Timothy Bornman
The Sharks have made numerous changes to their team to face the Cheetahs as they continue with their rotation policy.
One of the changes will see Marcel Coetzee start for the Sharks at number 6. He was release from Springbok duty and will want to prove himself.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann has made several changes to the team that lost 26-23 to the Cheetahs last week.
Ruan Pienaar seems to be the latest interest for French side Toulon.
According to reports from France it seems that Toulon is chasing Pienaar’s signiture.
Steve Hansen will be taking charge of the Barbarian side that will face Fiji at Twickenham later this year.
Australians are today mourning the death of a legend.
Edward Heinrich, who is considered a classic Wallaby, has passed away last night at the age of 73.
Nick Mallett has criticised the IRB for not taking action against poor refereeing.
Mallett, who voiced his opinion after the match is now angry at the way which the IRB has handled the situation.
With only 730 days till World Cup 2015 the pools and qualifying teams are starting to take shape.
There is still quite a few qualifying matches ahead and still a playoff series to fill all open spots.
SA seems intent on bidding to host the 2023 World Cup.
Bad news in the Wallaby camp seems to be at the order of the day.
This is turning into a year that Australia will never want to relive.
The Springboks, who lost over the weekend to the All Blacks, will feel a little undone by the result, but not all hope is lost.
It will take a big push to ensure they still win The Rugby Championship.
With the All Blacks having beaten the Springboks over the weekend, in The Rugby Championship, they have extended their lead to four points over the second placed Springboks.
It would however seem that not everything is sunny in the All Black camp though.
The Rugby Chamionship match between the Australian Wallabies and Argentinian Pumas is was a strange old battle to basically decide who was not going to receive the wooden spoon in the competition, a clash with it’s own merits and demerits. Neither team had won in the competition for the year and were desperate to pick up the first win and the game went right down to the wire.
The build-up to this match was incredible, it was so hectic that it almost seemed like this was a World Cup final, or the last match before the end of the earth.
However, after just 15 minutes of play some fans wished for the end of the world to come.
As we enter Round 6 of the 2013 Currie Cup, WP is setting the pace at the top of the Log, with 16 Log points. The Griquas find themselves in last place with 8 Log points.
The Blue Bulls last week showed us that they are still a force in the competition, even having lost many players to Europe, injury and to the Springboks. It is stil a close nit affair as the difference between current leaders WP and 5th place Blue Bulls is only 6 Log points. So, a defeat for WP could see them fall down quite a few spots. The Griquas will also need to find winning ways soon, if they were to challenge for a semi final, a defeat this weekend could put this totally out of reach and probably see them end in last place.
Tappe Henning seems to be on his way to Edinbrugh to take over Scottish refereeing.
A three year contract was signed on Monday, for Henning to become the Scottish Referee Commissioner.
In 6 games played this year in The Rugby Championship these teams have combined only managed to get 1 Log point. Here is a head to head breakdown of how the two teams compare.
These teams have met each other 19 times in the past, with the Wallabies winning 14 and the Puma’s winning 4 and only 1 draw. With the current form of these sides, a draw could not be a far fetched result in this case.
The Wallabies have scored a total of 493 against the Pumas compared to the Puma’s 287. This leaves a average score line of 26-15 in favour of the Wallabies.
Neither team has manged any wins this year, but the Pumas did manage a to get a bonus point against the Springboks in Mendoza.
The Pumas will be backing themselves for a win in Australia, coming off 2 good performances against the Springboks and All Blacks respectively.
Australia is playing their final home game in this year’s Rugby Championship before touring to South Africa and Argentina and at this stage a win is non negotiable for the Wallabies. They will attempt to trash the Pumas to earn back some respect from the Australian rugby public, as this is one their worst years in rugby history.
This is building up to be one of the classic clashes in the history of The Rugby Championship. Here is a head to head breakdown of how the two teams compare.
These teams have met each other 85 times in the past, with the All Blacks having won 48 of these encounters and the Springboks 35, only 3 draws have ever been recorded between these sides.
If history and statistics are to be believed, then it would seem that the All Blacks have the edge over the Springboks in this game, having scored a total of 1612 points against the Springboks while the Springboks have only scored 1313 points against the All Blacks. This is an average score of 19-15 in favour of the All Blacks.
The Springboks also have the highest success rate of all other teams against the All Blacks, by winning 40% of the encounters between these sides.
The largest winning margin by the All Blacks over the Springboks was 36 points and the largest winning margin by the Springboks was 17.
This however looks like the year of the BOK and if the Springboks can keep up to their form of late they could beat the All Blacks over the weekend. This is always as massive clash and the table is set for yet another massive clash.
It seems that no agreement could be reached to ensure the future of the ERC.
This sees the breakaway of English and French clubs at the end of the current season.
English and French clubs are threatening to break away from the European Cup.
The ERC board will be meeting on Wednesday to discuss a new deal to ensure the future of the European Cup.
With the victory by the Springboks over Australia at the weekend, the gap between the Springboks and the All Blacks on the IRB World Rankings has been closed to only 2.7 points.
At the start of last week the points gap was 4.35 and after the match on Saturday only 2.7.
Schalk Burger has been set to resume training today after a long term injury.
He recently underwent minor tendon surgery which delayed his return.
This would a be a year the Sharks would like to forget as they have been plagued with injuries and it seems that their injury woes are not over yet.
It would seem the newest victim is 34 year old lock Marco Wentzel, who suffered a shoulder dislocation. There has been no time frame linked with his recovery.
The Wallabies have brought in two Waratahs forwards to bolster the squad, in the form of Dave Dennis and Sitaleki Timani.
They have been called up as replacements for the injured James Horwill and Jake Schatz, who will be sidelined for six weeks with injuries.
In the NPC match between Southland and Waikato in Invercargill, props from both sides, Jamie Macintosh (Southland) and Ben Tameifuna (Waikato), were cited for stamping, with Judicial hearings on Tuesday.
On Saturday the Springbok women’s team booked their place at the 2014 IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup, by beating Uganda 63 / 3 in East London.
By beating Uganda they did not just qualify, they also achieved the biggest victory margin ever by a Sprinbok women’s team.
The Blue Bulls have confirmed that scrumhalf Ruan Snyman has been released with immediate effect to join his new club Racing Metro in France.
The transfer fee has already been paid and Snyman will be able to play as soon as he is selected.
With All Black captain Richie McCaw potentially ruled out for the rest of The Rugby Championship, coach Steve Hansen has called up Crusader flanker Matt Todd.
The hype building up to this match was big and the result as well especially if you support the Springboks. They dominated from the word go and also built the lead from early on. The match started at a huge tempo and held that most of the match, giving fans a great match to watch. The scoring of the match started slow with the Springboks scoring a early try but the Wallabies stayed in touch with penalties.
The end result of 38 – 12 in favour of the Springboks and a bonus point to boot has moved the Springboks 1 Log point clear at the top of the Log, 1 point ahead of the All Blacks, who they will be facing next weekend.
The All Blacks managed a win as expected over the Pumas, but it was far from convincing. The weather played a big part here as it rained for about 70% of the match. This contributed to the large amount of handling errors and lack of running.
The end result of 28 – 13 for the All Blacks and no bonus points, favoured the Springboks more over this past weekend, as they now top the Log with 1 point more than the All Blacks. Argentina still find themselves in third place ahead of struggling Australia and with their next match in Australia will most probably back themselves for a win.
It would seem Springbok fans don’t allow too much margin for error when it comes to rugby.
Are Springbok fans putting too much pressure on rugby players to perform at 150%, week in and week out.
Pat McCabe is looking to make a return to Super Rugby next year and get back on the test radar.
After re-fracturing his C1 vertebra in June and the second time since November last year he has been cleared to start running and will most likely join the Brumbies in their pre-season training.
As we enter Round 5 of the 2013 Currie Cup, there is still no clear indication as to who is the favourite team to win it this year.
The Sharks currently set the pace with 14 Log points, but they are closely followed by 2nd place Free State Cheetahs and 3rd place Western Province both on 12.
Can Western Province take the crown two years in a row and / or can the Blue Bulls still make a great comeback. Only time will tell!
On Wednesday last week SARU announced that ASICS will be the new apparel sponsor of the Springboks as well as other associated national teams.
A six year deal was signed running from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2019, spanning over the world cup in England 2015 and in Japan 2019.
In anticipation for this weekend’s clash between the All Blacks and the Pumas, here is a head to head breakdown of how the two teams compare.
These teams have met each other 16 times in the past, with the All Blacks not having lost once against the Pumas, there is however 1 draw between these teams but this was way back in 1985 with a final score of 21-21, which ironically is also the highest ever score posted by a Puma side against the All Blacks.
The All Blacks score a average of 43 points per match vs the 13 of the Pumas. So an average result of 43-13 in favour of the All Blacks sounds like a very accurate prediction. The All Blacks will be firm favourites to take this one and there is no evidence to suggest otherwise.
In anticipation for this weekend’s clash between the Springboks and the Wallabies is a head to head breakdown of how the two teams compare.
These teams have met on 76 previous occasions with the Springboks winning 55% of these clashes and these teams have only once played a match that ended in a draw.
Since 2010 the Wallabies have managed to beat the Springboks in 6 out of 8 games. This is building up to be a big clash once more as the Springboks haven’t lost a game in The Rugby Championship this year, whilst the Wallabies haven’t managed any wins.
What makes this clash even more interesting is that the Springboks have never beaten the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium, so it would seem that the Wallabies have the edge in this clash. Having said that, the Springboks are coming off two wins, so maybe they can end their losing streak at Suncorp Stadium.