Super Rugby
With four teams in the bottom seven of 2014 Super Rugby, South African teams have had what is equating to be the worst Australasian collective touring record since the tournament begun.
The Republic has only two matches left on New Zealand soil to try and avoid what would be the first time in Super Rugby history that one of their franchises hasn’t beaten a Kiwi team in their own backyard during a regular season – while the win record on Australian soil stands at 1-7.
With only four matches remaining in total overseas for South African outfits, a host of contests in front of their daunting coliseums could see the ledger become more favourable.
One cannot doubt that the Australian Conference always serves up a surprise or two every season, a few years ago there was that electric championship season in Queensland, and lately the Brumbies have transformed into one of the leading outfits.
This year the centre of excitement is way out west, with the Force on the verge of a historic maiden final’s appearance, there is a stirring in Sydney while the Reds are revisiting days they thought they had left behind.
After an almost traditional slow start, the New Zealand Conference is now the form group in 2014 Super Rugby.
While this points towards a typically formidable squad for the All Blacks in the coming weeks, the Kiwis will not have it all their own way in the closing stages of the regular season.
The 7-time champions Canterbury Crusaders have slowly quietened the doubters of their Super Rugby title credentials in the past month and a victory over the table-topping Sharks in Christchurch on Saturday should silence them for good.
The Crusaders are the form team of the competition at the moment, having won their last 5 games, racking up 22 tries and 195 points in the process and moved from 13th on the table to 4th.
The Cheetahs remain in the dark over the future of Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen, amidst escalating rumours that he is to depart from the Cheetahs.
The most recent dispatches from the Bloemfontein media suggest Goosen will make an announcement in the “next few days” – having been linked to French clubs Racing Metro and Toulon, as well as the Stormers.
The Vodacom Bulls may well add Springbok prop Trevor Nyakane to their ranks as their next acquisition when his contract expires at the end of the season.
Nyakane, who became a Springbok last season but was dropped because of disciplinary issues, is known to be on the target list of the Bulls as they look to strengthen their squad ahead of the 2015 season.
Kieran Read and Israel Dagg will be on the sidelines when the Crusaders take on Super Rugby leaders the Sharks in Christchurch on Saturday.
The All Black No 8 Read has missed the Crusaders’ past two matches, including last weekend’s 57-29 win over the Reds in Brisbane, after his second head knock in a month forced him off the field against the Chiefs in mid-April.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika has made just one change to his starting line-up for their clash with the Lions on Sunday, with giant lock Will Skelton replacing Jacques Potgieter.
After a standout performance off the bench in the win over the Hurricanes, the biggest player in the Waratahs squad will start for the sixth time this season.
The inclusion of two-time Super Rugby winning prop Toby Smith headlines the changes to the Rebels side which heads to Brisbane on Saturday to take on 2011 champions, the Reds.
Smith has missed the past two weeks with a shoulder injury. However, he has recovered to replace Cruze Ah-Nau in the starting line-up and will to go head to head with an experienced Reds front row group – which includes four Wallabies and a former Rebel in Jono Owen.
Ah-Nau drops to the replacement bench after impressing in his first two career starts.
Perth-born inside back Luke Burton will make his Super Rugby debut at inside centre when the Western Force take on the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.
The 20-year-old re-joined the Force squad for their South African tour after being a part of the Australian Under-20’s side that defeated Samoa U20s, 34-5, late last month. Burton has been selected in the Australian squad for his second IRB Junior World Championship in June.
Henry Speight returns to the wing for his first appearance since fracturing his jaw in Round 5 when the Brumbies take on the Cheetahs at the Free State Stadium on Saturday, the Brumbies’ official website reports.
There was welcome news for the Stormers and Springboks on Wednesday when lock Eben Etzebeth was spotted training at Newlands.
Etzebeth, 22, has been out of action since injuring his ankle playing for the Springboks against France in Paris last November.
Jake White has sprung a few surprises for the Cell C Sharks clash against the ever improving Crusaders in Christchurch, this coming weekend.
Should they both play on Saturday against the Crusaders, Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira will both reach 100 Super Rugby caps for the Sharks.
With hooker Bismarck du Plessis having already achieved the feat, the Sharks front row is one of the most experienced of all time in the competition.
For Jannie du Plessis, it is a dream come true, having grown up supporting the Sharks.
Scott Fardy and Jesse Mogg remain committed to representing Australia at the Rugby World Cup after re-signing new deals to the end of 2015.
The Brumbies have had a busy week or two retaining players, the likes of Wallabies Nic White, Christian Lealiifano and Matt Toomua have all resigned for the Canberra club.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for Round 14 of Super Rugby 2014.
Garratt Williamson starts the weekend action in Wellington when the Hurricanes plays the Highlanders.
This weekend sees 6 matches, with 1 on Friday, 4 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
The Blues, Vodacom Bulls and the Chiefs have BYE weekends.
Tim Bateman has announced he will head to Japan at the end of the Super Rugby season to take up a two-year deal with the West Red Sparks.
Bateman’s decision to leave New Zealand has nothing to do with rugby and everything to do with family.
Sadly, Bateman’s second stint in the Fukuoka region, is because his wife Laura was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett was forced to make changes to his starting line-up for Friday’s all-New Zealand Super Rugby derby against the Highlanders.
Injured All Black hooker Dane Coles will miss his first Hurricanes match of the season.
Coles injured his lower back against the Rebels and the status of the injury is unclear.
Former Springbok utility back Franco Smith has been appointed as assistant coach of the Cheetahs.
Backline coach Hawies Fourie has been released to take charge of Griquas.
The Rebels have signed experienced scrumhalf Josh Holmes as an injury replacement for Nic Stirzaker, who suffered his second ankle injury of the season during the club’s 22-16 defeat to the Sharks in Round 12.
Holmes, the younger brother of foundation Rebel Luke, has no shortage of Super Rugby experience and brings with him a strong passing and running game.
The newest addition to Vodacom Super Rugby in 2016 will not be a team of “mercenaries” put together with a big budget.
That’s the word of Sanzar chief executive Greg Peters, who said the 18th team that will go out to tender to join the Southern Hemisphere competition will need to be sustainable, and have the support of the market it bases itself in.
So far Sanzar has received interest from Spain, Singapore, Japan and the USA, but it is doubtful if any of these countries could put together a team that could be competitive over 17 weeks of the competition in 2016.
Peter Grant will start at flyhalf for the DHL Stormers – against the Force at DHL Newlands on Saturday (kick-off 17:05 SA Time) – in what will be his 100th match for the Vodacom Super Rugby franchise.
Grant moves from inside centre to the No 10 shirt in one of five changes to the starting line-up that went down 12-28 to the Bulls in Pretoria last weekend and will become just the third-ever DHL Stormers Super Rugby centurion.
Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has made three changes to his team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Brumbies in Bloemfontein.
Two of the changes are in the backline, where Cornal Hendricks takes over from Raymond Rhule and Shaun Venter replaces the injured Sarel Pretorius.
Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen is on the verge of announcing a move to France at the end of the current Vodacom Super Rugby season.
Goosen has been eyeing a move since early in the season, and is likely to sign for French club Racing Metro in the next few days, leaving his Toyota Cheetahs side with a massive dilemma.
Bye weekends can be a curse to teams with a bit of momentum, but perhaps the Bulls should be grateful for theirs in the next round of Super Rugby.
The optimistic view about an “off” week for Frans Ludeke’s charges, you see, is that it will refresh them for what shapes up as a pressure-cooker, make-or-break match against the Brumbies at Loftus on Friday 23 May.
The Cheetahs have been dealt a blow with the news that scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius is ruled out with an ankle injury.
Henry Speight has recovered from a broken jaw making him available for the Brumbies against the Cheetahs clash in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Speight is also itching to stake his claim for a long-awaited Wallabies berth with only five rounds plus finals remaining to prove himself to Test coach Ewen McKenzie.
A move back to the Cheetahs may not be the wisest move for Western Force flyhalf Sias Ebersohn.
Ebersohn is having a stellar season for this year’s Super Rugby surprise packages, and last weekend returned to haunt his former team-mates by kicking 13 points in a 23-16 win in Bloemfontein.
He held his own against opposite number Johan Goosen – ironically the player who kept him out of the Cheetahs team a couple of seasons ago – which eventually led to Ebersohn’s move abroad.
Stormers backline coach Robbie Fleck believes utility back Damian de Allende is not far off from a Springbok call-up.
De Allende, 22, has been a rare shining light for the Stormers in a disastrous season which has seen them win only three of 11 games to sit bottom of the overall Super Rugby log.
The Stormers have been boosted by the news that Demetri Catrakilis and Kobus van Wyk have been cleared for selection ahead of their Super Rugby match against the Western Force at Newlands on Saturday.
Catrakilis has not played since breaking his nose against the Lions on 19 April, whilst Van Wyk’s wrist injury – suffered against the Highlanders on 3 May – has healed a lot quicker than initially anticipated.
They may not be the same vintage as the 2009 and 2010 Vodacom Super Rugby champion team, but the Vodacom Bulls are steadily starting to believe in themselves – and that makes them very dangerous as the competition starts winding down to its business end.
But the Bulls know their real test was not against the struggling DHL Stormers last Saturday, but rather in a fortnight’s time when they face the Australian conference leaders, and the side that put them out of the semifinals last year – the Brumbies.
It is quite amazing how the Cell C Sharks’ 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign is starting to resemble that of the DHL Stormers two years ago.
In 2012, the Stormers topped the overall Super Rugby log, as the Sharks are now, but they gave the impression at times that they were clueless on attack and had to rely almost completely on their strong defensive system. The Stormers back then scored fewer tries than the Sharks have this season, and the Sharks did pick up a four try bonus point in their opening fixture. The table topping Stormers went the entire 2012 league phase without picking up a single four try bonus point.
New Zealander Chris Pollock will be the referee when the Stormers host the Western Force in a Super Rugby clash at Newlands this Saturday (17:05 SA Time).
Pollock will be assisted by South Africans Marius Jonker and Quinton Immelman, with Shaun Veldsman on television match official (TMO) duty.
Lopeti Timani has been declared fit to return to play following a knee injury which has seen him sidelined for nearly two months.
The powerful backrow-forward, who can also play at lock, will most likely return via the Dewar Shield before looking to add to his maiden Rebels cap against the Western Force in Round 2.
Jim Carmichael has led speculation that James O’Connor is poised for a controversial return to Australia via the Queensland Reds.
Reds boss Carmichael would not confirm whether O’Connor is set to join the Reds’ in the 2015 Super Rugby roster but admitted he was in the process of addressing their current deficiencies.