Allister Coetzee today announced the DHL WP team to take on the Ford Pumas at DHL Newlands on Saturday. All the Province returning Springboks are featured in a strong match 22.
James Hook has been named in place of Rhys Priestland at No. 10 for Wales in their Rugby World Cup semi-final against France on Saturday.
The French know their three straight victories over Wales will not matter one bit when the long-time rivals meet in the World Cup semi-final at Eden Park on Saturday. Continue reading
All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen has hosed down any speculation on Richie McCaw’s ability to play in New Zealand’s semi-final against Australia at Eden Park on Sunday. Continue reading
In this week’s exclusive column, former Springbok prop Cobus Visagie discusses refereeing decisions and key match-ups.
I promise this is the last article I will publish about this subject. Cobus said it all, I cannot add any more. This is a good analysis by a Professional player with many years of experience.
As a general rule I watch the rugby not the referee.
This of course doesn’t mean that I don’t shout at the referee (even in front of the TV knowing pretty well that he can’t hear me) when he makes mistakes. I can see when the referee has a bad game and of course I get upset but I am, as a spectator, more interested in how we play; what do we do with the ball; our structures and systems at the tackle ball; our game tactics; what is the script we are following; our defensive patterns; are we showing improvement on previous games in areas we didn’t do well; how is our scrum going; are we using starter moves; running angles of the backline; how well is No10 dictating the match and where does he take up position behind the scrums, at rucks and line-outs and so forth.
A consequence of all that is that I tend to reflect more on why didn’t we get things right or what went wrong and what can we improve on, independent of whether we lose or win after the match. Continue reading
Former Rugby Football Union Vice-Chairman Fran Cotton has agreed to chair an independent review of the entire England structure after the national team exited the Rugby World Cup in the quarter finals.
Lock Wikus van Heerden returns to the Golden Lions starting line up and Butch James has been named on the bench for the Lions Currie Cup match against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Griquas coach Abre Minnie has named an unchanged line-up from the team that beat the Blue Bulls last week for his side’s crucial Currie Cup showdown with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Our friend and fellow blogger, Ashley, felt strongly enough about the issue to send me the following Article to publish… this is his view on the matter and he asks certain rather interesting questions.
Here are his thoughts:
Has the hierarchy at New Zealand Rugby at last lost faith in their team? Have they (or at least some powerful individuals) at last reached a stage where they no longer believe that their team can win the World Cup on their own steam?
Well, from where I’m sitting it certainly seems to be the case.
The Sharks will field several of their returning Springboks in this week’s crucial Currie Cup rugby encounter against the Lions in Durban, coach John Plumtree confirmed on Tuesday.
Wales are still sweating on Rhys Priestland’s shoulder injury ahead of their Rugby World Cup against France at Eden Park in New Zealand on Saturday.
France Rugby World Cup scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili says he is recovering well from a thigh injury he sustained playing against England and is “confident” of playing in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semifinal against Wales.
Australian fullback Kurtley Beale has a hamstring injury and is rated “touch and go” to play for Australia in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final with New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Golden Lions CEO Manie Reyneke has quit in his position as Chief Executive Officer of the union, the GLRU announced.
Rugby World Cup history suggested successful kicking would play a key role in deciding the outcome of the weekend’s quarter-finals and so it proved in Saturday’s match-ups between the Northern Hemisphere teams.
Secret England training documents from the Rugby World Cup have been discovered in Ireland’s Rugby world Cup team hotel in New Zealand.
Got this from my brother and thought you guys would enjoy this immensely.
Following on from GrootBlouSmile’s article about South African rugby’s next step. Here is my input.
GBS and BonzaiGBS
The South African National rugby shift boss…. errr sorry, coach appeared to have resigned in interviews in New Zealand, only to then deny that he had resigned upon arrival in South Africa. Whatever the situation, his 4-year contract comes to an end at the end of December 2011 anyway, which leaves the process open for a replacement to be appointed.
There has already been wide-spread speculation as to who the right candidates might be…. but that’s not why I am writing this Article!
Danny Svoboda (in picture) played for Rhodesia in 1970 on the wing. The picture here shows him playing against the 1970 All Blacks touring side.
Danny’s widow, now living in Thailand, has contacted me in search of information about Danny.
France coach Marc Lievremont has named an unchanged starting team to face Wales in a Rugby World Cup semifinal against Wales on Saturday at Eden Park.
Wallabies scrumhalf Will Genia says Australia will test the All Blacks new tarting flyhalf Aaron Cruden in their Rugby World Cup semifinal this weekend.
Ireland’s Alain Rolland and South Africa’s Craig Joubert will referee the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced on Monday.
The “jackal at the tackle” has become common parlance at the World Cup, but it has never been better personified than in the shape of Australia flank David Pocock.
The All Blacks have called up fly half Stephen Donald and winger Hosea Gear as replacements for full back Mils Muliaina and fly half Colin Slade who have both been ruled out due to injury.
Retiring Springbok Captain John Smit and his outgoing coach Peter de Villiers have placed a large portion of the blame on New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence for their Rugby World Cup exit.
England will decide on the future of England manager Martin Johnson before the end of the year according to England’s director of rugby operations Rob Andrew.
Australia are sweating on key Rugby World Cup injuries to Kurtley Beale, Pat McCabe and Sekope Kepu who will all undergo scans ahead of this weekend’s World Cup semi-final with New Zealand.
Rugby’s major nations have endorsed a 20-team format for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and have offered to play midweek matches to ensure lower-ranked teams have more time between rugby matches.
As you read this, Bakkies Botha is back in Pretoria, leaving behind him New Zealand and the next 3 games of the Rugby World Cup which ends on the 23 October.
Cause: “Achilles Tendon injury”.
Halfway through a frustrating night -during which I slept little due to the massive disappointment of SA dropping out of the 2011 RWC- I started to see some reasons why the Springboks lost.
The thing that kept me awake most was the fact that the Springboks had 76% of the ball, dominated scrums and line-outs (Matfield taking 6 of their line-out balls), had territorial advantage for most of the match and had the Wallabies under massive pressure for almost the entire match and still lost the game.
Here are the 13 reasons I came up during my night of suffering. Continue reading
There are four main pillars to society, it establishes an order out of the chaos, the same can be said for rugby, this is perhaps the four major pillars of Rugby Union.
Peter de Villiers called it quits as South Africa coach after the reigining champions lost a World Cup quarter-final to Australia on Sunday.
“It was a brilliant journey,” said de Villiers, who took over from Jake White following the Springboks’ 2007 World Cup win.