The Sharks have made only 1 enforced change to their starting line-up that will face the Chiefs on Saturday, as Marco Wentzel comes into the second-row.
Wentzel replaces the injured Pieter-Steph du Toit in an otherwise unchanged 15, with Daniel du Preez and Waylon Murray named on the replacements bench.
“The Chiefs are a championship outfit with outstanding strength and depth and they will go into this match as favourites. They have a strong pack of forwards and one of the most exciting backlines in the competition and are well coached,” said head coach Gary Gold, whose side are looking to back up last weekend’s victory.
“We look forward to the challenge of measuring ourselves against one of the most dangerous sides. It’s going to be an exciting match-up.”
Marcel van der Merwe and Dean Greyling will earn 1st starts in the 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby competition as Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made 3 changes to his pack that will face the Western Force at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Van der Merwe and Greyling, who both made late starts to the competition due to injury, will swop places with Trevor Nyakane and Morné Mellett respectively. In anther swop, Grant Hattingh will earn his 1st start of the season whilst Victor Matfield will move to the bench.
The bench also has 2 new faces this week, with Arno Botha returning and Jaco Visagie replacing the injured Callie Visagie as hooker replacement. Should he take to the field, Visagie will make his Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Super Rugby debut.
Botha, who was injured in the season’s opener against the DHL Stormers, is fit again and replaces Hanro Liebenberg.
Ludeke left his backs unchanged.
Melbourne Rebels’ head coach Tony McGahan made just 1 enforced change to his side to face the Emirates Lions on Friday at AAMI Park in Round 6 of the Super Rugby season.
Rebels recruits Mike Harris and Dom Shipperley will each make their 50th Super Rugby appearances this week.
Australian Under 20 fullback Jonah Placid, who made 1 Super Rugby appearance before moving to Melbourne, prior to the National Rugby Championship, will make his Rebels debut alongside his half-centurion former Reds teammates.
Jack Debreczeni, who earlier this week appeared on track to play, has been withdrawn with a minor knee complaint, with Harris moving to flyhalf and Placid starting at fullback.
Todd Blackadder has named his side to take on the Cheetahs this Saturday, making 4 changes to the starting line-up that beat the Lions last weekend.
In the forwards, hookers Codie Taylor and Ben Funnell will rotate so that Taylor starts at No 2.
Matt Todd, named captain for the season, returns to the team to play at No 7 this week – replacing All Black captain Richie McCaw.
However, Kieran Read retains the captaincy for this match.
In the backline, Israel Dagg returns from injury to take the fullback spot, while Kieron Fonotia moves onto the wing following Johnny McNicholl’s knee (posterior cruciate ligament) injury last week.
The Highlanders have named Dan Pryor on the openside flank for their Super Rugby derby showdown with the Hurricanes in Dunedin on Friday.
Pryor returns from injury to take the place of Shane Christie, who was forced to withdraw from the starting 15 during last Saturday’s warm-up at the venue.
His replacement in that victory over the Waratahs, John Hardie, misses out due to injury so Gareth Evans is the Highlanders’ back-row option on the bench.
Prop Daniel Leniert-Brown will potentially make his Super Rugby debut from the bench while the starting backline is unchanged from last weekend’s triumph.
Flanker Kane Koteka will make his starting debut when the Western Force take on the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Koteka, the 1st player to graduate to Super Rugby from the Perth-based franchise’s Future Force academy program, will run on for his 4th cap having made his debut against the Hurricanes in Round 3.
The 21-year-old will start as part of a new-look back row alongside blindside flanker Steve Mafi and No 8 Ben McCalman.
In the second row, Adam Coleman completes his comeback from a hip injury with his return to the starting 15, packing down alongside captain Sam Wykes.
South African-born playmaker Sias Ebersohn makes his return to the run-on side at flyhalf and will start inside the new midfield pairing of Luke Burton (inside centre) and Kyle Godwin (outside centre).
David Pocock
Wallabies flank David Pocock will return via the Brumbies bench this Sunday when the team travels to Sydney to take on the Waratahs.
Pocock hasn’t featured for the Brumbies since Round 1, but the former Wallabies and Brumbies captain has successfully rehabbed a syndesmosis injury and is the only change in a 23 man-squad named to tackle the reigning champs.
For the 3rd-straight week the Brumbies have named an unchanged starting side.
Head coach Stephen Larkham’s backline has remained consistent since Round 1 and Captain Stephen Moore is back in the driver’s seat for his 3rd straight game as skipper.
The Waratahs team to take on the Brumbies at Allianz Stadium this Sunday has been named, with 3 changes from last week’s team.
Taqele Naiyaravoro and Tolu Latu have been brought into the starting side, while Hugh Roach has been named on the bench for the first time in 2015.
Tatafu Polota-Nau misses out through injury, hence Latu’s starting spot, while Naiyaravoro comes in for Peter Betham.
Dayan van der Westhuizen
Tian Schoeman
Dean Greyling
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd on Thursday confirmed the extensions of contracts with Springbok prop Dean Greyling, Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman and Junior Springbok prop Dayan van der Westhuizen.
All 3 have signed contracts that will keep them Loftus-based till 2017, Xander Janse van Rensburg, High Performance Manager of the BBC confirmed.
The trio are all products of the Blue Bulls youth structures and hails from local Pretoria schools.
Quade Cooper
Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper has revealed he will be available for the team’s next match against the Lions in Round 7 of Super Rugby.
The playmaker has been out with a fracture collarbone that forced him to miss the Reds’ first five games of the season.
Cooper hasn’t been alone on the sidelines for the Reds as a number of key players have been unavailable, with the 26-year-old joined by James O’Connor, Greg Holmes, Samu Kerevi and Beau Robinson among others. All are expected to be available for next weekend.
“For me, I’ve been preparing for this day for a long time,” Cooper said.
The Springbok Sevens rugby squad announced on Thursday for the next 2 rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Hong Kong and Tokyo shows 2 changes from the squad that played in New Zealand and the USA.
Justin Geduld and Stephan Dippenaar return to the 12-man squad in place of Rayno Benjamin and Warrick Gelant, who have returned to the Toyota Cheetahs and Vodacom Blue Bulls respectively to resume their provincial duties.
Geduld, a Commonwealth Games gold medalist with the Blitzboks last year, shrugged off the hamstring injury he picked up in Wellington, which ruled him out of the Las Vegas Sevens.
Dippenaar returns to the Springbok Sevens squad for the 1st time since the opening round last October, when he sustained a hamstring injury at the Gold Coast Sevens in Australia.
The rest of the squad is unchanged from the outfit that finished 3rd in Wellington and Las Vegas. Kyle Brown leads a Blitzboks squad that is very experienced, and has in Frankie Horne a stalwart forward who will play in his 64th consecutive World Series tournament.
Ricky Januarie
South African scrumhalf Enrico “Ricky” Januarie will play for Top 14 side La Rochelle next season, after signing a 2-year contract.
The 33-year-old, capped 47 times and a member of the 2007 World Cup-winning squad, will join from rivals Lyon.
Scotland head coach Vern Cotter has made 2 changes to the team that lost to England for this weekend’s Six Nations match against Ireland.
Scotland are last in the Six Nations standings and need to beat Ireland to stand a chance of avoiding the wooden spoon after they fell to Italy earlier in the tournament.
Both of Cotter’s changes are promotions from the bench with back-row Adam Ashe starting on the blind-side flank in place of Robert Harley, and Ryan Grant switching roles with Alasdair Dickinson – who starts on the bench – for his 1st start of the championship.
The settled selection sees the national team’s backline return to start another match, with captain Greig Laidlaw partnering stand-off Finn Russell in front of Glasgow Warriors trio Mark Bennett, Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour, and Edinburgh duo Matt Scott and Dougie Fife, the latter making his home debut.
In the pack, tighthead Euan Murray makes history, alongside Ross Ford and Grant, overtaking Allan Jacobsen’s record as the most capped Scotland prop with a 66th appearance.
Jonny Gray and Jim Hamilton will again start in the boiler house, with David Denton and Blair Cowan returning to the back-row, the latter 1 of 6 Scotland players to hold a starting spot in every match of the Championship, as well as Bennett, Ford, Gray, Hogg and Laidlaw.
Young Stade Francais flyhalf Jules Plisson has been called up for France’s final Six Nations clash with England on Saturday as coach Philippe Saint-Andre named a 16th different halfback pairing.
Plisson, 23, comes in for injured first-choice No 10 Camille Lopez, who misses the game at Twickenham due to a knee problem.
With Sebastien Tillous-Borde remaining at scrumhalf, it will be the 16th different halfback pairing Saint-Andre has picked in just over 3 years and now 37 matches at the France helm.
Clermont’s Lopez, who has been Saint-Andre’s first-choice playmaker for France’s last 7 internationals dating back to the November Tests, was on Wednesday ruled out for 4 to 6 weeks.
Saint-Andre defended his rotation, saying he had no choice in changing his halfback partnership.
Leicester lock Geoff Parling was recalled by England coach Stuart Lancaster for Saturday’s decisive Six Nations showdown with France at Twickenham.
Parling comes into the second row in place of Dave Attwood, who drops out of the squad, in the only change to the starting 15 that overcame Scotland 25 / 13 last weekend.
Harlequins No 8 Nick Easter returns to the bench.
Wales players Alun Wyn Jones, Dan Biggar, Scott Williams and the uncapped Gareth Anscombe have all signed central contracts, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have announced on Wednesday.
Ospreys team-mates Jones and Biggar, Scarlets centre Williams and Cardiff Blues flyhalf Anscombe follow Rhys Webb in signing a National Dual Contract, taking the total number of Welsh players on central contracts to 12.
“Alun Wyn, Dan, Scott and Gareth represent a cross-section of experience, but each one of them is a player of proven talent,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland in a statement on the WRU website.
“Within the group of 12 we have signed a mixture of emerging talent and players who have secured reputations for excellence through their appearances for their regions, Wales and the British and Irish Lions.
Heinrich Brüssow
Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has named his team to tackle the Crusaders in their Super Rugby clash in Christchurch on Saturday (kick-off 08:35 SA Time).
Heinrich Brussow will start at flank after impressing off the bench against the Sharks last weekend,.
Brussow is 1 of 4 newcomers to the starting team named on Wendesday.
The others are scrumhalf Tian Meyer, flyhalf Joe Pietersen and wing Clayton Blommetjies.
Duane Vermeulen
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett says Duane Vermeulen should be the Springbok captain at this year’s Rugby World Cup if Jean de Villiers fails to recover in time.
De Villiers, the current Springbok leader, is in a race against time to be fit for the 18 September to 31 October event.
De Villiers suffered an horrific knee injury in South Africa’s final Test of last year – against Wales in Cardiff – and it remains uncertain if he’ll recover sufficiently for the tournament in England and Wales.
“Duane should lead the Springboks at the World Cup if Jean de Villiers is not ready,” Mallett said.
A record number of tickets will be sold for this year’s Rugby Union World Cup in England, the head of the sport’s ruling body said.
The tournament will be the most viewed, best-attended World Cup ever, according to World Rugby.
“With 6 months to go, World Cup 2015 is in record-breaking shape and we are confident of a very special event that will capture the imagination on and off the field,” said World Rugby Chairman Bernard Lapasset.
“The event has captured the imagination like no other and demand for tickets has been unprecedented,” he added.
The understanding reached between SARU and the participating franchises in Vodacom Super Rugby are as follows:
At a pre-season meeting between SARU’s CEO, the Springbok Coach and Rugby Department staff, with union CEOs and coaching representatives the desirability of managing the playing time of an identified group of Springbok players was agreed.
Two principles were identified as being ideal:
- That players should not play more than 5 consecutive weeks.
- That certain Springbok players should have a number of weeks of rest during the tournament (2 to 4 weeks depending on each player’s personal needs and position and the franchise’s playing resources).
Note: BYE weeks are not considered as a rest week (although they do trigger a restart of the count of consecutive weeks) while injury weeks are ‘invisible’ (i.e. a player injured for 2 weeks during the 1st 7 weeks of the tournament would be regarded as having played 5 consecutive weeks at the end of week 7).
Venues as far afield as Secunda, Lichtenburg and Caledon will play host this weekend as the Vodacom Cup picks up speed with action in the South Section getting underway.
The first match in the South Section is on Friday evening is in George, where the SWD Eagles host the Toyota Free State XV.
Three more matches in this section follow on Saturday, one of which will see the defending champions in action when GWK Griquas travel to Port Elizabeth to take on the EP Kings. The other 2 South Section matches are scheduled for Durban (Cell C Sharks XV vs Border Bulldogs) and Caledon (Boland Cavaliers vs DHL Western Province).
The biggest match in the North Section is on Friday afternoon when 2 of the 3 unbeaten sides, the Xerox Golden Lions and the Vodacom Blue Bulls, square off in Johannesburg.
On Saturday, the action in the North Section moves to the platteland, more specifically Lichtenburg (Leopards XV vs Hino Valke) and Secunda (Steval Pumas vs Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls).
The Hurricanes will be without hooker Dane Coles for Friday’s Super Rugby clash against the Highlanders but 2 other All Blacks return to the starting 15.
Coles was originally named in the starting for 15 for the game in Dunedin but was withdrawn as a precaution, following Wednesday’s training session with a hyper-extended elbow.
He has been replaced in the run-on side by Motu Matu’u, with Brayden Mitchell coming onto the bench.
There are 3 other changes to the team that beat the Blues last week.
Jeremy Thrush comes back into the starting line-up and will pair with Blade Thomson in what will be his 1st start at lock for 2015, while Cory Jane replaces Matt Proctor on the right wing.
Western Force utility back Marcel Brache is no stranger to Loftus Versfeld. That is why he feels the men from Perth requires a ‘change of attitude’.
The Force arrived in South Africa this week, ahead of Saturday’s Super Rugby Round 6 encounter, with a few injury concerns.
Their opponents, the Vodacom Bulls, are coming off a BYE – which was preceded by morale-boosting victories over the Cell C Sharks (43 / 35) and Toyota Cheetahs (39 / 20).
The Force, in stark contrast, have lost to the Reds, Hurricanes, Brumbies and Rebels – despite an opening round win over the defending champion Waratahs.
And there is concern over the fitness of prop Pek Cowan, who is in a race against time to recover from a shoulder knock. Sydney prop Guy Millar has been called into the squad as cover.
Other injury concerns include Luke Morahan (hamstring), Angus Cottrell (ankle), and Dane Haylett-Petty (foot). They are more likely to be fit than Cowan.
Duane Vermeulen
If there was ever a good time for Stormers coach Allister Coetzee to rest captain Duane Vermeulen it is now.
The SA Player of the Year was always going to have to miss the 1st game of the Stormers tour against the Highlanders, having played 5 straight games at the start of the season, but having 4 wins under the belt and plenty of loose forward depth at his disposal does make it easier for Coetzee to give him the time off.
The plan was always to give Vermeulen an extended break with the BYE this week followed by a week off in Dunedin, as part of SARU’s request that top Springboks be given regular games off to manage their workload this season ahead of the World Cup.
Coetzee admitted that it may be tougher to rest Vermeulen when there is more pressure on later in the season, but for now he is happy to stick to the plan.
Pieter-Steph du Toit
After emerging from surgery on Tuesday, Pieter-Steph du Toit has suggested that his knee injury may not be season-ending.
It was previously feared that the 22-year-old Sharks flanker would miss the remainder of the Super Rugby season and South Africa’s Rugby World Cup campaign, however the initial prognosis is positive.
“A miracle just happened,” tweeted Du Toit.
“Just got home after surgery, everything went well. Doc said I will be able to play in three months if rehab goes well.”
South Africa and Sri Lanka battled each other in a Quarter-Final game of the Cricket World Cup, at Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia.
The match started at 05:30 SA Time (14:30 Sydney Time).
As expected, the traditionally BIG Cricket Nations, bar England, made the Quarter-Finals.
It was South Africa vs Sri Lanka in the 1st Quarter-Final, and will be Bangladesh vs India in the 2nd Quarter-Final, Australia vs Pakistan in the 3rd Quarter-Final and New Zealand vs West Indies in the 4th Quarter-Final.
Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat first.
South Africa Bowled and fielded with dicipline, aggression and passion, to dismiss Sri Lanka for a paltry 133, after only 37.2 Overs.
South Africa started their batting innings on a solid footing, only losing the first and only wicket, that of Hashim Amla, with the score already on 40 runs.
The Dinner Break was taken at the fall of the Amla wicket… so it was all to play for, for South Africa after Dinner!
South Africa cruised to victory in 18 Overs, with Quinton de Kock not out on 78 off 57 balls and Faf du Plessis not out on 21 off 31 balls.
South Africa becomes the 1st side to advance to the Semi-Finals.
Sri Lanka: 133 All Out (37.2 Overs)
South Africa: 134 / 1 (18 Overs)
It’s PUB NIGHT again… Tuesdays seem to follow one another quicker and quicker!
The heading suggests we talk about the Cricket World Cup and the Quarter-final between South Africa and Sri Lanka tomorrow moring at 05:30 SA Time. So to put all doubt behind us, yes we are!
I sense that the general expectation is that the Proteas will once again CHOKE… like the Stormers and Sharks do every year!
South Africa’s Proteas have never won a play-off game in the Cricket World Cup, that is the history we face. Tell us, between songs, what you think their chances are this time round.
Will the Top order finally get things right or will they wilt again. Will the bowlers bowl with precision, aggression and finesse and demolish the Sri Lanka batting order?
I guess this makes for a few good discussions!
It is time to bat hard and protect your stumps in the PUB tonight.
Let’s focus on the PUB tonight…. the idea with PUB NIGHT is to lighten up our dull Tuesday evenings with music, comedy and fun.
Rugby takes a backseat tonight as the clan and fellow rugby nutters gather and wheel in their old friends…
Read the rules below carefully, or you WILL get burnt!
Just for clarity sake, when someone does not adhere to the Rules of the PUB, EVERYBODY jumps on them and pummels them, right… understood?
Here’s how it works:
The DHL Stormers have announced a 27-man touring squad for their upcoming trip to Australasia, which will see them take on the Highlanders, the Hurricanes, the Waratahs and the Western Force on their 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby away trip.
Captain Duane Vermeulen will lead a squad with no selection surprises and a playing group which includes hooker Bongi Mbonambi, prop Oli Kebble, lock Eben Etzebeth, flank Mike Rhodes and wing Johnny Kotze – all of whom did not play against the Chiefs at the weekend.
The only player unavailable because of injury is hard-working flanker Rynhardt Elstadt (broken leg – suffered against the Blues in Round 2), with DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee rightfully rewarding those players who have served the team so well thus far in 2015.
Warren Gatland
Wales have made 2 changes in their front row to face Italy in their final Six Nations encounter of the season, in Rome on Saturday.
Rob Evans and Aaron Jarvis come into the starting 15, replacing the injured duo of Gethin Jenkins (hamstring) and Samson Lee (Achilles).
The team which will take to the field at the Stadio Olimpico is otherwise unchanged team.
Evans will make his first start as he wins his 2nd cap in Rome and will line-up alongside Ospreys duo Scott Baldwin and Jarvis.
Luke Charteris and Alun Wyn Jones continue in the second row with Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau lining up alongside captain Sam Warburton in the back row.
The backline remains unchanged with Rhys Webb (No 9) and Dan Biggar (No 10) at halfback, Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies in the centre and a back 3 of George North, Liam Williams and Leigh Halfpenny.
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams’ delayed concussion symptoms are giving Chiefs coach Dave Rennie headaches of his own.
Rennie said he will wait until Friday, to give his star centre a shot at playing against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The All Black superstar suffered a head-clash with Stormers prop Vincent Koch last weekend in Cape Town, forcing him to leave the field for a concussion test.
Williams returned to the playing field to complete most of the game, but has been suffering from headaches and showing symptoms of concussion.
For the Chiefs coach, Rennie, there is now a nervous wait to see if Williams can complete the mandatory protocols – in order to be declared fit to face the Sharks in this Super Rugby Round 6 crunch clash.
Michael Cheika
Wallaby and Waratahs coach Michael Cheika is backing the Waratahs to upset the Brumbies, but he acknowledged that on current form the men from Canberra are Australia’s best team.
Cheika, who is carefully juggling his Waratahs and Wallaby coaching jobs in the lead-up to the World Cup, said the Waratahs are close to reproducing the championship-winning form that saw them claim their first Super Rugby title in 2014.
Speaking ahead of the much-anticipated all-Australian derby – Waratahs versus Brumbies in Sydney on Sunday – Cheika said he is confident the Tahs will turn around a season that could spin out of control if they lose this week again.
With just 2 wins from 4 starts, the Waratahs are hovering in mid-table – already 10 points behind the table-topping Brumbies, albeit just a point outside a Top 6 spot.
Premiership Rugby’s bid to increase the size of the top flight to 14 clubs and suspend relegation for an unspecified number of seasons, forms a cornerstone of its negotiations with Twickenham over a new elite-player agreement.
Any change to replace the deal that runs out next year would have to be agreed by the Rugby Football Union’s 60-strong council.
The Premiership has resisted calls in the past decade to go up from 12 to 14, not least because each club’s share of central funds would drop, but the change in the way the European Cup is organised has had a significant effect. Other factors to be considered include a new television deal with BT Sport, which kicks in from the 2016 / 2017 season and is worth significantly more than the present contract, together with the extra income that will come with the new elite-player agreement. This will lead to considerably more money for all, even with 2 extra sides.
FNB UP-Tuks and FNB UFS-Shimlas both secured home semifinals with big wins in Round 6 of the FNB Varsity Cup on Monday.
Shimlas beat defending champions FNB UCT 44 / 24 in Bloemfontein to remain the only unbeaten side in the competition, and Tuks handed Gauteng rivals FNB UJ a 34 / 0 defeat in Johannesburg to maintain their place at the Top of the standings.
Despite the top 2 sides having wrapped up home advantage in the play-offs already, with the 4 teams below them fighting for the 2 remaining places next week.
3-Time champions FNB Maties came from behind to secure a 26 / 16 bonus-point home win against FNB NMMU to keep their play-off hopes very much alive with a clash against the winless FNB CUT Ixias in Bloemfontein next week.
The vital 5 log points saw the Stellenbosch outfit move up to 5th place, 1 point ahead of UJ who will need a few results to go their way next week if they are to sneak into the knock-out phase of the competition.
UJ were humbled in front of their home crowd by a powerful Tuks outfit who shut them out to show how tough they will be to stop at the business-end of the competition.
Another team that will be riding high is Shimlas whose convincing 7-try win against the Ikeys means that they are still only 2nd to Tuks on points difference, ahead of their mouth-watering clash with NWU-Pukke next week.
The Potchefstroom outfit handed newcomers CUT a 53 / 16 defeat in Bloemfontein to move up to 3rd place, just 1 log point ahead of 4th-placed UCT who will slug it out with UJ on the Green Mile in Cape Town next week.
Eben Etzebeth
Jean Kleyn
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth will not head abroad after this year’s Rugby World Cup, the Western Province Rugby Union has assured.
Reports in French media stated late last year that Etzebeth could join Toulon after the conclusion of this year’s World Cup.
However, Etzebeth is contracted to WP until 2016, which would see him stay in Cape Town until then.
Tevita Kuridrani
Wallabies and Brumbies centre Tevita Kuridrani has signed a 2-year contract extension with Australian Rugby that will take him through until the end of the 2017 season.
Kuridrani joins Wallabies Nick Phipps, Sean McMahon, Rob Horne, Sam Carter and Scott Fardy who have committed to the Australian Rugby Union in recent months.
The 23-year-old has quickly established himself as one of the Wallabies rising stars since his maiden Test campaign in 2013, where he has since worn the gold jersey 20 times scoring 4 tries.
Kuridrani is highly respected amongst his peers, having polled strongly with 202 votes in the John Eales medal in his last international season.
However, the Fijian-born flyer still feels the need to improve as a player.