France manager Philippe Saint-Andre has made seven changes to the team that put in a dismal display against Wales as Les Bleus seek to put their Six Nations challenge back on track when they face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Saint-Andre has remained loyal to Jules Plisson at flyhalf for the fourth match in a row, pairing the Stade Français player with Maxime Machenaud and relegating Jean-Marc Doussain to the bench.
Ireland team announced on Thursday to play Italy in a Six Nations international at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Italy will be without injured captain Sergio Parisse but will start with a new half-back pairing of Luciano Orquera and Tito Tebaldi for Saturday’s Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.
Parisse, who along with Martin Castrogiovanni picked up a record 104th cap for Italy against Scotland in Rome, is suffering from a calf injury and is just one of several third row players missing from Jacques Brunel’s squad.
The Cell C Sharks team remains unchanged for this Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Lions at Growthpoint KINGS PARK to mark the same line-up for three games in succession.
Being able to name the same team from one week to the next is a rare luxury for a coach, never mind this being the third match in a row where Director of Rugby Jake White has been able to stick with the same side that defeated the Bulls in week one and the Hurricanes the week after that.
Two of South Africa’s recent members who toured with the Springboks to the Northern Hemisphere, Frik Kirsten (tighthead prop) of the Vodacom Bulls and Coenie Oosthuizen (tighthead & loosehead prop) of the Toyota Cheetahs both have serious neck injuries.
Frik Kirsten might have to undergo neck surgery but we await news of the second opinion sought to clarify the matter. It is most likely the case that he will be out of the remainder of the Super Rugby season.
Coenie Oosthuizen was sent back to South Africa from the Cheetahs tour down under and it is also likely that he will be out for a lenghty spell.
Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has named his 23-man side to face the Cell C Sharks at Growthpoint Kings Park Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Western Force have named captain Matt Hodgson to become the first player to represent the franchis in 100 Super Rugby matches when they host the Rebels at the ‘Force Field’ (nib Stadium) on Saturday.
Hodgson started at openside flanker in the Force’s inaugural match against the Brumbies in 2006, and has played in 99 of the club’s 115 matches over the past nine seasons.
Rebels head coach Tony McGahan has made six changes to the team that beat the Cheetahs in their Super Rugby opener for this week’s clash against the Western Force at nib Stadium in Perth on Saturday.
Third-year Rebels second rower Cadeyrn Neville replaces Luke Jones and Max Lahiff is named for his first Melbourne Rebels start alongside Pat Leafa and Paul Alo-Emile in a new-look front row.
Toyota Cheetahs Coach, Naka Drotske , has announced a team that shows 3 changes to the starting line up.
The Blues have named their team to play the Bulls on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld and have strengthened their front row with veterans Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock.
The All Black duo have been named in the starting team for the first time this season. After playing 30 minutes off the bench last week, the Blues and All Blacks centurions have been promoted to the starting XV and will form an all-All Black front row alongside Charlie Faumuina.
Crusaders head coach Todd Blackadder has made 7 changes to the team that lost to the Blues in Auckland for this week’s Super Rugby match against the Stormers in Christchurch.
Wyatt Crockett will start at No 1 this week and Tim Perry moves to the bench. Luke Romano takes one of the starting lock positions alongside Sam Whitelock.
The Brumbies have named Leon Power at lock in the team to face the Hurricanes on Friday, as part of a forwards re-shuffle to account for the injury to David Pocock.
Power moves into the position Scott Fardy vacated – he moves from lock to blindside flank.
Oregan Hoskins will be President of the South African Rugby Union for another four years.
Hoskins, who has already been in the hot seat for eight years, will be unopposed at the Annual General Meeting of SARU.
Wallabies flanker David Pocock will miss the rest of the Super Rugby after undergoing left knee surgery on Wednesday for the second time in a year.
South Africa and Australia battled each other in the 3rd and last 5-Day Test at Newlands, Cape Town, from 10:30 SA Time on Saturday 1 March to Wednesday 5 March.
South Africa and Australia were 1 / 1 in the series, after South Africa convincingly beat Australia in the 2nd Test at St George’s Park, Port Elizabeth.
The score cards was updated at regular intervals here on Rugby-Talk.
Australia took control of the match from the first ball of the test, declaring their innings twice, whilst South Africa fell cheaply in the first innings and almost batted for a day and a half in the second innings.
Australia knocked the last wicket over, that of Morne Morkel, with only 27 balls left in the Test.
Australia win by 245 runs and win the Test Series 2 / 1.
Australia:
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First Innings – 494 / 7 Declared (127.4 Overs)
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Second Innings – 303 / 5 Declared (58 Overs)
South Africa:
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First Innings – 287 All Out (82.5 Overs)
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Second Innings – 265 All Out (134.3 Overs)
Scotland have made three changes including recalls for Kelly Brown and Geoff Cross in their Six Nations championship match against France at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Cross has been rewarded for his contribution off the bench in the 21-20 win against Italy, with the starting berth at tight-head and David Denton enlisted for the back-row in place of Ryan Wilson who has been laid low by a tonsillitis bug over the last few days. Brown starts instead of Chris Fusaro.
Wales have named their team to play England on Sunday in the Six Nations at Twickenham with Lions duo Jonathan Davies and Alun Wyn Jones returning to the starting team.
British and Irish Lion Davies returns from injury to reunite Wales’ most capped centre pairing as he lines up alongside Jamie Roberts.
Akona Ndungane will become the ninth Vodacom Bulls player to play 100 Vodacom Super Rugby matches for the franchise when they take on the Blues at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. The stalwart winger made his Super Rugby debut way back in 2005 against the Cats and earned his 50th cap for the Bulls in 2009, playing against the Reds in Pretoria.
Ndungane, who scored against the Blues in last year’s win in Auckland, will start in an unchanged backline, as all three changes to the starting line-up made by Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke, are in the forward pack.
The Springboks will face 2013 Six Nations champions Wales in two Tests in Durban and Nelspruit during the Castle Lager Incoming Series in June, followed by a once-off international against Scotland in Port Elizabeth.
The fixtures were confirmed by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Wednesday.
Singapore has emerged as the favourite Asian region to be included in an expanded 18 team Super Rugby tournament from 2016.
SANZAR are looking at proposals to expand Super Rugby after the current broadcast deal expires at the end of 2015.
A sixth South African team the Southern Kings has been promised and SANZAR are looking at ways to include Argentina.
The Hurricanes have made two changes to the team that lost to the Stormers for this week’s match against the Brumbies in Wellington.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann knows he has a massive task getting his charges ready for this weekend’s massive Vodacom Super Rugby showdown with the Sharks, but the weather that has beset Gauteng over the past week certainly isn’t helping.
Ackermann lamented the fact his team couldn’t train because of waterlogged pitches as the rain continued to bucket down for a fifth consecutive day in Johannesburg.
Coach Allister Coetzee has made four changes to his starting line-up for the DHL Stormers’ first match of their 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby tour.
The DHL Stormers will take on the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday (kick-off 08:35 SA Time, 19:35 NZ Time) without injured forwards, lock Rynhardt Elstadt and flanker Siya Kolisi, with the fit-again De Kock Steenkamp and Schalk Burger replacing them up front.
Read this and see if you understand it. This was copied by me, nothing changed, no spelling corections made, from the Official SA Rugby Referee website.
The incident we have today must be the most bizarre in the whole of the time the TMO has been implemented to help referees get to the right decision.
SANZAR has released the names of the match officials for Round 4 of Super Rugby 2014. Craig Joubert starts the action this weekend in Wellington with the Hurricanes vs Brumbies match.
This weekend has 6 matches, with 2 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Chiefs, Highlanders and Waratahs have bye weekends.
Bad weather denied the DHL Stormers an opportunity to shake off jet lag on Tuesday when their training session in Christchurch, New Zealand, was halted after only 20 minutes.
The latest acquisitions to the Stormers’ Australasia tour squad, Samoan wing Sailosi Tagicakibau and flyhalf Peter Grant, were meant to be integrated into the team’s playing structures ahead of Saturday’s Super Rugby clash against the Crusaders.
But Stormers’ captain Jean de Villiers said on Tuesday that conditions were so bad that training was called off.
Siviwe “Shakes” Soyizwapi and Scott van Breda will start against the Tusker Simba XV in Cape Town on Saturday in the Eastern Province Kings first Vodacom Cup match of the season.
Vodacom Cup head coach, Mzwandile Stick, said both Soyizwapi and Van Breda, who had been on loan to the Stormers, had returned to the Kings this week, as they had not been selected as part of the Stormers touring squad.
FNB NWU-Pukke handed defending champions FNB UP-Tuks their first defeat of the 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International tournament on Monday to claim top spot on the standings.
Coach Robert du Preez’s team were ruthless in wet conditions Pretoria as they shut out the home side to claim a convincing 18-0 victory and leapfrog them on the log in the process.
FNB UCT recorded their third away win of the season in Johannesburg, scoring five tries on their way to a 37-29 victory over FNB UJ to move up to third position.
The Ikeys have lost both of their home games this season, to table-topping teams UP-Tuks and NWU-Pukke, but have won all of their games on the road, whilst the defeat leaves UJ down in seventh place and facing a tough road to make the semifinals.
The top four after five weeks of action is rounded off by FNB UFS-Shimlas who ended deadlocked at 13-13 with three-time champions FNB Maties in their clash in Stellenbosch.
Reds head coach Richard Graham has named his team to face the Cheetahs this Friday, with five changes to the side that lost to the Waratahs.
The match will see four players earn their first start of 2014 Super Rugby season.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann and his fellow selectors will have a few tough decisions to make this week.
Top of their list will be what to do with Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies, now that the pivot has been “medically cleared” to resume playing.
Will the Vodacom Bulls spring a surprise and bring former captain Dewald Potgieter straight back into the starting lineup?
That’s the question that needs to be answered ahead of their team announcement to face the Blues in their Vodacom Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is to name his team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Crusaders in the early hours of the morning South African time on Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see what choices he comes up with in some key areas.
Francois Steyn is happy to see the Lions back in Vodacom Super Rugby – but he has warned that the competition returnees can expect no mercy from his Sharks team when the team’s clash in a derby at Growthpoint Kings Park on Saturday evening.
The Toyota Cheetahs are sweating over the availability of prop Coenie Oosthuizen ahead of their Super Rugby clash against the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.
The Springbok is struggling with a neck injury and will go for a scan in Brisbane on Tuesday.
The Waratahs bye came at exactly the right time for Israel Folau who rolled his ankle this past weekend, but will be available for the clash with the Brumbies next Saturday.
The prolific fullback who has scored five tries in the Waratahs’ two games so far this season is to be rested this week in training to give him the best possible chance to fully recover for their Australian conference match-up in Canberra on Saturday week.