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A Second look at the latest Crunch

If it is true that England deliberately avoided using their strongest hand, the driving maul, to test out other approaches, the most we can say is they brought a victory. Over the past two seasons we have seen the Red Roses use all manner of game-plans, from persistent forward-domination to flowery, inventive back-play and above

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La Crunch

It was the pool fixture that caught the eye from the moment the Rugby World Cup draw was made. England and France, the two leading sides in Europe filed alongside one another in Pool C, a clash of the class of the north in Northland and an October 15 date ringed in the calendar. England’s

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Round Two in Summary

First the results: Scotland 12 Australia 14 USA 30 Japan 17 France 7 England 13 Italy 12 Canada 22 Wales 12 New Zealand 56 Fiji 21 South Africa 17 Here are the top 2 in each pool: A.  NZ 10 pts; Australia 4 B.  Canada 10; Italy 5 C.  England 9; France 6 The two

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A Magnificent Spectacle

England v France Result: England 13 France 7 Player of the Match: Alex Matthews This was a first chance for Kiwis to experience a Crunch live. Now they know exactly what all the fuss is about. Sadly the game was distorted early on by two vital injuries to leading French players, Laure Sansus and Romane

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Refereeing the Big Matches

It has saddened me to see adverse reports of Clara Munarini’s handling of the crucial Scotland-Wales game. Specifically, she didn’t show Wales a yellow card till the 65th minute, despite giving a flurry of penalties against them as they defended by all means at their disposal. A penalty kick completed by Keira Bevan was the

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Source: New Zealand Rugby

Black Ferns ready for Wales

Black Ferns coaches have made a raft of changes ahead of their second Rugby World Cup fixture against Wales at Waitakere Stadium this Sunday (kick off 3.15pm). The team is; Awhina Tangen-Wainohu (3) Georgia Ponsonby (8) Tanya Kalounivale (4) Maiakawanakaulani Roos (9) Chelsea Bremner (7) Alana Bremner (8) Kendra Reynolds (7) Charmaine McMenamin (29) Ariana

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Two First Day Games

France v South Africa; Australia v New Zealand Both matches had their expected results, but not by the means expected. Results: France 40 South Africa 5 Australia 17 New Zealand 41 France v South Africa France secured the all-important bonus point with six tries, but their passage through this opening game was far from straightforward.

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When is a Romp not a Romp?

England v Fiji By the purest of flukes the first day of competition saw the red-hot favourites drawn against the rank outsiders. Normally, when top (ranked 1) meets bottom (ranked 21), you steel yourself for one-way traffic. It did come, but only after Fijiana showed how much they deserved to be appearing at this level.

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