England name U20 EPS

Posted on Sep 2, 2011 in Age Grade Rugby, England, English Rugby

England have named an Under 20 Elite Player Squad containing an exciting blend of “experience, skill and power” for the 2011/12 season. The 32-man group will compete in the Under 20 6 Nations in the New Year before heading to South Africa for the IRB Junior World Championship next June.

Hunter, assisted by newly appointed former Bedford Blues coach Nick Walshe, can call on 11 players previously capped at this level, eight of whom played in the 2011 Junior World Championship final against New Zealand in Italy. Last season’s squad also enjoyed a 6 Nations Grand Slam triumph, scoring 30 tries in their five games, amassing a total of 221 points.

Since the formation of the England U20 side in 2007 – replacing the England U21 team – they boast an enviable four-year record. In the 40 matches played the squad have won 32 and lost just eight, a win percentage of 80 per cent. The U20s have won two 6 Nations Grand Slams, (2008, 2011) and have been runners up in the Junior World Championship on three occasions, falling short against New Zealand each time.

Recent graduates of the U20 set up include Rugby World Cup 2011 squad members Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs, Courtney Lawes, Alex Corbisiero and Joe Simpson, while Charlie Sharples was named in the initial 45 man group.

Of the current group, London Wasps pair Elliot Daly and Billy Vunipola, Northampton Saints wing James Elliott, Gloucester duo Dan Robson, Ryan Mills and Saracens full back Ben Ransom have all experienced Aviva Premiership rugby, while Leicester Tigers fly half George Ford is a 2011 IRB Junior World Player of the Year nominee.

Speaking about his current crop of youngsters, Hunter said: “We’re delighted with the players in our latest squad. We welcome 12 players who played at Under 18 level last season, some of whom have just returned from beating Australia in their own back yard, and we welcome back 11 who played for us last time round. It’s an experienced group, but also an exciting, skilful and powerful group. Competition for places will be high, but that’s just what you want.”

RFU Head of Elite Player Development Stuart Lancaster added: “We think this is a very strong squad with competition for places in each position and it reflects really well on all the work the regional academies are doing.

“A lot of these players have come through our age group international programme and have recently been on the successful tour to Australia. We feel that this group combined with the players who represented the 20s in last year’s programme and others who are starting to push through reflects how well the development pathway is working.”

“The goal is to develop players for the England senior side as several have done recently, but also the goal is also to win the Junior World Championship and having close with last year’s squad we feel that this squad has the potential to do that.”

England U20 Elite Player Squad 2011/12

Forwards
Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs)*
Nick Auterac (Saracens)
Alec Hepburn (London Wasps)
Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins)
Nathan Morris (London Wasps)
Scott Spurling (Saracens)
Koree Britton (Gloucester Rugby)*
Sam Twomey (Harlequins)*
George Merrick (Harlequins)
Tom Price (Leicester Tigers)
Dom Barrow (Leeds Carnegie)
Ben Nutley (Northampton Saints)
Chris Walker (Leeds Carnegie)
Matt Kvesic (Worcester Warriors)*
Billy Vunipola (London Wasps)
Will Skuse (Bath Rugby)
Jack Clifford (Harlequins)

Backs
Dan Robson (Gloucester Rugby)*
Alex Day (Northampton Saints)
Ben Spencer (Saracens)
Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
George Ford (Leicester Tigers)*
Ryan Mills (Gloucester Rugby)*
Sam Hill (Exeter Chiefs)
Elliot Daly (London Wasps)*
Jamie Elliott (Northampton Saints)*
Mark Jennings (Sale Sharks)
Marland Yarde (London Irish)*
Charlie Walker (Harlequins)
Will Addison (Sale Sharks)
Ben Ransom (Saracens)*
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)

* Capped by England at U20 level last season

Bedford announce squad for Championship curtain raiser

Posted on Sep 2, 2011 in Bedford, Championship

Bedford Blues have announced their 22 man squad to face Nottingham in their Championship curtain-raiser on Sunday afternoon.

Director of rugby Mike Rayer (pictured) names four of his summer signings in the starting XV while three more, including latest recruit Ricky Reeves, take a place on the bench.

Speaking ahead of the game Rayer said: “I’ve been really pleased with the squad’s preparation for the coming season and with such a strong and competitive group of players, I’ve had plenty of headaches when it comes to selection.

“We always know that a trip to Meadow Lane is a tough affair and I’m sure that Glenn Delaney has his team well drilled for this opening encounter, but I’m confident in the players that I have and we are all looking forward to getting the season underway this weekend.”

Starting line-up:

15. Brendan Burke
14. David Vincent
13. Ollie Dodge
12. Tom Bedford
11. Handre Schmidt
10. Jamie Lennard
9. Darryl Veenendaal

1. Sam Walsh
2. Neil Cochrane
3. Phil Boulton
4. Mike Howard
5. Paul Tupai
6. Alex Rae (c)
7. Sacha Harding
8. Jon Fisher

Replacements: 16. Chris Locke, 17. Dan Seal, 18. Ricky Reeves, 19. Sean Tomes, 20. Stefan Liebenberg, 21. Jake Sharp, 22. Mark Kohler

England expand sevens squad

Posted on Aug 30, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

 

England Sevens today named their squad for the 2011-12 season, increasing the number of full-time players available to head coach Ben Ryan and confirming significant names in their additional ‘core’ group.

England will have 12 fully contracted players – four more than last season – with forward Chris Brightwell, playmaker Christian Lewis-Pratt and centre Rob Vickerman the newcomers.

The players promoted who were involved in 2010-11 are wing Dan Norton, England’s leading try scorer with 32 last season, who joins from Bristol Rugby, experienced back Simon Hunt, who moves from Birmingham Solihull, and former Bristol Rugby and Royal Navy flanker Greg Barden.

Three more players are in the ‘Core Squad’, contracted by clubs with the RFU paying a percentage of their salaries. They are wing Marcus Watson (Saracens), half back Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins) and forward Isoa Damudamu (British Army). A further ‘Wider Squad’ group will be named later this year.

This is the second season for which England have contracted full-time players and head coach Ben Ryan believes the competition for places will continue to drive up standards as the squad prepare for the start of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

Ryan said: “We wanted more flexibility and more competition for places and we’ve got that. What we didn’t want was a group that was comfortable and assured of their places in the squad for the HSBC Sevens World Series tournaments.

“We won’t throw the kitchen sink at it until we know we’ve got the foundations right but this is the next step in the evolution of our structure. It gives us competition as well as cohesion, continuity and stability.

“Players increasingly have to make choices if they excel at sevens and can choose it to be a section of their career. There aren’t many contracts on offer and every year more will want them so people will have to keep raising their game to retain their spots. They are pioneers but they have to perform.”

England finished third in last season’s HSBC Sevens World Series, winning the Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens title and reaching finals in South Africa, New Zealand and Hong Kong.

The squad has started pre-season training in the build-up to the 2011-12 campaign which kicks off with the Gold Coast Sevens in Australia on November 25-26.

New full-timers Brightwell, Lewis-Pratt and Vickerman join after playing in the Aviva Premiership for Sale Sharks, Leeds Carnegie and Newcastle Falcons respectively.

Brightwell, 26, appeared in all eight Sevens World Series tournaments for England in 2009-10 while Vickerman, 25, made his sevens debut in 2004 and featured in tournament wins in Wellington and London in 2009.

Lewis-Pratt, 20, made 11 appearances for Leeds Carnegie last season and signed for England after scoring 191 points in this summer’s four FIRA AER European Grand Prix Sevens tournaments in Lyon, Moscow, Barcelona and Bucharest.

England Sevens contracted players:

Greg Barden

John Brake

Chris Brightwell

Chris Cracknell

Simon Hunt

Christian Lewis-Pratt

Dan Norton

Tom Powell

James Rodwell

Nick Royle

Mathew Turner

Rob Vickerman

Core squad:

Isoa Damudamu (British Army)

Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins)

Marcus Watson (Saracens)

BBC Alba to screen Pro 12 rugby

Posted on Aug 24, 2011 in RaboDirect Pro 12

BBC ALBA has announced its broadcast package of live coverage of this year’s RaboDirect PRO12 competition, for the first half of the season.

For the second year running, BBC ALBA will be providing exclusive coverage of the competition in Scotland and has the rights to cover the competition over the next three years until the 2013/2014 season.    

RaboDirect PRO12 is rugby’s premier professional club competition in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Italy and the BBC ALBA broadcast package will provide at least eight select home matches throughout the season featuring either Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors.

BBC ALBA has also teamed up with Irish and Welsh broadcasters to gain reciprocal feeds so will also be providing live coverage of some of Glasgow and Edinburgh’s vital away games.

Live coverage will be provided on Friday and Saturday evenings and with BBC ALBA being available on Freeview this is a great boost for the professional game as all rugby fans throughout the whole of Scotland can now watch live coverage of their two Scottish teams, with catch-up viewing available via the BBC iPlayer.

Match coverage will be produced for BBC ALBA by mneTV, one of Scotland’s leading sports production companies, with commentary in Gaelic along with trackside analysis and interview features in English. 

The competition season kicks-off on the first weekend in September 2011 and the live RaboDirect Pro12 coverage matches lined up on BBC ALBA for rounds 1 – 13 are as follows:

Alan Esslemont, head of content for BBC ALBA, said: “As the competition develops this year under its new title, we are delighted to be the exclusive broadcast partner in Scotland, for the second year running, offering an exciting package of live rugby coverage.

“Coverage of the competition last year proved to be an extremely popular strand of our sports offering, promoting not only the professional aspect of the game but also supporting grassroots and community rugby through our programme features.

“The added bonus of this year’s live rugby coverage is that it will be accessible to a wider fan base with BBC ALBA being available on Freeview, allowing all supporters throughout Scotland to enjoy regular coverage of this highly competitive rugby competition throughout the season.

“Both teams had some exciting matches last year when playing with a home crowd advantage and TV cameras present, and we look forward to supporting both Glasgow and Edinburgh in this year’s competition as they embark on the season ahead.”

Glasgow Warriors head coach, Sean Lineen, said: “We’ve had a very positive pre-season period with our six new signings integrating well and showing the hunger and ability it takes to be a Warrior.

“We’re hugely looking forward to kicking off the RaboDirect PRO12 season next Friday at Ulster, and it’s great to have BBC ALBA on board again as we set about representing Glasgow and the west of Scotland on some of the biggest stages in northern hemisphere club rugby.

“The coverage last season was well received by players and supporters alike, and we’ll be working hard with BBC ALBA again this season to bring the exciting reality of Glasgow Warriors and this fantastic sport to an ever wider audience.”

Edinburgh Rugby head coach, Michael Bradley, said: “It’s fantastic that, for a second successive season, BBC ALBA will continue to offer extensive coverage of Edinburgh Rugby’s matches in the RaboDirect PRO12.

“The club have completely revamped the spectator experience at Murrayfield to allow fans to get much closer to the action and feel the power of some of the most exciting players in northern hemisphere rugby.

“But you can’t always be there, which is why it’s so important to have regular, televised coverage of our best players so that supporters can identify with and be inspired by the characters of our squad. The continuation of this coverage will be welcomed by our fans and will support our efforts to grow as a rugby club.”

So, this World Cup malarkey…

Posted on Aug 23, 2011 in Latest Rugby News

I think its fair to say that my prolonged silence might show that I’m not wildly enthusiastic about the upcoming World Cup. This is true.

I am looking forwards to a great glut of rugby to watch and shoot my mouth off about. Its been a long summer and the World Cup warm-up games have been nice, but essentially still pre-season games. Pre-season games with a great deal of emotion it seems, but still pre-season. It’s a little difficult to get worked up over something that has such a very tenuous connection with what’s going to happen. Now that the squads have been picked and the last games are approaching it feels a bit more serious but so far my favourite pre-season game seen was the mad try fest between Montpellier and Leicester. That’s undoubtedly due to lesser levels of quality, commitment and pressure, but I’m not going to complain too much if it makes for a better game to watch. Now the commitment and pressure levels are getting ramped up –  unless the quality levels follow suit, the World Cup could be as unwatchable as an all day marathon of Deal or No Deal using monopoly money.

Hopefully match sharpness will kick in, the moves will get wheeled out, and backlines will show genuine attacking ability. Bolters will shine, old warhorses shall dust themselves off for one last gallop, and scrum-halves shall concentrate on getting the ball away quickly rather than gobbing off at the ref. Speaking of refs, they shall make consistent decisions, the scrums shall stay up, people will stop to think about why players are selected for World Cup squads before gobbing off and… well, I think I’ve stretched credulity enough there. That there will be some horrifically bad rugby played seems inevitable. The more I think about it, this world cup strikes me as like being a tightrope walking contest for vertigo sufferers. That does sound quite watchable now I’d said it out loud, but mainly as a tragicomic farce. Or, maybe to put it more accurately, the disabled. England, Ireland, and Scotland all suffer from backline malfunctions –  they’re like a man with one leg trying to hop across. Australia have a pack malfunction and will be trying to cross the rope by walking on their hands. France and South Africa both suffer from madcoachitis and may try making the crossing on rollerskates. Wales seem almost problem free by comparison at the moment, but a few injuries will soon reduce them to a state of crippledness. Then there’s New Zealand, the real vertigo sufferers. New Zealand should win this at a canter. They have home advantage, they have a clear advantage in both quality and experience. However, with their wretched history in the competition, they have about as much pressure on them as possible. The monkey on their back is now of King Kong size and proportions.

So, all in all, I’m not expecting a great deal. I’m certainly not expecting a great deal from England. I’m almost more interested in the new domestic seasons and watching the youngsters get their chance if I’m honest. The time has come though to stop inspecting the gift horse’s mouth and enjoy the rugby, and England’s triumphant, slow, attritional, dire march to the final.