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Cape Town – Pay-channel SuperSport has responded after Western Province and Lions fans were upset that their teams’ Currie Cup games will not be shown live this weekend.
Scheduling of games in the premier all-domestic competition has been affected by the clash on Saturday with the Rugby Championship Test between the Springbok and Wallabies at Newlands (17:05 kickoff), meaning that two Currie Cup games are down for Friday and another pair on Saturday.
Chris Robshaw
It is 8 November.
England are about to tackle the All Blacks at Twickenham.
For captain Chris Robshaw, matchday starts with a lie-in; he has his own room due to his thunderous snoring. Then comes breakfast, a massage and some physio if required before the forwards go through a couple of plays while the backs play a passing game.
The Springbok starting line-up to face Australia shows three changes, with Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje and Francois Hougaard included for Saturday’s fifth round Test in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship at DHL Newlands in Cape Town.
Francois Louw’s injury means a positional switch for Marcell Coetzee in the starting team. There is a further four changes on the bench, with Cobus Reinach in line to make his Springbok debut alongside the experienced trio of Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger and JP Pietersen.
Regrets: Former England manager Martin Johnson.
England legend Martin Johnson has finally broken his silence on the team’s World Cup embarrassments off the field in New Zealand, saying he lamented the way “rugby got dragged through the mud”.
Under Johnson’s command as coach, England’s 2011 campaign lurched from one disaster to another including: drunken players involved in a dwarf-throwing competition in a Queenstown bar, Mike Tindall being photographed with an ex-girlfriend, inappropriate comments being made to a female hotel worker, and Manu Tuilagi jumping off a ferry into Auckland’s harbour.
Let me start off this week’s SuperBru thread by saying “Thanks for nothing, Sharks!”
Typical of the Cell C Sharks, play like plonkers for most of the Currie Cup, but then turn it on just in time to mess up everyone’s GSP.
After losses to the Steval Pumas and then at home to the GWK Griquas, not many gave them a chance at Loftus. Well done to the Sharks though, but it must be added that the Blue Bulls looked like plonkers on Saturday.
The Pumas are looking to take down one more “big” team in their quest to obtain a playoff spot which will, ultimately, make for a successful season.
The Mbombela Stadium has become a fortress for the Nelspruit side as they are yet to be beaten at the venue in the campaign and coach Jimmy Stonehouse is hoping to keep it that way.
The great Colin Meads
Richie McCaw will add another line to his long list of achievements on Saturday by matching Colin Meads as the most capped All Black ever.
The New Zealand captain will equal Meads’ record of 133 All Black appearances in La Plata against Argentina, in what will be his 132nd Test.
McCaw’s only non-Test appearance for the All Blacks came in 2009 when he captained the side against the Barbarians.
By contrast Meads, whose New Zealand career lasted 14 years from 1957-71, earned just 55 caps for his country, but featured a further 78 times for New Zealand.
Khaya Majola
Khaya Majola will start at flank for the Sharks when they host the EP Kings in a Currie Cup clash at Kings Park on Saturday.
Majola, a former SA Under-20 player, takes over the openside role from Jacques Botes, who was ruled out with a SC joint injury. It will be Majola’s first Currie Cup start.
Forwards coach Paul Anthony says they expect a tough game.
“We have to play well and have a good game, we have to man up defensively and we just have to keep winning,” Anthony said via a statement released to the media.
A former high-ranking Australian rugby union official once remarked: ‘that the best thing about South Africa was QF 64′. In other words, the flight home!
The comment, which was made within the earshot of several players, drew a laugh at the time; but it also probably served to sum up why the Wallabies haven’t been as successful in the Republic during the professional era as they should have been.
Simply, the country intimidates.
Storming Brumbies winger Joe Tomane makes his long-awaited return to Test rugby in three changes to the Wallabies’ starting line-up for their clash with South Africa.
Tomane was named on the wing alongside 97-Test veteran Adam Ashley-Cooper, who has recovered from a neck injury, while Queensland hooker Saia Fainga’a was given the nod ahead of Reds teammate James Hanson.
Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers answered questions posed by the public.
Mark Fleming asked: Where are you working now?
Peter de Villiers: At UWC as their director of rugby. To date, my role has mostly consisted of putting structures in place and upskilling the coaches. The biggest tasks were getting the coaches to buy into something that didn’t previously exist and making the players believe in themselves.
Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mohoje looks on during Springbok training
The player at the centre of a race storm surrounding the Springboks says he has no choice but to ignore the controversy created by his selection.
Rookie breakaway Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje was named ahead of 71-Test veteran Schalk Burger to start against the Wallabies this weekend and was thrust headlong into a fierce debate over the politics surrounding rugby in South Africa.
Five starting changes evoke visions of a drastic overhaul and yet there is strength in key areas for the All Blacks this week.
Beauden Barrett’s combination with Malakai Fekitoa attracts most interest in Sunday’s test against the Pumas in La Plata for its rookie status.
There will be nerves about Fekitoa being thrown in the unfamiliar second five-eighth role to fill Ma’a Nonu’s absence, but Barrett and centre Conrad Smith should do enough to guide him through his third test start.
Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mahoje
A racial row has erupted in South Africa on the eve of the Wallabies’ showdown with the Springboks.
A selection battle between rising Cheetahs star Teboho “Oupa” Mohoje and World Cup winner Schalk Burger has pitted sections of the South African media against Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer.
The battle was eventually won by Mohoje, with Burger selected on the bench for the Test.
Heyneke Meyer
Even as he spoke at Wednesday’s press conference here, a stiff north-wester – so often the city’s rain-preceding wind – howled and dark clouds engulfed Table Mountain, not from the end that characterises the trademark lilywhite summer “tablecloth”.
Yet a notably recurring theme from Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer was his wish for a precipitation-free Castle Rugby Championship Test match against the Wallabies at Newlands on Saturday.
Money troubles – the Kenya Sevens team
Kenya has dropped ten players from their squad for the IRB world series opening tournament in Australia in a dispute with the national board over pay and contracts.
The players, including wingers Collins Injera and Horace Otieno and back-rower Biko Adema, were reportedly unhappy that the board had agreed to draw up performance-driven contracts without consulting them.
Brendan Venter
Having suffered back-to-back away defeats – albeit by narrow margins – the Springboks’ chances of winning the Rugby Championship are now balanced on a knife’s edge.
While home ground advantage should offer the Springboks some solace, from personal experience, pressure is magnified on home soil.
The expectation is that the Springboks should beat the Wallabies comfortably at Newlands on Saturday, and I feel that’s a horrible position for a team to find itself in.
Tony Johnson
The All Blacks had a mantra through the last World Cup, one that has continued to serve them well.
“Expect the unexpected and deal with it” was a change of philosophy after years of striving to leave no stone unturned in the quest for a perfect preparation.
Somewhere along the way they realized that planning to have the best players in the best shape, and the team functioning tickety-boo on the day was unrealistic. It became more about embracing pressure and expectation, and being able to adjust when things inevitably go wrong.
Dylan Hartley
When the World Cup kicks off in a little under a year’s time, England will have played all but one of the other nine sides in the top ten of the current IRB World Rankings. Psychologically, it is a huge 12 months for next year’s hosts.
In the past few seasons, they have made huge strides in the right direction – but they are not the finished product yet.
Springbok defense coach John McFarland.
In the years of the old Tri-Nations competition competed for by South Africa, New Zealand and Australia it was universally agreed that the Springboks were at a disadvantage because of the travel schedule.
That may not have changed now that the premier southern hemisphere competition has morphed into the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
At least that is the view of Bok defence coach John McFarland, who believes that the South Africans have it tough in being the only side in the new competition, which now also includes Argentina, who have to play three consecutive matches away.
Seabelo Senatla
The good news for DHL Western Province fans is that explosive winger Seabelo Senatla, who has been missed by the Cape side during his injury enforced absence, will be back for the play-off rounds of the Absa Currie Cup.
Senatla has linked up with the Springboks during their build-up to Saturday’s test match against Australia at Newlands for the purpose of picking up experience that could come in useful later in his career.
He has been unable to train, but according to Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts he is being monitored by the Bok Sevens medical team. He is in the final stages of rehabilitation from his ankle injury and will soon be back on the field.
Corne Krige
Naturally there has been plenty to discuss since New Zealand defeated the Springboks in Wellington and Australia grabbed their second win of the Championship over Los Pumas.
One man though has stolen the headlines since Aaron Cruden’s ill-advised late night drinking session caused him to miss the flight to Buenos Aires.
His two-match suspension is completely the right call in the eye of Krige, who described his actions as “bordering on criminal.”
Beauden Barrett
After being effectively handed the All Blacks’ No 10 jersey for the next two tests against Argentina and South Africa by Aaron Cruden’s surprising time-keeping lapse, Beauden Barrett’s biggest priority in the short term is his goalkicking.
That part of his game was lacking in his first and only test start at first-five – against the Pumas in Napier recently – when he kicked only one from five shots at goal, a poor return which could have been costly.
Major adjustments are not a familiar theme with the All Blacks but that’s exactly what the backline confronts in Argentina this week.
Under Steve Hansen, a consistent selection policy has prevailed. Players must earn their respective chances, or wait for injury to open the door.
This week Aaron Cruden’s ill-advised bender and a lack of depth at second five-eighth will force two serious changes to the inside backs.
Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith
Conrad Smith has spoken highly of his midfield partnership with Ma’a Nonu after the pair equalled the world record for caps as a midfield combination in New Zealand’s 14-10 win over South Africa earlier this month.
Sadly, the broken arm suffered by Nonu during the first half in Wellington means they will have a long wait before getting the opportunity to improve on the 55-Test landmark shared with Irish centres, Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy.
Victor Matfield wins a lineout ahead of an Australian rival in Perth two weeks ago.
South Africa’s aggressive new breakdown tactics will leave them exposed to penalties and short on tacklers out wide, the Wallabies believe, while Australia’s forwards coach Andrew Blades has taken aim at Victor Matfield for trying to manipulate referees.
The Wallabies woke up in Cape Town to headlines of their scrum “tricks” and articles suggesting they manipulated referees into giving them penalties rather than earning them.
And still ringing fresh in their ears is Matfield’s comments after his side lost 24-23 in Perth three weeks ago, in which he questioned the legality of the Wallabies’ tactics in stopping the Boks’ rolling maul.
Blades brushed off the barbs as Australia prepares to face South Africa this weekend at Newlands, where they have not won since 1992.
DHL WP, the 2012 Absa Currie Cup winners and 2013 finalists, will take on the Steval Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium with vice-captain Pat Cilliers back at tighthead prop and Brok Harris moving down to the bench.
Scrumhalf Nic Groom and utility back Michael van der Spuy will join Harris on the bench this week, with coach Coetzee once again reverting to a more traditional four / three split (forwards / backs) amongst his replacements.
Springbok defense coach John McFarland
The Springboks want to keep the Wallabies guessing over who will fill the blindside flanker’s role for them in Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash at Newlands for as long as possible.
The Bok team is to be announced at lunch time on Wednesday, and more clarity will probably be offered on what the starting line-up will look like in Saturday’s match when the Boks train in a session that is open to the media and public at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday.
Jan Serfontein
Jan Serfontein is hoping to see more attacking ball this weekend than he has in his first two Tests at outside centre for the Springboks.
Having played all of his rugby at No.12, Serfontein was picked outside captain Jean de Villiers in the two Rugby Championship away defeats to Australia and New Zealand which saw him make more of an impact on defence than attack.
Marnitz Boshoff
Xerox Golden Lions:
Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has named his 22-man side to take on Griquas in a Currie Cup match in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.
In the forwards, prop Jacques van Rooyen and flank Warwick Tecklenburg will both start the match after moving up from the bench.
Meanwhile, in the backline, Ross Cronje will start at scrumhalf and Howard Mnisi will come in at inside centre.
Nigel Owens
Wales’ Nigel Owens will be the man with the whistle for the Springboks’ must-win Rugby Championship Test against Australia at Newlands on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 17:05 SA Time.
In a tournament blighted by sub-standard officiating, Heyneke Meyer’s men will be hoping Owens has a controversy-free match as they look to keep their title hopes alive with a bonus-point victory in Cape Town.
Dale Steyn will slip into the best XI
Staring up from the cover of the book of ‘The 25 greatest South African cricketers of all time’ are 16 faces in black and white and nine in colour.
This book, The Selected, was written by two of the country’s most respected cricket journalists in 2007.
Michael Owen-Smith and Neil Manthorp presumably burned the midnight oil many times in providing their definitive list of the finest cricketers to have played for South Africa.
On the right track, Frans Ludeke
Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says they will keep backing their processes in order to get their game plan right.
The Bulls suffered another disappointing loss at the weekend when the Sharks beat them 26-15 at Loftus Versfeld.
Ludeke said they have no excuses for the loss and have to learn to handle the pressure situations better.
“It was especially our decision making which cost us. There were times when we needed to play tactically, but then carried the ball and lost it at the breakdowns instead,” Ludeke said.
Happy man: Rory Kockott
Castres scrum-half and new France squad member Rory Kockott has revealed that playing for Les Bleus has always been his aim.
The South African joined Castres in 2011 and has been a roaring success in the Top 14, guiding his club to two league finals and one title.
Having now qualified on residency, Kockott has been named in France’s squad for the upcoming November Tests.
There has been much speculation over the last year as to whether Kockott would play for his adopted country or be selected by the Springboks, but now his decision is clear.