Author: Liam

Chris Noakes is a professional rugby player from New Zealand who has proved his worth by representing Auckland Blues at the Super Rugby competition and at the ITM Cup; Noakes has represented Bay of Plenty.

When Noakes signed a two-year contract with London Irish for the 2014-2015 season, Brian Smith (coach of London Irish) had said that Noakes is a fruitful goal kicker and has accomplished a lot as a fly-half.

However, just a few weeks after signing the contract with London Irish, Chris Noakes ruptured his bicep tendon because of which his start with the club was delayed.

Due to his injury he had decided that he would stop playing for sometime because he could not afford to make it any worse. Noakes had injured his arm while he was playing for Auckland Blues’ team in the month of May (2014) in New Zealand.

Noakes did not play for the Super 15 because of the injury and it was initially being expected that till December (2014) he will not be playing. But he soon made a comeback.

In spite of missing a part of the Super 15 and having no ideal preparation before joining London Irish for the 2014-2015 rugby season, his start with the club has been good.

Chris Noakes is glad that he managed to recover fast and did not fail to be a part of the competitions that are being held. Noakes got the chance to be associated with all the three games that were played by London Irish at the 2014-2015 Aviva Premiership.

For the match against Leicester Tigers on the 27^th of September, 2014, Noakes again played as fly-half and this match was won by London Irish. Despite great efforts, Leicester Tigers were not able to defeat London Irish due to the absence of around twenty-one players who were either unavailable or injured.

The Wales Rugby team is knee deep in crisis after the Regional Rugby Wales announced that the participation agreement proposed by the Welsh Rugby Union was completely unacceptable as it involved certain negotiations which would prove to be harmful to the national team. The future of professional rugby in Wales seems to be now in jeopardy as the interest of the Clubs and the Wales Rugby team came at loggerheads.

The four regions that form the RRW include teams like Scarlets, Ospreys, Dragons and Blues. They have released a statement saying that backward progress was being made as the participation agreement that was released by the premier Rugby board of the nation restricted their control over participation in foreign leagues, players from other countries and loans and transfers which are crucial for the business planning of the clubs. The clubs believed that they had left no stones unturned in order to ensure a smooth running of the system but their efforts and the general public opinion were not given enough consideration. Wales Rugby team coach Warren Gatland tried his level best for the same cause but to no avail. The captain of his team Sam Warburton was himself left without a club to play for in next season. WRU on the other hand has blamed the RRW and have clearly voiced their disappointment in the conduct of its representatives.

However, the progress of the national team leading up to the World Cup has been satisfactory. They put up a strong fight against the South Africans before going down by just one point in the closing minutes of the game. It was a great display of character and strength as the favorites were put under immense pressure due to some good communication between the attackers and defenders on the pitch.

In today’s world people have little time to sit and watch sports for long periods of time. As a result of this there have been quite a few innovations in the format of the sports like cricket and rugby. Much like the twenty-twenty format that had been introduced in cricket and received great popularity within a very short span of time, the Rugby Sevens is also coming of age. It was a huge success in the Commonwealth Games and the crowds absolutely loved it. This has greatly increased the interest in the World Club Sevens that is going to be held at Twickenham. The Premiership Sevens has also gained popularity in Great Britain. The people associated with Sevens have clearly stated that there will be specialists for the game yet the situation is dicey because the best players remain so in each and every format of the game. The Rugby Sevens will be featuring in the Olympics for the first time in Rio and this will act as the major litmus test for this format. However there might be several confusions with the flexibility brought in the rule that allows a person to represent a country of his choice if he owns a valid passport for the same.

Nevertheless the clubs are gearing up for the World Club Sevens that is going to be held recently. The squads have named their players and respective captains. Gloucester Rugby coach Olly Morgan has announced his squad which includes Charlie Norman, Sam Showering and Ed Tellwright to name a few. Their rivals in Pool B Cardiff Blues have named Jevon Groves as their captain along with exciting players like Lloyd Williams and Luke Morgan. USA national Rugby Sevens champion Seattle will be lead by Waisale Serevi during their campaign against the likes of Waratahs and Auckland.