Wales Full-Back Leigh Halfpenny Is Out Of Rugby World Cup Due To ACL Injury

Wales Full-Back Leigh Halfpenny Is Out Of Rugby World Cup Due To ACL Injury

Thursday, September 17, 2015 / No Comments

Wales Full-Back Leigh Halfpenny Is Out Of Rugby World Cup Due To ACL Injury

Wales’s halfback Leigh Halfpenny is out of the Rugby World Cup due to an ACL injury. The news of the injury of this irreplaceable player for Wales was conformed yesterday. The news came as shock for the whole Wales team and this loss is going to affect the potential of Warren Gatland team in the Rugby World Cup 2015. It is great loss for their team and for the world cup too as fans around the world won’t be able this leading talent of rugby in action in the world cup.

Leigh Halfpenny offers so much that it will be real tough job to find a replacement that can fit into his place. So Gatland now have to think real hard to solve this issue. Halfpenny was the ideal team for the Wales with his large set skills where he can easily under the high ball, help to control the territory with boot and he has never let down his team in the defense. Aged at only 26 he has already capped 62 matches for wales and scored over 500 points. Out of these points he made twelve tries for his country. With his young age he may have chances to take part in one or two world cup in the future but nothing is going restore the immediate damage for this world cup due to his absence. Halfpenny has proven him necessary numbers of times in the past as he helped Whales to snatch several late wins. He also kept his team in the match by talking on penalties from all type of angels and distance. In 2013 during the test series which was played between Irish lions, Australia and British he scored 13 impressive penalties and 5 conversions. Moreover he did almost all of them when they were under pressure in the match.  Not many kickers are available in the team who can be as good as him and he is ahead any of them by a distance in the international carrier.

To fill his empty space Wales have two members in the team. For kicking replacement there is fly-half Dan Biggar who is good but still has little bit less in terms of range. And there is another full back Liam Williams to take on the defense job but he is not sure to his fitness concern as he has made a full comeback from a foot surgery. Another thing he does not prove similar level comfort that Halfpenny provided with his class and skill. So it is sure that there is no perfect replacement for him in the team. Australia and England would be happy with the news although no one wants an injury for such a player. But it will definitely boost their chances in pool A which is going to be a closely contested group. For Wales, they will take the chance to do something better to respect their fallen teammate. It will be real tough job for them to get into the knockout stages without Leigh Halfpenny. There is no denying that it has definitely made them weaker. Now all things will be crystal clear when they will meet England on 26th September for their first match of rugby World Cup 2015.

Chris Ashton: Sam Burgess Is Not Prepared Enough to Be In the England Squad

Chris Ashton: Sam Burgess Is Not Prepared Enough to Be In the England Squad

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Chris Ashton: Sam Burgess Is Not Prepared Enough to Be In the England Squad

Chris Ashton thinks that Sam Burgess is going to be a rugby union star in the future for England but he is not good enough right now to be taken as a center for world cup. He believes that Sam Burgess did not have enough time to learn and prepare himself to take the part of a center for an occasion like Rugby World Cup 2015. As a former player of the rugby league he made this comment and he was with Sam Burgess in the training camp too for the Rugby World Cup 2015.

He thinks that Burgess is good enough to provide cover at the blindside flanker and he can do it in the center too. But the problem is with the combination of Brian O’Driscoll and Will Carling he believes there will be still gap in the midfield. On Saturday Burgess took his second cap for the England team where he had cameo part in the victory of England. England beat Ireland by 23-11 and match took place at Twickenham. Recently Ashton has joined in the columnist team of The Daily Telegraph and he made his comment there. He said

 Sam’s won a Grand Final in Australia, he’s played England rugby league, so he has that experience

He added he is one of the biggest lads playing rugby now and he had similar aura like Martin Johnson. You have to look at him to give attention when he walks past you. When it comes to the playing side he is a quiet a player and he is going to be even better as a union player. But the main problem is that he believes Sam did not have enough time to get himself prepare for this level. He did not have enough time to prepare and play at the position for the world cup level. He added,

 He can do what we’ve seen him do against France the other day. He’ll smash people and he’ll run all day. But it’s so different to knowing, without having to think, about your job in the team. It’s so different to smashing someone when they run at you

Talking about what he has to do Ashton said that at first he need to be get himself in the right position at the right time so he can his hand perfectly on the ball. At this part Ashton is not convinced yet because he believes that Sam did not have enough time to do this. He mentioned that it is sure that Sam is going to be a part of the England team and he can be either in forward or backward too but he is not sure that how much is needed for that. Finally he added

If they need him to come and play six, he’s played there before, so they’ve got that option as well

It is sure that for England in the case of midfield partnership Jonathan Joseph and Brad Barritt will be the first choice. So Lancester, the coach of England may use Burgess as an impact replacement. All things will become clear when England will Fiji as the Rugby 2015 world opening match.

Scrum-Half Rhys Webb Will Miss the World Cup Due To Foot Injury

Scrum-Half Rhys Webb Will Miss the World Cup Due To Foot Injury

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Scrum-Half Rhys Webb Will Miss the World Cup Due To Foot Injury

Rhys Webb, the famous scrum half of wales got himself into the foot injury. Welsh rugby union already announced that he will miss the rugby world cup. It is a very bad news for both team Welsh and Rhys Webb. Team Welsh already started to pick the replacement of Rhys Webb. Both Walker and Phillips have been replaced on the positions of Rhys Webb and Halfpenny. Both Rhys Webb and Leigh Halfpenny were injured in last Saturday while they were playing the pre world cup match against Italy at Cardiff.

Rhys Webb was the player of the year for team Welsh. He is one of the key players of team Welsh. Coach said that it is impossible to replace someone else in Webb’s position. He also said that they will miss Webb’s experience and skill in the field. Rhys is currently going under treatment. Team physicians said that he will miss the world cup because of the foot injury. They also said that there will be further examinations for his knees too. During interview, Rhys Webb was very disappointed. He said

 Really disappointed to be ruled out of the RWC

He also said that he can’t accept this after so much hard work during summer. Rhys Webb also insisted that team Wales will give a very good performance in the upcoming world cup. Wells said that the whole team Wales did a very had work. They are well prepared and ready to give their best. He said he is eagerly waiting to see that Wales is creating something very special. Team Wales’s world cup campaign will start with the match against Uruguay. It will be on 20th September in Cardiff stadium. They are in the Pool A. the other three teams of Pool A are Fiji, England and Australia. The injury list of team Wales was started with Leigh Halfpenny. The full back of Irish Lions suffered with knee injury against team Italy. His ligament needs operation. On their next match, Rhys Webb was the second name to the injury list.

Right now, Coach Warren Gatland is little worried with his team. He is giving extra time for Eli Walker and Mike Phillips. He said that these two players are the best replacement against the injured players. Though there is a very little time left to prepare, coach ensured that they will do everything for the best outcome.  Coach mentioned that this is a very good opportunity for these two young players to show their talents in the field. He thinks that both Mike and Eli are ready to play. Mike will add the extra experience to the team. On the hand new Eli will play his first world cup. Also the coach wished all the best for the injury recovery of those two players (Leigh Halfpenny and Rhys Webb).

But the fans are not happy right now. The loss of Rhys Webb will not be replaced, they think. He was called the point’s machine of team Wales. Webb is standing in the third position at wale’s all-time scoring chart. He is the key player during last two years for Wales.

Gareth Anscombe World Cup Dream Might Be Over Due To Injury during Training

Gareth Anscombe World Cup Dream Might Be Over Due To Injury during Training

Tuesday, September 15, 2015 / No Comments

Gareth Anscombe World Cup Dream Might Be Over Due To Injury during Training

Gareth Anscombe is under the monitor of the Wales officials as they are preparing to name their squad for the World Cup. He is suffering from an ankle injury which he got during training. It is still not clear that hoe severe the injury is and Wales is being monitoring him. Warren Gatland, the coach of the Wales is supposed to name the final squad of 31 men for the World Cup on the next Monday. The fly half may be left out of the team if he can’t make out from the ankle injury. He is now wearing a protective boot to save the ankle from further damage. He is supposed to go for further assessment to know the severity of the injury.

Gareth Anscombe impressed everyone when he made his international debut earlier this month against Ireland. In the match he came off the bench played significant part in the match to defeat Ireland by 35-21 in the fully loaded Millennium Stadium. Since then there is been talking that he is going to be in the 31 men squad of Warren Gatland. Talking about the injury a spokesman from the Welsh Rugby Union said, 

Gareth did pick up an ankle injury in training last week, and he is continuing to be assessed at the moment.

Originally from New Zealand, 24 years old Gareth Anscombe qualified for the Wales team as his mother was born in Cardiff. WRU national dual contract was signed by him earlier in the year when he changes side from the New Zealand Super Rugby team Chiefs to the Blues. There are two more players to fill his place in the team. Rhys Priestland and Dan Biggar are in the team to do so but versatility provided by Anscombe as potential providing full back & also for goal-kicking cover gives him an edge over them. Earlier his chance in the team seemed more increasing as James Hook, the Gloucester star was cut by Gatland with another 8 players from the extended training squad earlier in this month. The chances became stronger due to his confident performance against Ireland in the warm up match.

Wales is going to play their return warm up match in Dublin gains the Irish team on the coming Sunday. Seven days later they will host Italy for another warm up match. Their journey in the Rugby World Cup 2015 will start by playing against Uruguay on the 20th September in Cardiff. In their pool there is also the host nation of the Rugby World Cup 2015 England. Two times world champion Australia is also in their pool.  Wales is now ranked as sixth the World Rugby Rankings and their best place in the world cup was third in 1987. They also got the fourth position in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Losing Gareth Anscombe at this time will be blow to their rugby world cup dream.

No Place for Danny Cipriani in the England Squad for World Cup

No Place for Danny Cipriani in the England Squad for World Cup

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No Place for Danny Cipriani in the England Squad for World Cup

Danny Cipriani has been left out of the of 31 men squad of England which is being chosen for the Rugby World Cup 2015. He was left out by Stuart Lancaster as prepares to name the 31 man squad. The announcement came on Thursday at 1:45 pm that Danny Cipriani is one of the eight players who are being left out of the team as the team becomes 39 men squad to 31 men squad. On the last Sunday he had an impressive match against France but it seems that was not enough to keep him in the team. Although the fans supported him as he was named the man of the match in Paris. He was in the filed as a replacement and played for only 17 minutes in the full-back position. So people want to see him in the 31 man squad which will be announced by Stuart Lancaster on Thursday.

However he is not going to make it and his hopes to play for England in the Rugby World Cup has been shattered as he receives personal conformation which let him knot het he was in the cut too. He is one of the eight players who will be leaving the camp on Thursday after showing fierce commitment in training camp. Although being out of the team he is still going to take part in a practice match of 15v15 on Wednesday afternoon in Pennyhill Park. The match will let Lancaster to make his final decision about choosing Luther Burrell or Sam Burgess for the final 31 man squad. The huge support group has already made arguments that he was not given enough chances to make his case on the field. He had half an hour on the filed time against France on august 15 at Twickenham. During the summer camp it seemed that Lancaster was impressed with his performance and he agreed that keeping him out was the hardest decision from him in the selection for World Cup process.

As a player Danny Cipriani has quiet a past history of trouble along with the high level performance in the field. He was also accused of few off-field misdemeanors on the field. In 2008 he made swears in a TV Interview which was live and he was also knocked out in that year by his Wasps Team member Josh Lewsey in the training camp. In 2010 complaints was made by management during England trip in Italy. In 2011 he was accused of theft as he took a vodka bottle without paying. In the same year he was dropped by his team Melbourne Rebels as he did not came timely in the training and he breached team rules too. Next year he had to go Sale Sharks as he had to cut the contract shot in Melbourne.  Same year he was dropped by the Sale due to poor performance.  In 2015 he was arrested due to car crash in Chelsea and the suspicion was he was drunk driving at that time.

Johne Murphy Says GoodBye to Professional Rugby

Johne Murphy Says GoodBye to Professional Rugby

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Johne Murphy Says GoodBye to Professional Rugby

Johne Murphy, the former winner of English Premiership and PRO12 player has called the end of his professional carrier after playing for ten years. Earlier today he made the announcement of his retirement from the professional level of rugby. He had a really successful carrier of ten years in which he managed to won the titles twice. Once with the Munster and the other time with the Leicester Tigers. He made 91 appearances in total for the Munster. In his time with the club he managed to win the famous PRO12 during 2011. During 2010 he was also with the team when they made the historical win over Australia in the Thomond Park in November. Before being part of the province he played for the Leicester Tigers and made 99 appearances for them. With them he was able to win the prestigious English Premiership for three times. He also managed to win the EDF Energy Cup too for one time with the club.  He spent five years with the Leicester Tigers.

He was also part of the ‘A’ team of the Ireland which managed to win the Churchill cup in the year of 2009. He was also a member of the Irish Wolfhounds and Emerging Ireland team too. With the Emerging Ireland team he managed to won the Nations Cup in the year of 2014. He was included in the squad of Ireland for the summer tour of 2010. With this team he played against the NZ Maori and the Barbarians. During making the announcement he said,

 "I'm grateful for the long and successful career that I've had but it is now time to call an end to it. I would like to thank all my mentors, coaches, teammates, the fans who have made my time in the sport so special and most of all my family for all the support they have given me throughout the last 10 years."

In the twitter, he said he has lived the dream for the last ten years and he had a blast in doing so. He also thanked the Leicester Tigers and Munster for their support during the time in the team. From the Munster rugby team twitter they thanked him for all the good memories and wished the best for his future. The Irish Rugby official correspondent also wished him good luck and thanked him too for being a part of their team. In a personal twitter Tommy Bowe said he was very sorry to hear that Jhone was going to hung up his foot. He wished a great future for him. He became 31 years old this year and he came to realization that his glory days are almost over as he is not able to catch up with the speed of professional rugby. He is planning to spend more time with the family. It is sad for the sport itself that such a great player is leaving it for good.

South Africa vs. Argentina: The Springboks Won Conveniently By a Big Margin

South Africa vs. Argentina: The Springboks Won Conveniently By a Big Margin

Tuesday, September 8, 2015 / No Comments

South Africa vs. Argentina

South Africa did a tremendous job against Argentina. They won the match by 26-12. They played the first half with tremendous energy and confidence and ended up by leading 20-9. Though Argentina fought back in the second half but it was not enough. Three penalties were taken in this half. South Africa had two and Argentina had one. Argentina missed a lot of chances but it was their bad luck.

Because of hamstring injury and scrums, Marcos Ayerza got late withdrawal from the front row of puma. It’s sure that his absence is the reason of puma’s penalized for four times as scrums. Victor Matfield praised the South African coach Pieter de Villiers. He said that Villiers worked hard with his players through the week on scrumming. Though the scrums for the whole game were messy. 12 scrums happened during the match. Those scrums incurred sin penalties, twelve collapses, two free kicks and seven resets. At the end of the game Springboks had the control of the play.

Springboks were top of their game from the first to last whistle. They had solid possession and also did protect their possession at the same time. The game were started as Patrick Lambie kicked off. But it was Pumas who got the turnover when Zane Kircher was trying to do attack. Their first chance came when Eben Etzebeth did a splendid tackle. He helped Puma to get a corner. It was the best scoring chance for puma though it was a miss.

After sometime Agustin Greevy did a tackle and penalized. They were ahead just after six minutes as the result was 3 – 0. Then it was Marcell Van Der Merwe who got penalized because of arm binding. Nicolas Sanchez took the credit of first score for his team and after fourteen minutes it was 3 – 3. At sixteen minutes Argentina again penalized during tackle and Lambie scored against them. South Africa took the lead by 6-3. After that South Africa again tried to attack but this time Lambie failed to produce a good kick towards wing. After that springboks did attack after attack and got two penalties within five meter. But both of them were unsuccessful.  During second half, Springboks used a scrum (5 meter) which was also unsuccessful. Pienaar gave pass to Brayan Habana at the wing. Brayan scored the easiest try of the game. At twenty six minutes Lambie scored for South Africa and the result become 13-3. Lwazi Mvovo scored in 29 minutes by beating three defenders. It was converted by Lambie. Before half time Sanchez did tackle and missed. He gave the opponent a straight penalty.  After several minutes another player miss tackled against Etzebeth and gave away penalty. These penalties made the half time score 20-9.

In the second half, both of the hookers were substituted. At 43 minutes Lambie scored again and make the difference 23-9. Then Sanchez scored again in penalty at the result was 26-9 while only twenty five minutes remained for Argentina to come back. But Argentina did able to add only three more points. Patrick Lambie was nominated as the man of the match.