Weekend news round-up

Australia

The Aussie Pearls, with a squad boasting 116 World Series caps, were comfortable winners of the Central Coast Sevens last weekend. They began finals day with a win quarter-final over the Greater Sydney Rams (36-0) and followed that with a strong showing against defending Central Coast Sevens champions the Canada Maple Leafs (31-7).

The Cup Final against New Zealand Development saw them race into a 24-point lead at half-time with Emma Tonegato notching a hat-trick. The second half was a tighter affair and Emilee Cherry sealed the win to seal the game 31-14.

Women's Head Coach Tim Walsh said: "In last year's final here I felt Canada showed up some real flaws in our game but in the Semi-Final against the Canadians I thought it was the best seven minutes I have seen the girls play. They were smart and took their opportunities well. We've the start of the World Series in Dubai in six weeks time and we're in good shape."

Loking ahead to next month's Olympic qualifiers, Fiji's women's team made the quarter-finals and went on to win the plate. However Japan's RUgirl-7 team missed out on the quarters after finishing third in their pool.

Scotland

Scottish BT Premier League is due to finish at the end of next month, but with only three or four games to go the league could still go any of three ways.

Hillhead Jordanhill lead the way after a 70-14 win over Melrose on Sunday, but Murrayfield Wanderers are just a point behind - and also now have a game in hand after their game with bottom-placed Stirling County was postponed. With Stirling having lost all of their game this season - and by significant margins - it is current champions Murrayfield who seem best placed for the title However, they also have the toughest run-in with a game against third placed RHC Cougars in the penultimate round, followed by what may turn out to be a league decider home to Hillhed on the 29th. RHC Cougars themselves are also just four points behind, well placed to take advantage if the leading two should slip up - and showed their strength with a 60-0 win over Cartha Queens Park.

The previous weekend saw the leading teams again have the week off as the national senior and under-20 squads gathered, with Shade Munro announcing the appointment of former Scotland 7s and Ayr scrum half Peter Jericevich as assistant coach with Scotland Women, alongside head coach Shade and assistant Graeme Young they will lead the development of the national women’s squad. Last season Peter took up the role of assistant coach to Scott Forrest, for Scotland Women 7s’ short season, an experience that prompted his interest in this latest role.He said: “I really enjoyed being involved with the Women’s 7s, we had a bit of success and I really wanted to get involved with the fifteens this year.

“With Shade involved, I think we’ve got a strong coaching team that will hopefully lead to success for the women, going forward.”

At the same time Ross Miller and Dean Kelbrick were confirmed as coaches with Scotland Women under-20. Ross, the BT Sport Academy Skills Coach for Borders and East Lothian, has enjoyed representative honours with Scotland at under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels and while former Ayr and Glasgow Hawks centre Dean is youth and schools partnerships and projects officer with Scottish Rugby, having been community coach with Glasgow Hawks and rugby development officer in the west. He recently took on the head coach role at Hillhead Jordanhill Ladies.Dean said: “This is the first time I’ve coached women – when I began this season at Hillhead – but from what I’ve seen there and this weekend the women are enthusiastic to learn and to listen to what you’re saying and put that into action." Ross added: “That was our first training camp, we’ve invited women from all over Scotland to come and train with us today, some have played with Scotland before and some haven’t. They have been given programmes to work on with their clubs and they’ll return for the next camp in five weeks.”

In addition to the camps, which ran concurrently at BT Murrayfield, the senior Scotland Women team played a fixture on Sunday against a Combined Services side, winning the game 88-20.Earlier in the day head coach Shade Munro led a workshop for a number of local women’s club coaches who then stayed to watch the women’s fixture. Reflecting on the match Shade said: “We were extremely clinical throughout the game, we kept the tempo up and managed to get 28 players to show what they could do, moving forward for further selection. So overall it was an excellent camp.”Scotland Women will return to training camp next month with further camps in December and January ahead of next year’s 6 Nations. Scotland Women under-20 continue with one-day training camps in November and December, followed by camps and two matches in February and March.

Scotland Women team v Combined Services, 18 October 2015, BT Murrayfield:1 Katie Dougan (RHC Cougars); 2 Lana Skeldon * (Melrose); 3 Lindsey Smith (Hillhead Jordanhill); 4 Emma Wassell * (Murrayfield Wanderers); 5 Fiona Sim (Saracens); 6 Karen Dunbar (RHC Cougars); 7 Lucy Park * (Murrayfield Wanderers); 8 Jade Konkel * (Hillhead Jordanhill);  9 Jenny Maxwell (Lichfield); 10 Lisa Martin * (Murrayfield Wanderers); 11 Lauren Harris (Melrose); 12 Lisa Thomson * (Melrose); 13 Hannah Smith (Hillhead Jordanhill); 14 Rhona Lloyd (Murrayfield Wanderers);15 Chloe Rollie * (Melrose)Substitutes (all used):16 Sarah Quick (Murrayfield Wanderers), 17 Debbie Falconer (Stirling County), 18 Heather Lockhart (Hillhead Jordanhill), 19 Catriona Syme (Murrayfield Wanderers), 20 Jenny Johnstone (Hillhead Jordanhill), 21 Anna Stodter, (Loughborough) 22 Jemma Forsyth (Hillhead Jordanhill), 23 Lyndsay O’Donnell (Worcester), 24 Nicola Halfpenny (Melrose), 25 Claire Bain (RHC Cougars), 26 Emily Irving (Ayr), 27 Eilidh Sinclair (Murrayfield Wanderers)*

Scotland also appear to be renewing their link with Cumbernauld as the FFR announced their visit to Scotland will take place at Cumbernauld on 11th November (6pm kick-off). Other Scottish home dates have yet to be published.

France

The French Top 8 took a week off this week as the national squad came together to prepare for the Autumn internationals with England on 7thNovember. The squad, first announced last week, was:

Audrey Abadie (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Julie Annery (Bobigny); Lise Arricastre (Lons); Manon Bigot (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Julie Billes (Montpellier); Caroline Boujard (Perpignan); Pauline Bourdon (Bayonne); Camille Cabalou (Bayonne); Patricia Carricaburu (Lons); Marine De Nadaï (Montpellier); Coumba Tombe Diallo  (Bobigny); Julie Duval (Ovalie Caennaise); Celine Ferrer (Bayonne); Audrey Forlani (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Lucille Godiveau (Bobigny); Amaya Gonzalez (Bayonne); Laetitia Grand (Lons); Virginie Griere (Lille Villeneuve d’Ascq); Céline Heguy (Bayonne); Marion Lievre (Bobigny); Emilie Mathieu (Sassenage) ; Romane Menager (Lille Villeneuve d’Ascq); Gaëlle Mignot (Montpellier); Safi Ndiaye (Montpellier); Carla Neissen (Blagnac Saint-Orens); Elodie Poublan (Montpellier); Pauline Rayssac (Montpellier); and Yanna Rivoalen (Lille Villeneuve d’Ascq)

Looking beyond the national squad and Top 8, it appears that another club is benefitting significantly from the involvement with Top 14 men’s team. After the success of Stade Toulouse last season, Armelle Auclair team Lons have developed an “association” with Section Paloise during the summer, and that seems to have had a real impact on their results as they lead Pool 2 with four straight wins, 172 points scored and only three conceded.

Ireland

Round five of the All Ireland league's top flight continued at the weekend. Templeville Road was the scene of a dramatic encounter between hosts St. Mary's and Ulster's newest club in the top flight, Cooke. Coached by former Ireland star Grace Davitt, the Belfast girls showed much of the wily centre's skill and determination to seal a famous 31-5 away win when forced to play three-quarters of the match with 14 players.

Cooke had the perfect start to their day in Dublin, scoring the opening try of the game after only ten minutes. They ended the first half in similar style with out-half Eliza Downey converting her own try as the seconds ticked away towards half-time. In between those vignettes, the real drama unfolded as a high tackle on a Cooke flanker resulted in her being sent-off for her reaction to the tackle, and the St. Mary's out-half spending ten minutes in the sin-bin for the tackle. Despite losing a stalwart of their pack, Cooke fought tigerishly throughout the remainder of the game. Downey (pictured above) crossed for her second try of the afternoon with an hour played but her side were reduced to 13 players after another yellow card. St. Mary's made their numerical advantage pay to the tune of five points, but Davitt herself bagged the bonus point score which she also converted. And with the last play of the game, Cooke's players hauled their weary bodies once more up the Dublin turf to make it a fifth try and a second conversion for Davitt. A bonus point victory was the reward for a fighting stand by northerners.Over in Galway, the Halloween fun had to wait until after the serious business of the match against Railway Union was finished. In a tight and intensely fought game, there was a just a single try in it at the end as Galwegians came out on top - 20-15. Ex-Railway Union ace Nicole Fowley showed no mercy to her former team-mates as she took just six minutes to score the game's opening try for 'Wegians. Railway hit back with five points of their own ten minutes later, but Clare Raftery restored Galwegians' lead with a finely-executed penalty before Mairead Coyne (pictured above) gave the Connacht outfit an eight-point lead at the break, scoring their second try. She added her second and the team's third not long after the break and with Raftery adding the conversion, the home side appeared set to coast to victory. However, a yellow card for second row Tracey Gannon gave the visitors impetus and the fight-back was suddenly on. Despite throwing every weapon in their arsenal at the Blues, Railway Union came up short and Galwegians clung on for glory.Two glorious sprints sent Old Belvedere on their way to a 25-12 success at home to UL Bohemians.First, Sharon Lynch stole the ball in a tackle and galloped 60 metres to score a try before Aine Donnelly intercepted the ball when UL had an overlap and were heading for a try. She duly scampered 70 metres in the other direction to give 'Belvo a commanding lead. They were just two of the standout moments in a frenetic and fiercely contested game that saw six tries and plenty of star names on show, including Ireland internationals Nora Stapleton and Niamh Briggs.Blackrock made it five wins from as many games, claiming a 25-3 triumph away to Highfield. The unbeaten league leaders continued their sizzling early season form, this time emerging victorious at Woodleigh Park to remain the team to catch.Current league tableand fixtures/resultsReport thanks to Irishrugby.ie and Aisling Crowe

Next week our league roundup plans to return to check-out developments in Italy, Hong Kong and the Gulf.