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Lock Chris Jack will play his 100th game for the Crusaders when he takes the field in the Super Rugby match against the Brumbies at Trafalgar Park, Nelson, on Friday.
Jack, who plays his provincial rugby for Tasman, made his debut for the Crusaders 12 years ago and will start in the number four jersey, replacing Brad Thorn.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has dropped his captain from last week, Naas Olivier, and brought back Heinrich Brüssow in his team to face the Lions.
John Smit aka “Barney” will start for the first time in this year’s Super Rugby Tournament as he leads the side out in their second tour match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
The Sharks have been approached by the Crusaders about playing their match on March the 25th at Twickenham in London.
The Crusaders cannot play their scheduled matches at AMI Stadium as it was damaged by the earthquake that hit Christchurch last month.
Herewith the Super Rugby team sheets as thet are announced for week 4 of Super Rugby 2011. The rest of the teams will be added as team sheets are made available.
Allister Coetzee, head coach of the DHL Stormers, today named his team to take on the Highlanders at DHL Newlands on Friday 11 March. Kick off is at 19h10.
The Cheetahs look set to pick their fourth captain of the season with flyhalf Naas Olivier facing the axe in a tactical ploy designed to engineer their first Super Rugby victory of the year.
The DHL Stormers back three reshuffle that some critics have been speculating over has moved a step closer to becoming a reality as Conrad Jantjes battles with an Achilles niggle that could keep him out of the match against the Highlanders on Friday.
Lions scrumhalf Jano Vermaak will, in all likelihood, be relegated to the bench for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, coach John Mitchell said on Monday.
The quickfire scrumhalf took a knock to his head in last week’s match against the Blues and, although he should be ready for action by the weekend, Mitchell said he will not be taking any risks.
The match officials for Week 4 of the 2011 SANZAR Super Rugby tournament have been confirmed by SANZAR with two late changes to the original schedule.
All Black and Chiefs fullback Mils Muliaina is expected to miss the next month of Super rugby with a back injury.
Muliaina had to leave the field in the Chiefs home win against the Melbourne Rebels at Waikato Stadium on Saturday.
UCT (9) 16 / Maties (24) 37 (Final Score)
Shimlas (13) 37 / Pukke (17) 28 (Final Score)
UCT hosted Maties at the UCT rugby fields, Cape Town at 17:00 and Shimlas hosted Pukke at Shimla Park, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time. This was the combined match Thread for discussion of the game. The 2 matches were both broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
Western Force flanker David Pocock is set to spend between four to six weeks on the sidelines after scans revealed a medial ligament strain in his injured right knee.
Pocock was sidelined early in the first half of the club’s match against the Sharks last Saturday night in Perth and will miss at least the next month of Super Rugby.
The Crusaders could take Super Rugby to a completely new market by playing one of their matches in London England.
The Crusaders cannot use their home ground at AMI Stadium in Christchurch and are said to be considering playing a Super rugby match in Auckland or even London, England.
Western Force centre, Rory Sidey, has been suspended for three weeks after a SANZAR judicial hearing found him guilty on the charge of dangerous tackling under law 10.4(j) during the Forces’ games against the Sharks on Saturday.
The Highlanders ended the Bulls 20 home match unbeaten run with an outstanding 28-35 bonus point victory at Loftus Versfeld.
The last time the Bulls lost a match at Loftus was on the 12th of April 2008 against the Hurricanes.
Here are the views of the coaches and players during the After Match Interviews.
Bulls (6) 28 / Highlanders (11) 35 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Bulls hosted the Highlanders at Loftus, 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 Highlanders continued their unbeaten run and scored a bonus point for tries whilst the Bulls end their unbeaten run at home and only salvaged a bonus point for losing by only 7 points.
It was a disasterous game from a Bulls perspective, with bad refereeing and general bad play and sloppy tackling by all the Bulls players. Today it is frustrating to be a Bulls supporter.
Force (9) 12 / Sharks (19) 39 (Final Score)
The Western Force hosted the Sharks 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 & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Sharks won well and convincingly but the attrition rate was also high with Odwa Ndungane spear-tackled and taken to hospital. Also looked like Willem Alberts was carrying an injury.
Bonus point in the bag for the Sharks on a very important away win.
Brumbies (15) 25 / Reds (22) 31 (Final Score)
The Brumbies hosted the Reds at Canberra Stadium, Canberra at 10:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Brumbies scored 4 tries to 1 but their ill-dicipline cost them as Quade Cooper was on song with the bott, slotting 7 penalties, 1 conversion and 1 drop goal.
Chiefs (16) 38 / Rebels (3) 10 (Final Score)
The Chiefs hosted the Melbourne Rebels 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 & CSN on TV in SA.
The Chiefs managed their bonus point try in the 79th minute to ultimately run out composed winners with 5 Log points in the bag.
Lions (25) 32 / Blues (17) 41 (Final Score)
The Lions hosted the Blues at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 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 a frenetic game the Blues came out victorious after putting their All Black subs on in the second half. Both teams earns a bonus point for tries.
Golden Lions (3) 9 / Pampas XV (12) 15 (Final Score)
The Golden Lions hosted the Pampas XV at Coca Cola Park, Johannesburg at 16:45. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
Despite more than 67% possession and almost as much territorial advantage the Golden Lions contrived to lose this match, whereas a very ill-diciplined Pampas XV side (who conceded 2 yellow cards and countless penalties) used the meager chances they had to win against the odds.
Crusaders (26) 33 / Waratahs (13) 18 (Final Score)
The Crusaders hosted the Waratahs at Travalgar Park, Nelson (not in Christchurch due to the massive earthquake) at 08:35 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 Crusaders won comfortably in the end but the nail in the Waratahs coffin were the 2 fast scores before halftime and the fast try just after halftime to give the Saders the buffer they needed.
We can look forward to the following rugby on TV this weekend in SA:
Blues coach Pat Lam has made six changes to his team to face the Lions with Luke McAlister coming in for Stephen Brett who has been dropped to the bench.
Allister Coetzee, coach of the DHL Stormers, on Wednesday named his team to take on the Toyota Cheetahs at Newlands on Saturday. Kick-off is at 17:05.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has chosen to rest Bakkies Botha and play Danie Rossouw alongside Victor Matfield against the Highlanders at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Schalk Burger has only suffered a strain on his medial ligament and will be back in rugby inside the next month — maybe even in time for the Stormers’ important north/south derby against the Bulls at Loftus on 19 March.
The Cheetahs will not field Springbok flank Heinrich Brüssow against the Stormers in their Vodacom Super Rugby clash in Cape Town on Saturday.
Sonny Bill Williams is expected to make his Vodacom Super Rugby debut for the Crusaders against the Waratahs on Friday.
Vodacom Bulls utility back, Francois Hougaard, has lost the moonboot, but also the race against time to play against the Highlanders on Saturday.
Cheetahs captain Juan Smith will miss the rest of the Super rugby season but could play for the Springboks at the Rugby World cup.
The Bok flank had surgery on his Achilles on Monday after he injured it playing in the Cheetahs second round clash against the Bulls.
SANZAR have released the match officials for the third Round in the 2011 Super Rugby tournament and Chris Pollock starts the action on Friday.
This weekend has seven matches and the final match will be the Bulls against the Highlanders.