Former Springbok prop Etienne Fynn has been appointed as the new head of the Sharks Academy, reports Sharks website editor Michael Marnewick.
Fynn, himself a former Shark and current Sharks Under-21 coach, takes over as Academy MD from Hans Scriba, who has taken up a position with the SA Rugby Union (SARU).
Springbok World Cup-winning prop CJ van der Linde has signed for Premiership club London Irish for the remainder of the season.
Five key members of the Springbok squad in 2013 will go head-to-head for the annual SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, while the Steval Pumas have been rewarded for their great form this season with nominations in four categories.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, the winner in 2008 who led South Africa to 10 victories in 12 Tests in 2013, will go up against Bismarck du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Willie le Roux and Duane Vermeulen for the most prestigious individual award in South African rugby.
When Heyneke Meyer’s second season as Springbok coach came to an end a few weeks ago, it represented the halfway point between World Cup cycles, with less than two years remaining until the kick-off of the next global showpiece event in September 2015.
After a year which saw the Boks end with a success rate for the season of more than 80 per cent, only the third time it had happened in the post-isolation era, Meyer should have been well pleased with the progress his team has made since the nervous beginnings against England at home in June 2012.
English Rugby Football Union (RFU) CEO Ian Ritchie is confident that the game has not been affected by spot-fixing.
Ritchie was speaking at a conference where ministers and MPs were discussing corruption in sport.
London Irish are set to announce a takeover of the club by a group of Irish businessmen on Thursday. The club have called a news conference at their training ground in Sunbury for 10:30 GMT, where they will announce further details of the takeover.
South Africa and India did battle in the 3rd ODI at SuperSport Park, Centurion, Pretoria.
South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first on on overcast day always with chances of rain interupting the match.
South Africa were looking at making it 3 / 0 in the ODI Series.
The match was eventually called off after the South African Innings, due to rain. No result follows and South Africa wins the ODI Series against Indie 2 / 0.
Former Junior Springbok wing Wandile Mjekevu is hoping to represent the French national team in future.
South Africans Craig Joubert and Jaco Peyper have been appointed by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to referee in next year’s Six Nations.
Leigh Halfpenny’s stunning 12 months continues after he was named Wales Sports Personality of the Year on Monday night.
Struggling Racing-Metro have been given a boost with news that Welsh centre Jamie Roberts is finally ready to play again after a 12-week injury absence.
The barn-storming back sustained a ligament tear in his left ankle, and has had to watch as his team has struggled despite a raft of big-name signings including Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton and Welsh teammates Dan Lydiate and, more recently, Mike Phillips.
Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver pulled no punches about what he thinks of Quade Cooper’s boxing career.
Former Reds and Wallabies scrumhalf Sam Cordingley will join the Queensland Rugby Union in 2014 as Queensland Reds Rugby Operations Manager.
EP Rugby CEO Charl Crous has confirmed that former New Zealand flyhalf, Carlos Spencer, has joined the EP Kings coaching ranks for the 2014 season on a five year contract.
The possibility of eight teams playing in next year’s Currie Cup Premier Division still exists, a report indicates.
Super Rugby champions the Chiefs have been issued a seven year license by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) to run the organisation and the Taranaki Rugby Football Union have joined as investors.
The Chiefs licence holding entity is owned by a group of private investors and Provincial Unions and will be known as Chiefs Rugby Club Limited Partnership (CRC).
Crusaders Chairman Murray Ellis has announced that the Canterbury franchise achieved a break-even result for the 2013 financial year.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) will launch a new domestic rugby competition in 2014, the National Rugby Championship.
All Blacks hooker Hika Elliot has been ruled out of Super Rugby next year after undergoing neck surgery and may quit rugby altogether.
Bath director of rugby Gary Gold has left the Premiership club. The 46-year-old South African took over at the Rec in May 2012, replacing Sir Ian McGeechan.
The Wallabies have agreed to play the Great Britain rugby league team in a $10 million hybrid-game spectacular at Wembley Stadium next year. London’s most famous football venue has been booked for December 6, a week after the Wallabies’ last game on their 2014 spring tour.
Racing Metro’s dire performance in Saturday’s 8-32 Heineken Cup thrashing by English side Harlequins prompted the directors to announce that they had switched the mouthwatering Top 14 clash with European champions Toulon away from Stade de France to its own more modest stadium.
Wallabies loose forward Scott Higginbotham has been named as the Melbourne Rebels captain for the 2014 Super Rugby season.
Brumbies back Matt Toomua says that even though his selection for the Wallabies has boosted his bargaining power he will not shop around and will stick with the Canberra Super Rugby franchise.
However Toomua says that the Australian Super Rugby salary cap could complicate matters if the Brumbies hope to retain their current squad as the players start to look for new deals.
Former Sharks Director of Rugby, Brendan Venter, will help out with the coaching at Stellenbosch schools side, Paul Roos, next year.
The South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, was held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, takes place on 7 and 8 December 2013.
The tournament was played in emotionally charged circumstances after the death of beloved South African and world statesman, Nelson Mandela, who passed away in the night of 5 December 2013.
In these circumstances the open question was whether South Africa’s Blitzbokke could go one better than the previous tournament when they were beaten in the final by Fiji.
The question was answered… the South African Blitzbokke are the winners and title holders at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth!
Here are the Fixtures and Results:
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has paid tribute to the extraordinary life and unselfish contribution to the establishment of a united South Africa, of former President, Nelson Mandela.
Mr Mandela passed away peacefully at his home on Thursday. He was 95.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana will be sidelined for around three weeks after suffering a thigh strain in Toulon’s 14-9 European Cup win at Exeter on Saturday.
The George 7’sPremier League tournament, due to be played at Outeniqua Park on 14 & 15 December, has been moved to January due to the countrywide week of mourning and Sunday’s funeral of Nelson Mandela, who passed away on Thursday.
The teams, kick off times, venues and match officials have been announced for this weekend’s Heineken Cup third round clashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Should weather conditions or travel difficulties prevent matches from going ahead as scheduled, ERC will work with the clubs and match officials to ensure that fixtures are completed as close to the original kick-off time as possible.
The Sharks will play a warm-up match against English Premiership club Saracens at Allianz Park in London on January 25 next year.
Ireland will tackle South Africa and Australia in next year’s November international Test series, the Irish Rugby Football Union announced on Friday.
British and Irish Lions hooker Richard Hibbard and Wales flyhalf Rhys Priestland have joined the exodus of Wales players leaving the Welsh regions and joined the growing contingent of Wales internationals playing in England.
Lions hooker Hibbard has agreed to join Gloucester at the end of this season while Scarlets pivot Priestland has agreed to move to Wasps.
A proposal to expand the Currie Cup to eight teams in 2014 was withdrawn before being put to the vote at a SARU Special General Council meeting in Cape Town on Friday.
Maybe it’s fitting that the South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series tournament of 2013 / 2014 takes place a couple of days after the passing of the world’s biggest ever statesman, Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) at the stadium named in his honor, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
It is the last sevens action in the HSBC Sevens World series of 2013.
The South African Blitzbokke will be eager to tribute this tournament to Madiba.
We bring you all you need to know about the 16 teams who will be vying for top honours in the Nelson Mandela Bay SA Sevens, the third round of the IRB Sevens World Series in Port Elizabeth this weekend.