Sol y Futbol: Lanzarote suffer seasons first league loss

Ian Lane reports, as UD Lanzarote suffer their first league defeat. That did not please Fabián Rivero, Rojillos Manager, pictured opposite.

C.D. MENSAJERO 2 LANZAROTE 0

The Rojillos suffered their first league defeat of the season with two first half goals by the La Palma side Club Deportiva Mensajero. Lanzarote Mister (Gaffer) Fabían Rivero did not have a happy return to the club that he was managing last season seeing his new side take a good first half beating.

The home side began the game much better than their visitors, dominating possession and looking the side most likely to score. In the 14th minute Tenerife midfielder Rayco lashed in a shot from the edge of the area beating the Rojillos keeper Santi Lampón and sent the home side into a well deserved 1-0 lead.

The Rojillos reply to this set back was weak with the only danger moments coming from limited set pieces. Three minutes before the break and the home side doubled their lead. A free kick by Rayco was met by the head of Kevin Herrera and he nodded home sending the Rojillos into the half time break trailing by two goals to nil.

During the interval Vladi was replaced by the in form Ayoze Pérez and a few minutes into the second period Alex Rojas made his first team debut replacing the injured Gustavo García.

The quality of football improved and Lanzarote dominated possession but were met by a well organised and stubborn defence as the Rojillos were unable to reduce the deficit.

Lanzarote´s big problem this season is scoring goals. Frontmen Jonathan Torres and Rosmen have yet to open their accounts and Lanzarote have only found the net five times. The Rojillos sit mid table two points off the play offs and seven points from top spot.

Next week Lanzarote will fly to Gran Canaria to take on bottom club Villa Santa Brígida who have also scored five goals but have conceded double to that of Lanzarote.

GOALS
1-0 min 14 Rayco
2-0 min 42 Kevin Herrera

World in Union: Round 4 review. Quins top.

After four rounds of Aviva Premiership Rugby action, it’s Harlequins who lead the way with four wins from four matches and 17 points after their 15-17 win over Worcester Warriors at Sixways. It was a hard earned win for Quins who had be trailing 15-3 with just over 20 minutes to play, but a Sam Smith try and a penalty try saw them home and left the Worcester side stunned after they'd looked in control for so much of the game.

Saracens are second on points difference after a huge forwards effort and some slick handling saw them put 50 points past Leicester Tigers at Welford Road. The size of the win was just reward for a side that worked hard in attack and were well organised in defence. They didn't allow the home side much time or space to play and with the game well won, Saracens took the opportunity to kick a late penalty to ensure they reached the half-century mark.

Rob Baxter’s Exeter Chiefs sit in third after their 21-11 win over London Wasps at Sandy Park. It was a well organised performance by a side that are looking increasingly difficult to play on their home turf. Tries for Tom Johnson and Chris Budgen had put the hosts 21-6 ahead before a late try from Wasps pulled it back to 21-11.

Sale Sharks good 29-21 win over Northampton Saints on Friday night puts them fourth and means that last year's Heineken Cup Finalists are down in tenth after four rounds. Three tries in a strong second-half performance saw Sale take control of a match that had looked within Saints' grasp at the half-way point. The telling point in the second half came just after Sale scored the first try and then Saints back rows Callum Clark and Phil Dowson both received yellow cards within 3 minutes of each other and Sale were left playing against 13 men for a period.

London Irish are now fifth after a 46-29 win over Newcastle Falcons with a brace of tries from young centre Jonathan Joseph. Struggling Newcastle were given no quarter by Irish who played with pace and hurried their visitors into mistakes. Plus a faultless kicking display from full-back Tom Homer meant they kept constant pressure on the visitors by scoring at regular intervals.

Gloucester Rugby responded to their comprehensive defeat by the competition leaders last week with a 23-6 win over Bath Rugby. Despite a slow start and trailing 0-6, the Gloucester pack came to life to put in a dominant performance over their West Country rivals. Missed penalty chances from Bath meant they were unable to stay in touch, before a late handling error provided Charlie Sharples all the help he needed to produce a try from the Gloucester 22 and round off the performance with some gloss.

Fix 'n' Mix: Fixture and event listing feature returns 8th October

Fix ‘n’ Mix will be back very soon.

The return of Fix ‘n’ Mix will be back very soon. Our fixture list and general event guide will return from the 8th October 2011. It will cover the fixtures that weekend of our featured clubs plus other friends, who we will follow through the season.

Each week, we may cover particular geographical areas or a certain sport, basically whatever takes our fancy, as we go through the winter.

In true Sports Pulse style there will be guaranteed ‘no logic’. We will update you with the outcome of listings from the previous week. Obviously full match reports from our featured teams will still appear separate.

Please feel free to add your fixture or event and then submit your report, we will gladly post it on the blog. Please contact us if you play a sport that receives little coverage, we will not only list you in Fix ‘n’ Mix, but make you a regular feature. Or if you play a mainstream sport and your club was formed through unique or unusual reasons, we would love to hear from you.

Send all information to info@sporttrades.co.uk

The Sting: Basketball is back, with Hull Wasps.

The Sting returns. Basketball is Back, yet again Sports Piulse will be following the exploits of Hull Wasps for the coming season. The campaign starts in earnest on Saturday, when the wasps entertain Oldham Titatans in the Bonus Arena, tip off 7.30pm.

Good Luck, Dave and all the team at the Wasps for the coming season.

Hull Wasps completed their pre-season fixtures with a 76-61 victory over Doncaster League All-Stars at the Bonus Arena on Saturday evening. In front of a 200+ home crowd, the Wasps took a commanding lead in the first half, and after a strong third-quarter for the visitors, the Wasps sealed the win with a solid performance in the final-period.

The new Hull Wasps 2011-12 Home and Away kits were launched exclusively in Saturday's Hull Daily Mail.

The new kits have been produced by Birmingham based team-wear company, Joshila, who will become the new official kit supplier of the Hull Wasps.

Follow the Wasps through 2011/2012 season here on Sports Pulse.

Gwrys Yn Kernow: Pirates brush aside Carnegie

Thank you to the Pirates and Woll for the match report and to Simon Bryant for the pictures. To find out more about the Pirates please visit their website www.cornish-pirates.com. Find about coming matches or book hospitality or maybe even sponsor a game.

Cornish Pirates 52 Leeds Carnegie 10

RFU Championship Round 4
Saturday 24th September
Kick Off 4:15pm

Woll's Match Report

Although still only a fledgling season, the Pirates emphatically strode to the top of the Championship table, with a seven try romp over a young Leeds side clearly short of the right stuff to bounce straight back up to the top tier.
This was most noticeable up front, where the Pirates Eight set up a platform so dominant, that the Yorkshiremen just couldn’t subdue from the moment the hammering began at the kick off.

Cook’s penalty from this first minute indiscretion set the tone, which Ford’s leveller four minutes later did little to address. Indeed by the time Carnegie finally got into the game and enjoyed their only spell of ascendancy for ten minutes or so before the half hour mark, they were down by two tries by Cattle and their scrum was buckling and in full reverse.

Not that the home side were complaining as they sniffed blood and went for the throat at every opportunity.

Fly half Thomas in particular wanted ‘some’ and was unfortunate not to prosper against his old club as he danced his way through from 15m out, only to be halted short in the knowledge that a penalty was coming.

Cook delivered again, which signalled a blistering finish to the half during which Locke sprinted in from half way, after some quick thinking from Burgess following yet another Leeds infringement. They teetered precariously, but somehow survived further concession of points before the break, despite Cowan’s best efforts and McGlone’s dazzling yellow footwear that shone as brightly under the floodlights, as in the sun later. (HT 25-3)

Leeds had arrived with a reputation for being slow starter’s to date, and must have hoped to combine any revival of fortunes with the Pirates own ‘heel’ during the third and fourth quarters.

Thomas’s peach of a touch finder under pressure in the first minute after the restart shattered that hope immediately. The fly half rubbing things in with the bonus point try moments later much to his obvious joy.

Cook converted and was on hand to reward yet more forwards gains soon after.
His pot at the sticks with only five minutes of the half chalked off left little doubt now as to which gods were in attendance.

The crossbar taking a glancing blow from 45m out, but with the pill landing in the Penzance goal area.

When it’s going your way and all that, became absolute after the restart as Leeds’s only chance before their consolation try from Thornley on 55 minutes, went begging.
But nothing was going to halt the immovable intent of the Pirates 8.

As the screw tightened further and threatened to de-thread completely, it was Burgess to prosper next, his touchdown in the Scoreboard Corner requiring Spreaders’ fourth opinion of the afternoon; this time with a thumbs up.

Cowan was the man to seal the rout with a brace towards the end to bring up the second half century of points in four days. In the process leaving the tykes battered, but not quite ready for the mantle of some new chip shop delicacy that only our friends in the north can concoct.

Plenty to savour warmly in the aftermath judging by the Falmouth Marine Band’s infamous drum bashing in the beer tent afterwards.
All this in the presence of the SKY cameras for the first time this season too.
Imagine that in the Stadium when the time comes!

Cornish Pirates
15 R. Cook 14 W. Davies 13 G. Pointer 12 D. Locke 11 D. Doherty
10 C. Thomas (21 T. Cooper 56mins) 9 G. Cattle (capt) (22 J. Doherty 77mins)
8 B. Cowan 7 P. Burgess (20 C. Walker-Blair 64mins) 6 C. Morgan
5 I. Nimmo (19 M. Myerscough 64mins) 4 L. McGlone 3 A. Paver (16 R. Storer 70mins)
2 D. Ward (17 R. Elloway 56mins) 1 C. Rimmer (18 R. Brits 60mins).
Replacements: all used
Tries: Cattle 2, Locke, Thomas, Burgess, Cowan 2
Cons: Cook 4
Pens: Cook 3

Leeds Carnegie
15 L. Blackett 14 O. Richards 13 I. Thornley 12 J. Barker (16 P. Nilsen 70mins) 11 C. Wilson (22 T. Bell 35mins) 10 J. Ford (?21 S. Barrow 45mins) 9 C. Hampson (?20 R. Shaw 45 mins) 1 G. Denman ( 3 P. Swainston 56mins) 2 A. Titterrell (c) 3 P. Swainston (17 D. Young 45mins) 4 J. Pendlebury 5 D. Barrow (18 R. Beck 38mins) 6 D. Hemingway (19 C. Walker 53mins) 7 J. Rowan 8 R. Burrows
Replacements: all used.
Tries: Thornley
Cons: Bell
Pens: Ford

Yellow: Pendlebury Match Officials
Referee: Luke Pearce (RFU)
Assistants: Ross Campbell & Steve Leyshon
Official 4: Andy Bickle
TMO: Tony Spreadbury
Man of the Match: Gavin Cattle

Kult & Punk: Aue No! St Pauli suffer shock defeat.

Kult & Punk: No guest beer to drown the sorrows, as the boys watch St Pauli miss the opportunity to claim top spot.

FC St. Pauli 2-3 FC Erzgebirge Aue

St. Pauli missed out on the chance to overtake Greuther Fürth at the top of Bundesliga 2 after giving away an early lead to lose 3-2 at home to Erzgebirge Aue, who bring their seven-match winless run to a deserved end.

Despite a courageous attacking start from the visitors, it was the home side who stole the advantage midway through the first half as the Aue defence failed to clear a corner. The ball bobbled around before falling kindly for veteran striker Marius Ebbers (20') who sent a sweet half-volley into the bottom right corner. It was a flattering lead for the Kiezkicker who again came under pressure when the sides re-emerged for the second half.

Könnecke makes sure

Indeed, the away team had already struck the post through Jan Hochscheidt by the time they equalised on the hour. Guido Kocer's run and cross from the left were met by a determined Ronny König (60'), who diverted home with an intelligent volleyed finish on the slide. Nine minutes later and the Violas finally got the lead they deserved. Kocer was again the provider, his ball through collected and finished by way of a delightful flick from Tobias Kempe (69').

Substitute Mike Könnecke (84') rounded Pauli keeper Philipp Tschauner before slotting past two defenders on the line to render Mahir Saglik's (90+1') left-foot strike in injury time mere consolation. That leaves St. Pauli level on points with Fürth at the top, but having played a game more, while Aue move away from the bottom three into tenth.

Brand New Service: Sponsor a Race.

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Sponsors: You can sign up to our database and receive details in advance or simply just keep visiting our website. If you are interested in sponsoring a race or meeting featured on the list or wish to get further details, just contact us at info@sporttrades.co.uk. We will do the rest for you; there is no handling charge for our services.

If you are a sponsor and wish to be the first informed of new races awaiting sponsorship, send us your company contact details. We will add you to our database and forward information on future races.

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Kult & Punk: St Pauli return to joint top after away win.

The boys watched this game from the comfort of Zoes Bar. An important darts game against the Butchers Apron & Mable Albion, prevented them from travelling. 3pts in the football, I'm afraid, humiliation in the darts.

Karlsruhe SC 0 St. Pauli 2

St. Pauli have reclaimed second place in the Bundesliga 2 after a relatively comfortable 2-0 win against a Karlsruhe SC side in a downward spiral, which sees them move level on points with table toppers Greuther Fürth.

Despite a bright start from the hosts a phenomenal Florian Bruns free-kick broke the deadlock (17') before Marius Ebbers made sure of the win within 17 seconds of the second half beginning (46'). Karlsruhe probed throughout the 90 minutes, but couldn't penetrate a resilient Pauli defence as they fell to their fifth loss in a row.

A half of missed chances

On the back of four consecutive losses that had left them perilously close to the drop zone Kalrsruhe SC were determined to grab an early goal and less than a minute in had already hit the post. St. Pauli were caught napping at the back when a poor defensive header allowed Delron Buckley to burst into the box and an unconvincing Philipp Tschauner got just enough on the ball to deflect the effort onto the post. Pauli responded by going close at the other end, but Kevin Schindler dragged his shot wide of the far stick.

The Hamburg outfit gradually began to take control of possession as they stifled Karlsruhe's lively start to the match and quarter of an hour in they took the lead, albeit slightly against the run of play. Picking up a free-kick just outside the box the ball was laid off to Florian Bruns whose unstoppable shot curled around the wall and into the top corner (17'). Pauli had found their stride, but moments later Fin Bartels failed to put the finishing touches on a free-flowing move.

Karlsruhe can't believe their misfortune

The midfield battle heated up around the half hour mark as Karlsruhe tried to bully their way back into the match, but their best chances came courtesy of the counter attack. Fresh off the bench for the injured Thorben Stadler, Klemen Lavric found himself unmarked at the back post, but completely mistimed his header squandering a good chance for the equalizer.

Just before half time and Karlsruhe couldn't believe they hadn't scored. Bogdan Müller broke down the right and when Lasse Sobiech flicked the ball onto his own bar, Louis N'Gwat Mahop failed to get the crucial touch a few yards out from goal in amongst the mass confusion. Pauli had to hold on at the end, but took a one-goal lead in at the break.

Game over in 17 seconds

Any hope Karlsruhe had of finding an early equalizer was well and truly squashed within 17 seconds of the restart. Pauli won the ball straight from the kick-off allowing Schindler to release Ebbers and the big striker managed to slip the ball in between Dirk Orlishausen's legs from a tight angle to extend the visitors lead (46'). The goal was a sucker punch to Karlsruhe's chances, but they weren't about to give up. Müller, their most lively player throughout the 90 minutes, had several shots from distance fly off target, but did force the odd save out of Tschauner.

Desperation began creeping into Karlsruhe's style of play, but St. Pauli never lost control of the match. Ebbers had another good chance blocked by Orlishausen before seeing his header from the resulting corner clip the crossbar, while Lavric forced a fairly routine save out of Tschauner down the other end. Karlsruhe were still pressing forward, but Pauli kept their concentration at the back to limit the hosts to shots from distance.

Max Kruse went close twice late on, but the score line remained unchanged as St. Pauli added another three points to their season total to keep their good start to the season alive.

James Thorogood

World in Unioin. Review of Round 3, Aviva Premiership

Thanks to our friends at Aviva for this review.

While the rugby overseas is only just starting to hot up, the rugby here in England has already started with some real heat. Round 3 saw some more quality action and some keenly fought contests, with two games decided by just one point and a five-star, five-try performance by Harlequins to take them to the top of the table.

Harlequins maintained their unbeaten start in Aviva Premiership Rugby with a comprehensive 42-6 defeat of Gloucester Rugby at the Twickenham Stoop. Their five tries included a brace from 20 year old Luke Wallace, his first tries for the club securing a first bonus point for Conor O'Shea's men, to take them 3 points clear.
Bath Rugby beat Exeter Chiefs 23-19 at The Recreation Ground to climb to third behind their visitors in the table. Two former Leicester Tigers players caught the eye, with Dan Hipkiss scoring a superb solo try and Sam Vesty kicking 11 points.

At Kingston Park, Leicester Tigers claimed a win over Newcastle Falcons with a late Steve Mafi try. The teams had been level, 11-11 at half time, and despite the lead changing hand several times in the second half, the Tigers just edged home with a try in the last 5 minutes to condemn Falcons to their third consecutive defeat, 26-27.
London Irish pulled off the shock of the round with a rare win at Franklin's Gardens, again by just a single point. In a nip and tuck game, Northampton had pressured well through the second half and looked as though they may have taken the win when they went ahead with a penalty try on 73 minutes. But with two minutes remaining a penalty gave Tom Homer the chance to clinch the game for the visitors and secure a vital first win, 13-14.

Steve Diamond's Sale Sharks pulled off a good away win over the an unbeaten London Wasps at Adams Park by 18-29 to move them up to fifth in the table.

In Watford, reigning champions Saracens beat Worcester Warriors 18-6 in the only match on Sunday. It was a spirited display by the visitors, but ultimately Saracens had just too much firepower and showed some impressive skills and a determination to move the ball around in wet conditions.

Sol y Futbol: UD Lanzarote back to winning ways.

Ian Lane reports from Arrecife, as UD Lanzarote return to winning ways,








LANZAROTE 2 C.D.VERA 1

The Rojillos came from behind and dramatically clinched the winner in the third minute of stoppage time to claim maximum points and move up to sixth spot in the league table.

The game had been moved forward to Saturday because of the islands most famous fiesta de los Dolores. Fifty thousand locals (third of the island) walked to a village to pay their respects to ´´Our Lady of sorrows´´ who as folklore says stopped the flow of lava destroying the fertile lands.
Anyway if the game had been played on the Sunday there would have been fifty thousand hangovers and as the game was put forward I am sure one or two of our boys would have joined in the festivities after this thrilling win.

Lanzarote began the game with total domination. In the seventh minute Rosmen missed a glorious chance to end his goal drought but failed to hit the target from close range.

In the 33rd minute the referee missed a hand ball incident which should have given Lanzarote a penalty but five minutes later the Tenerife side had a goal ruled out for offside. The game remained stalemate as the first half ended.

Rosmen the Rojillos top marksman last season is having a tough time finding form at the moment and in the opening minute of the second period was found guilty again of not hitting the target from a clear chance.

Just before the hour, winger Armiche centred in a cross from the left and sub Amray was first to react nodding home at the far post giving the visitors a 0-1 advantage against the run of play.

The game continued with Lanzarote with the majority of possession. Rojillos coach Fabían Rivero gambled by pushing up a defender leaving Lanzarote with three at the back. The gamble almost paid immediate dividends in the 62nd minute but the luckless Rosmen fired over with just the keeper to beat.

With ten minutes remaining and after a flurry of chances defender Ángel Gil fired in a volley finally levelling the score at one apiece.

The visitors must have expected a bombardment in the closing minutes and that is exactly what they got. Three minutes into stoppage time and Toñito fired in a shot from the edge of the area, his effort was finger tipped onto the post and Ayoze Pérez blasted home starting his and his team mates ´´Dolores´´ celebrations with a 2-1 winner.

The Rojillos will be travelling to La Palma next week to play mid table side C.D. Mensajero. To the many tourists and expats who all rung me up on Sunday morning from Arrecife stadium expecting the game to be played on the Sunday please always check the top right home page confirming the day and time of the match or better still click onto Lanzarote football club on Facebook to avoid disappointment.

GOALS
0-1min 58 Amray
1-1min 80 Ángel Gil
2-1 min 93 Ayoze

Gwrys Yn Kernow: Just a width of kilt fabric between the teams

Thank you to Phil Westren for the match report, direct from the Pirates website and Brian Tempest for the photographs.

London Scottish 23 Cornish Pirates 25

RFU Championship Round 4

Saturday 17th September

Phil Westren's Match Report

Cornish Pirates No. 8 Blair Cowan, a Championship top try-scorer in 2009-10 who was frustrated by injury last season, scored a late match-winning try which also gave his team a bonus point in this hard fought victory in west London.

With a draw and one win under their belt in this season's RFU Championship, the Cornish Pirates travelled to the Athletic Ground, Richmond, on Saturday, thus reacquainting themselves with an opposition side that they have played many times at the Mennaye Field in decades past.

London Scottish, a famous 'Exiles' club which achieved a seventh promotion in 11 seasons when crowned Champions of National One in May, were delighted to win their RFU Championship opener 16-11 at home to Rotherham Titans, and despite losing 32-12 away to Bristol in their second match, were keen on their return to west London to capitalise again on having home advantage.

In breezy conditions both sides made early errors after the match got underway, and there was an early penalty miss by London Scottish fly-half Dan Mugford.

Play was fairly even until the Pirates, through fly-half Ceiron Thomas, posted a kick to the right corner for an attempted catch and drive. Control was clearly the order of the day, and after lock Ian Nimmo secured possession and set a solid platform, the Pirates shunted their way to the line for a try scored by No.8 Blair Cowan. It was the back-rower's first try for the club since last December, but full-back Rob Cook's conversion attempt missed.

Within a couple of minutes Mugford was successful with his second penalty attempt, but the Pirates responded all but immediately to impose themselves with some impressive work again from their forwards for whom flanker Charlie Walker-Blair was conspicuous. Repeating their example of control, but this time from further out, the end result was the same, an unconverted try for the Pirates scored on this occasion by prop Paul Andrew

Mugford hit back with another penalty but the Pirates showed their dominance when skipper James Doherty made the important dash to set up a try for his namesake, clinical finisher David Doherty who dived over the whitewash for a third try in his third Championship appearance. Cook was faced with another difficult conversion, but this time he judged his effort perfectly to also make it third time lucky.

Keeping the scoreboard operator busy, Mugford pulled back another three points with his third penalty, making the scoreline 9-17, and thus it remained to the break.

Could the Pirates perform in the second half as ably as they had in the first? Well, we would soon find out, there a feeling that collectively a desire would prevail to maintain their focus with a determination that would see no repeat of what materialised in their opening two games - although it would be fair to say that in both those matches credit was also due the opposition for their due responses.

Redruth's former talisman, Kiwi No. 8 Mark Bright, looked to make an impact for London Scottish on the resumption of play, as did wing David Howells and full-back John Bordiss, and when the Pirates lost the services of Nimmo, who was yellow carded, the Exiles side happily took immediate advantage to score a try through replacement lock Steve Pape, a former Cornish All Black, who had only just entered proceedings. Mugford added the conversion and it was vital that the Pirates now increased their effort, especially with a player in the sin bin.

Just before Nimmo's return Mugford missed a penalty kick that would have given Scottish the lead, but the Pirates were about to be further deflated anyway when replacement hooker Dave Ward was frustratingly shown a yellow card for the fourth time this season.

It was not long before there were fears of a third 'yellow' being pulled from the pocket of referee Andrew Taylorson, but just a warning was issued to the Pirates which replacement scrum half and club captain Gavin Cattle relayed to his team. Nevertheless, the increasingly confident home side still proceeded to take advantage against the unsettled Pirates and took the lead through a second converted try scored by Pape.

With London Scottish now ahead as play entered the last quarter, there were serious concerns that the Pirates would actually let this one slip with another indifferent second half performance, but Cook kept hopes alive when slotting a penalty and the Pirates then secured their victory and a bonus point when nearing the end they backed themselves to opt for another catch and drive which ended with Cowan's unconverted killer blow.

A draw and two bonus points wins under the belt is not bad, and although there are areas to work on, as is ever the case, there's plenty of time to develop and further improve as Stage Two of the Championship is a long way away.

London Scottish:

J. Bordiss , R. Penney, B. MacDougall, G. Trueman (capt), D. Howells, D. Mugford, S. Amor (M. Heeks 73), M. Bright, A. Andrews, O. Brown, Josh Brown, B. Thomas (S. Pape 46), A. Liffchak (L. Thiede 50), A. Kwasniki (T. Standfield 73), N. Auterac (A. Clarke 29 ).

Replacements (not used): C. Ratford, J. Kellard.

Cornish Pirates: R. Cook, W. Davies, G. Pointer (S. Hill 52), T. Cooper, D. Doherty, C. Thomas (D. Ewers 79), J. Doherty (capt, G. Cattle 48), B. Cowan (R. Storer 62-67), C. Walker-Blair, D. Ewers (P. Burgess 72), I. Nimmo, L. McGlone (M. Smith 80), A. Paver (C. Rimmer 80), R. Elloway (D. Ward 53), P. Andrew (R. Storer 67).

Yellow cards: Nimmo, Ward.

Scorers:-
London Scottish - tries: Pape (2); cons: Mugford (2); pens: Mugford (3)

Cornish Pirates - tries: Cowan (2), Andrew, Doherty; cons: Cook; pen: Cook

Referee: Andrew Taylorson (RFU)

Attendance: 1,187

March to the Arch 3: Jets through to the 2nd qualifying round

March to the Arch continued this weekend, when Hertford Town took on Oxhey Jets. Match report next.

Hertford Town 0 Oxhey Jets 1

Match Report by Matt Harris, direct from Hertford Town FC Website.

In the end, the game was decided by a single defensive error but in truth it was a disappointing game from a Hertford point of view and had Oxhey’s number 11 not contrived to provide us with comedy miss of the season just before half time, the margin could have been wider.

There was no faulting the atmosphere at Hertingfordbury Park as Hertford Youth’s finest helped to swell the ranks of supporters with a classy display of their skills prior to the match. Residents of West Street, who had their peace disturbed by the noise, even took up their Zimmer frames to come along and see what the fuss was all about.

Sadly, the magic of the FA Cup didn’t transcend to pitch level and the opening exchanges were scrappy. Chet Johnson was as busy as ever and he had the best chance of the match after dribbling past defenders before seeing his shot blocked.

After 15 minutes, Oxhey had seen few chances and while the Blues looked dangerous down the right, Reece Dobson and Xaniel Doku were finding it hard to get involved in the match. Slowly the Jets came back into it and in the space of two minutes, they contrived two good chances to open the scoring. Firstly, a long range effort saw Lee Robinson pull off a great save low to his left and then Lewis Puttnam found Gavin Hart in space but his shot veered just wide of the post.

Hertford’s main threat still looked to come from the right and two in-swinging free kicks from Lee Roberts caused problems in the Jets defence.

By now, Puttnam was the main danger to the deadlock so we thought it was pretty decent of him to try to get himself sent off. After a two footed challenge saw him see yellow, some later handbags with Micky Nathan could have seen him trudging to the stands.

Sadly for us he stayed and right on half time came the most entertaining part of the match. A good move down Oxhey’s right saw an Oxhey player clear – to save his blushes let’s just call him Adam Lowton, number 11. After rounding Robbo he blasted against the bar in a true ‘my missus could have scored that’ moment.

Somehow therefore, the scores were level at half time.

Half Time: Hertford Town 0 - 0 Oxhey Jets

To be fair, Hertford started brightly in the second half and while chances and overall play were even, the Blues had the clearer opportunities.

First, Doku rounded the keeper but somehow managed to drag his shot wide and Reece Dobson had good chances to break the deadlock. Lee Roberts also had a good opportunity from a central free kick some 20 yards out.

Just as it looked as if we would all be heading to wherever Oxhey is for a replay, the stalemate was finally broken on 80 minutes. A defensive error left Robbo stranded off his line and he was calmly lobbed by Jets substitute Lee Armit.

Hertford refused to give up and still had chances and with the very last kick of the game, a Lee Roberts shot struck the bar with the keeper beaten.

The end result was close and in truth we had our chances but the score line in the end was probably fair.

Full Time: Hertford Town 0 - 1 Oxhey Jets

Hertford Line-Up1. Robinson. 2. Cooper 3. Packer. 4. Maybury. 5. Nathan(c). 6. Hewitt. 7. Roberts. 8. McArdle. 9. Johnson. 10. Doku. 11. Dobson.

Subs Used: Absolutely none

Hertford Town lead the Merit table with 14 points, however, Oxhey Jets will entertain Hendon in the next round. Come on the Jets!

Sol y Futbol: A draw and midweek cup defeat for Lanzarote.

Ian Lane reports on the midweek defeat in the Copa Del Rey and also a draw in Tenerife. Lanzarote are back home this weekend.

ATLÉTICO GRANADILLA 0 LANZAROTE 0

The Rojillos (reds) fought out a tough encounter in Tenerife with both sides showing why they are among the favourites for the Tercera (fourth tier) league title. The game may have remained scoreless but neither side were short on passion.

The first action in a tight match fell to Lanzarote after five minutes. Vladi centred a ball to Rosmen and the tall striker’s effort was deflected away by a defender for a corner.

As the game progressed so did the dominance of the home side, however the Rojillos defence and midfield stood firm as the only moments of danger came from set pieces.

Lanzarote´s best moments came in the final third of the first half. In the 33rd minute defender Ángel Gil reached the by line and crossed for Rosmen whose header was well saved by ex Lanzarote keeper Marino. Seconds later the keeper who had spent 13 years with the Rojillos showed his reflexes were still intact as he saved superbly denying Rosmen once more. The Rojillos finished the half on the front foot but realised it was going to be difficult to break the deadlock.

The home side began the second half the better of the two sides but the Rojillo defence was equal to the task as the Lanzarote keeper Santi Lampón was rarely threatened. The league leaders then ended the game with a flurry during their best spell of the match but Lanzarote dug deep and earned a well deserved away point.

The home match this week against C.D. Vera has been moved forward and will now be played on Saturday 16th at 4pm in Arrecife.

S.D. EIBAR 4 LANZAROTE 0

U.D. Lanzarote´s dream of another cup upset is over. Two goals in two minutes late in the first half effectively ended the Rojillos chance of progress into the third round. Eibar now have the chance to be drawn against the Real Madrid´s and Barcelona´s of this world.

The game began well for the Rojillos and there was little to separate each side in the opening half hour. In the 38th minute Lanzarote had the opportunity to clear from a corner but instead gifted the Bilbao side a goal with Iñigo Ros blasting home from a couple of yards. Two minutes later and Rojillos defender Ángel Gil was skinned down the right flank with the winger sending in a peach of a cross in between the two Lanzarote centre backs and striker Altuna bravely dived in with a powerful header in which the Lanzarote keeper Rúyman will be disappointed that he could only palm the ball into the corner of the net. The Rojillos held on for the final few minutes of the half but those two quick goals demoralized the team.

Again the game was well balanced during most of the second half but with time running ou,t the Rojillos had to take risks. Good work from Sub Jonathan Torres led to a good half volley from Striker Rosmen but the keeper dived and pushed the ball away for a corner.

Eight minutes from time and it was curtains for the Rojillos. A cross swung in from the right found Altuna and he powerfully nodded home his second of the match and his team’s third. Deep into stoppage time and a lovely delicate chip over the Lanzarote keeper from Tornero rounded off a deserved win for Eibar.

Lanzarote travel again on Sunday to Tenerife to face league leaders Atlético Granadilla.

GOALS
1-0min 38 Iñigo Ros
2-0min 40 Altuna
3-0min 82 Altuna
4-0min 92 Tornero

World in Union: Review of Round 2, the Aviva Premiership

Thanks to our friends at Aviva, here is a review ov Round 2 of the AVIVA Premiership.

Exeter Chiefs top the Aviva Premiership Rugby table after two rounds (if only by virtue of points difference) following their 32-15 win over Newcastle Falcons. Their try bonus point means they have nine points from two matches following their opening day win at Welford Road.

Level with them on points are London Wasps after their 35-29 win over Leicester Tigers. The undoubted star of the show was Wasps’ England under 20 wing Christian Wade, who followed his try against Saracens last weekend with a hat trick against Tigers.

Harlequins are third in the table following their 26-13 win over Northampton Saints on Friday night, with Joe Gray and Ugo Monye getting on the scoresheet.
Behind Quins are a clutch of clubs who have won one and lost one. Leading that pack is Gloucester Rugby after their 29-8 win over Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm which saw a second successive try for young English centre Jonny May.

Bath Rugby are fifth and Saracens sixth after Saracens claimed a thrilling 26-28 win at the Recreation Ground, with Owen Farrell’s last minute penalty hitting both posts before dropping over.

London Irish remain winless in tenth after their 30-29 defeat at Edgeley Park. The Sharks outscored their visitors by three tries to two, with the Sale tries from Welsh scrum half Dwayne Peel and young English forwards Henry Thomas and James Gaskell, with young English centre Jonathan Joseph claiming his first try of the season for the Exiles.

Kult & Punk: St Pauli claw the match back to beat 1860

The boys were on the edge of the seats for this match, as the Bavarian Lads took an early lead. The day ended up with a correct scoreline and a brand new guest ale, Engels Left Boot - splendid.

FC St. Pauli 4-2 1860 Munich

On the back of their first loss of the season, St. Pauli bounced back with a stunning come from behind win over 1860 Munich. Two goals down early in the second half the Hamburg based side turned the game on it's head with four goals in the final half an hour.

St. Pauli started the match at the Millerntor-Arena on the front foot, with 1860 Munich absorbing the pressure and looking to hit the hosts on the counter attack. Despite the possession and pressure Pauli were creating, a clear cut chance failed to materialise within the opening 20 minutes. Stefan Aigner had the first real chance after good work by Kevin Volland and Benjamin Lauth, but couldn't find the target. Gabor Kiraly did well to keep a Lasse Sobiech header at bay, before the woodwork came to the rescue when Kevin Schindler's shot from distance came back of the post.

Pauli swing the game in their favour

Max Kruse forced a save out of the Hungarian keeper, but it was 1860 who landed the hammer blow on the stroke of half time. The energetic Volland broke into the box and was brought down unceremoniously by Sebastian Schachten in his attempts to recover. Lauth made no mistake from the spot and despite a great chance for Pauli to equalise immediately through Mahir Saglik, the Lions held onto the lead going in at the break.

Andre Schubert's side sent Marius Ebbers on for the unproductive Saglik, but despite applying the early pressure once again it was 1860 who were two goals to the good in the blink of an eye. A counter attack started and finished by Volland, saw his effort ricochet off Philipp Tschauner onto the retreating Schindler and into the net (46'). Pauli weren't giving up and when Ebbers beat Kiraly from close range ten minutes later it was game on.

Less than a minute later and the Millerntor was on it's feet. An 1860 corner broke down when Arne Feick's shot was blocked and a Pauli counter attack left Munich outnumbered at the back. Bartels burst forward before laying the ball off for Schachten to stroke home for the equaliser. The Bavarian side were falling apart and when Ebbers and Schindler failed to convert Bartels cross, Kruse at the back post was on hand to give the hosts the lead for the first time in the match (64'). The 23-year-old put the final nail in the coffin with a stunning solo effort, which saw him go past no less than five 1860 players before cutting the ball across Kiraly's goal where it nestled in the bottom corner (73'). Despite a frantic few minutes in the closing stages, 1860's capitulation had left them defeated and a late howler from Manuel Schäffler took the wind completely out of their sails. Pauli could have done further damage, but in the end they hold onto second place thanks to a spirited comeback performance.

Gwrys Yn Kernow: Pirates edge past the Knights

Cornish Pirates 39 Doncaster Knights 32

RFU Championship Round 2
Mennaye Field Penzance
Sunday 11th September
Woll's Match Report

What is it that old sporting cliché spouts about ‘games’ and ‘two halves’? Well we certainly had one here, as Katia awaited clearance to enter Cornish waters in the Approaches; and Pirates forwards coach, Ian Davies, was left wondering if his pre match Granny Smith, may have been of South African origin after all.

His post-match observation that the Pirates’ second half performance was nothing short of “rubbish”, may have been tinged with the understandable emotion associated with being put through the mill for the second week running; but it pretty much summed up what was for all said and done a cracking game of rugby. Certainly if you were down from South Yorkshire; in the second half at least. Or a neutral.

At the death; and with the Knights pressing hard on the Pirates line once more, it was the former Redruth man, PJ Gidlow; who’d begun his side’s revival in the opening seconds of the half, who gathered the ball one handed with the line at his mercy.
Ex Pirate, Tom Luke, must have been planning his fourth score from the tee, to break Cornish hearts and condemn the hosts to a second consecutive draw. De ja vu of the woes at Mose loomed ominously as the home faithful took a collective deep breath.
The collective sigh as the ball leapt out of the centre’s hand was audible but the woods hadn’t been navigated out of just yet. The resulting scrum buckled sans Ward, who’d taken a yellow for the team five minutes sooner, but the ball found its way to Thomas who helped it on its way towards Newlyn to spare any blushes.

And blushes there would have been, as a first half performance seemingly eons earlier, had displayed a growing in confidence and a healthy 36-11 margin, to savour oranges from.

Five tries; the pick of which was Thomas’s try account opener on the stroke of half time, which ended a flowing end to end move from the Cornishmen, appeared to signal a green light for a landslide fifteen minutes later.

This gem was supplemented by a brace from Locke who himself ‘self-denied’ the chance of a personal hat trick; preferring to selflessly hand the ball to Doherty D to sprint the remaining 25m instead.

The impressive Nimmo, whose work at set piece and the loose continued to stand out, capped off the try scoring in the Old Western National Corner, as the second row steam rollered in from close range.

Cookies right hoof accounted for the eleven points from the tee. While a solitary Whitehead penalty and a try from Burke-Flynn who had been bundled over in the Scoreboard Corner gave any respectability to the visitor’s contribution to the match thus far.

After the break, the changes to the Knights personnel at 9 and 10 made an immediate impact as Gidlow gave hope as he charged down Cook’s clearance inside the Pirate 22, and recovered the quickest do dot down under the posts.

A quarter of an hour later, and it was McIlwaine’s turn to give the home support the jitters as he broke through a couple of tackles to score just to right of the posts. Luke again did the honours in front of his former employers although Cook’s penalty on the hour seemed to be the platform to steady the ship.

It wasn’t, and without much to suggest more home points were in the pipeline, the Pirates continued to take backward steps in the face of the visitor’s onslaught.
Off trudged Ward not long after his introduction which handed the initiative to Brett Davey’s charges, who gratefully received.

Up stepped Bradford to take the plaudits as, not for the first time, a Doncaster catch and drive found second wind to gift the back row with the bonus point honour. And maybe more as Luke again found his range from wide right.

A Cook penalty with two minutes remaining would have doubled the Pirates’ second half ‘haul’ and secured victory for sure. However, as it rebounded off the left upright, the feeling that this was not to be a Pirates day looked ever more likely.
Until that was PJ discovered the meaning of ‘hero to zero’, in its cruellest guise.

Cornish Pirates
15 R. Cook 14 R. McAtee 13 G. Pointer 12 D. Locke (21 T. Cooper 57mins) 11 D. Doherty
10 C. Thomas 9 J. Doherty (capt) (20 G. Cattle 62mins) 8 B. Cowan 7 P. Burgess 6 D. Ewers (19 C. Walker-Blair 65mins)
5 I. Nimmo 4 L. McGlone (18 M. Myerscough 57mins) 3 A. Paver 2 R. Elloway (17 D. Ward 65mins) 1 R. Storer (16 L. Fairbrother 60mins)

Replacements: un-used 22 W. Davies

Tries: Locke 2, Nimmo, Doherty D, Thomas
Cons: Cook 4
Pens: Cook 2

Yellow: Ward

Doncaster Knights

15 D. McIlwaine 14 D. Flockhart 13 T. Luke 12 P.J. Gidlow 11 M. Keating
10 M. Whitehead (22 O. Goss half time) 9 L. Audis (21 C. Hallam half time) 8 M. Noone (19 D. Parsons 39mins) 7 D. Bradford 6 A. Boyde
5 G. Kenworthy 4 M. Challinor (capt) 3 R. Burke-Flynn (17 Alex Brown 55mins) 2 S. Boden (18 J. Yeandle 53mins)S 1 S. Corsar (16 Andy Brown 62mins)

Replacements: un-used 20 Z. Farivarz
Tries: Burke-Flynn, Gidlow, McIlwaine, Bradford
Cons: Luke 3
Pens: Whitehead 2

Match Officials
Referee: Darren Gamage (RFU)
Assistants: Paul Knowles & Nigel Higginson
Man of the Match: Alan Paver

Racing to success at Folkestone Racecourse

RACING TO SUCCESS

Our partners at Folkestone Racecourse have some very exciting opportunities.

On the 20th September the course are holding the Kent Cricket Day. A number of players from the county will be present.

The day is been fantastically supported by Shepherd Neame. There, however, are a couple of races left to sponsor. Join the brewery celebrating Kent Cricket and enjoy a day at the races.

To sponsor a race is just £600 + V.A.T and you will receive some fantastic benefits. The meeting will feature on At the Races T.V, and the race cards carried in all National Papers, promoting your company name. There are many more benefits available to you for the day listed below.

We also have a fantastic offer for next week. Folkestone are holding a Property Development Day. The meeting will be held on 13th September, to sponsor the whole meeting will be £3000 + V.A.T. If you just wanted to sponsor individual races they would be £600 + V.A.T. Full details are listed below for this opportunity.

Six races, six pages of race card adverts, front cover design, ATR coverage, and banners around the course.

Benefits of Sponsorship for full day and individual races,

* The race title with your company name appears in most National Daily Papers – reaching approximately 30 million readers

* Coverage on At The Races -

At The Races is available in 14 million UK and Irish homes via Sky, Virgin Media and UPC. The channel’s audience analysis is provided by BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board), the organisation responsible for providing the official measurement of UK television audiences.
At The Races attracts a predominantly male audience with a very high proportion of ABC1 male viewing. Daily reach audiences on ATR regularly exceed 400,000 viewers.

Monthly reach 1,880,000 different individuals
Weekly reach 894,000 different individuals
Average daily reach 330,000 different individuals

Pictures from ATR racecourses are now received in the following territories via betting outlets:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Caribbean , Cyprus, Dubai, France, Germany , Gibraltar, Gulf States, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, Kenya, ,Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, USA (Figure breakdown available upon request) Figures: Source BARB Oct 2010

* Sponsors can also advertise in the race card with a full page full colour advertisement at no extra charge per race sponsored


* Your company video may be shown through the CCTV system throughout the racecourse

* Your company/group’s name will be mentioned on the PA throughout the day.

* Your party are invited to judge the Best Turned Out horse in the paddock prior to the race and enjoy a glass of champagne in the Directors box during the race.

* You will also have the opportunity to present the trophy to the winning connections in the winner’s enclosure afterwards.

* Three on course banner sites and other promotional material may be displayed around the course on the day per race sponsored

* Six entrance badges to the course on the day per race sponsored

To take advantage of this fantastic offer and for more information, please contact us.

jason.beazley@sporttrades.co.uk

World in Union: 1st Round review of the weekend matches.

Thanks to our friends at Aviva, we bring you the first round up of the new rugby Premiership season. Our friends at Aviva for the best price insurance across the board. Prices not available on price comparison websites, so pick up the phone.

ROUND 1

Aviva Premiership Rugby returned in style this weekend, with six matches and an average winning margin of just five points per match.

Only two home teams won their matches, new boys Worcester Warriors beating Sale Sharks by 17-12 and Northampton Saints edging Gloucester Rugby in a cracker at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday by 26-24.

In the first match of the new season, Harlequins beat London Irish 24-29 with Nick Evans’ faultless kicking proving to be the difference as both teams crossed for two tries apiece. Topsy Ojo scored a brace for the Exiles, with James Johnston and Ugo Monye scoring for Quins.

In the second match of the London Double Header, London Wasps beat reigning Champions Saracens 15-20. It was a day for the wingers as Wasps’ tries came from Tom Varndell and England under 20 wing Christian Wade.

The most notable away win was at Welford Road where Exeter Chiefs beat Leicester Tigers 28-30. The Chiefs had led Leicester in their round two match last season, only for Tigers’ experience to tell. This time the Chiefs held their nerve, having been given the perfect start when Sireli Naqelevuki went over in the first minute. It was a good day for the Baxter family as Head Coach Rob Baxter’s younger brother Richard went over for this first ever Premiership Rugby try.

Matt Carraro scored after seven minutes at Kingston Park to get Bath’s season off to a good start, but Newcastle Falcons replied with three Jimmy Gopperth penalties to be in touch 9-13 at half time. But thee unanswered Sam Vesty penalties in the second half saw Bath run out 9-22 winners.

Aviva Premiership Rugby continues this weekend, starting on Friday night with two winning teams from round one as Harlequins take on Northampton Saints at the Twickenham Stoop.

Rugby World Cup 2011 Preview.

Thanks to our friends at Guardian Sport, here is a brief preview, of the top sides in the current IRB rankings, for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

1 NEW ZEALAND

Still the favourites, although yesterday's defeat in Brisbane suggests that yet another choke is not out of the question. Also hinted that Graham Henry might be a little brave in leaving both Hosea Gear and Sitiveni Sivivatu to kick their very rapid heels.

2 AUSTRALIA

From the depths against Samoa to victory over the All Blacks in Brisbane, Australia seem to be coming to the boil. And they will be better when James O'Connor is back from his ban so Adam Ashley-Cooper can partner impressive new centre Pat McCabe.

3 SOUTH AFRICA

Looks as though the gamble on ditching the Tri Nations has paid off with so many of the 2007 stars returning from holiday or sick bay in time to put in a pragmatic performance against the All Blacks last weekend. Benching skipper John Smit needed to be done.

4 FRANCE

Still doubts about the health of some of the props, but two wins from two warm-ups against Ireland will please Marc Lièvremont even if the announcement of his successor is unlikely to help harmony when things get tough for the coach. Which they will.

5 ENGLAND

Muddling through stronger in the heart and arm than the head, but a first win in Dublin since 2003 will do wonders. Even Manu Tuilagi and Mike Tindall occasionally found they were on same wavelength. Without Ben Youngs, scrum-half would be an area of concern.

6 WALES

Warren Gatland is gambling on taking a less-than-100% Gethin Jenkins and has to have his other Lions prop, Adam Jones, fit and well for that first game against South Africa. Wales reckon they can win it and make their lives in the knockout stages a lot simpler.

7 IRELAND

The long warm-up hasn't worked out and the injuries are piling up. Declan Kidney will say he has learned a lot but four losses from four – Scotland, France twice and England – suggest another difficult World Cup even with a mighty Paul O'Connell.

8 SCOTLAND

Like France, two wins from two warm-up games. Andy Robinson's reasoning was that he could better control how tasty the action got if all the hard work were done in camp and, with the exception of Nikki Walker, his first-choice 30 were on the flight.

9 ARGENTINA

There were patches against Wales when they looked like guys who had only just met up – which they had. Age is beginning to creep up on some of them and Juan Martín Hernández is missing. But … they came third in 2007.

10 ITALY
The inspirational No8 Sergio Parisse is targeting the Ireland game, but it looks as though Italy shot themselves in the foot when they called time on Nick Mallett's tenure.
Teams in IRB ranking order

Sol y Futbol: First league win of the season for Lanzarote

Thankfully and at last, back by popular demand and also because we have no one else, the one, the only Mr Ian Lane. Too much - you're probably right. Ian is back for our 3rd season with UD Lanzarote. We will be getting his match reports and the odd observation regarding the club throughout the season. This weekend saw Ian in the cold of Arrecife (just touching 90), to bring us his first report of the season and Lanzarote's first league win.

LANZAROTE 2 U.D. TIJARAFE 1

The Rojillos clinched their first league win of the season on their third attempt of trying. Two cracking goals before half time but then they allowed the La Palma side a lifeline early in the second half and had to endure the final 25 minutes with just 10 men, nevertheless the Conejeros (locals) deservedly claimed all three points.

The game couldn’t have begun any better for the Rojillos. Seconds before the first minute had passed Gustavo García teed up Ayoze Pérez from a short free kick and the midfielder let rip with a powerful dipping beauty from 25 yards to score Lanzarote´s first home goal of the campaign.

A minute later and the Rojillos should have been celebrating their second. Captain Jonathan Torres broke free of his marker at the back post but unfortunately his accuracy wasn’t as good as his awareness as his shot failed to hit the target.

Lanzarote were in control of the game with the visitor’s only effort in the half coming in the 18th minute from a free kick by Striker Borja which was neatly palmed away for a corner by keeper Santi Lampón.

Lanzarote´s second goal came in the 39th minute. Jonathan Torres laid the ball back to Gustavo García. The well travelled local boy saw the keeper just off his line and wonderfully chipped him from 20 yards to give his side a 2-0 advantage to go into the half time break.

The only concern for the new manager Fabián Rivero during the half time cuppa was that his side had not killed off the match with a third goal such was the dominance.

Only three minutes into the second half and the La Palma side were back in the game. Following a corner, the Rojillos failed to clear the ball and defender Iván Rodríguez pounced on the hesitance in defence to blast the ball home from close range to make the score 2-1.

The home side still made all the running but mid way through the second half left back Javi Morales picked up his second yellow card and the Rojillos were forced to end the match with 10 players. It was only in the dying minutes that Tijarafe threatened as Lanzarote deservedly held on to a victory which keeps them unbeaten in all league and cup matches this season.

Next Sunday Lanzarote travel to Tenerife to face the league leaders and the only side in the league with a 100% record this season Atlético Granadilla.

Before that, the Rojillos face another hugely important match in the Copa Del Rey second round. This Wednesday Lanzarote travel to the North of Spain to fight for the right to be in the draw when the Primera Liga clubs get involved. They will be massive underdogs against Segunda B (league 1) side S.D. Eibar but never write the Rojillos off in these cup matches as their history in the cup proves. Eibar have spent 17 of the last 20 seasons in Spain´s Segunda A (Championship) and were Champions of their Division last season but still failed in the Play off final to a return to the Division where they really belong. Ironically it was Lanzarote´s former and most famous manager Jose Luis Mendilibar who took Eibar to within inches of the Primera Liga a few seasons ago.

March to the Arch 3: Hertford and Ramblers to meet again on Tuesday.

As you know our March to the Arch feature has entered it’s 3rd year. After Hertford's win in the previous round, against Barkingside, they drew Burnham Ramblers in the preliminary round. Directly from Hertford's website, here is the weekend match report.

Burnham Ramblers 3 Hertford Town 3

Match Report by Dan Sinclair

About 40 people, players included, crammed onto a Galleon Travel ‘Luxury Liner’ bound for sunny Burnham-on-Crouch. Excitement in the air, like the crackle of static when you take off a furry top.

We were greeted with a luscious clubhouse
that backed onto freshly ploughed fields, the smell of the wild and a pinch of sea filled the air.

Hertford, positive after their excellent win against local rivals Broxbourne took to the field with panache. Two changes in the side from Tuesday night, Alex Crowhurst & Micky Nathan coming in for Michael Casey & Jamie Packer respectively.
Leslie Field was bathed in sunlight for kick off, it took a little while for Hertford to adjust, maybe it was the red kit that took a little getting used to.

After 5 minutes Tom Wade had a chance with a soft overhead kick, which bounced in front of the keeper but let’s be fair it was never going to beat him.

It was weirdly quiet around the ground, maybe we expected more noise from the home support but it never came, so the loyal away posse filled in with a cacophony of horns and songs.

There were a few cheers when Burnham managed to break through our defence, one on one with Robbo but he was equal to it and batted it away like he was playing cricket.
The Blues (in Red) pressed Burnham, Chet Johnson had a mazy dribble into the box, the ball popped up into the air, which Chet tried to head across but the keeper calmly plucked it out of the air.

It was 19 minutes in when The Blues took the lead. A free kick, which Burnham cleared to the one and only MICHAEL COOPER who smashed it in from outside the area. The players say he ‘shinned it’ but we don’t care, one nil up and it seems like plain sailing at the yacht club.

Gwrys Yn Kernow: Pirates draw, in an exciting game at Moseley

Our thanks to Phil Westren for the match report and to the Cornish Pirates for allowing us to post it on Sports Pulse. We will be following the team throughout the season, posting all match reports and the occasional preview and interview. We have named this feature Gwrys Yn Kernow, I believe (and hope) means Made in Cornwall.

Next week Men in Black returns, when we follow Harpenden RFC during their season and also World in Union, our weekly round up of Aviva Premiership. Sports Pulse rugby coverage doesn't end there, on Tuesday we will post our Rugby World Cup preview. In the future we also we have our 2nd season in Super Rugby to look forward too with Melbourne Rebels. Over to you Phil:

Moseley 27 Cornish Pirates 27

RFU Championship Round 1

Billesley Common

Saturday 3rd September

Phil Westren's Match Report

Twelve months previously, less a week, the Cornish Pirates travelled to Moseley for their first away game in Stage 1 of last season's RFU Championship competition. Hoping for a win then, they had to settle for a draw, and history repeated itself again in this match when a converted late try from the home side tied the scores once more.

For what always promised to be an interesting encounter against a 'Mose' side now coached by former Ireland centre Kevin Maggs, the Pirates had selected a strong looking line-up which included three new boys in wing David Doherty, fly-half Ceiron Thomas and flanker Dave Ewers, who were all making their Championship debuts for the club. Three other new faces in prop Lloyd Fairbrother, scrum-half Tom Kessell and centre Tom Cooper were named on the bench.

On a breezy but dry afternoon it was the Cornish Pirates who immediately looked fired up and suitably lively after Ceiron Thomas did the honours to kick the game off.

Immediate early pressure was not converted into points until full-back Rob Cook successfully slotted a penalty goal as the quarter of an hour mark approached.
This score was soon followed by another for the visitors as they took advantage of a Moseley error to counter attack through impressive centre Drew Locke who released David Doherty on about halfway.

The speedster had shown a perfect example of his finishing ability in the pre-season friendly at Worcester a week earlier, and he repeated it in similar fashion to score a try converted by Cook.

Moseley now responded and after playing for a spell with a level of parity they conjured a score of their own. Securing possession in their own half the ball found the hands of inspirational skipper Andy Reay who released No. 8 Mike Ellery into space, when he too showed impressive pace to score an unconverted try.

Spurred back to action the Pirates proceeded to take back control of the game, their pack forcing Moseley back deep into their half. It looked a 'cert' that applied pressure would tell, and it did, when lock Ian Nimmo duly registered a try.

Cook converted as he did his own try scored just past the half-hour mark, following good work by Locke, again, and also flanker Phil Burgess.

Leading 24-5 was as much as the Pirates could have wished for, with a bonus point providing fourth try surely in their sights if they could maintain their general dominance.

Moseley were down, but they were not, however, out, and when the Pirates defence was breached a try scored just before the break by lock Paul Spivey, converted by fly-half Brad Davies, lifted the spirits of the men in black and red.

If the home side scored first in the second half then the initiative could swing further their way, and it was indeed a little worrying when just in the fourth minute wing Brad Hunt crossed for an unconverted try that brought the hosts to within just seven points of the Pirates score.

A penalty from Cook temporarily eased the pressure, only for Davies to apply it again with an excellent long range effort .

When Cook was yellow carded by referee Mr. Terry Hall the Pirates were unsettled once more, with matters not getting any better when Locke was unfortunately injured and taken off to hospital for precautionary measures to be checked out.

As the second half ebbed away Moseley mounted their final onslaught and to the eyes of many got a likely just reward when awarded a penalty try. Converted by former 'Pirate' Ollie Thomas, the try had also earned them a bonus point, and the contest at Billesley Common in September ended in a draw for the second year running.
At the final whistle Moseley celebrated as if they were winners, whilst the faces of the Pirates mirrored disappointment. They had hoped for better, but on this occasion it was not to be.

Commenting at the end of the game, Cornish Pirates high performance manager Chris Stirling said: "We expected it to be tough and Moseley pushed us in all directions. Parts of our play were satisfactory from a coaching perspective, but others were not, especially our game management and decision making.

"Playing with a bit of width we did stretch the opposition at times, but overall we need to be better and have things to work on."

He added: "It's a long season and if we were at our best now then we would be unable to maintain it. We can play a lot better, but credit to Moseley who are a good team, especially on their home ground."

Moseley:

A. Carter, W. Robinson (O. Thomas 66), J. Adams (G. King 41), A. Reay (capt), B. Hunt, B. Davies, S. Brown (R. Glynn 66), M. Ellery, B. Pons, M. Maltman (N. Masobn 61), P. Spivey, D. Sanderson, A. O'Donnell (C. Quigley 62), A. Caves, C. Voisey (M. Gadd 26).

Replacement (not used): R. Protherough.

Cornish Pirates:
R. Cook, D. Doherty, G. Pointer D. Locke (T. Cooper 61), W. Davies, C. Thomas, G. Cattle (capt), K. Marriott, P. Burgess (B. Cowan 62), D. Ewers, M. Myerscough (blood - L. McGlone 58-65), I. Nimmo (L. McGlone 70), A. Paver, R. Elloway (D. Ward 65), R. Storer (P. Andrew 65).

Replacements (not used): L. Fairbrother, T. Kessell.

Yellow card: Cook

Scorers
Moseley
Tries: Ellery, Spivey, Hunt, Pen
Cons: Davies, Thomas
Pens: Davies

Cornish Pirates
Tries: Doherty, Nimmo, Cook
Cons: Cook 3
Pens Cook 2

Referee: Terry Hall (RFU)

Attendance : 806

Baseball: Captains Use the Wash to Snap Skid

LeVon Washington's two out single to leftfield in the seventh inning scored Brian Heere lifting Lake County to a 4-3 win over Bowling Green. The win washes away a five game losing streak at Classic Park.

Ronny Rodriguez led the second inning off with a double and Alex Monsalve double down the line in right to give the Captains a 1-0 lead. Chase Burnette doubled with two outs, scoring Alex for a 2-0 lead.

The Hot Rods Luke Bailey and Kevin Kiermaier walked and Robby Price singled to load the bases. Bailey scored from third a on double play ball hit by Derek Dietrich and Steve Tinoco singled to score Kiermaier to tie the game up at two.

Derek Dietrich led the sixth inning off with a solo homerun his 22nd of the season putting Bowling Green in front 3-2.

Carlos Moncrief crushed his 16th homerun of the season with one out in the seventh, a solo shot tying the game up at three.

Joey Mahalic (1-5) worked two innings, no runs; one hit and a walk for his first win of the season. Mahalic closed the season with ten consecutive scoreless innings. Clayton Ehlert picked up his 15th save of the season pitching the ninth. Eliazer Suero (8-6) allowed all four runs on six hits over six innings of work, walking two and striking out four. Felix Sterling picked up a no-decision working six innings allowing three runs on three hits, walking four and striking out four.

Lake County and Bowling Green continue the final home stand of the season on Sunday afternoon at Classic Park at 1:00PM. The Captains will start RHP Joe Colon (0-0) against LHP Enny Romero (5-5) for the Hot Rods. Catch all the action on AM 970 WFUN or online at captainsbaseball.com.

Speedway: Rye House put a rocket up the Diamonds

Rye House Rockets v Newcastle Diamonds Mon 29 Aug 2011 Hoddesdon Premier League

by Lawrence Heppell

Following Sunday's good win over the Sheffield Tigers, the Newcastle Diamonds started where they had left off yesterday afternoon by taking a solid 1-5 maximum in Heat One at the Rye House Rockets in a "frustratingly officiated" Premier League encounter.
Jason Lyons, Newcastle's favourite guest, again in for Mark Lemon took an awarded win when Rocket Jordan Frampton made an ill-advised under swoop of the Aussie sending the veteran firmly under the fourth bend fence, with the referee excluding Frampton and giving the three points to Lyons.

Joe Haines was a little too keen in Heat Three, breaking the tapes and was replaced by Richie Worrall, but with the Diamond reserve already on a referee warning for moving at the start of Heat Two, moved again before the tapes went up and was duly excluded by the strict official leaving Newcastle with one man, Derek Sneddon who took second in the Rye House 4-2.

Claes Nedermark and Worrall made Tyson Nelson and Steve Boxall look half asleep at the gate in Heat Four, leaving the home pair in a cloud of dust as the Diamonds took another maximum to lead well 9-15, before Chris Neath and James Brundle took a home 4-2 with Lyons sneaking second.

With the referee warning riders from both teams to sit still, the edgy meeting continued with a perfect start from Lyons and Haines in Heat Seven to again leave the Rockets looking like damp squibs in a race the home pair never put in any challenge at all with the Diamonds taking another easy 1-5 and extending their lead to 17-25.

The very zealous referee called Heat Nine back with the exclusion being handed to Nedermark for moving at the tapes, an offence he'd previously been warned for, with Worrall coming in to replace him in the re-run with Neath well out in front, Hawkins forced is way round both Newcastle reserves off bend four of the opening lap to set in stone a solid home maximum which levelled the match 27-27.

Newcastle's heat 10 challenge ended on the second lap when Nedermark lost control and spiralled to the back in yet another home 5-1 which put the Rockets ahead for the first time 32-28 with only five races left to go.

There was major controversy in Heat 11 with Brundle falling on lap one, and with Lyons out in front of Sneddon, Boxall came storming up the inside of the Newcastle skipper who subsequently fell as a result of the challenge, but the referee amazed the crowd and excluded the Newcastle man for being the cause of the stoppage - awarding the result a 3-2 to Rye House instead of the expected Newcastle 0-5, with the Rockets now 34-31 ahead.

Haines and Newman conceded another 5-1 to the Rockets pair of Nelson and Hawkins in Heat 12 as the Diamonds' grip on victory seemed to be getting progressively weakened and Heat 13 didn't help with Boxall way out in front, Frampton was getting hammered from behind from all directions by Lyons, but it was a sneaky blast of power from Nedermark who swooped from last to first on the final bend to nick second place.

Neath and Nelson killed off the match in Heat 14 by sweeping Haines and Worralls early challenge well away to take a home victory.

Newcastle Speedway's co-director Andrew Dalby commented afterwards: "This was an match dominated by frustrating refereeing decisions. No more frustrating that Derek Sneddon's unexpected exclusion in Heat 11 when everyone in the stadium - including the entire Rye House team - had resigned themselves to a disqualification for Steve Boxall who everyone believed was the cause of Derek's fall… but the referee saw it differently, and that decision caught us all unawares leaving us on the Newcastle side of the pits decidedly unimpressed and extremely frustrated. Beyond that all the Diamonds pulled their weight and scored some good points in a match were we certainly deserved to end up much closer to Rye House than we ended up doing."

The return of the Rugby Season: Preview of the Pirates

The World Cup is just over a week away, and we will post our preview on Wednesday.

Much more important, with the National Leagues already started, the Aviva Premiership and the Championship return this weekend.

We will update you on each round of the Aviva Premiership, in our World in Union fixture. We will also be keeping tabs on the the Championship. For the 2011/2012 season we will be following Cornish Pirates, bringing you match reports and previews courtesy of the club.

We will also continue with our Men in Black series, following Harpenden RFC in the London & South East, North West 2 League.

For now here is a preview and team news for Cornish Pirates match against Mosely.

Moseley v Cornish Pirates

RFU Championship Round 1
Billesley Common
Saturday 3rd September
Kick Off 3pm

Phil Westren's Preview

The Cornish Pirates, likewise their hosts at Moseley, will be keen to get off to a good start in their opening fixture in this season's RFU Championship.

Saturday's contest promises to be an interesting encounter at a ground where the two teams drew 26-all in the corresponding fixture last September.

Changes at Moseley have seen former Ireland centre Kevin Maggs take over the head coach role following Ian Smith's departure, and with several new personnel in place it is envisaged that there be a new philosophy on how to play the game.

In pre-season friendlies, despite having lost to Welsh sides Aberavon and Bedwas, 'Mose' will likely have benefited from the experience and will be upping their challenge to take the honours this weekend.

As for the Pirates, who made a step forward from their disappointing performance against Exeter Chiefs to then take the scalp of a Worcester Warriors side last Saturday, they have selected a strong looking like line-up which includes three new boys in wing David Doherty, fly-half Ceiron Thomas and flanker Dave Ewers, who will be making their Championship debuts for the club.

Three other new faces in prop Lloyd Fairbrother, scrum-half Tom Kessell and centre Tom Cooper are named on the bench.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's important Championship opener, Cornish Pirates high performance manager Chris Stirling commented:

"We expect a huge challenge from Moseley who in the recent past have played a style of rugby that is fully committed and hard to break down.

"No side, however, will be the complete package at this early stage, and from our perspective in striving to win we'll simply want to test structures put in place and look for further development with the aim becoming more polished as the season progresses."

"All backs are available for selection but for Jonny Bentley, whilst in the forwards Ben Maidment, Chris Morgan and Rudi Brits are not far away from full fitness."

Moseley
01. Craig Voisey, 02. Adam Caves, 03. Anton O'Donnell, 04. Dan Sanderson
05. Paul Spivey, 06. Mike Maltman, 07. Ben Pons, 08. Mike Ellery, 09. Sam Brown, 10. Brad Davies, 11. Brad Hunt, 12. Andy Reay (captain), 13. Jack Adams, 14. Billy Robinson, 15. Anthony Carter,

Replacements:
16. Colin Quigley (FR) 17. Richard Protherough (FR). 18. Marshall Gadd (FR)
19. Neil Mason, 20. Ryan Glynn, 21. Greg King, 22. Ollie Thomas

Cornish Pirates:
R. Cook, D. Doherty, G. Pointer, D. Locke, W. Davies
C. Thomas, G. Cattle (capt), K. Marriott, P. Burgess, D. Ewers
M. Myerscough, I. Nimmo, A. Paver, R. Elloway, R. Storer.

Replacements:
P. Andrew, D. Ward, L. Fairbrother, L. McGlone, B. Cowan
T. Kessell, T. Cooper.

Aviva Premiership 2011/2012 team by team preview.

Thank you to our friends at Planet Rugby, here is a preview of the 2011/2012 season and predictions. Compiled by Adam Kyriacou

Saturday sees the return of Aviva Premiership rugby and under the shadow of the World Cup, teams will be stretched during the early-term.

Reigning champions Saracens will be in no mood to take a backward step during 2011/12following their taking of the crown off Leicester. However, the Tigers do not take kindly to being poked and we expect them to be right back in the play-off mix. Phew that seems a long way off.

Others likely to be in the shake-up are Gloucester, who returned to something like the form they are known for late last season, and Northampton.

New-boys Worcester may struggle but ultimately survive with that trapdoor taking Newcastle, who let's face it, have flirted with the drop for too long.

Get the best odds on Rugby Union with Oddschecker.com

SARACENS

Now have the squad and ethos to back up their triumph of last season. What might help them during the early stages is their surprising lack of absentees due to the RWC so we expect them to be challenging again. Their big dilemma is whether to play Owen Farrell or Charlie Hodgson at fly-half. Nice dilemma to have for Director of Rugby Mark McCall.

Sky Bet odds: 3/1

Last season: 2nd (champions)

Prediction: 1st

In: Mako Vunipola (Bristol), John Smit (Sharks), Charlie Hodgson (Sale Sharks), Joe Maddock (Benetton Treviso), Marcus Watson (London Irish), Nemia Kenatale (Tailevu).

Out: Ethienne Reynecke (Connacht), Richard Skuse (Retired), Matt Parr (Nottingham), Alex Brown (Doncaster), Tom Ryder (Glasgow), Don Barrell (Retired), Kevin Barrett (Exeter Chiefs), Noah Cato (Northampton Saints), Henry Staff (Bedford).

LEICESTER:

We have a strong feeling that Welford Road could be the making of Mathew Tait. Tigers will improve his game and having Geordan Murphy as his mentor will help a great deal. They have not lost any key personnel over the off-season - barring their many World Cup absentees - so expect Leicester to be going toe-to-toe with Saracens until the very end.

Sky Bet odds: 7/4

Last season: 1st (Beaten play-off finalists)

Prediction: 2nd

In: Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons), Graham Kitchener (Worcester Warriors), Julian Salvi (ACT Brumbies), Micky Young (Newcastle Falcons), Mathew Tait (Sale Sharks), Richard de Carpentier (UWIC), Tom Youngs (Nottingham), Niall Morris (Leinster).

Out: Joe Duffey (Nottingham), Dave Markham (Gloucester), Dan Hemingway (Leeds Carnegie), Lucas Amorosino (Montpellier), Matt Everard (Bedford), Will Hurrell (London Welsh).

GLOUCESTER:

Standing by Bryan Redpath has proved a stroke of genius from the Cherry and Whites as their form towards the end of 2010/11 won them many admirers. Wing Charlie Sharples was one man in serious form and was unfortunate to miss out on England's 30. But their loss is Gloucester's gain, expect both him and his team to kick on in all competitions.

Sky Bet odds: 9/1

Last season: 3rd

Prediction: 3rd

In: Dan Murphy (London Irish), Matias Cortese (Pampas XV), Nathan Charles (Western Force), Dario Chistolini (Petarca Rugby), Dave Markham (Leicester Tigers), Tom Savage (Hartpury), Nick Runciman (London Welsh).

Out: Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks), Olivier Azam (Toulon), Paul Doran-Jones (Northampton Saints), Pierre Capdevielle (released), Dave Attwood (Bath), Jordi Pasqualin (Newcastle Falcons), Nicky Robinson (London Wasps), Dan Williams (Colomiers).

NORTHAMPTON:

Saints will miss the likes of Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley, Ben Foden and Chris Ashton during the World Cup period and so will expect the likes of Paul Diggin and Noah Cato to fill in strongly. If they can stay in the mix until their big names return, then they will feature.

Sky Bet odds: 4/1

Last season: 4th

Prediction: 4th

In: Paul Doran-Jones (Gloucester), Samu Manoa (San Francisco Golden Gate RFC), James Craig (Leeds Carnegie), Martin Roberts (Scarlets), Ryan Lamb (London Irish), Tom May (Toulon), George Pisi (Clermont Auvergne), Noah Cato (Saracens), Vasili Artemiev (VVA-Podmoskovye Monino), Cesar Sempere (Nottingham).

Out: Regardt Dreyer (released), Dan Sanderson (Moseley), Mark Easter (Sale Sharks), Shane Geraghty (Brive), Joe Ford (Leeds Carnegie), Joe Ansbro (London Irish), Matt Cornwell (Mogliano), Bruce Reihana (Bordeaux), Ryan Powell (retired), Dan Vickerman (Waratahs).

BATH:

Savvy signings have been made at the Recreation Ground ahead of 2011/12 and Francois Louw, Dan Hipkiss and Kyle Eastmond are set to be crowd favourites. However, sizeable voids needed filling due to big-name exits and it could be too much to ask of the new men.

Sky Bet odds: 7/1

Last season: 5th

Prediction: 5th

In: Charlie Beech (London Wasps), Anthony Perenise (Hurricanes), Dave Attwood (Gloucester), Ryan Caldwell (Ulster), Carl Fearns (Sale Sharks), Francois Louw (Stormers), Stephen Donald (Chiefs), Kyle Eastmond (St Helens RL), Dan Hipkiss (Leicester Tigers).

Out: David Barnes (Retired), Danny Grewcock (Retired), Peter Short (Exeter Chiefs), Luke Watson (Southern Kings), Butch James (Lions), Shontayne Hape (London Irish), Jacques Bousugge (Brive).

LONDON IRISH:

It is hard to spin how their new arrivals eclipse what has left during the off-season. Only Daniel Bowden remains from the main four faces who shared 10, 12 and 13 last year as Ryan Lamb, Seilala Mapusua and Elvis Seveali'i move on to pastures new. Mid-table.

Sky Bet odds: 25/1

Last season: 6th

Prediction: 9th

In: Leo Halavatau (Birmingham & Solihull), Bryn Evans (Hurricanes), James Sandford (Rotherham Titans), Edward Siggery (Scarlets), Ross Samson (Edinburgh), Adrian Jarvis (Leeds Carnegie), Steven Shingler (Scarlets), Shontayne Hape (Bath), Jonathan Spratt (Ospreys), Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints), Jebb Sinclair (The Rock), Alex Gray (Newcastle), Tom Alexander (Eastwood).

Out: Dan Murphy (Gloucester), George Stowers (Ospreys), Steffon Armitage (Toulon), Ryan Lamb (Northampton Saints), Seilala Mapasua (Kubota Spears), Chris Malone (retiring), Ben Stevenson (London Welsh), James Tideswell (London Welsh), Jon Fisher (Bedford Blues), Elvis Seveali'i (Bourgoin), James Lennard (Bedford Blues).

HARLEQUINS:

Nick Easter, Ugo Monye, Maurie Fa'asavalu, James Johnston and Tomas Vallejos will all be at the World Cup while Danny Care and Ollie Smith are currently injured, meaning Quins will be tested early on. Chris Robshaw will be key but we can't see them challenging.

Sky Bet odds: 12/1

Last season: 7th

Prediction: 10th

In: Nic Mayhew (North Harbour), Tim Fairbrother (Western Force), Richard Bolt (Bristol), Matt Hopper (Cornish Pirates).

Out: Tom Cheeseman (Esher), Ceri Jones (Worcester Warriors), John Andress (Exeter Chiefs), James Percival (Worcester Warriors), Lewis Stevenson (Ulster), Dave Moore (Connacht), Gonzalo Camacho (Exeter Chiefs).

EXETER:

Odds of 150/1 seem rather high for the Chiefs, who look like a side that is only going to get stronger. They have brought in a couple of capable props in John Andress and Craig Mitchell while Peter Short will add grit. One risk is that sides may have figured them out.

Sky Bet odds: 150/1

Last season: 8th

Prediction: 7th

In: Craig Mitchell (Ospreys), John Andress (Harlequins), Peter Short (Bath), Aly Muldowney (Glasgow), Ben White (Cardiff Blues), Kevin Barrett (Saracens), Myles Dorrian (Bedord Blues), Josh Tatupu (Castres), Gonzalo Camacho (Harlequins).

Out: Eoghan Grace (Connacht), Ryan Davis (London Wasps), Josh Matavesi (Racing Metro), Nemani Nadolo (Green Rockets), Jack Andrew (Plymouth, Andrew Higgins (England Sevens), Ruaidhri Murphy (Easts Tigers), Garrick Cowley (released), Andy Miller (retiring), Ignacio Elosu (released), Dave Gannon (released), Paul McKenzie (released).

WASPS:

There will be a new air of optimism this year thanks to the arrival of David Young. The club have also signed up Steve Thompson, Marco Wentzel and Nicky Robinson so they have established players who shouldn't let the side down. Losing captain Tom Rees to injury and number eight Dan Ward-Smith due to recent retirement will hurt their aspirations though.

Sky Bet odds: 20/1

Last season: 9th

Prediction: 8th

In: Steve Thompson (Leeds Carnegie), Jerome Castex (Narbonne), Arden Perrot (Wellington), Guillermo Roan (La Plata), Ross Filipo (Bayonne), Marco Wentzel (Leeds Carnegie), Jonathan Poff (Crusaders), Nicky Robinson (Gloucester), Ryan Davis (Exeter Chiefs), Chris Bell (Sale Sharks), Chris Mayor (Parma), Alex Cheesman (Oxford Uni), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Simon McIntyre (Sale Sharks), Lewis Thiede (Doncaster), Matt Everard (Leicester), James Harris (Dragons).

Out: Charlie Beech (Bath), Joe Ward (Sale Sharks), Jason Hobson (Bristol
, Serge Betsen (released), Andy Powell (Sale), Dave Walder (Mitsubishi Dynaboars), Steve Kefu (Bay of Plenty), Ben Jacobs (Kyuden Voltex), Mark van Gisbergen (Lyon), Tom French (Barking), Josh Lewsey (retiring), Seb Jewell (London Welsh), Michael Mayhew (North Harbour), Marty Veale (Northland), Will Matthews (released), Shaun Ruwers (Waterloo), David Lemi (released), Dan Ward-Smith (retired).

SALE:

The busiest of the twelve teams in England's top flight could be a surprise package this season. They have brought in a completely different back-row in the shape of Hendre Fourie, Andy Powell and Kearnan Myall, with Scotland's Richie Vernon also a good player.

Sky Bet odds: 66/1

Last season: 10th

Prediction: 6th

In: Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Joe Ward (London Wasps), Tony Buckley (Munster), Vadim Cobalas (VVA-Podmoskovye Monino), Andrei Ostrikov (Aurillac), Fraser McKenzie (Glasgow), Kearnan Myall (Leeds), Hendre Fourie (Leeds), Andy Powell (Wasps), Richie Vernon (Glasgow), Mark Easter (Northampton), Scott Mathie (Leeds), Tasesa Lavea (Clermont), Sam Tuitupou (Munster), Luther Burrell (Leeds), Charlie Amesbury (Newcastle Falcons), Joaquin Tuculet (Club de Rugby Los Tilos), Johnny Leota (Manawatu).

Out: Eifion Lewis-Roberts (Toulon), Jack Forster (released), Simon McIntyre (London Wasps), Nic Rouse (Nottingham), Sean Cox (Edinburgh), Chris Jones (Worcester Warriors), Carl Fearns (Bath), Kristian Ormsby (released), Neil McMillan (released), Sisa Koyamaibole (Lyon), Chris Brightwell (England Sevens), Asaeli Boko (Nadroga), Charlie Hodgson (Saracens), Matty James (released), Ben Cohen (retired), Andy Tuilagi, Chris Bell (London Wasps), Mathew Tait (Leicester Tigers), Jonny Kennedy (retired), Rhys Crane (released), Fergus Mulchrone (released), Selorm Kuadey (released), Paul Williams (Stade Francais), Karena Wihongi (Castres), Chris Leck (Edinburgh).

NEWCASTLE:

As mentioned, for too long the Falcons have been circling the drain and we feel this season could be their year to join English rugby's second tier. They have lost Brent Wilson, Tane Tu'ipulotu and Micky Young and not replaced them with the same standard. A long season.

Sky Bet odds: 250/1

Last season: 11th

Prediction: 12th

In: Dan Frazier (Doncaster Knights), Ashley Wells (Griquas), Richard Boyle (Tynedale), Josh Beaumont (Fylde), Richard Mayhew (Esher), Jordi Pasqualin (Gloucester), Will Chudley (Bedford Blues), Ricki Sherriffe (RL), Ryan Shortland (Otago), Joe Robinson (Tynedale), Jamie Helleur (Auckland), Taiasina Tu'ifua (Counties Manukau), Greg Goosen (La Rochelle).

Out: Kieran Brookes (Leicester Tigers), Filipo Levi (Tasman), Micky Young (Leicester Tigers), Tane Tu'ipulotu (Yamaha Jubilo), Rob Vickerman (England Sevens), Gcobani Bobo (released), Charlie Amesbury (Sale Sharks), Hall Charlton (Blaydon), Alex Gray (London Irish), Micky Ward (Blaydon), Danny Williams (Salford RL), Ed Williamson (retiring), Brent Wilson (North Harbour), Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Hutchesons Aloysians), Josh Afu (Carcassone), Tim Ryan (Cavalieri Prato).

WORCESTER:

At the first time of asking, the Warriors are back in the big time this season and will be looking to follow Exeter's lead in staying up for 2012/13. Shrewd signings have been made in the shape of experienced duo Ceri and Chris Jones while Shaun Perry adds solidity.

Sky Bet odds: 150/1

Last season: Championship champions

Prediction: 11th

In: Ceri Jones (Harlequins), George Porter (Plymouth Albion), Ollie Hayes (Bristol), James Percival (Harlequins), Ben Gulliver (Cornish Pirates), Chris Jones (Sale Sharks), Shaun Perry (Brive), Errie Claasens (London Welsh), Danny Gray (Montauban), Sione Tu'ipulotu (Plymouth Albion), Josh Drauniniu (London Welsh), Sam Betty (Cornish Pirates), Ravai Fatiaki (Tailevu).

Out: Adam Black (Retired), James Collins (free agent), Callum Black (Ulster), Greg Rawlinson (retired), Graham Kitchener (Leicester Tigers), Louis Silver (Bristol), Will Bowley (Toyota Shokki), Greg King (Moseley), Oriol Ripol (retired), Willie Walker (North Harbour), Andy Williams (retired), Rob Higgitt (retired), Pat Sanderson (retired).

By Adam Kyriacou