Cheetahs (17) 27 / 20 (13) Sharks (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs and Cell C Sharks did battle in Super Rugby at
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 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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Stormers (16) 16 / 0 (0) Bulls (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls did battle in Super Rugby at
Newlands, Cape Town at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 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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Force (17) 30 / 20 (10) Reds (Final Score)
The Western Force and Reds did battle in Super Rugby at
nib Stadium, Perth at 11:40 SA Time (19:40 AWST, 21:40 AEST, 09:40 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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The FIFA Football World Cup 2014 is nearing the end in Brazil.
The Group Stages are already done and dusted, only 8 Teams remain!
In the knock-out stages, there are no 2nd chances, you lose and you go home. You win and you live to fight another day!
It is the Quarter-finals on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 July.
It is Germany vs France & Brazil vs Columbia on Friday and Argentina vs Belgium & Netherlands vs Costa Rica on Saturday.
The Semi-finals are on 8 & 9 July 2014.
All of the games are live on TV in SA on SS3 HD, SS3 & Maximo.
Crusaders (11) 21 / 13 (13) Blues (Final Score)
The Crusaders and Blues did battle in Super Rugby at
AMI Stadium, Christchurch at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT).
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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Lions (14) 34 / 17 (10) Rebels (Final Score)
The Lions and the Melbourne Rebels did battle in Super Rugby at
Ellis Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time (03:10 Saturday AEST, 17:10 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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Chiefs (16) 24 / 16 (6) Hurricanes
The Chiefs and Hurricanes did battle in Super Rugby at
Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT).
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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It is Round 18 of Super Rugby 2014 this weekend, the first Round after the June Test break! We have 7 games in Round 18, with 2 game on Friday, 4 games on Saturday and 1 game on Sunday.
All the sides from South Africa are back in action this weekend, after sitting out last weekend when the Antipodian sides played a Round on their own to counter the fact that the South African Conference started a week early in February.
The Logs are finally reflecting the true position of the 15 sides relative to one another and in the process the Sharks have dropped 1 place on the standing after a rampant Waratahs side bullied the Brumbies to atke a 3-point lad on the Combined Log.
The Brumbies have a Bye weekend.
After this Round of games, there is only 1 Open Round left in Super Rugby in 2014, next weekend, after which the final 6 teams to continue into the Play-Off’s will have been decided. Teams who do not make the Play-Off’s will be done and dusted with this year’s competition.
With the June International Test Window now a thing of the past, the teams can once again throw their full weight into Super Rugby.
This is the stage where some results are becoming critical and where certain sides can open up doors for themselves, whilst burrying some of those teams around and in close proximity to them on the Logs.
Let the games continue….
Jean Deysel
The Cell C Sharks will field a team resting Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis and Willem Alberts (all on the bench)… and also still without Patrick Lambie, but with Jean Deysel captaining the side and Frans Steyn back in his favoured position of Inside Centre.
This of course means that Tim Swiel starts at Flyhalf, Dale Chadwick at loosehead prop, Kyle Cooper as starting hooker and Lourens Adriaanse as starting tighthead prop.
S’Bura Sithole is back at Outside centre and JP Pietersen moves back to Right wing, with SP Marais protecting the last vestage.
3 Other returning Springboks get starting positions, namely Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies and Lwazi Mvovo.
Duane Vermeulen
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has conceded that there is an outside chance that his team may be without kingpin No 8 Duane Vermeulen in Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the Vodacom Bulls at Newlands.
Vermeulen normally sits out Monday training session as part of Coetzee’s way of managing the hard working Springbok, who has played every game he has been available for at both Super Rugby and international level this year. However when he was also absent from training when the team ran at Newlands on Wednesday, it did prompt speculation that perhaps it wasn’t quite business as usual with Vermeulen this time around.
Victor Matfield
Handré Pollard
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke named Victor Matfield to lead the team to play the DHL Stormers at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
Ludeke made four changes and a positional switch to the starting team that lost their last Vodacom Super Rugby outing, against the Lions in Johannesburg, with Matfield and Paul Willemse starting at lock and Handré Pollard at flyhalf. Werner Kruger also swop with Marcel van der Merwe in the regular rotation of the front row.
Grant Hattingh will vacate the lock position to make way for Matfield and again move to the back of the scrum in a positional switch that will also see Jacques Engelbrecht run out at flank.
Matfield was rested against the Lions and will lock the scrum with Willemse, who replaces injured captain, Flip van der Merwe, in the number four jersey. Engelbrecht’s move to the side of the scrum is a result of the injury to Jacques du Plessis.
Pollard missed the Lions clash due to his Junior Springbok commitments in New Zealand and returns to start at number 10. Jacques-Louis Potgieter moves to the bench in place of Louis Fouché.
Keven Mealamu will become the first player to reach the remarkable milestone of 150 games for the Blues when he runs out to face the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday night.
The talismanic hooker has already racked up 160 Super Rugby appearances including his season with the Chiefs in 2000, but will play his 150th game for the Blues against the Red and Blacks.
The All Blacks centurion is only two matches away from equalling the record held by Nathan Sharpe for the most Super Rugby appearances (162), and is second only to Colin Meads in first class games after playing his 350th match against the Force on Saturday.
Nick Cummins
The Force will be aiming to climb back into the top six when they take on the Reds in the final regular season match at nib Stadium on Saturday.
The Western Australians will welcome Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins back on to the left wing after he missed last weekend’s match with a neck complaint suffered during the Wallabies’ three-Test series against France.
Cummins will man the wings with Dane Haylett-Petty, while Jayden Hayward completes back three with the fullback scoring the match-winning try in the Force’s 32-29 win over the Reds in Brisbane in Round 8.
The Force will feature a new halves pairing of Ian Prior and Zack Holmes, while Alby Mathewson (hip) and Sias Ebersohn (bicep) have been ruled out through injury. Prior has already started in six of his 12 appearances for the Force this season, while Holmes earns his third opportunity in the run-on side.
Samu Kerevi
Reds centre Samu Kerevi will make his run-on debut in one of three changes to the starting team ahead of this weekend’s clash against the Force in Perth.
A continuation of the Reds’ horror run of injuries has forced all three changes, with last week’s starters Greg Holmes (knee), Dom Shipperley (ankle) and Anthony Fainga’a (calf) all ruled out of this week’s match.
Kerevi will start at outside centre, with Ben Tapuai shifting to inside. Ben Daley returns to the starting lineup at loosehead prop, with James Slipper shifting to tighthead, after Holmes was ruled out of this weekend’s match due to a knee complaint. Lachie Turner will start on the wing in place of Shipperley, who suffered a season-ending fracture-dislocation of his ankle last weekend.
The Reds are also without the services of Quade Cooper (shoulder/hip), Will Genia (ankle), Chris Feauai-Sautia (shoulder), Aidan Toua (pectoral), Eddie Quirk (knee) and Liam Gill (Australian Sevens duties). In all, there are currently seven players with Wallabies experience unavailable for selection.
Jamie Joseph
Highlanders’ head coach Jamie Joseph has named his team to take on the current Super Rugby leaders, the Waratahs in Sydney on Sunday afternoon.
The team is unchanged from the side that defeated the Chiefs 29-25 in an exhilarating match at Forsyth Barr Stadium last Friday.
With only two games to go in the regular season, the Highlanders currently sit fourth overall with the same points as the Crusaders in third (42).
Kieran Read
Dan Carter
Israel Dagg
Nemani Nadolo
Kieran Read, Dan Carter, Israel Dagg and Nemani Nadolo all return to the starting line-up for the Crusaders this weekend when they take on the Blues at AMI Stadium.
They are four of six new faces in the starting 15.
In the forwards, Ben Funnell and Owen Franks have taken starting spots in place of Corey Flynn and Nepo Laulala, who will be ready to inject some energy off the bench.
Hugh Pyle
Rebels head coach Tony McGahan has made four changes to the starting line-up from last weekend’s 36-20 loss to the Reds, as the Rebels look for the first win on foreign soil against the Lions in Johannesburg this weekend.
Foundation Rebel Hugh Pyle returns to the starting lineup as one of three changes to the forward pack, with the recently re-signed Shota Horie and Scott Fuglistaller also injected into the contest from the outset.
In the backs, Tom Kingston comes in to the wing, while young fullback Jack Debreczeni and flyhalf Bryce Hegarty will share the initial place kicking duties with Jason Woodward on the bench.
Fourie du Preez
Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s ankle injury is worse than expected and it has now ruled him out for the rest of the year.
According to SARU, Du Preez will miss the remainder of the South African season following an ankle injury sustained by the Springbok scrumhalf in last Saturday’s 55-6 Test victory over Scotland in Port Elizabeth.
Du Preez left the field in the first half of the Test. He was sent for x-rays immediately afterwards and went for an MRI scan in Pretoria on Monday, which confirmed earlier suspicions of an anterior syndesmotic injury. He will be sidelined for approximately six months.
Victor Matfield in the scrum cap Cosato does not like
Cosatu has called on ministers and sport administrators to intervene and bring more black players into South African rugby.
The trade union federation released a media statement in which it criticises the white “old boys club” which it believes still rules rugby in South Africa.
It follows the Springboks’ 55-6 win over Scotland in Port Elizabeth at the weekend – a match which was preceded by SARU president Oregan Hoskins urging Bok coach Heyneke Meyer to pick more black players.
Meyer did include a few more black players in his squad for the game in Port Elizabeth, but Cosatu was not impressed.
Schalk Brits
The governing body of the English Premiership has prevented Schalk Brits from representing the South African Sevens team at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland later this month.
Brits’ club Saracens were happy for him play in the event, but the final say lies with the governing body of the English Premiership.
Kenya are in pole position to make history and qualify for a Rugby World Cup for the first time after maintaining their winning run in the Confederation Africaine de Rugby Africa Cup Division 1A Rugby World Cup 2015 qualifying tournament in Antananarivo on Wednesday.
Kenya, aiming to break Namibia’s recent stranglehold as the Africa Region’s second representative on Rugby’s greatest stage, recorded a bonus point 34-0 win over Madagascar to open up a four-point lead over Zimbabwe at the top of the table with one round remaining on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s 24-20 defeat to Namibia in the opening match of the day means that it is mathematically possible for all three teams to finish top of the table going into Super Sunday when Madagascar play Namibia and Kenya face Zimbabwe.
Stuart Hogg has been named in the Scotland 7’s squad to compete at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (Ibrox Stadium, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July).
Scottish Rugby and Commonwealth Games Scotland can confirm Scotland’s 24 times capped full-back and British & Irish Lion will replace Tommy Seymour. Seymour sustained a neck injury during the Scotland summer tour that will rule him out of the Games, however he will return to the care of Glasgow Warriors to recover and prepare for the new season.
Considering the amount of Toyota Cheetahs that are leaving for greener pastures, Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the Cell C Sharks may be the last time that their fans may see them in their orange and white strip before joining new teams.
And since it is their last home Super Rugby game of the season, coach Naka Drotske has included all his stars for the clash to try and score a win against in the local derby.
No less than eight Springboks are back in action for the team after spending the last month with the Springboks and Trevor Nyakane, captain Adriaan Strauss, prop Coenie Oosthuizen, lock Lood de Jager, utility forward Teboho Mohoke, flyhalf Johan Goosen, wing Cornal Hendricks and fullback Willie le Roux all return to the side for the clash.
The Chiefs have announced their team to play the Hurricanes at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton this Friday.
Friday’s encounter is expected to be the Chiefs last home game for the season and will mark the official farewell for Chiefs players, Tanerau Latimer, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Bundee Aki and Mils Muliaina who are all heading off-shore to continue their careers.
Changes to the side will see Jamie Mackintosh starting at prop, Tawera Kerr-Barlow at scrumhalf and Charlie Ngatai and Tim Nanai-Williams in the midfield.
Asaeli Tikoirotuma and James Lowe start on the wings with Tom Marshall at fullback.
An injury crisis at hooker means Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett was unable to finalise his team for their crunch encounter with the Chiefs in Hamilton on Friday.
The men in black and yellow will be doing all they can to claim victory at the Waikato Stadium, as it will be the last round-robin match of the Super Rugby season for the fifth-placed franchise.
Who occupies the No.2 jersey remains to be seen – with team management continuing to monitor the injuries of Dane Coles, Ash Dixon and Motu Matu’u throughout the remainder of the week.
Injuries to Alapati Leiua and Victor Vito in last Saturday’s bruising win over the Crusaders means they have made way for Hadleigh Parkes to start at inside centre, while Brad Shields moves to the back of the scrum.
Handré Pollard
Handre Pollard is not your typical Bulls flyhalf and when he is in control, the Bulls become a different creature all together.
Pollard has enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom culminating in a starting No 10 spot for the Springboks against Scotland on the weekend.
Now, as he returns to Pretoria to get ready for his first senior match in his home province at Newlands, against the Stormers, Pollard is already causing a lot of head-scratching in the Cape.
The Bulls have always been a powerful yet predictable side, especially when it comes to the flyhalf’s role.
Burger Geldenhuys
Former Springbok and Bulls loose forward Burger Geldenhuys fears the Pretoria side may struggle at the breakdowns against the Stormers at Newlands this weekend.
With Jacques du Plessis out with a broken jaw, and Deon Stegmann still sidelined with a groin injury, the Bulls will tackle the Stormers with a slightly make-shift loose trio.
Grant Hattingh, Jacques Engelbrecht and Jono Ross are likely to have their hands full on the ground. None of them are renowned for being great ball fetchers.
Do the business in Bloemfontein on Saturday night … then warm up the Sunday morning coffee smartly and become temporary Highlanders enthusiasts for 80 minutes.
Those ought to be key items on the Sharks’ to-do list this weekend as Super Rugby 2014 enters its penultimate round of ordinary-season play.
Director of rugby Jake White will be aware of the potential hazard of putting the cart before the horse, and drum into his charges that victory against the Cheetahs in a domestic derby is very much the main target.
But if they manage that, their attention will undoubtedly turn pretty smartly to a Sunday morning cracker (in SA time-zone terms, at 08:05) between the log-leading Waratahs and New Zealand-based playoffs challengers the Highlanders in Sydney.
Johan Ackermann
With only two matches left in the round-robin stage of the 2014 Super Rugby competition, the Lions will be looking to finish with a flourish to complete one of their best seasons.
Coach Johan Ackermann said on Tuesday his team would be looking to bow out of this year’s edition with seven victories but they would first have to move past their first challenge against the Rebels in Johannesburg on Friday.
“After the break, these two games are almost a campaign on its own and in rugby you only get remembered for the last game you played,” Ackermann said at the team announcement on Tuesday.
“And if we don’t do well in the last two games, the Super Rugby season will be remembered as not being too good. The opposite side of the coin is that if we win the games, we can look back on a good season with a few mistakes.”
Francois Hougaard
Who Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer earmarks as his flyhalf at the outset of the Championship next month could also have a major bearing on which scrumhalf he chooses to plug the unfortunate Fourie du Preez gap.
Incumbent No 9 and still world-class customer Du Preez, 32, was confirmed on Tuesday as having an ankle injury serious enough for him to ruled out of the entire southern hemisphere tournament.
Given his vast, 70-cap experience and precious ability to read and control a game better than most other South African scrumhalves right now, the loss of Du Preez certainly dents the Boks’ chances of ousting New Zealand from their status as defending champions, even if there have been enough positives in other departments of late to suggest they’ll be seriously competitive nevertheless.
The veteran was just beginning to benefit from a decent run of international matches – important given that he plies his franchise trade in the much more modest arena of Japanese club rugby now – in the June window, looking increasingly more like the character who helped drive the World Cup 2007 success.
Anton Bresler
Sharks lock Anton Bresler has signed a three-year deal with Scottish side, Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, who are coached by South African Alan Solomons, announced the news via their official website on Wednesday.
Bresler, who has played 39 Super Rugby games for the Sharks, will join his new team after the completion of this year’s Super Rugby competition.
Angus Cottrell
The Force has received a boost in the lead-in to Saturday’s match against the Reds with flanker Angus Cottrell re-committing to the club for another two years.
The gritty back-rower started in all but one match for the Force this season before suffering a broken ankle against the Crusaders last month.
The 24-year-old has formed a powerful back-row combination with Wallabies Matt Hodgson and Ben McCalman this season, both of whom are signed until the end of 2015.
Beauden Barrett
All Black Beauden Barrett may be in the market, but he is definitely not on the Blues’ wishlist.
Barrett revealed that he is likely to resolves the issues around his future next week, when the Hurricanes have a bye.
However, he should be expecting a call from Blues coach John Kirwan, who said he would be looking internally for a flyhalf.
It followed speculation the Hurricanes playmaker, Barrett, could be moving to Auckland.
Shota Horie
Japanese hooker Shota Horie has signed a new one-year deal with Super Rugby side Melbourne Rebels that will take him through to the Rugby World Cup next year, the club said on Wednesday.
Horie, the first Japanese player to play Super Rugby in Australia, has made 17 appearances for the team and scored his first try in April.
The 28-year-old, aiming to play his second Rugby World Cup in England in 2015, said he was happy to remain in Melbourne after welcoming baby Yoshino to his family a month ago.
Schalk Burger
Schalk Burger returns to the DHL Stormers line up as captain for this weekend’s match against the Bulls in Cape Town.
Burger who was in fine form for the Springboks in the June test series returns after missing the Stormers last game through injury. Springbok Sevens star Seabelo Senatla comes into the match day 22 for what looks to be his Super Rugby debut for the Cape based franchise. Senatla gets the nod due to Kobus Van Wyk not being available through injury.
Injuries have necessitated some positional shifts with Sailosi Tagicakibau lining up in the 13 jersey and Juan De Jongh will play at 12 in the absence of injured Bok newcomer Damian De Allende.