Springboks
Aviva Premiership Rugby club Bath have announced that Springbok flanker Francois Louw has signed a new long term deal with the Club.
If the Springboks wonder where they will be tested next week, the answer is surely to come in the scrums.
The International Rugby Board’s decision to change the scrum set laws again will come under scrutiny as South African props have to come to terms pretty quickly with the new regulations at international level, with players not yet being able to trial them at local level.
Since the Springbok squad for the upcoming Rugby Championship was announced, featuring 10 players who will be applying their trade away from South African shores, speculation has been ongoing whether there has been a shift away from picking South African based players over internationally based South Africans for the Springboks.
This week there has been some mumblings by Jurie Roux, SARU CEO, and the inclusion of Japan-based Fourie du Preez has prompted the question whether Japan’s clubs and our National team setup has moved the goal posts as far as selection of Japanese players are concerned.
Opinion is widely devided on whether the Springboks should allow foreign-based players to be eligible for Springbok selection, with the one lot saying it’s the professional era and where you are based no longer matters, as long as you are the best in your position. The result is the conundrum of player availability well before a Test. At the moment clubs overseas are only obliged to release the players to be available on the Monday preceeding the Test, which allows for very little preparation time.
On the other hand there has been the stance that overseas-based players should not be picked for the Springboks, in order to firstly discourage players leaving the SA shores for lucrative deals elsewhere, having chosen to apply their trade elsewhere and thus voluntarily choosing not to be considered for the Springboks. I was a serious proponent of this stance, but I’ve had somewhat of a mind shift, I must admit.
Certainly for the upcoming Rugby Championship, it would have been foolhardy not to pick the Springboks who have recently decided to go overseas, after all there are 6 regular starting Springboks amongst those recent departees.
I now find myself in the middle somewhere, hoping players could stay in South Africa if they aspire to continue or start their Springbok careers, yet seeing the inevitability of the lure of the stronger currencies abroad.
The solution would have been simple…. institute a CENTRALLY CONTRACTED SYSTEM here in South Africa (very similar to the New Zealand system), where SARU takes charge of the contracts of the frontline Springbok players, but that remains a pipe dream and clearly is beyond the capabilities of the inept bunch at SARU. In stead we can rely on SARU to muck things up even more and I’m afraid but I would not want their grubby hands to touch Central Contrating under those circumstances.
Another solution could be to impliment a CLEAR OVERSEAS QUOTA SYSTEM in the selection policy, where SARU regulates to the players and national coach that only 2 or 3 overseas-based players may be included in a 30-man squad. This would have put the Springboks in a conundrum situation right now before the start of The Rugby Championship, but maybe with an eye on the End Of Year Tours and beyond, that system must be applied, unless it can be negotiated that overseas-based players are available earlier and for every Test of the year, no exceptions allowed.
Below some of the news and speculation in this regard, taken from what was available in the press.
SA Schools coach Chris October on Wednesday announced his squad to face England in their opening International Under-18 Series clash on Friday at the City Park Stadium in Cape Town.
Western Province and Paarl Gym No8 Rikus Bothma will lead the squad which features seven players who took part of the victorious SA Schools team last season. These players are the Du Preez twins, Daniel and Jean-Luc, Ox Nche, Justin Philips, Duhan van der Merwe, Warrik Gelant, Abongile Nonkontwana and Jurie Linde.
Demetri Catrakilis wants to use the upcoming Currie Cup season to play open a spot in the Springbok squad for the end-of-year tour to Europe.
Coenie Oosthuizen has an ideal opportunity to cement a permanent place for himself in the Springbok squad heading towards the 2015 Rugby World Cup as coach Heyneke Meyer looks desperately for a back-up for Jannie du Plessis.
The Bok coach made his intentions quite clear this past week when he selected Oosthuizen as the back-up tighthead.
The new scrum laws will wind the clock back, says Dan Cron. Hookers actually hooking, halfbacks putting the ball in straight – it won’t be scrummaging as we’ve come to know it.
The Springboks will utilize the skills of Richie Gray as breakdown consultant for the remainder of the Test season in 2013.
The Springbok selectors have opted for continuity when they named a 30-man squad for the opening two rounds of The Castle Lager Rugby Championship later this month against Argentina.
Only three players who were not part of the Springbok squad which won the Castle Lager Incoming Series in June have been added to the squad.
They are experienced scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who has been selected for the Springboks for the first time since the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Gurthrö Steenkamp (prop) and Duane Vermeulen (No 8), who last played for the Springboks in November 2012.
The South African Rugby Union’s (Saru’s) policy of favouring local players over overseas-based stars could be under threat, especially when the Springboks name their squad for the Castle Rugby Championship at the end of the week.
Saru have been firm that there has been no change in the policy regarding players based overseas, but a recent exodus of Boks stars may make that policy shift when the Bok squad is chosen for the November tour of Europe.
Springbok scrumhalf Francois Hougaard will not play again this year and will undergo surgery next week.
South African Rugby player Bryan Habana pushed himself to new heights as he went up against British Airways’ brand new superjumbo, the Airbus A380.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66ISniQCqY[/youtube]
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd is pleased to announce that Piet van Zyl has agreed terms and will join the Vodacom Bulls on a two year contract from November 1st, 2013.
The Pretoria-born 23 year old scrumhalf made his Springbok debut in 2013 following some very good performances for his Super Rugby franchise, the Toyota Cheetahs.
The Sharks announced on Friday that Pieter-Steph du Toit has reaffirmed his commitment to the team by re-signing for a further two years.
The announcement brings to an end weeks of speculation about the 20-year-old’s future – with both the Bulls and Stormers having shown interest in his services.
South Africa 17 / 6 Bay of plenty-Thames Valley-Counties
It was the last midweek match of the tour with only the 4th test remaining. The opposition was a combination of 3 relatively weak sides namely Bay of Plenty (who won only 1 of 5 matches played in the 1956 season); Thames Valley (who won only 3 of 8) and Counties (a team founded as South Auckland in 1926 and who won only 2 of 13 season games in 1956). These three teams combined for the first time in 1956 and played 2 warm-up games namely against Auckland (7th of August 1956 losing 6-7) and Waikato (11th of August 1956 losing 6-24) in preparation for the Springboks.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Saturday announced the 28-man Coca-Cola SA Schools squad that will feature in an Under-18 International series in August.
The squad was chosen by a panel featuring national selectors Peter Jooste and Ian McIntosh, the SA Schools selectors led by convener Henkie Green, and SA under-20 coach Dawie Theron following the conclusion of the 50th Coca-Cola Craven Week in Polokwane.
South Africa’s Craig Joubert, who was in charge of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final, will referee the first Test under the scrum engagement trial sequence when he takes charge of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney on 17 August.
The International Rugby Board on Wednesday announced the names of the 12 referees for The Castle Rugby Championship. These appointments were made by the IRB Match Official Selection Committee following a detailed review of recent performances during the June Tests.
South Africa’s national football and rugby teams will play on the same day at the former World Cup showpiece stadium in Soweto to honour Nelson Mandela, bringing together the country’s two most popular sports that once portrayed its racial divisions.
This is going to be a very short article. Maybe it will be removed, but do we really talk RUGBY or are we just moaning, bitching, complaining about things that went wrong for OUR teams.
I want us to talk about the deeper things in the game we love. Laws, interpretations, bad coaching, player stupidity.
Let’s try and have a free for all on this article.
Rugby World Cup Sevens 2013 was held in Moscow, Russia between 28-30 June. It was the sixth RWC Sevens and the second comprising a men’s and women’s tournament, following the event in Dubai in 2009.
Before this tournament, the defending men’s champions were Wales. Australia were the inaugural women’s champions.
New Zealand’s MEN and WOMEN’s sides won this tournament, completing an impressive double.
New Zealand 33 / 0 England (men)
New Zealand 29 / 12 Canada (women)
Vodacom Bulls captain Pierre Spies will be out for the rest of the 2013 rugby season after tearing a bicep muscle on Saturday while playing for the Springboks against Samoa in the Castle Lager Incoming Series.
The Springbok Sevens team were given a temporary setback as Junior Boks Seabelo Senatla and Cheslin Kolbe were unable to train with them in Moscow on Tuesday.
The duo, who joined the Blitzbokke on Monday night at their team hotel in the centre of Moscow, have been struggling after three weeks of hard rugby at the Junior World Championship in France and need some time to make the switch back to Sevens.
The citing of Samoa fullback James So’oialo for grabbing the testicles of Springbok hooker Adriaan Strauss during Saturday’s match at Loftus Versfeld was dismissed on Sunday.
The player was cited by Peter Larter (RFU) according to Law 10.4(m), committing an act contrary to good sportsmanship, for an incident which occurred in the 12th minute of the second half.
Bokkies (21) 41 / 34 (26) Baby Blacks (Final Score)
South Africa Under 20 and New Zealand Under 20 did battle in the 3rd place play-off of the IRB Junior World Championship
of 2013 at Stade de la Rabine, Vannes at 15:15 SA Time (13:15 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Springboks (32) 56 / 23 (9) Samoa (Final Score)
The South African Springboks and Samoa did battle in the Castle Lager Incoming Series at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 17:15 SA Time (15:15 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Rising star Pieter-Steph du Toit has become a massive signing target for provincial unions this season with no less than three Super Rugby franchises vying for his signature.
A fit-again Kyle Brown will lead the Springbok Sevens team into battle at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium next weekend when the IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament takes place from 28-30 June.
Brown is one of three survivors of the team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2009 tournament that was held in Dubai, UAE. The others are Ryno Benjamin and Philip Snyman.
Samoa have stuck with a winning combination for the final of the four-nation tournament in South Africa where they are up against their hosts in Pretoria on Saturday.
Day to day we hear people say “Don’t give Springbok jerseys away” and others say “Give the youngsters a chance to show their mettle”
So, which one of the 2 do you want, make up your flippin minds!
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers will be given until Friday to prove that he has fully recovered from a sternum injury, which has kept him off the training field thus far this week.
The Springboks face Samoa in the final match of the Castle Lager Incoming Series at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday. The team shows three changes – all of them in the pack – from the side which beat Scotland by 30-17 in Nelspruit last weekend.
Bokkies (7) 17 / 18 (6) Wales (Final Score)
South Africa Under 20 and Wales Under 20 did battle in the IRB Rugby World Championship at Stade de la Rabine, Vannes at 18:15 SA Time (16:15 GMT, 17:15 BST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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European champions Toulon have Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis firmly in their sights, a French media report indicates.
There are five changes in the starting line-up of the Junior Springboks to play against Wales in the IRB Junior World Championship rugby semi-final in Vannes, France, on Tuesday evening.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers is in doubt for Saturday’s final match of the Incoming Series against Samoa at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
De Villiers injured his right sterno-clavicular joint and second rib early in last weekend’s victory over Scotland in Nelspruit.
Springbok loose forward Arno Botha has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2013 season after rupturing ligaments in his knee during the Castle Lager Incoming Series victory over Scotland in Nelspruit on Saturday.