Kat Merchant talks with Women's Sport Monthly about concussions

Under the Posts – Nov 18-24

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This week we saw the Black Ferns Developmental side win the Oceania Rugby Championship, Wales defeat Crawshay 29-8, Japan upset Scotland 24-20, Canada swept the USA in the CANAM series and England dominated Italy 60-3.

We also catch up with the All-Ireland League, and the Barbarians announce their to face Wales. More news  in the  Oceania Rugby Championship as Tonga withdrew from due to a measles outbreak but they will travel to the third-placed team for a play-off in early 2020 to continue their  efforts to earn a spot at the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Lastly we cover the NIRA Champions and the continuation of the USA Rugby College DI & DII Championships.

Can’t wait a week? Join us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram as we will be posting daily. We have a bit more dialogue on Twitter if you’d like to join in.

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15s

https://twitter.com/oceaniarugby/status/1197747785652744192

https://twitter.com/oceaniarugby/status/1197702744238362624

Big news in the Oceania 15s Championship as Tonga has withdrawn due to an outbreak of measles. As this tournament serves as a qualifier for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup, many wondered if Tonga would be given another chance.

World Rugby has announced today a revised Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification process:

  • The Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship will confirm the best placed team who will qualify directly for Rugby World Cup 2021
  • In early 2020, Tonga will travel to the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship’s third-placed team for a play-off 
  • The winner of that match will play against the second-placed team to decide who will compete in the Repechage tournament

Rugby World Cup Limited will cover the costs of both additional test matches, with fixture details to be announced in due course.

Scrum Queens highlights the Czechs unlikely rise from lowest ranked international XVs team to back-to-back European Trophies in an unbeaten year of test rugby (plus a best-ever finish in sevens). 

https://twitter.com/CrawshaysRugby/status/1197870193734832129

https://twitter.com/WelshRugbyUnion/status/1197557320345096192

https://twitter.com/WelshRugbyUnion/status/1198271491844050944

Wales defeated the first Crawshay’s Women’s side at Ebbw Vale 29-8. This match served as a warmup for Wales as they look forward to facing the Barbarians on November 30. 

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1198612986233065473

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1198960206849413120

Scotland concluded their 2019 test season with a loss to Japan, 20-24. The Cherry Blossoms seem to have taken in their spirited men’s performance at the 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup and shocked their hosts. 

The Scots scored first in the match through winger Megan Gaffney. Japan responded quickly with a try from their own winger Noriko Taniguchi. Conversions were missed and from there it was a back and forth affair. With less than two minutes remaining. Substitute Ayasa Otsuka touched down for Japan and with that they took the lead.

https://twitter.com/USARugby/status/1197179689770467328

https://twitter.com/RugbyCanada/status/1198002587158470656

In the two-match CANAM series, Canada swept the event while USA was left wanting. The first match saw Canada win 19-0 but the scoreline was a bit misleading. USA crossed the try line no less than four times but couldn’t successfully touch the ball down.

In the second match, USA came out screaming with two early tries but sputtered in the second half under immense pressure. The final score was 52-27 to the Maple Leafs.

https://twitter.com/Federugby/status/1196440480860508160

https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1197484674693681153

https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby/status/1198283217578708993

England easily defeated Italy 60-3 and that victory marked their 17th straight victory on home soil. Natasha Hunt, who celebrated her 50th cap led the team at captain and they secured their third and final victory of the 2019 Quilter Internationals.

UL Bohemian continue to lead the Energia Women’s All-Ireland League as they hold a slight lead over Railway Union on scoring difference. Third place is held  by Old Belvedere followed by Cooke and  Suttonians. 

https://twitter.com/Barbarian_FC/status/1196504757235539969

https://twitter.com/Barbarian_FC/status/1197914040418340865

Barbarians Women Head Coach Jo Yapp has announced a squad drawn from ten nations to face Wales.

With a blend of experienced internationals and newcomers, the squad boasts six Rugby World Cup players including two winners and over 430 international caps.

Players from Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, the USA and Wales will gather in Cardiff next week to prepare for the second-ever double-header fixture when the Barbarians women’s and men’s side take on the Wales national sides on Saturday 30 November at the Principality Stadium.

https://twitter.com/WCUAthletics/status/1196178347384082436

The National Intercollegiate Rugby Association (NIRA) concluded its 2019 season and has named three national champions for the first time in the organization’s history

  • Harvard University (Tier I)
  • West Chester University (Tier II)
  • Bowdoin College (Division III)

Matches continue in the USA Rugby DI & DII divisions. NSCRO is on break until next weekend after  the Thanksgiving holiday.

DI QFs and  SFs – Weekend of Nov 23

West – Columbia, MO

  • Air Force 69 Indiana 0
  • Wyoming 7  Minnesota 34

East – Poughkeepsie, NY

  • UCONN 67 Pittsburgh 5
  • Davenport 22 Navy 45

DI College National Championships – Weekend of Dec 7 -Matthews, NC

  • Air Force vs Navy

DII Round of 16 and QFs – Weekend of Nov 23

Mid-Atlantic – Poughkeepsie, NY

  • Bloomsburg 40 Hartford 50
  • Temple 7 Coast Guard 53
  • Hartford 12  Coast Guard 24

West – Columbia, MO

  • Winona State 43 Mankato 0
  • UW Oshkosh 10 Grand Valley State 27
  • Winona State 74 Grand Valley State 12

Northeast – Poughkeepsie, NY

  • Vassar 51 Colby 14
  • Cortland 17 Bryant 29
  • Vassar 33 Bryant 7

Midwest – Columbia, MO

  • Cincinnati 32 Illinois 0
  • IUP 10 CO School of Mines 22
  • Cincinnati 0 CO School of Mines 22

DII College National Championships – Weekend of Dec 7 -Matthews, NC

Semi-finals

  • Coast Guard vs Winona State
  • Vassar vs CO School of Mines

Quick update from The Rugby Breakdown on the women’s club side. 

The Texas Rugby Union All  Star Challenge is coming quickly and eight teams will battle it out for the title. Both TRU teams have been named as well as an announcement around two clinics that USA  Women’s National Team Coach will be hosting.

Live streams of the weekend matches will be available on the TRU Youtube channel and Facebook page. 

7s

SASCOC – South Africa’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) – have for some years had a policy of only allowing “world class” teams and athletes represent them at the Olympics. The policy has changed but it has come to late and to little for their 7s athletes.

South Africa won the Olympic qualification tournament in Tunisia last month but knew they would’t advance. Even with the policy change, World Rugby have confirmed to us that because SASCOC declined the invitation to take part in the qualification process, the result from Tunisia stands.

In as double blow, the Springbok Women will not even be allowed an outside chance to qualify via the international repechage tournament because of the previous SASCOC ruling as those places have gone to third and fourth (normally the second and third place) placed finishers at the African champions – Madagascar and Tunisia.”

https://twitter.com/BlackFerns/status/1196850626367504386

Black Fern Selica Winiata’s has gone from playing on the HSBC 7s Series to being selected as a referee for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 season.

Winiata’s selection takes the total number of New Zealand referees involved in the HSBC Sevens Series to five with James Doleman, Richard Kelly, Lauren Jenner and Emily Hsieh.

Other News

https://twitter.com/womensrugby_pod/status/1196756831781175296

The Inside Women’s Rugby pod speaks with Youssra Alaoui of Marrakech rugby. They learn more about how she is using rugby as a platform to fight for gender equality in her home country of Morocco. 

The Telegraph has found continued huge inequality on international sports federation boards. World Rugby is faring slightly better than others, having announced that all member associations with council representatives could add an extra female member in 2017. As a result, the size of the council has increased to 50 and the number of women to 18. It is worth noting that on World Rugby’s executive committee, however, only one of their 11 members is female.

Harlequins Women prop Shaunagh Brown tells how she quit hammer throwing and took up the oval ball…two years later she was a Red Rose. 

“It was at the age of 25, I thought ‘let’s have a go at rugby.’”

Kat Merchant and other athletes open up to Women’s Sport Monthly about concussions and how it affected their sport and lives. Kat Merchant herself suffered eleven concussions in fourteen seasons.

#RugbyJobs

Two rugby jobs this week, give them a scan!

Results

Don’t see your score? Make sure to tag us on Twitter!

https://twitter.com/PITTWRUGBY/status/1198659762298249216​

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