nortie
Xerox Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has been forced to withdraw flyhalf Jaco van der Walt from his side to face DHL Western Province on Saturday, due to injury.
Van der Walt sustained a knee injury during last weekend’s clash with the EP Kings at Ellis Park. The 20-year-old has been unable to recover in time for Saturday’s match but it is hoped that he will return to action next week.
Round one of the Rugby Championship is done and dusted, and it would seem as if the rain was the winner in both games.
Two players picked a draw between the Wallabies and All Blacks and are sitting pretty on 3 log points.
Well done Angostura and Charo, brave call to go for a draw and the rewards for bravery means a yellow cap for Angos.
Selectors are sitting targets, an inevitable butt for criticism of the teams that did not quite work out.
But there are times when they are entitled to congratulate themselves, never more than when a single selection meeting launches not just one, but two or more outstanding international careers.
Richie McCaw, does he still have plenty to offer?
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen disagrees Richie McCaw is a fading force but insists neither he, nor his captain, will be afraid to make the right call to end his illustrious career.
On either side of the Tasman, there are growing concerns an ageing McCaw won’t make it to next year’s World Cup.
Desmond Tutu
Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu says South Africa deserves to have a Springbok team representative of its rainbow nation, The Star reported on Friday.
“Now, nearly 20 years later, I lament the tortoise pace at which transformation at the highest level is being effected,” he said in a letter to The Star’s sister paper, The Cape Times.
Tutu criticised the SA Rugby Union (SARU) for the pace of transformation in the team, and said it was “particularly hurtful” to see the selection of black players as “peripheral squad members never given the chance to settle down and earn their spurs.”
The Wallabies are brimming with confidence and have challenged the All Blacks to bring their A game to tomorrow night’s test at Eden Park in Auckland.
The Australian side arrived in Auckland yesterday and have their captain’s run this afternoon.
They come to Auckland having not won at Eden Park since 1986 but captain Michael Hooper said at a press conference it was not something that bothered his side.
Juan Smith
The boyish smile on the face of Juan Hugo Smith masked the trauma that he endured in the past four years, when it seemed an Achilles injury ended his career.
At 33, with 69 Test caps for South Africa, he is one of the most seasoned players in the Springbok team to face Argentina in Salta on Saturday.
Captain Jean de Villiers, also 33 and 97 Tests, and recalled prop Gurthrö Steenkamp, 33 and 51 Tests, are among the few that can match him for experience in the team that will take to the field at Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena.
Smith is the epitome of a player who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to return to the international arena, after it seemed his career had come to an abrupt end.
SOBERING NIGHT IN SYDNEY: Is All Black coach Steve Hansen running out of ideas for his All Blacks?
Love the rain. Give me a stick of dynamite and I would blow the roof off the Millennium Stadium. Wet weather rugby is a whole new ball game. It demands a higher skill level, a flexible tactical mind and it gives the fate of the contest to the forwards.
Suddenly these All Blacks didn’t look half the team that some people had assumed they were.
Don’t tell me the conditions were impossible or that they ruined the spectacle. And don’t tell it to the 39,523 people, it is still hard to believe the size of the crowd, who were jammed into Wellington’s Athletic Park back in 1996.
The conditions that day were far worse than they were in Sydney last weekend, because a howling wind drove the rain, but those All Blacks played the rugby of the gods.
The past few years has seen Rugby’s world be dominated by one group of Villains that we have come to respect, hate, admire, deride, sledge and applaud. Let’s take a look at these Bad Guys and their alter-egos – whilst not forgetting that most of these guys eventually get their comeuppance. – Enjoy!
15. Ben Smith -Keyser Soze – The usual Suspects
Keyser Soze – The Usual Suspects
This is one of those moments where we are lulled into a false sense of security. The guy looks harmless enough and seems to melt into the background when surrounded by other more unsavory types. But it is with the Big reveal that things unfold and the manipulator truly emerges.
Ten tries and no penalty kicks – the opening match of the new National Rugby Championship on Thursday night was just what ARU officials had hoped for.
Brisbane City kicked off the Australian provincial tournament with an emphatic 45-20 win over the Sydney Stars at a wet Ballymore.
Despite missing Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Liam Gill, Brisbane dominated the second half as promising centre Samu Kerevi crossed for two tries and 21-year-old Queensland Reds halfback Nick Frisby controlled the game.
Injuries, rotational policy and the availability of players from suspension all played a role in Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke’s decision to make seven changes to his starting team to face the EP Kings at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
This will be the Vodacom Blue Bulls first home match in the Absa Currie Cup following two away defeats against the Golden Lions and Western Province.
Oregan Hoskins
In a statement issued on Thursday SARU said the investigator’s role will be to inquire into claims that attempts were made to influence the outcome of club league matches, as well as and any other matters that may arise out of the investigation.
“Allegations that the results of matches may have been fixed – or that an attempt was made to rig results – are very serious indeed, no matter at what level of the game,” said SARU President Oregan Hoskins.
“Rugby is built on the ethos of a fair contest and it is repugnant to our game to think that that might not be the case. Allegations have been sent to us relating to this offence and we have now appointed an independent attorney to look into them.”
The Cell C Sharks team to take on Free State at Kings Park in their Round 3 Absa Currie Cup clash on Saturday shows some changes to the pack that featured against the Pumas last week.
According to Sharks website Editor, Michael Marnewick, the backline remains completely unchanged, but among the forwards, there have been some changes, both enforced and rotational.
JC Astle has not been passed fit which means Etienne Oosthuizen reverts back to lock, opening the door for Francois Kleinhans who starts on the flank.
Upfront, Matt Steven starts ahead of Lourens Adriaanse and Dale Chadwick plays at loosehead in place of Thomas du Toit.
Trevor Nyakane
Trevor Nyakane must feeling a bit like chopped liver at the moment, or perhaps more like the dressing that retailers put in their shop windows?
Not a good look in a world that sees sports minister Fikile Mbalula brushing aside the off-side flag in his push for goals using his political football. But given that both loosehead props ahead of Nyakane are also both “Of colour”, perhaps this will be left to slide.
Beast Mtawarira, just back from a neck injury, looked to be opting out of the scrum contest last week, and as such, took an awful hammering from an Argentinean side that put their famous Bajada technique to very good use at Loftus.
Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has named his 22-man side to take on Western Province at Newlands this Saturday.
In the forwards, Willie Britz and Warwick Tecklenburg move up into the starting side, joining Derick Minnie in the loose trio. Minnie will captain the side.
Meanwhile in the backline, Ackermann has opted for consistency, selecting the same group which beat the EP Kings 60-19 at Ellis Park last Saturday.
Argentina have made two changes to the starting team for the return Rugby Championship match against South Africa in Salta on Saturday.
Centre Juan Martin Hernandez, a late withdrawal from the side defeated 13-6 in Pretoria last weekend, returns at inside centre in place of Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias.
The other change is also in the backline with Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino coming in on the right wing for Horacio Agulla.
Referee Jaco Peyper gives a yellow card to Beauden Barrett of the All Blacks during the Bledisloe Cup opener
The performance of Romain Poite in this weekend’s Bledisloe Cup re-match will be under more scrutiny than ever after provocative comments from the All Blacks and Poite’s contemporary Jonathan Kaplan this week.
Kaplan, who refereed 68 Test matches, including seven Bledisloe Cup battles to become the most experienced international referee before his retirement last year, opened the batting with a defence of Jaco Peyper, who has come under fire for his officiating of the Wallabies’ 12-12 draw in Sydney last week.
Play hard on and off the field
Pearse Egan has only played rugby since the start of 2014, but even in a matter of months he has found himself transformed by the sport.
Ever since his school days, Egan has faced discrimination for his homosexuality.
“Over the years I’ve always left every group I’ve joined. Karate, scouts, basketball – not for me. I was never able to stick with anything because I never felt a part of anything,” he said.
Nick Cummins in action for the West Red Sparks and enjoying the confines of the team bus.
The eyes of Australian rugby fans will be trained on Eden Park this weekend as the Wallabies look to make history against the All Blacks.
But half a world away, the most popular player in the code will be performing away from the public glare in a relatively low-key affair at the Umakana Yokana Stadium.
Nick Cummins and his Coca Cola West Red Sparks play their season opener against Schalk Burger’s Suntory Sungoliath on Saturday.
Brad Thorn: Still going strong at 39
Brad Thorn will continue his incredible 444-game career beyond his 40th birthday with English rugby giants, Leicester.
Meanwhile another code-hopper is preparing for his own return to action with Sonny Bill Williams hoping to return for Sydney Roosters either this weekend or next.
Williams will be hoping to sign off in rugby league – for now anyway – with a second straight NRL premiership before he returns to Hamilton to re-join Super Rugby’s Chiefs.
Both Williams and Thorn are incredible cross-code stories. But who deserves the mantle as the greatest code-hopper of all time?
Lood de Jager
The Springboks made three changes to their starting XV, with two of them effecting the line-out structures – which already appeared weak in Pretoria last week.
The line-out has long been a strength of the Boks, and a lot of this dominance in the set pieces can be attributed to the maestro that is Victor Matfield.
The veteran lock was sorely missed last weekend when the Boks’ line-out struggled, in albeit poor conditions, against the Argentineans at Loftus Versfeld.
Kiwi straight-shooter Steve Hansen says the All Blacks can lift 10 or 12 notches from their Bledisloe-opening draw but doubts whether the Wallabies can rise any further.
Hansen has reacted to the 12-12 Sydney stalemate like a loss and admitted widespread criticism of his team’s poor display was wholly warranted.
He said New Zealand needed to improve “just about everything” to continue their amazing 32-Test Eden Park streak on Saturday night.
All Black coach Steve Hansen.
It was no consolation at all to All Blacks coach Steve Hansen that a post-game meeting with last week’s referee Jaco Peyper yielded a frank “mea culpa” from the South African whistle-blower.
Hansen factored a poor refereeing performance into the contributing reasons for a sub-par All Black performance in last week’s 12-12 draw with the Wallabies in Sydney to open the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup series.
Sonny Bill Williams’ training session in Apia ended with the league star giving his shoes and socks to Toe Evile.
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson got his nickname during a mill game played in Greenville, South Carolina. Jackson suffered from blisters on his foot from a new pair of cleats, and they hurt so much that he had to take his shoes off before an at bat.
As play continued, a heckling fan noticed Jackson running to third base in his socks, and shouted “You shoeless son of a gun, you!” and the resulting nickname “Shoeless Joe” stuck with him throughout the remainder of his life.
Will a similar fate await Sonny Bill Williams? The Good Samaritan was also left shoeless after obliging a fan in Samoa.
Mike Brewer says if your name creeps up in All Black losses the big black marker comes out.
It was probably a good thing for Mike Brewer’s rugby career that the defeats that link him to Eden Park’s two remarkable All Blacks streaks happened far enough apart to escape much notice.
Brewer, the Pukekohe-born flanker who first made his name representing Otago, played 61 games — including 32 tests — for the All Blacks between 1986 and 1995.
A youthful Phil Kearns and David Campese showing off the World Cup in 1991.
According to those Wallabies who have played there, nothing is particularly forbidding about the graveyard of Eden Park. It’s not the sound of a hostile crowd, or the reverberation of the grandstand above the visitors’ dressing room.
The spookiest part for those in gold jumpers is the number: how many years it has been since Australia last beat the All Blacks at the famous Auckland ground.
Twenty-eight years… Boo!
Alan Jones coached the Wallabies in 1986, and he knew in the opening 20 minutes of the third and deciding Test of the series that his Wallabies were about to carve out their own slice of Bledisloe Cup history.
“I knew they would throw the kitchen sink at us,” Jones recalls. “I picked up that vibe by my contacts around the pubs and so on.”
Referee Chris Linwood from UAE during a match officials’ session at TOP in Stellenbosch
One of the key presentations at the IRB’s Talent Optimisation Programme (TOP) in Stellenbosch, South Africa, recently was entitled “Where is rugby going?” and it’s a safe bet that the simple answer to that question is “onwards and upwards”, in no small way thanks to courses such as this one.
The ninth edition of the TOP just concluded, hosted for the eighth time by the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport, about 50km east of Cape Town, and situated in an historic rugby centre. It targets coaches, trainers and match officials from unions that don’t have their own high-performance programme.
From the fringe to centre stage, Ryan Crotty will start his first test for the All Blacks in Saturday’s rematch with the Wallabies at Eden Park.
After seven cameos from the bench in the past 12 months, which included scoring the match-winning try against Ireland to seal last year’s prefect season, Crotty now gets the chance to push his case in a big occasion.
Juan Smith will complete a remarkable return to international rugby when he runs out for the Springboks against Argentina in Salta on Saturday, in the Springboks’ second Test of The Rugby Championship (kick-off 21:40 SA Time).
Smith’s inclusion at flank is one of three changes to the starting 15, with a further four changes on the bench.
Gurthrö Steenkamp (prop) and Eben Etzebeth (lock) will start in the tight five, with Tendai Mtawarira and Bakkies Botha moving to the bench. Marcell Coetzee will join them amongst the replacements after coming in as a late substitute for the injured Willem Alberts last weekend.
IT starts at Auckland airport customs and grows from there.
When Wallaby great Tim Horan closes his eyes and thinks of the infamous Eden Park curse, he recalls an aura that assaults your senses long before you lace on your boots.
“It starts from the time you arrive at customs in Auckland,” Horan said of Australia’s winless streak there since 1986.
In a bid to add more grunt up front, the EP Kings coach Carlos Spencer has made four changes to the pack for Saturday’s Currie Cup match against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria.
“We have brought back players like Steven Sykes and Darron Nell to add some physicality up front – which is something we lacked against the Lions and really need against this Bulls outfit,” Spencer said on Wednesday.
Head coach Allister Coetzee has named an unchanged line-up for Saturday’s top-of-the-log Absa Currie Cup clash between DHL Western Province and the Xerox Golden Lions at DHL Newlands (kick-off 17:05 SA Time).
Hookers Tiaan Liebenberg (back) and Scarra Ntubeni (calf muscle) remain sidelined, meaning Stephan Coetzee continues in the No 2 jersey with Neil Rautenbach again warming the bench.
Brendan Venter
While the atrocious weather conditions played a significant role in a low-scoring affair at Loftus Versfeld, I believe Argentina underlined their notoriety as the most negative side in world rugby in every single area of play.
Not only were they cynical in conceding a plethora of penalties, the way they scrummed, contested the line-outs and mauls, and the number of off-the-ball incidents – in my view the most cowardice of acts – was infuriating to behold.
I would suggest that the underhand tactics employed by the visitors during the match were entirely pre-planned, with talk of embracing a new era and playing “more rugby” a well-rehearsed ruse.
Tony Johnson
I’m not sure I can remember a game from South Africa in which it rained so heavily. We get a fair bit of that in New Zealand, but Pretoria? Is this global warming in action?
And Sydney turned on a bit of a shocker for the first Bledisloe Cup test, contributing to an error-ridden, penalty infested stalemate.
The Springboks will be happy to get out of a tricky game with a win, and they’re the only team to have one of those right now!
In the 1980’s people sat spellbound in front of their television screens watching a show called MacGyver. Every week the hero would somehow find himself in a predicament and escape using sparse items in the process.
It would seem as if Blue Bulls loosehead prop MacGyver Dean Greyling has lived up to his name this week after he was suspended for only one week when he was found guilty of foul play in the Currie Cup match between the Blue Bulls and the Golden Lions on Saturday 9 August in Johannesburg.