Germany beats Portugal to win a two-legged tie vs Samoa
After the Rugby Europe eligibility debacle Russia was declared Europe 1, and Germany was to play the Rugby Europe Trophy winner (Portugal) for the privilege of being Europe 2. In what can only be described as a pretty dire match Germany won 16-13 (full match here). Truth be told the difference was probably made by Germany having their Wild Rugby Academy players back, while Portugal was in disarray due to not having many foreign players available and two of their leading clubs relegated to the third tier due to a mass brawl, which lead to the players from that club going on strike. I would recommend putting this a few videos below watching paint dry on your youtube playlist.
African Qualification for the Rugby World Cup kicks off
This weekend saw the beginning of the Africa Gold Cup (the Three Quarters podcast did an excellent preview). This year it consists of Namibia (24 in WR rankings), Kenya (28), Uganda (37), Tunisia (42), Zimbabwe (44), and newly promoted Morocco (38). With regards to RWC qualification, first place gains an automatic berth in Pool B against New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, and the Repechage winner. Second place wins a berth in the round-robin repechage in the autumn.
The first game of the round were Namibia hosting Uganda, which was a comprehensive victory for Namibia 55-6. Nothing overly special went on in the match, but a replay of both games is available here, should you want to see it. The second game was a 23-23 draw as Zimbabwe hosted Morocco, it was fairly entertaining, but should either side get through to the Repechage you can't imagine that they'd trouble Canada (although give the next item...)
Namibia is in the driving seat with five table points. Zimbabwe and Morocco possess two points apiece.
Canada Crush(ed)
I'm really not sure what to say here. The formerly premier T2 nation just got utterly humiliated at home by Russia, in front of 6,000 paying victims. The final score was 20-43, and Canada were utterly outplayed in every aspect, even when the Russians were down men in the bin. Full replay here. While Canada had a few full-time pros 'injured' (people have cast doubt on the authenticity of their absences), but considering that this summer series was meant to be a warmup for Canada's repechage challenge in the autumn, it has not gone well, Personally I reckon that if it consists of Germany (29th in the world), Canada (22), Kenya (28), and Hong Kong (21) then it could be a really close-run affair.
With every cloud comes a silver lining
The silver lining the the embarrassment of a summer series came in the form of Canada U20s completing an aggregate win over the USA U20s 82-62 over the two tests. This will be the third time in five years that Canada participates in the U20 Trophy (due to be hosted in Romania this year with Samoa, Romania, Canada, Uruguay, Portugal, Fiji, Namibia, and Hong Kong playing). The bad news however is that over time their performance in the competition has got worse, with their 6-10 year average position (15.8) being 1.4 places better than their 1-5 year average (17.2).
Canada has really struggled to convert top 20 finishes at youth level into senior performance, fingers crossed that Vancouver and Ontario MLR franchises come to fruition.
Czech Republic v NZ
In the latest of several high profile matches in Czechia (the last being Czech Republic v the Barbarians last November), the Czech Republic national team and U20 team played a New Zealand Ambassadors XV (assembled of New Zealand players based in Europe) in the now annual match. The U20 team got slaughtered 108-0 (at least Canada didn't have the worst loss of the week), but the senior team won 23-15. The crowd was reportedly in the region of 6,000. This is the fourth consecutive year that the event has been held, and the crowd is growing year on year.
Brief news:
Rugby Americas North Championship: Trinidad & Tobago beat the USA South 34-33, after USAS(?) led 27-12 at half time. There was some doubt whether T&T would have the funding to participate, but it looks like the money will be released imminently. [Correction 20/6/18: T&T has pulled out of the RAN Championship following funding not being released.]
MLR: NOLA edged Utah 43-46 to finish their season, but it was not enough to secure a playoff place. Glendale smashed Seattle 33-11 to confirm 1st seed, with Seattle 2nd seed. SD won perhaps the most important game, in front of 3000 fans, 31-17 against Austin to guarantee themselves 3rd or 4th seed. The regular season wraps up next week with Utah v Houston, and SD v Glendale.
Coverage not included:
1. The USA beat it's first T1 nation in the form of a weakened Scotland in front of around 11,000 fans in Houston. The full match is available here (geoblocked to the UK), and 10 minute highlights are available here. Martin Pengelly did an excellent write-up of what this means in the Guardian.
2. The WR U20s Championship concluded with France beating England before a sellout of around 20,000. 7 minute highlights are here. From a Beyond The Cartel perspective Georgia achieved their best ever placing of 9th, and will return for a fourth consecutive appearance next year. Had they scored one more try versus South Africa they would have finished in the top four. A bright future lies ahead.
3. England lost again against the not-too-long-ago T2 nation South Africa. Why do I put myself through this? Answers on a postcard please.
