RUGBY AFRICA CUP: Tournament is Off

The Africa Rugby Cup final tournament has been abandoned. Morocco, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Cameroun were due to participate in this the top prize for rugby among African nations.

Article here explains all.

RUGBY IN DISTANT PADDOCKS: Congo Kinshasa

The Cameroun Rugby Federation has been assisting with technical development of the game in Central Africa through Pierre Nomo. http://www.fecarugby.org/actualites/3/128.html The link gives the full article as it appears on Cameroun rugby web site. What astonished me was the spread of the game in the Central African republic.

"We must remember that the Congolese Federation of Rugby has 25 years of age. The rugby was there primarily supported by mining companies and when they went bankrupt rugby has somewhat disappeared. And civil war that has gripped the country for several years has not helped matters.
Rugby Congolese being reborn from the ashes mainly north of the country where it was 24 clubs in the city of Kinshasa, in the south there are 1-2 clubs in town including Kolwezi, Lubumbashi, which each carry two LIKASHI clubs.
There are 2 clubs in the East in Maniema Province, as well as Muanda in the province of Bas-Congo.
A total of nearly 45 clubs throughout the country and trying to work somehow, despite the lack of funds.
On the technical level of play is average and there is plenty to do. The first generation is aging and the Federation is working to form the new, younger in order to align it with modern techniques of the game."

45 clubs!! Amazing. Sadly the Congo Republic were due to play in Kigali, Rwanda, along with the host nation and Burundi, but did not turn up. It would have been the Congo's international rugby debut.

Training session in Kinshasa. Image thanks to http://www.fecarugby.org/actualites/3/128.html

The Cameroun is also working, according to the article, on the game in neighbouring Gabon, with the aim of forming a federation there, and for Gabon to eventually being admitted to CAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

TO ALL RUGBYINTERNATIONAL BLOG VIEWERS

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

RUGBY TEST MATCH CANCELLED

Because of heavy snow, the Netherlands v Hong Kong rugby test match has been cancelled.

RUGBY TEST MATCH: Final Game for Hong Kong

17.12.2010
Hong Kong v Netherlands in Amsterdam

Venue: National Rugby Centre

Referee:

Preview
This game has been brought forwards to Friday instead of Saturday due to weather forecasts indicate poor weather over Europe Saturday.

This is the third game in Hong Kong's 2010 European tour. They began with a 13-34 loss to Germany last Saturday and then a 56-17 win over Norway Wednesday.

Previous Encounter
19.12.2009 Netherlands 25-10 in Amsterdam

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Netherlands 26th, Hong Kong 29th

IRB Ranking Points
Hong Kong 51.57, Netherlands 48.63

Prediction: Netherlands by 12 points

Teams

Hong Kong Squad
Timothy Alexander (Valley Rugby Club)
Ross Armour (Valley Rugby Club)
Renaud Chavanis (Valley Rugby Club)
Chik, Alvin Man Hon (Valley Rugby Club)
Charles French (Hong Kong Football Club)
Mark Goosen (Kowloon RFC)
Alexander Harris (Kowloon RFC)
Anthony Haynes (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Nicholas Hewson (Valley Rugby Club)
Hong, Pak To CWB Sharks RFC)
Kenneth Hsieh (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Lee Jones (Valley Rugby Club)
Oliver Jones (Hong Kong Football Club)
Phil Leung (DeA Rugby Club)
Andrew Li (Kowloon RFC)
Thomas McColl (Kowloon RFC)
Ng, Alex Wai Shing (Valley Rugby Club)
Matthew Nuttall (DeA Rugby Club)
Matthew Price (DeA Rugby Club)
Adam Raby (Hong Kong Football Club)
Carl Rojens (Valley Rugby Club)
Niall Rowark (Valley Rugby Club)
Simon Smith (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Pale Tauti (DeA Rugby Club)
Wei, Hon Sum (University of Surrey RFC, England)
Yiu, Salom Kam Shing (Valley Rugby Club)
Head Coach: Dai Rees

Adapted from http://www.hkrugby.com/en/node/1406

Netherlands Squad not available

TEST RUGBY RESULT: Hong Kong win Easily in Norway

15.12.2010
Hong Kong 59, Norway 17 in Stavanger

Halftime-33-3

TEST RUGBY: Germans Too Good For Hong Kong

11.12.2010
Germany 34, Hong Kong 13 in Heidelberg

Briefly
Hong Kong opened its 2010 European tour with a 13-34 loss to Germany.

Some details
http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3643
http://www.rugby-journal.de/index.php/basis/meldung/deutschland_besiegt_hongkong_mit_3413/

EUROPEAN RUGBY TOUR: Hong Kong Start Against Germany

11.12.2010
Hong Kong v Germany in Heidelberg

Venue: Fritz-Grunebaum-Sportpark

Referee: Radu Petrescu (Romania)

Preview
This is Hong Kong's second tour of Europe, the first being at this time last year. I can't work out why the tour is in December and not November.

Both sides are not fielding their top sides.For Germany their France and Italian-based players have not been called upon along with former captain Jens Schmidt.

The side about to begin its European tour is without a number of key players. "I see Mark Wright and one other player who is at Toyota Shokki aren`t in the touring party. As TS are struggling in their first year in the TL and it`s outside the IRBs club release period I`m sure the reason is that they refused to release him. I saw that he started in their game last weekend which started the TL`s 2nd half of its regular season after a month long hiatus due to international XVs and the Asian Games where Wright did play. Keith Robertson and Rowan Varty are also missing. I think one of them is the other player at TS. In fact lots of regulars missing. this is more like a HKG A side so with the conditions and their inexperience they may struggle v Germany and mightn't be such a mismatch v Norway". View expressed by 'Yamaha Kiwi' at http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3643 who has lived previously for some time in Japan.

Other previews
http://www.hkrugby.com/en/node/1406

Previous Encounter
12.12.2009 Germany 24-14 in Heidelberg

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table-Germany 25th, Hong Kong 29th

IRB Ranking Points
Germany 53.34, Hong Kong 52.49

Prediction: Germany by 13 points

Teams

Hong Kong Squad
Timothy Alexander (Valley Rugby Club)
Ross Armour (Valley Rugby Club)
Renaud Chavanis (Valley Rugby Club)
Chik, Alvin Man Hon (Valley Rugby Club)
Charles French (Hong Kong Football Club)
Mark Goosen (Kowloon RFC)
Alexander Harris (Kowloon RFC)
Anthony Haynes (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Nicholas Hewson (Valley Rugby Club)
Hong, Pak To CWB Sharks RFC)
Kenneth Hsieh (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Lee Jones (Valley Rugby Club)
Oliver Jones (Hong Kong Football Club)
Phil Leung (DeA Rugby Club)
Andrew Li (Kowloon RFC)
Thomas McColl (Kowloon RFC)
Ng, Alex Wai Shing (Valley Rugby Club)
Matthew Nuttall (DeA Rugby Club)
Matthew Price (DeA Rugby Club)
Adam Raby (Hong Kong Football Club)
Carl Rojens (Valley Rugby Club)
Niall Rowark (Valley Rugby Club)
Simon Smith (Hong Kong Cricket Club)
Pale Tauti (DeA Rugby Club)
Wei, Hon Sum (University of Surrey RFC, England)
Yiu, Salom Kam Shing (Valley Rugby Club)
Head Coach: Dai Rees

Adapted from http://www.hkrugby.com/en/node/1406

Germany Squad
Kehoma Brenner (Heidelberger RK)
Anjo Buckman (Heidelberger RK)
Mustafa Güngör (RG Heidelberg)
Alexander Hauck (SC Frankfurt 1880)
Fabian Heimpel (RG Heidelberg)
Sam Henderson (SC Frankfurt 1880)
Bastian Himmer (RG Heidelberg)
Lukas Hinds-Johnson (RK 03 Berlin)
Alexander Hug (TSV Handschuhsheim)
Tim Kasten (Heidelberger RK)
Jimmy Keinhorst (Otley RUFC, England)
Benjamin Krause (DSV Hannover 78)
Jannis Läpple (SC Frankfurt 1880)
Steffen Liebig (Heidelberger RK)
Tim Menzel (US Colomiers, France)
Rafael Pyrasch (Heidelberger RK)
James Reid (Peterborough RUFC, England)
Patrick Schliwa (Heidelberger RK)
Benjamin Simm (DSV Hannover 78)
Marten Strauch (SC Neuenheim)
Sven-Uwe Wetzel (TSV Handschuhsheim)
Alexander Widiker (Heidelberger RK)
Arthur Zeiler (Heidelberger RK)
Head Coach: Torsten Schippe

http://www.totalrugby.de/

2011 Rugby World Cup Finals: The Pools

The 2011 Rugby World Cup will be held in New Zealand. In defeating Uruguay 39-12 in Bucharest last weekend (with the first leg drawn 21-21), Romania filled the final position at the finals.

Pool A
New Zealand
France
Tonga
Canada
Japan

Pool B
Argentina
England
Scotland
Georgia
Romania

Pool C
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Russia
United States

Pool D
South Africa
Wales
Fiji
Samoa
Namibia

Over the next week I will have a look at each pool and the teams in each. How does the team stand at present and what holds for that team leading up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup