The News Review:
- Shoulder injury strikes Williams
- Morrison eyes Scots bragging rights
- Rugby’s Challenge Cup to follow Uefa Cup
- Heineken Cup has refreshed the world of rugby
- Perpignan man the barricades over Tincu ban
- Heineken Cup Round Four
Shoulder injury strikes Williams
BBC News UK
The International Rugby Board Player of the Year 31 took a knock in the spreys’ Heineken Cup win in Treviso. Williams had treatment on Tuesday to help settle the problem in the “short term” and is out for two weeks. He could be back for either the Munster or Perpignan games early January if he responds well to treatment the spreys confirmed. “The problem is affecting one of the rotator cuff tendons in his right shoulder” it said in an spreys statement. “After being reviewed by a shoulder specialist Shane has had treatment to try and help his symptoms in the short term.
Related from Medcylopaedia: Bush Gets MRI on Left Shoulder
Morrison eyes Scots bragging rights
BBC Sport UK
“It might not have been the prettiest rugby to watch but the final result was definitely worth it. My parents had flown over from Hong Kong for the weekend so that made it all the more special for me. A good run in the Magners League culminating in a 21-18 victory over Heineken Cup winners Munster saw Glasgow end the season in fifth place – their best-ever position. But for Morrison that was not an unexpected outcome. “We surprised a few people but I don’t think that included ourselves. In fact we were a little disappointed not to be higher than that. “There were a couple of results that didn’t go our way and we lost out by a very narrow margin.
Rugby’s Challenge Cup to follow Uefa Cup
Telegraph.co.uk United Kingdom
By Mick Cleary Last Updated: 7:56PM GMT 22 Dec 2008 Rugby has adopted football’s Uefa Cup approach in proposing that the three runners-up in the Heineken Cup pool stages behind the two best second-placed teams who have gone through to the knockout stages will go into the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals. In effect this means that the teams ranked ninth 10th and 11th after the Heineken Cup pool stages will still see European action. The Heineken Cup quarter-finals are made up of the six pool winners plus the two best-placed runners-up. That format will still stand. However the Challenge Cup which has become increasingly an Anglo-Saxon affair ought now to contain some European heavyweights as it goes to its knockout phase.
Heineken Cup has refreshed the world of rugby
Walesnline United Kingdom
sprey fans meanwhile were similarly impressed when a lone voice continued with the second verse. Who could possibly know the words to that? Max Boyce of course who got a rousing ovation for his efforts. We asked double Heineken Cup winner Fraser Waters why he’d swapped Wasps for one of the furthest outposts of the European game. He smiled as he described the excellent quality of life the beautiful summers and the close family atmosphere of the club. “In a way it’s got the best of what rugby used to be” he said. We could see what he meant. And as we said goodbye to our Italian hosts there was a certain irony that we had come so far for an experience that in Gwyn Thomas’ day was once so close to home.
Perpignan man the barricades over Tincu ban
Independent UK
Tincu was banned for 18 weeks by a European Rugby Cup disciplinary panel and should not have set foot on a competitive pitch anywhere in the world until early March. Perpignan hot challengers for the French title and still in with a remote chance of progressing to the Heineken quarter-finals fielded the Romanian Test player in their victory over Castres last weekend after taking their case to the French National and lympic Sports Committee and questioning the legality of a blanket ban. Alarmed by rumours that the club also planned to play Tincu against Brive in 10 days’ time the IRB confirmed that it had asked the F?ration Française de Rugby for “a complete record of the events decisions and procedures that resulted in an apparent breach of sanction”. French clubs have a history of rebelling against punishments dished out by the disciplinarians of the European game – the two-year ban imposed on the Colomiers prop Richard Nones in 1999 also for a gouging offence committed in a Heineken Cup fixture was the subject of a long legal wrangle during which the player continued to turn out for his club – and Perpignan officials have indicated a willingness to fight Tincu’s corner in the civil court. n the Premiership front Gloucester yesterday reported that Greg Somerville the All Black prop who arrived at the club only a fortnight ago had undergone surgery to repair a detached retina in his left eye. Somerville suffered the injury during the heavy defeat at London Irish on Saturday – his first start for the West Country club – and is unlikely to play again before the end of February.
Heineken Cup Round Four
SkySports
Munster and Sale in Pool ne Leinster and London Wasps (two) Leicester and spreys (three) Toulouse and Bath (five) and Cardiff and Gloucester (six) are all right in the hunt to top their respective pools. Harlequins will feel they have one foot in the knockout stage after back-to-back wins over Stade Francais but even the Londoners could slip up over the final two weeks. In fact a total of 15 teams all still have legitimate hopes of reaching the last eight in what is turning into the most open of Heineken Cups. Who do you think will be making up the quarter-final line-up? And which team has impressed you as potential champions?Share your thoughts using the feedback coupon below.