THIS WEEKEND 27-29 APRIL
Updated 19.05.2007
29.04.2007
Japan 73, Hong Kong 3 in Tokyo
(Asia Tournament, Division 1)
Japan won by 70 points exactly what I predicted.
Hong Kong prepared for this
match with a 52-3 win by its Select XV against a Singapore XV. Japan has made
almost a whole team change for this match. Coach Kirwan has stuck by his
principle of playing all members of his 40 man squad.
http://www.hkrugby.com/hkrugby/news/news-room.cfm?news_uuid=2F0E62AA-EFD2-59EC-5BA9-7BFB29DE6CEB
18.11.2006 Japan 52-3 in
Hong Kong (WCQ Asia R3; 20th Asia RFT)
08.05.2005 Japan 91-3 in
Tokyo (WCQ Asia Qualifying, Div.1)
19.10.2003 Japan XV 90-5 in
Fukuoka (Asia Tournament Pool A)
17.11.2002 Japan XV 29-15 in
Bangkok (18th Asia Championship, Div.1)
25.06.2000 Japan XV 75-0 in
Aomori (17th Asia Championship)
GWC Rugby Rankings: Asia Table-Japan 1st, Hong Kong 3rd
1 Prop Pete Spizzirri / HKFC
2 Hooker Tom Cameron / HKFC
3 Prop Simon Leung / HKCC
4 Lock James Wood / HKCC
5 Lock Nicholas Hurrell /
DeA Tigers
6 Flanker Yuen Kin Ho /
Valley RFC
7 Flanker Nigel Clarke / DeA
Tigers
8 No. 8 Semiquaver Iafeta /
Causeway Bay
9 Scrum Half Robert Naylor /
HKFC
10 Fly Half Kenzo Pannell /
Canterbury University, New Zealand
11 Wing Justin Gregory / DeA
Tigers
12 Inside Centre Anthony
Haynes / HKFC
13 Outside Centre Colin
Bisley / HKCC
14 Wing Simon Smith /
Kowloon
15 Fullback Tom Breen /
Valley RFC
Reserves
16 Prop Tom Mutch / Valley
RFC
17 Hooker Ho Tsz Chun / DeA
Tigers
18 Flanker Tamas King / HKCC
19 Halfback Fan Shun Kei /
DeA Tigers
20 Centre Gavin Hadley /
HKFC
21 Wing Lai Yiu Pang / DeA
Tigers
22 Fly Half Liu Kwok Leung /
DeA Tigers
manager Te Rau Brown
coach Ivan Torpey
1 Masahito YAMAMOTO / TOYOTA
MOTOR Verblitz
2 Mitsugu YAMAMOTO /SANYO
Wild Knights
3 Tomokazu SOMA / SANYO Wild
Knights
4 Takanori KUMAGAE / NEC
Green Rockets
5 Luke THOMPSON / KINTETSU
Liners (NZ)*
6 Yasunori WATANABE /
TOSHIBA Brave Lupus
7 Takamichi SASAKI / SUNTORY
Sungoliath*
8 Takuro MIUCHI / NEC Green
Rockets (C)
9 Yuki YATOMI / YAMAHA MOTOR
Jubilo
10 Toshiaki HIROSE /TOSHIBA
Brave Lupus*
11 Tomoki KITAGAWA /SANYO
Wild Knights
12 Shotaro ONISHI /YAMAHA
MOTOR Jubilo
13 Seiichi SHIMOMURA / SANYO
Wild Knights
14 Kosuke ENDO / TOYOTA
MOTOR Verblitz
15 Go ARUGA / SUNTORY
Sungoliath
Reserves
16 Taku INOKUCHI / TOSHIBA
Brave Lupus*
17 Takahiro SUGIURA /
FUKUOKA SANIX Blues*
18 Yuji KITAGAWA / KANTO
GAKUIN Univ.
19 Ryota ASANO / NEC Green
Rockets
20 Koichi OHIGASHI / NEC
Green Rockets
21 Eiji ANDO / NEC Green
Rockets
22 Yuta IMAMURA / KOBE STEEL
Kobelco Steelers
Coach: John Kirwan
Notes thanks to ‘Yamaha Kiwi’
“* = New Caps. All change
again for Japan with an almost completely new team to face HK, except for the
captain Miuchi who again leads. Not quite so many new caps this week but still
an inexperienced team with many others only having a handful of games for japan
until now. Kirwan says he expects a harder game from HK than Korea as he`s
heard the new coaching regime in HK has been working hard on fitness and skills
so they should be better organised for this game than the Koreans were. Still
should be an easy win for Japan though”.
28.04.2007
Germany 21, Netherlands 12 in
Hanover (ENC 2A)
Germany won by 9 points. I predicted Germany by 40.
Previews
This is a must win for
Germany in order to keep up with the ever improving/advancing Moldovans. The
Netherlands, once a member of the elite ENC Division 1, is struggling to keep
up with the other teams, having already lost to Moldova and Ukraine.
LAST FIVE ENCOUNTERS
10.04.2004 Germany 14-13
in Amsterdam (ENC 2A)
09.03.2003 Germany 15-3
in Hanover (ENC 2A)
28.03.1998 Netherlands
38-24 in Amsterdam (Friendly)
21.04.1996 Netherlands
6-5 in Hilversum (FIRA B1)
10.10.1993 Netherlands
20-10 in Delft (Friendly)
Encounters between these
two teams goes back to 1933 shortly after FIRA was formed. Germany won this
first encounter 23-0.
GWC Rugby Rankings:
Europe Table-Germany 13th, Netherlands 22nd.
Armenia v Serbia in Yerevan (ENC
3A)-match postponed.
Israel 34, Bosnia 13 at Wingate Sports Institute,
Netanya (ENC 3C)
Israel won by 21 points. I predicted Israel by 16.
Reviews
http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2335
Preview
Israel will be looking
to win its first game in this competition. Bosnia has the difficult task of
playing away from home without some of their away-based players. Israel won
this game easily last season but did not play well against Slovenia at home
last October. I think these two team could well be fighting for the wooden
spoon next season.
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS
06.05.2006 Israel 42-0
in Netanya (ENC 3C)
04.05.2002 Bosnia 19-11
in Sarajavo (FIRA B, Pool B)
GWC Rugby Rankings:
Europe table-Israel 35th, Bosnia 37th
http://www.fira-aer-rugby.com/forum2007/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2335
27.04.2007
Arabian Gulf 52, Sri Lanka 11 in
Sharjah (Asia Tournament, Division 2)
Arabian Gulf won by 41 points.
An easy home win to the
Arabian Gulf team.
Reviews
Preview
http://www.mulpituwa.com/?viewnews=5137
Article on rugby in Sri
Lanka
http://sundaytimes.lk/Sports/sp406.html