RWC 2011 qualifier match dates confirmed.
The dates of the CONSUR B/NAWIRA play-off matches between Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago have been announced as the Rugby World Cup 2011 qualifying competition gathers pace.

The first leg will be Trinidad & Tobago v Brazil in Port of Spain on 11 October. The second leg will take place in Brazil on 18 October at a venue yet to be announced.

The winner over the two legs will go on to join Chile and Uruguay in the CONSUR A RWC 2011 qualifying tournament, scheduled for May 2009.

In April Trinidad & Tobago overcame Guyana 40-24 in the final of the Caribbean Championship, doubling up as the first round of RWC 2011 qualifying in the region, to book their place in the next round.

Brazil defeated host nation Paraguay 15-6 in the CONSUR B tournament in Asunción at the end of June.

Source: IRB.com

Oceania sides battle for RWC 7s spot

The latest phase of qualifying for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 takes place this weekend with the Oceania region men's and women's tournaments in Apia, Samoa.

Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Niue and Tahiti will compete in the men’s event, with New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Samoa and Niue bidding to make history and qualify for the first ever RWC Sevens women’s competition.

The top two men’s teams will qualify for RWC Sevens 2009 in Dubai from 5-7 March, joining defending champions Fiji, runners-up New Zealand and Australia who qualified automatically from the region by making the Melrose Cup quarter-finals in Hong Kong in 2005.

Samoa’s women have the honour of getting the Oceania qualifier underway at Apia Park against New Zealand on Friday before facing Niue, Australia and Fiji in the round robin competition. The top four sides will then progress to the semi-finals on Saturday with the top two qualifying for RWC Sevens.

The men’s competition will see two pools on day one with hosts and IRB Sevens World Series core team Samoa joined in Pool A by Niue, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands with Tonga, Cook Islands, Vanuatu and Tahiti drawn in Pool B.

Regional qualifiers have already taken place in South America and Europe this year with Uruguay, Portugal, Wales, Georgia, Ireland and Italy joining automatic qualifiers Fiji, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Australia, France, Scotland, Argentina and Host Union Arabian Gulf in the men’s event.

The seven nations already qualified for the first ever RWC Sevens women’s event are Brazil, England, the Netherlands, Russia, France, Spain and Italy.

Following the Oceania qualifier this weekend, four further regional tournaments will take place in Africa (Uganda, September 20-21, women), Asia (Hong Kong, September 4-5, men and women), North America (Bahamas, October 24-25, men and women) and Africa (Tunisia, October 31–November 1, men).

“Preparation for Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009 is building momentum. The regional qualifying structure is another important milestone along the road to Dubai and is the largest qualifying process for a Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament, underlining Rugby Sevens truly global appeal,”

said IRB Sevens Manager Beth Coalter.

Source: Scrum.com

Cayman Islands will represent NAWIRA [North America West Indies Rugby Association] at the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy next year after beating Mexico 22-3 in the Caribbean Under 19 Championship final on Saturday, an achievement described as a "momentous occasion" in their history.

It was the first time that either side had reached the final, Cayman Islands having beaten Guyana and Mexico defeated the defending champions Jamaica - who played in the inaugural Junior World Rugby Trophy in Chile back in April - in the pool stages to stand one win away from qualification.

Mexico enjoyed the perfect start when centre Christian Hennings kicked a penalty in the first minute in Barbados, but Cayman Islands responded with a try from their inspirational leader in the forwards Daniel McGrath in the 14th minute, Gulliame Hammersley's conversion making it 7-3 at half-time.

Cayman dominated much of the match with fly half Joel Clarke pinning Mexico back in their own 22 with some excellent tactical kicking, a penalty by Hammersley extending their advantage before scrum half Michael Wilson scored his side's second try to make it 17-3.

Giant steps for rugby development

There was still time for second row Taron Forbes to touch down to complete Cayman's victory and secure their place in an IRB international 15-a-side tournament for the first time in the second tier of Under 20 rugby beneath the IRB Junior World Championship.

"This victory is a momentous occasion for rugby in Cayman and without doubt the most impressive achievement in the Union's history," admitted Richard Adams, the Technical Director of Cayman Rugby. "Many of these players have come through our youth development programme and worked hard for three years to get to this stage."

This was a sentiment echoed by Miguel Carner, President of the Federacion Mexicana de Rugby, who acknowledged that "just getting to the final was a huge step for the further development of rugby in both Unions" and he was "encouraged and enthralled by the vast steps in progress made by this young Mexican side in the last couple of years."

Mexico captain Santiago Leboreiro added: "The achievement by Mexico this week will hopefully encourage more Mexican youngsters to take up rugby and without doubt it is a giant step forward for the development of the game in our country."

Wins for Jamaica and T&T

All eyes may have been on the final, but the two sides who had contested the 2007 showpiece were battling for third place with Jamaica ultimately coming out on top with a 12-0 defeat of Guyana after rediscovering some of the form that had been missing in the pool stages of the tournament.

Both teams looked to play an expansive running game, looking to move the ball away from the breakdown whenever possible to utilise their pace out wide, but strong defence kept the match scoreless at half-time.

Jamaica, though, started the second half brightly with Andre McFarlane and Dervel Rodney touching down shortly after the break to seal victory against a side they had needed a penalty shootout to defeat in last year's final.

Trinidad & Tobago finished the tournament on a high with their first win, 22-19 over hosts Barbados in the fifth place playoff with centre Derande-Jones Mandessa scoring a hat-trick of tries, the first in the opening minute, the second an interception and the third the match-winner.

Mandessa's two first half tries gave Trinidad & Tobago a 15-0 lead, before Tahier Niles scored a try for an improving Barbados side. Christian Preece and second row Biko Beckles touched down after the break to give Barbados a 19-15 lead, only for Mandessa to complete his hat-trick and deny the home crowd a victory to celebrate.

Source: IRB Website

Jamaica down Barbados in NAWIRA opener

Defending champs Jamaica opened their NAWIRA Rugby Under-20 Championships account with a late 22-11 win over hosts Barbados at the Garrison on Saturday, holding off the steely nerved Bajans, who were led by the athletic play of Liam Cooper-King.

However, the Jamaicans refused to lose their cool and grabbed the win in the second-half of the competition's opening match by pulling away with 10 minutes left to decision. The Barbadians matched the away team early in the game in almost every asset of play. The superior speed of the Jamaican back players made the difference in a game where the play of the forwards cancelled each other out.

Jamaica's Matthew Brathwaite used his superior speed and strength to put his team on the scoreboard first with a successful try and afforded them a 5-0 lead to start, until Jay Bowen of Barbados levelled the score, 5-5- before the halfway mark.

Golden boy, Brathwaite, once again took the initiative in the second half and doubled his team's score with another try, and team-mate Clifford Clarke made it 11. Jaheir Niles converted two consecutive penalty goals for Barbados to level the score but another successful try from Clarke gave the Jamaicans the winning lead.

Cayman come from behind to defeat Guyana

Kizan Brumble of Guyana opened the scoring for his team but they squandered an 8-3 half-time lead to go under 21-13 to Cayman in the second match at the Garrison on Saturday.

Guillam Hammersley of Cayman was instrumental in his team's turnaround by scoring three times for his side. Hammersley got his team on the scoreboard with a penalty goal in the first half and put the icing on the cake to score the final points to seal the win.

Source Barbados Advocate

USA & Canada Rankes 1 & 2 for IRB Sevens in The Bahamas

IRB Sevens Series: As most followers of the IRB Sevens Circuit would know the 2007/2008 season will be remembered mainly because of one team’s dominance on the world stage. New Zealand not only won 6 out of 8 tournaments but set a new record for most consecutive wins – extending it to 47 straight matches. In terms of serious contenders sides like South Africa, Samoa and Fiji were left to fight for second place.

For the USA this past season was considered one of the highlights over the past 8 years – managing to beat several core teams over the year - Samoa, England, Argentina, Kenya, Scotland, France and Canada. In so doing the USA collected 6 valuable IRB points in George putting them 13th in the World Sevens Series. Our goal was to finish in the top 12 – but we were at a serious disadvantage without being invited to play in the final two tournaments in England and Scotland. At the latter IRB event France earned 4 points thus sneaking ahead of the USA into 12th position.

It will be interesting to see which 12 teams the IRB decide will become core teams for 2008/2009. Core teams are those that attend all 8 IRB tournaments on the circuit. What is encouraging for the USA is that we finished ahead of our rivals Canada – who were a core team this past year. Becoming a core team not only means that more backing will be given to the USA 7s team, where its players can become full-time professional athletes, but further exposure on the world stage as well as within the United States. Many people have said that 7s is the vehicle that will attract the youth at grass roots level – and becoming a core team is a major step in this direction.

In the meantime qualifiers for the much anticipated IRB Sevens World Cup will be on 25/26 October 2008 for the USA. Teams from North America will all compete for 2 World Cup spots. The USA is ranked number 1 and Canada ranked number 2 for these all important qualifiers which will take place in the Bahamas. The team that wins this event will have a better seeding at the World Cup – so my guess is that it will be another cliff hanger of a match between the USA and Canada!

The IRB Sevens World Cup will take place in Dubai from March 7th to 9th, 2009, in what should be a new stadium that seats 100,000 people. We are lucky that development in Dubai is no big deal – whereas the 2010 Soccer World Cup preparations in South Africa are almost five years behind! Well almost…

Source: Paki's Rugby Corner