ENGLAND RUGBY
FEBRUARY 2010: IN REVIEW

England Saxons turn tables on Ireland A

The England Saxons put their Churchill Cup final misery behind them at the weekend by beating Ireland A 17-13. When the two sides met last June it was Ireland who had the upper hand with a 49-22 victory but today Stuart Lancaster's men came out fighting.

When the two sides met last June it was Ireland who had the upper hand with a 49-22 victory but today Stuart Lancaster's men came out fighting. A first half try from David Strettle (Harlequins) got the Saxons on the scoreboard with Shane Geraghty (Northampton) adding his own effort just before half time and contributing seven points with the boot.

England errors kept Ireland in the game during the first half with Paddy Wallace kicking two easy penalties. Strettle's try eased the pressure after he received an outside pass from Ben Youngs to go over in the top corner for Geraghty to convert.

Full match report

England Saxons v Ireland A - In Pictures

Match-day photos from the recent Saxons victory over Ireland A at the Recreationg Ground in Bath.

Full set of photos here

England Students Rugby Photos by (Portugal Photo News)

Unofficial England are delighted to have a new partner Portugal Photo News, they covered the England Students game against Portugal last week and have sent through some excellent photos for our fans to view.  Check out their news blog by clicking the banner below.

Full story here

England Rugby Sevens - RFU to define Rugby Sevens future

A Sevens Future Landscape conference was hosted at Twickenham Stadium on January 22 and, as well as senior management from the RFU, included delegates from the IRB, PRL, Rugby Players Association (RPA), Sport England and representatives from major leisure Rugby Sevens tournaments currently hosted around the country. 

Presenters at the conference include David Faulkner from England Hockey and Simon Golding from Beach Volleyball, who shared their experiences of the Olympic effect on their sports, and Steve Griffiths from the IRB who presented on the global development of Sevens. High profile ex-players of the Sevens game such as Phil Greening and Mike Friday  also shared their views. 

The conference objective was to share insights and generate discussion about how best to seize the opportunity to grow Rugby Sevens from the grassroots to the elite game in England on the back of the successful IRB World Series and the sport's inclusion in the Olympics in 2016. 

Full story here

England v Wales 6/2/10 - Match Thoughts Review

England entered on Twickenham's 100th birthday in a retro style kit. In a tight nit affair, England seemed to be dominating, with captain Borthwick stealing a few line outs and the scrum holding firm with the ever criticized Payne up against Adam Jones and doing well. Few opportunities came, although Hook did slice two penalty opportunities from just under 50 metres, Wilkinson made no mistake from slightly closer in. 

England: 15-Delon Armitage, 14-Mark Cueto, 13-Mathew Tait, 12-Toby Flood, 11-Ugo Monye, 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Danny Care; 1-Tim Payne, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-David Wilson, 4-Simon Shaw, 5-Steve Borthwick (captain), 6-James Haskell, 7-Lewis Moody, 8-Nick Easter.
Replacements: Dan Cole for Wilson (60), Steve Thompson for Hartley (60), Louis Deacon for Shaw (70), Steffon Armitage for Moody (76), Paul Hodgson for Care (76), Dan Hipkiss for Flood (77). Not used: Ben Foden.

Wales: 15-Lee Byrne, 14-Tom James, 13-James Hook, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-Shane Williams, 10-Stephen Jones, 9-Gareth Cooper; 1-Paul James, 2-Gareth Williams, 3-Adam Rhys Jones, 4-Alun-Wyn Jones, 5-Luke Charteris, 6-Andy Powell, 7-Martyn Williams, 8-Ryan Jones (captain).
Replacements: Huw Bennett (for G Williams, 54), Bradley Davies (for Charteris, 54), Leigh Halfpenny (for James, 65), Jonathan Thomas (for Powell, 68), Richie Rees (for Cooper, 68).  Not used: Rhys Gill, Andrew Bishop.

Attendance: 81,406

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Full match report here

England Women open 6 Nations campaign with five try victory

England Women opened their RBS 6 Nations championship campaign tonight (Saturday) with an impressive 31-0 victory over Wales, which included five tries for the home side.

And in securing the emphatic win at Esher RFC Gary Street's side also avenged the loss they suffered to Wales a year ago. England now travel to Italy in seven days time aiming to continue their winning run and defend their Six Nations title for a fifth successive year.

Full story here

England 7s - Las Vegas Navada 13/14th Feb 2010

England are in Pool D with Argentina, Wales and Japan.  First match up is against Wales.  The USA Sevens is the largest rugby event in North America featuring sixteen nations, competing in forty-four matches over two days at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.

Full story including results here

England Women march to second Six Nations Victory

The Red Roses ran in an impressive seven tries with captain Catherine Spencer leading by example grabbing a brace of tries. There were also touch downs for Michaela Staniford, Fiona Pocock, Rochelle Clark, Heather Fisher and Maggie Alphonsi.

Full story here

Walk for Matt Hampson 2010

Barney Burnham not just Talks the Talk but Walks the Walk - Walking for Matt Hampson to the Guinness Premiership Final on Saturday 29th May, with the walk starting the week before on Saturday 22nd May 2010 - www.walk4matt.org

Full story here

Italy v England 14/2/10 - Match Review Thoughts

How very apt for England to be playing in Rome, one of the most romantic European cities and on St. Valentine's Day.  I can just here you all cry typical women writing that!  Well let's face it ,that was about the best part of the day the pre match build up.  

Anyway back to the plot, that was not!  My Armchair thoughts here....After stirring national anthems in particular by Italy and watching Bergamasco tears rolling down his cheeks, you got the feeling that Italy's hearts were beating hard.  Incidentally  Bergamasco was my Italian man of the match.

Full report here

Two tries hand England A Women victory over Spain

England A Women ran in two tries to secure a 10-5 victory against Spain in Gijon on Sunday.

England and Worcester wing Katherine Merchant and Darlington Mowden Park Sharks' Jenny Edwards touched down for the tries to hand England A their second win in eight days.

England A Head Coach Mike Barnett said: "This was a very tough game and Spain made us work really hard for the victory. The wet conditions made the game tricky as both sides made too many handling errors, but we defended well and put a lot of pressure on them, and when we could keep the ball we scored.

"Spain are a very passionate and committed team so I am really pleased that we managed to grind out this win, and there were also some good performances from our young players who made a real impression on the match."

Full story here

England's Brian Moore (Pitbull) - Qualifies as Rugby Referee

In a classic case of poacher turned gamekeeper, Brian Moore has become a qualified referee with the Rugby Football Union after successfully taking the national governing body's Entry Level Referee Award (ELRA). 

Moore earned the nickname 'Pitbull' in his playing days and he has never held back in his forthright assessments of refereeing decisions in his current roles as a television commentator and newspaper columnist.

But it was a gauntlet thrown down while the former England and British & Irish Lions hooker was trading opinions with an online forum of referees which made him dive headfirst into the world of the qualified whistler.

Full story here

England's rugby stars get into gear (video)

England may have a tough task ahead of them against Ireland in the 6 Nations this weekend, but the squad have taken time out to relax and build team spirit.

They have been at the Land Rover Experience Centre at Longcross, just down the road from their training HQ to test their driving skills.

Stars such as captain Steve Borthwick, James Haskell and Ugo Monye got behind the wheel, as well as team boss Martin Johnson.

This video shows how they got on, and they also give their opinions on the Ireland match.

Original story here

England Sevens Squad Announced for Australia & Hong Kong 2010

Ollie Phillips (Stade Francais) will return to England Sevens action for the next two legs of the IRB Sevens World Series in Adelaide and Hong Kong (March 20-21 & 26-28).

Phillips, who won the 2009 IRB Sevens Player of the Year award, led England to two tournament victories last season in Wellington and London when they finished third overall, their highest ranking since 2006.

The Stade Francais wing returns to the England fold after moving to play his rugby in France and joins Josh Drauniniu (Royal Navy & Harlequins), who will also feature for the first time this season since making his electrifying debut in Dubai 2008 and Ben Gollings (Gold Coast) who retains the captaincy in the absence of the injured Kevin Barrett (Saracens).

Full story here

Video interviews with Greenwood, Lewsey & McGeechan

In these three video interviews, Will Greenwood talks about the pressure on Jonny Wilkinson and his abilities on the field. Josh Lewsey speaks his mind on Danny Cipriani's move to the Super 15 franchise Melbourne Rebels and Sir Ian McGeechan discusses this weekend's Italy v Scotland fixture in Rome.

Full story here, including more videos

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE, AND HERE'S TO A GREAT 2010 FOR ENGLAND RUGBY.

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