Sports Rugby

All Blacks – The New Zealand Test Team – very good, very scary.

Barbarians – The title of a team made up of specially invited players that often plays against Test sides on tour in the northern hemisphere. The Barbarians team, also called the BaaBaas, usually includes the best players from numerous countries.

Black Ferns – The New Zealand Women’s Rugby Union Team.

Blues – The Super 15 team from Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. Their full name is the Auckland Blues.

Brave Blossoms – Or the Cherry Blossoms is the term used for the Japanese rugby union team.

Brumbies – The Australian Capital Territories team from Canberra, Australia, known as the ACT Brumbies. They are a part of the Super 15 competition.

Bulls – The Super 15 team based in Pretoria, South Africa. Their full name is the Northern Bulls.

Canucks/Maple Leafs – The term for the Canadian rugby union team.

Cats – The Super 15 team based in Johannesburg, South Africa. They are known as the Golden Cats.

Cheetahs – The Super 15 team from South Africa. They are known as the Free State Cheetahs. They are based in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Chiefs – The Super 15 team that hails from the Waikato region on the North Island of New Zealand, their full name is the Waikato Chiefs.

Crusaders – The Super 15 team from the Canterbury region, South Island of New Zealand. They are based in Christchurch and are known as the Canterbury Crusaders.

Eagles – The Eagles is the term used for the USA rugby union team.

Highlanders – The Super 15 team from the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. They are based in Dunedin and are known as the Otago Highlanders.

Hurricanes – The Super 15 team based in Wellington, New Zealand. The full title of the team is the Wellington Hurricanes.

Jaguares – The nickname for the professional rugby union Super 15 team based in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

Les Bleus – The nickname for the French rugby team.

Lions – The ‘British and Irish Lions’ rugby union side comprises a pick of the best players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Rugby union circles refer to these four international Rugby Unions collectively as the “Home Nations” and therefore sometimes refer to the Lions team as a “Home Nations” team.

Los Pumas is also the traditional nickname of the Argentina national rugby union team.

Pumas – are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup
tournament.

Reds – The Super 15 team whose full name is the Queensland Reds.

Sea Eagles – The nickname for the Tonga rugby union team.

Sharks – The Super 15 team based in Durban, South Africa. The team used to be known as the Natal Sharks or Coastal Sharks.

Springboks – The South African Rugby Union Test Team.

Stormers – The Super 15 team based in Cape Town, South Africa. Their full name is the Western Stormers.

The Oaks – Romanian national rugby union team.

Wallabies – The Australian Rugby Union Test Team.

Wallaroos – The Australian Women’s Rugby Union Team.

Waratahs – The New South Wales Super 15 team. Their full name is the New South Wales Waratahs.

W.Force – Western Force (referred to as Emirates Western Force for sponsorship reasons) is a rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the international Super 15 competition.

8th October 2011

Wales beat Ireland 22-10 played in Wellington

France beat England 19-12 played in Auckland

9th October 2011

Australia beat South Africa 11-9    That game is definitely one for the history books with South Africa dominating possession and territory yet the Wallabies getting the points.  WHAT A GAME!!!!

New Zealand beat Argentina  33 – 10 in Auckland

 Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool Results

Please note: Game dates/times are stated in NZ times – not local time.

All results are provisional until 6pm Monday night following the latest round.

Tri Nations Rugby – Team Profiles

By Rodney J Smith

Here’s a look at the Big Three of world rugby in terms of where they’re at ahead of the 2010 Tri Nations tournament. The teams will also have one eye firmly on long-range preparations for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand too, which adds to the pressure in this year’s Tri Nations.

Australian Wallabies

Considering the relatively low profile of rugby union in Australia and the fact that much of the athletic talent gravitates towards rugby league or Aussie Rules football, it’s a testament to the Australian fighting spirit and “never say die” attitude that they are so competitive in rugby union. Australia tends to favour an open running style of rugby, relying on fast, elusive backs and not a little guile to run rings around their opponents, which can be very entertaining to watch. Teams that are successful against them tend to try and force a more structured, forwards-oriented game on them to capitalise on what is perceived as their main weakness: an under-powered front five, particularly in the scrumming department.

It’s something that coach Robbie Deans is trying hard to address ahead of the 2010 Tri Nations and next year’s world cup. Many questions still remain after the summer internationals against the northern hemisphere sides, which this Tri Nations tournament may go a long way towards answering. If they can manage to be more competitive up front, one feels that the core of this young side could carry the Wallabies forward for the next decade.

New Zealand All Blacks

Although the Kiwis are a relatively small nation, rugby is religion in the Land of the Long White Cloud, which means the sport enjoys the pick of the athletic talent. Their ranks are further bolstered by imports from the various Polynesian islands whose people, both culturally and physically, seem born to play rugby. Arguably the team to beat over the years, the All Blacks have perhaps the most balanced approach to the game, combining strong, incisive running backs with tough battle-hardened forwards who are capable of dominating against most teams in world rugby. They are a formidable prospect, with few obvious weaknesses.

Their achilles heel seems to be an inability to win that most elusive of prizes: the world cup (apart from the inaugural tournament). Each year they seem to be the team to beat going into the competition, yet somehow they have not managed to win it, earning them the tag of “chokers”. Perhaps their problem is that they want it too much? Anyhow, one thing is sure: the Kiwi public will tolerate nothing less than a win at next year’s world cup on home soil – otherwise the players and staff may as well pack their bags and go play in the Heineken Cup!

No such problems in the Tri Nations though – the All Blacks have been dominant over the years, and will be keen to re-establish the natural order of things after under-performing in last year’s tournament.

South African Springboks

Rugby has traditionally been a white man’s game in South Africa. But since the birth of the Rainbow Nation, more non-white players have been coming through the ranks. Whilst this is still somewhat of a political process rather than pure rugby development, the future looks bright for the Springboks if they can tap deeply into the local talent pool. The Springboks have traditionally played “10 man rugby” built on a very powerful forward pack with a kicking flyhalf and the rest of the backline there mainly for defense but more recently they’ve made progress in becoming more balanced – sometimes swinging too far the other way – but lately seem to have to the balance just about right.

After a very successful couple of years in which they have won just about everything going, the challenge for them is to keep developing to stay ahead of the pack. Many of their stars are nearing the end of their playing careers, and it remains to be seen if suitable replacements can be found to take over the mantle after next year’s world cup. At the moment depth doesn’t seem to be much of a problem, but one or two injuries in key positions could have a big impact.

Be sure to catch all the excitement of the 2010 tri nations rugby tournament over at http://trinationsrugby.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rodney_J_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tri-Nations-Rugby—Team-Profiles&id=4615945

The British and Irish Lions – Tour to South Africa 2009 – Coming Soon to Lovell Rugby. Pre-order your British and Irish Lions Rugby Shirts at Lovell Rugby – www.lovellrugby.co.uk

Duration : 0:1:18

Read the rest of this entry »