Super Rugby organizers SANZAR have announced that they have a “preferred model” including Argentina for the future Super Rugby format beyond 2015 that will be put forward for approval.
SANZAR’s Executive Committee met in Sydney on Thursday to discuss the future of Super Rugby including possible formats that could be presented to broadcasters.
In a show of support for the squad that defeated the Bulls last weekend, Director of Rugby Jake White has stuck with the same Cell C Sharks team for this Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby showdown with the Hurricanes.
Continuity is one of the key factors for success and being able to name an unchanged line-up is a rare luck for a coach. It is a reward for outstanding performances and testament to the team’s efforts as well as a thumbs’ up to the medical and conditioning staff who have the players in such good physical shape.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett has named the team of 23 players to face the Cell C Sharks at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT) for their Super Rugby season opener.
Four players are set to make their starting debut and a further 2 might make their debut from the bench.
Highlanders coach, Jamie Joseph, has named his side to face the Blues in Dunedin in their first Super Rugby game of 2014.
Six players in the starting 15 will make their debut for the Highlanders and they include Kane Hames, Gareth Evans, Shane Christie, Patrick Osborne, Malakai Fekitoa and Richard Buckman Shane Christie, Partick Osborne and Richard Buckman has Super Rugby experience at other New Zealand Franchises, whereas Kane Hames, Gareth Evans and Malakai Fekitoa will make their Super Rugby debuts.
Reds head coach Richard Graham has named his team to play the Brumbies in their Super Rugby opener against the Brumbies with Quade Cooper at No 10 and Aidan Toua at No 15.
Cooper was in doubt for the match but was given the all clear earlier this week and will start in Canberra.
In his first Super Rugby match since the Reds vs Hurricanes in March last year, Aidan Toua will start in the Reds’ fullback jersey.
Head coach Allister Coetzee has announced his starting line-up for the DHL Stormers’ first game of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season – against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday (kick-off 19:10).
Springbok skipper Jean de Villiers will lead the DHL Stormers in their season-opener, with deputy Schalk Burger lining up in the No 7 jersey.
All Blacks captain Richie McCaw says he is unlikely to continue his international rugby career after the 2015 World Cup.
Coach Todd Blackadder has named four Crusader debutants in the match-day squad to face the Chiefs in their Super Rugby opener in Christchurch on Friday.
Loosehead prop Tim Perry, who played his first Super Rugby game last year for the Blues, will make his first start for the Crusaders in the No 1 jersey. Midfielder Rey Lee-Lo is another player who made his Super Rugby debut last year (for the Hurricanes) but will run out for the Crusaders for the first time on Friday.
Racing Matro flank Wenceslas Lauret returns to the French lineup for the Six Nations match against Wales in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Friday night.
Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips has been demoted to the bench for Friday’s crunch Six Nations international against unbeaten France in Cardiff.
Kick-off is at 22:00 SA Time (20:00 GMT).
Top-14 outfit Grenoble are confident that they will have Stormers and Springbok wing Gio Aplon on their books for next season, club sources have said on Wednesday.
The Vodacom Bulls confirmed on Wednesday that regular captain, Pierre Spies, has been withdrawn from the team to play the Toyota Cheetahs in a Vodacom Super Rugby match in Bloemfontein on Friday.
Spies suffered a blow to the elbow in last weekend’s match against the Cell C Sharks and it did not recover as hoped. He will be replaced by Jacques Engelbrecht, who moves up from the bench. Wiaan Liebenberg will replace Engelbrecht on the bench.
Should he take to the field, Liebenberg will make his Super Rugby debut.
Flip van der Merwe takes over the captaincy.
Vodacom Bulls lock Grant Hattingh will make his first appearance for his team this season on Friday against the Toyota Cheetahs after being included in the side for the Bloemfontein clash.
Hattingh replaces Paul Willemse in the only change to the side that came up short against the Sharks in Durban last weekend.
Flanker Deon Stegmann remains unavailable for selection due to a groin strain and will again miss the match, with Jono Ross donning the number six jersey.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has picked the same starting team that lost to the Lions for their Super Rugby clash against the Bulls in Bloemfontein on Friday night.
The South African Rugby (SARU) Union announced a group of 76 players on Tuesday for the start of the SA Under-20 preparations for the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship tournament to be hosted in Auckland, New Zealand, in June.
SARU also unveiled a comprehensive preparation plan aimed at ensuring the Junior Springboks are battle ready for the 2014 JWC showpiece.
Scotland have made three changes to their forward pack for Saturday’s Six Nations match against Italy in Rome.
Defending champions FNB UP-Tuks were the only side left unbeaten after the third round of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International on Monday.
The Pretoria side stormed to a comfortable 26-0 victory over FNB UFS-Shimlas in front of their home crowd on a night which saw pace-setters FNB NWU-Pukke and FNB NMMU both lose on home turf.
NWU-Pukke started the evening on top of the standings following bonus-point wins in the first two rounds, but they had their colours lowered in Potchefstroom by a desperate FNB Maties side who won 33-21 in the end.
It was Maties’ first win of the season, after going down to NMMU and UCT, and the four-try victory on the road will give the three-time champions plenty of confidence as they look to recover from their disappointing start to the season.
It was a good night for the Cape sides as the Ikey Tigers followed up their win over Maties in Stellenbosch last week by beating the NMMU Madibaz 26-13 in Port Elizabeth to reclaim the Monte Taljaard trophy.
NMMU have held the trophy which is played for in memory of former UCT and Grey PE flank Monte Taljaard for the last two years, but will have to give it back after losing their first game at home since 2012.
The Lions medical staff have released an injury update, following the Lions’ 20 / 21 victory over the Cheetahs on Saturday.
Bernard Foley has won the initial battle for the Waratahs flyhalf berth while Kurtley Beale will start at inside centre in their Super Rugby opener against the Force.
The two players were expected to contend for the playmaker role, but after some impressive pre-season outings coach Michael Cheika has decided to start both players.
You can’t get better than a four try bonus point win over the Bulls to start your Vodacom Super Rugby campaign, but judging from the talk coming out of the Cell C Sharks camp, the thirst for perfection is a long way from being quenched.
Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen should be ready to play for the Cheetahs when they host the Bulls in Bloemfontein on Friday night.
Goosen went for a scan after slightly injuring his arm in the Cheetahs’ 21 / 20 home defeat to the Lions at the weekend.
The DHL Stormers have been the South African side to be hit with the most pre-season injuries of all 5 Super Rugby Franchises. It has left them lean at lock and in the backline at wing and fullback.
Jaco Taute is rported to be out for 2 more weeks,as a result of which the Stormers have had to scramble to sign more depth, which now comes in the form of signing Shakes Soyizwapi from the EP Kings.
In addition, speculation is rife around what the constitution of the back three will be to run out against the Lions in Super Rugby on the weekend and the likelyhood is that Allister Coetzee would entrust a midfield spot next to Jean de Villiers to Michael van der Spuy.
Former England and British & Irish Lions prop Matt Stevens has agreed to return home to Durban and play Super Rugby for the Sharks at the end of this season.
Jason Jaftha, one of SANZAR’s panel of Super Rugby referees, has suffered what seems to be a serious knee injury.
Alan Solomons has lured former IRB Junior World Championship-winning Baby Bok prop Allan Dell to Edinburgh.
Educated at Queens College in Eastern Cape, the promising young prop, who can play on both sides of the scrum, qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother, Joan Carmichael, who was born in Paisley and brought up in Edinburgh.
Ulster have signed 26-year-old loosehead prop Ruaidhri Murphy from the Brumbies on a two-year contract.
Injured Wales centre Jonathan Davies has been ruled out of the Six Nations Championship match against France in Cardiff on Friday.
Springbok hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle will be out “for a long time” after suffering a knee injury at the weekend, French club Toulouse have said on Monday.
Edinburgh utility back Jack Cuthbert was called up on Monday into the Scotland squad ahead of this weekend’s potential Six Nations wooden spoon decider against Italy in Rome.
Tuks (8) 26 / 0 (0) Shimlas (Final Score)
FNB UP-Tuks (University of Pretoria) and FNB-UFS Shimlas (University of the Free State)
did battle in Super Rugby at Tuks Rugby Stadium, Pretoria 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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UJ (24) 32 / 15 (2) Wits (Final Score)
FNB UJ (University of Johannesburg) and FNB Wits (University of Witwatersrand)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at UJ 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 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Governing body Sanzar has confirmed that Television Match Official Deon van Blommenstein made a critical error in awarding Cobus Reinach his try during the Cell C Sharks’ 31 / 16 win over the Vodacom Bulls in their Vodacom Super Rugby match in Durban on the weekend.
Sanzar referees boss Lyndon Bray confirmed the try – which led to repeated replays – should not have been awarded as the ball was knocked-on by Sharks lock Anton Bresler.
The Lions celebrated their return to Vodacom Super Rugby with a good win over the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein before the Cell C Sharks showed they mean business in 2014 with a bonus-point victory over the Vodacom Bulls in Durban.
For the Cell C Sharks, under a new coach in former Springbok mentor Jake White, it was a perfect start to the season. They got their 4th try at the death of their 31 / 16 win after scoring 3 five-pointers in the first 40 minutes.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann knows that his young team’s gritty victory over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein was worth more than just the four log points.
The Johannesburg side made an ideal return to Super Rugby, with a late drop-goal from flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff giving them a dramatic 21 / 20 victory over the home side.
The DHL Stormers still have to get into the action and will have other intentions, but the first two matches of Vodacom Super Rugby reinforced the pre-season view that the Cell C Sharks will be the team to beat in the South African conference.
Certainly the other three sides that played this weekend were light years behind the Sharks, and that confirms the view picked up in the last Absa Currie Cup season, when the understrength sides of the Sharks and Western Province dominated the league season before contesting the final: there really are only two strong unions in South Africa at the moment.
The unavailability of fullback Jaco Taute for the Vodacom Super Rugby opener is just one of the many things that have given DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee reasons to be thoughtful ahead of the trip to Johannesburg on Saturday.
As the Lions were sounding a warning ahead of Ellis Park by shocking the Toyota Cheetahs 21 / 20 in Bloemfontein, a scratch Stormers team that included several youngsters who were still at school last year was on the way to a 29 / 24 defeat to the Boland Cavaliers in searing heat in Wellington.