All Blacks
Injury forced the The All Blacks into a late reshuffle on Friday as they prepared to mark their 500th Test, with coach Steve Hansen warning his side to lift their game against a rejuvenated France.
Lock Brodie Retallick was ruled out of Saturday’s second Test in Christchurch with a hamstring strain, meaning a call up for seasoned middlerower Sam Whitelock, who had sat out the first match because of a fractured finger.
South African-born flanker Bernard Le Roux has been named to make debut, at number eight, as one of four changes to the France line up that will play the All Blacks in Christchurch on Saturday.
Eighthman Kieran Read will reach 50 Test caps when he leads the All Blacks out in their 500th Test against France in Christchurch on Saturday.
All Black head coach Steve Hansen has named the same starting XV that played in last week’s 23-13 first up victory over the French at Eden Park for the milestone match.
World Cup winning captain Richie McCaw will return to rugby in early-to-mid July by playing for his local club in Christchurch, though was unsure as to whether he would play Super Rugby for the Canterbury Crusaders.
All Blacks (17) 23 / 13 (10) France (Final Score)
New Zealand and France did battle in the June Internationals at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT).
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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Both the French and New Zealand have named their teams for face off on the weekend. The 1st Test of 3 between these two proud rugby nations takes place on Saturday at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time).
On the French side, there is the rookie at flyhalf, Camille Lopez, whereas on the All Blacks side Dan Carter, who is injured, is out of the team as expected and replaced by Aaron Cruden.
Herewith two parts, firstly a discussion on the All Blacks and thereafter the same for the French:
Some very good rugby right througout the week this week… clear your schedules!
Dan Carter heads a string of injured All Blacks less than a week from the first Test against France, with coach Steve Hansen unable to confirm Monday if his star playmaker would take the field.
X-rays have revealed Carter cracked a bone in his right hand during the Crusaders’ 23-22 win over the Waratahs in a Super Rugby match last Friday.
Kieran Read was named as the captain of a 32-man All Blacks squad including six new faces to face France in the upcoming series.
All Blacks centre Conrad Smith has revealed that he will miss New Zealand’s European tour in November and take a sabbatical after the Rugby Championship.
How will Heyneke Meyer fare in 2013?
Well there are a lot of surprises in the mid-year appointments this year, and I’m not sure how much can be read into them.
The All Blacks suffered a blow for their Test series next month against France as senior lock Sam Whitelock has been ruled out due to injury.
It was the Springboks’ best performance of the tour. A real confidence booster after the shock defeat against the University side but at the same time a game that had a negative impact in more than one way. It showed New Zealand the danger of allowing the Springboks space to play the Craven-linking pattern. Not that New Zealand was unaware of the Springbok style but it re-affirmed the necessity of keeping the Springboks on the back foot.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has named 10 uncapped players in a 38-man training squad ahead of New Zealand’s Test series against France.
Hansen says that he has called up an enlarged squad at first as he wants to assess emerging talent in New Zealand Rugby.
All Blacks and Crusaders winger Zac Guildford could be playing his last Super Rugby season in New Zealand.
Noticeably, conversation about the 1956 tour always detour to the match against the New Zealand Universities. Historically, it was the first time a New Zealand University team played against an international touring side but this match is synonymous with the 1956 tour for other reasons. The fact that the Universities team won is also not really the main reason why Kiwi’s still rate this match as the best match of the tour. It was the manner in which the Universities team won that delighted the New Zealand rugby fraternity. All the good football came from the home side. The backs demonstrated opportunism, sensible anticipation and application while the pack totally dominated proceedings. The game is nevertheless mostly remembered as the game of the great Ron Jardon ‘try-that-wasn’t’. A great howl went up in protest when Jardon was called back after a spectacular 65 meter run through almost the entire Springbok team (listen to Winston McCarthy highlights of the match here) and old-timers almost without exception still mention the Jardon try to this day whenever the 1956 tour are under discussion.
After my tribute to Jan Ellis I thought I just have to write something about the man who was a big part of Jan’s success as a Springbok rugby player, Piet Greyling.
Currie Cup-winning Transvaal captain in 1971 and 1972, former Springbok flanker Piet Greyling, was arguably one of the best, but certainly one of the toughest.
The picture below shows Piet Greyling with his Transvaal side who got a share of the Currie Cup for the first time in 19 years – having previously won it in 1952 – when they shared the cup with Northern Transvaal in an epic final and controversial 14-14 draw at Ellis Park in 1971. The next year Greyling led his Transvaal side to a 25-19 win over Eastern Transvaal at Pam Brink Stadium in Springs to win the cup with the help of Gerald Bosch who dropped the winning points in the final minutes. It was back in 1972, before the Currie Cup final against Eastern Transvaal in Springs that the former Bok captain uttered these famous words to his Transvaal team-mates: “Eighty minutes of agony for an eternity of pleasure.”
All Black and Chiefs midfielder has announced he will leave New Zealand rugby to play rugby in Japan after the current Super Rugby season.
This year, the International Rugby Board has introduced 11 law trials that will be implemented from the start of the 2013 season.
The wait is finally over for Sonny Bill Williams, with the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) informing the Sydney Roosters that the code-hopping superstar’s 2013 playing contract has been registered.
All-conquering All Black captain Richie McCaw has been named New Zealand’s Player of the Year.
Veteran hooker Keven Mealamu has become the latest player to opt for a ‘sabbatical’ during next year’s Super Rugby competition.
Richie McCaw is the All Blacks’ most capped player of all time, having represented New Zealand on 116 occasions to date.
This past weekend saw the end of the Southern Hemisphere 15-man rugby season… a long and arduous season.
Now only the HSBC Sevens World Series Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament remains, after which we, as proud Southerners, have to rely on the scraps of rugby coming to us from the Northern Hemisphere, and then fill in the gaps with some cricket action to keep our sport addictions alive.
The South African Blitzbokke provide scant hopes for a good result in Port Elizabeth this coming weekend, but the party will continue… and we will party right along.
On the positive side, it was a good season again for Southern Hemisphere rugby, spoilt by the fantastic wins by France against the Wallabies about a month ago and of course the Coup de Grace by the England rugby side against the world number one side, the New Zealand All Blacks, this past weekend – lambasting them by a massive 38 / 21.
Hereafter a quick look at the respective seasons of the BIG BOYS of Southern Hemisphere Rugby:
All Black flyhalf Dan Carter was named the International Rugby Board Player of the Year at the IRB Awards in London on Monday.
All credit to New Zealand for not blaming the virus in the team or end-of-year-tiredness for their loss at the hands of a committed England team.
The All Blacks players looked more than a bit pale and lethargic as they entered the field and even the Haka lacked its normal spark.
Punctiliously I don’t however think it was either the virus or tiredness that saw the All Blacks lose this match. It was the England tactics and their good defence that won them the match.
England (12) 38 / 21 (0) All Blacks (Final Score)
England and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 Dec NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 2 & SH2 on TV in SA.
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Scorers:
England:
- Penalties – Owen Farrell (4), Freddie Burns (2)
- Drop Goals – Owen Farrell (1)
- Tries – Brad Barritt (1), Chris Ashton (1), Manusamoa Tuilagi (1)
- Conversions – Owen Farrell (1)
All Blacks:
- Penalties – 0
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Julian Savea (2), Kieran Read (1)
- Conversions – Daniel Carter (2), Aaron Cruden (1)
Teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (Captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ben Smith.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 December NZ time)
Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 7°C, dropping to -1°C.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
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Wales (6) 12 / 14 (9) Wallabies (Final Score)
Wales and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 Dec EAST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SHD 4 on TV in SA.
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Scorers:
Wales:
- Penalties – Leigh Halpenny (4)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – 0
- Conversions – 0
Wallabies:
- Penalties – Kurtley Beale (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Kurtley Beale (1)
- Conversions – 0
Teams:
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Ian Evans, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Scott Williams.
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Michael Hooper, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Digby Ioane.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 December AEDST)
Expected weather: There is a chance of rain, but with the roof set to be closed it should not be an issue. However, as we have seen, the surface cuts up badly regardless. It will be a high of 7°C and a low of 1°C
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite, Greg Garner (England)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
The Southern Hemisphere Rugby season is fast approaching a welcome close for players , administrators and coaching staff, but at the same time some of us are are a bit despondant that we would have to watch cricket & golf as substitute in place of our crazy rugby addiction…. oh and lest we forget those things in and around the house we failed to have time for in the year.
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However, tomorrow and on Saturday there is still the HSBC Sevens World Series Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, and on Saturday we get our last brief fix of full Test match rugby when England meet the All Blacks and Wales host the Wallabies (pity these two games are on at the same time again) at the End Of Year Tours to the Northern Hemisphere. PLUS of course we get a sprinkling of Northern Hemisphere Club Rugby to view too.
So, what’s in stall for us as far as TV rugby viewing is concerned this weekend?
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Herewith the viewing schedule:
Bryan Habana’s spectacular score against New Zealand in the inaugural Rugby Championship has been named Try of the Year for 2012 by the International Rugby Players’ Association.
Flyhalf Dan Carter has recovered from a calf injury and will start for New Zealand in their final test of the year against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore apologised on Thursday for a hit from behind on Wales lock Bradley Davies that resulted in a five-match ban, saying he had let down his team and the entire country.
This week there was two important citings for Southern Hemisphere teams who still have to play this coming weekend, that of Andrew Hore the New Zealand hooker and the other one that of Sitaleki Timani the Australian lock.
Both were found guilty and Andrew Hore received an effective 5-week suspension whereas Sitaleki Timani received a 1-week suspension.
Andy Farrell has called on his “fearless” young England side to record a significant milestone in their development by beating world champions New Zealand on Saturday.
New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore has been cited by the IRB’s independent Citing Commissioner for allegedly striking an opponent during the match between Wales and New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.