General
We have a number of subscribers with serious music appreciation, even the WP Moffies form Cape Town, seem to know some cool music!
So, for a Tuesday evening’s pleasure, we will discuss music… and comedy!
Rugby takes a backseat tonight as the clan gathers…
Read the rules below carefully, or you WILL get burnt!
Here’s how it works:
The Aviva Premiership is threatening to continue with their league schedule
Premiership Rugby has threatened to continue with their league programme during next year’s Rugby World Cup unless a deal can be reached with the RFU.
Tensions have been running high between Premiership Rugby and the RFU in recent months.
Premiership Rugby are upset after the RFU failed to consult them over the bid for the Rugby World Cup.
They are now seeking a compensation deal of £14 million from the RFU as they will have to shut down the league while the Rugby World Cup is taking place in England.
With the global showpiece scheduled to take place between September and October, England’s Premiership clubs will have no matchday income for five months – as the tournament finishes at the end of May – and according to projections each top tier club are set to lose £1.2 million.
Feminine side: Emily Scarratt receives the England Women’s Player of the Year award in 2013.
The hostility Emily Scarratt suffered for wanting to play rugby as a teenager was made to look even more absurd when she sealed England’s World Cup triumph last Sunday with a superb individual try.
Like the rest of her team-mates, Scarratt is only too aware of the cliches surrounding women’s rugby.
‘Leave it to the men,’ the dinosaurs say. ‘The rugby field is no place for girls’.
Joost van der Westhuizen
The Springboks have accepted the challenge:
WATCH: Springbok video here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZ_Xxx8_XY[/youtube]
Former Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen has become the latest celebrity to take the Ice Bucket Challenge, to raise funds for motor neuron disease, according to the Times Live website.
WATCH: Joost take the Ice Bucket Challenge:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntQgJXwgIoM[/youtube]
Too hot for Hilton College to handle: Glenwood in action
KwaZulu-Natal rivals Glenwood and Hilton College will no longer meet on the rugby field.
According to saschoolsports.co.za, this follows the one-sided nature of the matches between the schools this season. Glenwood’s 1st XV won 67-7, their U16s 52-0, U15s 52-0 and U14s 61-3.
“After careful consideration [we have] decided to discontinue all rugby fixtures against Glenwood High School for the foreseeable future,” said Hilton headmaster Peter Ducasse in a statement.
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.”
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.
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.
Gary Botha (L) and Ian McIntosh (R) pose with students from Waterkloof high school in Pretoria
The Webb Ellis Cup has completed its first day in South Africa as part of the fifth leg of the Rugby World Cup Trophy Tour.
On August 18 the Trophy visited Hoerskool Waterkloof in Pretoria where children from the school, along with groups from St Peters, Pretoria Technical High School and Elarduspark got to show off their Rugby playing skills in a coaching clinic which was led by former South Africa coach Ian McIntosh and Rugby World Cup 2007 winner Gary Botha.
Land Rover supports a number of schools through its South African dealer network – a total of 31 dealers who support local schools within their communities.
Schoolboy rugby in South Africa is taken very seriously, with high competitive standards. Rugby fans travelling through South Africa during rugby season should make time to see the stars of the future in action. The live entertainment and social scene at the main schoolboy derby matches will also appeal to non-rugby fans.
Joaquin Paz sparked a second-half comeback as unbeaten Buenos Aires clinched the World Club 7’s title at Twickenham over Auckland, who lost out at the final hurdle for the second year running.
Auckland were in the ascendancy after Mitch Karpik’s double but the Argentinians’ resolve throughout the weekend was also present in the final, with the deadly Paz crossing twice to secure a 26-22 victory.
Jurie Roux
Amper asof die strafregtelike-bedrog-ondersoek teen sy uitvoerende hoof nie bestaan nie, het die uitvoerende raad van die Suid-Afrikaanse Rugbyunie (SARU) Jurie Roux se kontrak eenparig met vyf jaar verleng.
Volgens Oregan Hoskins, president van SARU, het rugby se ringkoppe die bewerings teen Roux “deeglik ondersoek” en besluit om hom aan te hou.
SARU se besluit is bisar, om die minste te sê.
Dié beheerliggaam het ’n gulde kans verspeel om iemand anders aan te stel oor wie se kop nie ’n wolk van omstredenheid hang nie.
Hello Rugby-Talkers,
We have created 2 brand new SuperBru Pools for the next two big tournaments envolving South African sides.
The ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division starts this Friday, 8 August 2014 and the pool we have created is known as Rugby-Talk Currie Cup 2014.
The Rugby Championship, between the Springboks, All Blacks, Wallabies and Pumas start on 16 August 2014 and the pool we have created is known as Rugby-Talk TRC 2014.
It is always nice and adds spice to rugby-enjoyment when one has a vested right in the results of games. The rivalry between Rugby-Talk.com subscribers makes for great fun and excitement between members of out friendly community, so hurry up and join in the fun!
The 2 Pools have both been upgraded to SuperPools at SuperBru itself, giving us extended features, such as the 2 new SuperBru Widgets on the Righthand Sidebar of Rugby-Talk.com, for easy access to these pools and an abbreviated Leaderboard.
Here are the complete details:
Western Province have their fair share of exciting young talent but manager Bobby Joubert is looking to Earl Rose for that added quality at the World Club 7’s.
Rose is the experienced head among Joubert’s charges, who head to Twickenham this weekend seeking to improve on their showing at the 2013 tournament.
The 30-year-old is a veteran of Currie Cup and Super Rugby and was selected in the Springboks squad for the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2009.
Innovation and tradition is at the heart of MATCH XV, the official Rugby World Cup 2015 match ball, launched by Rugby World Cup suppliers Gilbert today.
The MATCH XV will make its debut in the English Premiership and French Top 14 later this month and will be used in top level Test matches throughout the rest of 2014 and 2015, meaning the world’s best players will have plenty of competition time with the ball.
A modern classic, the MATCH XV is the latest in a succession of balls stretching back to 1995 to be engineered by the industry-leaders specifically for Rugby’s global showpiece tournament and is packed with innovation. It is also the most-tested Gilbert ball in history.
Yes, it’s Rugby-Talk.com’s birthday today!
On 28 July 2009 a number of us packed our goodies and left the place where we previously discussed rugby, because it was’nt pleasant to discuss rugby anymore. Our discussions there was marred by terrible fighting between bloggers, by racial slurring and racial abuse and it was a shambles, to say the least.
We had our own “THING” in mind and amongst us there were 2 IT guys, myself and a chap called Ed-The Lion. We immediately started a temporary blog where a few friends continued to discuss rugby, whilst I started constructing our new home, Rugby-Talk.com.
At that stage web design was not my strong point or my expertice, but as an avid and accomplished coder, I set to work and chose the WordPress platform after proper research.
Oregan Hoskin
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has reportedly broken a confidentiality clause after CEO Jurie Roux was shown a forensic report which implicates him in fraud.
According to reports, this comes after SARU president Oregan Hoskins promised not to show the report, which belongs to the University of Stellenbosch, to any party.
The university had requested the forensic investigation after suspicious transactions between the Maties Rugby Club and the university were found.
Pictures of Crusaders rugby players on a hunting trip in South Africa are being used by an environmental organisation in its fight against what it calls canned, or joy ride, hunting.
George Whitelock, Tyler Bleyendaal, Sam Whitelock, Tom Taylor and Ben Funnell with guides on a hunt in South Africa.
It is reported that the players shown in the four pictures posted by the Landmark Foundation on its Facebook page were Tom Taylor, George and Sam Whitelock, Ben Funnell and Tyler Bleyendaal. In each picture, one or more of the players was posing beside a dead animal. The animals were a zebra, a blesbok, a gemsbok and an eland.
Hi Rugby-Talkers,
What a frustrating day and a half it was on Monday and Tuesday morning!!
Our Rugby-Talk.com Web Hosts were supposed to automatically renew and extend the DOMAIN REGISTRATION of Rugby-Talk.com… and it slipped between the cup and the lip. I was supposed to check that the renewal took place… and did’nt.
So, Murphey’s Law applied and the DOMAIN NAME officially expired on 2 August 2014, keeping the cached pages live in South Africa till morning somewhere yesterday, Monday 4 August 2014… when it disappeared on us all for a while, saying the web page is not available.
Of course I immediately jumped on the Web Hosts and were all over them, like a rash.
To say that I was livid, is probably the understatement of the century!
Bottom line is the DOMAIN RENEWAL was done, post haste, paid for in US Dollar and within hours the website was live again… in the United States… but nowhere near Africa, of course!
What happens is that DOMAIN PROPAGATION has to take effect all over the world as the NAMESERVER POINTING takes place and now has to take hold all over, with the different world ISP’s refreshing their cache at different intervals. Proper Propagation of a Website Domain often takes as long as 48 Hours, luckily we were fortunate enough to have less than 24 Hours out in the cold dark world.
The Silver Lining, I suppose, is that this happened on a Monday and not later in the week or on a game weekend.
Apologies for the inconvenience and the downtime!
The takealot.com Cape Town 10’s has announced Canterbury as the official apparel partner for the upcoming tournament taking place on the 6th and 7th February 2015 at Hamilton’s Rugby Club.
The deal will see the sports apparel brand take on a 3-year exclusive clothing partnership with the event and provide custom-designed kit and apparel to all rugby legends, rugby and netball players, staff, referees, as well as supplying pole protectors, flags and corner poles.
The choice of England as the host nation for next year’s Rugby World Cup is a fitting one, as it is of course the birthplace of the game.
There is a good sense of continuity after the 2011 edition in New Zealand, as the Land of the Long White Cloud is considered one of the sport’s great heartlands. There is a sense of the battle for the Webb Ellis Cup moving from one side of the world to the other.
The southern Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk may not be the geographical halfway point between Eden Park and Twickenham but it is not too far from it at nearly 8,000 miles from Auckland and almost 4,500 miles from London.
So, perhaps it is apt that the Russian city is to play host to the Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifier between Russia and Zimbabwe with a place in the repechage final against either Uruguay or Hong Kong up for grabs.
Net ingeval julle nie die grappige gevoel kry nie, hierdie is net ‘n grap, en nie bedoel om ernstig opgeneem te word nie!
Gister het ons n artikel geplaas van Frans Ludeke se “brief aan Oom Murray”.
Ons het egter dit net regverdig gevind om darem nie ‘n vooroordeel te wys teen die Bulls nie, so hier is ‘n “brief” wat Allister al vroeg in die Super Rugby seisoen ook aan Oom Murray geskryf het.
Geniet hom!
What lessons can be learnt from the successful German Football campaign?
As the dust settles on Germany’s recent FIFA World Cup triumph is there anything that those side’s hoping to lift the Rugby World Cup crown in England next year could learn from Joachim Löw and his all-conquering team?
Are there lessons that could prove pivotal for those sides aiming to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup in France next month?
Hi Rugby-Talkers,
Another milestone reached… 11 Million Page Impressions!
We silently slipped past the 11 Million mark on 23 July 2014 in the afternoon some time.
Recently things have been happening quickly on Rugby-Talk.com… it was just the other day when we loudly celebrated the 10 Million Page Impressions mark. These milestones are still very important as we keep growing past these milestones and set the benchmarks for other sites to follow or to admire.
Rugby-Talk.com already proudly boast 9 960 News Articles and a further 219 Web Pages, as well as 350 275 Comments.
Our audience is still growing daily and it remains a pleasure to be involved in Rugby-Talk.com and to serve and enjoy the sport we love.
Once again an ideal opportunity for us to thank all those who subscribe to as well as read Rugby-Talk.com… it is really appreciated. A special word of thanks also goes to our regular Authors here, who supply the content we all enjoy.
Keep reading and keep keep contributing!
The Brumbies have named an unchanged side for Saturday’s blockbuster Super Rugby semifinal against the NSW Waratahs.
It’s a huge boost for the underdog ACT side, who managed to survive last weekend’s bruising 32-30 knockout victory over the Chiefs in Canberra unscathed.
The past fortnight has seen a massive turnaround for the Brumbies, who only one month ago had their season put on life support when the red-hot Waratahs trounced their under-strength outfit 39-8.
Nothing beats a grudge game and the whiff of verbal cordite is swirling ahead of the Super rugby semifinal between the Waratahs and Brumbies.
The hostility is connected to the Wallabies test in Dublin last year when 15 players were disciplined for drinking and breaking curfew amid suspicions they were dobbed in by several of the Brumbies.
A number of the Tahs were intent on reprisal but bypassed any physical mischief when they easily won their round-robin contest last month 39-8. The Tahs are keen to imprint a physical message behind their determination to reach next week’s final.
Rhys Ward- 300 matches and counting
“I would never dream of playing for another club, I love this place,” says Eastern Suburbs prop, Rhys Ward, when asked about his longevity at Woollahra Oval.
The 35-year-old carves out his own slice of Beasties’ history today when he turns out for the 300th time in the tricolour jersey, becoming only the second player in the illustrious history of the club to achieve such a feat.
“And then people want to know why we take drugs, to forget the fact that we are dressed as turds, that’s why”
In rugby, like most sports, teams and athletes have had a bad playing strip or two. Individual sports that comes to mind is cycling and golf. There have been some truly terrible creations that those athletes have worn, all in the name of sponsorship and moolah.
In rugby, its generally the alternate, or so called away strip, where designers indulge in a bit too much whacky weed before sitting down in front of the drawing boards. For the most part, kits are practical and speak of tradition and history, however, there are times that the Sporting and Designing Gods sincerely fall out and abominations like the ones that appear below.
These choices of ours are by no means exhaustive and is fairly recent in it’s selection, however, if you disagree, let us know and tell us which ones you think should have made the cut.
There’s ccertainly been some strange kit in recent years!
It appears the Kit sponsors want to stamp some sort of mark on their creations, so prepare yourself for some more strange jerseys in future!
Julien Pierre should be back in training before September
Clermont have released a statement on Julien Pierre, Aurélien Rougerie and Benjamin Kayser, saying they should return to training in a month.
The trio, who were attacked in Millau by a dozen individuals “armed with machetes, knives and swords” on Saturday night, were all hospitalised.
Pierre was in the most serious condition but the club confirmed his operation was a success and that he will be back training before September.
All Black Kevin Skinner in 1953
Kevin Skinner, the All Black prop and heavyweight boxer, has died. He was 86.
Skinner made his name for Otago and was selected for the 1949 All Black tour of South Africa as a 21-year-old.
He was labelled one of the side’s successes, making up a hard-as-nails front row alongside Johnny Simpson and hooker Has Catley.
His parents might call him Eben, but I’d like to call him Ysterbeth!
Want to know more about the Etzebeth legend?
Apologies to our foreign readers as the first story was printed in Afrikaans. If you scroll down you would find another in English.
These articles were written quite a while ago and is left just as it was published, so excuse the time frames. The author of the Terminator from Parow is Jaco Kirsten, who writes for the website meneer.tv
For those readers not familiar with the legend of the Etzebeths, enjoy these stories, those of us who grew up in Cape Town, roll back the years and take a trip down memory lane.
South Africa’s fastest growing online retailer takealot.com has signed on as the official headline sponsor of the rapidly growing Cape Town 10’s for 2015. The world’s biggest 10’s tournament, now known as takealot.com Cape Town 10’s will return to Hamilton’s Rugby Club for their seven year anniversary on 6 and 7 February 2015.
Commenting on the decision to sponsor the event, Kim Reid, CEO of takealot.com said, “We are very excited to be associated with the Cape Town 10’s. It’s an event that shares similar brand characteristics to our own, being fun, young, innovative, dynamic and most importantly customer focused.”
Rugby referee and reformed “bad boy” Steve Walsh
Very seldom, before, during or after a rugby match does the spotlight not fall on the referee. Supporters of the losing team will in all probability at some stage lay the blame on the man with the whistle, it’s human nature, and not even the winning side’s supporters agree with all the decisions made during most matches. It’s the nature of the beast and referees know full well that this is one of the pitfalls of their chosen profession.
Seldom however has controversy followed a referee as it has for Steve Walsh.