International news briefing

Photo: Costa Rica - narrowly defeated in the final of last weekend's South American "C" Championship (Americas Rugby News)

Clerment-Ferrand confirmed as host of fifth WSWS tournament

As originally revealed last month by the FFR, the fifth World Series tournament will be held at Clermont-Ferrand on 28th/29th May. President of the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) Pierre Camou said: "The FFR is very committed to the development of women's and men's sevens in France. When discussions started to host a leg in the women's series, there was no doubt the FFR had to bid. We wanted to build on our experience of organising other big women's rugby competitions, such as Women's Rugby World Cup 2014, which was a huge success. Also, for France's women's sevens teams, just like their male counterparts [the FFR are also host a round of the men's series in Paris in early May], to be able to play in front of their home supporters before flying to Rio will be very beneficial. I am therefore very pleased for the women's players but also for the development of the sevens that World Rugby has trusted us with hosting this round of the tournament.”

European Sevens Grand Prix 2016

Rugby Europe annouced at their AGM last weekend that the European "Grand Prix" Series for the continent's Top 12 teams will take place in Kazan (Russia) in June and Brive (France) in September - a three month gap instead of the usual two-three weeks due to the Olympic tournaments.

Peru win South American "C" Championship

Peru were undefeated winners of the the South American C division last weekend, beating Costa Rica in the final.

The teams from Costa Rica and Peru were very impressive on Day 1 in San Salvador with both countries putting big scores on their opponents. Costa Rica’s women defeated El Salvador 22-5, Nicarágua 46-0 and Panama 34-7 while Peru defeated Panama 36-0, Nicarágua 53-0 and Guatemala 31-5. The two counties will meet today in the final match of the group phase.

On Day 2 Peru - "Las Tumis" - continued to dominate the tournament, culminating with a win in the final over Costa Rica. Prior to facing Peru, "Las Guarias" had achieved three solid victories - starting with a 36-7 win over Panama and then defeating El Salvador 22-5 and Guatemala 27-0. Finishing below Costa Rica in third was Panama who beat El Salvador 12-10 in the Plate Final.

The Peruvians 12-5 beat Costa Rica in the final pool game after a 26-0 win over El Salvador and earlier victories of 53-0 vs Nicarágua and 36-0 against Panama. As a result Peru will take part in the 2016 South American Women’s Rugby Sevens tournament in Rio de Janeiro on March 6-7, which will act as a test ahead of the Olympic Games.

It was also announced that the only two countries in the America who have not fielded women's teams are applying to take part in future championships. Belize is seeking to join NACRA, due to it being an English rather than Spanish speaking country, while Honduras have applied to take part in next year's South American "C" Championship.

Day 1 Results: Peru 36-0 Panama; El Salvador 22-0 Guatemala; Costa Rica 34-7 Panama; Guatemala 50-0 Nicáragua; Costa Rica 22 vs 5 El Salvador; Peru 53-0 Nicarágua; Panama 15-12 El Salvador; Costa Rica 46-0 Nicaragua; Peru 31-5 Guatemala

Day Two Results: El Salvador 22-0 Guatemala; Costa Rica 36-7 Panama; Nicarágua 0-53 Peru; Costa Rica 22-5 El Salvador; Nicarágua 0-50 Guatemala; Peru 36-0 Panama; Panama 41-0 Nicarágua; Costa Rica 27-0 Guatemala; El Salvador 0-26 Peru; Panamá 19-14 Guatemala; El Salvador 35-0 Nicarágua; Peru 12-5 Costa Rica.Bowl FinalGuatemala 49-0 Nicarágua;Plate FinalEl Salvador 10-12 Panama;Cup FinalPeru 17-12 Costa Rica

Asian XVs Championship 2016

Likely dates for the 2016 Asian Championship have been released by the Hong Kong Rugby Union. The top two teams in the championship will play against qualifiers from Oceania and Africa for two places in the 2017 World Cup. The dates have yet to be confirmed by Asian Rugby.

7 May: Hong Kong v Japan; 14 May: Kazakhstan v Hong Kong; 21 May: Kazakhstan v Japan; 28 May: Hong Kong v Kazakhstan; 4 June: Japan v Hong Kong; 11 June (or 30 April?): Kazakhstan v Japan

Poublan wins an “Oscar”

Elodie Poublan (left) won the award of France’s Player of the Year at the annualOscars du Midi Olympiquelast week. Voted for by readers of the leading French rugby newspaperMidi Olympique, the “Oscars de rugby” have been awarded annually since 1954 but only included a women’s category for the first time last year, when Safi N’Diaye was the winner.

French Top 8: Lille go second

Lille played their game against Bobigny, postponed from November, winning a predictably tight game 17-10, a win that puts the "northerners" back into second place, one point behind champions Montpellier, with six games to go. However the highlight for the club was the attendance of prop Alice Dallery, whose recovery continues after her neck injury sustained from a collapsed scrum in the opening game of the season.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

CLUB

MONTPELLIER R C

LILLE METROPOLE RC VILLENEUVOIS

BLAGNAC SAINT ORENS RUGBY FEMININ

STADE TOULOUSAIN RUGBY FEMININ

A C BOBIGNY 93 RUGBY

STADE RENNAIS RUGBY

L OVALIE CAENNAISE

U S A P XV FEMININ ROUSSILLON

P

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

W

6

6

6

5

4

2

1

0

D

1

1

0

1

1

0

0

0

L

1

1

2

2

3

6

7

8

PD

169

148

63

75

49

-60

-244

-200

BP

7

6

3

3

6

4

1

0

F

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

8

PTS

33

32

27

25

24

12

5

-16

France launch elite club sevens series

France's club sevens championship continues to grow in importance. What used to be a low-key warm-up tournament at the start of the season switched to become a slightly higher-profile end-of-season competition a couple of years ago.

Now the FFR have annouced the creation of "Circuit France". Open to all clubs and regional select teams, the circuit will be made up of the Stanislas Sevens (Nancy 7 - 8 May), the Howard-Hinton (Tours, 20 -22 May), the Med Sevens (Montpellier 11 - 12 June) and a Grand Final to be played on 25 - 26 June, venue to be announced. The top club over the four tournaments will be the new French Champions.

France announce training squad for Six Nations

France have called up a long-list of 36 players for this season's Six Nations. The players will come together in Lille between 7th and 10th January and includes half a dozen young players with no previous international experience: Audrey Abadie (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Arkia Ait Labib (Rennes); Julie Annery (Bobigny); Lise Arricastre (Lons); Julie Billes (Montpellier); Laetitia Bobo (Montpellier); Camille Boudaud (Rennes); Caroline Boujard (Montpellier); Pauline Bourdon (Bayonne); Camille Cabalou (Bayonne); Patricia Carricaburu (Lons); Marine De Nadaï (Montpellier); Coumba Tombe Diallo (Bobigny); Julie Duval (Ovalie Caennaise); Celine Ferer (Bayonne); Audrey Forlani (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Lucille Godiveau (Bobigny); Amaya Gonzalez (Bayonne); Virginie Griere (Lille Villeneuve-d’Ascq); Céline Heguy (Bayonne); Gaëlle Hermet (Stade Toulousain); Camille Imart (Stade Toulousain); Marion Lievre (Bobigny); Emilie Mathieu (Sassenage); Romane Menager (Lille Villeneuve-d’Ascq); Sandra Metier (Bobigny); Gaëlle Mignot (Montpellier); Safi N’diaye (Montpellier); Carla Neissen (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Elodie Poublan (Montpellier); Pauline Rayssac (Montpellier); Yanna Rivoalen (Lille Villeneuve-d’Ascq); Laure Sansus (Stade Toulousain); Agathe Sochat (Stade Bordelais); Maylis Traore Dhia (Stade Toulousain); Yolaine Yengo (Rennes)