Rugby Tackles
Ireland Overcomes Weather to Beat Australia in Rugby (Update1)
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Ireland overcame rain and blustery conditions to defeat Australia 21-6 in today's rugby union international in Dublin after a first-half display that brought a standing ovation from the crowd. Following a positive start by the visitors, who had the wind in their favor in the first half, Ireland gained control as man of the match Neil Best marshalled his forwards. A series of passing movements enabled the Irish to build a 15-3 lead by half-time after tries by Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy. ``We decided to play into the wind in the first half -- a bit of a risk in that, but I thought we were outstanding,'' Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan told BBC television. ``Ball retention was excellent and we were rewarded with two excellent tries.'' The sides exchanged penalties at the start before Hickie skipped past three attempted tackles to give Ireland an 8-3 lead.
Rupeni for his thoughts...
The first tour of the Northern hemisphere by the Pacific Islanders - the combined forces of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga - was much anticipated. Before their historic first match in Wales we all looked up that famous line which followed Western Samoa's victory over Wales in the 1991 World Cup - "Thank god we weren't playing the whole of Samoa", rubbed our hands in glee and waited for the bone-crunching tackles and strong running of the Islanders. But most of all we waited for a rare sighting on the International scene of arguably the greatest talent in world rugby - Fiji's Rupeni Caucaunibuca. However as so often in recent times we have mostly waited in vain. The flying Caucau missed the match in Wales after allegedly losing his passport while travelling in the Heineken Cup for his French club Agen.
Scotland's blunders gift the victory to Wallabies
Few teams wear the mantle of favourites worse than Scotland. Give them concrete grounds for optimism and they will find a way to self-destruct. They did it again at the weekend, collapsing after a bright start to hand Australia a seasonending boost to morale. They did the same thing two years ago when they crumbled in front of a weakened South Africa side, and it remains true that many of the worst recent Scotland performances have come when their confidence was high. They missed tackles and they failed to hang on to the ball when they were tackled. The scrum was rarely stable and they were twice turned and driven to hand the ball back to Australia. After an initial splash of adventure, it was back to one-pass rugby and bulldozer tactics that barely stretched the Wallaby defence. .
August 20th, 2008 03:45 AM
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Rugby Dinner (Jersey Insight)
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Word class rugby players are in the island today. Ex-England rugby captain Martin Corry is holding a fundraising dinner at the Hotel de France as part of his testimonial year. Hell be joined by stars like England Coach Martin Johnson and Irish international Jordan Murphy.
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August 20th, 2008 03:45 AM
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Rugby Training (Jersey Insight)
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Youngsters in Jersey are getting rugby tips from top coaches this week. Around 150 schoolchildren are taking part in a training course run by the Leicester Tigers. Its the third year its been run and is open to boys and girls who want to improve their skills.
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