Weekly Round Up 29th March

By Zippy
March 29 2005

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night, welcome to the State of Play, round up of the weeks Welsh Rugby action, for details read on.

Celtic League

Ospreys 29-12 Edinburgh

Leinster 31-25 Scarlets
Dragons 8-24 Munster
Glasgow 19-14 Blues

The Ospreys claimed the Celtic league title after a well deserved victory in an entertaining game against Edinburgh, MOTM Gavin Henson showed his confidence and Jason Spice had a stormer despite being skinned by a prop!!!! It will probably be the last time we see the Gnoll sold out before the Ospreys move to the impressive White Rock next year.

The Scarlets lost in a high scoring game against Leinster, they’ve shown signs of improvement towards this end of the season and will need to strengthen in the summer, its time for the farmers to come out with a "Buy Welsh" campaign though.

The less said about the other two games the better.

The Blues lost in Glasgow despite the return of 6 Wales players, they have to show improvement soon.

The Dragons went down tamely at home to Munster, it proves a rugby league coach can learn to play the pretty stuff but a mauling line out game will always beat you.

Konica Minolta Cup Quarter-Finals


Aberavon 18-17 Newport
Banwen 17-41 Pontypridd
Beddau 15-24 Bridgend
Llanelli 21-8 Carmathen Quins

The two lower league sides put up brave performances before bowing out of the cup, the draw for the semis takes place this evening (Tuesday).

Other

The May Day bank holiday is emerging as the most likely date for an official victory celebration for Wales' rugby Grand Slam champions. Where it will be I don’t know, maybe Swansea but most probably Cardiff.

In the most shocking news of the week Wales coach Mike Ruddock will soon be offered a new deal to lead the Grand Slam winners to the 2007 World Cup. Ruddock's two-year contract expires a day before the last game of next season's Six Nations. I say give him whatever he wants and offer double no treble.

IRB world rankings (21 Mar):
1 (1) New Zealand
2 (2) Australia
3 (3) South Africa
4 (4) France
5 (7) Wales
6 (6) England
7 (5) Ireland
8 (8) Argentina
9 (9) Fiji
10 (10) Scotland

5th we were 10th not too long back.

And finally Scott Quinnell has confirmed his retirement. He was to due to call it a day at the end of the season, but a hand injury means he will not be able to make a farewell appearance for the Scarlets

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