The International Rugby Board (IRB) has announced the dates for the HSBC Sevens World Series 2014 / 2015, which has gained in significance with the recent announcement that the top four-ranked nations will qualify from it directly for the Olympic Games in 2016.
According to the IRB’s official website, the 16th edition of the record-breaking series will visit the same nine countries as the current 2013/14 season with two changes to the order of rounds. The event in the USA will be played the weekend after New Zealand’s, and Japan’s tournament will follow on from Hong Kong.
The fourth round of the 2014 RBS 6 Nation Championship takes place this weekend with the first match kicking off in Dublin on Saturday where Ireland host Italy. Scotland are hosts to France shortly after this, while the final game of the weekend takes place on Sunday with England hosting Wales at Twickenham.
There has been a bit of a gap in Six Nations action with no games played last weekend and so the thinking has been that this may be a good time to share an article to remind us of the action from the previous round.
Scotland have made three changes to their pack, among which Kelly Brown is recalled as captain, for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship match against France at Murrayfield.
Edinburgh Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that scrum-half and captain Greig Laidlaw will leave the club to join English Premiership side Gloucester at the end of the season.
Scotland were boosted by the availability of stalwart tight head prop Euan Murray for this Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations encounter against France at Murrayfield.
Murray has yet to feature in the tournament this year due to an injured thumb.
Meanwhile, France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski has become the latest in a long list of French players who will be unable to play in the match. He misses out due to an ankle injury.
This means that France will fielding their third choice hooker on Saturday.
Graeme Smith has announced he will retire from international cricket at the conclusion of the final Test against Australia in Cape Town.
UJ (16) 29 / 37 (29) UCT (Final Score)
FNB UJ (University of Johannesburg) and FNB UCT (University of Cape Town)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at UJ Stadium, Johannesburg at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 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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The Vodacom Bulls released two Media Releases today, the first dealing with their weekly fitness update and the second announcing some interesting loose forward signings to counter the two long term injuries of Pierre Spies (6 months) and Arno Botha (5 months to go).
Deon Stegmann is fit again and training with the team this week.
Wimpie van der Walt, who played for the Southern Kings in Super Rugby in 2013 and who now plies his trade in Japan, will join the Bulls for 2 months with options for him to stay on longer and negotiations with Dewald Potgieter who also plies his trade in Japan is in advanced stages.
Wits (4) 12 / 18 (5) NMMU (Final Score)
FNB Wits (University of the Witwatersrand) and FNB NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg at 16:45 SA Time (14:45 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 Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers both scored their first wins of the season, but this past weekend of Super Rugby action should have confirmed the growing concern among neutrals that the story of the South African conference this year will be that there is the Sharks and then there’s rubbish.
The Sharks, who would hardly have been quaking in their boots as they watched the games featuring South African teams on television during their bye weekend, admittedly weren’t all that flush in their last performance, when they beat the Hurricanes.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has read the riot act to his players, and demanded a better performance than the one they put up in their Vodacom Super Rugby loss to the Melbourne Rebels.
Drotske was not a happy man after his side went down 35-14 to the Melbourne Rebels in their opening tour match – continuing their trend of not being able to win in their first match on tour.
It has been described as the “tour from hell” and also as “Mission Impossible”, but the toughness of the four-match trip that the DHL Stormers embarked upon with their departure from Cape Town on Sunday could just work for them.
The 19-18 win over the Hurricanes at Newlands this past Friday wasn’t enough to turn around the negativity that swamped Cape rugby after the shock defeat to the Lions in the opening game the week before, and which has arguably been around since the Currie Cup final last October.
Simon Hickey is the latest star to emerge from New Zealand’s flyhalf factory and he will be unleashed on the Bulls and Lions in the next fortnight.
Hickey, who made his Super Rugby debut in the Blues’ 35-24 win over the Crusaders at the weekend, has been added to their 27-man squad for the two-match tour of South Africa.
The Reds have earmarked their encounter with a misfiring Cheetahs team as the game in which to bounce back.
The Reds suffered a disappointing 5 / 32 loss to the Waratahs in Sydney at the weekend, and are one from two after a 10-point win over the Brumbies the previous week.
The New Zealand Rugby Union will set up a dedicated integrity unit to combat corruption and doping in the sport, a senior official said on Sunday.
Neil Sorenson, NZRU general manager of professional rugby, said the governing body aimed to have the unit set up in six months, New Zealand Newswire reported.
The Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers returned to winning ways on a weekend of Vodacom Super Rugby where 6 from 7 home teams were victorious.
Ironically both the teams from Pretoria and Cape Town were outscored by 2 tries to 1 in their respective matches against the Lions and the Hurricanes, but won mainly because of pin-point goal-kicking accuracy.
On Friday evening the DHL Stormers snuck through by 19 / 18 against the Hurricanes at DHL Newlands, while the Vodacom Bulls beat the Lions by 25 / 17 in the first Gauteng-derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t a happy weekend for the Toyota Cheetahs though, as they lost their first tour match of the season by 35 / 14 to the Rebels in Melbourne.
The Cell C Sharks had a bye.
Predicting how many games each of the South African Conference franchises will lose, is the object of this game. After 3 Rounds of Super Rugby in 2014 we still have no casualties.
Each franchise plays 16 games in the regular season, 8 against fellow South African Conference sides (home and away) and 8 against the sides in the other 2 Conferences.
Players in this competition had to predict how many games each team will lose and draw during the regular season.
All participants showed little faith in the Lions and the players who gave the Lions their best chance of not losing too many were Gumboots and Grootblousmile, with only 11 loses predicted. The Lions might just be the Achilles heel for most in the competition. The Lions were only given a chance to win between 2 and 5 games.
There is little to choose between any of the teams in a mouth-watering set of fixtures in Round Five of the 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.
With two log positions the biggest gap between any of the teams in each match on Monday, the standings could get another serious shake-up with the play-offs getting ever-closer.
Top spot will be on the line when defending champions FNB UP-Tuks host FNB NWU-Pukke who trail them by just a single point, whilst it will be a very similar scenario in Stellenbosch where FNB Maties will look to move past opponents FNB UFS-Shimlas into third place.
Since South Africa’s return from international sporting isolation, two teams have tormented the county’s sporting heroes and sports-mad public alike – the All Blacks and the Baggy Greens.
Lead by a succession of hard-nosed captains and spear-headed by some of the best players in history, Australia has been the cricketing nemesis of the Proteas and the team South African fans most ‘loved to hate’. ODIs and Tests between the teams have produced some of the most memorable games in cricket history.
Even though fans hated playing second fiddle to the Baggy Greens, their acknowledgement of Australia’s cricketing excellence ranged from grudging respect to open admiration.
DHL Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee has announced a 27-man squad for his team’s four-match Super Rugby tour of Australasia.
Centre Jean de Villiers will lead the squad abroad, a group that includes new Samoan star Sailosi Tagicakibau and the Japan-based Peter Grant, but excludes Argentinean lock Manuel Carizza.
Richie McCaw faces up to eight weeks on the sidelines after breaking his thumb in the Crusaders’ defeat to the Blues at Eden Park on Friday.
Bulls (19) 25 / 17 (10) Lions (Final Score)
The Vodacom Bulls and Lions did battle in Super Rugby at
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria 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 (0) 14 / 27 (24) Brumbies (Final Score)
The Western Force and Brumbies did battle in Super Rugby at
NIB Stadium, Perth at 13:00 SA Time (15:05 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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Waratahs (19) 32 / 5 (5) Reds (Final Score)
The Waratahs and Reds did battle in Super Rugby at
ANZ Stadium, Sydney at 10:40 SA Time (19:40 AEST, 08:40 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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Edinburgh Rugby won the tightest of contests against the Ospreys 31-25 with the decisive contributions coming from Carl Bezuidenhout and Grayson Hart in their match in round sixteen of the RaboDirect PRO12 last night at Meggetland, Edinburgh’s temporary new home ground.
Chiefs (7) 21 / 19 (16) Highlanders (Final Score)
The Chiefs and Highlanders did battle in Super Rugby at
Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 08:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 06:35 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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Stormers (6) 19 / 18 (12) Hurricanes (Final Score)
DHL Stormers and the Hurricanes did battle in Super Rugby at
Newlands, Cape Town at Fiday 28 Feb 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT, 06:10 Saturday 1 March NZ Time).
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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Rebels (17) 35 / 14 (0) Cheetahs (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels and Toyota Cheetahs did battle in Super Rugby at
AAMI Park, Melbourne at 10:40 SA Time (19:40 Melbourne Time, 08:40 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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The RFU have fined Leicester amateurs Aylestone St James £1,575 for “forcibly removing the underwear” of three anonymous north east-based officials.
The incident took place at Aylestone’s Covert Lane clubhouse after a Midlands Three East (North) match with Grimsby.
Blues (15) 35 / 24 (17) Crusaders (Final Score)
The Blues and Crusaders did battle in Super Rugby at
Eden Park, Auckland at 08:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 06:35 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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Super Rugby is already in Round 3! We have 7 games in Round 3, with 3 games on Friday and 4 games on Saturday.
The Cell C Sharks have a bye weekend and of course Bye Points fall away in 2014.
In June / July 2014 the Antipion teams will catch up in played games with the South African counterparts, when the South African sides sit out for 1 Round.
The Combined Log will therefore be skewed for the majority of the competition and one has to question why individual countries are allowed to start such a long competition ahead of it’s rivals. In 2013 the Australian sides started a week early, but at least they had the excuse that they needed an extra week in the middle of the year to prepare for the British & Irish Lions series, which they lost.
Glasgow Warriors have pulled off a major coup by landing USA international sevens star Carlin Isles until at least May 2015, subject to a visa and medical.
24-year-old Isles has been dubbed the fastest rugby player in the world after swapping athletics for rugby in 2012.
Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has named his 23-man outfit to do battle with the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Ackermann has opted for consistency, making just two forced changes to the Lions’ starting 15, that derailed the DHL Stormers 34 / 10 last weekend.
Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph has named his team to play the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton on Saturday night.
With Brad Thorn unavailable due to a rib injury, Jarrad Hoeata moves into tighthead lock and Joe Wheeler (returning from a compound fracture in his finger) starts at loosehead.
Lock Hugh McMeniman and flanker Chris Alcock have returned to the starting XV for the Force’s clash against the Brumbies at nib Stadium on Saturday night.
McMeniman’s selection in the starting lineup completes his return from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the second half of 2013. McMeniman will pack down alongside Sam Wykes on Saturday.