Player Movements
The Cell C Sharks have named their team to take on Saracens in the friendly Sharks pre-season encounter at Allianz Park, London, England on Saturday 25 January at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT).
Quotes from Director of Rugby, Jake White
“What I enjoy about this game is that it mimics a little bit of what we can expect from the Bulls.
“Saracens play a little bit like the Bulls, they have a big pack of forwards, their set-piece is strong and they kick a lot. It gives me and the coaching staff an opportunity to see the things we want to do against the Bulls and to have an idea of whether or not we can play against the Bulls in a certain way.”
Springbok loose forward Marcell Coetzee has been withdrawn from the Sharks’ touring party for Saturday’s unique pre-season clash against Saracens in London due to injury.
Griekwas het die dienste van twee Leeus-staatmakers vir die Vodacombeker- en Curriebeker-reeks bekom.
Die haker Martin Bezuidenhout en die skrumskakel Tiaan Meyer, wat albei sterk aanspraakmakers op insluiting by die Cheetahs se Superrugby-span sal wees, sluit hulle later vandeesweek by die span in die Diamantstad aan.
Chiefs hooker Hika Elliot has been training with his team-mates but a decision on his short and long term playing future will have to be made.
The Super Rugby winning hooker has a serious neck injury which could force him into retiring from playing rugby altogether.
Blues coach Sir John Kirwan has revealed that his big name new signing Benji Marshall is likely to wear the No 10 jersey.
The Cheetahs were made to work hard for their narrow 31-26 victory over the NMMU Madibaz in Port Elizabeth on Tuesday.
It was a second-string Cheetahs side which faced the Varsity Cup outfit from the Eastern Cape, and they were pushed all the way in a tight encounter.
Long-serving Southern Kings player Darron Nell is back as captain and relishing a return to the loose forward department when his side take on the Cheetahs in a Super Rugby warm-up match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The Kings will not be involved in the Super Rugby competition this year, having lost to the Lions in a promotion playoff last year. However, they were still determined to give a good account of themselves in the pre-season clash.
Glasgow Warriors’ assistant coach Shade Munro has been named today as head coach of Scotland A for their game against England Saxons at Scotstoun Stadium later this month.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann named two 28-man sides to face the Leopards, in his team’s first Super Rugby warm-up matches.
Both games, scheduled for 16:30 and 19:00, will take place at Ellis Park on Friday.
A rolling substitution system will be in place for both matches, as the games will act as opportunities to test and assess various combinations.
Entrance to both matches is free to the public.
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Jean Cook, imported from the Bulls in the off-season, has jumped ahead of Sevens Springbok Johannes Prinsloo in the Cheetahs loose forward queue.
Cook, who started his career with the Cheetahs where he made only one senior appearance before switching to the Bulls in 2012, is set to fill the gap left by injured Bok openside flank Heinrich Brussow.
It has been confirmed that Cook will start – alongside Pieter Labuschagné and Philip van der Walt – as the Cheetahs’ first-choice loose trio against the Southern Kings on Saturday.
Western Province and Stormers forward Michael Rhodes will appear before a South African Rugby Union (SARU) judicial committee on Thursday for a dangerous tackle in last year’s Currie Cup final against The Sharks at Newlands.
Australia’s best emerging talent will compete against national representative teams from Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and Argentina in the 2014 IRB Pacific Rugby Cup (PRC).
The competition was established in 2006 to help develop rugby in Pacific nations, but for the first time in 2014, it will include the Argentina Pampas and will be held entirely in Australia.
The Scotland squad came together yesterday with head coach Scott Johnson’s first task being to re-focus minds away from Heineken Cup disappointments and on to a Six Nations Championship.
Edinburgh loose forward Cornell du Preez and Connacht duo Kieran Marmion and Nathan White have been cited after the weekend’s final round of the European Cup pool stages.
The excitement in Grant Doorey’s husky Australian voice was palpable, as the Blues assistant coach looked on while the backs ran through their attacking strike moves.
“I said the first time I had the backs group together that there wouldn’t be any backs coach in Super Rugby that was as excited as me in terms of the quality he had in his room so we’ve got real star quality across the park,” Doorey said.
Springbok fullback Willie le Roux will be rested from the Cheetahs’ two warm-up matches in Port Elizabeth this week, according to reports.
Le Roux fell on his shoulder during the Cheetahs’ warm-up game against Shimlas last week. He is not badly injured but won’t be risked for games against NMMU (Tuesday) and the EP Kings (Saturday).
France have suffered a major blow for the Six Nations as Top 14 Rugby club Toulouse have announced that their captain Thierry Dusautoir has been ruled out of the championship.
The 32-year-old flanker – capped 65 times and world player of the year in 2011 – will be out for four months after he tore a tendon in his right biceps, Toulouse head coach Guy Noves said.
English Premiership clubs will reportedly benefit from a 10 percent rise in the salary cap in an attempt to halt the exodus of players to France.
Carel Greeff is the latest Varsity Cup product looking to leave his mark in Super Rugby.
Greeff, who played loose forward for Wits University last year, is the big bolter in a 36-man Cheetahs squad that will head to Jeffreys Bay on Monday for a week-long training camp.
Jackson Willison is the latest player to ink a lucrative contract with an overseas club, signing a two-year deal with Top 14 French outfit Grenoble.
Auckland player Akira Ioane has had to withdraw from the team for the Las Vegas Sevens tournament and has been replaced by Manawatu’s George Tilsley.
Edinburgh Rugby forwards Ross Rennie and Stuart McInally will join former Scotland head coach Andy Robinson on loan to Bristol Rugby to the end of the season.
This is the 8th and last article in the series of Bulls Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the Vodacom Bulls 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
This is the 8th and last article in the series of Cell C Sharks Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the Cell C Sharks 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
This is the 8th and last in the series of Stormers Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the DHL Stormers 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
This is the 8th and last in the series of Cheetahs Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We did 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the Toyota Cheetahs 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
This is the 8th and last in the series of the Lions Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for BACK THREE in the Lions 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
It may have been a low-key pre-season outing, but the Cheetahs put all their attacking prowess on display to beat Shimlas 66-19 on Friday.
And in a later game, also at Shimla Park in Bloemfontein, Griquas accounted for the Cheetahs’ second string 21-19.
Chris Robshaw will continue as England captain in this year’s Six Nations, the Rugby Football Union said on Friday.
New Sharks mentor Jake White may know what he wants to do with Pat Lambie and Frans Steyn, but question marks remain over a few other players.
White has made known that Lambie will be his first-choice flyhalf and Steyn will play No 12.
Former Springbok and Sharks No 8, Shaun Sowerby, is set to call it a day at the end of the 2014 Top 14 season.
Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby, Jake White, on Thursday announced that Springbok hooker, Bismarck du Plessis, will captain the Cell C Sharks in 2014.
Regarded as one of the best hookers in the world, Bismarck has been colossal figure for the Cell C Sharks over the years. With 103 Vodacom Super Rugby appearances to his name, he is a player who leads by example and is well respected by the team.
New Zealand will be without the services of star playmaker Tomasi Cama when they take part in the fourth leg of the IRB Sevens World Series in Las Vegas.
Cama suffered a calf injury in training and will not depart with the team on Sunday – ahead of the Vegas tournament on 25 January and 26.
This is the 7th article in the series of Bulls Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for MIDFIELD in the Vodacom Bulls 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
This is the 7th article in the series of Cell C Sharks Squad Contenders for Super Rugby 2014. We do 2 articles per week per South African Super Rugby participating franchise.
We discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for MIDFIELD in the Cell C Sharks 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.