SA Rugby
The Mandela Plate that is on the line this Saturday.
The Australian backline has a better balance but is it still one Waratah short? And which under-fire forward pack will bounce back – the Wallabies or Springboks?
The battle for the Mandela Trophy is almost upon us and we’ve got your top five talking points ready to go below!
Ewen McKenzie
After a draw and a lopsided loss to New Zealand in the Rugby Championship, Australia goes into its match against South Africa on Saturday with a chance to give coach Ewen McKenzie a first a win against a team ranked ahead of the Wallabies.
In his 18th test as Wallabies coach, McKenzie still hasn’t led the third-ranked team to a win over a side with a better International Rugby Board ranking.
Michael Hooper
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has put South Africa on notice, saying he wants both their No.2 world ranking and the Mandela Challenge Plate back.
With Australia ranked third behind the All Blacks and Springboks, wins in Perth and then Cape Town could see them rise to No2 for the first time under new coach Ewen McKenzie.
It would also see them regain the Mandela Plate, which they lost last season after holding it for three years.
And it all starts at Perth’s Patersons Stadium this Saturday.
This weekend sees the resumption of The Rugby Championship with the All Blacks hosting the Pumas in Napier and the Springboks traveling to Perth to face the Wallabies.
Last weekend we had the Round 4 of the ABSA Currie Cup and there has been some movement at the top of the Rugby-Talk SuperBru group.
The 6 Important games we focus on which are played this weekend, consists of the 2 Rugby Championship Test matches as well as 4 ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division matches.
Jacques Potgieter
He became an honorary Australian by starring for the Waratahs in their Super Rugby triumph but Jacques Potgieter is set to go from teammate to fierce Test rival with a recall to the Springboks later this month.
The wildman flanker, who became a cult hero for NSW, is a favourite of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer and News Corporation understands Potgieter will be drafted into the South African squad for home games against Australia and New Zealand.
Potgieter is currently playing in Japan for the Fukuoka Sanix Blues but recently returned to South Africa on holidays and spoke with Meyer at the Boks’ first Test win over Argentina at Loftus Versfeld.
The Wallabies
How does a Wallaby supporter feel about the upcoming test?
If you had asked Wallabies fans at the start of the year if they’d be happy with three wins, a draw and a loss to start the season nearly everyone would have replied in the affirmative.
Last week you might have thought the sky was falling given the angst of many Wallaby supporters.
This week we have a different challenge. The South African Barbecuing Behemoths have sashayed into Perth for what many of them think is a home game.
Jamba Ulengo
Springbok Sevens player Jamba Ulengo will make his Currie Cup debut for the Blue Bulls when they tackle the Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Ulengo’s inclusion on the left wing is one of five changes to the backline that did duty in the home loss to Western Province last week.
The Bulls will also field a new halfback combination, as Rudy Paige is promoted from the bench, while Jacques-Louis Potgieter has recovered from a rib injury to take his place at flyhalf.
Game face: Francois Hougaard
Talk about the one per centers.
The Springboks are trialling top-secret technology to give themselves an edge in the Rugby Championship.
Every player has been kitted out with two sets of hi-tech glasses designed to beat jet lag and help their bodies adjust to the time zone in Perth this week.
The Springboks were reluctant to talk about the gadgets when they were raised – in Afrikaans – at a press conference this week, even asking South African journalists to hold off writing about the innovation until after the side’s two-week tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Danger man: Morné Steyn at Springbok training in Perth on Tuesday.
In the 60th minute of the Springboks’ 33-31 win against Argentina two weeks ago, replacement No 10 Morné Steyn ripped a beautiful flat pass, left to right, to take out two Pumas defenders and put Jean de Villiers in enough space to release Cornal Hendricks for a crucial try.
South Africa has gone back to what it knows against the Wallabies on Saturday – Steyn replaces youngster Handré Pollard and Victor Matfield returns to run the lineout – and it makes it more dangerous for the Wallabies. More predictable?
Possibly, but the Springboks have never done unpredictability well. Territory, set piece, hard kick chases, pressure. It is still a base game that is hard to defeat, especially if the Perth forecasters are right and there are showers and strong winds on Saturday.
Bryan Habana
Bryan Gary Habana is an institution in the Springbok team and in Perth on Saturday he will become the fourth player to feature in 100 Tests for South Africa.
Speaking ahead of the Boks’ Rugby Championship encounter with Australia, he made it clear that he is not taking the No.11 jersey for granted.
In fact Habana said there are young players – both in the team and back home – pushing him hard.
The Sharks have made a massive six changes to their starting XV for their clash against Griquas this Saturday as coach Brad MacLeod-Henderson reacted strongly to the 32-22 loss to the Pumas last weekend.
Fullback SP Marais, wing Tonderai Chavhanga and props Matt Stevens and Dale Chadwick all make way, along with flank Francois Kleinhans and lock JC Astle, who are injured.
A schools rugby coach who breached South African Rugby Union (SARU) rules governing underage rugby has been suspended and the points his school took for the match were overturned, following a SARU disciplinary hearing.
The charge was the first brought to SARU under new regulations that were introduced to protect players under the age of 18 at the start of last season.
Brendan Venter
Nick Mallett once famously stated that you don’t necessarily have to be the best coach in the world but rather the smartest selector to attain a consistent level of success at the highest level.
I wholly concur with such a sentiment and would suggest that the core of professional coaching achievement essentially stems from discovering the right blend in terms of playing personnel.
However, it’s important to stress that although said recipe is relatively well-known within top-level coaching circles, the ingredients often prove challenging to source and assemble.
John Dobson
Western Province Under-21 coach John Dobson is upset at the punishments dished out to two Blue Bulls players after WP lock JD Schickerling broke his neck in an Under-21 game in Pretoria last weekend.
Schickerling was injured just after catching a ball from a kick-off when Bulls lock Irne Herbst’s shoulder collided with Schickerling’s head in their clash at Loftus Versfeld. Afterwards, the other Bulls lock, Marvin Orie, grabbed the WP player in a headclamp before hurling him to the ground.
Schickerling suffered a fractured cervical spine at the C5/C6 level during the match and narrowly escaped paralysis.
Jake White
The loss of some stalwarts to overseas clubs since the end of the Super Rugby season is making life tough for the young coaches who are going it alone for the first time at the helm of the Cell C Sharks in this Absa Currie Cup season.
Director of rugby Jake White has opted to take a back seat and not have any involvement with the Sharks senior team in the domestic season so that he can focus on the development of the players in the age-group teams as well as give head coach Brad MacLeod-Henderson and his assistants Sean Everitt and Paul Anthony the chance to experience the pressure that comes with being in charge
TRY TIME: Richie McCaw rises after scoring a try off the back of a maul in the All Blacks’ Eden Park test against the Wallabies.
The All Blacks have got the masters of the maul thinking hard, with Springboks bosses intrigued at New Zealand’s innovative and successful tactics with this crucial attacking weapon during the early phases of the Rugby Championship.
The big Boks packs have long set the standards in mauling, but assistant coach Johann van Graan has admitted intrigue over the way the All Blacks have developed the art as they displayed in demolishing the Wallabies at Eden Park.
Bryan Habana to become Springbok Centurion No 4.
Bryan Habana will on Saturday become the fourth Springbok and 33rd player overall to play in 100 Tests when South Africa take on Australia in the third round of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship at Patersons Stadium in Perth (kickoff 12h05 SA time).
The 31-year-old Habana, who made his debut for South Africa against England at Twickenham on 20 November 2004, holds the record for the most Test tries in a Springbok jersey. His 56 Test tries places him fourth on the list of all-time international try scorers.
The three-time South African Rugby Player of the Year (2004, 2007 and 2012), who was also named the IRB Rugby Player of the Year in 2007, will lead the Springboks out on Saturday as he follows Percy Montgomery, John Smit and Victor Matfield in amassing 100 Tests in the green and gold.
Marvin Orie
Blue Bulls Under 21 lock Marvin Orie has received a one-week suspension on Wednesday for a dangerous tackle in the team’s Absa Under 21 Competition match against Western Province.
Orie was cited on Sunday for tackling Western Province lock JD Schickerling around the neck in the third minute of the clash and pulling him backwards until both players fell to the ground.
Schickerling suffered a fractured cervical spine at the C5/C6 level during the match.
Jimmy Stonehouse
Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse has received a lot of praise for the way his team have impressed this season, but he does not put it down to anything revolutionary.
The Pumas, as a smaller union, were never expected to set the Currie Cup on fire, especially amongst teams with Super Rugby experience and national players waiting in the wings.
However, Stonehouse and his men now sit third on the log, a single point behind the Golden Lions (through four rounds) and many have touted the coach as the ‘next big thing.’
“It’s always physical playing against Australia”, says Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer.
The last time Heyneke Meyer set foot on Australian soil he heaped praise at the feet of the Wallabies and promptly directed they be torn apart at Suncorp Stadium a few days later.
There was an ominous familiarity then in Meyer’s comments this week in Perth, where South Africa are angling for a ninth-straight Test win and fourth on the trot against a wounded Australia.
Wallabies, a bad team? They’re “brilliant”, but played “one bad game”. The Australian forwards, “powder puffs”? Never. The Wallabies’ back line is “big, quick and in form”, with a newly-acquired kicking game and two “world-class” players on the bench.
In full flight: Wallaby Nick Phipps.
Waratahs halfback Nick Phipps says the Wallabies are out to earn back their “honour” in Perth this weekend.
Phipps said it was “relieving” to know he earned his first Test start since 2012 but said he wanted to make the appearance count with a comeback against South Africa after the lowlight of the loss at Eden Park two weeks ago.
“There has been a pretty big focus at the start of this week just to shrug it off, and get that energy back up,” he said.
“There have been a lot of blokes pumping up at training and having a laugh, and forgetting about [the second Bledisloe Test], that’s in the past.
JD Schickerling
Based on the video evidence below, Tank Lanning believes it impossible to argue against at least further investigation into Irne Herbst’s tackle on JD Schickerling in Saturday’s Under-21 game at Loftus Versfeld.
Schickerling was injured after catching a ball from a kick-off when Bulls lock Herbst’s shoulder collided with Schickerling’s head. Afterwards, the Bulls’ other lock, Marvin Orie, grabbed Schickerling in a headclamp, before hurling him to the ground.
Orie has been asked to attend an official SARU disciplinary committee, while Herbst was issued an off-field yellow card after the WPRU asked for the incident to be reviewed.
Watch the video below:
Johan Goosen
Flyhalf Johan Goosen said he has come to France to adapt his game and hopes it will help him earn a Rugby World Cup spot with the Springboks next year.
Former Cheetah, Goosen, 22, has played five times for South Africa, but made the radical decision to up sticks and move to Racing-Metro to help improve his kicking game.
He went with the blessings of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer after an injury-ravaged start to his career that has seen him spend more time on the treatment table – he has undergone three knee operations and one each on his shoulder and arm – than the pitch.
Lourens Adriaanse
Some introspection, mixed in with analysis and hard work is the theme of this week’s preparations for the Cell C Sharks’ Currie Cup return leg match against Griquas at Kings Park on Saturday (17:05 SA Time kick-off).
Sharks website editor Michael Marnewick reports that the Durbanites were not happy with the result of their match against the Pumas last week, acknowledging that there were aspects of their game they will need to improve on if they hope to do the double against tricky opponents who, like the Pumas this season, love nothing better than to get one over a traditionally “bigger” union.
The Match Officials for this week’s action have been confirmed, with George Clancy refereeing the Wallabies vs Springboks showdown.
The Rugby Championship:
Australia vs South Africa
- Venue: Patersons Stadium, Perth
- Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
- Assistant Referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
- TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
- Assessor: Andrew Cole
New Zealand vs Argentina
- Venue: Mclean Park, Napier
- Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
- Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
- TMO: Peter Marshall (Australia)
- Assessor: Lyndon Bray
DHL Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made four changes to his starting team for Friday night’s ABSA Currie Cup clash with the EP Kings at Newlands.
Only one of those changes is enforced, with wing Seabelo Senatla ruled out because of the ankle injury sustained against the Vodacom Blue Bulls last weekend. Coetzee said earlier in the week that Senatla would be out for a minimum of two weeks, but it seems likely now that he will be out for three or four. Continue reading
Jacques Potgieter was rarely complimentary about South Africans’ views on Aussies.
SOUTH Africans enter a game believing they can bash and bully Australians into submission.
The theory has long been surmised but after gaining valuable insight into the South African rugby psyche playing alongside Jacques Potgieter at the Waratahs, Bernard Foley now knows it’s not theory, it’s fact.
“He said he always enjoyed playing against Australians because he thought there was an opportunity to get one over them,” Foley said.
While polite in his public statements, Potgieter’s on-field brutality was more than matched by the candour with which he spoke to NSW teammates about how Aussies were viewed in the hard world of South African rugby.
S’bura Sithole
Centre S’bura Sithole believes the Sharks must start improving on their basics if they want to bounce back from their first Currie Cup loss of the season over the weekend.
The defending champions suffered a shock 32-22 loss against the Pumas in Nelspruit to drop behind the Mpumalanga side from second to fourth on the Premier Division table after four rounds of the competition.
“I think it’s just our basics and fundamentals that are letting us down,” Sithole said on Tuesday.
ACID TEST: The All Blacks’ pack will have to be at its best to deal with a powerful Argentina eight at scrum time on Saturday.
You can blame the goal kicker, you can blame the concession of daft technical penalties or a single colossal blunder at the wrong time.
It’s hard to argue. But the single main reason why Argentina’s strong men could dominate South Africa the other weekend and still end up losing was the train of Springbok replacements.
Coach Heyneke Meyer hooked beaten players from the pitch and sent on an eager second wave of men like Adriaan Strauss and Tendai ‘the Beast’ Mtawarira.
Carlos Spencer
EP Kings head coach, Carlos Spencer, has made five changes to the starting lineup that will take on Western Province at Newlands on Friday.
Spencer announced that Steven Sykes will once again captain the side as regular skipper, Luke Watson, was still recovering from a concussion.
Changes to the forward pack include Lizo Gqoboka, who will return to the side at loosehead prop in place of BG Uys, with Shaun McDonald coming off the bench on at Flank, rotating with Thembelani Boli who moves to the bench.
Springboks flyer Bryan Habana
The Wallabies have been the source of great pain and great satisfaction in Bryan Habana’s glittering Test career.
After the anguish of the 2011 World Cup quarter-final – a game still capable of sending a collective shudder through a Springboks team room – and the elation of last year’s watershed Test victory at Suncorp Stadium, it is fitting that the South African winger will play his 100th Test against the Wallabies in Perth.
Nizaam Carr
He has been one of the stellar performers nationwide as the Currie Cup approaches its halfway stage in pre-knockout play this weekend.
But will Nizaam Carr, the tearaway No 8 for log-leaders Western Province, fall prey soon to that all too common shortcoming by South African coaches at either Super Rugby or provincial level: flogging players to the point of exhaustion or often not unrelated injury?
A week and a half ago, WP coach Allister Coetzee admitted to some journalists that Carr, whose game-to-game work-rate has often been little short of extraordinary, was in need of some “off” time – remember that the domestic competition has no bye-weekend luxuries.
Frans Ludeke
Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has laid it on the line. Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup showdown with neighbours the Xerox Golden Lions is almost a season-decider for his team.
Having won just one out of four games thus far, the Blue Bulls desperately need to reverse their fortunes and while their performance against Western Province was a lot better than their opening three games, they still couldn’t get a win in the game, despite dominating possession.
Ludeke has made it clear that the Bulls need to up their finishing, something that has been a difficult thing for them this season, and they need to take the points on offer when they are in control.
The Kurtley Beale No 10 experiment has been aborted, with Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie naming Super Rugby title-winning halves Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps to take on South Africa in Perth this Saturday.
Beale and Brumbies halfback Nic White have both been benched following the Wallabies’ 51-20 flogging from the All Blacks, but centre Matt Toomua, winger Rob Horne and star fullback Israel Folau have all held their spots in the backline.
Adam Ashley Cooper has shifted to the wing to cover for the retired Pat McCabe (neck), with Tevita Kuridrani getting the call-up at outside centre for the Patersons Stadium clash.
Ewen McKenzie is set to give Bernard Foley a shot in the Wallabies No 10 jumper.
Australian vice captain James Slipper says the Wallabies’ pack must shoulder some of the responsibility for Kurtley Beale’s underwhelming performance at five-eighth in Auckland 10 days ago.
After a two-Test experiment with Beale and Brumbies halfback Nic White at the helm of the Wallabies’ back line, Ewen McKenzie is set to debut the Super Rugby title-winning combination of Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps on Tuesday when he names the side to take on South Africa at Paterson’s Stadium.
But in a week in which the entire Australian line-up will be out to repair the Wallabies’ badly bruised reputation, Slipper leapt to Beale’s defence and said the pack had to give their back line generals something to work with.
“He’s a class player. We all know what he can do,” the Wallabies prop and Stan Pilecki medallist said.