The News Review:
- Huge demand for Heineken cup final tickets
- Saints fight back against Bristol to return to the Heineken Cup
- Davies to resign Leeds Tykes post
- Saints fightback stuns Bristol
- Baron finds common ground in a very different world
- Worcester 35 Newcastle 27: Falcons pay penalty for wayward kicking
- England snub hurts Hodgson
Huge demand for Heineken cup final tickets
Emigrant nline – Apr 30, 2006
The stadium's capacity is 75000 yet Munster and Biarritz have only been allocated 7500 tickets each. Some 42000 tickets went on general sale last May and are already sold out and the remaining 17000 have been allocated to corporate sponsors. Munster supporters may now have to rely on Leinster fans selling on final tickets which they bought in advance of last Sunday's semi-final. n Monday a pair of tickets attracted bids in excess of €500 on eBay.
Saints fight back against Bristol to return to the Heineken Cup
Northampton Saints – Apr 30, 2006
php 03:35 –>TryS Thompson70TryS Lamont72ConvB Reihana72TryB Cohen77ConvB Reihana77Saints fight back against Bristol to return to the Heineken CupSaints looked as though they were staring at a whitewash defeat until the 70th minute of the game when replacement hooker Steve Thompson went over for the first of the visitors’ three late tries against Bristol to return to the Heineken Cup next season. BRISTL RUGBY 16NRTHAMPTN SAINTS 19 Guinness Premiership round 21Sunday April 30 2006Memorial StadiumThe first minute of this game was indicative of a rather ugly first 20 minutes of rugby at the Memorial Stadium today. Paul Tupai and Mark Regan squared up to each other for a not-so friendly introduction and the forwards continued to dominate those early minutes until Bristol’s wing Marko Stanojevic brought the backs into the game with a run down his wing before he was bundled into touch. The Saints forwards then tried to stamp their authority on the game when they stole a ball from a Bristol scrum and Saints’ fly-half Carlos Spencer booted the ball into touch to give the visitors some breathing space. The breathing space was wasted however as Bristol were awarded a penalty when Saints brought down the maul from the ensuing lineout.
Davies to resign Leeds Tykes post
BBC News – Apr 30, 2006
But Davies’ future now lies elsewhere although it would be a suprise if it was not somewhere back in Wales. “It is after much soul searching and discussion with my family and Leeds Tykes that I have decided to resign my post” Davies added. “The last 10 years has been an amazing journey with a fantastic group of people helping to take the club from National League Three to Heineken Cup rugby and winning the Powergen Cup last season. “I will have some time out with my family and reflect upon my career and future after a decade at this wonderful club. Davies capped 46 times as a number eight and lock joined Leeds from Stradey Park as player-coach in 1996. He gave up his role as Leeds head coach last ctober to concentrate on his director of rugby position but – despite a brief upturn in form – the Tykes were relegated from the Guinness Premiership. However he did lead the Yorkshire club from Division Three to the Premiership in five years took them into the Heineken Cup and won the Powergen Cup last season.
Saints fightback stuns Bristol
InTheNews.co.uk – Apr 30, 2006
Saints appeared dead and buried at 16-0 down going into the final quarter. But tries from Steve Thompson Sean Lamont and Ben Cohen in injury-time sealed a win which bolsters their Heineken Cup hopes. Bristol led at half-time through two Jason Strange penalties and a Marco Stanojevic try. Strange added another penalty in the second half before the introduction of England hooker Steve Thompson invigorated Northampton. The Saints are now five points clear of Saracens in sixth place which would earn a Heineken Cup spot. In the day’s other game Gloucester hammered relegated Leeds 31-7 and ensured that they would be playing Heineken Cup rugby next year.
Baron finds common ground in a very different world
Independent – Apr 30, 2006
“And so it becomes clear that humble Keresley and all-singing all-dancing Twickenham – where the new South Stand is expected to generate an extra £7m a year – are two sides of the same coin. Keresley used to get 50 tickets for an England match. Now of their reduced allocation Edwards is invited to flog them back to the Union’s corporate hospitality outlets at up to £200 profit each. Today Baron and Thomas will watch a youth rugby festival at Rugby School cradle of the game. Then it’s back to the wrangling with the Premiership clubs whose “Weston Plan” demands among other things control of revenue from the Lions and Heineken Cup. “They say it’s not a menu but a ‘take it or leave it’” says Thomas shaking his head. Perhaps he should take Edwards to the next board meeting.
Worcester 35 Newcastle 27: Falcons pay penalty for wayward kicking
Independent – Apr 30, 2006
He brushed them aside and was sharp enough to play a key role in Newcastle’s comeback. “We scored five tries to four converted only one and dropped the ball over the line so to come away with only one point is pretty hard to take” Andrew said. Indeed but Worcester who had a lean time of it after Christmas were hell bent on winning and did so in such style that the five points from this victory – by three goals a try and three penalties to a goal and four tries – have given them a slender chance of gatecrashing next season’s Heineken Cup. Worcester were in their stride by the 11th minute when Kai Horstmann went over on the right wing after good work by Nick Runciman and Shane Drahm. Matthew Burke whose afternoon lurched from brilliant to awful kicked his re-start too long and Worcester ran it back to dazzling effect Gary Trueman crashing through Burke to make it 12-0. It was typical of the home side’s performance and although on paper Newcastle have one of the best back lines in the league Worcester set the pace with strong direct running and great support play. If they were terrific the visitors especially in the second half were not far behind.
England snub hurts Hodgson
Times nline – Apr 30, 2006
Hodgson has been the focal point of the most remarkable transformation of the elite club season London Irish’s evolution from the most boring side in the country to one of the most exciting including a try count that has more than doubled. They have scored 88 in all games so far compared with 39 in total last year are fourth in the Guinness Premiership and last weekend booked their place in the European Challenge Cup final against Gloucester with a thrilling 27-22 win at Newcastle. Winning that final or finishing fourth or higher in the Premiership will ensure automatic Heineken Cup qualification next season. Victory today over Wasps who are a place and two points above them going into the penultimate league game will keep Hodgson and Co in the hunt to become English champions. However despite Hodgson being part of a squad jam-packed with English talent — from lock Nick Kennedy to backs such as Delon Armitage Topsy jo Nils Mordt and the venerable Mike Catt — as far as Irish are aware neither England head coach Robinson nor his assistants have seen them in action at the Madejski stadium all season. What makes the omission hard to understand is that England have been desperately in need of a scrum-half successor to Matt Dawson for two years. With Leicester’s Harry Ellis struggling to make the big step up you would think that the national coaches would be forensic in their analysis of candidates for arguably the pivotal position on the pitch.