England will field an all new front row in Saturday’s international against Argentina at Twickenham.
Joe Marler, Dylan Hartley and David Wilson replace Mako Vunipola, Tom Youngs and Dan Cole against the Pumas.
France manager Philippe Saint-Andre took a gamble on Thursday when he picked the inexperienced flyhalf Remi Tales in an untested halfback pairing with Morgan Parra to face world champions New Zealand on Saturday.
Wallaby forward Rob Simmons has been chosen at blindside flank in the only change made to the Australian starting line-up for Saturday’s second year-end Test against Italy at Stadio Olimpico.
Pumas speedster Rosco Speckman was this week added to the Springbok Sevens training squad in Stellenbosch.
The group is preparing for the next two legs of the IRB Sevens World Series – in Dubai and Port Elizabeth.
Springbok forwards Tendai Mtawarira and Eben Etzebeth will feature for the Barbarians against Fiji at Twickenham on 30 November 2013.
The most experienced team in All Blacks’ history will face France this weekend, after New Zealand coach Steve Hansen recalled his big guns for the Paris clash.
Hansen’s run-on team announced on Thursday has 853 caps, with a further 112 available on the bench for a combined record of 965, in a sign the world champions are not taking the mercurial French lightly.
Experienced backline stars JP Pietersen and Jaque Fourie are back in the Springbok team for Saturday’s Castle Lager Outgoing Tour opener against Wales in Cardiff, while Frans Malherbe will make his Test debut at the Millennium Stadium.
In naming his side for Saturday’s Test against the current Six Nations champions, Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has decided to hand Fourie his first Test for South Africa since the Rugby World Cup in 2011, while a combination of injury and non-availability means Pietersen is back for his first taste of international rugby yet this season.
The former home of Eastern Province rugby, the Boet Erasmus Stadium, is currently in a state of ruin.
A sports management company is claiming €79 200 (R1 million) from former Springbok and Blue Bulls hooker, Gary Botha.
Argentina have made five changes from the team crushed 54-17 by Australia in The Rugby Championship last month for their opening tour match against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
New coach Daniel Hourcade named a side on Tuesday with three changes in the backs and two in the forwards plus a positional switch with Julio Farias Cabello moving from lock to openside flanker.
Former Samoa rugby captain Peter Fatialofa, who led his team to a win over Wales in one of the game’s most stunning upsets, died on Wednesday in his Pacific homeland, officials said.
Reports said Fatialofa suffered a heart attack in the capital Apia and died on his way to hospital. He was 54.
Munster back Keith Earls has been ruled out of Ireland’s opening Autumn International Test match against Samoa in Dublin due to a knee injury.
Wales have announced their team to play South Africa in their opening Autumn International Test match, initially with Ospreys wing Eli Walker being named to make his international debut. Walker has since been sidelined by injury and is replaced by Liam Williams (Scarlets).
Kelly Brown will captain Scotland against Japan at Murrayfield on Saturday in the first viagogo Autumn Test. Back-row forward Brown, 31, returns after recovering from the leg injury which cut short his involvement in Scotland’s summer tour to South Africa. It will be his tenth Test as Scotland captain and 59th cap overall.
Heyneke Meyer is taking the approach to take Wales quite seriously, so seriously that he has changed his game plan away from the expansive style the Springboks played during The Rugby Championship.
Meyer is approaching this game more conservatively with the mindset of building phases and keeping the ball in hand.
With Jannie du Plessis out for the End Of Year Tours for the Springboks it seems likely that Frans Malherbe will make his debut for the Springboks.
With Du Plessis out, only two options remain at tighthead prop and these are Frans Malherbe and Lourens Adriaanse, who are both uncapped.
A week after losing the captaincy, Wallabies lock James Horwill could find himself on the bench for the clash against Italy this weekend.
Although he produced an improved performance without the burden of the captaincy in the defeat to England at Twickenham last week, the return of line-out specialist Rob Simmons could see Horwill riding the pine on Saturday.
Heyneke Meyer has given a clear indication as to what his intentions are for the 2013 End Of Year Tour.
It seems likely that Meyer will use this End Of Year Tour to test combinations building up to the 2015 World Cup.
Argentina captain Juan Manuel Leguizamon has denied there are splits in the Pumas camp ahead of this weekend’s Twickenham Test against England.
There were reports that ‘player power’ had led to the recent resignation of coach Santiago Phelan and his replacement by Daniel Hourcade.
Former New Zealand international wing Rene Ranger and South African centre Robert Ebersohn on Monday arrived to significantly bolster Top 14 highflyers Montpellier’s ranks.
James O’Connor has been seen at Toulon in a meeting with Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal.
O’Connor who made his debut appearance for London Irish over the past weekend is already linked with a move to Toulon.
England have closed the gap on second placed South Africa after their 20-13 victory over Australia this past weekend.
With the victory over Australia, England managed to gain half a ranking point and is now 1.55 ranking points behind South Africa.
Western Province Rugby can confirm that one of its players was arrested on suspicion that his blood alcohol content exceeded the legal limit.
Helllooooooooooo!
The Currie Cup is done and dusted, The Rugby Championship is done… but we have a NEW COMPETITION to join.
The End Of Year Tours or Autumn Internationals as it is known up north, starts this weekend, so hurry up and join our new Pool!
To be a member of a Rugby-Talk.com SuperBru pool is easy as pie, all that you have to do is see to it that you are a REGISTERED SUBSCRIBER TO RUGBY-TALK.
The details are as follows:
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk EOYT 2013
Pool Code: bowssago
CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE POOL LEADERBOARD
England coach Stuart Lancaster has called up Junior World Championship-winning fullback Anthony Watson ahead of the clash with Argentina at Twickenham this weekend.
Wales will take heart from the British and Irish Lions’ demolition of Australia earlier this year when they tackle the Springboks in Cardiff on Saturday.
There were 10 Welsh players in the Lions’ starting team for the decisive third Test against the Wallabies in June – a game the Lions convincingly won 41-16 to claim their first series win in 16 years.
Australian coach Ewen McKenzie was left thinking of what might have been, after two controversial tries sparked England into coming from behind to beat the Wallabies 20-13 at Twickenham on Saturday.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers said that his team is focused solely on their match against Wales this weekend.
A cold and rainy Cardiff greeted the Springboks on Sunday upon arrival in Wales, where they will kick off their tour at the Millennium Stadium.
It is not exactly a state secret, but the Stormers confirmed on Saturday that Argentinean lock Manuel Carizza will move to Cape Town after his country’s November tour.
The New Zealand Maori team suffered a double blow in the wake of their impressive win in the opening match of their North American tour.
Jamison Gibson-Park, a late entry at scrumhalf after Piri Weepu was unable to start, scored two tries to spark the New Zealand Maori team to a 40-15 victory over Canada on Sunday.
It was confirmed on Monday that Weepu and hooker Hika Elliot are returning home as a result of injuries.
From time to time Rugby-Talk is approached by rugby enthusiasts, who read our content, who enquire whether they can write guest articles for publication.
My response is the same every time… send it along, if it is good, we will publish it. More aptly, I also invite these people to register and become part of our wonderful website, to join in the comments with us and should we see value in their style and knowledge, there will be no hesitation to make them fullyfledged authors here on Rugby-Talk.
I hope this is an inspiration to more people to contribute…
Here is a wonderful piece on the history of the Six Nations:
The Sharks have swooped to secure the services of talented Western Province Under-20 flyhalf Tim Swiel.
Western Province Rugby would like to extend its condolences to the Mellish family, with the passing of former Western Province prop and rugby administrator Francis Mellish last weekend.
England (6) 20 / 13 (13) Wallabies (Final Score)
England and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday AEDT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Japan (6) 6 / 54 (28) All Blacks (Final Score)
Japan and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground, Tokyo at 07:00 SA Time (14:00 Japan Time, 18:00 NZ Time, 05:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 5, HD5 & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************