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England move World Cup base from Christchurch after earthquake

• Martin Johnson's side will now be based in Auckland
• Team will also train in Dunedin and Queenstown



  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 April 2011 16.19 BST <li class="history">Article history
    Martin-Johnson-007.jpg
    Martin Johnson feels England's revised schedule 'is the best one' for his side. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images

    England have confirmed their rearranged schedule for this year's World Cup, having been forced to alter their plans to stay in Christchurch.
    Christchurch was hit by an earthquake on 22 February and tournament organisers were forced to relocate the seven games scheduled to be played there and inform sides that they could not have their bases in the city. England will instead be based in Auckland, Dunedin and Queenstown, with the former acting as their main base.
    Dunedin's Otago Stadium will host three of England's Pool B games and Martin Johnson's side will relocate to the south island city during that period, aside from a five-day spell in Queenstown between their first and second games against Argentina and Georgia.
    The Six Nations champions will return to Auckland ahead of their final pool game against Scotland at Eden Park, and will remain in the north island for the knockout stages of the tournament.
    "Our thoughts are still with the people of Christchurch as they rebuild and we were very much looking forward to being based there," Johnson said.
    "When it was confirmed that would not be possible, we worked with the World Cup organisers on alternative bases and we would like to thank them for sorting things as quickly as possible given the circumstances. We feel that the schedule, which now sees us starting off in Auckland, is the best one for us."

 
Northampton seize on Ulster errors to win Heineken Cup quarter-final

Northampton 23-13 Ulster



  • Paul Rees at Stadium:mk
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 April 2011 20.08 BST <li class="history">Article history
    lee-dickson-007.jpg
    Lee Dickson scores Northampton's second try against Ulster. Photograph: Henry Browne/Action Images

    Northampton showed the value of having hard-bitten forwards in the latter stages of the Heineken Cup, if not quite in the way the Ulster No8, Pedrie Wannenburg, appeared to sink his gumshield into the forearm of the Saints' captain, Dylan Hartley, when the game had slipped from the Irish side's grasping hands.
    "Slipped" was the appropriate word, because after Northampton had taken a 20-13 lead on 56 minutes, with a counter-attacking try that saw Ben Foden and Chris Ashton inter-pass from just outside their own 22 and Lee Dickson apply the finish, the Ulster full-back, Adam D'Arcy, had a chance for immediate reparation. His kick had given the Saints the chance to take that run from deep but after Ruan Pienaar had taken a quick penalty close to the Saints line, D'Arcy had only to catch a pass from Paddy Wallace to give Simon Danielli an unopposed run to the line. He dropped the ball and his side's prospects went with it.
    Ulster were more slick in the backs than Northampton but, despite having four South Africans in their pack, they were worn down by the sustained ferocity and power of the Saints eight. Those qualities were personified by the second-row Courtney Lawes, who spent the afternoon mixing dexterity and athleticism with strength-sapping hits.
    Northampton were winded a few weeks ago, having lost six consecutive Premiership matches, but the return of four England players and the renewed fitness of Lawes and the scrum-half Dickson have given them puff. There was nothing subtle about them &#8211; they were confident that Ulster would crack if they were drawn into a battle of attrition &#8211; but they were handed a third-minute try after Andrew Trimble flapped at an overweighted kick that was bouncing erratically in his own 22, knocked the ball on and conceded a scrum. That provided the foundation for a series of drives that ended with the prop Soane Tonga'uiha exploiting an absence of sentries at the fringe of a ruck.
    Mistakes became Ulster's speciality. Trimble's knock-on inside Northampton's half two minutes from the break allowed Saints to go into the break 13-10 down rather than six points behind, after BJ Botha was penalised for collapsing a scrum. Trimble had scored his side's try, Ian Humphreys freeing Danielli with an inside pass before Rory Best's neat feed to the scorer, but as the heat of the afternoon told, along with the unceasing pressure exerted by the Northampton forwards, Ulster's set pieces disintegrated. The penalty count against them rose, the influence of their predatory back row waned and desperation, flavoured with frustration, crept into their game.
    D'Arcy had just wasted his opportunity to draw level when Wannenburg appeared to chomp on Hartley's arm, after the hooker tried to pull him out of a ruck. The Northampton captain complained to the French referee, Romain Poite, that he had been bitten but amnesia kicked in when he was asked about it afterwards.
    "Perhaps I had sunstroke," he said before adding, after being told that his words had been picked up by the official's microphone: "It will teach me for pulling people out of rucks by their head." It will be one for the match commissioner.
    Victory had sated Hartley's desire for retribution. Northampton will return to Milton Keynes on 1 May for a semi-final against Perpignan, with whom they shared a pool last season, when both matches were won comfortably by the home side. If Saints are unlikely to enjoy the kind of pre-eminence in the scrums they enjoyed here, at least as long as the France prop Nicolas Mas is on the field, it will not stop them digging for weaknesses. If there is little in Saints to thrill those of a romantic disposition, their doggedness, focus and stamina were too much for Ulster. For all their willingness to seek space, the Irish province ended up lost in it.
    Ulster have won six consecutive matches in the Magners League, climbing to second in the table, but although they scored 13 unanswered points here after conceding such an early try they were never in control. Northampton started the second half by forcing penalties at scrums, lineouts and mauls and gaining territory. Stephen Myler's second penalty drew them level before Dickson's try forced Ulster to bring on replacements and the cracks in their game turned into rubble. D'Arcy's knock-on was followed by Myler extending his side's lead to 10 points and it was only in the final minutes that Northampton used their bench.
    England will have a Heineken semi-finalist, unlike last season, and Northampton have confounded their chairman, Keith Barwell, who wants the salary cap in the Premiership ended because he fears that it prevents teams from competing in the Heineken Cup on an even basis with the bigger-spending French clubs and some of the Celtic sides. The Saints are far from spent in Europe.
    Northampton Foden; Ashton, Clarke, Downey, Diggin; Myler, Dickson; Tonga'uiha (Waller, 78), Hartley (capt; Sharman, 78), Mujati, Lawes, Day, Dowson (Clark, 73), Wood, Wilson.
    Tries Tonga'uiha, Dickson Cons Myler 2 Pens Myler 3.
    Ulster D'Arcy; Trimble, Spence, Wallace, Danielli (Gilroy, 73); Humphreys, Pienaar; Court, Best (capt), Botha (McAllister, 72), Muller (Whitten, 79), Tuohy (Barker, 58), Diack (Faloon, 65), Henry, Wannenburg.
    Try Trimble Con Humphreys Pens Humphreys 2.
    Referee R Poite (France) Attendance 21,309.

 
Brian O'Driscoll's Leinster are too good for Leicester in Heineken Cup

Leinster 17-10 Leicester



  • Robert Kitson at Aviva Stadium
  • The Guardian, Monday 11 April 2011 <li class="history">Article history
    odriscoll-007.jpg
    Craig Newby tries to get to grips with Brian O'Driscoll. Photograph: Paul Harding/Action Images

    This season's abiding memory will be of Irishmen celebrating and Englishmen contemplating their navels. As Leicester were reminded on Saturday night, there is a point where bad luck ceases to matter and superior ability has to be applauded. The Tigers may still rule domestically but for the second time in three weeks, English visitors retreated from Dublin with much to ponder.
    It will be of scant consolation to Leicester that they were more competitive than England proved to be in the same stadium last month. Steadily the evidence is mounting that the Premiership is not breeding enough players with the dynamism and intelligence to confound the likes of Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Heaslip in their own backyard. The Tigers were made to look ordinary, which is never a comfortable feeling.
    Leinster could be European champions in waiting. The Leicester forwards Tom Croft and Craig Newby suspect the province are on course to lift the Heineken Cup for the second time in three seasons, spurred on by their improving front five.
    Richardt Strauss is not the world's most illustrious hooker but he was a deserving man of the match here. Leo Cullen, once of Leicester, preyed on the Tigers lineout with cruel precision. In the back row, Sean O'Brien and Heaslip again set the bar ruthlessly high.
    With Leinster's semi-final also taking place in Dublin, it will require something extraordinary to deny them a place in the Cardiff final on 21 May. The Leicester director of rugby, Richard Cockerill, could have blamed the match officials &#8211; the pass which launched Isa Nacewa's fine individual try was clearly forward &#8211; but, to his credit, he acknowledged that Leinster had deserved their success.
    Nor was it a day to bleat too loudly about the restrictive nature of the Premiership salary cap. The home XV's only imports were Strauss, Nathan Hines and Nacewa, few people's idea of galácticos. This was the ever-present Nacewa's 26th game of the season yet the Fiji full-back still managed to look dagger-sharp.
    No, the truth has to be faced and idle excuses rejected. Money and fixture schedules are less of a handicap than a paucity of clear thinking, mobile forwards and smart, decisive playmakers. Some prominent English players crumble when the pressure starts to build. Following the Crusaders' stunning exhibition at Twickenham, this was another reality check. Precious few Tigers, on the day, would have made Leinster's team.
    That list includes Ben Youngs who, right now, would be happy never to visit Lansdowne Road again. The scrum-half again looked out of sorts, his pass and confidence fraying badly. His fly-half, Toby Flood, was left to duck and dive against an expertly marshalled defence; the absence from the starting XV of the No8 Thomas Waldrom and the prop Martín Castrogiovanni proved a miscalculation. Manu Tuilagi may be England's future in the centre but O'Driscoll was a study in midfield excellence. While the Irish economy is struggling, the value of Ireland's captain shows no sign of deflating.
    Fortune did, admittedly, favour the boys in blue, not least when a Jonathan Sexton penalty bounced off both posts before dropping over the bar. On another day Alesana Tuilagi would have scored in the left corner &#8211; the video referee ruled that his knee had grazed the touchline &#8211; and Flood would not have missed the relatively simple penalty which further undermined the Tigers' cause.
    Rob Hawkins's late try rewarded Leicester's spirit but as Cockerill said: "We left ourselves too much to do." He also lamented the absence of the injured Geordan Murphy, conveniently overlooking that Murphy is an exiled Leinster man himself. The harsh conclusion has to be that English players are not as good as some of them like to think. The methods which win domestic titles will take you only so far in Europe.
    Between now and August, when England are due to return to Dublin for their final pre-World Cup warm-up game, it will do Youngs and co no harm to stew on Ireland's current superiority. English sides used to be experts at winning big sudden-death games away from home but there has been just one English knockout win on foreign soil in the Heineken Cup in six years, excluding Leicester's draw and subsequent penalty shoot-out victory in Cardiff in 2009. Statistics, in this case, do not lie.
    Leinster Nacewa; Horgan (McFadden, 75), O'Driscoll, D'Arcy, Fitzgerald; Sexton, Reddan (Boss, 59); Healy (Van der Merwe, 78), Strauss, Ross, Cullen (capt), Hines, McLaughlin (Ryan, 68), O'Brien, Heaslip.
    Try Nacewa Pens Sexton 4.
    Leicester Hamilton; Agulla (Smith, 77), M Tuilagi, Allen, A Tuilagi; Flood, Youngs; Stankovich (Cole, 74), Chuter (Hawkins, 74), Cole (Castrogiovanni, 51), Deacon (Slater, 29), Mafi, Croft, Newby (capt; Waldrom, 74), Crane.
    Try Hawkins Con Flood Pen Flood.
    Referee N Owens (Wales) Attendance 49,762.

 
Perry Freshwater try helps Perpignan beat Toulon in Heineken Cup

&#8226; Perpignan 29-25 Toulon



  • Mike Averis in Barcelona
  • The Guardian, Monday 11 April 2011 <li class="history">Article history
    freshwater-007.jpg
    Perry Freshwater, the scorer of Perpignan's second try, celebrates victory over Toulon in Barcelona. Photograph: David Rogers/Getty Images

    Barcelona will always mean football, but for eight hours on Saturday Messi, Alves, Iniesta and co surrendered the city to thousands of Catalans intent on enjoying a rugby experiment which is certain to be repeated if Perpignan get another chance to take a major Heineken Cup game to their spiritual capital.
    Before kick&#8209;off, when the streets around the Olympic Stadium were clogged by red and yellow, and for two hours afterwards when convoys of cars honked and hooted, deafening the city centre in celebration of victory, there was plenty of serious partying. Around 32,000 motored south, across the French border, leaving Perpignan almost empty, to join 15,000 highly partisan and vocal locals in celebration of a long&#8209;held desire to unite the Catalan nation in a new sport.
    That a total of 55,000 people paid to watch a rugby match in Spain was enough of a success story even before the dejected Toulon coach, Philippe Saint-André, admitted that the Catalan support had probably been worth 12 points to Perpignan on a day when they secured a first semi&#8209;final appearance in eight years.
    The argument was settled long before Toulon scored a last-minute try and the biggest roar of the afternoon went not to Jonny Wilkinson but to another England player, Perry Freshwater, who barrelled his way over from five yards to take Perpignan into a 26-18 lead that was insurmountable for a Toulon team who were poor after the first quarter of the game.
    The 37-year-old prop, who has a damaged shoulder which nearly made him miss the game, came on to score the only try he can remember scoring in eight years at Perpignan and in a playing career which includes 10 England caps.
    "I just push, I don't score," said Freshwater, before going on to outline the importance of this game. "Ever since I've been at the club, the idea of getting a game in Barcelona has been the whole goal.
    "Barcelona, Barcelona, Barcelona ... and it was a fantastic occasion, but it wouldn't have been if we had lost and we could have. There was a lot of pressure coming here. We were terrible in that first half. In the changing room at half-time the coach said we couldn't get any worse."
    Perpignan survived two yellow cards in the first half &#8211; Wilkinson's Toulon team could fashion just one try in those 20 minutes against 14 men and turned around only five points to the good. After Jacques Brunel's half-time talk, Perpignan were another team and Barcelona celebrated until it was time to refocus on events at the Camp Nou.
    Perpignan Porical; Plante, Marty, Grandclaude, Candelon; Laharrague, Cazenave; Schuster (Freshwater, 47), Guirado, Mas (capt; Pulu, 64), Vilaceca, Tchale Watchou, Guiry, Chouly, H Tuilagi.
    Tries Plante, Freshwater Cons Porical 2 Pens Porical 5. Sin bin Vilaceca 9, Tchale Watchou 34.
    Toulon R Lamont; Wulf, Messina (F Contepomi, 66), Lovobalavu, Loamanu (Sackey, 45); Wilkinson, Mignoni (Cibray, 58); Emmanuelli, Bruno (Genevois 47), Kubriashvili, Chesney, Schofield (Samson, 55), J Fernández Lobbe, Smith, Van Niekerk (capt; El Abd, 71).
    Tries Smith, Van Niekerk, Cibray Cons Wilkinson 2 Pens Wilkinson 2.
    Referee A Rolland (Ireland). Attendance 55,000.

 
Yannick Nyanga gives Toulouse Heineken Cup victory over Biarritz

Biarritz 20-27 Toulouse (aet, 17-17 at 80min)



  • Mike Averis at Estadio Anoeta
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 April 2011 21.17 BST
    Yannick-Nyanga-007.jpg
    Yannick Nyanga scores the winning try for Toulouse against Biarritz in San Sebastian. Photograph: Bob Edme/AP

    Toulouse, champions four times, staggered into a semi&#8209;final against Leinster in Dublin on 30 April. They saved face, having thrown away a 17-point lead, with a try from a charge-down that came 18 minutes into extra time.
    The first 80 minutes finished at 17-17 and the tie was settled when Dimitri Yachvili, the hero of Biarritz's fightback, had a clearance blocked by Yannick Nyanga. The France flanker got to the ricochet and touched down under the posts.
    If Toulouse take as many liberties with Leinster, their crown will be gone. Last May they beat Biarritz to win the Heineken Cup thanks to the boots of David Skrela and Florian Fritz. On Sunday, despite rain and cold in San Sebastian, that cloud was cast off as both sides attacked from the start. If Biarritz did anything wrong it was that they played too much rugby for 40 minutes, before turning to their more practised arts &#8211; and Yachvili's boot &#8211; for the last hour.
    The Basques followed the Catalans of Perpignan by nipping across the Spanish border to find a bigger audience. Toulouse's manager, Guy Novès, responded by setting up camp for some hot-weather training &#8211; only for the thermometer to plunge before kick-off as showers blew in off the Atlantic.
    Both sides raced out of the blocks. First Toulouse pummelled away, then Iain Balshaw danced up the left for Biarritz before the brothers Lund, Erik and Magnus, added muscle. The only respite in the first 10 minutes was when Balshaw kicked a high ball too long, but Toulouse gave the ball back.
    Skrela came close to being nabbed in his own in-goal area, but just when it seemed Biarritz had to score Toulouse went over twice in less than 10 minutes. The full-back Cédric Heymans went half the length of the field to put the champions on the board. Skrela converted but then ran into Erik Lund and headed for the blood bin. He was being bandaged when Biarritz created a mess inside their own 22. Vincent Clerc pounced on the loose ball and the 19-year-old scrum-half, Nicolas Bezy, playing his first Heineken Cup match, spotted Maxime Médard free on the left. The cross kick wobbled horribly but the France wing had time to score. Bezy converted and after spending 25 minutes largely on the back foot Toulouse were 14 points up &#8211; it was 17 when Skrela kicked a penalty when Biarritz were caught with their hands in a ruck.
    Yachvili kicked three penalties in the first 16 minutes of the second half but only diehard Basques would have suggested that Toulouse's wheels could come off as they did. First, pressure on the Biarritz line was turned into a scrum on the Toulouse 22 when Heymans fumbled the clearance. Florian Fritz went to the sin-bin for killing the ball on his own line and with Yachvili kicking a fourth penalty the lead was five points, with Biarritz opting to press their man advantage with scrums on the Toulouse line.
    The Toulouse hooker, William Servat, then took Yachvili out in mid-air and the scrum-half was rewarded when he charged down Skrela's clearance, leaving the left wing, Ilikena Bolakoro, to score. The game went into extra time when Yachvili missed the conversion from wide on the left. Skrela and Yachvili exchanged penalties in extra time before Nyanga's try left Toulouse with 67 seconds to run down.
    Biarritz Balshaw; Ngwenya, Bosch, Gimenez (Mignardi, 80), Bolakoro; Peyrelongue, Yachvili; Coetzee (Afoa, 70), Terrain (Guinazu, 90), Marconnet (Johnstone, 57), Thion, E Lund (Taele, 76), M Lund, Harinordoquy (capt), Lakafia (Lauret, 74).
    Try Bolakoro Pens Yachvili 5.
    Toulouse Heymans; Clerc, Fritz, Poitrenaud (Jauzion, 90), Médard; Skrela, Bezy (Doussain, 96); Human (Poux, 53), Servat (Lacombe, 72), Johnston (Montes, 68), Millo-Chluski (Maestri, 53), Albacete, Bouilhou (capt), Nicolas (Nyanga, 38), Picamoles (Lamboley, 76).
    Tries Heymans, Médard, Nyanga Cons Skrela 2, Bezy Pens Skrela 2 Sin-bin Fritz 70.
    Referee W Barnes (England) Attendance 32,000.

 
Leeds's Carl Ablett charged by RFL over dangerous tackle at Hull KR

&#8226; Second-row to face disciplinary hearing
&#8226; Ablett could miss two derby matches



  • Andy Wilson
  • guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 April 2011 19.40 BST <li class="history">Article history
    ablett-007.jpg
    Carl Ablett has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the Rugby Football League. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images

    Leeds are the latest club in danger of suffering from the crackdown on dangerous tackling techniques in the Super League, as their second-row Carl Ablett has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
    Ablett has been charged by the Rugby Football League's video review panel with "using his body forcefully to bend or apply unnecessary pressure to the head and/or neck and/or spinal" of the Hull KR forward Rhys Lovegrove in last Saturday's game at Craven Park, which the Rhinos lost 38-28.
    The offence has been graded B, leaving Ablett in danger of a one- or two-match suspension that would rule him out of Friday's home game against Huddersfield and possibly another derby, at Bradford on Thursday week.
    Several players have been suspended for dangerous tackles or wrestling holds that apply pressure to an opponents' joints this season, most recently and notoriously the Wigan forward Jeff Lima, who was sent to the sin-bin in last week's draw at Leeds for a tackle on Chris Clarkson that sparked a brawl. Lima was later banned for one match.
    The review panel decided not to take any further action against the Warrington captain, Adrian Morley, for a high tackle on the young Huddersfield wing Jermaine McGillvary last Friday, ruling that Morley had made a "legitimate attempt to tackle, does not use swinging arm" and that McGillvary had been "falling into [the] tackle", and had "bent into contact with opponent".
    The Huddersfield forward Andy Raleigh has been ruled out until the end of the month with an eye injury sustained in that game. Warrington expect the Australian three-quarter Matt King to return over the Easter weekend, after he suffered knee ligament damage in the first game of the season.

 
Leeds's Carl Ablett charged by RFL over dangerous tackle at Hull KR

• Second-row to face disciplinary hearing
• Ablett could miss two derby matches
  • Andy Wilson
  • guardian.co.uk, Monday 11 April 2011 19.40 BST <li class="history">Article history
    ablett-007.jpg
    Carl Ablett has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the Rugby Football League. Photograph: Craig Brough/Action Images

    Leeds are the latest club in danger of suffering from the crackdown on dangerous tackling techniques in the Super League, as their second-row Carl Ablett has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
    Ablett has been charged by the Rugby Football League's video review panel with "using his body forcefully to bend or apply unnecessary pressure to the head and/or neck and/or spinal" of the Hull KR forward Rhys Lovegrove in last Saturday's game at Craven Park, which the Rhinos lost 38-28.
    The offence has been graded B, leaving Ablett in danger of a one- or two-match suspension that would rule him out of Friday's home game against Huddersfield and possibly another derby, at Bradford on Thursday week.
    Several players have been suspended for dangerous tackles or wrestling holds that apply pressure to an opponents' joints this season, most recently and notoriously the Wigan forward Jeff Lima, who was sent to the sin-bin in last week's draw at Leeds for a tackle on Chris Clarkson that sparked a brawl. Lima was later banned for one match.
    The review panel decided not to take any further action against the Warrington captain, Adrian Morley, for a high tackle on the young Huddersfield wing Jermaine McGillvary last Friday, ruling that Morley had made a "legitimate attempt to tackle, does not use swinging arm" and that McGillvary had been "falling into [the] tackle", and had "bent into contact with opponent".
    The Huddersfield forward Andy Raleigh has been ruled out until the end of the month with an eye injury sustained in that game. Warrington expect the Australian three-quarter Matt King to return over the Easter weekend, after he suffered knee ligament damage in the first game of the season.
 
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