AROUND THE WORLD IN TEN STORIES

A round-up of news from all points of the globe

1 Romania

Florin Vlaicu became the seventh player to score 1,000 Test points, during Romania’s

28-27 win against Portugal. The fly-half/centre joins Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Neil Jenkins, Ronan O’Gara, Owen Farrell and Diego Domínguez in passing the milestone.

The 34-year-old (below) said: “It is very nice to have my name there, with the big guys. I’ve been waiting since last year when we didn’t play many games.”

2

Fiji

Fijian Drua (above) and Moana Pasifika are set to compete in Super Rugby from next year thanks to support from World Rugby.

The governing body will provide £1.2m annually for three years to support the two franchises, which will also receive funding from their unions and private equity.

The sides’ involvement is subject to NZ Rugby Board approval but Pacific Rugby Players chairman Hale T Pole said: “We are close to achieving a step that I wasn’t sure would be possible. This funding is a big boost to help get a truly historic project across the line.”

3 United Kingdom

Millfield School in Somerset had a former student in every home nations’ squad during the recent Six Nations. Mako Vunipola, who attended Millfield between 2007 and 2009, started four of England’s five matches while Callum Sheedy (2012-14) came off the bench in all of Wales’ games. Huw Jones (below, 2007-12) scored for Scotland against Italy and Rhys Ruddock (2007-09) was in the Ireland team that lost to France.

4

Canada

Canada and the USA are the Rugby Americas North (RAN) representatives in Rugby World Cup 2023 qualifying.

A tournament involving Mexico and Caribbean nations usually acts as the first RAN qualifier. But as Covid has prevented Tests from taking place, it has been decided that Canada (below, Tyler Ardron scoring) and the Eagles will move through to the next stage automatically.

RAN Executive Committee president Miguel Carner said: “International travel bans and regional restrictions have made it impossible to find a workable solution under the tight time frame required to put forward our qualified nations.”

5 Italy

The Italian rugby federation (FIR) has a new president. Marzio Innocenti received 56% of the votes in the ballot to beat Paolo Vaccari (40%) and incumbent Alfredo Gavazzi (3%). Innocenti is a former Italy captain who won 42 caps in the 1980s.

6

Egypt

Egypt won the Women’s Arab Sevens in Alexandria last month, beating Lebanon, Syria and the UAE without conceding a single point. Captain Farida Elzakzouk said: “More people are talking about rugby in Egypt. I’m really happy this hype gave rugby the good publicity it needs in Egypt.”

7

New Zealand

An U20 tournament kicks off in New Zealand this month. Super Rugby Aotearoa U20 will involve teams from Blues (left), Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders and Hurricanes, and a NZ Barbarians

Club side. There will be three rounds of fixtures on 11, 14 and 17 April.

NZ Rugby’s high performance player development manager Matt Sexton said: “The tournament will give our emerging players a high level of game experience.”

Tabai Matson has been named New Zealand U20 coach, with Cory Jane and Tom Donnelly his assistants.