The Brave Blossoms of Japan have drawn with Canada in their final appearance of the Rugby World Cup 2007. Japan continue their winless record in any Rugby World Cup tournament, but should be happy with their first draw ever today, against a strong team from Canada. Read the rest of this entry »
The Brave Blossoms, also known as the Cherry Blossoms from Japan have announced their 15 man starting lineup for kick off against Canada tomorrow. The Pool B match will be played at the Stade Chaban Delmas stadium.
Although Japan lost by a great deal to Wales last night, their supporters seemed to be happy just to be at the match, dressing up to support the Brave Blossoms at the Millennium Stadium. And we bring you photos directly from the Cardiff!
Fiji have defeated the Brave Blossoms of Japan in their Rugby World Cup Pool B match at the Stade Toulouse, in one of the most exciting games so far of the Rugby world Cup 2007. Japan showed great determination all game, until the last minute with the final score of Japan 31-35 Fiji.
The Wallabies have demonstrated that they should not be counted out of the Rugby World Cup 2007 yet. In the third game of the Rugby World Cup 2007 and Pool B opening match Australia showed that it wasn’t only the All Blacks who would be having high scoring games.
The game started slowly with Australia only getting onto the scoreboard after 11 minutes from a penalty kick by Mortlock, who kicked another penalty 5 minutes later and from there the Wallabies started gaining pace.
Japan head coach John Kirwan of New Zealand has named his Brave Blossom team for the Rugby World Cup Pool B match against Australia in Lyon on Saturday the 8th of September.
The side will be captained by Takamichi Sasaki.
Australian coach John Connolly has named a full force squad to take on the Brave Blossom of Japan on Saturday the 8th of September in the opening Rugby World Cup 2007 match for the Wallabies.
Captain of the Wallabies, Stirling Mortlock will be making a return appearance to the side, after a back injury forced him to miss practice this past week.
Australian (Wallabies) lineup for RWC 2007 opening match vs Japan on Saturday 8 September at the Stade de Gerland Stadium in Lyon. Read the rest of this entry »
With the IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 almost a week away, the final World Rugby Rankings have been updated, and will remain as they are going into the World Cup.
With all the Rugby World Cup warm up games happening in the past few weeks, the rankings have been changing. The most notable change in the final list is Ireland who move from 6th to 5th, overtaking the Los Pumas of Argentina.
The New Zealand All Blacks remain on top, followed by the Wallabies and then host nation France in 3rd. The Springboks who are tipped off as second best favourites to win the Webb Ellis Cup, are in 4th place.
The full and final list of the World Rugby Rankings for the Rugby World Cup has been updated.
This weekend, was a wonderful weekend of Rugby action. From the perseverance of the Japanese against the Azzurri, to the climatic end between Wales and Argentina.
The biggest result of this weekend, was of course England’s second consecutive loss to France in as many weeks with the final score of England 9-22 France at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles. England have no more World Cup warm up matches remaining, and will try to defend their title going with their two losses to the host nation France.
Wales put on a show against 5th ranked in the world: Argentina, but Wales found themselves under intense pressure in the second half with a climatic finish which ruled a last minute try by Argentinian player Martin Durand as a knock-on by the video referee. The final score was left at Wales 27-20 Argentina.
Other results included:
The action gets better as we build up towards the Rugby World Cup 2007.
Upcoming Rugby World Cup warm up fixtures to look forward to this week:
Friday 24th August 2007:
Saturday 25th August 2007:
Sunday 26th August 2007:
Rugby World Cup fever has truly begun, with less than 18 days remaining until the Rugby World Cup 2007!
Today we will see four great international rugby clashes between 8 major rugby nations, just a taste of what we will get when the World Cup is officially underway.
Today will also be the launch of a new unique feature for MyRugbyNews.com that we will be testing for use when the Rugby World Cup 2007 is officially underway.
The four Rugby World Cup warm-up games scheduled for today (Saturday 18th) are:
England 9-22 France (Full Time)
Wales 27-20 Argentina (Full Time)
Japan 12-36 Italy (Full Time)
Canada 42-12 Portugal (Full Time)
All eyes on France Vs England:
Following France’s victory over defending Rugby World Cup champions last weekend in Twickenham, with the home crowd on their side this time, Bernard Laporte’s team will be under allot of stress. France have only ever lost to Argentina in the Stade Velodrome.
Laporte predicted that if it rained before their game in the Rugby World Cup 2003, it would be over before kick-off. His prediction turned out to be correct with England knocking out France. The weather for today, is however in Laporte’s favour with a sunny day expected. Laporte has made 8 changes to his winning side from last weekend.
Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseille
Attendance: 50,000 expected
Kick off: 21:00 GMT
Referee: Alain Rolland
Latest encounters (from 2003+): 9 Games played France won 5, England won 4.
