The Fugby Rucker

Giving Americans an English perspective on the world's greatest sport; Rugby.

[thefugbyrucker]

The Welsh Howling Nightmare

Only days before their first World Cup fixture against Georgia on Monday (23 September), Wales is being put under added pressure. 

Allegations have been put forth that assistant coach, Rob Howley, has violated Regulation 6 -- ‘Anti-Corruption and Betting’.

This is about the extent that we know for now, as the Welsh coaching staff and WRU are holding their cards firmly to their chest.

Earlier today, Wales coach Warren Gatland and the WRU spoke about the incident with very limited verbiage in regards to any details but, instead, chose to focus on how Wales is moving forward while abiding by formal protocol.

The first stage of protocol is to send Howley back to Wales, as he can take no further part in the Welsh World Cup campaign. Additional to this, they have announced that former Wales and British and Irish Lions fly-half, Stephen Jones, is flying out to Japan to join their coaching staff.

Since retirement in 2013, Jones has worked as an attack coach for London Wasps (2013-2015) and currently works as the backs coach with Scarlets (2015-present).

We will learn very quickly just how big of an impact this will have on the Welsh. 

After all, what’s a World Cup without a little drama.

[thefugbyrucker]

After their 57 - 15 demolition of Ireland on the weekend, England see themselves jump two spots in the world rankings to 3rd overall.  England’s recent victory over Ireland is their largest in history.

With Ireland facing Wales, home and away, over the next two weeks, they will surely be seeking redemption. It’s safe to say, there could certainly be another re-arrangement in the rankings coming soon.

England will be facing a 15th-ranked Italy in a fortnight in Newcastle. With Italy’s track record against England, having never beaten the side, it’s safe to assume this game should go relatively well for England. However, it will likely do little for them in terms of ranking, as Italy is so far down the totem pole.

[thefugbyrucker]

Firstly, full credit to Ireland for that performance. You can't win a game, if you can't get your hands on the ball.

Secondly, I couldn't be more proud of the state of English Rugby, as a whole right now.

For England Rugby Elite:

-Back-to-back 6 Nations Championship wins -World record equalling consecutive wins w/ the All Blacks (18 wins) -Ranked 2nd in the IRB World Rankings -Best consistently performing NH team for past 18 months

To add to that, across the platform:

-England Women 2017 6 Nations Championship Grand Slam winner -England U20 2017 6 Nations Championship Grand Slam winners -England 7s currently ranked 2nd on the HSBC World Circuit -England Women currently ranked 2nd on the IRB World Rankings -England U20 currently ranked 1st on the IRB World Rankings

After a woeful World Cup campaign, it's astonishing to see the transformation, resilience, and heart of our country to claw our way out of, arguably, the darkest period of sport for us. Proud of our bright present and elated for our even brighter future.

[thefugbyrucker]

England U20 defeat Ireland U20 45-21 to be crowned champions of the U20 World Championship.

[thefugbyrucker]

England defeats Australia in their third and final test in Sydney 44-40 to complete their whitewash of the host nation. 

[thefugbyrucker]

IT’S OFFICIAL!

England slot into 2nd place in the World Rankings following their series win over Australia on the weekend.

[thefugbyrucker]

Ma’a Nonu Knocked Out Cold in the Tackle

Although this is a horrific scene (thankfully, Nonu is fine and was able to walk off the pitch after the knock), it also displays beautifully how the ethics in Rugby are a class above any other sport.  I say this, because the incident had occurred between two former All Black teammates (Nonu and Anthony Tuitavake). Immediately after the clash had occurred-- and Tuitavake was made aware of the situation-- he darted to Nonu’s side and would not leave his friend until he knew Nonu was okay.  This is not only a showcase of top sportsmanship but also the character of true friendship.

This is Rugby.

[thefugbyrucker]

So many things to say about this. Firstly, after such a disastrous World Cup campaign, England has pulled together to win a Six Nations grand slam and-- NOW-- made history winning the first Australia v. England three-match series ever...IN AUSTRALIA! And best of all, now England is ranked #2 in the world!

Give coach Eddie Jones a knighthood. The defensive efforts and heart of England today goes unmatched throughout the world. This result seems a fitting way to honour former-skipper Chris Robshaw's 50th test match and current-skipper Dylan Hartley on becoming the most-capped Hooker for England in history.

To add, England Saxons beat South Africa A 28 - 26 today as well in South Africa to win their series.

And England U20 are through to the semi-final against South Africa U20 in the U20 World Championship...

Proud doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling at this moment.

[thefugbyrucker]

After England’s 39-28 victory over Australia over the weekend, they have seen a ranking jump from 4th to 3rd. Despite Ireland’s 26-20 win over South Africa, their position remains unchanged, due to Wales have just enough points to keep them out of reach of retaining the sixth place ranking.

[thefugbyrucker]

Jean de Villiers Forced to Retire

Following South Africa’s 46-6 victory over Samoa on the weekend, Springbok captain Jean de Villiers has been forced to announce his early retirement after suffering a fractured jaw.

The 34-year-old centre who began his career in 2001 won 109 international caps for his country, leading the Springboks on 71 occasions, and also making him the most capped South African centre in history.

This injury not only ended his career but also halted his Rugby World Cup fairy tale exit. You could not write a more tragic ending.

We pay our respect to a legend of the game.

[thefugbyrucker]

Current Rugby World Rankings

After the Rugby World Cup’s first weekend, things have changed. Some may have been expected but others were not.

Firstly, England slides up into 3rd after their victory over Fiji. Wales and Ireland both move up one ranking after their victories over Uruguay and Canada (who both remain unchanged in the ranking).

Most importantly, South Africa drops from 3rd to 6th after their shocking defeat to Japan, who now moves from 13th to 11th.

Argentina and Fiji remain unchanged after their defeats to New Zealand and England, while Samoa rises to 10th from 12th and drops Scotland from 10th to 12th, after their victory over USA. USA drops from 15 to 16.

Georgia’s surprise victory over Tonga sees them rise from 16th to 13th and Tonga drop from 11th to 13th.

Finally, Italy drops a ranking from 14th to 15th after their loss to France.

[thefugbyrucker]

Japan Are Victorious over South Africa

What’s being branded as the ‘Greatest Upset Ever’-- in Brighton, just a few moments ago, Japan defeated South Africa 34-32 for the first time ever.

The match was absolutely sensational from start to finish. Japan played their hearts out and kept themselves in the game the entire 80 minutes against ‘The most capped South African side ever.’

It was incredible. You need to watch it. End of story.

[thefugbyrucker]

Mike Brown goes over for one of his two tries tonight in his RWC debut.

England kicked off their Rugby World Cup campaign in fine form with a bonus-point victory over Fiji finishing at 35-11.

Neither team played completely great or cleanly but, nonetheless, England came away with a definitive win and Fiji fought until the final minute.

England will have some points to address this week in camp-- especially  before going up against Wales next Saturday. One of the biggest faults England continuously committed or lacked defending was at the breakdown. Fiji came away with a whopping 10 turnovers.

Unfortunately for England, Australia and Wales are particularly dominant in this area, fielding two 7′s in Michael Hooper and David Pocock (Australia) and Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric (Wales).

Onward and upward!

[thefugbyrucker]

Setting the Record Straight.

I’m so glad this was released on the day of England’s opening Rugby World Cup (RWC) campaign. Many keyboard warriors love to slate England for having foreign-born players in their squad-- despite most Rugby nations doing the same.

This infographic perfectly silences those claims with choosing just a handful of the top tier nations in the RWC 2015 who also have foreign-born players and how many.

And, as many would like to counter-argue, England is at the bottom. Even behind the precious All Blacks!

On another note, I’m curious why other top tier nations like Italy and Ireland aren’t featured as well, because they, too, have foreign-born players in their squads.

Regardless,today is like Christmas for Rugby fans so let’s stop the mud-slinging and enjoy the Rugby!

[thefugbyrucker]

I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

Let the games begin!

[thefugbyrucker]

Here’s a really interesting infographic on a variety of stats from every team in the Rugby World Cup. One more day to go...

Enjoy.

[thefugbyrucker]

Here are the top 10 nations, as it currently stands.

How much will this change in a week’s time?