Rugby fans can start voting for their own International Player of the Year and World XV of the Year following the release of a 45-strong shortlist of contenders.
Part of the inaugural Ultimate Rugby IRPA Awards, the Fans’ Player of the Year, and World XV of the Year will be decided by votes cast on Ultimate Rugby’s mobile app, and announced in conjunction with other category winners on November 26.
New Zealand’s Kieran Read says his side will be more eager to mark Dan Carter’s 100th cap with a good performance than avenge last year’s loss to England when the teams meet on Saturday.
Carter, 31, will become the fifth All Black to reach a century of caps if he plays at Twickenham.
England centre Manu Tuilagi could miss next year’s Six Nations after his club Leicester revealed on Tuesday that he will be sidelined until February with a chest injury.
Auckland based Super Rugby franchise the Blues have made two new key appointments to their management team ahead of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
Richard Fry has been appointed manager of rugby, while former Blues star Isa Nacewa will assume the role of mental skills coach.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Monday confirmed the names of 10 Springboks who were awarded long-term national contracts in August this year, which will see them remain in South Africa until the end of 2015.
The Barbarians have announced that four more Springbok players will represent them when they tackle Fiji later this month.
A new black-owned side, Eye of the Tiger Academy, will compete with other privately owned teams for the prize money of R1 million at the George Sevens Premier League.
Wales and Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies has signed a two-year contract with Clermont, the French Top 14 club announced on Tuesday.
Although his passion for Test rugby remains, All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore’s time in the Test arena appears to be drawing to a close.
His legs may be growing weary but the Wallabies are wary of Irish great Brian O’Driscoll’s rugby brain in this weekend’s Test of character in Dublin.
O’Driscoll is into his 15th and final season for Ireland as he prepares for his 135th Test cap and last battle with Australia at the old Lansdowne Road.
Combining a fair bit of Springbok news, as speculation flows…
John McFarland, Springbok defensive coach says the Springbok defences were already better last week compared to the previous game against the All Blacks.
Scribes worry and remind Bakkies Botha to keep his dicipline on field and not to succumb to the “Red Mist” od ill-dicipline and the real threat of Yellow or Red Cards.
It also appears that both the formidable frame of young Pieter-Steph du Toit (lock) and that of Patrick Lambie will be in the run-on side for the Springboks on the weekend, with scribes writing up the virtues of Pieter-Steph du Toit almost non-stop, whilst others consider Lambie the perfect fir for the Scotland game.
Scotland have injury concerns over five players ahead of next Sunday’s Test against South Africa at Murrayfield.
Ireland will be without Keith Earls and Chris Henry in Saturday’s Test against Australia in Dublin.
Chris Rattue, one of the well-known New Zealand Rugby Journalists, wants Dan Carter not to be selected for the England clash and he believes Dan does not have the magic of old anymore.
The home and away Super Rugby derby matches could be dropped in favour of playing every team when the tournament format is restructured in 2016.
The current Super Rugby format has split teams into three conference of five teams each and the teams in the conferences play opposition teams on a home and away basis.
England claimed yet another southern hemisphere scalp with a 31-12 victory over Argentina but it was a case of two steps forward and one back for Stuart Lancaster’s side.
What were the keys to their victory and will anything have New Zealand worried ahead of their return to Twickenham next weekend?
International news is flowing like a river in flood today, seems I have been updating all day, today… but we like it that way, don’t we!
Reviews of the Fourie du Preez try, clearly shows that Jaque Fourie was ahead of Fourie du Preez when he kicked, did not retreat and the subsequent try, however well-worked, should not have been awarded. Another blemish on refereeing in 2013!
Looking ahead at this weekend’s clash against Scotland, it appears at this stage if Bakkies Botha might get a starting berth at lock and it looks likely that Patrick Lambie will get the nod at flyhalf.
Meanwhile Morné Steyn is responding well to treatment for his back spasm injury and it looks likely that he’ll also be ready for Sunday’s match.
The Springboks’ victory over Wales on Saturday has slightly narrowed the gap between them and the All Blacks at the top of the IRB world rankings.
Scotland coach Scott Johnson was struggling to evaluate his side’s win over Japan as he looked ahead to the sterner tests that South Africa and Australia are sure to pose at Murrayfield on the next two weekends.
It was not the perfect weekend for the All Blacks, with France running them close. This begs the question whether Daniel Carter is still the flyhalf maestro he once was.
All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, says the All Blacks will be better against England compared to how they went against France.
On the weekend, one of the clasheds we most look forward to is the battle between England and the All Blacks.
England have been hard hit by the injury to Mako Vunipola though, who is out of the clash.
The war of words have also started and it seems that England contend that they are not afraid of the mighty All Blacks
Two players have been cited for alleged foul play, following the weekend’s round of Test matches.
Kings duo Rynier Bernardo and Shane Gates have both been called up to the Cheetahs wider training camp ahead of next year’s Super Rugby season.
All Black captain Richie McCaw added another accolade to his unrivalled résumé in the 26-19 win over France at the Stade de France on Saturday.
Wales were badly hit by injuries on the weekend, in the clash with the Springboks from South Africa.
Wales coach Warren Gatland was left lamenting the disparity in differing regional rugby after seeing his team go down 24-15 to South Africa on Saturday.
The Springboks, coming into their autumn internationals on the back of an impressive second place in the Rugby Championship, outscored Wales by three tries to nil.
The Springboks have veered off from their normal schedule on Sunday to visit the iconic Old Trafford in Manchester for the English Premiership clash between Manchester United and Arsenal.
The South African team was invited by Richard Arnold, Group CEO of Manchester United, when he met Springbok captain Jean de Villiers at a rugby match in Cape Town earlier this season.
France, or Les Misrables, as they should be called in 2013, is desperate for a win – with a 2013 season record of 9 Tests played, 1 win, 1 draw and 7 losses!
France next play Tonga and veterans Frederic Michalak and Fulgence Quedraogo have been called up to boots the French.
That said, France was the side in 2013 to give the world’s No 1 team, the New Zealand All Blacks, their toughest run yet in 2013!
A barrage of news and speculation greets us early on a Monday morning after a power game against Wales by the Springboks, this past weekend.
Firstly, the match analysis… reports indicating that Team Management and leaders in the side are lauding Fourie du Preez for his Man Of The Match performance against Wales.
Secondly, it appears that the injury to Bok flyhalf Morné Steyn, who had to leave the field after only 18 minutes in the game is not serious, with a troublesome back spasm picked up in the pre-game warm-up blamed and the player taken off to prevent real injury.
Thirdly, with 1 win under the belt and 2 games remaining, the next one being against Scotland on Sunday, speculation is rife whether Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will rest some weary players and pick a hand full of other players, to test new combinations against what should be South Africa’s weakest opposition on tour.
We will discuss the above under seperate headings below:
Ground staff at Murrayfield have been spraying the home of Scottish rugby with garlic in a bid to eradicate a turf parasite. Nematodes are roundworms that damage the grass root structure.
Wales (12) 15 / 24 (17) Springboks (Final Score)
Wales and the South African Springboks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 19:30 SA Time (17:30 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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Meanwhile, another International in progress at the same time, here is the score:
Ireland 40 / 9 Samoa (Final Score)
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England (24) 31 / 12 (6) Pumas (Final Score)
England and the Argentinian Pumas did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 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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Meanwhile, other Internationals in progress at the same time, here are the scores:
Italy (10) 20 / 50 (19) Wallabies (Final Score)
Scotland (11) 42 / 17 (3) Japan (Final Score)
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France (9) 19 / 26 (9) All Blacks (Final Score)
France and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Stade de France, Paris at 22:00 SA Time (21:00 France Time, 20:05 GMT, 09:00 Sunday NZ Time).
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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In Round 2 of the End Of Year Tours of 2013 there will be a lot more games on the weekend, compared to Round 1, last week. This weekend almost gives the impression of a Mini World Cup, as virtually all the top teams in the world are somehow involved in rugby this weekend.
Some teams are playing their first games on tour whilst others started their tours last weekend already. This weekend will feature quite a few games that has been hyped up to be classic clashes on the yearly calendar. Wales vs the Springboks from South Africa and France vs the New Zealand All Blacks are the two clashes most talked and speculated about during the week. Here are some head to head stats to help you pick your winners.
Georgina Robinson of the Sydney Morning Herald, a pleasant lady who sat next to me at Loftus Versfeld during Super Rugby… or was it a Test between the Springboks and Wallabies, wrote an article about Ewen McKenzie, Wallabies coach, complaining bitterly about the unfair treatment the Wallabies scrum gets, due to the perceptions of the quality or lack of quality of Wallaby scums of recent years.
Now understand me clear here, I do not moan over Georgina article, after all she has a duty to report the news when it presents itself – and generally she is a fair lass as far as rugby matters go, in my opinion one of the better rugby scribes from Down Under.
The beef that I have is the smoke and mirrors, the side-show that Ewen McKenzie is trying to conjure up and the smoke he is trying to blow up the IRB and our combined arses, to make up for absolutely woeful Wallaby scrummaging!
We’re going to look at Georgina’s Article in the Sydney Morning Herald first… thereafter we will look at a video clip analising all 17 scrums in the recent Test between England and the Wallabies (a must watch clip) and finally, each will come to his or her own conclusion, mine being to laugh at McKenzie’s antics in disgust and disbelief!