Referees
SANZAR have released the match officials for the tenth Round in the 2011 Super Rugby tournament and Jonathon White starts the action on Friday.
The Sharks have been boosted by the return of flyhalf Patrick Lambie at training ahead of this weekend’s Super Rugby clash against the Hurricanes.
The Waratahs welcome back 243 caps of Super Rugby experience for Saturday’s round ten clash with the Queensland Reds at Lang Park.
Captain Phil Waugh, No.8 Wycliff Palu and centre Tom Carter have all been recalled to the starting XV as the Waratahs look to continue their winning form against Australian teams this season.
French Top 14 Rugby club Toulouse have revealed that they have signed All Black centre Luke McAlister, Wallaby scrumhalf Luke Burgess and Springbok prop Gurthro Steenkamp for next season.
Bulls back-liner Jaco Pretorius will miss his team’s Super Rugby clash with the Force due to a neck injury.
Western Province senior professional coach Rassie Erasmus will be part of the Springboks management team at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
The South African Rugby Union on Wednesday named 51 players who have been called to a national team planning session at the start of next month. The players will attend two days of meetings and logistical discussions in the first of three national camps in preparation for the international season.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry has taken a swipe at the number of New Zealand rugby players giving up on the dream to become an All Black and choosing money instead.
Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez is one of three players returning to the starting line-up of the Vodacom Bulls for their match against the Western Force in Perth on Saturday.
Martial arts have quite a number of fascinating or secret fighting strategies which are made known to the experienced or deserved practitioner. Continue reading
Peter de Villiers was quoted recently saying he will have to make some tough selection decisions in this Rugby World Cup year, the toughest of these, will be who wears the number 10 jersey.
It’s not all doom and gloom when looking towards the business end of this year’s rugby. Most of us are quite concerned about the performances of the Bulls, Lions and Cheetahs, but then we have to be honest with ourselves. Over the last number of years the Cheetahs and Lions have never really looked like world beaters and have often found themselves at the bottom of the Super Rugby tables.
I think most South Africans (except maybe Stormers supporters) are somewhat disappointed with the way our Super Rugby teams are going this year. New Zealanders (Crusaders fans excluded) are also not particularly over the moon with how their teams are performing. The Chiefs is almost bottom of the log. The Blues is somewhat better than previous seasons but far from consistent. The Canes is sort of all over the place. The Highlanders is the surprise package for the Kiwi’s but just a few injuries short off coming apart. They lack depth in the squad and everyone in Kiwiland is holding their thumbs but not expecting them to go all the way. Continue reading
For years and years rugby laws were adapted to the way players wanted to play. Recent law changes have followed that principle though it may just be that the written laws have lagged somewhat behind accepted practice. I just had to place this article, the most passionate discussions we had here was about this subject. Lets go..
Brumbies (10) 19 / Force (7) 27 (Final Score)
The Brumbies hosted the Western Force at Canberra Stadium, Canberra at 08:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
In a bland see-saw match the Western Force scored a converted try with a minute’s play left, to finally pull away from the Brumbies and leave the Brumbies 8 points in the dust and not a single bonus point earnt.
On Rugby-Talk’s live Bulls vs Reds thread I cannot recall anybody complaining about it. Now reading some of the other match reports is see a big uproar about something we never picked up or said a word about. Obstruction or obstructive running.
Cheetahs (33) 47 / Hurricanes (30) 50 (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs hosted the Hurricanes at Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Hurricanes stole the game right at the death with a long distance try in a game which was fast-paced and producing a plethera of tries.
Lions (13) 19 / Stormers (23) 33 (Final Score)
The MTN Lions hosted the DHL Stormers at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Stormers scored 3 tries, the Lions 1.
Reds (17) 39 / Bulls (13) 30 (Final Score)
The Reds hosted the Bulls at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane at 11:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Reds, with some amazing game breakers simply outscored a game Bulls side, and the Bulls were always playing catch-up rugby.
Blues (31) 31 / Waratahs (7) 17 (Final Score)
The Blues hosted the Waratahs at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Blues started like a house on fire and within half an hour had already recorded their bonus point for tries scored.
The Warayahs desperately tried to break back into the game, but fell short of any bonus points.
Rebels (6) 18 / Highlanders (22) 40 (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels hosted the Highlanders at AAMI Park, Melbourne at 11:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
The Highlanders simply blew the rebel out of the Rebels.
Chiefs (13) 16 / Crusaders (17) 34 (Final Score)
The Chiefs hosted the Crusaders at Baypark Stadium, Mt Manganui at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
The Crusaders bagged their bonus point-earning 4th try just before full time… and the juggernaut continues.
Show me one unbiased blogger, author, journalist or rugby supporter and I will show you my sister. Basically because she cares so little for the game or its players that she doesn’t even know about the All Blacks’, the Bulls’ or the Stormers’ existence. In her case then, it rarely aids in the cause, seeing as you can’t extract any useful information or opinion from her, other than… I don’t really think that yellow sign on his chest really matches the rest of the outfit, in fact the stripes look more like bars, and everyone knows VERTICAL stripes are slimming, yada yada yada yada….
Continue reading
Coach Allister Coetzee today named a match 22, to take on the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Stormers fans will cringe if they see superBul is writing an article about the Stormers. Although I had to bite hard on my tongue not to have a dig at them during this article, I started this article to prove that this might be their year.
Bryan Habana has been ruled out and will miss this weekend’s game between the DHL Stormers and the MTN Lions, due to a shoulder injury.
One feels sorry for the MTN Lions, well almost, in light of the fact that injuries are now devastating what is left of the embattled pack of scruffy monsters.
All the Globe Jet-setters might be more qualified to write an article like this. So let me try my hand on a subject I never experienced, in fact I have never left this beautiful country. Mozambique is only 200 kilometers to the East from where I live. Botswana and Zimbabwe not even 400 kilometers away, never been there. So take my words with a pinch of salt.
Bulls supporters and their enemies really climbed into the Super 14 Champion side after their humiliating defeat against the Crusaders since Saturday. The question immediately arises whether they can be back to winning ways again if Frans Ludeke decides to stick with this poor performing team? Can they play a lot better and record a win against the high-flying Reds?
Let us have a look at the team:
I wonder if those who criticised the concept of ‘head’s up rugby’ in the recent past realise that this is exactly what we are seeing from the two top teams in the Super 15? Continue reading
Tuks (16) 16 / UCT (10) 26 (Final Score)
Tukkies hosted UCT at LC de Villiers Stadium, Pretoria at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & SCN on TV in SA.
UCT kept the Tukkies scoreless in the second half, whilst they slowly caught up and then passed the Tukkies score, to eventually hold out under enormous pressure from Tukkies.
UCT are the Varsity Cup champions for 2011.
They made complaining an art form. Almost all reports of the 1976 tour -especially the fourth test- starts and ends with a grumble about the refs. The whining began round about the third match, picked-up in intensity after losing against WP and spiraled out of control after the loss against Northern Transvaal and then reached heights of stratospheric proportions after the fourth test defeat. Continue reading
While everyone is blowing off steam about the Bulls Gregor Paul published a surprising positive article about Bulls rugby in the New Zealand Herald. He reckons there are at least 10 things that can be learned from Bulls rugby going into the WC. Here are the 10 things he listed: Continue reading
For the last 7 months I have not been very active on Rugby Talk so I thought I after all this time I would frustrate you all with this article.