Player Movements
The Brumbies have paid a dear after toppling former coach Jake White’s Sharks at the weekend.
Star wing Joe Tomane’s Super Rugby season may have come to an end, the result of a fractured cheekbone suffered in the 16-9 top-of-the-table win in Canberra.
Highlanders prop Chris King is a very lucky man to get away with a one-week ban for hitting Lions captain Warren Whiteley in the face.
King was cited for the incident, which happened in the 54th minute of Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby game between the two sides in Dunedin and received a yellow card from match officials shortly after the incident.
Crusaders and Canterbury flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal has become the latest high-profile New Zealand player to head abroad to continue his career.
He announced he will move to Ireland to play for the Munster at the end of this year.
All Blacks utility back Charles Piutau has been ruled out of next month’s Test series against England due to a knee injury.
The Rebels’ two Japanese internationals, Shota Horie and Male Sau, have jetted off to join their national side for the final two matches of their 2014 Asian Five Nations.
The tournament is the first chance for Asian nations to secure qualification for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.
On Friday night Toulouse locked horns against Racing Metro in the Top 14 playoffs for a much-anticipated game at the Stade Ernest-Wallon.
Nineteen minutes in, with Racing Metro 6-3 up, Toulouse’s centre Florian Fritz was tackled and as a result made contact with the onrushing knee of Racing Metro’s Francois Van Der Merwe.
It was a sickening blow, with the results clearly shown on television, as Fritz had blood pouring down his face and splattered on his arm. As play stopped and Toulouse’s medics tended to Fritz, it was clear he was visibly dazed. He had to be escorted off the pitch and stumbled onto the ground when he decided to walk off instead of being carried off on a stretcher.
Shane Christie has been ruled out of this weekend’s game against the Lions with a back injury that was sustained during training on Thursday.
The Cheetahs have drafted in Boela Serfontein, the older brother of Springbok centre Jan, for their Super Rugby clash against the Force in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Boela, 25, is four years older than younger brother Jan, and yet to make his Super Rugby debut.
The Welsh Rugby Union have revealed on Thursday that they will stage their first full trial match in 14 years ahead of next month’s two-Test South Africa tour.
Rob Howley will coach the Probables, with his fellow Wales assistant Robin McBryde in charge of the Possibles for a game that will take place at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium on 30 May.
England have lost Billy Twelvetrees for most of their tour of New Zealand after he sustained an ankle injury that will keep him out of action for 6 weeks.
Gloucester centre Twelvetrees sustained the ankle injury playing for his Premiership club in the first half of last week’s match against London Irish.
Former Springbok loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg has moved from French club Castres to fellow Top 14 side Oyonnax.
Wing Hanno Dirksen has signed a new three-year Ospreys contract keeping him at the Liberty Stadium until the end of the 2016-17 season.
He has been signed up ahead of the region’s final RaboDirect Pro12 clash of the season with Connacht on Saturday. Dirksen, 23, is the 13th player to re-commit to the region along with the likes of Alun Wyn Jones and Dan Baker.
Ian Humphreys is back at Ulster after the fly-half left London Irish to sign a two-year deal with his home province.
The 32-year-old former Leicester Tigers player moved from Ulster to the Exiles in 2012.
“I have loved my time at London Irish but when the unexpected opportunity to come home arose, it was a very easy decision to make,” said Humphreys. ” It’s exciting to be part of a squad that’s challenging in Europe and is at the top of the Pro12 every year.”
Lions coach Johan Ackermann has decided to “rotate” a number of players ahead of his team’s second tour match.
The Lions take on the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday in a Super Rugby Round 13 encounter and the side shows a number of changes from that which lost 8-38 to the Chiefs last week.
The most significant change is at flyhalf, where Marnitz Boshoff returns at No 10 in place of Springbok Elton Jantjies – whop drops down to the replacement bench.
Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph, has named the team to play the Lions at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.
The squad returned home to Dunedin after claiming seven points from a possible 10 following a one-point loss to the Stormers in Round 12.
Lima Sopoaga has been ruled out of this week’s clash with an ankle sprain and is anticipated to be sidelined until Round 15.
British and Irish Lions forwards Alex Corbisiero, Tom Croft and Tom Youngs will miss England’s forthcoming tour of New Zealand.
Croft and Corbisiero have recently returned to full fitness but are not yet considered ready for what is set to be a gruelling three-Test series against the world champion All Blacks.
Meanwhile Leicester hooker Youngs will miss the June campaign to help support his wife, who is having treatment for an illness.
The Sharks face the Brumbies in Canberra this Saturday and Jake White again has selected a new midfield combination as Cobus Reinach and S’bura Sithole return to the starting line-up with Heimer Williams and Charl Mcleod being relegated to the bench.
Although the centre combination of Jordaan and Sithole seems a more “explosive one” it also could backfire as new combinations always take time to settle.
Cobus Reinach starts his first match since injuring himself against the Bulls in the Sharks 5 th game of the tournament. Charl McLeod rotates to the bench, having played almost every minute of the last 5 matches.
Experienced flanker Schalk Burger will captain a much-changed and young DHL Stormers team in Saturday’s all-South African Vodacom Super Rugby Derby against the Bulls in Pretoria (kick-off 19:10 SA Time).
Coach Allister Coetzee has been forced into making 6 enforced changes to the starting line-up, with 3 players on debut in the matchday 23 – lock Jean Kleyn in the starting line-up and prop Alistair Vermaak and scrumhalf Dylon Frylinck on the bench.
There are also 6 new faces on the bench, with Steven Kitshoff (knee), Frans Malherbe (concussion), Oli Kebble (concussion), Jurie van Vuuren (shoulder), Michael Rhodes (assortment of knocks), Louis Schreuder (broken thumb), Jean de Villiers (AC Joint) and Kobus van Wyk (wrist) all dropping out with an assortment of injuries after last weekend’s 29-28 win over the Highlanders.
Former DHL Western Province favourite Schalk Brits will return to Newlands along with rising French-based star, Rory Kockott, as 2 of 6 South Africans, four of whom have played test rugby, as part of the Samsung-sponsored World XV squad for their match against Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks at DHL Newlands on 7 June.
All 6 of these South Africans play their rugby abroad and have been released by their clubs for this match.
The Crusaders have made the decision not to play Kieran Read against the Reds in Brisbane this Sunday as he continues to recover from concussion suffered against the Chiefs in Round 10.
Crusaders head coach Todd Blackadder said that, while Read is recovering well, the symptoms have not completely cleared so the coaches decided it would be preferable to make a call early in the week and take him out of contention for the next game.
The Waratahs have signed exciting winger Taqele Naiyaravoro until at least end of the 2015 Super Rugby season from NRL club Wests Tigers.
The Brumbies have re-signed Matt Toomua until the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season after he signed a three-year contract extension
Toomua is one of two players that have been signed to full-time Brumbies contracts from school and his new deal will see him playing for the Brumbies for 10 years.
Veteran Toulon flyhalf Frederic Michalak has been preferred to Montpellier’s Francois Trinh-Duc in France coach Philippe Saint-Andre’s squad to tour Australia in June.
Saint-Andre named a 31-man squad on Wednesday and once again Trinh-Duc finds himself out in the cold, with Michalak recalled as back up for first-choice flyhalf Remi Tales.
Although first choice under Saint-Andre’s predecessor Marc Lievremont, Trinh-Duc has found himself eased out of international reckoning under the new coach.
Dan Carter has put his jet-setting lifestyle to bed and is back on the training pitch as he prepares himself for a return to rugby.
The experienced All Blacks flyhalf has been using his sabbatical this year to mingle with sports and entertainment celebrities around the planet, from Elton John to Rory McIlroy.
The Sharks have suffered another injury setback as on-the-mend flyhalf Fred Zeilinga has been sent home and replaced by Jaco van Tonder.
Zeilinga injured his hamstring against the Lions at Ellis Park in Round Nine after jostling for a position at flyhalf with Tim Swiel and Frans Steyn following Pat Lambie’s departure.
Allister Coetzee says his teams susceptibility to injury this season is purely bad luck and that conditioning and other factors cannot be blamed.
With five high profile injuries coming out of the Stormers’ single point victory over the Highlanders, the Cape side are once again licking their wounds.
The Springbok Sevens will be without regular squad member Stephan Dippenaar in this weekend’s London Sevens to be played at Twickenham.
Net toe die Cheetahs se diepte begin beter lyk het, het die beseringspook weer in hul kamp toegeslaan.
Dié sentrale streekspan sal Saterdag hier in sy Superrugby-wedstryd teen die Western Force sonder die beseerde flank Jean Cook (skouer) én slot Ligtoring Landman (kuit) moet klaarkom.
Wat die terugslae erger maak, is dat dit in posisies is waar Naka Drotské, die Cheetahs se afrigter, se span reeds uitgedun is.
Boonop sukkel die vleuel Raymond Rhule (enkel) ook met ’n besering, maar kan hy volgens Drotské nog betyds herstel.
The struggling Reds have been dealt a triple injury blow, with Liam Gill, Chris Feauai-Sautia and Eddie Quirk all ruled out for multiple weeks.
Leinster have confirmed that 21 players have signed new IRFU contracts to continue playing with the province for the next season and beyond, plus the signing of prop Sean McCarthy from Jersey.
Coach Matt O’Connor made the announcement ahead of training as season ticket number sales have also now passed the 10,000 mark for next season.
The Cell C Sharks have suffered a major blow as Springbok fetcher Marcell Coetzee has been sent home and will play no further part in the tour.
Coetzee returned to Durban after suffering a tour-ending injury on Friday against the Rebels.
Loosehead prop Oliver Kebble is likely to start for the Stormers in their Super Rugby clash against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Reports that Sharks and Springbok utility back Frans Steyn is set to play in Japan after this year’s Super Rugby competition should be seen as a win-win situation.
Local media and even a pay-TV station speculated about the reported move on Friday, but the facts appear to be fuzzy and even squishy.
The Rebels may be able to call upon the services of prop Toby Smith against the Hurricanes this week, but will be without scrumhalf Nic Stirzaker.
Reds prop James Slipper and Highlanders hooker Brayden Mitchell were both handed three-week bans for spear tackles at the weekend.