that we have identified four players who we are in negotiations with, 17 players have already re-signed, a couple more have agreed new deals in principle and we are waiting to hear back from a few more. All-in-all things are looking very bright for the 2012/13 campaign and we will have more news shortly.”
On the same night that New Zealand were crowned HSBC Sevens World Series champions for 2011/12, their playmaker Tomasi Cama has been named IRB Sevens Player of the Year in association with HSBC.
Fijian-born Cama was up for the award for the second year running, having lost out to South Africa’s Cecil Afrika last season.
Once again he has been a key factor behind New Zealand’s excellence and the creative spark behind their 10th World Series success.
"It feels awesome. It’s just a reward for all the hard work from the boys. Without them it would have been impossible to receive this award. I want to thank them as well," Cama said.
"I concentrate on my game and I control what I can control, but to get this is an awesome feeling. Once you have been there for a while you know and understand what’s going on and that’s where the experience comes in.
"For me I just like going out there and enjoying the game, enjoy myself and do what I do best."
Cama fought off stiff competition from compatriot Frank Halai and England’s Mat Turner to win the coveted individual accolade.
As well as finishing the season with 34 tries, Cama’s impeccable drop-kicking helped him to 390 points for the season, the leading mark.
He also ends the season second in the all time point-scoring charts with 1,627, behind only England’s Ben Gollings.
Cama becomes the fourth New Zealand player to win the prize, following Orene Ai’i, Afeleke Pelenise and his captain DJ Forbes.
Leinster have reached their third successive RaboDirect PRO12 Final and will have home advantage over the 2010 champions, the Ospreys, at the RDS, Dublin, on Sunday, 27 May (kick-off 4.00pm).
Their 19-15 home semi-final win over Glasgow Warriors not only earned them a ticket into the Final, but also guaranteed them home advantage after they finished as the No1 seed from the regular season.
The Ospreys beat reigning champions Munster 45-10 at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night to book their ticket into their second Final in three seasons. They were champions in 2010, beating Leinster at the RDS, and semi-finalists last season.
The two teams will be eligible for up to 50% of the tickets in each category and details of sales will be issued by both clubs asap.
RaboDirect PRO12 Final, 2012
Sunday, 27 May – 4.00pm
LEINSTER RUGBY v OSPREYS
RDS, Dublin
Leinster outside half Johnny Sexton was named as the RaboDirect PRO12 Man of the Match against Glasgow after scoring 14 points, but Ospreys No 10 Dan Biggar toped that with a 25 point haul against Munster to pass 300 for the season and 1,000 in his career at the Ospreys.
"The Ospreys were pretty outstanding against Munster and it’s going to be a difficult game". said Jonny Sexton, "They beat us in Dublin two years ago in the final, and they beat us at the RDS this season as well.”
The RaboDirect PRO12 Final will bring down the curtain on one of the great professional careers when Ospreys wing Shane Williams plays his final game for the Welsh region. Williams has already won three titles in this competition, two Grand Slams and been named the IRB World Player of the Year.
He scored a record 58 tries in 87 Tests for Wales and also scored two tries for the British & Irish Lions in four Tests on two tours. He was the RBS 6 Nations Player of the Tournament in 2008.
“It has been great been involved in some small way with Shane’s career and it would be wonderful to send him into retirement with another title. But we know that Leinster are the best team in European rugby and the RDS is one of the toughest places to go and play,” said Biggar.
“It was great to play so well in beating Munster, but you don’t win anything in a semi-final. We are under no illusions as to how hard it is going to be in Dublin and how well we are going to have to play.”
Leinster will be hoping it will be third time lucky in the Final having been beaten 17-12 by the Ospreys in 2010 and going down 19-9 to Munster at Thomond Park last year.
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.
Biarritz Olympique – the 2006 and 2010 Heineken Cup finalists – hope it is third time lucky in their pursuit of a European title when they clash with Toulon in the Amlin Challenge Cup final at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday night (8.00pm).
Serge Blanco, Biarritz Olympique’s most famous player and now the club’s president, is desperate for the club to book a place in the Heineken Cup for a 13th successive season.
However, despite a 16-5 home victory over Stade Français Paris in the 26thand final round of the Top 14 clinching a ninth place finish, it means the only avenue left open to them is as Amlin Challenge Cup champions, the same route taken by Harlequins a year ago.
“I want to be in the Heineken Cup because we have been playing in that competition for the last 12 years,” said Blanco, France’s flamboyant former full back who won 93 caps for his country.
“We want to be there because it is a tradition for Biarritz, because we enjoy that competition and because we must play the best teams and the best teams are in the Heineken Cup.
“I believe that having kept the club in the Top 14 plus a Heineken Cup ticket for next season we would have shown our supporters that this season was just a hiccup and the squad have reacted superbly.
“We are never happy just to be in a final because you still need to win it but it has been a relief to play this competition because we could play the Heineken Cup next year by winning at the Stoop.
“We will go to London to win this final – we cannot do otherwise.”
Bedford Blues have announced they will be parting company with eight players following the club’s failure to win the Championship.
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