England stars Joe Worsley, Tom Croft and Ugo Monye talk about MaximumRugby.com and the new season
Posts Tagged ‘Rugby’
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Monday, September 7th, 2009
After a summer where rugby was catching the headlines for all the wrong reasons, the season got underway at the weekend.
The controversies that attracted considerable attention were seemingly forgotten as fans flocked to games in their numbers, with the Guinness Premiership setting a new record aggregate crowd for the opening weekend - 108,467, beating the previous best of 104,415 set on the opening day in 2006/07.
It was helped of course by the 67,684 people who watched the London double header at Twickenham, which saw Saracens defeat London Irish and Wasps triumph over Harlequins. The crowd eclipsed last year’s event total of 52,027.
More than 10,000 turned up to watch Northampton defeat Worcester (12,073) and Gloucester beat Bath (12,815) in what clubs will be hoping is a sign of things to come for the rest of the season.
Sale opened the season with a surprise 15-12 win over champions Leicester in front of 8,751, while 7,144 saw promoted Leeds Carnegie held by Newcastle in a disappointing 9-9 draw at Headingley.
Ceiron Thomas kicked three penalties for Leeds
Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty said: “It was great to be able to focus on matters on the field this weekend and the clubs and our supporters didn’t disappoint. Sale Sharks set the tone by beating the reigning champions Leicester Tigers on Friday night to prove yet again what a competitive league this is.
“A record attendance at the London Double Header and strong crowds around the country allowed us to record our best ever attendances for a single round. I think it shows even in these tough times that the Guinness Premiership can offer great value for money family entertainment. The Race to Twickenham has begun.”
It’s hard to gauge just who will be leading the way in the fight for Twickenham, but promoted Leeds at least showed they won’t go down without a fight in their opening day draw. Veteran scrum-half Andy Gomarsall impressed on debut for the home side.
Northampton survived what would have been a surprise opening day defeat as they overturned a 17-7 deficit to defeat Worcester at Franklin Gardens, with Paul Diggin’s late try securing the points. It at least earned Worcester a bonus point, while Leicester and London Irish also claimed bonus points in defeats this weekend.
How did your team get on in the opening weekend of the season? Share your stories with us on Maximum Rugby!
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
After weeks of grumbling over the “Bloodgate” affair, there is a welcome return to the field this weekend as the new rugby season gets underway.
Sale and champions Leicester kick off the new Guinness Premiership campaign on Friday evening as everybody looks for the rugby on the pitch to start doing the talking.
The Harlequins scandal, centering around former director of rugby Dean Richards, has hovered over the sport like a bad smell for what has seemed like an age, and it will be good to return to a sense of normality. For Quins, they are still breathing a huge sigh of relief that they will be allowed to compete in Europe this season, but all eyes will be on them when they travel to Twickenham to face Wasps on Saturday.
The summer of scandal has led to the Director of Elite Rugby Rob Andrew questioning whether some of rugby’s core principles have been lost in the transition from the amateur to the professional game since 1995.
He said: “Professional rugby was inevitable and the right way to go. But you begin to ask whether there was an element of self-policing with regard to those values in the amateur game.”
Guinness Premiership season launch at Twickenham
On the pitch, Leicester start the season as favourites to defend their title, with last season’s beaten finalists London Irish also fancied to challenge - they start their campaign against Saracens on Saturday.
Saracens - together with Gloucester, Wasps and Sale - start the season with a new figurehead after each changing their director of rugby, while newly promoted Leeds Carnegie will be hoping to better their previous two Guinness Premiership campaigns, which has seen them finish 12th and relegated. They host Newcastle on the opening Sunday of the season, as the Falcons begin life without Jonny Wilkinson, now plying his trade in the slightly sunnier climate of Toulon, France.
Elsewhere, perennial strugglers Worcester travel to Northampton and Gloucester host Bath, who are looking to put behind them the bans handed out to former captains Michael Lipman and Alex Crockett, Andrew Higgins and Justin Harrison over the summer.
Of course, the pros won’t be the only ones lining up to start their campaigns this weekend - thousands of amateur clubs up and down the country will be looking to kick off their season in style.
Are you looking forward to the big kick-off? Who is your team playing? Have you been given the nod for the starting XV? Share your stories with us at Maximum Rugby!
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
While you might be looking forward to packing down in torrential rain and mud this winter, O2’s Scrum on the Beach gives you the chance to get over your close season rugby blues.
The annual event has returned for another year and there has already been five events up and down the country, with three more planned before the end of August - Newcastle (August 8th and 9th), Skegness (August 15th) and Newquay (August 28th to 30th).
Part of the Rugby Football Union’s “Play On” campaign, competing teams can win the chance to play at Twickenham in a special tag tournament - the winners will be chosen for their beach rugby style, look and attitude.
Paul Sackey at O2 Scrum on the Beach
England player Paul Sackey said: “O2 Scrum on the Beach is a great way to have fun and stay involved with rugby this summer. This year we’re looking for some seriously stylish teams - with the most impressive getting to play at Twickenham in September. That should give you even more of an incentive to get down to the events and show off your skills.”
Sackey is one of five England players spending their close season judging your ball skills - he will be joined by Danny Care, Ben Foden, Lewis Moody and Delon Armitage in deciding who has the pedigree to land their dream ticket to Twickenham.
As well as the rugby, fans can meet their favourite England stars at the free family festival, enjoy the entertainment in the O2 blueroom and try out the bucking-bronco style rugby ball.
If beach rugby isn’t for you, the state of the art rugby Play Zone lets you test out your kicking, passing, running and tackling skills, while you can also try out your speed reaction skills on “Batak Duel”.
You can register your team online by emailing scrumonthebeach@rfu.com and simply telling them who is in your team and where you’d like to play. There are two spots up for grabs in the Twickenham tournament.
So forget the winter overcoat and Bovril for now, enjoy your rugby with an ice cream at the beach this summer!
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
If you’ve logged in to your Maximum Rugby account recenty (and if you haven’t signed up yet you really should click here) you may well have noticed some buttons and prompts asking you to ‘Connect with Facebook’
That’s because Facebook Connect has been introduced on Maximum Rugby. This allows our users to link up their accounts, so that your activity on Maximum Rugby can be shared with your Facebook friends, not just your Maximum Rugby teammates.
Facebook Connect in Action
When you add things to your Maximum Rugby pages - pictures, profile changes, news stories and so on - you’ll receive a prompt asking you if you want to add this to Facebook. If you select yes, the activity will be added as a snippet on your facebook page. So now all your friends can see that photo of you scoring the winning try on a Saturday. As well as the photos of the night out that followed it.
If you’re already logged into Facebook while using Maximum Rugby the connection between the two accounts will work automatically, though you will still be asked which new content you want to share between accounts. If you’re not logged into Facebook while using Maximum Rugby then just click the Connect with Facebook bu
