Rugby News Summer Round-Up – Part 2

With the new season approaching, Ball in Touch recaps all the big rugby news stories over the summer to bring you back up to speed. You€™ll notice we don€™t cover any big player transfers €“ that will be covered in another article coming soon €“ watch this space. First up we covered from the end of the Premiership season to the first round of the Summer Tours. Now we look at what happened for the rest of the tours and to the end of June. Remember to join in via the comments below or Twitter @ballintouch Neil Back leaves Rugby Lions due to a lack of promised funding Rumours that Shane Williams may go to Japan for a year to play for Mitsubishi Dynaboars rather than retire begin to emerge Clubs in England give notice of their intention to pull out of the Heineken Cup unless changes are made over qualification for the competition Newcastle Falcons appoint New Zealander Peter Russell as their new Head Coach, Graham Steadman as Defence Coach and John Wells extends his contract as Forwards Coach Epi Taione is elected Tongan Rugby Union chairman The Heineken Cup 2012/13 draw was made: Pool 1: Munster, Edinburgh, Saracens, Racing Metro. Pool 2: Toulouse, Leicester, Ospreys, Benetton Treviso. Pool 3: Biarritz, Harlequins, Connacht, Zebre. Pool 4: Northampton, Ulster, Glasgow, Castres. Pool 5: Leinster, Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Exeter. Pool 6: Cardiff, Toulon, Sale, Montpellier. And the Amlin Challenge Cup: Pool 1: Gloucester, London Irish, Bordeaux-Begles, Mont-de-Marsan Pool 2: Perpignan, Worcester Warriors, Rovigo, Bizkaia Gernika Pool 3: London Wasps, Newport Gwent Dragons, Bayonne, Mogliano Pool 4: Bath, Calvisano, Agen, Bucharest Wolves Pool 5: Stade Francais, London Welsh, Cavalieri, Grenoble Wales beat Australia 25-15 in the Canberra Stadium in an unconvincing win. James Hook scoring 15 of the points England€™s 2nd XV beat Southern Barbarians 26-54 in a game full of exciting attack and poor defence Bath and England prop David Flatman announces his retirement from rugby Tim Visser gets his Scottish career off to a good start with two tries in Scotland€™s 37-25 win over Fiji. The game was played in Fiji for once Ireland transform themselves from the side beaten a week earlier, pushing New Zealand all the way before a late Dan Carter drop goal wins it, 22-19 Australia take revenge on Wales winning 25-23 with yet another last minute kick denying a Northern hemisphere side Despite another valiant effort, South Africa win 36-27 against an England side that refuses to lie down England Counties have more look on tour, clocking three from three in Uganda and Kenya Argentina beat France 23-20 making it a bad weekend for Northern Hemisphere sides Samoa win the Pacific nations Cup with a narrow 27-26 victory against Japan England 2nd XV beat Northern Barbarians this time, running in 8 tries to win 57-31 Wales U20s claimed 3rd at the Junior World Cup, beating Argentina 25-17 South Africa surprised New Zealand in the same competition by winning 22-16, the All Black€™s first loss in four years in the competition Australia complete a series whitewash against Wales with a final 20-19 win After a close run affair the previous week, New Zealand show no mercy and beat Ireland 60-0 to wrap up their series England go close with a 14-14 draw against their final game against South Africa with a much improved and determined display As a result of the Summer Tours, England move up to 4th in the IRB World Rankings, Wales down to 6th, Ireland up to 7th and Scotland move up to 9th Mike Tindall re-signs with Gloucester in a player/coach capacity Saracens announce they intend to play the last five games of the season at their new Barnet home Argentina become the tenth venue for next season€™s HSBC Sevens World Series The IRB announces some new rules, including the scrum call to become €œcrouch, touch, set€ and the ball is only to be kept at the base of a ruck for five seconds Saracens win Aviva Club of the Year at the All Parliamentary Premiership Rugby Community Awards Charlie Hodgson and Lee Mears drop out of the England Elite Player Squad and retire from England duty Barry Everitt and Peter Richards rejoin London Irish. This time as skills coaches Welsh flanker Dan Lydiate topped off his impressive season with the Welsh Rugby Writers' Player of the Year Award London Wasps confirm the sale of the club to the Kenn Moss led consortium New Zealand admit they are considering putting a sponsor€™s logo on the All Black€™s shirt to the dismay of their fans London Wlesh win their appeal and are promoted to the Premiership. Newcastle Falcons are relegated and a review of the Minimum Standards Criteria is to take place as Welsh did not uphold the MSC but decided that the MSC went against EU/UK competition law Scotland unveil ambitious targets of claiming a Six Nations Grand Slam by 2016 and winning the Rugby World Cup