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The Springboks have moved to shore up their problems in defence by bringing in defensive coaching specialist Jacques Nienaber on a consultant basis.
Callie Visagie, the 2011 Varsity Cup Player of the Tournament, will further his rugby career in Johannesburg after signing a two-year deal with the Golden Lions.
Visagie, who captained the FNB Maties in the 2011 Varsity Cup, is a highly-rated and hard-as-nails hooker and the Lions have done well to claim his signature ahead of next season.
Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made two changes to his team, both of them in the front row, for the clash with defending Currie Cup champions the Sharks at Newlands this weekend.
Returning Springboks Wynand Olivier and Bjorn Basson will be amongst the four new faces in the Vodacom Blue Bulls backline for their Absa Currie Cup clash against the Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday.
Speculation is rife… the Springbok senior players will be under-prepared, some say. Others say they have not rested enough. And then there are those that say these senior Springboks do not need to have played to be sharp as ever.
Let’s critically look at when last these senior Springboks played, and what their form was when they played.
International visitor numbers at this year’s World Cup in New Zealand look set to exceed expectations, despite the current global economic turmoil, according to tournament organisers.
The Crusaders home ground of AMI Stadium in Christchurch will remain closed during the 2012 Super Rugby season forcing the Crusaders to play their matches on the road again.
AMI Stadium suffered heavy damage in the February earthquakes which hit Christchurch and killed 181 people.
Ireland’s loss to Scotland has seen them drop from fourth place in the world rankings to sixth place and also helped France move to fifth place.
England’s victory over Wales sees them take the fourth place in the world rankings but Wales maintain their seventh placed ranking.
The MTN Golden Lions are the only unbeaten team left in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division following their victory at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday and defeats to The Sharks and DHL Western Province earlier during the weekend.
The Springboks have called up loose forwards Ashley Johnson and Ryan Kankowski as cover for a number of injury concerns among their back row forwards.
Coach Robbie Deans has taken two more players into his squad of 26 players to fly across the Indian Ocean to Durban on Sunday – prop Salesi Ma’afu and No 8 Radike Samo.
The All Blacks look set to rest Richie McCaw and Dan Carter for their tour to South Africa where they will play the Springboks in Port Elizabeth.
Sonny Bill Williams has told his All Black team-mates that he will not play Super Rugby for the Crusaders next year and is expected to announce where he will play next year later this week.
Half a dozen players from the Soweto Rugby Club (SRC) were allegedly injured in an attack during a match on Saturday night, according to media reports.
The players were allegedly attacked by members of the opposition team, the Edenvale Panthers, as well as spectators towards the end of their President’s League game.
Blue Bulls (19) 27 / Lions (16) 36 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Blue Bulls hosted the MTN Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Blue Bulls were just too ill-diciplined and Flip van der Merwe earned tow yellow cards, turning the final one into Red, whilst the Lions were mostly well diciplined and controlled all game.
The Lions deserved their win.
All Blacks (17) 30 / Wallabies (0) 14 (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks hosted the Australian Wallabies at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The All Blacks sailed to a commanding lead early on against a Wallaby side which was unusually error-prone. In the second half the Wallabies tried hard but it was always going to be nigh on impossible to come back from so far behind.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers on Friday named a 24-man squad featuring several players returning from injury rehabilitation for the home leg of the Tri-Nations series.
Griquas (14) 43 / Sharks (16) 22 (Final Score)
GWK Griquas hosted The Sharks at GWK Park, Kimberley at 19:10. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
GWK Griquas eserved their bonus point win, scoring 4 tries to 1.
Allister Coetzee, head coach of DHL WP, today named his team to take on the Cheetahs at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein on Saturday 6 August.
The Cheetahs have recalled their big guns for the game against Western Province in Bloemfontein this weekend.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has chosen to stick with his players who have kept the Sharks unbeaten in this year’s Currie Cup instead of bringing back a raft of Springboks.
Twenty year old Francois Venter is set to make his first Absa Currie Cup start for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their fixture against the Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Following two Rugby World Cup victories and a uniting of a Rainbow Nation, rugby is now a universal sport, appealing to the masses, supported by millions and played by all walks of life.
As a move towards becoming one of the most effectively run rugby unions in the Southern Hemisphere, The Blue Bulls Company recently employed the experienced Richard Papo as Marketing Manager.
The Sharks are apparently without a Springbok hooker on their list of contracted players for the 2012 season.
The Blue Bulls have hauled out the chequebook to increase the depth at the union for 2012 and onwards.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers believes that he deserves a medal after his four years as the helm of a job that produces the most hostile environment imaginable.
De Villiers, together with SA Rugby Union (SARU) CEO Jurie Roux addressed the portfolio committee on sport and recreation about the World Cup plans in parliament on Tuesday.
Tim Noakes, foremost Sports Scientist in South Africa has something to share with us…
This follows a request by Ashley, a blogger on our web site, regarding the resting senior Springboks.
Sharks coach John Plumtree says he may not pick some of his Springboks returning for this weekend’s Currie Cup action.
The Sharks take on Griquas in Kimberley on Friday.
England’s Joe Worsley and New Zealander Thomas Waldrom will miss the World Cup after being named as two of the five players dropped from Martin Johnson’s training squad for the tournament in New Zealand.
Barely one third of New Zealanders are enthusiastic about the Rugby World Cup, a mere five weeks out from the sport’s global showpiece, said a survey released on Tuesday.
The Wallaby squad is without veteran lock and Force Captain Nathan Sharpe.
Ireland’s star centre Brian O’Driscoll will miss at least the first two matches of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup warm up matches with a neck/shoulder injury which is restricting his ability to train.
A group of 23 players involved in the Springboks’ preliminary World Cup squad have been released back to their clubs and provinces to be available for Currie Cup selection this weekend.
The list includes 15 of the 29 players who were part of the squad for the away leg of the Tri-Nations Series.
Wallabies half back Luke Burgess has been given the all clear to return to rugby to face the All Blacks this weekend in the Tri-Nations.
Peter de Villiers was in a buoyant mood despite back-to-back defeats for the Springboks over the past two weeks on the away leg of the Tri-Nations in Australasia.