Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph, has named the team to play the Lions at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.
The squad returned home to Dunedin after claiming seven points from a possible 10 following a one-point loss to the Stormers in Round 12.
Lima Sopoaga has been ruled out of this week’s clash with an ankle sprain and is anticipated to be sidelined until Round 15.
Reds flanker Curtis Browning will make his run-on debut this Sunday in one of 6 changes to the starting line-up to face the Crusaders at Suncorp Stadium.
Browning, a former Australian Under-20 captain, has already played 5 games for the Reds, but never in the starting lineup. He will start at blindside flanker, in place of injured loose forward Eddie Quirk.
Fotu Auelua returns to the starting line-up for the first time in 2014 when the Brumbies take on the Sharks in Canberra on Saturday.
Auelua is the only change to the starting side that went down to the Crusaders last weekend, with Jordan Smiler dropping back to the bench and Jack Whetton out of the game-day 23.
The Western Force has named an unchanged squad to tackle the Cheetahs at Bloemfontein’s Free State Stadium on Saturday.
Head Coach Michael Foley has maintained the same 23-man squad that overcame the Bulls, 15-9, in the team’s last match in Perth a fortnight ago.
Nic Stirzaker’s injury sees Luke Burgess retain the No 9 jersey for the Rebels clash with the Hurricanes while Ben Meehan takes the spot on the bench.
Ben Meehan returns to the matchday 23 for the first time since Round Six in one of two changes made by Head Coach Tony McGahan.
Pat Leafa, who scored his first try for the Club in the 16-22 defeat to the Sharks last Friday, replaces Shota Horie in the starting lineup.
DHL Stormers captain Schalk Burger says he is happy to take the underdog tag with his team to Loftus for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the Vodacom Bulls, but is not writing off the chances of his inexperienced side causing an upset.
The Stormers are going to Pretoria with a much changed match day squad following two separate waves of injuries that have decimated them this week. On Monday it was announced that the likes of regular skipper Jean de Villiers, loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff, wing Kobus van Wyk, reserve lock Jurie van Vuuren and possibly tighthead prop Frans Malherbe would be missing because of injury.
Golden Lions head coach Russell Winter has named his 22-man side to front the Vodacom Blue Bulls in a Vodacom Cup semi-final clash on Saturday.
The team remains unchanged from last week’s side that trumped the Cell C Sharks XV 27-20 in Durban.
The venue for the game has been changed to take place at Loftus Versfeld, after carefull scrutiny of the rules of the tournament, leading to the conclusion that the Vodacom Blue Bulls are ahead of the Golden Lions on the Logs and therefore should host the semi-final.
World Cup-winning coach Jake White still has hopes of coaching at the highest level again despite his disappointment at missing out on the Wallabies job last year.
White, who guided South Africa to the 2007 World Cup, thought himself a shoo-in to take over from New Zealander Robbie Deans as Australia coach last year but missed out to Ewen McKenzie.
British and Irish Lions forwards Alex Corbisiero, Tom Croft and Tom Youngs will miss England’s forthcoming tour of New Zealand.
Croft and Corbisiero have recently returned to full fitness but are not yet considered ready for what is set to be a gruelling three-Test series against the world champion All Blacks.
Meanwhile Leicester hooker Youngs will miss the June campaign to help support his wife, who is having treatment for an illness.
The Sharks face the Brumbies in Canberra this Saturday and Jake White again has selected a new midfield combination as Cobus Reinach and S’bura Sithole return to the starting line-up with Heimer Williams and Charl Mcleod being relegated to the bench.
Although the centre combination of Jordaan and Sithole seems a more “explosive one” it also could backfire as new combinations always take time to settle.
Cobus Reinach starts his first match since injuring himself against the Bulls in the Sharks 5 th game of the tournament. Charl McLeod rotates to the bench, having played almost every minute of the last 5 matches.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for Round 13 of Super Rugby 2014.
We see 7 games this weekend, with 2 on Friday, 4 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
Mike Frazer strats the weekend action in the game between the Chiefs and Blues in New Plymouth.
The Waratahs have their BYE weekend.
Experienced flanker Schalk Burger will captain a much-changed and young DHL Stormers team in Saturday’s all-South African Vodacom Super Rugby Derby against the Bulls in Pretoria (kick-off 19:10 SA Time).
Coach Allister Coetzee has been forced into making 6 enforced changes to the starting line-up, with 3 players on debut in the matchday 23 – lock Jean Kleyn in the starting line-up and prop Alistair Vermaak and scrumhalf Dylon Frylinck on the bench.
There are also 6 new faces on the bench, with Steven Kitshoff (knee), Frans Malherbe (concussion), Oli Kebble (concussion), Jurie van Vuuren (shoulder), Michael Rhodes (assortment of knocks), Louis Schreuder (broken thumb), Jean de Villiers (AC Joint) and Kobus van Wyk (wrist) all dropping out with an assortment of injuries after last weekend’s 29-28 win over the Highlanders.
Greyling to play in 50th against Stormers
Vodacom Bulls prop Dean Greyling will play in his 50th Vodacom Super Rugby match for his team on Saturday, when the Pretoria team takes on the DHL Stormers at Loftus Versfeld.
Former DHL Western Province favourite Schalk Brits will return to Newlands along with rising French-based star, Rory Kockott, as 2 of 6 South Africans, four of whom have played test rugby, as part of the Samsung-sponsored World XV squad for their match against Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks at DHL Newlands on 7 June.
All 6 of these South Africans play their rugby abroad and have been released by their clubs for this match.
Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan has made just one injury-enforced change to the starting 15 for Friday’s match against reigning champions the Chiefs at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth.
With midfielder Francis Saili suffering a high ankle sprain in the lead up to last week’s clash with the Reds and Jackson Willison succumbing to a hamstring strain during the game, George Moala has been promoted from the bench to start at centre.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett has given his forward pack a slight reshuffle as the Hurricanes take on the Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday evening.
One of the changes comes in the front row, where Reggie Goodes slots into loosehead prop for Ben Franks, who moves to tighthead in place of Jeffery Toomaga-Allen. Ardie Savea also comes into the line-up, with Jack Lam moving to the bench.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has made a number of changes to his team for the Super Rugby crunch match against the Blues.
The Chiefs and Blues go head-to-head in Taranaki on Friday in a game that could have a big bearing on deciding the New Zealand conference.
The Highlanders will take on the New Zealand Barbarians at Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill on Friday 20 June as they finalise preparation for their final three games of the 2014 Super Rugby regular season.
The New Zealand Barbarians led by President Bryan Williams are very keen to see the globally respected and highly recognisable Barbarian brand showcased in the deep south.
The Crusaders have made the decision not to play Kieran Read against the Reds in Brisbane this Sunday as he continues to recover from concussion suffered against the Chiefs in Round 10.
Crusaders head coach Todd Blackadder said that, while Read is recovering well, the symptoms have not completely cleared so the coaches decided it would be preferable to make a call early in the week and take him out of contention for the next game.
The Waratahs have signed exciting winger Taqele Naiyaravoro until at least end of the 2015 Super Rugby season from NRL club Wests Tigers.
The Brumbies have re-signed Matt Toomua until the end of the 2017 Super Rugby season after he signed a three-year contract extension
Toomua is one of two players that have been signed to full-time Brumbies contracts from school and his new deal will see him playing for the Brumbies for 10 years.
With 12 titles out of 16 between them, three of the four teams contesting the Vodacom Cup semi-finals this weekend – all of them from the North Section – know a thing or two about winning this competition.
It’s only the Steval Pumas, runners up in 2013 and the only unbeaten team this season, that hasn’t won the Vodacom Cup.
But the Golden Lions, whose title last year was their fifth, GWK Griquas (four-times champions) and the Vodacom Blue Bulls (three-time champions) have dominated the competition between them since its inception in 1998.
A late venue change handed the Vodacom Blue Bulls home ground advantage for their Vodacom Cup semifinal match against defending champions, the Golden Lions, on Saturday.
The two teams will now meet at Loftus Versfeld due to the hosts finishing above their southern neighbour on the points log.
The match was originally scheduled for Johannesburg on Friday, but a proper look at the regulations of the competition prompted a venue switch.
Veteran Toulon flyhalf Frederic Michalak has been preferred to Montpellier’s Francois Trinh-Duc in France coach Philippe Saint-Andre’s squad to tour Australia in June.
Saint-Andre named a 31-man squad on Wednesday and once again Trinh-Duc finds himself out in the cold, with Michalak recalled as back up for first-choice flyhalf Remi Tales.
Although first choice under Saint-Andre’s predecessor Marc Lievremont, Trinh-Duc has found himself eased out of international reckoning under the new coach.
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is hopeful of ending the lingering fall-out with its four regional sides to establish a proper domestic structure next season, chairperson David Pickering said.
The four Welsh regions refused to renew the existing “rugby services agreement” with the WRU before the governing body’s 31 December deadline.
With 500 days to go until Rugby World Cup 2015 in England kicks off, Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset is confident that preparations are on track to deliver “an unforgettable and special” record-breaking event that will further the growth of the sport worldwide.
With fans snapping up tickets in record numbers through the official supporter tour programme and with Rugby community ticket sales beginning today, tournament organisers England Rugby 2015 Limited have announced that tickets for all 48 matches will go on general sale globally from September 12-29 2014.
The Junior Springboks continued their preparations for the IRB Junior World Championship 2014 with a hardworking 60-14 victory over Argentina Under-20 on Tuesday afternoon at Stellenbosch.
Last week, the South Africa Under-20 side won the first of three encounter 78-31 in Saldanha Bay. The third and final clash between the two sides takes place on Saturday at 16h00 at the City Park Stadium in Crawford, Cape Town.
This is the first of a 3-part Series looking at each team’s chances with each Conference with little more than a third of the regular season remaining.
We kick off with the New Zealand Conference!
SUMMARY: The closest conference so far, there is only 5 Competition Log Points separating the teams and of all the countries, the amount of local derbies will ensure significant cannibalisation.
There are 11 New Zealand derby matches remaining in the last 7 rounds.
Dan Carter has put his jet-setting lifestyle to bed and is back on the training pitch as he prepares himself for a return to rugby.
The experienced All Blacks flyhalf has been using his sabbatical this year to mingle with sports and entertainment celebrities around the planet, from Elton John to Rory McIlroy.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has included two Springbok stalwarts in his run on side for their Super Rugby encounter against the Western Force in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon.
Flyhalf Johan Goosen and prop Coenie Oosthuizen are back in the starting line-up after making an impact from the bench against the Bulls in Pretoria last week.
Goosen, who has recovered from a concussion, replaces Elgar Watts, while Oosthuizen comes in for Maks van Dyk at tight head prop. Both Watts and Van Dyk find themselves among the replacements.
The Sharks have suffered another injury setback as on-the-mend flyhalf Fred Zeilinga has been sent home and replaced by Jaco van Tonder.
Zeilinga injured his hamstring against the Lions at Ellis Park in Round Nine after jostling for a position at flyhalf with Tim Swiel and Frans Steyn following Pat Lambie’s departure.
Allister Coetzee says his teams susceptibility to injury this season is purely bad luck and that conditioning and other factors cannot be blamed.
With five high profile injuries coming out of the Stormers’ single point victory over the Highlanders, the Cape side are once again licking their wounds.
France will travel to Australia eyeing a successful three-test tour ahead of next year’s World Cup, coach Phillippe Saint-Andre said Tuesday.
Les Bleus could only finish fourth in this year’s Six Nations, with three victories in their five matches, but Saint-Andre was quick to proclaim his team as potential World Cup winners on English soil in 2015.
The first step in that mission was a testing tour of Australia.
The Springbok Sevens will be without regular squad member Stephan Dippenaar in this weekend’s London Sevens to be played at Twickenham.
Net toe die Cheetahs se diepte begin beter lyk het, het die beseringspook weer in hul kamp toegeslaan.
Dié sentrale streekspan sal Saterdag hier in sy Superrugby-wedstryd teen die Western Force sonder die beseerde flank Jean Cook (skouer) én slot Ligtoring Landman (kuit) moet klaarkom.
Wat die terugslae erger maak, is dat dit in posisies is waar Naka Drotské, die Cheetahs se afrigter, se span reeds uitgedun is.
Boonop sukkel die vleuel Raymond Rhule (enkel) ook met ’n besering, maar kan hy volgens Drotské nog betyds herstel.