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Tom Staniforth will make his Super Rugby debut at lock when the Brumbies head to Brisbane to turn the tables on the Reds on Friday.
The 19-year-old Australian Under-20 representative has been knocking on the door of Super Rugby for the last 18 months, having trained with the main squad since leaving Canberra Grammar in 2012.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie made eight changes to his team to play the Rebels in a Super Rugby encounter in Hamilton on Saturday.
The changes to the starting line-up is headlined by the move of Gareth Anscombe from fullback to flyhalf.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder has named his team to play the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein with Kieran Read returning to the starting line up.
Blackadder has largely stuck with the same 23 players that beat the Lions 7-28 in Johannesburg last week.
The Waratahs will unleash try-scoring machine Israel Folau against the Western Force in their Super Rugby clash in Perth on Saturday following the fullback’s return from a throat injury.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika faces a judicial hearing over his alleged sideline confrontation with a television cameraman in Durban.
Super Rugby’s governing body, SANZAR, on Thursday announced it completed an investigation into the incident which occurred during the Waratahs’ Super Rugby clash with the Sharks at Kings Park on 29 March.
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Springbok Sevens forward Chris Dry will miss the last two rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Glasgow and London as a result of the back injury he sustained in Hong Kong, the South African Rugby Union confirmed on Wednesday.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Wednesday commended the Leopards Rugby Union (LRU) for taking a zero tolerance approach after a recent incident of referee abuse in a club match.
Hennie van den Heever, a coach of the Vaal Reefs Rugby Club’s second team, was suspended for life from all forms of rugby by the LRU following a disciplinary hearing where he was found guilty of transgressing Regulation 20.4 (b) of the International Rugby Board.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has named an unchanged 23-man squad for their Super Rugby clash against the Crusaders in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
There will be a 39-year-old facing off against a 36-year-old in Dunedin on Friday.
No, it is not in an old-crocks club game, but a high-charged Super Rugby encounter – when two of the most respected locks, both World Cup winners, go head-to-head.
Reds coach Richard Graham has made two changes to his starting team to face the Brumbies in a Super Rugby clash on Friday, the Reds’ official website reports.
Chris Feauai-Sautia returns on the wing for his first start since injuring his hamstring in against the Lions in Johannesburg three weeks ago, replacing Jamie-Jerry Taulagi who moves to the reserves, while Anthony Fainga’a will start at inside centre in place of Mike Harris.
Nick Mallett, who will take charge of the World XV against the Springboks in June, has ruled out a return to coaching full-time.
Mallett, 57, was earlier this week confirmed as coach of the team to face the Springboks at Newlands on 7 June.
He did, however, state that he was not interested in getting a coaching role on a full-time basis.
The Crusaders will play a midweek match against England when the Six Nations team tour New Zealand in June this year.
According to the Crusaders’ official website, the game will take place in Christchurch on Tuesday 17 June.
The Brumbies have been boosted by the return of hooker Stephen Moore and loosehead prop Scott Sio for their trip to Brisbane to play the Reds on Friday.
Hopes of the Brumbies handing the Reds their first back-to-back home defeats since 2009 will have been raised with the return of Wallaby internationals Moore and Sio.
The Reds have lost Wallabies wing Lachie Turner for five weeks due to ankle surgery in a blow ahead of their crunch Super Rugby match against the Brumbies.
Springbok scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar is in a race against time to be fit for the June Tests after injuring his AC joint playing for his Irish team Ulster.
The Rugby Football Union (England) have failed in their bid to have England’s opening Test match against New Zealand pushed back a week.
England have a three match tour of New Zealand this June but they will be without many of their best players in the opening Test due to their domestic fixtures.
The Vodacom Bulls have made known, through their official Facebook Page, the names of the team to take on the Highlanders on Friday 11 April 2014.
As expected after the injuries to Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann, who both have had to return to South Africa as a result of longer term injuries, Grant Hattingh gets the nod at No 8, with Jono Ross selected at openside flank (No 6) and with Jacques du Plessis at blindside flank (No 7).
Jacques “Vleis” Engelbrecht reverts to the bench.
Cell C Sharks flank, Marcell Coetzee, knows that he has to stay on top of his game if he hopes to break into the Springbok loose trio this season as competition is ‘insane’.
Coetzee got his international break in 2012, with Bok coach Heyneke Meyer showing great faith in him from the start of his tenure, but the emergence of Francois Louw and Siya Kolisi saw the Sharks flank play a supporting role from the sidelines last year.
Benn Robinson could finally relax.
The Waratahs and Wallabies prop had been on edge for weeks, carrying around a precious piece of Australian and South African rugby history believed lost for decades.
It had brought him to a hotel lobby in Cape Town, where David Malan was waiting to receive the missing Springboks jersey his father, Abie Malan, had worn to captain South Africa against the Wallabies 51 years earlier.
The Lions will be holding thumbs that their winger Courtnall Skosan is cleared to play ahead of their crucial Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Cell C Sharks on Saturday.
Skosan failed a concussion test on Monday and has been sent for further tests, with the medical team deciding on Tuesday whether or not he will play, but coach Johan Ackermann is hoping the nippy wing will be cleared to take his place for the last home game before the Lions go on tour.
Pukke (13) 33 / 39 (10) UCT (Final Score)
FNB NWU-Pukke (North West University) and FNB UCT (University of Cape Town)
did battle in the 2014 Varsity Cup Final at Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds, Potchefstroom at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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It was a disappointing weekend for South Africa’s Vodacom Super Rugby franchises, with the best result among the four teams that took to the field being a 43-43 draw by the Toyota Cheetahs.
The Vodacom Bulls faced the Hurricanes in Napier on Saturday in their first tour game with the hope of becoming the first domestic franchise to win in the Antipodes this season, but penalties conceded at crucial times allowed the hosts to come away with a 25-20 victory.
The Toyota Cheetahs, meanwhile, built up an encouraging 34-10 half-time lead against New Zealand conference leaders and defending champions, the Chiefs, in Bloemfontein, but they allowed the visitors to fight back strongly after the break and had to settle for a 43-43 draw.
At Ellis Park, the Lions produced a competitive first-half performance against the Crusaders to trail only 6-0 after 40 minutes, but the home side battled to shut out the seven time Vodacom Super Rugby champions in the second half, and went down 28-7.
In the last match of the weekend, the DHL Stormers’ woes continued in their first home game after their Australasian tour, as they suffered their fifth back-to-back defeat after going down 22-11 against the Waratahs in a physical encounter at DHL Newlands.
SANZAR has released the names of the match officials for Round 8 of Super Rugby 2014.
Rohan Hoffmann starts the action this weekend in Dunedin when the Highlanders take on the Vodacom Bulls.
This weekend sees 6 matches, with 2 games on Friday and 4 games on Saturday.
The Blues, Hurricanes and Stormers have BYE WEEKENDS.
Remember that Daylight Savings Time changes occured all over the Globe on Sunday, so the Time difference between South Africa and their Antipodian counterparts increase bu an hour.
The Eastern Province Kings have confirmed Kevin Luiters as their latest signing ahead of their 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division season.
EP Kings CEO, Charl Crous, confirmed that the 21-year-old Luiters, who played scrumhalf for the Free State Cheetahs, had officially joined the Currie Cup training squad on Monday.
Highlanders wing Kurt Baker has been handed the biggest ban of the Super Rugby season – a six-week suspension for a spear tackle.
Baker was slapped with the suspension for his tackle on Rebels scrumhalf Nick Stirzaker during the Highlanders’ 33-30 win on Dunedin last Friday.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will start his international season by going head to head against his friend and former boss Nick Mallett at Newlands on 7 of June.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed that the Springboks will open their international season against a World XV – coached by former Springbok coach and SuperSport rugby expert Mallett before heading into tests against Wales and Scotland in the June international window.
The game will be at Newlands – and not the Cape Town Stadium – as initially reported with tickets going on sale Monday for the clash, priced at R250 and R350.
The 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International title will be decided on Monday when Potchefstroom hosts its first-ever final.
Apart from the showdown between FNB NWU-Pukke and FNB UCT, the Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championship final and the promotion/relegation battle between FNB UJ and the FNB UKZN Impi will also be decided at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – all televised live on Supersport 1.
Coach Robert du Preez’s NWU-Pukke side will be hunting their first title when they take on the Ikey Tigers who lifted the trophy the last time they made the final back in 2011.
Both teams secured home semifinal victories, with NWU-Pukke edging the FNB NMMU Madibaz in dramatic style and UCT taking care of old rivals FNB Maties in the wind and rain on the Green Mile.
The hosts will have the psychological advantage of having beaten the Ikeys in Cape Town in the opening round, but coach Kevin Musikanth’s team are yet to lose away from home this year so they cannot be taken lightly.
Constant change of personnel as a consequence of regular injuries has taken its toll on the Stormers, according to coach Allister Coetzee.
The Stormers have now replaced the Cheetahs at the bottom of the Super Rugby log following their 22-11 loss to the Waratahs at Newlands on Saturday, marking a sixth defeat in seven matches this season.
“We’ve had to change personnel week in and week out and many of the players coming in lack experience,” Coetzee said after the game in Cape Town.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann gave a damning assessment of his side’s performance in their 28-7 loss to the Crusaders in their Vodacom Super Rugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday, calling on his players to “take responsibility” for their own performances.
A visibly angry Ackermann wasn’t impressed with the way the Lions imploded against the street-smart Crusaders, who simply fed off the home side’s mistakes and scored two late tries to inflate the scoreboard in their favour.
The Vodacom Bulls will limp into Queenstown on Monday to nurse their wounds and get themselves up and ready for Saturday’s second tour challenge against the Highlanders in Dunedin.
The Bulls have chosen the holiday resort for a few days before heading to Dunedin on Thursday, and it couldn’t come at a better time as they lost both Dewald Potgieter (torn bicep) and Deon Stegmann (torn groin muscle) on Saturday.
The Waratahs have called utility back Ben Volavola into their squad as emergency injury cover after injuries to wingers Peter Betham and Alofa Alofa.
The Waratahs beat the Stormers 11-22 in Cape Town on Saturday but the victory came at a cost as Betham and Alofa were both injured in the battle.
Chiefs wing Asaeli Tikoirotuma has been issued with an off-field yellow card for contravening Law 10.4 (b) stamping or trampling.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika believes that the Australian conference is more competitive this year because the teams have shown more hunger.
Cheika’s team earned a valuable four points on the road against the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday to make it three Australian teams in the top five with the Brumbies and Force also getting up for wins.
The Melbourne Rebels’ loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin continued their dismal record on foreign shores but coach Tony McGahan believes Australia’s Super Rugby strugglers can upset the double-defending champion Chiefs in Hamilton on Saturday.