OCEANIA CUP RUGBY: Day 1 29 November

29.11.2011
Solomon Islands 22, Niue 19 in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)
Papua New Guinea 78, Vanuatu 3 in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

Briefly
Solomon Islands caused a minor surprise when they defeated Niue on the first day of the 2011 Oceania Cup. Papua New Guinea ran away with the main game, a 78-3 win over Vanuatu.

Day 2 continues Thursday
01.12.2011
Vanuatu v Niue in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)
Papua New Guinea v Solomon Islands in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

The tournament concludes Saturday
03.12.2011
Vanuatu v Solomon Islands in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)
Papua New Guinea v Niue in Port Moresby (Oceania Cup)

The Oceania Cup is run by the IRB’s regional body for the area, FORU.

RUGBY TEST AND INTERNATIONAL RESULTS: Saturday 26 November 2011

26.11.2011
Australia 60, Barbarians (UK) RFC 11 at Twickenham (Non test)
Moldova 13, Czech Republic 6 in Prague (ENC 1B)
Switzerland 22. Andorra 21 in Andorra La Vela (ENC 2B)

Briefly
Australia were too good for a Barbarians side sadly unable to keep up with the Southern Hemisphere side.

In front of a good crowd Moldova dominated in the forwards to win in Prague. They are now well placed to challenge Belgium for the title.

The winner of ENC 1B, and thus promotion to ENC 1A, looks like being between Poland, Moldova and Belgium. Belgium has more games in hand and looks the favoured side to win with the spring matches to come.

ENC 1B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
POLAND	8	5	1	2	193	150	43	1	1	24
MOLDOVA	7	5	1	1	145	114	31	2	0	24
BELGIUM	6	5	0	1	178	88	90	2	1	23
CZECH R.	9	4	0	5	143	198	-54	1	2	19
GERMANY	7	2	0	5	140	158	-18	0	3	11
NETH.	7	0	0	7	91	183	-92	0	1	1

Switzerland kept their title hopes alive with a narrow one point win over Andorra. ‘Swiss owned the first half but had to kick a very late penalty to win after Andorra came back to take the lead.’ http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3956

Switzerland are way out in front. The competition resumes in the northern spring.

ENC 2B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
SWITZ.	6	5	0	1	148	104	44	1	1	23
ANDORRA	6	3	0	3	121	96	25	1	2	15
SERBIA	6	3	0	3	137	135	2	1	0	13
ARMENIA	4	2	0	2	80	62	18	0	2	10
SLOVENIA	6	1	0	5	56	125	-69	0	0	4

INTERNATIONAL RUGBY MATCH: Barbarians Face Wallabies

26.11.2011
Australia v Barbarians (UK) RFC at Twickenham (Non test)

Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Preview
Australia is the only international rugby team present at the 2011 Rugby World Cup to venture north this northern autumn.

The Australians will play a test match against Wales next weekend but first they face the Barbarians at Twickenham.

Whenever I think of Barbarians rugby I always, probably along with 99% of you, think of the famous game in 1973 against New Zealand and THAT try by Gareth Edwards. But I also spare a thought for an even more emotional game against New Zealand in 1964 and Wilson Whineray’s equally famous try.

Apparently the game will be played for the Killik Cup. Silly me. I have always associated Barbarian matches as friendly affairs. So with a bit of research I came up with this bit of information.

‘Sophie Morris, Director of Marketing at Killik & Co, commented: “Killik & Co has been Associate Match Sponsor of Barbarian games held at Twickenham since they played New Zealand in December 2009. It is a relationship that we are very pleased with and are delighted to extend our association with the prestigious club through title sponsorship of this game.” ‘
http://www.sponsorship-awards.co.uk/news/killik-co-sponsorsship-barbarian-v-australia-line-twickenham

Former New Zealand coach, and guider of that team to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, Graham Henry has the honour of coaching the Barbarians side. This fittingly means he will lock horns with his Kiwi rival and now head coach of Australia Robbie Deans

The Barbarian selection throws up some interesting characters. Mortlock, Matfield, Shaw, Stringer, Marconnet and White could well be bidding farewell to the international rugby scene whilst Tomkins has apparently been ‘borrowed’ from the rugby league code for this match.

The Australians have a sprinkling of players on the fringe of test rugby and possibly resting players ahead of the big clash against Wales next weekend.

Prediction: Hmmm. Australia to be more cohesive and win by 7 points.

Teams

Barbarians
15 Isaia Toeava, 14 Samuel Tomkins, 13 Robert Fruean, 12 Stirling Mortlock, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Daniel Cipriani, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Adam Thomson,
7 Mauro Bergamasco, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Victor Matfield, Capt. 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Sylvain Marconnet, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Eusebio Guinazu.
Replacements
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Salvatore Perugini, 18 Jason White, 19 Marco Bortolami, 20 Nemia Kenatale, 21 Richard Kahui, 22 Seru Rabeni.
Coach: Graham Henry

Australia
15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachlan Turner, 13 Robert Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 James O'Connor, 9 William Genia, 8 Benjamin McCalman, 7 David Pocock,Capt. 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe,
4 Robert Simmons, 3 Salesi Ma'afu, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements
16 Stephen Moore, 17 Benjamin Alexander, 18 James Horwill, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Matthew Hodgson, 21 Nicholas Phipps, 22 Benjamin Tapuai.
Coach: Robbie Deans

EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP RUGBY TEST MATCH: Div. 1B

26.11.2011
Moldova v Czech Republic in Prague (ENC 1B)

Venue: Stadion Josefa Kohouta, Říčany

Referee: Barguanas (Romania)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
POLAND	8	5	1	2	193	150	43	1	1	24
BELGIUM	6	5	0	1	178	88	90	2	1	23
MOLDOVA	6	4	1	1	132	108	24	2	0	20
CZECH R.	8	4	0	4	137	185	-47	1	1	18
GERMANY	7	2	0	5	140	158	-18	0	3	11
NETH.	7	0	0	7	91	183	-92	0	1	1

Preview
This is the last Division 1B match until February.

‘On the occasion of 85 years of the Czech Rugby (1926-2011), the famous squad lead by captain Eduard Krützner which on May 1968 in Prague lost to France with all their stars of that time only 6:19 (3:3 in the second half!) will be awarded.’ http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3955&p=44474#p44474 So this is indeed a special occasion for Czech Republic with a famous match to remember and a famous captain honoured.

The French Team on the day!

15	FB	Pierre Villepreux
14	W	Jean-Marie Bonal
13	C	Jean-Pierre Lux
12	C	Jo Maso
11	W	Andre Campaes
10	FH	Claude Lacaze
9	SH	Marcel Puget
1	P	Michel Lasserre
2	H	Michel Yachvili
3	P	Jean-Claude Noble
4	L	Alain Plantefol
5	L	Elie Cester
6	F	Jean Salut
7	F	Christian Carrere (c)
8	N8	Michel Greffe

Image thanks to www.scrum.com

So back to today’s game.

The Czech Republic has had a very chequered 2011 year at this level of test rugby. They reached a serious low with the heavy defeat to Belgium earlier in the month but recovered to win well against Netherlands last weekend.

Moldova has a much better record. They remain undefeated since March and drew with the rising Polish team two weeks ago. Compared with the Poles they have lost only the one match and although further down the points table, have two matches in hand.

Moldova has a better recent record against the Czech Republic but both games were home games. They lost their 2008 test v Czech Republic in Prague.

Previous Encounters
19.03.2011 Moldova 24-16 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
14.11.2009 Moldova 45-30 in Chisinau (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 2A)
27.11.2008 Czech Republic 11-9 in Prague (WCQ Europe R4; ENC 2A)

Czech Republic Last Five
19.11.2011 v Netherlands W 22-10 in Prague (ENC 1B)
05.11.2011 v Belgium L 0-55 in Brussels (ENC 1B)
15.10.2011 v Poland L 13-20 in NowySacz (ENC 1B)
19.03.2011 v Moldova L 16-24 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
12.03.2011 v Germany W 29-23 in Heidelberg (ENC 1B)

Moldova Last Five
12.11.2011 v Poland D 17-17 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
30.04.2011 v Netherlands W 22-15 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
02.04.2011 v Germany W 28-15 in Chisinau (ENC 2B)
19.03.2011 v Czech Republic W 24-16 in Chisinau (ENC 1B)
12.02.2011 v Belgium L 5-20 in Brussels (ENC 1B)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Moldova 13th, Czech Republic 16th

IRB Ranking Points
Moldova 53.75, Czech Republic 52.65

Prediction: Moldova by 4 points.

Teams

Czech Republic

1.Šuster Roman (C)
2.Kutil Ondřej
3.Indrák Pavel
4.Wognitsch Martin
5.Holovský Tomáš
6.Leroch Patrik
7.Nešpor Karel
8.Černý Jiří
9.Pailodze Vakhtang
10.Jirman Milan
11.Schlanger Michal
12.Okleštěk Petr
13.Jursík Václav
14.Jirman Michal
15.Rohlík Jan
16.Průša Michal
17.Macháček Lukáš
18.Hocke Pavel
19.Backa Radim
20. Havel Vojtěch
21 Schütz Zbyněk
22.Sulamanidze Ivane
http://www.rugbyunion.cz/na-moldavce-do-rican

Moldova team not available

EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP TEST RUGBY: Switzerland v Andorra

26.11.2011
Switzerland v Andorra in Andorra La Vela (ENC 2B)

Venue: Camp del Consell

Referee: Muldoon (Netherlands)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	BT	BL	PT
SWITZ.	5	4	0	1	126	83	43	1	1	19
ANDORRA	5	3	0	2	100	74	26	1	1	14
SERBIA	6	3	0	3	137	135	2	1	0	13
ARMENIA	4	2	0	2	80	62	18	0	2	10
SLOVENIA	6	1	0	5	56	125	-69	0	0	4

Preview
The only things definite about this pool is that Switzerland has a handy lead and Slovenia is struggling to avoid relegation.

Anything can still happen in this pool. Andorra are within range of Switzerland with 2 losses. Along with Serbia they pose a threat. This test match should give a clearer picture of the future. If Switzerland wins they will be a difficult team to catch. An Andorran win will bring the leader back closer to the pack.

This will be a very close game. Without knowing the Andorran line up their strength is difficult to determine. Andorra, with the home advantage, will be all out to win.

Switzerland bring what looks like an experienced side to Andorra. They have a good sprinkling of foreign-based players. If they knit together it could be a winning combination.

This could be a cracker of a game with little in it.

Last Five Encounters
19.03.2011 Switzerland 21-9 in Nyon (ENC 2B)
08.05.2010 Andorra 10-0 in Andorra La Vela (ENC 3A)
14.03.2009 Switzerland 32-9 in Avusy (WCQ Europe R1; ENC 3A)
26.09.1998 Switzerland 15-14 in Andorra La Vela (FIRA D)
29.10.1992 Switzerland 10-0 in Andorra La Vela (WCQ Europe)

The 1992 test was the first between these two nations.

Andorra Last Five
12.11.2011 v Slovenia W 15-6 in Ljubliana (ENC 2B)
19.03.2011 v Switzerland L 9-21 in Nyon (ENC 2B)
19.02.2011 v Serbia W 42-25 in Andorra La Vela (ENC 2B)
13.11.2010 v Armenia L 15-12 in Abovian (ENC 2B)
09.10.2010 v Slovenia W 22-7 in Andorra La Vela (ENC 2B)

Switzerland Last Five
12.11.2011 v Serbia W 27-19 in Belgrade (ENC 2B)
30.04.2011 v Slovenia W 33-10 in Ljubliana (ENC 2B)
19.03.2011 v Andorra W 21-9 in Nyon (ENC 2B)
20.11.2010 v Serbia L 15-18 in Belgrade (ENC 2B)
02.10.2010 v Armenia W 30-27 in Lausanne (ENC 2B)

GWC Rugby Rankings
Europe Table-Switzerland 24th, Andorra 26th

IRB Ranking Points
Switzerland 44.67, Andorra 43.77

Prediction: Switzerland by 1 point

Teams

Switzerland Squad

Forwards:
Lucas Jacquier (Avusy)
Eddy Gombas (Avusy)
Cyril Lafuye (Chambéry/France)
Mathieu Paul (Orthez/France)
Clément Bärtschi (Villeurbanne/France)
Schelte Betten (GC Zürich)
Nicolas Guyou (Chateaurenard/France)
Jake Serex (Pebbles/Scotland)
Nicolas Dimitri (Lormont/France)
Cyril Lin (Lannemezan/France)
Cyril Coulot (Kituro/Belgium)
Andreas Dahinden (Stade Lausanne)
Jonathan Wullschleger (Lyon Saint Priest/France)

Backs:
Simon Perrod (Oyonnax/France M21)
Loïc Reffet (Yverdon)
Iain Mowat (Hermance)
Jacky Dervey (Stade Lausanne)
Adrien Faudot (Thonon/France)
Franz Ruegsegger (Bern)
Mathieu Guyou-Kreis (Maisons-Laffitte/France)
Thomas Brossard (Annecy)
Benjamin Faudot (Thonon)

Andorra Squad not available