IRB Update No.2

FIJI WIN BOOST FOR SEVENS SERIES IN SUVA Fiji appear to be on course to emerge as overall winners of the new IRB World Sevens Series as they look ahead to their own tournament in Suva at the week-end. A 24-14 win over the host union in the Wellington final of the inaugural New Zealand Sevens, watched by 30,000 means Fiji have won against the All Blacks in three of five Series finals to date, South Africa, Argentina and now New Zealand while their main challengers came out on top in Dubai and Uruguay. New Zealand called in Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen but it was not enough to disarm the Fijians who accounted for Tonga (47-7) and Samoa (47-12) on the way to the final. New Zealand in turn dismissed Argentina 42-12 and Australia 19-0 at the quarter and semi-final stage. Fiji now lead the Series table with 92 points and hold down a slim lead over New Zealand (88) with Samoa (54) and Australia (48) well back in third and fourth place ahead of South Africa (46) and Canada (28). The Canadians had their best finish yet coming from behind to upset the Springboks 24-21 in the Plate final. GEORGIA, SPAIN FIRST WINNERS IN EUROPEAN NATIONS CUP While the opening round of the Six Nations Championship stole the sporting headlines over the week-end, there were a number of other international results of equal significance to all those involved as players, officials and spectators. The inaugural games in the new IRB-backed European Nations Cup, in Lisbon and Palma de Mallorca, saw Georgia win away from home 32-30 over Portugal while Spain proved far too strong for the Netherlands with the final score 33-8 in game that drew a crowd estimated at 8,000. At the same time, in a match outside the European Nations Cup competition, Morocco registered an impressive 18-10 success at the expense of Casablanca guests Romania. Next up in the European Nations Cup, which is the successor competition to the long-standing FIRA Championship, are two games on February 20, Netherlands v Romania, in Amsterdam, and Portugal v Spain, in Lisbon. European rugby also now has a fully tiered, 29-nation competition with the Cup competition supported by the European Nations Plate and the European Nations Bowl along with three European Nations Regional Pools. The competing nations are: European Nations Cup, Georgia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain. European Nations Plate, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Russia, Ukraine. European Nations Bowl, Belgium, Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Switzerland. European Regional Pool One, Andorra, Austria, Hungary, Monaco, Slovenia. European Regional Pool Two, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Israel, Moldova, Yugoslavia. European Regional Pool Three, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden. The Bowl competition starts with Belgium v Switzerland, in Brussels on March 18, while the opening match in the Plate will Ukraine v Germany, on April 2 in Kiev. STRONG STARTS BY FRANCE, AND ENGLAND WOMEN The 2000 Women’s Five Nations, with Spain filling the vacancy left by Ireland’s decision to withdraw from the competition, opened February 4 in Swansea where France won 27-10 over Wales. On February 6, England defeated Spain 31-7, in Banbury. The tournament continues February 18 with England away to France, at Massy, with the other games: England v Wales, Newbury, March 5; Scotland v France, Edinburgh, March 5; France v Spain, Dax, March 18; Wales v Scotland, Caerphilly, March 19; Scotland v England, Edinburgh, April 1. Dates and venues have to be confirmed for two matches, Spain v Wales and Spain v Scotland, which has just been postponed from February 19. Scotland remain hopeful they will be able to go to Spain in April but have first to come to terms with the loss of Sportscotland Sports Lottery national player funding worth ú90,000. “We were told it was because we had not met our target of winning the European Championship last season. Instead we finished third and now we are back to where we were in 1994 when the players had to pay out of their own pockets to represent their country. We will of course be appealing”, added SWRU chairwoman Barbara Wilson. GRANTS APPROVED WORTH ALMOST ú7 MILLION The IRB Trust has approved grants to member unions totaling ú6.7 million. This figure includes funds for development, tournaments and capital projects and brings the amount returned to the game since 1996 to almost ú18 million. To enable unions make the best use of their grants, grants are now distributed in January rather than May. Funding for the development of rugby worldwide derives from Rugby World Cup tournaments every four years with the final revenues from RWC ’99 forecast at around ú45 million. TRINIDAD & TOBAGO CLOSER TO 2001 RWC SEVENS Trinidad and Tobago, the top seed, came through winners of the first of eight qualifying tournaments being staged this year in preparation for the 2001 Rugby World Cup Sevens, in Mar del Plata, Argentina January 26-28. The Trinidad and Tobago Calypso Warriors defeated Bermuda 22-10 after leading 15-0 in the final of the two-day, eight-team Caribbean Zone tournament, held in Port of Spain’s Hasely Crawford Stadium January 22-23. They now move on to the Americas Zone tournament, in Chile in May. The President, His Excellency Arthur N.R.Robinson, presented the trophy and medals. Trinidad and Tobago also faced Bermuda in pool play winning 19-12 before dispatching Guyana 19-5 and St. Lucia 52-0. Their tries in the final came from team captain Nigel Arismendez, Sean O’Farrel, Ronald Silverthorne and Mark Hamilton. The winners dismissed Barbados 26-12 in the Cup quarter-final and Jamaica 19-21 in the semi-final. Bermuda won 21-0 over Cayman Islands in the other semi-final. TRAIN THE TRAINERS IN DUBLIN Staff members with regional training responsibilities from the 12 Executive Council Unions were in Dublin, January 24-28, for an intensive Regional Referee Trainers Conference led by Referee Development Officer Steve Griffiths. The course will enable those present to assist with the delivery of IRB training programmes to unions in their regions.The programme include: Refereeing Level 1 and 2; Referee Coaching and Assessment Level 1, 2 and 3; Touch Judging Level 1,2 and 3 and Facilitation Skills Those in attendance were: Bruce Cook (Australia), Trevor Howard (New Zealand), Philip Botha and Steve Strydom (both South Africa), Efraim Sklar (Argentina), Tom Jones (Canada), Michel Lamoulie (France), Giovanni Morandin (Italy), Andy Melrose (England), Harry Miyahara (Japan), Bill Calder (Scotland), Ken Bracewell (England), David Keane and Gerry Maher (both Ireland). For more information please contact the IRB Tel: +353 1 662 5444 Fax: +353 1 676 9334 Website: www.irfb.com