SA Rugby
With just one round to play to finalise who is in, and who is out of this year’s Investec Super Rugby Finals Series, the stakes are high for the New Zealand teams trying to get one of four possible spots to play on.
Here’s how the permutations and scenarios would work out for each team in order to secure a place in the Final Series:
If you’re a Blues fan…
Current place: 9th overall, 36 points
Up against: the Chiefs at Eden Park tomorrow night.
- They need to win by more than 38 points over the Chiefs at home, earning a bonus point in the process (this will take you past the Hurricanes) and denying them a bonus point.
- The Blues need either the Brumbies or Force (both on 40 points) to win outright (ie, no draw) tomorrow night, and for the loser to not earn a bonus point. A draw will push the Blues off the board.
- The Blues can’t do better than sixth, so in a playoff they would face the third-place team. Currently, that’s the Sharks meaning a trip to South Africa next week so you may want the New Zealand Conference leader to finish in third place.
Cheer for: your team, either the Brumbies or the Force (depending on personal preference), the Highlanders and the Sharks.
If you are a Chiefs fan…
Francois Steyn back at No 10 for the Cell C Sharks
Frans Steyn has moved into the flyhalf position with Paul Jordaan recovering from injury to take his No 12 jersey in a strong Sharks team.
Director of Rugby Jake White has named a strong side for this derby game, opting to start with a formidable side that has been the hallmark of this team throughout the competition.
Of the injured trio of Paul Jordaan, Pat Lambie and Beast Mtawarira all receiving scans this week to confirm or deny a return to rugby, it was only Jordaan who was passed fit.
He has been included alongside JP Pietersen in the midfield. Steyn takes over from Tim Swiel at flyhalf and Fred Zeilinga has been named as back-up off the bench.
Ryan Kankowski is back at No 8 after withdrawing from last week’s game with a groin strain, and White has bolstered the starting line-up with three Boks who played off the bench last week, Willem Alberts, Jannie du Plessis and brother and captain Bismarck du Plessis.
Saturday afternoon will see the final league phase of Super Rugby 2014 come to an end when the Cell C Sharks travel to Newlands in Cape Town to face the DHL Stormers.
At the time of writing the Sharks have not yet released their team, with Jake White still waiting to hear on the fitness of Patrick Lambie and Paul Jordaan. Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira has earlier in the week tweeted that a scan had ruled out the need for an operation, but that he will still be away from the field for another 2-3 weeks due to a neck injury.
Eddie Jones
Japan coach Eddie Jones says it’s a joke that Singapore could be given a team in an expanded Super Rugby competition.
From 2018, the competition will feature 18 teams, with South Africa’s Southern Kings, an Argentine team, and a yet-to-be confirmed side added to the mix.
Recent reports indicated that Singapore has leapt to the front of the queue as the favourite to get the 18th franchise.
Jones, via a column on the Courier Mail website, said Japan should get the 18th franchise.
Jannie du Plessis
Jannie du Plessis says the Sharks need to play their own game if they are to rediscover their form.
Last weekend the Sharks suffered defeat in Bloemfontein despite a late fight back and they now find themselves on the brink of missing out on a home semi-final. The Springbok front-ranker was open when speaking about the morale in the camp following the loss.
“The feeling is not good,” he said. “We played against the Stormers the week before the international break and we really wanted to capitalise on the hard work we’d done on tour. But we made a few irrational choices on the field, and it came back to bite us. Then we were really keen to turn that around against the Cheetahs, and if you look at the game we really showed some intent, we carried the ball a lot more than they did, and we tried to play with a bit more ingenuity and ball-in-hand. They were just too good on the day, they capitalised on our mistakes and I think we couldn’t build pressure.”
Tiaan Liebenberg will start at hooker for the Stormers at Newlands this Saturday in the absence of injured incumbent Deon Fourie.
Fourie sustained a hamstring injury in last week’s win against the Bulls. He has been ruled out of the Stormers’ last league match against the Sharks, which is also the Cape side’s last of the season.
Coach Allister Coetzee has made no further changes to the starting XV. A victory against the Sharks this Saturday would allow the Stormers to finish the season with eight wins, and two against the South African conference champions.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for the last Open Round of Super Rugby 2014, Round 19.
Glen Jackson starts the weekend off when the Blues host the Chiefs at Eden Park, Auckland.
This weekend sees 7 games, 3 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Hurricanes have a BYE weekend.
Heinrich Brüssow
Any hopes of a dramatic return for Heinrich Brüssow have been squashed, meaning the Cheetahs will retain their winning formula for the last match of the season.
The men from Bloemfontein head to Johannesburg on Saturday to take on the resurgent Lions – a team looking to end their season with a three-match winning streak.
However, the Cheetahs will be without star the Springbok flank, Brüssow, who also missed last weekend’s 27-20 win over the Sharks due a groin injury.
“Heins will undergo groin surgery and will not play,” Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské said, ahead of his team’s trip to Ellis Park.
Roelof Smit
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke handed flanker Roelof Smit a first time starting berth in announcing his team to play the Melbourne Rebels at Loftus Versfeld on Friday. Smit debuted for the Vodacom Bulls from the bench against the DHL Stormers last weekend and now start in the number six jersey in one of seven changes to the starting line-up.
Jurgen Visser is back at fullback, having recovered from an abductor strain that kept him out of the Newlands clash and replace Ulrich Beyers. Francois Hougaard will play on the wing, replacing the injured Akona Ndungane, with Piet van Zyl starting at scrumhalf. With Grant Hattingh injured, Jacques Engelbrecht will move back to No 8, Jono Ross moves to 7 and Smit slots in at 6.
Tendai ‘Beast’Mtawarira
Patrick Lambie
Paul Jordaan
Cell C Sharks director of rugby Jake White will know later on Tuesday whether he will have the services of the injured trio of Tendai Mtawarira, Patrick Lambie and Paul Jordaan for Saturday’s all important final Vodacom Super Rugby league match against the DHL Stormers at Newlands.
All three players are heading back from injury and are said to now be recovered and rehabilitated, White just has to find out whether they are ready yet to take the field in a big match like the clash with the Stormers is shaping up to be. The status of flyhalf Lambie in particular will be eagerly awaited by not only White but also fans of the Durban franchise, for pivot has been problematic for the Sharks since the Springbok was injured playing against the Bulls in Pretoria in March.
As it is, Lambie has made an excellent recovery, as the initial prognosis was that his torn bicep would keep him out of the rest of the Super Rugby season. However, regardless of whether he is ready for the Newlands clash, it appears he may be ready to play a part in the knock-out games that follow.
Jacques Potgieter
The Waratahs used the power of the Australian dollar to kill off any hopes that the Vodacom Bulls may have had of luring utility forward Jacques Potgieter back to South Africa.
Potgieter is currently having a superb season with the Vodacom Super Rugby log leaders and has been one of the reasons Michael Cheika’s side has been doing so well, using his skills to good effect to provide more than just a traditional forward role with the Sydney-based franchise.
The Bulls had opened negotiations with Potgieter to return for next year’s Super Rugby tournament after he left them a year ago, but these were snubbed out by the Waratahs, who made a significant counter offer to keep him in Sydney.
It is understood that Potgieter wanted to return to try and make the squad for the Rugby World Cup after being in the Springbok set-up in 2012.
Luke Watson
With just four weeks left before the Currie Cup starts, Carlos Spencer has announced an expanded team of 26 players to tackle the SWD Eagles in George on Friday evening.
Spencer, who has yet to decide on the captaincy of the squad following Luke Watson’s absence due to a slight rib injury, has made eight changes to his starting line-up in comparison to the game against the Sharks XV last week.
Up front Edgar Marutlulle will start at hooker in place of Albé de Swardt, who moves to the bench. Lizo Gqoboka and Charl du Plessis stay on at loosehead and tighthead respectively.
David Bullbring and Steven Cummins swap places, but stay in the starting line-up. Paul Schoeman comes in at No 6 in place of Thembelani Bholi, and will be accompanied at flank by Stefan Willemse in place of Devin Oosthuizen.
Aidon Davis will start at No 8, in place of Watson, who left the field after 20 minutes against the Sharks XV at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last week with a rib injury.
Sergeal Petersen
The Eastern Province Kings say there is no loan agreement for wing Sergeal Petersen to represent the Cheetahs in Super Rugby next year.
It was reported on Monday that the Baby Bok flyer has signed a deal to play Super Rugby with the Cheetahs before returning to play Currie Cup for the Kings.
However, EP Rugby CEO Charl Crous denied this move via a media statement on Tuesday.
The Cell C Sharks will be the only South African team contesting the Vodacom Super Rugby playoffs this year after the Vodacom Bulls slipped up in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon, shortly before the KwaZulu-Natalians’ title hopes were dealt a blow in Bloemfontein.
The team from Durban dropped one position to third on the overall standings after their shock defeat by 27-20 to the Toyota Cheetahs at the Free State Stadium. It was arguably the team from Bloemfontein’s best performance of the season as they moved up from the last spot on the log to 14th.
Earlier on Saturday afternoon, the DHL Stormers recorded the fourth-ever clean sheet in a local derby when they beat the Vodacom Bulls by 16-0 at DHL Newlands. Just before the June-break, the Capetonians did the same when they beat the Toyota Cheetahs by 33-0 in Cape Town.
It will be only the third time in the last 10 years that the Vodacom Bulls will not feature in the playoffs.
The other two times a South African side failed to score any points in local derbies, were in 1999 when the Cell C Sharks beat the Vodacom Bulls by 29-0, while the team from Pretoria beat the Southern Kings by 34-0 last year.
In total, it was the sixth time ever a South African team were kept point-less in Vodacom Super Rugby and the Vodacom Bulls’ third zero. The Pretorians lost 27-0 to the Crusaders in Timaru in 2011 and the DHL Stormers lost 22-0 to the Crusaders in Cape Town in 2008.
On Friday evening, the Lions recorded their sixth win of the season when they beat the Rebels by 34-17 at Ellis Park, meaning 2014 will go down as the most successful for the team based in Johannesburg since the Cats franchise was dissolved before the 2006-season. Their previous best was five wins in 2007.
Jake White
Does Jake White have a valid point in blaming player fatigue on the last couple of results that went against the SA Conference leaders, the Cell C Sharks?
While it is true that the Sharks lost a few players to the national cause, it wasn’t as if it was the bulk of their side. Frans Steyn played one match, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira and Willem Alberts were all either rested or rotated during the 4 Test matches in June. JP Pietersen had the biggest work load for the Bok team if measured in minutes played.
In contrast, the Waratahs players who were involved in the Test series against the French, for the Wallabies, seemed to have lifted their game to an ever higher level.
The same can be said of the All Black players who were involved in a tough 3 Test series against a strong England side.
The Waratahs secured top position in Super Rugby’s regular-season as they overpowered the Highlanders 44-16 at Allianz Stadium in Sydney on Sunday.
A second-half onslaught did the damage as fine tries for Israel Folau, Sekope Kepu, Nick Phipps, Jacques Potgieter and Taqele Naiyaravoro were added to Rob Horne’s score in the opening 40.
They will now go into next week’s trip to the Reds knowing that top spot is assured and Michael Cheika might subsequently choose to rotate a handful of his stars in order to keep them fresh.
Adriaan Strauss
Cheetahs captain Adriaan Strauss lauded his team’s efforts in their 27-20 victory over the Sharks in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
“Everyone, including the guys coming off the bench, had a good game,” said Strauss after the match.
“They really put up their hands and played for one another.
“A lot of the guys leave at the end of the season and we wanted to give them a good farewell at our home ground.
“I think we achieved that. Next we face the Lions away and we will be looking for another good performance to round things off.”
Jan Serfontein
Handré Pollard
Marcel van der Merwe
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd confirmed that three incumbent Springboks, Jan Serfontein, Handre Pollard and Marcel van der Merwe extended their commitments to the Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls.
Serfontein (2017), Van der Merwe (2016) and Pollard (2017) all confirmed or extended their contracts with the BBC.
Van der Merwe made his international debut for the Springboks against Scotland last weekend and according to the Manager: High Performance at the BBC, Xander Janse van Rensburg, a true reflection of the abilities of the prop.
Cheetahs (17) 27 / 20 (13) Sharks (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs and Cell C Sharks did battle in Super Rugby at
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Stormers (16) 16 / 0 (0) Bulls (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers and Vodacom Bulls did battle in Super Rugby at
Newlands, Cape Town at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
Lions (14) 34 / 17 (10) Rebels (Final Score)
The Lions and the Melbourne Rebels did battle in Super Rugby at
Ellis Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time (03:10 Saturday AEST, 17:10 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
*******************
It is Round 18 of Super Rugby 2014 this weekend, the first Round after the June Test break! We have 7 games in Round 18, with 2 game on Friday, 4 games on Saturday and 1 game on Sunday.
All the sides from South Africa are back in action this weekend, after sitting out last weekend when the Antipodian sides played a Round on their own to counter the fact that the South African Conference started a week early in February.
The Logs are finally reflecting the true position of the 15 sides relative to one another and in the process the Sharks have dropped 1 place on the standing after a rampant Waratahs side bullied the Brumbies to atke a 3-point lad on the Combined Log.
The Brumbies have a Bye weekend.
After this Round of games, there is only 1 Open Round left in Super Rugby in 2014, next weekend, after which the final 6 teams to continue into the Play-Off’s will have been decided. Teams who do not make the Play-Off’s will be done and dusted with this year’s competition.
With the June International Test Window now a thing of the past, the teams can once again throw their full weight into Super Rugby.
This is the stage where some results are becoming critical and where certain sides can open up doors for themselves, whilst burrying some of those teams around and in close proximity to them on the Logs.
Let the games continue….
Jean Deysel
The Cell C Sharks will field a team resting Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis and Willem Alberts (all on the bench)… and also still without Patrick Lambie, but with Jean Deysel captaining the side and Frans Steyn back in his favoured position of Inside Centre.
This of course means that Tim Swiel starts at Flyhalf, Dale Chadwick at loosehead prop, Kyle Cooper as starting hooker and Lourens Adriaanse as starting tighthead prop.
S’Bura Sithole is back at Outside centre and JP Pietersen moves back to Right wing, with SP Marais protecting the last vestage.
3 Other returning Springboks get starting positions, namely Marcell Coetzee, Stephan Lewies and Lwazi Mvovo.
Duane Vermeulen
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has conceded that there is an outside chance that his team may be without kingpin No 8 Duane Vermeulen in Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby derby against the Vodacom Bulls at Newlands.
Vermeulen normally sits out Monday training session as part of Coetzee’s way of managing the hard working Springbok, who has played every game he has been available for at both Super Rugby and international level this year. However when he was also absent from training when the team ran at Newlands on Wednesday, it did prompt speculation that perhaps it wasn’t quite business as usual with Vermeulen this time around.
Victor Matfield
Handré Pollard
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke named Victor Matfield to lead the team to play the DHL Stormers at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
Ludeke made four changes and a positional switch to the starting team that lost their last Vodacom Super Rugby outing, against the Lions in Johannesburg, with Matfield and Paul Willemse starting at lock and Handré Pollard at flyhalf. Werner Kruger also swop with Marcel van der Merwe in the regular rotation of the front row.
Grant Hattingh will vacate the lock position to make way for Matfield and again move to the back of the scrum in a positional switch that will also see Jacques Engelbrecht run out at flank.
Matfield was rested against the Lions and will lock the scrum with Willemse, who replaces injured captain, Flip van der Merwe, in the number four jersey. Engelbrecht’s move to the side of the scrum is a result of the injury to Jacques du Plessis.
Pollard missed the Lions clash due to his Junior Springbok commitments in New Zealand and returns to start at number 10. Jacques-Louis Potgieter moves to the bench in place of Louis Fouché.
Fourie du Preez
Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s ankle injury is worse than expected and it has now ruled him out for the rest of the year.
According to SARU, Du Preez will miss the remainder of the South African season following an ankle injury sustained by the Springbok scrumhalf in last Saturday’s 55-6 Test victory over Scotland in Port Elizabeth.
Du Preez left the field in the first half of the Test. He was sent for x-rays immediately afterwards and went for an MRI scan in Pretoria on Monday, which confirmed earlier suspicions of an anterior syndesmotic injury. He will be sidelined for approximately six months.
Victor Matfield in the scrum cap Cosato does not like
Cosatu has called on ministers and sport administrators to intervene and bring more black players into South African rugby.
The trade union federation released a media statement in which it criticises the white “old boys club” which it believes still rules rugby in South Africa.
It follows the Springboks’ 55-6 win over Scotland in Port Elizabeth at the weekend – a match which was preceded by SARU president Oregan Hoskins urging Bok coach Heyneke Meyer to pick more black players.
Meyer did include a few more black players in his squad for the game in Port Elizabeth, but Cosatu was not impressed.
Schalk Brits
The governing body of the English Premiership has prevented Schalk Brits from representing the South African Sevens team at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland later this month.
Brits’ club Saracens were happy for him play in the event, but the final say lies with the governing body of the English Premiership.
Considering the amount of Toyota Cheetahs that are leaving for greener pastures, Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the Cell C Sharks may be the last time that their fans may see them in their orange and white strip before joining new teams.
And since it is their last home Super Rugby game of the season, coach Naka Drotske has included all his stars for the clash to try and score a win against in the local derby.
No less than eight Springboks are back in action for the team after spending the last month with the Springboks and Trevor Nyakane, captain Adriaan Strauss, prop Coenie Oosthuizen, lock Lood de Jager, utility forward Teboho Mohoke, flyhalf Johan Goosen, wing Cornal Hendricks and fullback Willie le Roux all return to the side for the clash.
Handré Pollard
Handre Pollard is not your typical Bulls flyhalf and when he is in control, the Bulls become a different creature all together.
Pollard has enjoyed a meteoric rise to stardom culminating in a starting No 10 spot for the Springboks against Scotland on the weekend.
Now, as he returns to Pretoria to get ready for his first senior match in his home province at Newlands, against the Stormers, Pollard is already causing a lot of head-scratching in the Cape.
The Bulls have always been a powerful yet predictable side, especially when it comes to the flyhalf’s role.
Burger Geldenhuys
Former Springbok and Bulls loose forward Burger Geldenhuys fears the Pretoria side may struggle at the breakdowns against the Stormers at Newlands this weekend.
With Jacques du Plessis out with a broken jaw, and Deon Stegmann still sidelined with a groin injury, the Bulls will tackle the Stormers with a slightly make-shift loose trio.
Grant Hattingh, Jacques Engelbrecht and Jono Ross are likely to have their hands full on the ground. None of them are renowned for being great ball fetchers.
Do the business in Bloemfontein on Saturday night … then warm up the Sunday morning coffee smartly and become temporary Highlanders enthusiasts for 80 minutes.
Those ought to be key items on the Sharks’ to-do list this weekend as Super Rugby 2014 enters its penultimate round of ordinary-season play.
Director of rugby Jake White will be aware of the potential hazard of putting the cart before the horse, and drum into his charges that victory against the Cheetahs in a domestic derby is very much the main target.
But if they manage that, their attention will undoubtedly turn pretty smartly to a Sunday morning cracker (in SA time-zone terms, at 08:05) between the log-leading Waratahs and New Zealand-based playoffs challengers the Highlanders in Sydney.
Johan Ackermann
With only two matches left in the round-robin stage of the 2014 Super Rugby competition, the Lions will be looking to finish with a flourish to complete one of their best seasons.
Coach Johan Ackermann said on Tuesday his team would be looking to bow out of this year’s edition with seven victories but they would first have to move past their first challenge against the Rebels in Johannesburg on Friday.
“After the break, these two games are almost a campaign on its own and in rugby you only get remembered for the last game you played,” Ackermann said at the team announcement on Tuesday.
“And if we don’t do well in the last two games, the Super Rugby season will be remembered as not being too good. The opposite side of the coin is that if we win the games, we can look back on a good season with a few mistakes.”
Francois Hougaard
Who Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer earmarks as his flyhalf at the outset of the Championship next month could also have a major bearing on which scrumhalf he chooses to plug the unfortunate Fourie du Preez gap.
Incumbent No 9 and still world-class customer Du Preez, 32, was confirmed on Tuesday as having an ankle injury serious enough for him to ruled out of the entire southern hemisphere tournament.
Given his vast, 70-cap experience and precious ability to read and control a game better than most other South African scrumhalves right now, the loss of Du Preez certainly dents the Boks’ chances of ousting New Zealand from their status as defending champions, even if there have been enough positives in other departments of late to suggest they’ll be seriously competitive nevertheless.
The veteran was just beginning to benefit from a decent run of international matches – important given that he plies his franchise trade in the much more modest arena of Japanese club rugby now – in the June window, looking increasingly more like the character who helped drive the World Cup 2007 success.
Anton Bresler
Sharks lock Anton Bresler has signed a three-year deal with Scottish side, Edinburgh.
Edinburgh, who are coached by South African Alan Solomons, announced the news via their official website on Wednesday.
Bresler, who has played 39 Super Rugby games for the Sharks, will join his new team after the completion of this year’s Super Rugby competition.