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Posted 51 days ago
COMPARED TO the chill winds that have been blowing through Leicester of late, Toulon on Sunday will feel positively balmy for the English club. Spring has been slow in showing its face even on the Cote D’Azur but temperatures of 15 degrees make a mockery of the sub-zero conditions in England. But the Tigers can expect the mercury to rise on Sunday evening when they emerge at the Stade Mayol to take on Toulon in their eagerly-awaited Heineken Cup quarter-final.
Posted 84 days ago
IT’S A tough life being a referee – hundreds of decisions to make, crowds jeering you, coaches blaming you. There was an even more painful moment for Wayne Barnes recently. During Munster’s Heineken Cup game against Racing Metro in January, Ian Keatley launched a kick and the ball hit Barnes smack in the face.
“The ball travels about 35 metres after…
Posted 134 days ago
FOR ALL the talk in recent weeks about Jonny Wilkinson, and will-he-or-won’t-he sign on for another stint at Toulon, there’s another Englishman in the south of France in a similar situation. In fact the similarities don’t stop there. Iain Balshaw and Jonny Wilkinson first played in the same team in 1997, the all-conquering England schoolboys’ side that also featured Mike Tindall.
Posted 158 days ago
EVERY YEAR, as Christmas drew closer, my school rugby team would embark upon a festive fitness regime. Regardless of how much frost there was, we would work on early morning sprints up ‘The Hill’. It was tortuous.
Posted 162 days ago
ALTHOUGH STERN faces will be talking about the benefits the Scottish pro sides can gain from the next three rounds of the Heineken Cup, it is safe to say that these are now extra games for Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors to build form for other competitions.
For both sides their season will not be defined by the remaining European matches, but by the two 1872 Cup matches between the rivals in the RaboDirect Pro12.
Posted 346 days ago
REIGNING HEINEKEN Cup champions, Leinster, have been drawn in Pool 5 of the 2012/13 tournament and will face ASM Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets and newcomers, Exeter Chiefs, as they attempt to win an unprecedented third title in a row.
The draw for European club rugby’s elite competition took place on Tuesday, 12 June at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin where the 18th…
Posted 370 days ago
LEINSTER WON the Heineken Cup for the third time in four years, beating Ulster 42-14 at Twickenham. The Northern Irishmen started the game well, enjoying the majority of the possession early on and kicking the first penalty. But although they created their share of chances they failed to capitalise on
Posted 391 days ago
Edinburgh put up a hearty fight, but in a performance that echoed recent Scotland outings, they could not convert their pressure to points. The visitors threw everything they could at Ulster in attack, but mistakes at crucial moments meant they butchered many chances to add to their points tally.
Posted 392 days ago
Ulster are favourites to reach their first Heineken Cup final since 1999 on Saturday, but Edinburgh will arrive in Dublin preparing to put up a fight. The Scots have never reached this stage of the tournament before, but despite having a poor season in the RaboDirect Pro12 they overcame the odds to beat Toulouse in the Heineken Cup
Posted 392 days ago
Bordeaux is famed for its wine but this weekend it’ll be the smell of rugby players’ sweat filling the air rather than the fruity aroma of a good red. Clermont Auvergne and Leinster go head-to-head at the Stade Chaban Delmas for a place in this year’s Heineken Cup final – and it’s sure to be an enthralling affair…
