Yearly Archives: 2011
Three tries and a 19-3 lead after only 13 minutes tell the general story of the match between the Lions and the Argentine champions Tucuman at Coca-Cola Park on Wednesday night.
South African concerns that the expanded Super Rugby tournament will lead to players suffering from exhaustion at this year’s World Cup have been laughed off by their Australian counterparts.
With their preparation for their defence of their Vodacom Super Rugby crown complete, the Vodacom Bulls gave their players the best news they could receive ahead of the long season ahead – a five-day holiday to rest.
The annual Boland Cavaliers vs DHL Stormers warm-up match, hosted by Boland Rugby, will take place at the DHL Newlands Rugby Stadium on 12 February 2011, with Kurt Darren & Friends taking care of the pre-match entertainment.
The Lions will be playing Tucuman from Argentina on Wednesday, 9 February 2011 in their second last warm up match ahead of the 2011 Super Rugby competition.
The Lions face the EP Kings on Friday and the team will be announced on Thursday.
All Blacks and Crusaders captain Richie McCaw will miss the first month of the Super Rugby season after fracturing a bone in his foot.
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The dark clouds did not hang over Loftus Versfeld for very long before Zane Kirchner delivered the silver lining with a broad smile.
28 August 1976 – All Blacks 42 / Natal 13
The All Blacks have resonated well with Natal rugby over the years maybe because of it being predominantly an English community -the last outpost of the British Empire as Tommy Bedford described it in 1970- but the friendships was renewed and McLean writes in general very positively about Natal rugby as he did in his book about the 1970 tour. The feeling I get it that he had a bit of soft spot for the Banana-boys and was just a little to elaborate with his praise and appreciation of players and province.
The match against Natal was, however, interesting in many ways. Natal -not one of the top provinces in SA in 1976- was playing reasonably good rugby and was certainly no walkover having beaten Transvaal 7-6 just a fortnight ago. Continue reading
Maties (6) 32 / Pukke (6) 6 (Final Score)
FNB Maties hosted FNB Pukke at the Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
With both teams starting slowly and the halftime score at 6 / 6 it did not look too exciting but Maties came out firing in the second half and scored a furthr 26 points to none by Pukke, eventually ending as comfortable winners by 32 / 6.
Following a directive to all referees from the IRB issued on 21st January 2011, Rugby followers can expect to see dangerous (high) tackles penalised more severely than previously.
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Shimlas 10 / Ikeys 23 (Final Score)
Shimlas hosted FNB UCT (Ikeys) at Shimla Park, Bloemfontein at 17:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 and CSN on TV in SA.
FNB UCT controlled the game well and led right through, with Shimlas making far too many basic mistakes.
This mtch was scrappy in general.
It is not often that the losing coach is the happier one in the post-match press conference. Continue reading
A rib injury to Vodacom Bulls fullback, Zane Kirchner, blotted a perfect evening for his team’s 68-5 victory over the Pumas in Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday.
The Maties have won three titles in a row and even though some find winning boring – those who lose tend to find it boring, it seems! – there is no doubting the overall excellence of the Men in Maroon since 2008.
The executive council of the SA Rugby Union apparently became concerned at the amount of freelancing the Springbok management team did last year, and asked president Oregan Hoskins to convey the message that it was time the World Cup became their priority.
The expanded Super rugby competition, particularly its emphasis on bone-crushing derby matches, holds peril Springbok coach Peter de Villiers admits may keep him up at night.
Melbourne’s eminent entry into the Super Rugby club took another step in the right direction when the Rebels showed they truly belong.
Although the Rebels lost 14-19 to the seven-time champion Crusaders, they attracted a crowd of 13,013 for the first ever Rugby Union game at the new state of the art stadium in Melbourne.
Namibia joined Fiji as a nation in doubt for participation at the Rugby world cup later this year due to administrative trouble so bad the IRB has been forced to take over the union.
Very nominally, the Stormers have something to place in the cobwebbed trophy cabinet at Newlands, as it were, after their clean-sweep performance in the Neo Africa Tri-Series.
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In direct contrast to some of South Africa’s other Super Rugby franchises, the Bulls showed very few signs of rust when they raced to an impressive 68-5 victory over an invitational Premier XV side at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday evening.
Stormers (3) 17 / Sharks (10) 16 (Final Score)
The Stormers hosted the Sharks in the last of the Tri-Series warm-up games in preparation for the Super Rugby Tournament at 17:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 2 & M-Net on TV in SA.
In an error-ridden game the Sharks took the iniative and controlled most of the game till too many substitutions, to key players, derailed their game and allowed the Stormers to fight back and steal a win near the end.
I would not read too much into this game or the result, except maybe that Patrick Lambie’s goal kicking is still shoddy, that Meyer Bosman and Stefan Terblanche make a fine center combination and that the Stormers do not lie down to be defeated….
France (17) 34 / Scotland (7) 21 (Final Score)
France hosted Scotland at Stade de France, Paris at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
For a change a red hot French team pitched to play and they started like a house on fire but the brave Scotland side fought back all the way, till the end.
In the end there was just too much French fire power as reflected in the final score of 34 / 21.
Italy (6) 11 / Ireland (3) 13 (Final Score)
Italy hosted Ireland at the Stadio Flaminio, Rome at 16:30 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN.
Italy nearly upset the apple cart but Ireland scrapes a win with a late Ronan O’Gara drop goal.
Ladies and Gentlemen and all Unregistered Rugby-Talkers,
So far there are 4 SuperBru Competitions this year, all currently active, where Rugby-Talk hosts our own Pool of players for this wonderful prediction game.
3 of the 4 Tournaments are yet to kick off, whereas in the Six Nations only one game has been played, last night between Wales and England.
So, join up, hurry up and don’t just be a sideline spectator… register on Rugby-Talk and register on these 4 Rugby-Talk SuperBru Competition Pools!
GBS is busy in negotiations to lure a very big Sponsor and even bigger Super Rugby SuperBru prize, for which prize only ACTIVE Registered Rugby-Talkers will qualify and which prize will be given at the sole discretion of our webmonster, GBS.
The Competitions and Pools are as follows:
Six Nations
Varsity Cup
!!! Starts Monday !!!
Pool name: R-T Varsity
Pool code: berkcase
Super Rugby
Cricket World Cup
Come on, get your butts into gear!!
A friend of mine sent me this…. well to make a long story short, read the damn thing yourselves!
The Waratahs won their first trial match of the season against the Fiji Warriors 41-13 at the Sydney Football Stadium.
The Reds enjoyed another succesful pre-Super Rugby season victory when they beat the Brumbies by 38 points to 5.
England (13) 26 / Wales (6) 19 (Final Score)
Wales hosted England at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales in the 1st Six Nations encounter of 2011 at 21:45 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
In a hard and brutal encounter and surprisingly fast-paced rugby in the first half, England drew first blood with a converted try and kept that 7-point margin till the end.
Final score was England 26 / 19.
Tonight, Friday 4 February 2011, sees the start of the Six Nations Tournament, featuring the strongest 6 European Nations.
First up is Wales vs England at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales at 21:45 SA Time.
Rugby-Talk will cover this match live tonight.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has scoffed at suggestions that Springbok captain John Smit is no longer a viable option as a prop.
Speaking ahead of the pre-season Tri-Series finale, against the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday, Plumtree said he will continue to “rotate” the Bok skipper in all three front row positions.
The Blues beat the Hurricanes 33-22 at Kerikeri in a Super Rugby warm up match making it two wins from two in their pre-season.
The Blues beat the Highlanders last weekend in a similar warm up match and have started the year strongly while the Hurricanes beat the Chiefs last week.
The Sharks have named a formidable line up for Saturdays game against the Stormers. Continue reading
Well folks, the serious rugby is upon us again, with the Six Nations kicking off tonight, the HSBC Sevens World Series in Wellington already under way, as well as some Super Rugby warm-up matches to be played.
Here’s the schedule for this weekend:
The HSBC Sevens World Series Tournament concluded in Wellington, New Zealand.
New Zealand won this Tournament at home against England by 29 / 14.
The results were not good for South Africa overall, they won their opening game against Canada and then lost against France of all nations on day one, drew with Fiji on day 1, lost to Australia in the Cup Quarters, won against Wales and lost to Fiji in the Plate final! So it was 2 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses… not good enough!
The new Springbok and Bok 7’s jerseys were unveiled in Johannesburg yesterday.
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