Player Movements
Reds and Wallabies flyhalf, Quade Cooper has done it, he has won his 2nd boxing fight by defeating former cage fighter, Warren Tressider, on Wednesday with a TKO in the 4th and last round of their fight.
All Black captain Richie McCaw may be moved around by the Crusaders this season, according to coach Todd Blackadder.
It appears Matt Todd is the preferred choice at No 7 for the Crusaders and when he returns from a chest injury next month, McCaw may well be wearing another number on his back.
All Black Brad Thorn is “helping” with the conditioning of the Highlanders and may turn to coaching.
Hurricanes head coach Mark Hammett has named his 27-man team to face the Blues in Masterton this Saturday.
The Vodacom Bulls have announced both their sides to face the Golden Lions in the curtain raiser and the DHL Stormers in the main game on Saturday in Polokwane.
The DHL Stormers have also announced their side to face the Vodacom Bulls in the main game.
Ma’a Nonu admitted that the Blues fans may not embrace him after his highly publicised walk-out on the franchise in 2012.
The return to action of the veteran midfielder, who re-joined the Blues squad this week along with the rest of the All Blacks, will be delayed by an injury.
Alun Wyn Jones will captain defending champions Wales in their Six Nations opener against Italy on Saturday, with Sam Warburton on the bench, the Welsh Rugby Union announced on Tuesday.
Southern Kings coach Robbi Kempson is hoping the experience and bulk of prop Charl du Plessis will help their scrumming performance when they take on the Lions in a Super Rugby warm-up match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday (kick-off 17:00).
In their opening friendly against the Cheetahs last week, which the Kings lost 36-21, Kempson was not impressed with the pressure placed on the home forwards and was planning for a better showing against the Lions.
Scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius is back and will play in the Cheetahs’ pre-season game against the Pumas in Parys on Saturday, according to reports.
Kurtley Beale is eager to prove a point against the Melbourne Rebels in a Super Rugby pre-season match on Saturday, but it has nothing to do with getting one over the club who released him.
With Israel Folau all but guaranteed to line up at fullback for the Waratahs in round one of Super Rugby, Beale and Bernard Foley have been left to fight it out for the flyhalf position.
This weekend sees the only Vodacom Bulls warm-up fixture in preparation for Super Rugby in 2014. The Bulls play the DHL Stormers in Polokwane.
In an interesting twist, the Bulls will also use the curtain raiser game between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Golden Lions as part of their Super Rugby preparations, with a strong side which closely resmbles their Currie Cup side, to face the 2nd string Golden Lions outfit. This Bulls side will include the likes of Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf, Handré Pollard at flyhalf and a number of Bulls players who will see enough Super Rugby time in 2014.
The Stormers have announced a 26-man squad which will travel up to Polokwane to face the Bulls in a Super Rugby warm-up fixture on the weekend.
In addition it appears that the Stormers are still open to contract a ‘Big Wing’ to alleviate their shortcomings and lack of size and stature of their current back three.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann will bring out most of his big guns for their second Super Rugby pre-season outing.
The Lions, who return to Super Rugby in 2014 after sitting out last year, head to Port Elizabeth where they will face the Southern Kings on Saturday.
David Pocock will make his return from injury when he leads the Brumbies in their pre-season clash with the Highlanders in Queenstown this weekend.
Highlanders’ head coach, Jamie Joseph, has named an inexperienced starting XV to play the Brumbies at Queenstown Recreation Ground on Friday.
Seven players in the starting XV will pull on the Highlanders jersey for the first time, namely; Craig Millar, Gareth Evans, Lee Allan, Tom Franklin, Richard Buckman, Winston Stanley and Patrick Osborne.
He may have a long way to go, but former Rugby League star Benji Marshall has set his sights on eventually playing for the All Blacks.
The talented new Blues recruit is set to take his first steps on that journey when the Auckland franchise face the Hurricanes in a pre-season friendly this weekend, but he has made it clear that the ultimate goal is to play Test rugby for New Zealand.
French Top 14 club Perpignan are reportedly hunting the services of retired Springbok flyhalf Butch James and possibly Gary van Aswegen of the Stormers.
The DHL Stormers look set to play without a few of their players in the warm-up game in Polokwane (Pietersburg) this weekend, due to injury.
Brok Harris, Manuel Carizza, Jaco Taute and De Kock Steenkamp are not available to play on the weekend.
As the Super Rugby season draws nearer, the teams will be trying to get their injury lists as short as possible, to go into Super Rugby with real war machines.
At the Bulls it was last weak feared and speculated that the Bulls would go into the Stormers warm-up with 3 key players not available. That fear is now eased with the news that only one player, Morné Mellet, won’t be ready to play on the weekend.
The Bulls also expressed their confidence in their all-round props after last year’s Super Rugby season saw them struggle in the scrums at times.
Hurricanes wing and centre Alapati Leiua is believed to have signed a three year deal with London Wasps that will see him moving to England after the Super Rugby season.
Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo says the injury he sustained against Saracens is not as serious as initially feared.
New Zealand were dealt a big blow ahead of their home leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.
The Kiwis, who lost to South Africa in the Cup Final at the Las Vegas leg at the weekend, will be without the services of Sam Dickson, who was handed a nine-game ban for eye-gouging in their final pool match against Fiji.
Springbok lock Bakkies Botha faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he suffered a fractured forearm in Toulon’s 10-23 Top 14 loss to Brive on Saturday.
After winning the Currie Cup final and acquiring the services of World Cup winner Jake White as their director of rugby, most of the attention in the build-up to the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season has been hogged by the Sharks, but the Stormers claim they prefer it that way.
This time last year, on the basis that they were the reigning domestic champions and had also won the South African Super Rugby conference in both years of the new format, the talk was all about the Stormers. There was an air of expectation in the Cape, and even outside of the region there were rugby people installing the Stormers not only as conference favourites, but also a good bet to win the competition for the first time.
Experienced flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc was on Saturday called into the France squad for next weekend’s Six Nations opener against England after Remi Tales was forced to withdraw with an arm injury.
Wales captain Sam Warburton has ended speculation about his future by signing a national contract with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).
Warburton’s salary will be paid by the WRU but he will continue to play for Cardiff Blues and will be released for games outside his Wales duties at no cost to the region.
Sometimes it seems you have only to say things are going better for events to make you look a fool. Last Saturday I wrote that Edinburgh’s coaches had successfully tightened up their defence, and then their team concedes six tries to Munster.
Jonny Gray will turn out in the RBS Premiership this afternoon, which will delight Currie but has annoyed opponents Aberdeen GSFP after they were denied the use of their talented young lock due to Scotland under-20 selection.
Natal Sharks director of rugby Jake White thinks his team’s game against Saracens could lead to regular club matches between English and South African sides.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Friday that a group of 17 players had been contracted for the 2014 Springbok season – completing the process earlier than at any time for a number of seasons.
The signing of seven players to new Springbok contracts was completed in the past week to add to the ten players who agreed long-term contracts in 2013. Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU, confirmed that there was scope to contract additional players if the coach wished.
The seven newly-contracted players are Marcell Coetzee (loose forward), JJ Engelbrecht (centre / wing), Francois Hougaard (scrumhalf), Patrick Lambie (flyhalf / fullback), Willie le Roux (fullback / wing), Coenie Oosthuizen (prop) and Flip van der Merwe (lock).
London Wasps have moved to bring in experienced Australian scrumhalf Brett Sheehan until the end of the season.
Following Jack Moates’ injury earlier this year, Dai Young has added to his options at No.9 with the signing of Sheehan from the Western Force until the end of the 2013 / 2014 season.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter will make a welcome return to Loftus Versfeld next week after signing a two-year deal to return to the Vodacom Bulls ahead of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament.
The Vodacom Bulls will be without three of their regulars when they take on the DHL Stormers in their only pre-season match in Polokwane on 1 February.
The Bulls will be missing the likes of Springbok Arno Botha, prop Morne Mellett and lock David Bulbring for the game, after the medical team decided to withdraw them from the clash ahead of a long and tough season that lies ahead.
Western Province and Stormers forward Michael Rhodes was cleared of further sanctions on Thursday, after being cited for a dangerous tackle in the Currie Cup Final against the Sharks in Cape Town last season.
British and Irish Lion fullback Leigh Halfpenny has signed for European champions Toulon with the deal expected to be made official later on Thursday, the Daily Telegraph reported.