Octagon Rugby Update

Rugby World Cup News

England Rugby 2015 Release Fan Zone
Destinations & Domestic Trophy Tour Dates

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 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

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

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:

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.

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:

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:
Pos

Team

Diff

Points

Ireland

+63

England

+57

Wales

+53

France

+2

Italy

-120

Scotland

-55

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?

Octagon Rugby Update

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

England
Position Finish: 2nd
Octagon Grade: B
Results:
Wales 16 21 England
England 47 17 Italy
Ireland 19 9 England
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
Ireland 19 9 England
England 25 13 Scotland
England 55 35 France

Best Newcomer:
Robbie Henshaw

Octagon Rugby Update

...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 Player:
Thierry Dusautoir, 7 (c)

Best Newcomer:
Eddy Ben Arous, 1
Italy
Position Finish: 5th
Octagon Grade: D
Results:
Italy 3 26 Ireland
England 47 17 Italy
Scotland 19 22 Italy
Italy 0 29 France
Italy 20 61 Wales

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
England 55 35 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.

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

Octagon Rugby Update

Scotland
Position Finish: 4th
Octagon Grade: E
Results:
France 15 8 Scotland
Scotland 23 26 Wales
Scotland 19 22 Italy
England 25 13 Scotland
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

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-aside international rugby sides will be on show. This
years fancy dress theme is galactic

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.

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!