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The Crusaders have moved their remaining “home” Super Rugby matches to Napier, Wellington, Timaru and back to Nelson.
AMI Stadium has been ruled out for the rest of the year so the Crusaders had to move their matches to other grounds.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) made a small operating profit – as per forecast – in a year of depressed revenues, the Union announced on Wednesday.
Herewith ALL the Super Rugby team sheets as they were announced for week 6 of Super Rugby 2011.
Steve Walsh has been confirmed as the referee for the Super Rugby match between the Crusaders and the Sharks at Twickenham on Sunday.
As a result of the change in the match venue from Christchurch to London, Walsh, who refereed last weekend’s Six Nations clash between Scotland and Italy in Edinburgh, will replace Garratt Williamson.
The Waratahs have named a 24-man squad ahead of Saturday’s round six clash with the Brumbies at Canberra Stadium which includes captain Phil Waugh.
Waugh (biceps) and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau (knee) are both on the comeback from injury and have been named in the squad for the Tahs’ third all-Australian match of the season.
The Hurricanes have named their team for their first ever clash against the Rebels with an unchanged starting line to the one that lost to the Blues.
The Vodacom Bulls were dealt a major setback when it emerged that Springbok prop Gurthro Steenkamp has fractured a bone in his arm and will be out of action for between 6-12 weeks.
Lions coach John Mitchell has sharpened his axe and will be making some changes in personnel ahead of Saturday’s Super Rugby match against the Bulls in Pretoria.
“There will be some changes to the 22,” said Mitchell.
The young player who made the biggest impression for the Stormers in their 23-13 win over the Bulls last Saturday may be forced to sit out the next match against the Western Force at Newlands.
Lock Rynhardt Elstadt has swelling on his ankle and although he is undergoing treatment, coach Allister Coetzee has listed him as doubtful for the Force match.
The All Blacks are considering doing away with their iconic silver fern at the World Cup and replacing it with a red fern in a symbolic gesture to quake-hit Christchurch.
Once again 4 games are played today in the Varsity Cup, only 2 are televised live. We will therefore focus on the 2 televised games.
Tuks (7) 17 / UCT (6) 19 (Final Score)
Maties (7) 19 / UJ (15) 39 (Final Score)
Today’s total fixture list is as follows:
Bulls (10) 13 / Stormers (12) 23 (Final Score)
The Bulls hosted the DHL Stormers at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD and M-Net on TV in SA.
The Stormers were deserved winners, not so much for their attack but for keeping better dicipline and dogged defence.
Blues (20) 41 / Hurricanes (14) 17 (Final Score)
The Blues hosted the Hurricanes at Eden Park, Auckland at 08:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
Although the score seems to indicate an easy win by the Blues, it really only ballooned away from the Hurricanes in the last 20 minutes.
Highlanders (6) 13 / Crusaders (13) 44 (Final Score)
THe Highlanders hosted the Crusaders at Carisbrook, Duneden at 06:30 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
The Crusaders ran rampant towards the end of the game, totally blowing the Highlanders out of the game. At halftime the scores were still close but woeful kicking to goal by Tony Brown gave the Crusaders the necessary buffer to open the taps properly in the second half.
Reds (25) 53 / Rebels (3) 3 (Final Score)
The Reds hosted the Melbourne Rebels at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane at 11:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 and CSN on TV in SA.
The Reds ran rampant, scoring 7 tries of which 6 were converted to a solitary penalty by the Melbourne Rebels.
Chiefs (3) 15 / Sharks (6) 9 (Final Score)
The Chiefs hosted the Sharks at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 08:35 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.
In wet conditions it was never going to be champagne rugby and the Chiefs toughed out a hard win by 15 / 9.
Herewith all the Super Rugby team sheets as they are announced for week 5 of Super Rugby 2011.
Lions fullback James Kamana has been suspended for three weeks after a SANZAR judicial hearing held in Johannesburg on Tuesday found him guilty of dangerous play.
The Sharks have named their team to face the Chiefs in Hamilton with Captain John Smith moving to loosehead in place of Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira who drops to the bench.
Former Lions hooker Ettienne Reynecke will make his debut for the DHL Stormers off the bench in Saturday’s big north/south derby against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus.
Reynecke joined the Stormers on loan from Saracens last week to help buffer the loss of Tiaan Liebenberg to a knee ligament injury. Liebenberg is expected to be out for another four weeks, which means he should be ready to tour with the Stormers when they leave for overseas in April.
Quake-ravaged Christchurch will lose its Rugby World Cup hosting rights on the back of a new report showing the city’s stadium is unfit for games, British media is reporting.
London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper says it has confirmation from a senior International Rugby Board (IRB) source that the engineers’ structural report will end the city’s hosting chances.
The Crusaders match against the Sharks match at Twickenham has been confirmed for March 27 at 4pm local time.
England’s Rugby Football Union have agreed to host the match on the Sunday as the previous date clashed with Harlequins playing Gloucester at the Twickenham Stoop in the Aviva Premiership.
The ACT Brumbies problems continued to mount on Sunday with the news that back-row forward Mitchell Chapman fractured his cheekbone and faces up to 10 weeks on the sidelines.
The Referees and Match Officials have been allotted for all the Super Rugby games of Week 5 to Week 8 (till 9 April 2011), announced by SANZAR.
They are:
The Waratahs are sweating over the availability of several of their top stars ahead of the clash with the Cheetahs on Saturday.
Skipper Phil Waugh (bicep) and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau (knee) are facing a race against the clock to be fit, while Wallaby duo Wycliff Palu and Berrick Barnes are expected to be back in the starting line-up after recovering from injury.
Vodacom Bulls players Gary Botha and Francois Hougaard will know on Tuesday whether they will be fit to face the Stormers this weekend.
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has said it is “touch and go” whether regular captain Schalk Burger will be back from injury in time to lead his team in their massive Vodacom Super Rugby challenge against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus on Saturday.
Injury-plagued Blues lock Ali Williams will miss the next month of Super rugby after sustaining a hamstring injury during Sunday’s 22-22 draw with the Force.
Lions fullback James Kamana will appear at a SANZAR judicial hearing in Johannesburg on Tuesday 15 March after being cited for a dangerous tackle during last Saturday’s Super Rugby clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Cheetahs (14) 20 / Lions (16) 25 (Final Score)
The Cheetahs hosted the Lions at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 17:05. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, HD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Lions finally managed to break their 17 game Super Rugby duck, winning by 25 / 20.
Force (16) 22 / Blues (9) 22 (Final Score)
The Western Force hosted the Blues at nib Stadium, Perth at 13:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
A penalty to the Blues after the hooter equalled the scores, a draw, 22 / 22.
Hurricanes (10) 29 / Chiefs (13) 26 (Final Score)
The Hurricanes hosted the Chiefs at the Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 08:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD and CSN on TV in SA.
Stormers (12) 18 / Highlanders (6) 6 (Final Score)
The Stormers hosted the Highlanders at Newlands, Cape Town at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD and M-Net on TV in SA.
In a very hard battle where the Stormers had to make more than double the tackles compared to the Highlanders, the Stormers toughed out an ugly win.
Rather an ugly win though than a spectacular loss!
Rebels (18) 32 / Sharks (13) 34 (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels hosted the Sharks at AAMI Park, Melbourne at 10:40 SA Time. This was the game thread for discussion of the match. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD and M-Net on TV in SA.
The Sharks won by the skin of their teeth, 34 / 32, but in the process managed to get their bonus point for tries scored.
The worrying thing for the Sharks will be that they conceded 4 tries in return, after not giving a single try away before this match.
Crusaders (19) 52 / Brumbies (10) 10 (Final Score)
The Crusaders hosted the Brumbies at Travalgar Park, Nelson at 08:35 SA Time. This was the game thread for discussion of the match. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD and M-Net on TV in SA.
The Crusaders started slowly and by Halftime were only 9 points in the lead but after Halftime they let rip in the first 9 minutes and scored try after try, demolishing the Brumbies.
Sean Maitland scored an impressive 4 tries on the night.