KeithQuinnRugby
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12 August 2014
TUESDAY NIGHT 12 AUGUST 2014
Tapping away at Auckland International Airport here I go with what looks like a very exciting time ahead for this 'young' sports reporter.
A young reporter? Why, that's me folks! Well I must be if the good people at the Olympic Broadcasting Service have invited me again to join their commentary team for the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games.
Here I am at aged mumbly-mumble (you can work out my age from elsewhere on this website! [...but i have a Winston card!]) I am waiting to board my flight to Guangzhou then onto Nanjing in the People's Republic of China. Ahead of me is, obviously, another commentary assignment but there are many parts of this trip which will be like a journey into the unknown.
For a start I have never been to Nanjing before and I have never been to a Youth Olympic sports festival. I am sustained by my experiences at other Summer Olympics and Commonwealth Games I have been to so I am hoping that will be something I will quickly be accustomed to.
But 5000+ 'Youth' athletes competing in 28 Olympic events? I wonder how I'll go. There's little knowledge by reputation that I can see of any of the competitors - they simply haven't been around long enough in their 14-18 year sports lives to be really famous. So we'll see.
On my schedule is commentary on rugby sevens (it is making its debut into the Olympic programme in Nanjing and not quite in Rio in 2016 as everyone has been saying): I'm also down to do weightlifting and tennis; four days at each of those three sports.So anyway; here goes with my first infomation for you; below are the details of the full rugby sevens programme - but strangely there are no New Zealand boys or girls rugby team taking part; I'll find out why for you in the next few days. Stayed tuned here at www.keithquinnrugby.com
And if you're in New Zealand go to Sky TV's SkySports Channel and watch our coverage day in day out for the 16 days of competition.
And wish this old bloke good luck as he heads off with all the kids of the world
How lucky is that? Pretty fortunate I'd say!
......
HOW THE YOUTH RUGBY SEVENS WILL WORK:
The men’s and women’s rugby sevens competitions at Nanjing 2014 will be held at the city’s Youth Olympic Sports Park on 17-20 August, with 72 players taking part in each.
Both tournaments will be contested by six teams with players aged between 14-18 years of age. They will feature an initial round-robin phase, with teams playing twice a day. Games will consist of two halves of seven minutes, with a two-minute break for half-time. Three points will be awarded for a win, two for a draw and one for a defeat.
The top four teams in the group phase will go forward to the semi-finals, with the top team playing the fourth-placed side and second meeting third, while the teams finishing fifth and sixth in the group will meet in a play-off for fifth place.
The medal matches on 20 August will feature two halves of 10 minutes. The day’s programme will begin with the bronze-medal matches, followed by the women’s final and then the men’s gold medal match.
Therefore players who step onto the podium at the day’s end will take their place in Olympic history as rugby’s first medal winners of the 21st century, and some of them no doubt will be hoping to repeat the feat when the sport begins an exciting new Olympic era at Rio 2016. [with thanks to IOC website]
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It was the Welsh RU's 100th Centennial game. Expectations were high in Cardiff that day for a big home win but Graham Mourie's All Blacks took the cake 23-3!
DAUGA, BENOIT
Mont-de-Marsan and France
63 internationals for France 1964–72
Benoit Dauga was a highly versatile forward who played for his country in three positions – lock, No. 8 and flanker. A lineout specialist, he was an expert leaper and dispatcher of the ball to his halfback. Some of the media called him the ‘control tower’ of French 1ineout play, and others the ‘Eiffel Tower’. He was also a strong runner and a highly competitive forward.
Dauga’s debut in international rugby was not auspicious. He had to wait until his fifth test before he was in a winning team (v Italy 1964). He maintained his place in French test teams until he reached 63 caps, which equalled the record set by Michel Crauste in 1966.
A big man, Dauga stood 1.94 metres tall (6 feet 41/2in) and weighed 110 kilograms (17 stone). His frame was such that he stretched rugby shirts to their limit and socks could not pass over his calf muscles! He also had what some might describe as a prominent nose. Colin Meads, his New Zaaland lineout rival, once light-heartedly said of Dauga, 'He's the only man I know who could smoke a cigarette while taking a shower!'
Dauga was highly regarded and played in most countries in the rugby world, including New Zealand and Australia in 1968, and South Africa in 1971. He was a French captain as well.
His rugby playing days ended in 1975 when he was injured in a club match for his beloved Mont-de-Marsan, suffering temporary paralysis of the arms and legs, and requiring a long spell in hospital before recovering his fitness and resuming his interest in the game.
Name the NZ player who captained the All Blacks to a test match win; then also captained a team to beat the All Blacks within a year?
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