After a hard-fought triumph over the Crusaders in Round 2, the Chiefs have named a side to face the Highlanders in their first home game of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
The Chiefs coaches have been consistent in their process of giving players a start when depth prevails which will see Pauliasi Manu start at prop and Jamie Mackintosh move to the pine.
The Waratahs and Reds have been forced to make late changes to their respective squads with Dave Dennis and Mike Harris both failing to overcome injury niggles.
Dennis is ailing from a knee complaint following his side’s win over the Force on Sunday while Harris was ruled out with an ankle injury.
Robbie Coleman will make his first appearance in 2014 when the Brumbies travel to Perth to take on the Force this Saturday night.
Coleman was one of two changes to the starting side, with just one switch occurring on the bench.
Looking back on Round 2 of Super Rugby 2014, the first full Round where all three participating nations took part in Super Rugby, it might be good to look at some key factors coming to light in the Round.
The official SANZAR website, www.sanzarrugby.com brings you the seven key statistics over the second round of the 2014 season.
The Vodacom Bulls, who have been struggling in the first two Rounds of Super Rugby in 2014 are reportedly hunting the services of Dewald Potgieter, who is currently playing his rugby in the Japanese league and also the services of Juan Smith, who is playing his rugby at Toulon in France.
In the meantime, Frans Ludeke is still adament that backing Louis Fouché is the right thing to do, despite Louis Fouché being dropped from this weekend’s match-day 23.
Former Chiefs wing Sailosi Tagicakibau is set to join the Stormers on the Australasian leg of their Super Rugby tour.
The 31-year-old Samoan international has played 24 Tests (21 for Samoa and three for the Pacific Islanders) and has played in the last three World Cups.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter will earn a first Vodacom Bulls start at flyhalf since 15 May 2010 when the home side host the Lions in their first home match of the Vodacom Super Rugby competition at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The 29-year old pivot is one of four changes made to the starting side that came up short in Bloemfontein last weekend, with Grant Hattingh (as no 8), Victor Matfield (at no 5) and Frik Kirsten (as starting tighthead) the others to earn a start on the weekend.
Simon Hickey will make his Super Rugby debut when he starts at flyhalf for the Blues against the Crusaders at Eden Park on Friday.
The New Zealand Under-20 playmaker and Auckland player of the year is in the Blues Wider Training Group but has impressed head coach John Kirwan enough to believe he should be given an opportunity to guide the team ahead of Chris Noakes who struggled against the Highlanders last week and falls out of the match-day squad completely.
Colin Slade will start at fullback ahead of Israel Dagg in one of four changes to the Crusaders team to face the Blues at Eden Park on Friday.
Kieran Read returns for his first start of the season to play at No 8 and captain the side. Richie McCaw and George Whitelock are the starting openside and blindside flankers, and Matt Todd will again provide support from the bench.
Hurricanes prop Ben Franks will earn his 100th Super Rugby cap against the Stormers at Newland on Friday.
The Hurricanes face the Cape Town-based outfit in the second match of their South African tour.
Experienced flyhalf Peter Grant will hook up with the Stormers again in either the first or second week of their Super Rugby overseas leg … straight from his completed commitments in Japan.
This was confirmed by coach Allister Coetzee, who will relish adding “Bash’s” street wisdom to the tour mix as he is low on truly hardened, assertive characters and decision-makers in both the key slots of No 10 and scrumhalf this season.
SANZAR has released the names of the officials for Round 3 of Super Rugby 2014. Mike Fraser starts the action this weekend in Auckland with the Blues vs Crusaders match.
This weekend sees 7 matches with 3 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Sharks have the bye weekend.
The Vodacom Bulls are set to make radical changes to their team to face the Lions this weekend in order to get themselves onto the winning path in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby series.
While Flip van der Merwe is set to captain the side once again, the team named on Wednesday will in all likelihood see Victor Matfield and Jacques-Louis Potgieter in the starting line-up and a bold move for regular lock Grant Hattingh to No 8.
Fresh from their victory over the Vodacom Bulls, Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has named an unchanged starting line-up for his team’s first Vodacom Super Rugby tour match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
Jaco Taute has been named at fullback for the DHL Stormers’ first home game of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The DHL Stormers will host the Hurricanes at DHL Newlands on Friday (kick-off 19:10), with Taute joining the starting line-up at fullback and Gio Aplon shifting across to the wing.
All Black and Hurricanes centre Conrad Smith admitted he was surprised by the Stormers’ showing against the Lions in Johannesburg last week.
Springbok Elton Jantjies will have to wait a while longer before he will make his comeback to Super Rugby.
Jantjies, with just two Tests but more than 80 first class games to his credit, made a successful return to the playing field with the with the Golden Lions Vodacom Cup team last week – following shoulder surgery in the off-season.
Following their horror start to the season at Ellis Park last week, Stormers captain Jean de Villiers is expecting a major response from his side at Newlands on Friday.
De Villiers was furious with the way his charges capitulated against the Lions last week, and he admitted that their were some harsh words said behind closed doors when they reflected on what went wrong against the Lions.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has called on fans to “keep the faith” after the team’s disappointing start to the Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The Bulls lost their opening two games against the Sharks and Cheetahs and on both occasions were struggling to get their own engine going, failing both on a tactical and a physical level against opposition they would normally look a lot more physical against.
Reds flank Liam Gill said his side is not worried by the Israel Folau factor, and hopes both teams bring an attacking game plan when they meet the Waratahs on Saturday.
Gill admitted that the Reds were nervous when they saw that their Super Rugby season would begin with away games against major Australian conference rivals the Brumbies and Waratahs.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder will have a selection headache to deal with while choosing his side to play the Blues on Friday.
The seven-times champions underperformed in last week’s 10-18 reverse at the hands of the Chiefs and the performance is certain to result in flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal’s axing, with Colin Slade now available, but it is how Blackadder re-jigs the rest of his team that remains a mystery.
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has dropped number eight Louis Picamoles from his squad to face Scotland next weekend because he showed a lack of respect towards referee Alain Rolland during Friday’s loss to Wales.
The Highlanders will be without their most experienced forward in Brad Thorn, who will miss three to four weeks with a rib injury.
Former All Black captain Taine Randell is against the idea of South Africa getting six Super Rugby teams.
A scheduled meeting of SANZAR’s Executive Committee took place in Sydney last Thursday where the future of Super Rugby was among the agenda items.
Former Springbok and Bulls forward Jacques Potgieter has been promoted to the Waratahs starting team for their Super Rugby clash against the Reds in Sydney on Saturday.
According to the Waratahs’ official website, it is the only change made by coach Michael Cheika from the team that earned a 43-21 bonus-point win over the Force last Sunday.
Potgieter will start in place of Will Skelton at lock, with the 21-year-old dropping back to the bench.
Australian John O’Neill has quit as director of the 2015 Rugby World Cup citing personal reasons, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said on Tuesday.
O’Neill, a former chief of the Australian Rugby Union as well as the Football Federation Australia, confirmed his departure was effective immediately.
Billy Vunipola will take no further part in the Six Nations due to a sprain to his right ankle.
The Saracens No 8 had a scan on Monday which revealed some ligament damage that will keep him out of action for the rest of the tournament.
French centre Wesley Fofana is unlikely to play any further part in this season’s Six Nations Championship after suffering a broken rib in the 27-6 defeat in Wales according to Clermont.
Michael O’Connor has resigned from his position as Australian Rugby Sevens head coach citing family considerations as the contributing factor behind his decision.
“I tended my resignation to Anthony Eddy [General Manager – Rugby Sevens] and the ARU earlier this week.
Former Springbok rugby player Christian Stewart has been charged with allegedly assaulting the boyfriend of his ex-wife.
Stewart, 47, briefly appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Long-serving Edinburgh Rugby duo Ben Cairns and Steven Lawrie have been forced to retire from rugby due to long-term knee injuries.
The news ends the tenure of the long-serving local lads, both capped for Scotland, who will now pursue careers on the other side of the white paint.
It was a weekend of firsts in South African Vodacom Super Rugby history, with bragging rights in two derbies going to the Lions and the Toyota Cheetahs, while the Cell C Sharks cemented their position at the top of the standings.
On Friday evening, the Toyota Cheetahs turned around an 11-match losing streak against the Vodacom Bulls for their first-ever win over the team from Pretoria in this competition. It wasn’t pretty and the conditions were dire, but the side from Central South Africa would not have been too bothered by that as they won 15-9.
Saturday afternoon saw the Cell C Sharks dismantle a spirited Hurricanes side by 27-9 in Durban, after which the Lions were responsible for yet another upset when they trashed the DHL Stormers by 34-10 in Johannesburg – their first win over the Capetonians in 10 attempts.
Predicting how many games each of the South African Conference teams will lose is the object of this game. Two rounds were played and we already have a player walking on thin ice.
Each team has to play 16 games in the regular season. We had to predict how many games each team will lose through the regular season. All of us showed little faith in the Lions team. The players who gave the Lions their best chance is Gumboots and Grootblousmile with only 11 loses predicted. The Lions might just be the achilles heel for most here. They were only given a chance to win between 2 and 5 games. Well they have already won 2 and have 2 in the bag after 2 games.
NMMU (0) 16 / 52 (23) Pukke (Final Score)
FNB NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University) and FNB NWU-Pukke (North-West University)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at the Madibaz Stadium, Port Elizabeth at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSNN on TV in SA.
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UCT (8) 16 / 26 (8) Tuks (Final Score)
FNB UCT (University of Cape Town) and FNB UP-Tuks (University of Pretoria)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at UCT Rugby Fields, Cape Town at 16:45 SA Time (14:45 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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