British and Irish Cup kickoff

Posted on Dec 8, 2010 in Rugby News

Esher Rugby make their British & Irish Cup debut on Saturday, with captain David Slemen relishing Llanelli’s visit to Molesley Road.

Having been promoted to the RFU Championship from National 1 last season, Esher enter the cross border competition for the first time. The Welsh side have already recorded a win against Munster in Round 5 of the competition, which was played in October.

“For Esher to play against a great side like Llanelli is a fantastic opportunity," commented Slemen, son of Grand Slam winning England wing Mike Slemen. "It’s the first year for us and in many ways, it’s the biggest competition the club has ever been in so we can’t wait get started”

“Knowing what our coaching staff are like, headed up by Mike Schmid and having seen the squad for Saturday – which is about the strongest team we have – we are going to aim for the very best in this tournament. There are a couple of younger guys who I’m sure will get their opportunity to play and we can perhaps try out a few different combinations that we could use in the RFU Championship.”

Slemen added: “You can’t afford to take your foot of the gas in the RFU Championship, and we have a couple of big games coming up after this weekend, so we will be looking to maintain our form in the British & Irish Cup on Saturday.”

The first year of the competition in 2009-10 saw Cornish Pirates lift the trophy in a 21-14 victory over Munster at Camborne.

The Rugby Football Union’s Tournaments and Competitions Director Terry Burwell commented: "The new tournament proved to be a quality cross-border competition in its debut season, and I’ve no doubt that will be the case again this year. The competition saw some long standing rivalries played out on the pitch as Irish and English and Welsh and Scottish team collided, resulting in a thrilling victory for Cornish Pirates."

About the British & Irish Cup
Teams
* 12 English RFU Championship clubs (Bedford Blues, Birmingham & Solihull & Solihull, Bristol Rugby, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster Knights, Esher Rugby, London Welsh, Moseley, Nottingham Rugby, Plymouth Albion, Rotherham Titans, Worcester Warriors)
* top 6 Welsh Principality Premiership clubs (Llanelli, Llandovery, Neath, Newport, Pontypridd, Swansea)
* 3 Irish provinces – Munster, Leinster and Ulster Ravens
* 3 Scottish teams – top 3 finishers in Premier 1 (Ayr, Currie and Melrose). The Gael Force team will no longer continue.
Pool Stages
* 4 pools of 6 playing once (5 matches/rounds)
* 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 bonus point for either a) scoring 4 or more tries or b) losing by 7 points or less
Quarter finals
* top two in each pool progress to knockout stage
* pool winners have home advantage
Semi finals and final
* four winning quarter finalists progress to semi final draw
* winning semi finalists progress to final

Pools
Pool A: Cornish Pirates, Currie, Leinster, Newport, Plymouth Albion, Worcester Warriors
Pool B: Bristol Rugby, Esher, Llanelli, Melrose, Munster, Nottingham Rugby
Pool C: Bedford Blues, London Welsh, Moseley, Neath, Swansea, Ulster
Pool D: Ayr, Birmingham & Solihull, Doncaster Knights, Llandovery, Pontypridd, Rotherham Titans
Fixtures
Round 1, December 11
Pool A: Leinster v Plymouth Albion, Currie v Cornish Pirates, Worcester Warriors v Newport
Pool B : Bristol Rugby v Nottingham Rugby, Melrose v Munster, Esher v Llanelli
Pool C: London Welsh v Moseley, Bedford Blues v Ulster, Swansea v Neath
Pool D: Birmingham & Solihull v Doncaster Knights, Rotherham Titans v Llandovery, Pontypridd v Ayr
Round 2, December 18
Pool A: Plymouth Albion v Newport, Cornish Pirates v Leinster, Currie v Worcester Warriors
Pool B: Melrose v Esher, Llanelli v Nottingham Rugby, Bristol Rugby v Munster
Pool C: Neath v Bedford Blues, Ulster v Moseley, London Welsh v Swansea
Pool D: Doncaster Knights v Rotherham, Ayr v Llandovery, Pontypridd v Birmingham & Solihull
Round 3, January 15
Pool A: Cornish Pirates v Plymouth Albion, Leinster v Worcester Warriors, Currie v Newport
Pool B: Esher v Bristol Rugby, Nottingham Rugby v Munster, Llanelli v Melrose
Pool C: Bedford Blues v London Welsh, Moseley v Swansea, Ulster v Neath
Pool D: Pontypridd v Rotherham, Llandovery v Doncaster Knights, Birmingham & Solihull v Ayr
Round 4, January 22
Pool A: Worcester Warriors v Plymouth Albion, Leinster v Currie, Newport v Cornish Pirates
Pool B: Nottingham Rugby v Melrose, Bristol Rugby v Llanelli, Munster v Esher
Pool C: Moseley v Neath, London Welsh v Ulster, Swansea v Bedford Blues
Pool D: Rotherham v Ayr, Doncaster Knights v Pontypridd, Llandovery v Birmingham & Solihull
Round 5, February 26
Pool A: Worcester Warriors v Cornish Pirates, Plymouth Albion v Currie, Newport 28  Leinster 33*
Pool B: Esher v Nottingham Rugby, Melrose v Bristol Rugby, Munster 13 Llanelli 15*
Pool C: Bedford Blues v Moseley, Neath v London Welsh, Swansea 12 Ulster 32*
Pool D: Birmingham & Solihull v Rotherham, Ayr v Doncaster Knights, Llandovery 18 Pontypridd 28*
NB: It was agreed by the British & Irish Cup Organising Committee that to avoid a clash with the RBS 6 Nations matches on February 26 that the Round 5 matches marked * will be played on the weekend of October 16.
Quarter finals, March 5
Pool A Winner v Pool C Runner Up
Pool C Winner v Pool A Runner Up
Pool B Winner v Pool D Runner Up
Pool D Winner v Pool B Runner Up
Semi finals, April 23

Final, May 7

Knights besiege Damson Park

Posted on Dec 8, 2010 in British and Irish Cup

The British & Irish Cup commences for the Knights with an away game against Birmingham/Solihull Bees. It will be the Knights first visit to Damson Park and I’m sure the fans are looking forward to the experience.

This season the Knights are in Pool D alongside Ayr, Birmingham & Solihull, Llandovery, Pontypridd and Rotherham Titans.

Round 1 sees Rotherham Titans welcome Llandovery, Ayr travel to Pontypridd and the Knights travel to the Birmingham/Solihull Bees new home ground. The game is being played on a Sunday and with a kick off time of 3.00pm.

In Round 2 on the weekend of December 18, the Knights welcome local rivals, Rotherham Titans, Ayr host Llandovery and Birmingham/Solihull Bees fly over the border to Wales to play Pontpridd. The Knights host their game, the second South Yorkshire Derby, on Sunday the 19th December with a 3pm kick off to allow for “ extra time” on Christmas lunch.

This is the second season of the B&I Cup and, after a fairly slow start last season, the organisers are hoping that the tournament will start capturing the public’s imagination just like the Heineken Cup did around the millennium.

With the Knights reaching the Semi Final last season all eyes will be on the team to see if they can achieve an even longer run this time around. Youngsters like Tom Doughty and Dom Parsons could play a big part this season as Matt Lowcock and Lewis Thiede did in the last.

In the equivalent fixture last season played at Castle Park, the Knights were the victors by 41 points to 8. It was the Knights seventh game in 21 days, so they’d had plenty of game time! The game was three days after a defeat by league-leaders Bristol which was their only defeat in that incredible run. It was the Bees that scored the final try of the game, through full back Tom Foden.

Last season the Bees lost all 5 games in their British and Irish cup stay, and only won 1 losing bonus point. The Championship having seen the Bees pack a sting in the tail this season will make everyone wary of them in a Cup Competition.

Greening warns Welsh against complacency

Posted on Sep 17, 2010 in Championship, English Rugby, Welsh Rugby

London Welsh head coach Phil Greening has warned his players against complacency ahead of the Exiles’ trip to Plymouth Albion, who are still searching for their first Championship win of the season.

Welsh travel to the south coast on the back of a bonus-point win over Birmingham & Solihull, which moves the Dragons up to fifth in the table. That followed a below-par performance at the Cornish Pirates and Greening is keen to continue the upward curve on Saturday.

Plymouth are without a win in three, but their last outing at Brickfields saw them push promotion favourites Worcester Warriors all the way before eventually going down 26-19.

London Welsh head coach Phil Greening said: “Plymouth are a very physical well drilled side – a typical Graham Dawe team. It will be another tough Championship game and I’m expecting a bit of a backlash from them after their recent results.

“Their position in the table is not a true reflection and we know they are going to be a very different animal at home. Any team coached by Dawe’s is going to be very physical and very up for it.

“For us, it’s hugely important that we keep the momentum of last weekend going. We are always trying to improve and raise standards; we got some way there against Birmingham & Solihull, but we didn’t completely hit those standards.

“Training this week has been really good, really competitive. Getting back on the horse and getting that win under our belts against Birmingham & Solihull, after the Pirates defeat, was crucial and the boys have been really upbeat about it this week.

“Having said that, we’ve been working hard on our decision making, both in attack and defence, tidying up individual mistakes, our set piece could be tightened up and our discipline – we have away far too many penalties and free kicks against Birmingham & Solihull.”

London Welsh 26- man squad v Plymouth Albion – kick off 3pm at Brickfields

Lee Beach, Marc Breeze, Errie Claassens, Matt Corker, Josh Drauniniu, Liam Gibson, Michaels Hills, Michael Holford, Wiasea Luveniyali, Paul Mackey, Jonathan Mills, Saul Nelson, Shawn Pittman, Mike Powell, Martin Purdy, Gordon Ross, Nick Runciman, Ben Russell, Paul Sampson, Doninic Shabbo, Ben Stevenson, Epi Taione, Hudson Tonga’uiha, Lorne Ward, Simon Whatling, Dan Williams.

Kyle to lead the Pirates against the Bees

Posted on Sep 17, 2010 in Rugby News

In the absence of rested captain Gavin Cattle, the Cornish Pirates, who have a few players injured, have named Kyle Marriott to lead them in Sunday’s RFU Championship Round 4 match against Birmingham & Solihull. Kick-off at the Mennaye Field, Penzance, is at 3pm.

No. 8 Kyle is part of a new look back-row, which provides a first Championship appearance of the season for open-side flanker Tyrone Holmes.

In the front-row, Rudi Brits returns at tight-head prop, with Carl Rimmer moving across to loose-head, and Rob Elloway is named to start at hooker, having been used as a replacement for Dave Ward in the opening three games.

James Doherty will look to comfortably slot into the scrum-half berth in place of Gavin Cattle, and with Jonny Bentley returning from injury as his half-back partner, Rob Cook moves back to full-back.

Other changes in the backs sees Nick Jackson move to outside centre, with Rhodri McAtee selected on the wing.

The named teams for Sunday are as follows:-

Cornish Pirates: R. Cook, R. McAtee, N. Jackson, T. Luke, W. Davies, J. Bentley, J. Doherty, K. Marriott (capt), T. Holmes, S. Betty, M. Myerscough, I. Nimmo, R. Brits, R. Elloway, C. Rimmer.
Replacements: R. Storer, D. Ward, J. Currie, C. Morgan, B. Cowan, G. Pointer, S. Winn.

Birmingham & Solihull: O. Winter, A. Elliott, O. Grove, W. Lawson, M. Culpin, S. Robinson, R. Petty, M. Hopley, J. Preece, J. Bentall, A. Griffiths, S. Taulava, N. Tau, D. Oselton, M. Long.
Replacements: L. Halavatu, R. Dugard, A. Ball, M. Denbee, D. Sanderson, J. Brake, S. Hunt.

Referee: Michael Tutty (RFU) Assistants: Dale Newitt & Eric Woodmason

Assessor: Steve Leyshon

Championship weekend results

Posted on Sep 13, 2010 in Championship, English Rugby

Worcester continue their early dominance of the Championship  with a hard fought win over Rotherham, running out 32-25 winners. Second placed Bedford Blues made up for their loss last week with a resounding defeat of Esher. Their 31-9 win was the biggest win of the weekend and underlines Mike Rayer’s team’s steady progress.

Meanwhile wins for London Welsh, Nottingham, and Doncaster, together with an away draw for Cornish Pirates at Mosely shook the table up, although Birmingham and Solihull remain fixed to the foot of the table.