Coenie Oosthuizen has an ideal opportunity to cement a permanent place for himself in the Springbok squad heading towards the 2015 Rugby World Cup as coach Heyneke Meyer looks desperately for a back-up for Jannie du Plessis.
The Bok coach made his intentions quite clear this past week when he selected Oosthuizen as the back-up tighthead.
The new scrum laws will wind the clock back, says Dan Cron. Hookers actually hooking, halfbacks putting the ball in straight – it won’t be scrummaging as we’ve come to know it.
The Springboks will utilize the skills of Richie Gray as breakdown consultant for the remainder of the Test season in 2013.
Australia won the toss and chose to bat first against England in the 3rd Ashes Test at Old Trafford. Australia made three changes to their side with David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon who came into the side. The England side was unchanged.
The pitch wass dry and hard to start with, which supplied a bit of bounce first up and spin was forecast reasonably soon. Atmospheric conditions on the 1st day was conducive to swing early on before temperatures rose too much.
The match ended in a dull draw with a lot of rain delaying play in the last days, forcing Australie to declare their 2nd innings at 172 / 7, setting England the ungettable target of 332 runs off just over 20 overs remaining in the match. England were 37 / 3 when the game was stopped and the draw announced.
DHL Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has released a 26-man squad ahead of this weekend’s Absa Currie Cup opener against the Blue Bulls at DHL Newlands.
This Friday, 9th August 2013, The Sharks host Griquas at Growthpoint KINGS PARK in their first pool match of the 2013 Absa Currie Cup competition.
Friday is also Women’s Day and The Sharks would like to acknowledge and celebrate their female fans by rewarding them with free entry to the match.
The Springbok selectors have opted for continuity when they named a 30-man squad for the opening two rounds of The Castle Lager Rugby Championship later this month against Argentina.
Only three players who were not part of the Springbok squad which won the Castle Lager Incoming Series in June have been added to the squad.
They are experienced scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, who has been selected for the Springboks for the first time since the Rugby World Cup in 2011, Gurthrö Steenkamp (prop) and Duane Vermeulen (No 8), who last played for the Springboks in November 2012.
As the Southern Kings lick their wounds after their narrow exit from Vodacom Super Rugby they will now face a massive exit as players and coaches look to greener pastures both locally and abroad.
EP Kings president Cheeky Watson has played down the exit, focusing on the glass-half-full scenario, but up to 10 Kings players are likely to announce moves to other franchises and abroad in the next few days.
The Wallabies finalised their coaching team for this month’s Rugby Championship with Jim McKay to be the attack coach under Ewen McKenzie.
England Sevens Head Coach Ben Ryan has announced that after than six years in charge of the national side he will stand down.
The 41 year-old will help ensure a smooth transition takes place during the build-up to the new Sevens World Series and the recruitment process to identify his successor will be under way shortly.
The Pumas snatched a dramatic 29-27 victory over a New South Wales Barbarians team with the last kick of their match in La Plata.
Two Sekope Kepu tries at either end of the first half gave the visitors a two-point advantage going into the break.
Veteran scrumhalf Piri Weepu has been dumped from the All Blacks for the Rugby Championship, but captain Richie McCaw returns.
All Black utility back Rene Ranger has pulled out of the upcoming Rugby Championship series, citing family reasons.
Lions (8) 18 / 23 (9) Kings (Final Score)
The MTN Lions and Southern Kings did battle in the 2nd and last Super Rugby
Promotion / Relegation game at Ellis Park, Johannesburg at 17:0 SA Time (15:00 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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Glasgow Warriors scrum-half Niko Matawalu will miss the start of the season after the Fiji international broke a bone in his foot. The 24-year-old has damaged the fifth metatarsal in his right foot during training and has undergone surgery.
Chiefs (9) 27 / 22 (16) Brumbies (Final Score)
The Chiefs and Brumbies did battle in the Final of Super Rugby 2013 at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT, 17:35 AEST).
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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Here are the Super Rugby team sheets for the two teams contesting the Final of Super Rugby 2013, as they were announded.
The Wallabies may have lost the series but Australia did very well financially out of the recent rugby tour by the British and Irish Lions, a tourism industry body said Friday.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the five-week tour generated an estimated Aus$150 million ($134 million) for the economy.
Brumbies coach Jake White has named an unchanged team for this Saturday’s Super Rugby Final showdown against the Chiefs at Waikato Stadium.
It’s the third week straight White has named the same 22 and the first time that’s happened since he took over the coaching reigns, two and a half years ago.
Some thoughts for you to chew on…
I was asked yesterday by someone at Sky what my feeling was on the future of SuperRugby and I said, all three Unions of SANZAR have recently released their year end figures and none of them made any real profit. They are all close to borderline break even.
The current number Super Rugby matches per annum is 125, so any reduction of matches would no doubt mean a reduction in broadcast money.
The talk is about South Africa splitting from SANZAR in terms of Super Rugby only. However the South African time zone goes a long way to pushing up the money that is earned from the broadcast deal.
If SA leave, more matches will be played in New Zealand and Australian time zones (according to the reports). This has no global appeal.
MTN Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has announced his side to face the Southern Kings in the second leg of the Super Rugby promotion / relegation series.
The match will take place on Saturday 3 August at 17:00.
The defending Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs, were on Thursday sweating on the fitness of star wing Lelia Masaga in the countdown to Saturday’s Final against the Brumbies.
One of the guys who sit with us in the Press Box at Loftus, calls Deon Stegmann, “STEGMONSTER”, well Koos excuse me for using the same expression.
The Blue Bulls have received another blow with the news that flank Deon Stegmann will miss the 2013 Absa Currie Cup season.
It is the time of the year I always dread the most. This is the time where every Player Agent licks his lips and rubs his grubby little hands at the prospect of selling his wares to the highest bidder, with no regard to the welfare of the rugby of any Player, Country, Club, Union or Franchise.
It is the time of the year that the greedy pigs grin!
It is reported that the Stormers are chasing the signature of the mercenary called Lionel Mapoe, who’s been about everywhere now, Cheetahs, Sharks, Lions, Bulls… and possibly now heading for his 5th SA Super Rugby Franchise.
The Western Force announced today that they have signed 2 more South Africans, WP’s Marcel Brache and Chris Heiberg.
The Bulls seem to be investing, or rather re-investing in another ton of Young Guns, to replace the loss of 8 Springboks in one heap but seemingly giving no heed to the warning sirens that seriously flawed players like Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger now seem to be their most experienced players! The Blue Bulls have re-signed players like Paul Willemse (lock) and Under 20 SA star, Jacques du Plessis (looseforward) as well as a host of others… and the name Lood de Jager jumped at me, with me initially thinking that it might be the Cheetahs Super Rugby lock but alas it is the junior Blue Bulls centre who has suffered quite an injury run. See the details below on the rest of the Blue Bulls signings. In the last 3 years the Bulls have lost the services of 18 Senior Springbok players, whilst purchasing only 4 senior players from elsewhere.
The Chiefs will play the Brumbies at home in Hamilton in front of a sold out Waikato Stadium as the fixture is officially sold out.
Anything you can do, we can do better! This is the message, loud and clear, from Lions fans to their Southern Kings rivals.
The Kings have been praised for their good crowd attendances at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, but the Lions will well and truly upstage them.
The South African Rugby Union’s (Saru’s) policy of favouring local players over overseas-based stars could be under threat, especially when the Springboks name their squad for the Castle Rugby Championship at the end of the week.
Saru have been firm that there has been no change in the policy regarding players based overseas, but a recent exodus of Boks stars may make that policy shift when the Bok squad is chosen for the November tour of Europe.
Lions president Kevin de Klerk is confident that his team will take what he believes is their rightful place in Super Rugby.
New Zealand’s front row resources have been reduced ahead of the starts of the Rugby Championship.
This is what really happened behind the scenes…
[youtube]http://youtu.be/_APSHxnTZp8[/youtube]
You know we’re joking, of course
Springbok scrumhalf Francois Hougaard will not play again this year and will undergo surgery next week.
Australia centre Anthony Faingaa has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2013 international rugby season due to left shoulder reconstruction surgery.
South African Rugby player Bryan Habana pushed himself to new heights as he went up against British Airways’ brand new superjumbo, the Airbus A380.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P66ISniQCqY[/youtube]
The Irish Rugby Football Union today announced the appointment of John Plumtree as Ireland forwards coach.
In what can only be described as a very dead rubber, SA faced a weakened Sri Lankan side in Columbo, where AB felt that losing 3-2 would be better than losing 4-1. Something I hadn’t thought of – well done, AB. Sri Lanka, with 3 Perera’s and as many changes, won the toss and chose to bat. Unfortunately AB’s side did go down 4-1. Good news is that AB did realise, at the interview, that they needed to improve