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Tuks (18) 18 / 18 (18) UJ (Final Score)
The University of Pretoria (FNB Tuks) and University of Johannesburg (FNB UJ)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at Tuks Stadium, Pretoria at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Victor Matfield has revealed his ambitions to coach the Springboks in future.
Crusaders’ coach Todd Blackadder gave his team a pass mark after their internal Super Rugby warm up against a development team at Rugby Park on Saturday.
The Crusaders played their Knights’ development team in game made up of three 20-minute intervals and won the match 67-5.
Southern Kings stand-in coach Robbie Kempson feels his charges require a major “mind-shift” or they won’t convert close defeats into victories.
The Kings have been “competitive” in back-to-back outings against Super Rugby franchises – losing 21-36 to the Cheetahs last week, before running the Lions even closer (a 12-19 loss) this past weekend.
KFC today announced its sponsorship of the five New Zealand Super Rugby teams in this year’s Investec Super Rugby competition, which kicks off on 15 February.
The Vodacom Bulls loose forward Arno Botha has been ruled out of rugby for at least six months after picking up an ACL injury against the DHL Stormers in Saturday’s season opening friendly in Polokwane, team doctor Org Strauss confirmed on Monday.
The injury, which will see Botha miss most of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season, came in his first match back after injuring the same knee in June last year, which ruled him out of the rest of the 2013 season.
NMMU (21) 45 / 29 (0) Maties (Final Score)
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (FNB NMMU) and University of Stellenbosch (FNB Maties)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at NMMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth at 16:45 SA Time (14:45 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Lions coach Johan Ackermann will be sweating over the fitness of two key players, following his team’s 19-12 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.
With their final pre-season outing, before their return to Super Rugby in a fortnight, against the Sharks at Ellis Park on Friday, the last thing Ackermann needed was serious injuries.
However, both fullback Andries Coetzee and lock Rudi Matthee looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Ireland (11) 28 / 6 (3) Scotland (Final Score)
Ireland and Scotland did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Victor Matfield made his return to the playing field, but it was not enough to prevent the Stormers recording an impressive 26-19 win at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
The Super Rugby pre-season outing in Polokwane was a double blow for the Bulls, who will also be concerned about another knee injury suffered by star loose forward Arno Botha, the extent of which is knot known at this juncture, although it seemed a serious injury.
It was a strong second half performance and a late try that secured the win for the Stormers, who outscored the Bulls by four tries to three.
The Toyota Cheetahs finally hit their stride, after a couple of pre-season wobbles.
The men from Bloemfontein recorded a comfortable 31-6 win over the Pumas in their final Super Rugby warm-up match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Lions continued their build-up to their Super Rugby return with a 19-12 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Flanks Jaco Kriel and Derick Minnie crossed for tries in the first 15 minutes to set up the victory for a Lions team that has now beaten the Kings three times in four meetings in the past year.
France (16) 26 / 24 (8) England (Final Score)
France and England did battle in the Six Nations tournamnt at
Stade de France, Paris at 19:00 SA Time (18:00 France Time, 17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Wales (17) 23 / 15 (3) Italy (Final Score)
Wales and Italy did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 15:30 Italian Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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The headlines were all about Benji Marshall, but the real winners were the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes spoiled Marshall’s party, his debut in Rugby Union after his conversion from Rugby League, as they came from behind to beat the Blues 38-35 in their pre-season outing in Masterton on Saturday.
The former Kiwi League captain, Marshall, played in the first half and some of the New Zealand media reports raved about his performance.
Australia international James O’Connor will leave London Irish after completing his six-month contract at the end of the season, the English Premiership club announced.
Springbok wing JP Pietersen made a big impact when he came on as a substitute for the Panasonic Wild Knights in their Japanese league semi-final on Saturday.
Panasonic thrashed the Toshiba Brave Lupus 55-15 to book their spot in the final.
The 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International kicks off on Monday, giving fans their first taste of the new double referee system.
With the new prop jerseys and the ‘Free Catch’ rule enjoying successful debuts in the opening round of Varsity Shield action last week; all eyes will be on the innovation of having two whistlemen on the pitch in the Varsity Cup this season.
Aside from the new law innovations five of the eight teams are being guided by new coaches this season, giving the tournament an even ‘fresher’ feel this year.
Victor Matfield, one of the most decorated players in the history of South African rugby, will make his return to the playing field for the Vodacom Bulls in Vodacom Super, the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd confirmed on Friday.
Matfield is a former Springbok captain with 110 Test caps behind his name – only John Smit, with 111 caps, has played more Tests for South Africa. He also lead the Vodacom Bulls to all three their Vodacom Super Rugby titles, in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
It could not have been a worse start to the year for the Brumbies – losing their opening trial match and seeing star back Pat McCabe go down again.
McCabe, who has already overcome a neck fracture twice, was returning to action when he suffered a head knock as the Brumbies were overrun 15-11 by the Highlanders in a trial match in Queenstown on Friday.
Three games are played on the weekend of 1 & 2 February 2014 in the start of the 2014 RBS Six Nations tournament.
On Saturday it’s Wales vs Italy at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT) at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and thereafter it’s France vs England at 19:00 SA Time (18:00 Fr Time, 17:00 GMT) at Stade de France, Paris.
On Sunday it’s Ireland vs Scotland at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT) at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin.
ALL THREE MATCHES are broadcast on TV in South Africa and ALL THREE matches will have their LIVE GAME ARTICLES here on Rugby-Talk.
The Six Nations is the prime International Test tournament in the Northern Hemisphere and is a short and powerful competition where each team plays the other 5 sides only once. The winner of the tournament is decided on Log Points at the end of the tournament.
Wales are defending champions, in fact they are double defending champions and will try to make 2014 their hat trick season.
In 2013 France had a nighmare season, ending with the wooden spoon.
It is 2 weeks prior to the kick off of 2 brand new Rugby Tournaments and just less than a month away from kick off of the 3rd Tournament – Super Rugby.
We will have SuperBru Widgets up in the Righthand sidebar for these 3 Pools, for easy access to make your PICKS, go to the POOLS and see an abbreviated version of the LOG in each pool (Top 10).
Rugby-Talk SuperBru pools are open to all REGISTERED RUGBY-TALK SUBSCRIBERS, so if you are not yet registered, get clicking man!
As is the custom and the excitement, Rugby-Talk will be taking part in rugby competitions on SuperBru in 2014 again, but at the end of last year we took it a step further, we also formed our own SuperBru Club, the Rugby-Talk.com Club. The Club gives us an added and combined interface, where messages are posted in the “Social Room”, where the current Rugby-Talk Bru Pools are detailed in the “Games Room”, where members are tabled in the “Members Wall” and where medal standings and tables are displayed in the “Trophy Room”.
So, firstly, join up to the 3 NEW POOLS and also join up at the Rugby-Talk.com Club!
The details are as follows:
The Bulls are expected to provide a stern pre-season test for the relatively young Stormers tight five in Polokwane on Saturday.
The versatile Rynhardt Elstadt is the oldest in the Stormers engine room at just 24, although he and loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff have three years of Super Rugby experience whilst Frans Malherbe and Scarra Ntubeni both toured with the Springboks at the end of last year.
It may be the newest rivalry in Super Rugby, but they don’t get much more appetizing and entertaining than the Southern Kings against the Lions.
We can thank the South African Rugby Union and its bungling for creating this delectable showdown for us.
South African referees boss André Watson says two referees on the field is the way forward for world rugby.
The Highlanders kicked off their Super Rugby pre-season warm-up games with a 15-11 victory over Australian rivals the Brumbies at the Queenstown Recreation Ground in Queenstown.
International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Bernard Lapasset has spoken out against the “increase” in public criticism of referees ahead of the start of this season’s Six Nations.
Rugby Union, in common with many sports, has long set great store by respect for match officials.
Treviso winger Angelo Esposito will make his international debut when Italy begins their Six Nations campaign with a daunting trip to Cardiff to take on holders Wales on Saturday.
Dr. Sherylle Calder, the world-renowned Visual Skills and Performance Specialist joins the Cell C Sharks as a consultant, on a two-year contract, effective immediately.
Corné Steenkamp has put his retirement on hold and will lead the Pumas in a pre-season friendly against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Steenkamp initially announced last year that he would call it a day after almost 150 first class game for the Pumas.
The injured Springbok Sevens duo of Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman will return to South Africa and will be replaced by Jamba Ulengo and Kwagga Smith for the Wellington Sevens on 7 – 8 February, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Thursday.
The two wings sustained ankle injuries during last weekend’s Las Vegas Sevens, where the Bok Sevens team won the tournament title for a second successive year. Smith and Ulengo will join the squad on Saturday.
Jake White has, repeatedly in the past, taken teams from the doldrums to the top of their game.
He took the South African Under-21 from being no-hopers to winning a world title, the Springboks from ranked sixth in the world to No.1 and winning a World Cup, and more recently he took the Brumbies from finishing 13th out of 15 teams in 2011 to finalists last year.
England will take on France in Paris on Saturday with a backline featuring two debutants and a one-cap winger after coach Stuart Lancaster named his starting line-up for the Six Nations opener.
As expected, 20-year-old Jack Nowell has been rewarded for his promising displays for Exeter with the starting berth on the right wing – with regular No 14 Chris Ashton dropped from the squad – with Jonny May winning his second cap on the left.
Luther Burrell is the latest in a long line of centres and will link up with Billy Twelvetrees outside Owen Farrell and recalled scrumhalf Danny Care.
Flyhalf Jules Plisson was named to start against England in France’s Six Nations opening game on Saturday as manager Philippe Saint-Andre continues his experiment with the Les Bleus’ halfback pairing.
The 22-year-old Stade Francais player will be alongside scrumhalf Jean-Marc Doussain as Saint-Andre will try out his 10th different halfback pairing since he took over from Marc Lievremont after the 2011 World Cup.
Lions coaches, Johan Ackermann and Russel Winter, have named the 2 sides which will face the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth and Polokwane respectively, to take on the Southern Kings and Vodacom Blue Bulls.