Octagon Rugby Update

Rugby World Cup News

England Rugby 2015 Release Fan Zone

Destinations & Domestic Trophy Tour Dates

The Webb Ellis Trophy will travel across the UK &

Ireland for the 100 days in the run up to RWC

2015, spreading the excitement of the

upcoming tournament and giving people the

chance to see the iconic trophy in all its glory.

The location of the Fan Zones has also been

revealed, of which will be spread across the 15

different locations across England and Wales.

They will be free for the over one million

expected people to attend and will be the

place to be for non-ticket holders to soak up

the atmosphere.

ITV Pundit Line Up Announced

The star studded line up for the ITVs pundit

panel has been revealed and it is pretty

impressive. Jam packed full of legends and RWC

winners as you may have suspected:

Jonny Wilkinson: England RWC winner 03

Lawrence Dallaglio: England RWC winner 03

Jason Robinson: England RWC winner 03

Sir Clive Woodward: Manager of England

RWC 03 winning side

George Gregan: Australia RWC winner 99

Gareth Thomas: Former Wales captain

Brian ODriscoll: Former Ireland captain

Sir Ian McGeechan: Former British & Irish Lions

coach 05 & 09

Francois Pienaar : South Africa RWC winner 95

Sean Fitzpatrick: New Zealand RWC winner 87

Michael Lynagh: Australia RWC winner 99

World Rugby Conscious of Concussion

With the game being more physical than ever,

the subject of concussion and player safety is

one that has been rife, particularly in the Six

Nations with several players receiving treatment

for concussion. Wales winger George North,

Wales fullback Leigh Halfpenny and England

fullback Mike Brown were all subject to

concussion injuries during the tournament.

The good news is that World Rugby have set up

concussion prevention measures including

video monitoring and onsite doctors present at

matches in a bid to stop players continuing to

play if concussed and reduce further injury.

Marketing News

The Harry Westlake Show

Meet Six year old Harry

Westlake the most

passionate of England

rugby fans. He recently hit

headlines after being

shown on the big screen

belting out the national

anthem as a mascot. O2

were so impressed they

decided to give him his

own chat show! A great

piece of contentwatch

out Jonathan Ross

#carrythemhome

England Rugby 2015 have launched a great

campaign to get people in the swing of things

for the RWC 2015. The rugby anthem Swing Low,

Sweet Chariot will be released as an official

single later this year, and ER2015 have invited

anyone to take part. All fans have to do is go

onto the Facebook page and upload their

rendition of the famous Twickenham song, and

the most popular clips will be used in the final

single. For those who want to know the history of

the famous anthem, watch this video.

Octagon Rugby Update

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Six Nations 2015 Review

The annual international rugby tournament of

the Northern Hemisphere has finished for another

year, and what a tournament it was! The English,

Irish, Welsh, Scottish, French and Italians battled

it out across five weekends and to say it went

down to the wire would be a huge

understatement.

With Wales, Ireland and England all finishing with

the same amount of points with a game in

hand, it was a case of who could get the

highest score tally in the final fixture. The super

Saturday was one of the most memorable in

recent tournament history, with an enormous 221

points scored in the three matches, including 27

tries which served up a mouth-watering day of

rugby that even the less indulgent of sports fans

could appreciate.

Ireland were eventually the team who were

victorious and lifted the trophy at Murrayfield,

with Wales 61-20 win over Italy and Englands

55-35 win over the French not being enough to

top Irelands 30 point gain against Scotland

resulting in an emphatic 40-10 victory on the

final day. The standings were as follows:

The Final Day Hits Viewership Records

The BBC, official broadcaster of the Six Nations in

the UK, released record-breaking viewership

figures for television. With the challenge of the

title coming down to the final minutes of the

England vs France match, it is no wonder millions

of people tuned into the action:

4.1 million watched Wales vs Italy

5.1 million watched Ireland vs Scotland

9.63 million people watched the final England

vs France match, a new record

8.03 million was the previous record that was

beaten, recorded during the Olympics 2012

Futures Sport & Entertainment shared a graph to

visualise the increase of viewership throughout

the day, showing the peak in interest as the day

of craziness progressed:

Missed The Action?

If you are sitting there thinking, what did I miss?,

then have no fear, you can watch the highlights

of the last day here it is well worth the watch!

Should the Six Nations be re-formatted?

The Six Nations typically includes the best six

teams in Europe, however, for the first time in

history Georgia (14th) are higher in the IRB World

Rankings than Italy (15th)so surely they are

eligible for a spot? Should the Six Nations

implement a promotion & relegation system?


Pos Team W D L Diff Points

1 Ireland 4 0 1 +63 8

2 England 4 0 1 +57 8

3 Wales 4 0 1 +53 8

4 France 2 0 3 +2 4

5 Italy 1 0 4 -120 2

6 Scotland 0 0 5 -55 0

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Six Nations Team Analysis

Octagons rugby fanatics Alex Heslop and Joel

Seymour-Hyde came close to nailing the

competition final rankings predictions in the last

newsletter, nominating Italy for the Wooden

Spoon instead of Scotland the only mistake. We

should have known the Scots would bottle it

They have pulled together a short analysis of

each team, with the nominations for best player

and best newcomer per team:

Ireland

Position Finish: 1st

Octagon Grade: A

Results:

Italy 3 26 Ireland

Ireland 18 11 France

Ireland 19 9 England

Wales 23 16 Ireland

Scotland 10 40 Ireland

As predicted in the previous newsletter, Ireland

came out on top, and it would be difficult to

argue that they didnt deserve to. Apart from

one poor performance against Wales, they

proved to be the most settled side with the team

having the perfect mix of experience, young

talent and solid team management. They know

the strengths of their game and utilise it well, and

with their half back partnership of Murray and

Sexton, they proved to be the best out there.

They have a favourable RWC 2015 draw, so you

would think they were certain Semi Finalists, and

potentially a dark horse as title contenders.

Best Player:

Jonathan Sexton

Best Newcomer:

Robbie Henshaw

England

Position Finish: 2nd

Octagon Grade: B

Results:

Wales 16 21 England

England 47 17 Italy


England 25 13 Scotland

England 55 35 France

A disappointing resultwe dont suspect many

players waited around to collect their runners-up

medal. It is their fourth consecutive 2nd place

finish in the competition, which for a team of

Englands resources is simply not good enough,

as England Rugby Chief Executive Ian Ritchie

made clear. On the bright side, England

displayed promising attacking intent with their

youthful side, but it was their poor discipline and

defense yet again that was their downfall. Still,

they are unbeaten at Twickenham and if they

can do that for seven more games they will win

the RWC 2015!

Best Player:

George Ford

Best Newcomer:

Johnathan Joseph

Wales

Position Finish: 3rd

Octagon Grade: B

Results:

Wales 16 21 England

England 47 17 Italy





http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/32035225

...In fairness, Wales made an outstanding

recovery from their opening match which

incurred a lesson from the English on their home

turf. They finished the tournament on a high with

an unbelievable second half performance in

Rome, scoring a whopping 47 points in 40

minutes. Wales to some extent dispelled their

myth of being predictable, although

emphasised their issue of being slow starters in

crucial matches which is something they need

to address quickly with the RWC 2015 in sight.

Best Player:

Alun Wyn Jones, 4

Best Newcomer:

Rhys Webb, 9

France

Position Finish: 4th

Octagon Grade: C

Results:

France 15 8 Scotland

Ireland 18 11 France

France 13 20 Wales

Italy 0 29 France


Well we said a good Six Nations needs a good

France, but instead saw a poor France and a

great Six Nations, so what do we know? Their

matches against England and Italy showed that

they could play, but in typical fashion France

were inconsistent with poor defence and a lack

of imagination. There are major question marks

being raised over their style of play, with a clear

focus on their forward set pieces, but

unfortunately not enough diversity in the backs.

Tough times for French rugby fans out there to

say the least. Their surprise factor is just about

their only asset, which is difficult to solely rely on

with the RWC 2015 looming.

Best Player:

Thierry Dusautoir, 7 (c)

Best Newcomer:

Eddy Ben Arous, 1

Italy


Octagon Grade: D

Results:

Italy 3 26 Ireland

England 47 17 Italy

Scotland 19 22 Italy

Italy 0 29 France

Italy 20 61 Wales

Italy were predictably underwhelming, their only

accomplishment being not finishing bottom of

the table. Despite one emotionally driven win

over Scotland which was admirable, they must

be concerned about their performances

regressing as RWC 2015 approaches. They are

far too reliant on their captain Parisse, and seem

to crumble in his absence.

Best Player:

Sergio Parrise, 8 (c)

Best Newcomer:

Leonardo Sarto, 14


Our Favourite Moment

If there is one thing that

fans love to see in a rugby

match, its a big tackle.

You know this was a big hit

when the crowd at

Twickenham did actually

seem genuinely

concerned about the

victims wellbeing...despite

the victim being a Frenchman! England second

row, Courtney Chiropractor Lawes, is known for

his brutal tackling technique. He proved it with

this monster hit on France Fly Half, Jules Plisson

that everybody watching would have felt. You

would not want to be on the wrong end of that!

English Mustard company

Colemans jumped on the

opportunity to poke fun

at the situation with this

newspaper ad which read:

English vs French, the hit in

our mustard says it all

A bit cheeky but we liked it!

Upcoming Rugby Fixtures

There are plenty more international rugby fixtures

approaching before the big one commences on

September 18th:

London Sevens will be hosted at Twickenham

stadium on 16th & 17th May, where the best 7-a-

side international rugby sides will be on show. This

years fancy dress theme is galactic

The Rugby Championship between Australia,

New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina kicks

off on 17th July. This year it will only be three

fixtures per team as oppose to six because the

four team unions have agreed six fixtures would

be too much with the RWC 2015 so close.

RWC 2015 friendly matches begin from August

8th to whet your appetite for the main event!

Scotland


Octagon Grade: E

Results:

France 15 8 Scotland

Scotland 23 26 Wales

Scotland 19 22 Italy


Scotland 10 40 Ireland

The Wooden Spoon says it all! The Scottish will be

devastated with this result given their

longstanding history in the tournament. In their

defence, there were some promising individual

performances and sparks of attacking intent in

the backs. However, one cannot cover up the

fact that overall they had a poor Six Nations,

leaving themselves far too vulnerable up front

and around the edge of the rucks and hardly

putting up a fight throughout the duration. Time

is running out for the Scots, with a seriously tough

RWC 2015 Group B to take on consisting of South

Africa and Samoa. One would have to say that

the Southern Hemisphere sides are the favourites

to progress out of the groups if the current

evidence is anything to go by.

Best Player:

Stuart Hogg, 15

Best Newcomer:

Mark Bennett, 13

Player of the Tournament

Ireland captain Paul

OConnell won the official

nomination for the best

player of the Six Nations.

The 6ft 6 second row who

has 101 caps for Ireland

won 26% of the 70,448

votes out of 12 nominees.


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