Ireland women to play Wales

Posted on Jan 30, 2013

The Ireland Women’s team to play Wales in their opening game of the RBS 6 Nations, in Aberavon RFC on Sunday, February 3rd, 13:30, has been named.

Head coach Philip Doyle has selected Ireland’s most capped player, Lynne Cantwell, at out half for the game. She will be partnered in the half backs by Larissa Muldoon.

Niamh Briggs starts at fullback with Niamh Kavanagh and Alison Miller on the wings while Grace Davitt and Jenny Murphy make up a new centre partnership.

Up front, captain Fiona Coghlan packs down alongside Gillian Bourke and Ailis Egan. Sophie Spence and Marie Louise Reilly form a strong second row.

Joy Neville, Claire Molloy and Laura Guest make up an exciting back row.

Speaking about his team selection and the campaign ahead Doyle said: “It was an extremely difficult decision in selecting the 23 players for this weekend’s match and even more difficult in selecting the starting line up.

"The players have been working very hard over the last number of months and they made my job very difficult in team selection.

" Qualification for the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup is dependent on the result from both this year’s and last year’s 6 Nations so we will be looking to raise the bar again this year in terms of our performances.

"We are under no illusions of the difficulty that this campaign will hold for us as all teams are looking to qualify for the WRWC which is the pinnacle of the XVs games."

Ireland Women (V Wales Women, RBS 6 Nations Championship, Aberavon RFC, Sunday February 3rd, 13:30):

15. Niamh Briggs (Munster)
14. Niamh Kavanagh (Munster)
13. Grace Davitt (Ulster)
12. Jenny Murphy (Leinster)
11. Alison Miller (Connacht)
10. Lynne Cantwell (Exiles)
9. Lariss Muldoon (Exiles)
1. Fiona Coghlan (Leinster) Captain
2. Gillian Bourke (Munster)
3. Ailis Egan (Leinster)
4. Sophie Spence (Exiles)
5. Marie Louise Reilly (Leinster)
6. Laura Guest (Munster)
7. Claire Molloy (Exiles)
8. Joy Neville (Munster)

Replacements:
16. Stacey-Lee Kennedy (Ulster)
17. Fiona Hayes (Munster)
18. Lauren Day (Exiles)
19. Heather O’Brien (Munster)
20. Siobhan Fleming (Munster)
21. Amy Davis (Ulster)
22. Nora Stapleton (Leinster)
23. Ashleigh Baxter (Ulster)

Jamie Roberts arrives at Spala

Posted on Oct 29, 2012

Jamie Roberts arrived at Wales’ infamous Polish training camp in Spala late last night (Sunday) and declared ‘it’s good to be back’.

Blues centre Roberts, who underwent reconstructive surgery on his knee this summer forcing him to miss the international tour to Australia, was the high profile recall to interim head coach Rob Howley’s squad for the Dove Men Series – to be contested against Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia at the Millennium Stadium on consecutive weekends starting next month (Saturday 10th November).

A Wales training squad has visited Olympic training villages in Poland on two previous occasions – ahead of their semi-final reaching 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign (Spala) and to prepare for their 2012 RBS Six Nations Grand Slam campaign (Gdansk).

Polish hat trick

Roberts completes his Polish hat-trick this week, having been present on both previous visits, and he is a huge advocate of the intense training environment which he knows will be created for him and his fellow squad members by the Wales coaches and performance staff over the next week.

“It’s good to be back fit again and good to be back with Wales,” said the 44-times capped outside centre, who was the British & Irish Lions Player of the Series in 2009.

“I have had three or four full games back now with the Blues, we may have had some disappointing results but I feel as though I’m getting back into the groove and becoming battle hardened again.

“All players want to play and it was a particularly difficult place for me to be this summer, watching Wales play out in Australia and come so close.  The way things panned out for Wales on tour is motivation enough in itself for all of us as we go into a tough campaign this Autumn.

“And we are back out in Poland and putting in all the hard work necessary to ensure we are best placed to achieve our aims this November.

“I’ve been out here on both occasions previously and those camps were followed by a Rugby World Cup Semi-final and a 6 Nations Grand Slam, so there is no reason why we can’t achieve similar levels of success this Autumn.

“We arrived late last night and today (Monday) is a recovery day for a lot of the players, with lots of battered and bruised bodies around and the coaches, and performance staff, are aware of that so they are managing our workloads.”

(more…)

Unprecedented Programme of Fixtures Announced for Tier Two Unions

Posted on Sep 19, 2012

The International Rugby Board has launched the unprecedented IRB International Rugby Series that will see an extensive programme of competitive matches for Tier Two and Three nations during the November 2012 window.

The matches, which feature 12 IRB Strategic Investment Unions are in addition to the Tier One v Tier Two fixtures within the international tours and test schedule approved by the IRB Council in 2010.

Following Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand, many of the teams are now going through a period of rebuilding with several new players and coaches coming into the squads as they look towards RWC 2015 in England.

Russia, USA, Samoa, Canada, Tonga, Fiji, Romania, Japan, Uruguay, Portugal, Georgia and Chile will all be in action with the three Pacific Island teams facing up against top level opposition.

The announcement further underlines the IRB’s commitment to an expanded annual calendar for Tier Two teams and builds on similar schedules in place during previous seasons. One of the highlights of this busy programme of international fixtures will take place in Colwyn Bay, Wales, with a mini tournament being played over two match days with some mouth-watering fixtures arranged, including Russia v USA and Samoa v Canada.

Other highlights include England v Fiji in London, Wales v Samoa in Cardiff, Canada v Maori All Blacks in Oxford, France v Samoa in Paris, Scotland v Tonga in Aberdeen and Uruguay v Portugal in Montevideo.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: "This is an exciting development for the global Game. The IRB is committed to facilitating an annual international competition schedule for our Tier Two Unions and these matches will be crucial to ensuring that there is increased competitiveness on the global stage and at Rugby World Cup 2015.

"There will be an unprecedented number of international fixtures across Europe in November, which will give sports fans a taste of what to expect in 2015 when England hosts the world’s top 20 nations for Rugby World Cup."

IRB Head of Development and Performance Mark Egan said: "The November fixtures will play a significant role in the continued development of those Unions that have been identified for high performance support as part of our annual GBP10million Strategic Investment Programme. With an eye on Rugby World Cup 2015, coaches will be looking to assess their players in a competitive test match environment and the IRB will have the opportunity to benchmark the progress of the top ranked Tier Two Unions against both each other and in the case of the Pacific Island Unions, against Tier One opposition.”

“The November Tier Two test match programme compliments our portfolio of stand-alone strategic investment tournaments in June such as the Pacific Nations Cup, Nations Cup and the Americas Rugby Championship, which takes place in Canada in October. We are particularly excited about the double-header IRB International Rugby Series matches which will take place in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, on November 9 and 17 and the historic first-time visits of Japan and Fiji to Georgia.”

London Welsh further strengthen pack with double international signing

Posted on Aug 9, 2012

London Welsh have added some muscle to their pack ahead of the club’s first-ever assault on the Aviva Premiership with the signings of Romanian prop Paulica Ion and Russian second row Kirill Kulemin.

Tighthead prop Ion, 29, who has been capped 51 times by Romania, joins Welsh on a season long loan from London Irish, where he’s gained a wealth of Premiership and European experience during his three seasons at Sunbury.

Ion joined Irish from Bath in 2009 with his debut coming at Twickenham in the London Double Header against Saracens. He’s gone on to make 64 appearances for Irish, scoring one try.

He made his international debut against Argentina at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and has also featured at the 2007 and 2011 World Cups.

Capped 18 times by Russia, Kulemin joins London Welsh from Castres after four seasons at the French Top 14 club.

The 31-year-old had previously spent four years at Agen, with whom he played Heineken Cup and Challenge Cup rugby, before joining Castres in 2008, where he gained further European experience.

Kulemin began his playing career in rugby league with Dynamo Moscow, who in 2003/04 became the first Russian club to compete in the English Rugby League Cup.

His international rugby union debut came in 2006 against Portugal and he helped Russia qualify for last year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

“They are two fine signings who will help our squad to perform to its maximum,” said London Welsh head coach Lyn Jones.

“They are boys with lots of experience at the highest level in the English and French leagues and can bring the best out of other players.”

IRB anti-doping campaign success ~ 54 offenders netted in 2010: up 86% on 2009

Posted on Mar 5, 2012

The International Rugby Board has underscored its continued commitment to the fight against doping in Rugby by undertaking a record programme of testing and education during 2011.

With Rugby continuing to break new markets with global exposure and participation at unprecedented levels, the Game’s governing body undertook 1,714 tests (587 In Competition and 1,127 Out of Competition) across Fifteens and Sevens in every continent during a year that also saw a record blood testing programme at the flagship Rugby World Cup. The testing programme operated across Rugby World Cup 2011 (989 tests), Rugby Sevens (489 tests), Age Grade (138 tests), other IRB Fifteens tournaments (58) and regional championships (40 tests).

Despite the rigorous testing programme, there were eight Anti-Doping rule violations in 2011. That amounts to 0.46 per cent of the total testing programme. Four violations were for stimulants (Methylhexaneamine found in nutritional supplements), two were for anabolic agents (Testosterone), one for a diuretic (Probenicid) and one for a narcotic (Oxycodone) used for pain relief. There were no positive results recorded in Sevens.

The extensive testing regime was supported by the IRB’s Outreach and Keep Rugby Clean education programmes, which are run in partnership with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), with the first-ever dedicated Rugby World Cup Keep Rugby Clean Day held during New Zealand 2011.

Commenting on the record programme, IRB Anti-Doping Manager Tim Ricketts said: "The IRB and its Member Unions are committed to the fight against doping in sport."

"This record IRB testing programme, combined with over 4,000 controls administered in 2011 by our Member Unions and their respective National Anti-Doping Organisations as well as a dedicated education programme, underlines our collaborative commitment to this critical area of the Game."

"While Rugby continues to be at the forefront in the fight against doping in sport, we have a collective responsibility to ensure that our players, physicians and administrators have access to the very best educational framework."

"This includes the education around the dangers of failing to check nutritional supplements and medications thoroughly and awareness around recreational drugs and support mechanisms. All of the violations that were recorded in 2011 could have been avoided if players and their physicians had checked the ingredients of the products against the WADA Prohibited List prior to taking them."

The IRB focused on increased educational programmes in 2011, including the delivery of Keep Rugby Clean awareness campaigns at Rugby World Cup 2011 and IRB Age Grade and Sevens events delivered to over 1,000 players during the year.

The key to player education resource is the IRB’s interactive Anti-Doping website www.keeprugbyclean.com, designed to inform the global Rugby community on all aspects of Anti-Doping.

The year also saw Argentina star and Rugby World Cup 2007 Bronze medallist Felipe Contepomi appointed to the WADA Athlete Committee. Contepomi is one of seven IRB Keep Rugby Clean Ambassadors representing men’s and women’s Fifteens and Sevens.

Editors notes:

Total global programme per year (including Union and NADO tests)

2005: 4,053 tests, 48 violations
2006: 4,782 tests, 36 violations
2007: 4,127 tests, 34 violations
2008: 5,023 tests, 54 violations
2009: 5,725 tests, 29 violations
2010: 5,618 tests, 54 violations
2011: available June 2012