Yearly Archives: 2011
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu has made two changes to his squad for the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens tournament this weekend (2-3 December).
The Sharks have started their pre-season preparations ahead of next year’s Super Rugby tournament and assistant coach Grant Bashford has warned there will be no place to hide for unfit players.
Wales centre Jamie Roberts will target Australia’s new midfield combination of James O’Connor and Berrick Barnes in Saturday’s Cardiff Test match.
England will have an interim coach for the Six Nations with the aim of appointing a permanent boss for the summer tour of South Africa.
The United States are discussing a bid to stage the 2023 rugby World Cup which could involve Canada co-hosting, according to USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville.
Springbok giant Victor Matfield says that Andries Bekker has the ability to be an even better lock than him, and that the Stormers are very close to winning an elusive Super Rugby crown (clearly at this point he had just inhaled a bit of that ‘mountain baccy’).
THE FIRST glint of a fresh start for English rugby may have emerged at Twickenham yesterday as new acting chief executive Stephen Brown apologised for their team’s behaviour and performances at the World Cup and promised a new approach at every level.
With the international season taking a bit of a breather, I thought some informative statistics would be interesting. I am looking at the home record of the top nations, seeing when was the last time they lost a home test to each of the other nations.
I would think any nation would expect at least a 75% home win record as the minimm standard to attain. anything less would mean your home ground advantage counts for very little and travelling teams do not find it a daunting task to tour.
There is no denying the amount of young talent that was on show at Rugby World Cup 2011. And while we can no doubt look forward to the likes of David Pocock and Toby Faletau playing even better in 2015, there are many stars of the global Game who have seemingly taken part in their last Rugby World Cup match.
Here are some of the top players who will almost certainly find the tournament in England might be a step too far for them.
With fewer set pieces, a substantial reduction in kicks from hand and many more passes, Rugby World Cup 2011 saw a renewed emphasis on running Rugby.
Carlos Spencer: Armed and Dangerous!
New Zealand rugby legend, Carlos Spencer has revealed that he has no immediate plans to return to his home town of Auckland in New Zealand.
The Bulls have turned down a request from former Springbok flyhalf Derick Hougaard to return to Pretoria to play for them.
I received this via mail from a fellow blogger… not the actual letter… the mail, I mean!
The Wider Training Groups for the Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, Crusaders and Highlanders Super Rugby squads have been confirmed for the 2012 season.
President of the Free State Cheetahs, Harold Verster, says it is unlikely that the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings will merge at the start of the 2013 Super Rugby season.
Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall has effectively won his appeal to have his fine from the RFU reduced and to be reinstated to the England Elite player squad.
Nick Mallett has revealed that he will not come in for England as an immediate replacement for Martin Johnson but that he will consider the job after the Six Nations.
Former Springbok centre Brendan Venter and Nazeem Adams, head coach of the Western Province Under-19 side, have been appointed as assistant coaches of the South African Under-20 side.
The British and Irish Lions have announced the schedule for their 2013 tour of Australia
The Brumbies have moved quickly to end speculation over the future of their coach Jake White after he was linked to the vacant England job.
The names are in the hat, with Steve Hansen set to be handed an early Christmas present when the New Zealand Rugby Union confirms him as the new All Blacks coach in a matter of weeks.
The IRB has confirmed the pool draw for round 2 of the HSBC Sevens World Series, the Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens on 2-3 December 2011.
The draw was made live on television before the Cup final of the Gold Coast Sevens, the opening round of the 2011/12 season.
Jake White, who coached South Africa to 2007 World Cup success, dropped a hint on Sunday that he would welcome an approach to succeed Martin Johnson as England coach.
Following on from the Baa-Baas match yesterday, and the inclusion of Tomkins from the rugby league code, I thought I would delve a little deeper into the two codes of rugby union and rugby league and find out why they exist, and perhaps why rugby union is still so jealous of it’s lower class brother.
7 July 1956 – Carisbrook, Dunedin
South Africa 14 / Otago 9
Jan Pickard
Dunedin and Otago has to some extend been to New Zealand rugby what Stellenbosch and Western Province rugby were to South African rugby. Both University cities that lost their respective roles as gateways to the respective national sides due to the professional era and neither Stellenbosch nor Dunedin is today the rugby powerhouses or talent accumulators if not developers it used to be.
Former Springbok scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen, 40, has said he may be confined to a wheelchair within six months.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee says centre Adrian Jacobs is welcome to join his squad in their pre-season preparations.
Barbarians (3) 11 / Wallabies (18) 60 (Final Score)
The Barbarians took on the Australian Wallabies at Twickenham at 16:35 SA Time (14:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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The New Season kicked off for the HSBC Sevens World Series, with the first of the tournaments held at the Gold Coast, Australia on 25 and 26 November 2011.
Seeing as the times are at ‘unusual hours’ in South African terms, starting at the ungodly hour of 04:30 SA Time, was only have a lively general Discussion Article and not a Live Article with Score Updates as the games proceed.
This is exactly that, the Discussion Article, here you will find all the scores.
We thought we had problems in our rugby, but English rugby is in absolute tatters. I have attached the full article. Be warned, it does go on a bit, but it does show the extent of the problem that finally came to a head at the World Cup. Our problems pale into insignificance when you read this!
Vodacom Bulls vice-captain for the 2012 season Wynand Olivier is encouraging his troops from the side lines at the moment.
Springbok Sevens star Cecil Afrika injured his ribs during the 31-7 victory over Japan and is a doubt for the rest of the tournament.
In news hot off the press, reports from the WP / Stormers High Performance Institute is that Schalk Ferreira has come out of retirement to play for the Franchise.
Western Force flanker David Pocock has been named as Wallabies captain for Australia’s match against the Barbarians at Twickenham Stadium in London.
England Attack coach Brian Smith has resigned from his position with the Rugby Football Union as the fall out begins from the leaked reports.