Jonny Wilkinson will lead Toulon in their hunt for a first trophy in 20 years when they face French rivals Biarritz in the Amlin Challenge Cup final at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday.
Former All Black Stephen Bachop has changed his pleas to guilty on four charges relating to an incident on Rugby World Cup final night last year.
In Wellington District Court on Friday a charge of assaulting a female was reduced in seriousness and became a charge of simple assault.
The Blues are running out of loose forwards rapidly, with Steven Luatua called-up to make his run-on debut against the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday.
Hurricanes (15) 25 / Brumbies (13) 37 (Final Score)
The Hurricanes and Brumbies did battle in Super Rugby at Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 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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Here are the Super Rugby Team Sheets for Week 13 of Super Rugby 2012.
Herewith all the Teams, as announced for the weekend.
The Final of the Amlin Challenge Cup will be contested between French teams Biarritz Olympique and Toulon. The game will take place at the Twickenham Stoop on Friday night, kick off 21.00 SA time.
Following a meeting today between SARU and the South African Super Rugby franchises, Jurie Roux of SA Rugby has made the following statement:
Racing-Metro’s Springbok utility back Frans Steynwill be fit to play the Top 14 playoff tie against Toulon on 26 May after recovering from a thigh injury, his club confirmed on Wednesday.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has welcomed a compromise agreement on the kick off date for the 2015 Rugby World Cup tournament as well on a new funding model to recognise impacts on unions in Rugby World Cup years.
The IRB Council on Tuesday reached agreement that the 2015 tournament will kick off on September 18, which represented a compromise between the organiser’s preferred date and that of the SANZAR nations, who will be engaged in the Castle Rugby Championship until shortly before Rugby World Cup kick off.
Scotland have named a 28-strong playing squad for their summer tour to Australasia (Australia, Fiji, Samoa) which includes Edinburgh Rugby backs Tom Brown and Tim Visser.
The Reds have named their team to play the Lions this weekend at Suncorp Stadium with Quade Cooper in the starting lineup for the first time this Super Rugby season.
Saracens eighthman Ernst Joubert could be on his way to Cape Town to help alleviate the Stormers’ loose forward injury crisis.
The International Rugby Board and its Member Unions have sanctioned a global trial of five aspects of Law amendments following an extensive process of consultation and evaluation.
The trial, approved by the IRB Council at its Annual Meeting in Dublin on Tuesday, will commence at the start of the next season in each hemisphere (August 2012 in the north and January 2013 in the south) and will be applicable to both international and domestic competition.
England coach Stuart Lancaster has named a 27-man squad that will prepare for the match against the Barbarians at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday, May the 27th for the Killik Cup.
Ireland have named their squad for the summer tour game against the Barbarians in Gloucester on May 29th made up of players from Connacht, Munster and Ulster.
SANZAR have released the match officials for Week 13 of Super Rugby 2012, with Mark Lawrence starting the first game on Friday and Marius Jonker finishing the weekend off in Perth on Sunday.
This weekend has 7 matches, 1 on Friday, 5 on Saturday and the last 1 on Sunday, meaning only one team has a bye-weekend, namely the Chiefs.
Rugby players from ten countries including three cap centurions have have been named in the Barbarians’ 33-strong squad for their three match tour.
The Sharks could be forced to play their Super Rugby clash this weekend against the Cheetahs without star flyhalf Patrick Lambie due to injury.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee wants SANZAR to change their regulations so that Super Rugby teams can field their strongest teams in the play offs.
The 2015 Rugby World Cup looks set to start two weeks later than originally planned in order to accommodate the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship (formerly TriNations).
This season’s Heineken Cup culminates in the final between Irish sides Leinster and Ulster this weekend. The match takes place this Saturday, 19 May, at Twickenham, kick off 18.00 SA time.
The All Blacks selectors, Coach Steve Hansen, Assistant Coach Ian Foster and fellow selector Grant Fox, have selected 35 players to attend two training camps ahead of the three Steinlager Series Tests against Ireland.
The first wider training group camp will be held in Auckland from next Sunday 20 May – Tuesday 22 May with the second camp in Wellington from Sunday 27 May – Tuesday 29 May.
Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee has confirmed that eighthman Nizaam Carr will miss the rest of the Super Rugby season due to injury.
The Brumbies will keep match-fit in the June Super Rugby break by playing a game against Six Nations champions Wales at Canberra Stadium on the 12th of June.
The Chiefs 42-27 loss to the Reds appears to have come at an extra cost as coach Dave Rennie fears that star centre Richard Kahui will be out for the rest of the Super Rugby season.
Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula is bringing former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers back into rugby to assist with the development of the sport, according to a Sowetan report.
A while back I offered to manage a selection competition where we at Rugby-Talk could show our knowledge of SA rugby and who can read Heyneke Meyer’s mind the best. Bok Barometer was the driving force in this idea. The first Test is on the 9th of June, less than 4 weeks away.
This weekend saw the semi finals of the two competitions being played. The final scores were fairly close in all but one of the matches.
As much as I hate this clichéd saying that every sports commentator has used with gay abandon since the 1980’s, where the English football hacks had run every overused idiom, including this one into the ground, it is most apt for this game. This really was “a game of two halves”.
Taranaki 3 / 3 South Africa – 11 August 1956, Rugby Park New Plymouth
The Springbok team arrived in New Plymouth in high spirits after winning the second test and constructing an impressive win against Wanganui – scoring 7 splendid tries. There was a feeling in the camp that the tour was back on track and that the team was starting to hit form. The struggling performance against a spirited Taranaki team therefore came as a bit of a shock; a reality check.
Within context of the tour it was a match as important and influential as the Waikato game. The spirit, commitment and overall performance of the Taranaki team showed the way for the All Blacks according to Terry McLean and this had a highly significant influence on the outcome of not only the third test but also the series:
LIONS president Kevin de Klerk believes next week’s crunch meeting between the South African Rugby Union and franchise bosses would “draw a line in the sand” on the Super Rugby participation saga. In January the Port Elizabeth-based Southern Kings were guaranteed their place in the 2013 Super Rugby tournament by unanimous decision at a General Council meeting of SARU.
Reds (15) 42 / Chiefs (22) 27 (Final Score)
The Reds and Chiefs did battle in Super Rugby at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane at 08:10 SA Time (16:10 Brisbane 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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During the Stormers and Cheetahs clash at Newlands a fight of sorts broke out in the second half. Just prior to this happening, Assistant referee Jonathan Kaplan had his flag out. Steve Walsh was about to walk over to him when the whole fight broke out.
Stormers (16) 16 / Cheetahs (0) 14 (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers and Toyota Cheetahs did battle in Super Rugby at Newlands, Cape Town 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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The whole Southern Kings and Super Rugby situation in South Africa has gotten me thinking and after discussing it with a avid rugby & Lions supporter in Francois Nell, the following transpired:
Why don’t we have teams playing in both Super Rugby, Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup? We have enough teams to do this and it should strengthen South African rugby. Here are a couple of options SARU might well want to consider in going forward in to the future.