Each year I dread the Rugby Off-season at the end of the year!
We are almost at the end of an arduous, yet much shorter rugby season here in the Southern Hemisphere for 2011.
We can still look forward to the Currie Cup Final, the finals of the two junior groups (Under 21 and Under 19), the Barbarians game on 26 November (if memory serves me well) and a Wallaby / Wales game around the same time.
In addition we have the scraps of the first IRB Sevens Tournament of the new season, in South Africa, to be held in Port Elizabeth in the beginning of December.
… but that is about it…
The Western Province duo of Rassie Erasmus and Allister Coetzee have declared themselves unavailable for the Springbok coaching job and have no interest in the position at this time.
Springbok and Western Province centre Jaque Fourie has announced that he will be joining Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights.
Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls utility player Gerhard van den Heever has transferred to Western Province and the Stormers.
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant New Zealanders packed central Auckland for the All Blacks victory parade on Monday, celebrating their “ultimate achievement” in winning the Rugby World Cup.
Five members of the Springboks’ World Cup squad have been nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, with the winner due to be announced at a function at Gold Reef City on November 3.
France captain Thierry Dusautoir was named the International Rugby Board (IRB) player of the year for 2011 at a ceremony in Aucklad on Monday.
Wallabies and Reds playmaker Quade Cooper will be sidelined for at least six months due to knee surgery after he collapsed playing in the Rugby World Cup’s third place play off.
It may be New Zealand’s moment in the limelight, but the Springbok victories in 1995 and 2007 will be honoured as the captains and coaches of World Cup winning teams are inducted into the International Rugby Board’s Hall of Fame tonight.
International Rugby Board chairman Bernard Lapasset says that Wales cannot be certain of hosting Rugby World Cup matches when the tournament moves to England in 2015.
England captain Lewis Moody has announced his retirement from international rugby following England’s disappointing Rugby World Cup.
According to the Sunday Times, the Lions Rugby Union have turned to their own vice-president as the new investor in the union since their deal with the Guma Group turned sour.
So the world cup is over, and what have we learnt?There were some controversial issues, some very close matches and some really angry fans.
All Blacks (5) 8 / France (0) 7 (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and France did battle in the Final of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park, Auckland at 10:00 SA Time (21:00 NZ 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 All Blacks held out a very galant and determined France side… and wins Rugby World Cup 2011 by 1 point.
Yip, that’s right… only 1 point!
Lions (19) 29 / WP (12) 20 (Final Score)
The MTN Golden Lions hosted DHL Western Province at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg in the Second Semi-Final for the Currie Cup at 17:00 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 MTN Lions laid the foundation for the win in the first half, going ahead 19 / 12 at the break.
However desperate and dedicated DHL Western Province’s attacks were in the second stanze, equally desperate and resolute was the MTN Lions defence.
Sharks (3) 20 / Cheetahs (13) 13 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Toyota Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park, Durban in the First Semi-Final of the Currie Cup at 14:30 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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After the Free State Cheetahs started really well and whilst the Sharks kicking to goal was abysmal, the Cheetahs built up a 13 / 3 lead at halftime, only to watch the Sharks score all the points in the second half.
The Sharks advance and the Cheetahs join the Blue Bulls on the sidelines.
The concept of the X-factor actually comes from racehorses, specifically from a horse called Eclipse. An extremely large heart is a trait that occasionally occurs in Thoroughbreds, linked to a genetic condition passed down via the dam line, known as the “x-factor”.
Eclipse, the horse, was necropsied after his death in 1789. Because Eclipse’s heart appeared to be much larger than other horses, it was weighed, and found to be 14 pounds (6.4 kg), almost twice the normal weight. Eclipse is believed to have passed the trait on via his daughters, and pedigree research verified that arguably the best racehorse ever, namely Secretariat can trace in his dam line to a daughter of Eclipse.
In the 20th century, the heart of Phar Lap was weighed and also documented to be 6.35 kilograms (14.0 lb), or essentially the same size as that of Eclipse.
Now you might ask what this has got to do with the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup final.
This is it. Eight teams worked hard during the 2011 season to reach this stage, but only four – the MTN Golden Lions, The Sharks, Toyota Free State Cheetahs and DHL Western Province – have qualified for the Absa Currie Cup semi-finals.
Wallabies (7) 21 / Wales (3) 18 (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Wales did battle at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:30 SA Time (20:30 NZ 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 Wallabies take the spoils and the Rugby World Cup 2011 Bronze medal in a match which promised so much at the start and then deteriorated into a scrappy affair.
The best passage of play in the match was probably the last 28-phase possession play by Wales, leading to Leigh Halfpenny’s try after full time was well over.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry on Friday named his team to play New Zealand in their Rugby World Cup 2011 Final against France at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday 23 October at 10:00 SA Time, 21:00 NZ Time.
Rugby fans will be able to watch a full day of high-octane international Sevens rugby from as little as R 80.00 at South African rugby’s biggest party at Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens Tournament later this year.
Tickets went on sale today for the SA leg of the hugely popular international HSBC Sevens World Series tournament, which this year moves to an exciting new venue at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has named his team to face the Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park in the Currie Cup in the Semi-final with a new front row.
I still just can’t get over that quarter final loss.
The more I think about it the more I feel we were robbed. Yes, the referee was bad and wrong and yes we contributed to our demise with how we approached the game and by the appointment of a puppet as Springbok coach 4 years ago. However, all of that (poor referee, game plan, coach selection) and the Pool construction process at this year’s Rugby World Cup is part of an insidious virus, in my opinion, which is destroying Rugby Union as we know it. It is this virus which orchestrated our demise in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match against Australia.
Former All Black coach Laurie Mains has not been happy with the standard of refereeing at the Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve been appalled by the refereeing, especially how they have decided games with scrum penalties,” Mains said.
“Games have been won and lost from scrum penalties when the wrong decision was made. You should not have a situation in rugby where games are won and lost by the referee’s guess,” he said. Continue reading
While Australia and Wales arrived at the Rugby World Cup with different goals but have ended up with the same intention: To go home with something tangible to show.
The Free State Cheetahs have named their team to play the Sharks in their Currie Cup semi-final in Durban on Saturday.
The MTN Golden Lions will be playing the DHL Western Province this Saturday, 22 October 2011 at Coca-Cola Park in the first home semi final in 12 years. Kick off is at 5:00pm.
The Lions will be back to their full compliment of players after John Mitchell had rested certain jkey players for the match against the Sharks a few days ago.
The last time the Lions and Western Province met was barely a few weeka ago, in a game where the Lions brutally punished Western Province.
Allister Coetzee today announced the DHL WP team to take on the Lions at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday 22 October in the Absa Currie Cup semi-final.
Western Province have revealed that they are in the process of finalising Springbok centre Jaque Fourie’s contract and the move to Japan is off.
Licences to operate New Zealand’s five Super Rugby franchises could be put on the market by the end of this year but they will only be on offer to New Zealand teams.
Springbok duo Gurthro Steenkamp and Gary Botha’s arrival at French club Toulouse has been held up by visa problems, the Top 14 club’s forwards coach Yannick Bru said on Wednesday.
The International Rugby Board have announced the shortlist of nominees for the IRB Player of the Year 2011 Award.
At time when revenue drives the game, World Cup officials said Wednesday they were “delighted” with global television viewing figures ahead of this weekend’s Final in their showpiece tournament.