One of the quietest rugby weekend’s in the global calendar, but still some rugby to be had! There’s a couple of Rugby World Cup warm up games this weekend in Japan and Tonga. Mathieu Raynal (pic top right) will be hoping to avoid any more cramp in Sapporo, and Paul Williams (top left) starts his RWC warm up in Lautoka. In Europe they’ve drafted in Aimee Barrett-Theron (bottom right) up to Piacenza to referee the Italy v Spain WXV play off match. She’s gone from snow in South Africa to high 30 degrees in Europe at the moment! It’s an important match as the winner goes into WXV2 in Cape Town in October, with the loser heading to Dubai for the third tier competition.
The u20s Trophy continues in Kenya, but the appointments for the next round of games on Tuesday haven’t been announced yet. When they’re done over the weekend, they’ll be added to the list. [added below]
We have round two of the Farah Palmer Cup in New Zealand, and 7s action in both Pittsburgh (PR Sevens) and Zabki, Poland where the Rugby Europe boys and girls u18s comps take place. There’s referees from around Europe overseeing matters, including Emmanuel Jacques from Denmark (pic bottom left).
Enjoy your weekend
Keith
Men’s internationals
Japan v Samoa
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (Fra)
ARs: Jordan Way (Aus) & Pierre Brousset (Fra)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (Fra)
Fiji v Tonga
Referee: Paul Williams (NZ)
ARs: James Doleman (NZ) & Mike Winter (NZ)
Women’s Internationals
Italy v Spain
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SA)
ARs: Maria Heitor (Por) & Adele Robert (Bel)
TMO: Leo Colgan (Ire)
World U20s Trophy – round 3
USA v Zimbabwe
Referee: Craig Chan (HKC)
ARs: Sylvain Mane (Sen) & Robin Kaluzniak (Can)
Kenya v Hong Kong China
Referee: Tevita Rokovereni (Fij)
ARs: Sylvain Mane (Sen) & Precious Pazani (Zim)
Spain v Samoa
Referee: Kat Roche (USA)
ARs: Saba Abulashvili (Geo) & Precious Pazani (Zim)
Scotland v Uruguay
Referee: Cauã Ricardo Santos Maria (Bra)
ARs: Saba Abulashvili (Geo) & Robin Kaluzniak (Can)
New Zealand: Farah Palmer Cup – Premiership
Waikato v Canterbury
Referee: Scott McKenzie
ARs: Ben Brownlie & Senoa Viliamu
Counties Manukau v Bay of Plenty
Referee: Natarsha Ganley
ARs: Liam Sargent & Harley Brown
Wellington v Hawke’s Bay
Referee: Will Johnston
ARs: Ben van Berkel & Charlie Harris
Farah Palmer Cup – Championship
Tasman v Otago
Referee: Tanieka Uerata
ARs: Andrew Matthews & Moeka Koyama
Taranaki v Manawatu
Referee: Ben Woolerton
ARs: Chloe Sampson & Josh Prestidge
North Harbour v Northland
Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr
ARs: Scott McKenzie & Josh Ellis
Rugby Europe 7s
Girl’s u18s trophy – Roni Lipnis (ISR), Tetiana Tarasiuk (UKR), Maria Atomi (Rou), Medine Dogan (Tur), Marion Gauthier (Mon)
Men’s u18s trophy – Emmanuel Jacques (DEN), Bartolomiej Gwozdecki (POL), Servet Uslu (TUR), Romain Rouzairol (NOR), Ondrej Fort (CZE), Marco Minelli (POR), Philip Manolopoulos (AUT)
USA: PR7s – Pittsburgh
Referees: Ian Seaton, Jacob Gonzales, Haley Aguiar