Latest news with #GianlucaGnecchi
BBC News
28-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cardiff prop Southworth given three-match ban
Cardiff prop Danny Southworth has been given a three-match ban for being sent off against Stormers in the final United Rugby Championship (URC) game of the 26, was shown a 29th-minute red card for a dangerous tackle by Italian referee Gianluca Gnecchi during Cardiff's 34-24 defeat in Cape Town on 16 prop will have his ban reduced by a week if he completes World Rugby's coaching intervention Cardiff's season having finished after they failed to reach the URC play-offs, the games Southworth will miss will be confirmed at a later date.
The South African
09-05-2025
- Sport
- The South African
URC: All the permutations for SA teams
Three of the SA teams, the Bulls, Stormers and Sharks, remain well on track to secure strong positions in the URC knockout stage, but there is still everything to play for in the penultimate pool round. While the Bulls have secured their spot in the top four already, all eyes will be on the Sharks, who are looking to seal a home quarter-final, as well as the Stormers and Lions, who have to win their matches with the Race to Eight in full force. Log-leaders Leinster (67 points), the second-placed defending champions, the Glasgow Warriors (59), and the Bulls (58) are already guaranteed of home quarter-finals, but the men from Pretoria will do everything in their power in the last two rounds to sneak into second place. A victory for the Sharks (in fourth place with 53 points), in turn, will see them cement an invaluable home quarter-final as they lead fifth-placed Cardiff by seven log points. The Stormers (in sixth place with 45 points), in turn, could hop into fifth position if they win their match and the Bulls defeat Cardiff, while the Lions must win both their remaining matches with bonus points to keep their hazy hopes of a playoff spot alive. Adding to the pressure on the Johannesburg-based team, defeat this weekend will shatter their chances of making the playoffs. The Sharks will meet the 11th-placed Ospreys in Durban on Friday, while two matches will play out on Saturday – between the Bulls and Cardiff in Pretoria, and the Stormers and last-placed Dragons in Cape Town. The Lions, meanwhile, will wrap up the action on Sunday afternoon when they host the seventh-placed Scarlets in Johannesburg. Sharks v Ospreys Date: Friday, 9 MayVenue: Hollywoodbets Kings Park, DurbanSA Time: 19h00Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi TV: SuperSport
Telegraph
11-02-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Scotland v Wales, Six Nations 2025: What time is kick-off and what TV channel is it on?
Scotland's welcome Wales to Murrayfield in the fourth round of the After getting their campaign off to a They will be hoping to get their campaign back on track on 22 February when they take on England at Twickenham, where they are aiming to win the Calcutta Cup for a fourth consecutive year. Wales are enduring a miserable campaign, which began with an opening-night mauling at the hands of France. Their The following week in Rome, Warren Gatland's side were beaten The prospect of facing an Ireland side with their sights set on taking their next step towards a historic Six Nations 'threepeat' of titles on February 22 must be a sobering one for When is Scotland v Wales? Scotland host Wales on Saturday, March 8. The match will kick-off at 4.45pm (GMT). In the other round-four matches, Ireland play France in Dublin at 2.15pm and, the following day, Italy host France at the Stadio Olimpico at 3pm. Where is Scotland v Wales taking place? At Murrayfield. The match will be Scotland's third home game of the championship. Supporters planning to attend the match might be advised to where possible take pre-emptive action as Murrayfield's toilet facilities have been rated as the worst of all six home venues in the Six Nations, according to a survey conducted by Boyle Sport. The only other venue that comes close to Murrayfield's 10.79 per cent of negative reviews is Twickenham, which received 1,649 negative reviews out of 19,433 combined reviews across Tripadvisor and Google. Wales' Principality Stadium, the Stade de France, Ireland's Aviva Stadium and Italy's Stadio Olimpico by contrast all returned less than 5 per cent of negative reviews. How to watch Scotland v Wales on TV? It will be on BBC. BBC and ITV once again share coverage of the Six Nations in the UK: ITV has the rights for the home games of England, Ireland, France and Italy while the BBC has all the matches at Murrayfield and the Principality Stadium. Who is the referee? Italy's Andrea Piardi will take charge of proceedings at Murrayfield, where compatriot Gianluca Gnecchi and Nic Berry, of Australia, will run the line. Eric Gauzins of France will perform TMO duties and Mike Adamson from the Scottish Rugby Union will be the Foul Play Review Officer. Piardi made history last year when he became the first Italian match official to referee a Six Nations Match, taking charge of Born in Brescia, the 32-year-old was introduced to the game by a friend with whom he would embark on a long refereeing career, the very same Gianluca Gnecchi who ran the line for his Six Nations debut at the Aviva Stadium last February, and who will be doing so again at Murrayfield on 8 March. Scotland and Wales will not name their revised squads for the match until after the third-round fixtures have been played on February 22 but Darcey Graham is a major doubt to play in his side's Calcutta Cup showdown at Twickenham. Graham will follow concussion protocols after being taken to hospital following an accidental collision with Scotland team-mate Finn Russell in the Six Nations defeat to Ireland. The Edinburgh winger was carried off the pitch on a buggy after he and fly-half Russell clashed heads midway through the first half of the 32-18 defeat at Murrayfield. After being taken to hospital Scottish Rugby confirmed Graham had been discharged later that evening, but the 27-year-old is unlikely to be deemed fit to face England in the Calcutta Cup a week on Saturday. Russell may return for the England match despite also not returning to the fray at Murrayfield following head clash. 'Finn fine,' said Townsend afterwards. 'He passed his HIA [head injury assessment] but our staff sensed he wasn't totally aware of what was going on, so we made the call to not put him back on.' Stafford McDowall replaced Russell in the backline, while Jamie Dobie came on to take Graham's place on the wing. Whether those replacements get the nod against Twickenham remains to be seen. Scotland are already without their influential captain Sione Tuipulotu, who will miss the entire tournament due to a pectoral injury picked up with Glasgow Warriors, while Max Williamson, Scott Cummings and Dylan Richardson will also play no part, with Kyle Steyn in a race against time to feature in the final two rounds. Wales will be hoping Liam Williams and Dafydd Jenkins return for the trip to Edinburgh. Williams, the veteran full-back, played on with a knee injury during the defeat by France and he failed to recover in time to face the Azzurri. Jenkins was sorely missed during the Italy reverse. The Exeter lock had made the most tackles of any player in the Six Nations in the opening round but was sidelined for the trip to Rome by illness. What are the teams' world rankings? The defeat by Italy dropped Wales to 12th place in the rugby world rankings, where they now lie between Georgia and Japan. South Africa lead the way above Ireland, with New Zealand in third place, France fourth and Argentina in fifth. England have risen to sixth, swapping places with Scotland, who have fallen to seventh. Italy, meanwhile, are 10th. Scotland's current squad Forwards : Ewan Ashman, Jamie Bhatti, Gregor Brown, Dave Cherry, Luke Crosbie, Rory Darge (co-captain), Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson, Euan Ferrie, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Patrick Harrison, Cameron Henderson, Will Hurd, Euan Johnson, Jack Mann, Alexander Masibaka, D'Arcy Rae, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland, Marshall Sykes. Backs : Fergus Burke, Matt Currie, Jamie Dobie, Darcy Graham, George Horne, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn, Stafford McDowall, Finn Russell (co-captain), Arron Reed, Kyle Rowe, Duhan van der Merwe, Ollie Smith, Ben White. Wales' current squad Forwards : Keiron Assiratti, James Botham, Elliot Dee, Taulupe Faletau, Dafydd Jenkins, Evan Lloyd, Kemsley Mathias, Jac Morgan (captain), Sam Parry, Taine Plumtree,Tommy Reffell, Will Rowlands, Nicky Smith, Gareth Thomas, Freddie Thomas, Henry Thomas, Christ Tshinunza, Aaron Wainwright, Ben Warren, Teddy Williams. Backs: Josh Adams, Ellis Bevan, Dan Edwards, Josh Hathaway, Eddie James, Ellis Mee, Blair Murray, Joe Roberts, Tom Rogers, Ben Thomas, Nick Tompkins, Liam Williams, Rhodri William,s Tomos Williams. When did Scotland and Wales last win the Six Nations? Scotland have never won the Six Nations – they did, however, win the last iteration of the Five Nations in 1999. Wales, by contrast, won the Six Nations relatively recently, taking their sixth title in 2021. What was the score last year? Scotland clung on to edge a dramatic victory against Wales last year
