A gluttony of of rugby at the weekend as the 6 Nations returned and also we had the start of Super Rugby along with a full European domestic calendar and Americas Rugby Championship. Here’s my round up of all the action.
Unfortunately due to the volume of rugby I haven’t been able to go into detail this week
6 Nations
Wales 19 – 10 France
Italy 20 – 36 Scotland
England 21 – 10 Ireland
3 form 3, a clean sweep! The only one I haven’t got rights so far was the opening draw.
Wales were very direct in their defeat of France and as England overcame an injured Ireland there will now be a decider between those winners next round. Scotland won the battle of the wooden spoon but could now go onto climb the table over the last two rounds.
Aviva Premiership
Sale Sharks 36 – 36 Saracens
Northampton Saints 38 – 18 Worcester Warriors
Gloucester Rugby 32 – 6 Newcastle Falcons
Exeter Chiefs 26 – 17 Bath
Leicester Tigers 47 – 20 London Irish
Wasps 42 – 10 Harlequins
5 from 6, when there’s a draw that’s as good as a clean sweep.
Saracens draw meant that Exeter closed the gap slightly and Wasps pushed Quins out of the playoff positions. At the bottom of the table all the sides lost this week.
Super Rugby
Blues 33 – 31 Highlanders
Brumbies 52 – 10 Hurricanes
Cheetahs 33 – 34 Jaguares
Sunwolves 13 – 26 Lions
Crusaders 21 – 27 Chiefs
Waratahs 30 – 10 Reds
Force 19 – 25 Rebels
Kings 8 – 43 Sharks
Stormers 33 – 9 Bulls
7 from 9, not bad as there were a couple of upsets and some 50/50 calls in there.
In Africa Stormers, Sharks and Lions all made expected good starts. Over in Australia already Brumbies and Tahs lead the way and in New Zealand the much changed Chiefs and Blues top the table. Of the new teams Sunwolves lost but put up more of fight than expected and the Kings got the first of many thrashings. Finally Jaguares made a wonderful start with a win and are looking like the story of the season.
This season I’m also going up against an algorithm.
After round one it’s.
Pro12
Newport Gwent Dragons 15 – 18 Glasgow Warriors
Connacht Rugby 30 – 22 Ospreys
Benetton Treviso 13 – 16 Munster
Edinburgh 24 – 23 Scarlets
Cardiff Blues 23 – 13 Ulster
Zebre 10 – 27 Leinster
4 form 6, I should’ve backed the champions!
Two losses for Ulster have seen them slip backwards and suddenly they are 9 points behind Connacht. Leinster still have a game in hand that could take them top. At the bottom, all three lost and Cardiff have pulled away but are still someway of catching the mid table pack.
Top 14
Toulon 44 – 15 Brive
Stade Francais 18 – 33 Grenoble
Agen 31 – 27 La Rochelle
Clermont Auvergne 44 – 16 US Oyonnax
Section Paloise 3 – 15 Bordeaux Begles
Racing Metro 92 9 – 13 Castres
Toulouse 29 – 31 Montpellier
Racing allowed the chasing pack of Toulon, Bordeaux and Clermont to close the gap. At the other end Agen got a win but is it too little too late already?
America Rugby Championship
Chile 20 – 23 Uruguay
Brazil 24 – 23 USA
Argentina XV 54 – 21 Canada
The USA have fallen to second after that shock loss to Brazil meaning that Argentina are top of the table by 1 point. The last round of matches see giant killing Brazil have another opportunity as they host Argentina, a must win game for USA away to Uruguay and Canada go to Chile.
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