Yearly Archives: 2011
All Blacks and Crusaders captain Richie McCaw has undergone surgery on the injured foot that hampered him during the Rugby World Cup and has begun a rehabilitation which takes him out of the start of next season’s Super 15 Rugby tournament.
As the Heineken Cup season gets under way, a series of controversial decisions by match officials in opening matches, has led to the International Rugby Board’s decision trial the wider use of television match officials to help get more accurate opinions on red card offences and crucial forward passes, among other things.
The turmoil of the CSA is well known, but I came across these two articles, and they just go to show that the the famous proverb of “When you pay peanuts, you get a monkeys”. In this case, I am sure, the CSA’s internal turmoil hasn’t helped them in their search for a high profile, long term sponsor. Should Investec not be sponsoring the Proteas? – you’d think so, but after a sponsor-less T20 and One Day series, a sponsor in the shape of a local vegetable oil company pops up.
World Cup winning coach Graham Henry has chosen 2007 World Cup winning player Victor Matfield to lead the Barbarians in the game against Australia this weekend.
As a follow up to yesterday’s post, here are some of the comments given by the players questioned in the report, and boy, did they have a lot to say.
IRB Sevens player of the year Cecil Afrika has been included in the final squad of 12 Springbok Sevens players for the first round of the Sevens World Series at the Gold Coast in Australia this weekend.
In news just in, Ex Bulls and Lions flyhalf, Burton Francis, is set to sign for the Stormers
England Rugby Upside Down
Leaked reports into England’s rugby World Cup debacle paint a picture of a squad in meltdown and expose schisms and leadership failings greater than even their dismal performance had suggested.
A trio of reviews by the Rugby Football Union’s director of elite rugby Rob Andrew; the players’ union; and professional clubs, had not been intended to be seen by the public, but were obtained by the Times newspaper.
South Africa ended the 2010/11 HSBC Sevens World Series by winning the final two tournaments in London and Edinburgh and finishing second overall behind champions New Zealand.
With only four days to go until the first leg of the 2011/12 Series, head coach Paul Treu is looking for his side to pick up where they left off, when the Series begins on 25 November on the Australian Gold Coast.
While rugby supporters in the Eastern Cape are eagerly awaiting the first SA Sevens tournament to be staged in the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium next month, the South African Rugby Union has urged those fans without tickets to book their seats so that they don’t miss out on the most exciting rugby event to be staged in the region.
The Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens will take place on 9-10 December and fans can enjoy the action for as little as R80 on the first day and R100 on the final day.
It was too early to scrap quotas in South African sport, Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Tuesday.
On the final day of the National Sport and Recreation Indaba in Midrand, during discussions on transformation in the plenary, it was decided that the quota system could not be scrapped while the transformation charter and the transformation scorecard would be adopted into the Nation Sports Plan.
News from Durban is that the Sharks are not offering the Springbok centre Adi Jacobs a contract for 2012.
Winning! Tigerblood! You can’t process me with a normal brain!Some of our esteemed readers here might find value in the Rules of Rugby, properly explained.
Here it is, on video… somewhat tongue in cheek of course
Sonny Bill Williams has withdrawn from the Baa-Baas and is replaced by Richard Kahui.
Drew Mitchel is injured again and expected to miss the opening Rounds of Super Rugby.
Conrad Smith is named as Hurricanes Captain for 2012.
Derick Hougaard could be back at the Bulls.
Bolla Conradie, Elgar Watts & Clemen Lewis, all from Boland, as well as Burton Francis are included in Stormers plans for 2012.
Graham Henry rules out England coaching job.
With Rugby news now a bit scrappy and few and far between for Southern Hemisphere Rugby interests, at least we can look forward to some Rugby participation by the Southern Hemisphere this weekend.
There is the HSBC Sevens World Series Gold Coast Tournament, the first IRB Sevens Tournament for the 2011 – 2012 Season, on Friday and Saturday as well as the Wallabies vs Barbarians game on Saturday, where Springbok legend Victor Matfield bids his final farewell in any form of competative rugby, finally retiring after a wonderful playing career.
South Africa:
- First Innings – 266 all out (71 overs)
- Second Innings – 339 all out (110 overs)
Australia:
- First Innings – 296 all out (76.4 overs)
- Second Innings – 310 / 8 (86.5 overs)
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat
It is Round 2 of the Heineken Cup and today 3 games are broadcast live on TV in SA.
They are:
- Benetton Treviso vs Ospreys (SS6 & CSN)
- Castres Olympique vs Munster (SS6 & CSN)
- Leicester Tigers vs Ulster Rugby (SS6 & CSN)
This is the general discussion thread for these 3 Games, only the first 2 will be updated live.
With SA Ruby (SARU) in the throngs of considering the appointment of a new Rugby coach for the Springboks, when Peter de Villiers’ contract concludes in December 2011, it might be prudent to look at results in the last 4 years.
The first thing which emerges is that there has been a steady decline in winning percentages over the last 4 years.
During the first 2 years of the reign of Peter de Villiers the winning percentage was an average of 68 % but during the last 2 years of his reign it has dropped to an average of 56.5 % for those 2 years.
It has to be noted that Peter de Villiers inherited a World Cup winning squad, which has now slipped to No 4 in the IRB rankings, below France.
The Varsity Cup Rugby competition will – once again – lend itself to experimentation, with the importance of tries being the major focus ahead of the 2012 tournaments.
Varsity Cup Rugby, which now consists of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International, the Varsity Shield, the Varsity Young Guns and the Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships (four ‘properties’ in all), will be trialing a new points-scoring system in 2012 – an experiment which could revolutionalise rugby union.
Thanks to a special dispensation from the International Rugby Board, the Varsity Cup Rugby organisers have changed around the value of points for the four 2012 Varsity Cup Rugby competitions – conversions will be worth three points and penalties and drop-goals will be worth just two points.
Saracens have been forced to cancel their plans to take a Heineken Cup match to Cape Town South Africa and moved the match back to London due to a spat in Cape Town itself over the stadium.
Saracens hooker Schalk Brits has been given a three week suspension for a dangerous tackle on a Treviso winger in the Heineken Cup.
The Springboks will return to Soweto for the final home Test of 2012 when they take on newly-crowned world champions New Zealand in the final encounter of the new Rugby Championship which replaced the Tri-Nations.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) will approach a shortlist of preferred candidates in the process to appoint a Springbok coach, the Executive Council of SARU announced on Thursday.
Nick Mallett, front-runner for the position, has withdrawn his availability to coach England, whereas Eddie Jones has stepped up and declared his interests in the position.
Sport quotas are exhausted and have generally been counter-productive, Sport and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula said on Wednesday.
Read this on News 24, think it is hysterical!!!!!
Wellington – New Zealand rugby referee Bryce Lawrence on Wednesday said he won’t officiate in South Africa if he fears for his safety after his performance at last month’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final between the Springboks and Australia.
Lawrence’s control of the October 9 quarter-final, won 11-9 by Australia to end South Africa’ reign as world champion, was strongly criticized by Springboks players, coaching staff and fans.
Breaking news on the BBC is that England coach, Martin Johnson, has resigned.
GBS just contacted me from the Media Day at the Bulls with the following news:
The Bulls started their preparations for next season’s Super Rugby competition at Loftus Versfeld’s B-field in Pretoria on Monday. It is scary when you read the list of players that are not Bulls anymore. The 4 most used captains are all in that list.
The RFU put money behind the bar for England players on their controversial Rugby World Cup night out in Queenstown, New Zealand.
Saracens have been forced to move their Heineken Cup match against Biarritz in Cape Town from the new Cape Town Stadium to Newlands which is home to Western Province Rugby.
Fresh allegations from a drunken binge by All Blacks World Cup winger Zac Guildford have emerged involving a triathlete in the Cook Islands.
South African prop Eugene Van Staden returned to French club rugby for a second spell on Tuesday when Top 14 tailenders Biarritz signed him as a replacement for the retired Eduard Coetzee.
South Africa 41 / Nelson Combined 3
The 1956 Springboks had two matches left to start playing as a team before the first test, it was not about notching up results anymore it was time for the forwards to start playing as a pack and for the backline to show some polish.