The Lions will head to Cape Town for the Neo Africa Tri-series against the Stormers and Sharks without Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies.
Bulls flanker Derick Kuün will captain the Bulls in their 1st pre-season friendly against the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Springboks Bjorn Basson and Chiliboy Ralepelle will have to wait a while longer before they know their fate in the ongoing doping saga.
Chilliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson will face a SARU judicial committee at 09h00 this morning. Continue reading
Failure to plan is planning to fail, or so the old saying goes.
Springbok Sevens’ coach Paul Treu has made four changes to his squad for the Sevens World Series tournaments in Wellington and Las Vegas, the SA Rugby Union said on Monday.
Analysis of the new Super Rugby format shows that the new format could favour Australia as they have two of the newest Super rugby teams in the Rebels and the Force.
The new Super Rugby format has the 15 teams split into conferences which are geographically based. In short, the teams have been split into three pools – one for each country.
He may not be ready for the warm-up fixture against the Lions at Newlands on Friday week, but the chances are good that Jaque Fourie will be opposing the same opponents when the Stormers start their Super Rugby campaign on 26 February.
The Brumbies have effectively told Matt Giteau that he should pack his bags at the end of the season. They regard Adam Ashley-Cooper as far more valuable.
This is the gist of the message from Brumbies boss Andrew Fagan, who made it clear that they will be working very hard on retaining Ashley-Cooper.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee may already know the answer, but he is not about to make public his choice as back-up flyhalf to Springbok Peter Grant.
Western Force captain Nathan Sharpe could be ruled out for the start of the new Super Rugby season, the first big blow for new head coach Richard Graham.
Businessman and now part owner of the Lions rugby union, Robert Gumede, spoke to Jacques van der Westhuyzen about his vision for the Lions.
232 SAFFAS PLAYED ABROAD IN 2010!
New Super Rugby franchise The Melbourne Rebels are ready to unleash former Western Province and South African under-18 player JP du Plessis onto the world stage during this year’s tournament.
The Vodacom Bulls will continue to play matches in stadiums built for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.
Vodacom Bulls scrumhalf, Francois Hougaard, will be out of action for four weeks after picking up a foot injury in training.
The Cheetahs still have not registered an overseas victory in five seasons of Super rugby, but they will lay that ghost to rest in 2011.
South Africa Under-20 coach Dawie Theron on Saturday said that South African junior rugby is in a healthy state and added that there is talent and depth to consistently excel on the international stage in the future.
To coincide with our countdown of Rugby’s Most Influential People, we thought we would offer up some additional rankings in the form of a series of ‘Top 5s’.
South Africa 250/9 (46/46 ov) Revised target D/L 268
India 234 (40.2/46 ov)
South Africa won by 33 runs (D/L method)
India won the toss and elected to field
21 August 1976 – NTVL 29 / All Blacks 27
Uncle Piet and hypocritical Thys had the All Blacks pretty worked up after the Northern Transvaal game. There were several incidents during and after the game but the cherry on the cake, for the All Blacks, was the way referee Piet Robbertse and NTVL captain Thys Lourens conspired to cheat them out of a victory in extra time. Continue reading
The quarter-final line-up for this season’s Heineken Cup is taking shape following the penultimate round of pool action.
The Sharks are making the best of the time they are spending at the Bafokeng Sports Campus in Phokeng and look set to return to Durban in great shape for the Vodacom Super Rugby tournament, coach John Plumtree said on Thursday.
Springbok wing Bjorn Basson will attend Monday’s hearing in Cape Town with a bitter taste in his mouth. Continue reading
Boland flyhalf Elgar Watts has an ideal opportunity to claim a Stormers spot, following the news that Springbok Peter Grant won’t be back from Japan in time for the pre-season tri-series. Continue reading
While Richie McCaw has been awarded a two-week holiday pass from the Super 15, Brad Thorn will be expected to slap on the body armour for the Crusaders’ first match, against the Blues at Eden Park on February 19.
Player management in this, a World Cup year, is once again in the spotlight. And the three-time defending champion Bulls seem to have the perfect blueprint on the subject.
The two-time champion Brumbies were dealt a cruel blow, both to their player resources and leadership corps, with Wallaby captain Rocky Elsom ruled out of the early rounds of the expanded Super Rugby competition.
Former Springbok assistant and Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer has warned of an impending catastrophe if teams do not get their planning right for this year’s Super Rugby competition.
South Africa 220 (49.2 ov)
India 223/8 (48.2 ov) India won by 2 wickets
SA World Cup squad
G Smith, J Kallis, D Steyn, AB De Villiers, H Amla, M Morkell, J Botha, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, C Ingram, L Tsotsobe, R Peterson, M van Wyk, I Tahir, W Parnell.
Lions coach John Mitchell has confirmed Franco van der Merwe will captain the team
Doppies la Grange has been named as vice-captain.
The Lions rugby team have a pleasant headache – to pick a captain for this year’s Super rugby competition.
Continue reading
Lions coach John Mitchell said the results of his team’s pre-season matches in the Newlands tri-series will be far less important than the “energy and enthusiasm” his players bring to the field.
Munster’s 12-year streak of reaching the Heineken Cup quarter-finals was brought to an end by a 32-16 defeat in Toulon on Sunday as the debutant French club secured their own place in the last eight.
IT WAS expected the Melbourne Rebels would be rusty and somewhat disjointed when they took on Tonga in their first trial game last night at Olympic Park. They certainly were, but in between the clumsy periods, there were some promising stanzas during their 43-13 romp.