Monthly Archives: November 2012
The pick of the games in the Pro12 Round 10 will not take place until Sunday, when second placed Scarlets welcome table-topping Ulster to Llanelli.
Table-topping Harlequins will look to return to winning ways when they welcome Worcester Warriors to Twickenham Stoop in the opening Round 10 fixture on Friday.
Friday 30 November & Saturday 1 December 2012 sees the HSBC Sevens World Series Emirates Airlines Dubai Sevens Rugby Tournament take place.
Herewith the Results, times given in Dubai time (2 hours ahead of SA Time).
Samoa took the overall title, winning the Cup by 26 / 15 against New Zealand.
In the Womans final, New Zealand trounced the South African woman’s side by 41 / 10.
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:
The All Blacks side has already been known and reported about, herewith the remaining 3 sides for this weekend’s End Of Year Toursgames on Saturday.
The Wales rugby player flattened by a swinging arm from New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore suffered three-day memory loss as a result of the incident.
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.
It was Dale Steyn’s turn to face up to the media on Wednesday, two days ahead of the start of the crucial final test in Perth. Here’s what he had to say:
The Sharks announced changes to the board of directors which would take effect immediately. Mr Stephen Saad and Mr Terry Rosenberg were appointed to the board at the annual shareholders AGM held in Johannesburg on 4 October, 2012. Stephen Saad assumes the role of Chairman, previously held by John Swain who now becomes an independent director alongside Terry Rosenberg.
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.
Courtney Lawes was on Tuesday included in England’s 23-man squad for Saturday’s Twickenham Test against world champions New Zealand as coach Stuart Lancaster promised to meet the All Blacks’ challenge “head-on”.
Australian lock Rob Simmons had his ban for a dangerous tip-tackle during the Wallabies defeat by France this month cut from eight weeks to five weeks, following an International Rugby Board appeal hearing in Bristol, south-west England.
The latest news regarding Player Movements, the appointment of coaches and player movement miths set straight.
Some players are definately moving, some are extending their stay, some refute rumours of possible movement, whilst on the coaching side of things the John Mitchell saga carries on. The Crusaders also appoint 2 vital Assistant coaches for 2013.
You will find the news, item by item below:
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.
Former Glasgow Warriors boss Lineen, a member of the Scotland Grand Slam winning side of 1990, is one of the favourites to take over from Robinson who quit after Saturday’s humiliating defeat to Tonga.
Heyneke Meyer’s first year as Springbok coach is over. Having lost only 3 games out of 12 somehow makes it look better than how his real winning percentage reflects. Yes the two draws robbed him of a real satisfactory start, in fact one of the best starts of any recent coach.
We now suddenly find more positive articles in the media. The 16-15 win against England not only changed the whole perception of Heyneke Meyer in our minds, but it also seems to have changed some of the more experienced rugby scribes in this country’s minds regarding how they now perceive Heyneke Meyer. Here is some excerpts from 3 articles yesterday by Jacques van der Westhuizen, – “Boks’ three out of three aint bad”, Zelim Nel, – “New Zealand looms large in Boks’ sights” and Gavin Rich – with “Boks’ will flourish in 2013”
I suspect that more important offenses are missed in rugby than any other sport. But don’t blame the refs – or not too much, wouldn’t want to spoil all the fun. The problem is so many things are happening at the same time on and off the ball, it is almost impossible for one man to pick up.
The Lions have finally announced their proposed fixtures to be played in lieu of Super Rugby participation in 2013.
The fixtures include matches from the “Lions Challenge”, as well as some friendlies against Super Rugby opposition as well as a number of international, American and European club sides.
The full media release from the Lions follows:
The Southern Kings will have two New Zealand coaches at the helm during next year’s Super Rugby competition.
Australian second row forward Sitaleki Timani has been cited to appear before the International Rugby Board disciplinary commission.
Going through articles on various web sites I came across one where Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer explains some of his selections, where he sometimes got it wrong and sometimes got it right.
It was a try. The referee awarded the try and the referee is ‘the sole judge of fact and Law during a match’. But was his judgement right.
He did take advice from the TMO whose scripted advice was: ‘You may award the try.’
But should it have been awarded? Was the judgement right? Was the Law correctly applied? It is an interesting situation.
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.
Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper on Monday said he was putting his Rugby Union career on hold, as he prepares to make his debut in the boxing ring early next year.
Jean de Villiers is likely to continue as the Springbok captain into 2013 after impressing Heyneke Meyer with both his leadership and ambassadorial skills during a difficult first season for the new national coach.
Australia and the South African Proteas do battle in the 2nd Test of the Series in Australia at the Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.
The game takes place mostly in the middle of the night for South Africans, so live updates will not be given accross the board, but updates will be done in the mornings.
On a belter pitch, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. After a massive start by Australia with the bat on Day 1, hitting close to 500 runs, South Africa was always going to be on the back foot. A super fight back followed by South Africa and on Day 5 of the Test South Africa’s Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers still had a mountain to climb to save the match with South Africa on 77 / 4, still 355 runs short and only 6 wickets in hand. Each batsman pitched in, dug deep, and Faf du Plessis (playing in his maiden Test) held out right until the end, seeing 4 wickets fall around him.
The match ended in a draw, well saved by South Africa.
Andy Robinson has ended his three-and-a-half year reign as Scotland’s head coach after a disappointing run of results. He was clearly stung by Scotland’s 21-15 defeat by Tonga on Saturday when he warned there would be “consequences”.
Ireland produced a brilliant seven-try display to hammer Argentina and guarantee a crucial top-eight ranking ahead of the 2015 World Cup draw.
Scotland slumped to a third defeat in the EMC Tests as Tonga turned over the hosts in Aberdeen, recording a shock 15-21 victory in the North East.
In front of a near capacity crowd at Pittodrie, Greig Laidlaw slotted five penalties from six but it was two tries from the visitors from the southern hemisphere that sealed the win and left Scotland to answer some very difficult questions about their performance.
Wales (0) 10 / 33 (23) All Blacks (Final Score)
Wales and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 19:15 SA Time (17:15 GMT, 06:15 Sunday 25 Nov NZ Time).
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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England (6) 15 / 16 (9) Springboks (Final Score)
England and the South African Springboks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 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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All Black flyhalf Dan Carter has been ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium due to a leg injury.
The Wallabies have been forced to make a late change to their side for Saturday’s Test against Italy in Florence.
Hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau comes off the bench, to be replaced by James Hanson, who is involved in the matchday squad on tour for the first time after making his debut during last month’s drawn Bledisloe Cup Test in Brisbane.