SA Rugby
Ruan Botha
Damian de Allende
Nizaam Carr
The DHL Stormers have been boosted by the return to fitness of Springboks Nizaam Carr and Damian de Allende as well as lock Ruan Botha ahead of their Super Rugby encounter against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Wing Kobus van Wyk is an injury doubt however, and flank Siya Kolisi will not be risked this weekend.
The Stormers will travel to Loftus Versfeld for their 2015 season-opener, before hosting New Zealand side, the Blues, at Newlands the following weekend.
The team, to face the Bulls, will be announced at lunch-time on Thursday.
Jean Deysel
Michael Claassens
The Cell C Sharks announced that loose-forward Jean Deysel, who has spent the past 6 months playing for Toyota Verbiltz in Japan, will be making a welcome return to the Cell C Sharks for the 2015 Super Rugby season.
Deysel who to date has been capped an impressive 117 times for the Cell C Sharks, will join the squad immediately.
South African born scrum-half, Michael Claassens, who currently plays for Toulon in the French Top 14, has also been signed on a 2-year deal. He is expected to join the team as soon as his playing commitments in France have concluded.
The 2015 edition of the South African Rugby Annul goes on sale nationwide today after being launched at Sunday’s South African Rugby Union Awards in Johannesburg.
In keeping with tradition, the 44th edition of the ‘bible’ of the game once again features South Africa’s player of the year on the cover, with the newly-crowned Duane Vermeulen following in the footsteps of the likes of Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana and Schalk Burger in recent years.
“Even in this digital age, it’s vitally important to retain a physical document of record for future generations,” said SARU CEO, Jurie Roux. “SARU strives to be a world leader in the game both on and off the field and when it comes to the Annual, we are immensely proud of the quality of the book we continue to produce year in and year out.
“We like to believe that we have an outstanding yearbook but that hasn’t stopped us from raising the bar even further with this new-look, Rugby World Cup-themed edition. We’ve made it a more user-friendly size, refreshed the layout and added a depth to the statistical records that surpasses anything we’ve done before,” Roux added.
Francois Uys
The Cheetahs, in a surprise move, named Francois Uys as their captain for the Super Rugby season.
Uys will be leading the team, joined by the vice-captain Sarel Pretorius.
The ‘well-informed’ media in Bloemfontein have been speculating for weeks that Japan-based Springbok Heinrich Brüssow would get the leadership armband.
However, coach Naka Drotské decided to go with Uys – starting from Saturday, when they take on the South African conference champions, the Cell C Sharks, in Durban.
The Springbok Sevens have called up wing Rosko Specman in place of the injured Justin Geduld for the next leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Las Vegas.
The 3-day USA rugby event kicks off this coming Friday and South Africa are the defending champions.
Geduld suffered a hamstring injury over the weekend at the Wellington Sevens, where the Springbok Sevens claimed 3rd spot after a strong finish in their playoff match against Scotland. Specman (Steval Pumas) has 1 World Series tournament under his belt.
South Africa head the log with 76 points halfway through the 9-tournament World Series and are 7 points clear of New Zealand, who moved into 2nd place. The top 4 sides on the final standings in May will gain automatic entry into the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Monday confirmed that the Springboks will get their season underway against a World XV in Cape Town on 11 July, a week after the Super Rugby final.
The match was initially scheduled for late August.
The Springboks also got their 2014 season under way with a clash against the World XV at Newlands, with the South Africans running out 47 / 13 victors on that occasion.
A strong second half saw Rugby World Cup 2015 hosts England storm back to beat Wales 21 / 16 in their Six Nations opener in Cardiff, a result which lifted them above Ireland back to 3rd in the latest World Rugby rankings.
According to the World Rugby (previously IRB), the victory sees England regain the mantle as the leading northern hemisphere nation in the rankings behind New Zealand and South Africa and they now sit 0.35 points above Ireland after their 26 / 3 victory over Italy in Rome had no impact due to the 11 places separating the teams.
The opening Round of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International, on Monday, will feature replays of both of last year’s semi-finals.
It may be a fresh start for all 8 teams this season, but there is no denying the extra edge that will feature in the 2 games to be televised live on Supersport 1 as FNB NWU-Pukke host the FNB NMMU Madibaz in Potchefstroom and Cape rivals FNB UCT and FNB Maties meet on the Green Mile.
The other 2 matches, which both take place in Bloemfontein, will certainly not lack for passion either with FNB UFS-Shimlas taking on 2-time champions FNB UP-Tuks and the newly promoted FNB CUT Ixias making their Varsity Cup debut against FNB UJ.
Another new addition to the competition this year will be the WHITE CARD which will allow teams a decision review in televised games in addition to the 2 referee system.
In some of the Super Rugby warm-up action of the weekend, these were the results:
- Bues 32 / 29 Hurricanes
- Waratahs 38 / 36 Chiefs
- Reds 35 / 12 Crusaders
- DHL Stormers 45 / 7 Boland
Jacques du Plessis
Flip van der Merwe
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd on Friday confirmed that efforts to keep Vodacom Bulls locks Jacques du Plessis and Flip van der Merwe in Pretoria have been unsuccessful, with both players taking up contracts in France at the end of the domestic 2015 season.
Du Plessis has signed a two year deal with Montpellier and Van der Merwe will join Clermont, also after the completion of the ABSA Currie Cup competition.
The BBC’s High Performance Manager, Xander Janse van Rensburg said talks with both players have been ongoing for some time.
The Golden Lions Rugby Union have announced their 33-man squad which will compete as the Emirates Lions in the 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby tournament.
The Emirates Lions will get their Vodacom Super Rugby campaign under way on Friday 13 February as they take on the Hurricanes at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg. Tickets start at just R 40.00 and can be purchased online via Lionsrugby.computicket.com.
Season tickets are also still available for purchase from just R 800.00 and includes tickets to all Vodacom Super Rugby and ABSA Currie Cup home games, as well as the Springboks versus All Blacks Test.
The Emirates Lions boast a strong squad in 2015, with a number of Springboks and Springbok tourists in the squad.
The Springboks are: Marnitz Boshoff, Elton Jantjies, Lionel Mapoe, Julian Redelinghuys & Warren Whiteley.
The Springbok tourists (uncapped) are: Ruan Dreyer & Jaco Kriel.
The Lions improved tremendously during 2014, doing well in Super Rugby and reaching the Final of the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division and they will want to continue this good form under the leadership of coach Johan Ackermann.
Emirates Lions Super Rugby squad:
16 Teams, split into 2 Sections of 8 each, will contest the 2015 Vodacom Cup, with defending champions GWK Griquas heading up a strong South Section and the Welwitschias from Namibia back in the competition and replacing the Kenyan Tusker Simba XV side who has withdrawn due to financial considerations.
Joining the 5-time champions from Kimberley in the South Section will be winners in 2012, DHL Western Province, as well as the Boland Cavaliers, Border Bulldogs, Cell C Sharks XV, EP Kings, SWD Eagles and Toyota Free State XV.
The Xerox Golden Lions, runners up last year and champions in 2013, are in the North Section with the Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls, Down Touch Griffons, Leopards XV, Steval Pumas, Valke, Vodacom Blue Bulls and Welwitschias from Namibia.
The first Sevens Tournament in the 2015 calendar year for the HSBC Sevens World Series of 2014 / 2015 took place in Wellington, New Zealand at the Westpac Stadium.
The New Zealand Sevens tournament was played over 2 Days, Friday 6 and Saturday 7 February 2015.
Play started in the very early, small hours of the night / morning of 6 & 7 February (01:00 SA Time), with the opening game between the Blitzbokke from South Africa pitted against France.
South Africa’s Blitzbokke survived a scare to eventually progress to the quarters when France beat them 22 / 5 in the first game of the tournament and eventually finished in 3rd spot,beating Scotland by 40 / 7 and keeping their Top of the Log position after the early Rounds.
New Zealand won the Wellington Sevens in style, beating England in the final, by 27 / 21.
Pools:
- Pool A: South Africa, United States, France, Japan
- Pool B: New Zealand, England, Canada, Papua New Guinea
- Pool C: Australia, Fiji, Wales, Portugal
- Pool D: Argentina, Scotland, Kenya, Samoa
Fixtures & Results:
Toulon (5) 10 / 12 (9) Sharks (Final Score)
Toulon and the Cell C Sharks did battle in a friendly cross-hemisphere match prior to the
Super Rugby season at Stade Mayol, Toulon at 22:00 SA Time (21:00 French Time, 20:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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The Cheetahs ran in 10 tries to the Griffons 1 in what can only be described as a practice match as the men from Bloemfontein tweaked their final preparations.
What this match did allow was for Naka Drotske and his staff to get a clearer picture of the Cheetahs best centre pairing with Francois Venter, Michael van der Spuy and Johann Sadie looking sharp – however, JW Jonker not in action.
Venter looked especially good and was on song against the Griffons as he slipped between inside and outside centre with ease.
A Shoulder injury kept him out of most of the 2014 Super Rugby season but this could be the year for him to step up.
Hawies Fourie, the Cheetahs’ backline coach, has a pleasant problem of who will begin in the centres in next weekend’s Sharks game.
Jean de Villiers
A discernible changing of the guard in Springbok playing personnel after a World Cup is an established trend… but national captain Jean de Villiers has some special fears about the expected migration of several leading stars to overseas clubs later this year.
Interviewed while he goes about his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury to try to make the Rugby World Cup 2015 cut in the United Kingdom, De Villiers said the exodus was threatening to be more acute this time – and not just to feature players on the receding end of their careers, as has been the general norm before.
“It does seem that this time around, if you can believe the rumours floating around, that more players are looking to go abroad than after 2011 (the New Zealand-staged tournament).
“Whereas that year we had quite a few guys retiring, finishing up (at Bok level), there weren’t as many switching shores.
Michael Horak
Cell C Sharks defensive coach, Michael Horak, is looking forward to the test an unstructured Toulon team can give the Sharks defensive line ahead of their warm-up match on Thursday.
The Sharks are in the latter stages of their preparation for a Super Rugby campaign that kicks off against the Cheetahs on 14 February.
They will face a Toulon side famous for its big names and dominating style of rugby as a warm-up match in order to get their systems and structures right.
Naka Drotské
Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has named a powerful team, including all his available Springboks, to face the Griffons in their final Super Rugby pre-season outing on Wednesday.
Fullback Willie le Roux tops the list of Bok stars that will run out at the Old Greys club in Bloemfontein.
Le Roux has overcome an ankle strain he suffered in last Friday’s loss to the Stormers.
Other Boks having a run include wings Cornal Hendricks and Raymond Rhule, flank Teboho ‘Oupa’ Mohoje, lock Lodewyk ‘Lood’ de Jager and prop Coenie Oosthuizen.
Robert du Preez
Robert du Preez will line up at flyhalf for the Stormers in their pre-season friendly against the Boland Cavaliers at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Demetri Catrakilis and Kurt Coleman played flyhalf in last Friday’s 39 / 31 win over the Cheetahs at Newlands.
But Du Preez will get a chance to showcase his skills with a starting role on Saturday, the Stormers announced via their official Facebook page.
Rugby development in Africa took a heavy blow this week when Kenya withdrew their team from this year’s Vodacom Cup competition.
The Tusker Simba XV that took part in last year’s competition was meant to be involved in the 2015 edition as well, but have had to withdraw from all games as they don’t have the financial resources to field a team in the competition.
The invitation for them to participate came from SA Rugby to help with rugby development in Africa, and was seen as a key part of Kenya’s development as a rugby nation, especially after their success at Sevens level.
The Tusker Simba XV finished second last in last year’s Southern Section, above the Border Bulldogs.
Peter de Villiers
Former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is eager to again coach rugby at a high level.
De Villiers currently coaches the University of the Western Cape, who compete in the Varsity Shield competition.
He said, after his side lost 16 / 5 to the University of KwaZulu-Natal in their Varsity Shield opener on Monday.
De Villiers said his contract with UWC expires after this year’s Varsity Shield and he would be interested in coaching at Varsity Cup, Currie Cup, Super Rugby, international level or even an overseas club.
Super Rugby is just more than a week away and most if not all Super Rugby Franchises have instructed their Kit Sponsors to come up with new designs for the 2015 Season.
All the Franchises are sponsored by BIG Kit sponsors.
Of the Australian Franchises the Brumbies are sponsored by CLASSIC, whereas the Western Force, Melbourne Rebels and Reds are sponsored by BLK, and the Waratahs are sponsored by CANTERBURY.
In New Zealand all 5 Super Rugby Franchises are sponsored by ADIDAS.
In South Africa, there is a mix of sponsors, with both the Vodacom Bulls and Toyota Cheetahs are sponsored by PUMA, whereas the rest all have their own sponsors. The Emirates Lions are sponsored by CANTERBURY, The Cell C Sharks by BLK and the DHL Stormers are sponsored by ADIDAS.
For a change the Vodacom Bulls have moved away from a radical Pink or Cammo approach to a more traditional approach and it seems only the Chiefs and to a lesser extent the Blues have somewhat pictorial designs on their Home Kit.
But… the Kit is not what makes a team, so although you might like or dislike a particular Franchise’s Kit, the proof of the pudding still lies in how the teams perform on the field of play.
Gerbrandt Grobler
Western Province and Stormers lock Gerbrandt Grobler has received a 2-year ban after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.
According to reports, the test was done last October during the Currie Cup.
When Grobler, 22, was informed of the result, he admitted his guilt and made a settlement agreement with the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (SAIDS). He therefore gave up the right to have a hearing.
Allister Coetzee
Long-serving DHL Stormers and DHL Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has chosen not to extend his contract at Western Province Rugby and will, instead, take up an opportunity abroad at the end of this year.
Coetzee, 51, will join Japanese club, Kobe Steel Kobelco Steelers, having decided to put pen to paper this week.
“I have always said that I would make an announcement once I had made a decision about my future and my decision has now been made and communicated properly,” said Coetzee on the official DHL Stormers website.
Nick Briant will officially get the 2015 Super Rugby season underway in Christchurch when he takes the whistle for the Crusaders vs Melbourne Rebels clash on 13 February.
Angus Gardner will oversee the Brumbies vs Reds which follows immediately afterwards in Canberra, with the Australian duo of Rohan Hoffmann and Andrew Lees sharing duties in South Africa for the Emirates Lions vs Hurricanes and Cell C Sharks vs Toyota Cheetahs matches.
The highly-experienced Chris Pollock and Jaco Peyper get the whistle for much-anticipated Round 1 derbies in Auckland and Pretoria respectively with new additions to the 2015 squad, Ben O’Keeffe and Jaco van Heerden assisting on the line in those matches.
Finally, Steve Walsh will be in the middle as the Waratahs get their title defence underway at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium against the Western Force on Sunday 15 February.
The Sharks match against Toulon will see 2014’s best European team take on the last year’s best South African team, but will it be rust versus readiness?
The men from Durban, bar a brief hit-out against Rovers last Thursday, have not seen competitive rugby in over 3 months, while their opponents, Toulon, are in the business end of their season.
There is bound to be some rustiness from the South Africans admits former Sharks prop Eduard Coetzee as he discusses what it will be like for them to face the Galácticos of rugby.
Coetzee is well versed in both countries’ rugby having spent 5 years with the Sharks before finishing off his career in France with Bayonne and finally Biarritz where he made 125 appearances.
“It is clear that for us that this meeting will be something special,” Coetzee said.
“We will assess our ability while facing the best team in the Northern Hemisphere.
Luther Obi
Sylvian Mahuza
SA Rugby’s lenient rugby agent laws may come under the spotlight after 2 highly promising players seem to have signed for the EP Kings while they had valid contracts with the Leopards Rugby Union.
The Leopards Rugby Union are set to lay a complaint at SA Rugby and have consulted legal advice after 2 of their players – highly rated wingers Luther Obi, who played for the SA Under 20 side last year and Sylvian Mahuza, apparently signed with the Kings while still having valid contracts with the Leopards until 31 October 2015.
Now the player agent Jaco du Plessis is facing both legal action and a complaint at SA Rugby about his conduct, as the Kings have claimed they acted in good faith and knew nothing about the prior contracts the 2 players had.
The Kings claim they were told the players had no binding contracts and therefore snapped them up.
Both players were set to make their debut for the Lions in Vodacom Super Rugby this season through the agreement between the Lions and the Leopards, but then did not turn up for practice sessions as instructed to.
Marcel van der Merwe
Vodacom Bulls prop Marcel van der Merwe will miss the opening week of the Vodacom Super Rugby season due to a medial knee ligament injury, it was confirmed on Monday.
The injury occurred on Saturday in London, when the Blue Bulls played against English club side Saracens in a warm-up friendly.
Van der Merwe injured his knee and pulled his hamstring in the second half and will be out for 3 to 4 weeks, team doctor Org Strauss confirmed on Monday.
The Springbok prop was the only casualty in the match and Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke should have a fairly fit squad to pick from for their first match, against the DHL Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on 14 February.
The Bulls are the South African team to have laid down the early marker ahead of the Vodacom Super Rugby season that kicks off in a fortnight and after watching the Pretoria team deal with Saracens, the Sharks will aim at a quality performance when they play Toulon in France on Thursday.
In direct contrast to last season, when Jake White’s arrival as director of rugby created much hype and a few bold predictions about the Sharks’ chances long before the competition had started, the Durban franchise has been operating under the radar during the off-season.
The low key end to 2014, with the Currie Cup team bowing out in the semifinal stage as opposed to going all the way to the trophy the year before, has probably contributed to the low key build-up, as has the fact that the new director of rugby, Gary Gold, has until late last week been based in Japan. Consultant Brendan Venter has been overseeing the preparations for Super Rugby, but he is not known for making bold assertions to the media.
Heinrich Brussow
The Cheetahs will this week welcome back flank Heinrich Brüssow and centre Johann Sadie from Japan.
The duo play for the Docomo Red Hurricanes and their return to Bloemfontein was dependent on how far the Hurricanes would go in the knockout rounds in Japan.
The Hurricanes this past weekend lost in the semi-finals of the wildcard tournament, which is contested between the sides finishing fifth to 12th in the Japanese league.
After 2 weekends of Super Rugby warm-ups played and looking at what was achieved and what is still lacking, the Stormers are of the opinion that there is still a lot to work on.
The DHL Stormers have also brought out a Fitness Report today, detailing what they have to deal with, at this stage of the season, before a single Super Rugby game has been played.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske admits that the lack of tight five depth is a concern headng into the Super Rugby season.
The Bloemfontein side have lost the services of Springbok front row forwards Adriaan Strauss and Trevor Nyakane who have both moved to the Bulls, which has left them looking decidedly thin on options up front.
Drotske gave some of the fringe players a chance to make a case for selection against the Stormers at Newlands on Friday, but they battled to assert themselves on the Stormers pack until Springboks Coenie Oosthuizen and Lodewyk de Jager took to the pitch in the second half.
The Cheetahs coach said that whilst he is happy with the depth in the backline and loose forwards, the lack of quality tight five options remains a concern.
The Vodacom Bulls wrapped up their Vodacom Super Rugby pre-season warm-up game with an impressive six try 39-26 win by the Vodacom Blue Bulls over English Premiership club Saracens in London on Saturday.
While Saracens were without their English players – who were preparing for next weekend’s Six Nations – they were comprehensively beaten by a Bulls side that was focused and determined to get the result from the game.
And while the scoreline looks a lot closer, the Bulls dominated much more, letting in some late tries after being 32 / 7 up on the hour mark in the game.
The Lions took to a wet Potchefstroom pitch to test out their Super Rugby squad in a warm-up match against the NWU-Pukke and the Leopards.
The 2 matches were split between the teams as the Lions took on Pukke for the first 40 minutes in their first game and where they were able to rack up a 26-0 lead.
The second 40 minutes saw the Lions then take on the Leopards with the Super Rugby team only managing to score an additional 7 points.
MJ Mentz – Pumas head coach
MJ Mentz has been handed the reigns for the Pumas in their upcoming Vodacom Cup campaign and the coach is looking to keep a similar system going.
The Pumas enjoyed a successful year in 2014 as they toppled some of the bigger teams in the Currie Cup through their gritty determination.
“The secret to our success this year will certainly lie in our communication skills and a shared goal,” Mentz said.
The new coach also said the last two years coaching under the mentorship of coach Jimmy Stonehouse was a great stepping-stone in his coaching career.
The way Stonehouse maintained discipline in the squad was a huge encouragement and now Mentz would like to add his way to the existing system.