All Black legend Brad Thorn will return to New Zealand next year. He has signed a one-year contract with the Highlanders for the 2013 Super Rugby season.
The Rebels have signed Auckland Blues prop forward Pauliasi Manu to a two-year Super Rugby deal as part of their Contracted Playing Squad.
The Wallabies playing stocks for their end of year tour have suffered yet another blow as utility back James O’Connor will miss the tour.
Bryce Lawrence has pulled the plug on his career after his 200th first-class match in charge.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union announced the MTN Golden Lions team to play DHL Western Province on Saturday, 20 October 2012 in the second semi-final match of the 2012 Absa Currie Cup competition.
The Wallabies named their 22-man team to take on the All Blacks on Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane… then changed it due to another injury.
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll fancies a Super Rugby stint before he retires, with the Waratahs favourites to secure his signature.
All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu has revealed that he plans to leave the Blues and play for the Highlanders in the 2013 Super Rugby season.
Volksblad reports that GWK Griquas have finalised their contracts for the 2013 season. Though there aren’t any notable new signings, some loan players have been contracted.
It’s crunch-time in the Currie Cup, with only semi-finals and finals remaining but only one of the four semi-final sides, the Blue Bulls have a clean bill of health on their 22 squad players.
Coenie Oosthuisen has been ruled out for between 8 – 12 weeks with a back injury, which basically rules him out for the rest of 2012.
This weekend saw an action packed start to the Heineken Cup. All twenty four teams were involved in the round which started on Friday and ended on Sunday.
The Currie Cup Semi-finalists have been confirmed following the last game of the open rounds, the game between the MTN Golden Lions and Vodacom Blue Bulls at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg.
Although the watered down Currie Cup, without the Springbok players for most of the season, has clearly lost popularity judging from the low spectator numbers at all the Currie Cup games, the good thing to come from the competition was the levelling of the playing field between the 6 competing sides.
In addition, some bright new future prospects have really come to the fore during the competition, players like Raymond Rhule – speed merchant from the Free State Cheetahs, Scarra Ntubeni – young hooker from Western Province, Ruan Combrinck – winger of the Golden Lions and Marnus Schoeman – flanker from the Griquas.
ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division – Log
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | The Sharks | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 292 | 233 | 59 | 32 | 18 | 7 | 35 |
| 2 | MTN Golden Lions | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 285 | 279 | 6 | 26 | 28 | 4 | 28 |
| 3 | DHL Western Province | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 272 | 226 | 46 | 28 | 19 | 5 | 25 |
| 4 | Vodacom Blue Bulls | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 280 | 291 | -11 | 24 | 31 | 3 | 23 |
| 5 | GWK Griquas | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 250 | 313 | -63 | 28 | 35 | 4 | 20 |
| 6 | Toyota Free State Cheetahs | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 268 | 305 | -37 | 26 | 33 | 6 | 18 |
Lions (16) 29 / 50 (22) Blue Bulls (Final Score)
The MTN Golden Lions and Vodacom Blue Bulls did battle in the Currie Cup, Premier Division at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time.
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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WP (22) 36 / 15 (3) Cheetahs (Final Score)
DHL Western Province and the Toyota Free State Cheetahs did battle in the Currie Cup, Premier Division at Newlands, Cape Town at 17:05 SA Time.
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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Ruan Pienaar’s last-gasp try gave Ulster a deserved bonus-point win over Castres in the Heineken Cup opener.
Former All Blacks coach John Mitchell will be at Sale Sharks soon, according to chief executive Steve Diamond.
Leinster will target an unprecedented hat-trick of back-to-back European Cup titles when action in the continent’s showpiece club tournament gets under way on Friday. The Irish province were champions in 2009, 2011 and 2012, and now have a chance of matching Toulouse’s record of four titles (1998, 2005, 2008, 2010).
Sharks (22) 42 / 3 (3) Griquas (Final Score)
The Sharks and GWK Griquas did battle in the Currie Cup, Premier Division at Mr Price Kings Park, Durban at 19:10 SA 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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Australian rugby boss John O’Neill has announced that he will stand down as Australian Rugby Union chief executive at the end of this month.
Herewith a team by team breakdown of the selected sides for this weekend’s Currie Cup Premier Division matches.
Continue reading
New Zealand Rugby have signed their first ever shirt sponsorship which will logo global insurance company American International Group (AIG) appearing on the front of the All Black shirt.
Rugby fans across the country will be given a voice for the first time in the selection of winners in the SARU Rugby Player of the Year awards, SARU announced on Monday.
Scotland play the third and final of their EMC Test matches this autumn, northern hemisphere, against Tonga at Pittodrie football stadium in Aberdeen on Saturday 24th November. The Scottish Rugby Union have teamed up with Serco Northlink in an initiative to help fans travelling from the far flung Northern Isles attend the match.
The cross-border competition casts off this weekend for its fourth season, with five Scottish teams aboard on a voyage of discovery.
The Springbok Sevens get their new HSBC Sevens World Series season underway on Saturday morning (SA time) when they run out against Canada in their first Pool A match at the Gold Coast Sevens at Skilled Park.
It is quite amazing that the IRB still permits referees to conduct tutorials during international rugby matches. The refs jabber on incessantly, telling players to release, roll away, get onside, wash the dishes, pick up the kids from school. But such a stream of communication creates a clear inequity that the IRB seems willfully oblivious to.
With all the player movements being confirmed, rumoured etc, and me sitting at work a little bored I thought I should write something about where the Sharks are as a team and what their squad will look like come Januray 2013.
There has since been a few changes to the squad as Butch James is set to return for a six month stint, Also Piet lindeque the present Sharks U21 captain and academy member has decided to further his career in Pretoria as he has joined the university of pretoria. Continue reading
The Aviva Premiership and RaboDirect Pro12 leagues head into temporary hibernation and we look forward to the start of this season’s Heineken Cup competition this weekend. The Heineken Cup features the elite of the European clubs, with twenty four clubs taking part.
Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen will undergo knee surgery on Tuesday which will rule him out of action for the rest of the year.
Former Springbok and Bulls loose forward Danie Rossouw has agreed to join French Top 14 Rugby Club Toulon from February next year.
News yesterday was that the Southern Kings are eager to obtain the services of Blue Bulls and Springbok back JJ Engelbrecht.
Rising star Raymond Rhule was chosen by his peers as the Players Player of the Year for the Toyota Free State Cheetahs.
The Currie Cup, Premier Division only has one week to go in the regular rounds, before the semi-finals… and still there is all six teams in with a chance of winning the eventual title.
It was written on their faces. The Boks, to a man, left Soccer City in despair last night, their 2012 Championship ending on the most depressing note.
The All Blacks, the trend-setters in the modern game, were beaming and edging ever closer to a world-record run of victories, after a game that only required one half of a puff from them.
Lungani Zama – Sunday Tribune