Here are a few rugby news snippets:

1. Eastern Province Rugby Union changes name:

Eastern Province have formally decided to change their Currie Cup Name for this season to Eastern Province Kings in line with the Super Franchise envisaged. Only the premier side of the Union will be known as such.

The Logo looks as follows:

2. Soweto Rugby a sellout:

The public tickets for the Tri-Nations match between the Springboks and All Blacks to be held at the National Stadium (Soccer City) on 21 August 2010 sold out in 48 hours. This was an allocation of 44000 tickets, with a further 5000 tickets to be made available at Computicket outlets in Soweto on 26 July still awaited and about 37763 tickets allocated to Season ticket holders, suite holders, sponsors and rugby parties attached to the GLRU.

Upon return of allocations not needed or wanted a few tickets might reach the market later again.

3. Springboks awaiting Danie Rossouw injury news:

Danie Rossouw injured a calf on Tuesday during training head of the 2nd Tri-Nations Test and the Bokke are sweating over news of his availability. Should Danie not recover in time it is most likely that Andries Bekker will be his replacement next to Victor Matfield and with Flip van der Merwe moving to the bench.

4. Jean happy to be wing:

Jean de Villiers, it is reported is happy to be chosen as wing for Saturday’s cardinal Test against the All Blacks. He admitted to being rusty last week and maintains that he prefers the No 12 spot though.

5. NZ tells REFS to get fitter:

New Zealand has told international referees to “get fitter” in order to keep up with the pace of the modern game.

All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith delivered the message Wednesday ahead of the second Tri-Nations Test against South Africa, saying referees needed to be at peak fitness to meet the demands of Test rugby.

6. Luke Watson defends Bokke:

Former Stormers and WP captain, Luke Watson, has come out strongly in defence of the Springboks.

Watson, who played the last of his 10 Tests for the Boks in 2008 against the Wallabies, stirred controversy later that year when, speaking at the Ubumbo Rugby Festival at the University of Cape Town Rugby Football Club, he allegedly said he had to restrain himself from vomiting on the Springbok jersey.

Writing on his social networking Twitter site on Tuesday, Watson appears to have has softened his attitude towards the Boks.

Tired of reading all the negative reports about the Boks! It’s just one game!! Give them a break. Let’s not forget how good they are!’  Watson tweeted, in reference to the Boks’ 32-12 hammering by the All Blacks in Auckland the previous Saturday.

7. All Blacks closing in on another record:

Barring a major reversal of fortune the All Blacks will become the most prolific point scorers in Test rugby history on Saturday.

According to the NZPA, New Zealand have been steadily gaining on France as the all-time leading scorers and now need just seven points in the Tri-Nations Test against South Africa in Wellington to climb to the top rung.

In 660 Tests, France have scored 11 792 points (average of 17.9) while the All Blacks have reached 11 786 in just 462 Tests (average of 25.5) .