Referees
Queensland Reds coach Ewan Mckenzie has selected a strong squad for his team’s first pre-season match against the Crusaders on Saturday, January 29 in Cairns.
The Lions will head to Cape Town for the Neo Africa Tri-series against the Stormers and Sharks without Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies.
Bulls flanker Derick Kuün will captain the Bulls in their 1st pre-season friendly against the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Springboks Bjorn Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle will have to wait a while longer before they know their fate in the ongoing doping saga.
Chilliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson will face a SARU judicial committee at 09h00 this morning. Continue reading
Failure to plan is planning to fail, or so the old saying goes.
Springbok Sevens’ coach Paul Treu has made four changes to his squad for the Sevens World Series tournaments in Wellington and Las Vegas, the SA Rugby Union said on Monday.
Analysis of the new Super Rugby format shows that the new format could favour Australia as they have two of the newest Super rugby teams in the Rebels and the Force.
The new Super Rugby format has the 15 teams split into conferences which are geographically based. In short, the teams have been split into three pools – one for each country.
He may not be ready for the warm-up fixture against the Lions at Newlands on Friday week, but the chances are good that Jaque Fourie will be opposing the same opponents when the Stormers start their Super Rugby campaign on 26 February.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee may already know the answer, but he is not about to make public his choice as back-up flyhalf to Springbok Peter Grant.
Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe could be ruled out for the start of the new Super Rugby season, the first big blow for new head coach Richard Graham.
Businessman and now part owner of the Lions rugby union, Robert Gumede, spoke to Jacques van der Westhuyzen about his vision for the Lions.
232 SAFFAS PLAYED ABROAD IN 2010!
New Super Rugby franchise The Melbourne Rebels are ready to unleash former Western Province and South African under-18 player JP du Plessis onto the world stage during this year’s tournament.
The Vodacom Bulls will continue to play matches in stadiums built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.
Vodacom Bulls scrumhalf, Francois Hougaard, will be out of action for four weeks after picking up a foot injury in training.
The Cheetahs still have not registered an overseas victory in five seasons of Super rugby, but they will lay that ghost to rest in 2011.
To coincide with our countdown of Rugby’s Most Influential People, we thought we would offer up some additional rankings in the form of a series of ‘Top 5s’.
21 August 1976 – NTVL 29 / All Blacks 27
Uncle Piet and hypocritical Thys had the All Blacks pretty worked up after the Northern Transvaal game. There were several incidents during and after the game but the cherry on the cake, for the All Blacks, was the way referee Piet Robbertse and NTVL captain Thys Lourens conspired to cheat them out of a victory in extra time. Continue reading
The Sharks are making the best of the time they are spending at the Bafokeng Sports Campus in Phokeng and look set to return to Durban in great shape for the Vodacom Super Rugby tournament, coach John Plumtree said on Thursday.
Springbok wing Bjorn Basson will attend Monday’s hearing in Cape Town with a bitter taste in his mouth. Continue reading
Boland flyhalf Elgar Watts has an ideal opportunity to claim a Stormers spot, following the news that Springbok Peter Grant won’t be back from Japan in time for the pre-season tri-series. Continue reading
While Richie McCaw has been awarded a two-week holiday pass from the Super 15, Brad Thorn will be expected to slap on the body armour for the Crusaders’ first match, against the Blues at Eden Park on February 19.
Player management in this, a World Cup year, is once again in the spotlight. And the three-time defending champion Bulls seem to have the perfect blueprint on the subject.
The two-time champion Brumbies were dealt a cruel blow, both to their player resources and leadership corps, with Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom ruled out of the early rounds of the expanded Super Rugby competition.
Former Springbok assistant and Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has warned of an impending catastrophe if teams do not get their planning right for this year’s Super Rugby competition.
Lions coach John Mitchell has confirmed Franco van der Merwe will captain the team
Doppies la Grange has been named as vice-captain.
The Lions rugby team have a pleasant headache – to pick a captain for this year’s Super rugby competition.
Continue reading
Lions coach John Mitchell said the results of his team’s pre-season matches in the Newlands tri-series will be far less important than the “energy and enthusiasm” his players bring to the field.
IT WAS expected the Melbourne Rebels would be rusty and somewhat disjointed when they took on Tonga in their first trial game last night at Olympic Park. They certainly were, but in between the clumsy periods, there were some promising stanzas during their 43-13 romp.
Sharks coach John Plumtree was all but impressed about the continuous bad publicity of Springbok Captain John Smit, and that he should retire from the game coming from no other then the former national coach Jake White. Continue reading
18 August 1976 – Quaggas-Barbarians 31 / All Blacks 32
This was without doubt the most exciting match of the tour. A thriller with some fantastic tries scored right up to injury time. The All Blacks had a shocking start to the match and was trailing 31-9 with 20 minutes of the second half gone when they started their come back. It was probably only due to the spirit in which the game was played which allowed them to come back as the Baabaas never closed down the match. Nevertheless, it was an unbelievable comeback and a match which had the crowd on their feet right up to the final whistle. Continue reading
The newly-established SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) organisation based in Sydney has appointed former international referee Lyndon Bray to the new role of Game Manager.
Time is running out to have your say on who should win the IRPA Try of the Year Award 2010. Be quick though, voting closes on Monday.
According to Sharks coach John Plumtree, Springboks skipper John Smit will have shed seven to eight kilos by the time the Super Rugby season starts.
A packed calendar of events awaits those hungry to sample some rugby again. Diarise the following provisional DHL Stormers dates so that you don’t miss out.
Bulls have a tough start to the season. Losing coaches, key players injured and now management is hit by serious health issues to senior role players and their families.