Jones delighted with Pirates victory

Posted on May 24, 2012 in London Welsh

London Welsh head coach Lyn Jones was delighted by his side’s 37-21 win over the Cornish Pirates in the Championship final 1st Leg at Mennaye Field on Wednesday night, but has warned against getting too carried away.

“What you’ve got to take into consideration is the magnitude of the match and the standard of the opposition,” said Jones

“For us to come down in the middle of the week, against a highly motivated Pirates side, where not many people do well, and score 37 points, we’re delighted. We’re not hiding that, we are delighted.

“But also we’re not hiding away from the fact that these guys will have a lot of motivation for next week to come back at us.”

The Exiles ended a run of three straight defeats at Mennaye Field thanks to tries from Joe Ajuwa, Nick Scott, Hudson Tonga’uiha and James Lewis, and 14 points from the boot of full back Alex Davies.

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Two more sign on at Goldington Road

Posted on May 23, 2012 in Bedford

Just a week after announcing the capture of Premiership duo Tom Armes and Ben Gulliver, Bedford Blues are delighted to announce two further signings for the next Championship campaign.

With two props leaving the club at the conclusion of the 2011/12 season, the Blues have moved quickly to capture Newcastle front row star Darren Fearn who has been with the Falcons since 2010.

Fearn, 23, was born and raised in Yorkshire and started his playing career with local side Scarborough before moving to Newcastle to study at Northumbria University. After playing for Blaydon in the 2008/9 season and picking up an England Student cap, Fearn was awarded a full time deal with the Falcons which coincided with his studies.

At six foot three inches tall and tipping the scales at the 20 stone mark, Fearn is certain to add plenty of beef to the Bedford front row next term.

Also signing for Bedford this week is impressive Esher fly half Mark Atkinson who has quite the rugby CV despite being just 22 years old.

Atkinson, who can also play at inside centre, started his career with Sale before turning out for Sedgley Park, Rosslyn Park and Wasps prior to joining Esher last season where he put in a scintillating first half performance against Bedford in September only to go off injured at the interval.

Having picked up caps for England Under 18s and Under 20s, Atkinson will provide plenty of competition for the much sought after Bedford Blues number ten jersey.

Commenting on the signing, Blues Director of Rugby Mike Rayer said: “It has been a busy couple of weeks for us at Goldington Road but we are delighted to be able to welcome Darren and Mark to the club.

“Darren is a good, young prop who has Premiership and European experience and will add plenty of momentum to the Blues scrum. Anyone who was at Moseley Road last season will know what Mark can do given the tiniest amount of space and I look forward to seeing him in action in a Blues shirt soon.”

Nottingham pay tribute to “Captain Fantastic”

Posted on May 11, 2012 in Championship, Nottingham

Nottingham Rugby’s most decorated captain is leaving the club for the opportunity of a life-time in Hong Kong.

After a decade-long career with the Green and Whites, skippering the side a record 227 times, Craig Hammond has accepted a job as player-coach of Hong Kong Scottish.

Until the 33-year-old lock got a phone call out of the blue from the Oriental rugby hot-bed, he was considering a contract extension to stay with Nottingham and was busy planning his testimonial year with the RFU Championship club.

But when invited to tour the facilities of the Premiership club in the City-State last week, Hammond simply couldn’t resists taking the bold step into management and penned a two-year deal with the outfit.

Having recently guided Midlands One East club Ilkeston to Derbyshire Cup glory, the New Zealander clearly indicated that he was thinking hard about life after playing.

“It’s been an emotional decision to come to, leaving a club, a city and people that have been so good to me for so long for an exciting chance to further my career in an amazing place like Hong Kong,” said Hammond, who will be relocating with his wife and three children in June.

“Sure, I could see myself playing at Nottingham for a few more seasons, but this opportunity is just too good to knock back.

“I’ll be mentored in coaching at a high level, working with both the Hong Kong Rugby Union and an ambitious side like Scottish.

I’ve just turned 33 so it’s a perfect time to transition from playing to coaching, which is what I’ve always wanted.”

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RFU Podcast: Lancaster, Vickerman, Maddocks, Tietjens, Robshaw, Farrell

Posted on May 11, 2012 in English Rugby, RFU Podcast

This week’s RFU Podcast comes from Loughborough where England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster has announced an exciting 42-man squad heading for South Africa this summer.

There are 13 uncapped players in the group with Danny Care and James Haskell both returning to the fold for next month’s tour which includes three Tests and two midweek games.

Twickenham is about to host another record-breaking 100,000-plus crowd at this weekend’s Marriott London Sevens.

England Sevens captain Rob Vickerman is looking forward to coming home after eight overseas legs in the HSBC Sevens World Series but series leaders New Zealand – coached by Gordon Tietjens – will want to claim another title.

We hear from England’s newly-appointed Women’s Sevens coach Barry Maddocks, whose side want to build on a tournament win in Hong Kong on their last outing.

The Aviva Premiership is moving into its knockout stages and we were at the annual awards night this week to speak to Harlequins and England captain Chris Robshaw – named the Premiership’s Player of the Season – and Land Rover Discovery of the Season, Saracens and England fly half Owen Farrell.

And we also caught up with Dr Mark Brosnan, the scientist tasked with analysing which club has the most passionate fans.

Baxter bolsters playing options up front with lock Damian Welch

Posted on May 10, 2012 in Exeter Chiefs

Saturday may have brought the curtain down on Exeter’s second season in the Aviva Premiership, but Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter is already hard at work planning for the 2012/13 campaign.

Having already brought in six new recruits for next season, Baxter has further bolstered his playing options up front with the acquisition of imposing lock Damian Welch from the Scarlets.

The 29-year-old forward, who stands at 6ft 6ins and tops the scales at almost 19 stone, has agreed a two-year deal with the Exeter Chiefs and arrives at Sandy Park from the Welsh region with a wealth of playing experience not only in the RaboDirect Pro12, but also the Heineken Cup as well.

Baxter has made no secret of his desire to bring in new stock in Exeter’s engine room following the retirements of both Peter Short and Chris Bentley – and Chad Slade’s departure to French Division Two side Oyonnax.

Already Baxter had occupied one of the berths with the signing of Australian international Dean Mumm from the Waratahs – and Welch, who has previously played for Cardiff University, Pontypridd, Cardiff and the Cardiff Blues, now provides a second new addition in that area to challenge for a first team spot.

“We knew we’d have to sign a couple of second rows with the guys leaving – Peter Short, Bentos and Chad,” said Baxter. “We’ve been looking at Damian for some time, I think it’s the third time I’ve spoken to him about potentially coming to Exeter.

“Initially I had a good look at him before he started playing professional rugby at Cardiff, didn’t quite think he was a fit for us at the time. He got a contract with the Cardiff Blues and pre him joining the Scarlets I had another chat with him but at the time he was thinking there were potentially some Wales caps there, he was playing very well.

“I’ve kept an eye on him all along and when I found out quite recently the Scarlets were prepared to release him from the second year of his contract we got onto things very quickly. He came down, did his testing again and he really is a great athlete.

“Our job is to keep guiding him, he’s athletic make-up is fantastic. He’s tested pretty much as quick as Tom Johnson but he varies between 115 and 120kg, very low body fat, he’s a big, athletic guy, very quick and pacy and he’s played Heineken Cup rugby this year.”

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