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World Cup winning Springbok Danie Rossouw has announced that he will retire from professional rugby at the end of the European season.
The versatile forward, who is equally at home at lock, flank or eighthman, will finish the season at RC Toulon before hanging up his boots.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has included two Springboks on his replacement bench in an otherwise unchanged line up for his side’s Super Rugby encounter against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen and Bok prop Coenie Oosthuizen have both been cleared to play after recovering from injuries. Goosen was sidelined for a couple of weeks with concussion, while Oosthuizen has finally recovered from a lengthy neck injury he sustained during the Cheetahs’ overseas tour to Australasia.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke tweaked his backline with a new midfield combination for their Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Toyota Cheetahs and changed his front row, but stuck with almost the same match 23 that came up short against the Force in Perth last weekend.
Ludeke included Junior World Cup winning players William Small-Smith and Handre Pollard in the starting team for the first time this season and also gave prop Marcel van der Merwe a first start for the match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Jake White has announced his team to take on the Melbourne Rebels on their 1st game of their Antipodian tour.
Frans Steyn is selected at flyhalf, with Fred Zeilinga on the bench and Tim Swiel falling out of the match-day 23.
Jake White of the Cell C Sharks has announced that Brad Macleod-Henderson will be the Head Coach of the Cell C Sharks during the ABSA Currie Cup campaing in 2014 whilst he will take a step back from coaching and mentor at Under 21 and Under 19 levels.
The Waratahs have named a team with several changes to the one that lost to the Blues in Auckland for this week’s Super Rugby match against the Hurricanes.
The Waratahs host the Hurricanes who are Super Rugby’s form team currently as they have won their last four matches and now top the New Zealand Conference.
Inspirational No 8 Wycliff Palu returns for the match at Allianz Stadium this Saturday in which the Waratahs say that they are determined to keep their 100% Allianz Stadium 2014 record alive and record their first win over the Hurricanes since 2010.
“We are aiming for consistency every week and will be looking to fix up our handling errors and our commitment to detail in finishing off the chances we make,” said assistant coach Nathan Grey.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for Round 12 of Super Rugby 2014.
Nick Briant starts the weekend action on Friday in Auckland when the Blues host the Reds.
This weekend sees 7 matches, with 2 on Friday and 5 on Saturday.
The Western Force have a BYE weekend, ahead of their tour of South Africa.
The Toyota Cheetahs delivered their best performance of the Vodacom Super Rugby season when they won comfortably against the DHL Stormers in an exciting local derby, but the Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks were kept try-less as they ended up on the losing side in Round 11.
The team from Central South Africa and the Capetonians were involved in an thrilling derby where the most tries were scored this season. The Toyota Cheetahs won this encounter in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon by 35-22, outscoring the visitors by five tries to three.
It was the most tries scored against the DHL Stormers in a local derby since the Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls put five and seven respectively past them in 2007.
Earlier on Saturday, the Vodacom Bulls had to battle the elements and Sias Ebersohn’s boot in Perth. The Force beat the visitors from Pretoria by 15-9 in a kick-fest where no tries were scored.
The Steval Pumas, Cell C Sharks XV, GWK Griquas and Toyota Free State XV will host the four Vodacom Cup quarter-finals after the pool phase of the competition came to an exciting conclusion this weekend.
It was an exciting end to the competition in 2014, with a total of 75 tries scored in the eight pool matches at an average of just over nine per match, or one try every eight or so minutes.
While the North Section went pretty much as expected and the Steval Pumas managed the become the only team to go through their pool matches unbeaten, the last round in the South Section saw the log getting a proper overhaul following upsets in Durban and George on Friday evening.
Gareth Anscombe has become hot property recently with coaches from Wales and New Zealand hinting that they would like to secure the play-makers signature.
Anscombe, who is currently contracted to the Chiefs for Super Rugby – but only until the end of the season – is on the Blues, Cardiff Blues, New Zealand and Wales international team’s wish list.
Rebels lock Hugh Pyle says his side must muscle-up and top the Sharks’ physicality if they are to emerge victorious when they meet in Melbourne on Friday.
The Sharks are recognised for having one of the most physical forward packs in Super Rugby, and Pyle knows that the Rebels need to bring the physicality when they take on the combined conference leaders.
Waratahs Head Coach Michael Cheika has pleaded guilty to Misconduct relating to an incident that occurred during the Sharks v Waratahs match played at Growthpoint KINGS PARK on 29 March 2014.
In a hearing conducted by SANZAR Judicial Officer Nigel Hampton QC (New Zealand), Mr Cheika was found to have breached Section 8.3 (i) of the SANZAR Code of Conduct by verbally abusing a cameraman.
“All persons shall not use crude, insulting or abusive language or gestures towards Match Officials, spectators or any other persons involved with the running of a Match.”
The Judicial Officer suspended Mr Cheika from involvement of any kind in all forms of rugby at any level for a period of 6 months, suspended until 31 August 2015, a ban that would be triggered by a subsequent proven breach of the applicable Code of Conduct.
Sharks coach Jake White believes 4 wins from 4 on their Australasian tour is a realistic goal to aim for.
White’s charges will be eager to get back to winning ways when they face the Melbourne Rebels on Friday, especially after coming badly unstuck in their last game – a 34-18 home loss to the Highlanders.
Versatile Stormers forward Deon Fourie could further his career at French club Lyon.
The DHL Stormers are searching for a lock from outside the region to help them through the current crisis.
But just who the Stormers will target to come in to provide a temporary solution to the problems that have been caused by injuries and the departure for Japan of Andries Bekker is difficult to ascertain for there is not a lot out there and an approach to former Western Province lock Quinn Roux, now playing in Ireland, never went anywhere.
EP Kings lock Steve Sykes, a former Sharks stalwart, has also turned down the Stormers on the basis that he wants to commit himself fully to his province’s entry into the Premier Division of the Absa Currie Cup later in the year.
Hooker Scarra Ntubeni and wing Sailosi Tagicakibau are back in the selection frame for the Stormers ahead of this coming weekend’s home Super Rugby clash against the Highlanders, the Stormers’ official website reports.
Ntubeni has not featured for the Stormers since their tour-opener against the Crusaders back in early March, but his return – along with Tagicakibau’s – will be a major boost to his team.
The Cheetahs will be able to call on the services of Springboks Coenie Oosthuizen and Johan Goosen for their Super Rugby clash against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Piet van Zyl will not be able to take on his former Toyota Cheetahs team mates at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday as the Vodacom Bulls scrumhalf still suffers from a knee injury picked up on the Australasian tour.
The player will miss another week of Vodacom Super Rugby action as he recovers from his MCL injury, Vodacom Bulls team doctor Org Strauss confirmed.
It is a very long shot, but the Bulls’ only method now of squeezing into the Super Rugby playoffs is to bank on a protracted run of late-campaign misery by pace-setting compatriots the Sharks and rack up plenty of home-turf wins themselves.
He may not be as dynamic all over the park as in days gone by, but Bulls lock Victor Matfield remains the lineout king in Super Rugby.
The Springbok captained the Bulls in their final tour match against the Force in Perth last week after regular skipper Flip van der Merwe was suspended for punching.
Matfield did not succeed in spurring his team-mates to a first victory on tour, but one area in which they dominated, was at lineout time.
The Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske on Saturday lauded his players for what he described as their best performance in Super Rugby this year.
The Bloemfontein side beat the DHL Stormers 35-22 and lifted themselves off the bottom of the overall points log, switching places with the Stormers.
The Brumbies will be crowned 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby champions – if bookmakers are to be believed…
The Brumbies, currently atop the Australian Conference and in second place in the Overall standings, have been installed as 33/10 favourites to add to their titles from 2001 and 2004, by SA bookies BetXchange.
Former Rugby League player Lausii Taliauli is set to make his World Sevens Series debut after being added to the Australia squad for the Glasgow leg this weekend.
Australia head coach Michael O’Connor made the late change to his squad after Taliauli was declared fit by the Australian Rugby Union medical staff.
Alapati Leiua has decided to swap the gold of the Hurricanes for the gold of the Wasps as another high profile player exits the southern hemisphere.
Leiua, a Samoan international who can play centre and wing, has been a standout for the Wellington side in this years Super Rugby campaign.
The Highlanders will be without two key players in their Super Rugby clash against the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.
Patrick Osborne and prop Craig Millar were injured in their 34-18 win over the Sharks in Durban last Friday and will return home to New Zealand.
Blues captain Luke Braid suffered a shoulder injury during Friday’s match against the Waratahs and is likely to miss this Friday’s game against the Reds.
Brendon O’Connor will be first in line to replace Braid on the openside flank if the skipper doesn’t recover.
After a rocky start to the Super Rugby season, the stars are aligning for Todd Blackadder’s Crusaders with Richie McCaw set to return from a long injury layoff and help drive the side toward the playoffs.
The All Black skipper has been sidelined with a broken thumb for the past two months but may ease back into the action off the bench against the high-flying Brumbies in Christchurch on Saturday.
The Sharks were outplayed and outsmarted by the Highlanders on their way to a shock Super Rugby defeat in Durban on Friday night, director of rugby Jake White said after the game.
“We weren’t at our best and they played really well against us – take nothing away from this performance by the Highlanders,” White said.
“Sometimes when we needed to kick we ran, and sometimes when we needed to run we kicked.”
After an impressive professional rugby career that has spanned over a decade, the dynamic winger, Michael Killian, will be hanging up his boots to take on new challenges in the corporate sector.
EP Rugby CEO, Charl Crous, on Monday confirmed Killian’s retirement.
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Cheetahs (20) 35 / 22 (10) Stormers (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs and DHL Stormers did battle in Super Rugby at
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 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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Force (9) 15 / 9 (6) Bulls (Final Score)
The Western Force and Vodacom Bulls did battle in Super Rugby at
nib Stadium, Perth at 11:40 SA Time (17:40 AWST, 09:40 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
Hurricanes (10) 35 / 21 (14) Reds (Final Score)
The Hurricanes and Reds did battle in Super Rugby at
Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 07:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Sharks (12) 18 / 34 (24) Highlanders (Final Score)
The Cell C Sharks and Highlanders did battle in Super Rugby at
Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT, 05:10 Saturday NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
The European Cup draws towards the Final with two french giants battling against the cream of the Irish and English leagues in the semifinals.
Reigning European Cup champions, Toulon, are aiming for a fourth European final in five seasons.
And although they are on the opposite side of the semifinal draw from French compatriots Clermont, successes for both of these teams could see a repeat of last years Final.
Last year’s Final saw Toulon just pip Clermont by a solitary point.