Monthly Archives: December 2012
Scott Johnson, Scotland’s senior assistant coach, will take on the role of interim head coach for the 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship and the summer tour of South Africa.
In this Article we look at the contenders for HOOKER at the Sharks 2013 Super Rugby group.
The Sharks have pretty decent depth at Hooker where they would start with the Hooker that probably tops the world ratings in his position, and although he has just gone through major knee surgery is seems according to some reports that he should be ready to take his place in the starting line-up come mid March 2013.
This means he would miss the first two to three weeks of Super Rugby thus leaving a huge hole in the Sharks front row, but now open chance for either Craig Burden or Kyle Cooper to show their skills and if they can handle the pressures of Super Rugby as a starting Hooker.
AB de Villiers has pulled out of South Africa’s Twenty20 internationals at home against New Zealand in December, citing the need for extra rest before the Tests in January. Justin Ontong, the Cape Cobras captain, has been called into the squad.
Time to talk about the men in the middle. Although there is heaps of talent, and plenty of experience, they seem to be very thin on the ground, especially if Fourie does decide to migrate to the side of the scrum… or perhaps even further!
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS at the Sharks 2013 Super Rugby group.
The Sharks, although sitting pretty with the Springbok front row, still look vulnerable as the backup props, although steady for the most, have not been as dominating as the team would want.
This is specially the case at Loosehead where Dale Chadwick at times would stand his man and other times just fade into obscurity as he seems lack drive and passion. The Sharks could very well see one or two of the junior props coming through the ranks to fill that gap unless Dale really stands up.
At Tighthead things seem more settled as Wiehann Herbst has been solid in backup to Jannie Du Plessis, and young Nick Schonert is growing as a player and will no doubt have a good future.
Looking at the hooker position, the Cheetahs have had a fair bit of consistency over the last few seasons of Super rugby. As we look at the contenders, it will be more a case of who to select as back up for current Springbok vice captain, and current Cheetahs captain, Adriaan Strauss.
SANZAR announced their 18 referees for the 2013 Super Rugby season, the group of referees includes 5 new as well as the Argentinean Francisco Pastrana (who controlled his first Super Rugby match in 2012).
2012 Saw the Stormers topping the table in the round robin, only to lose out to the Sharks in the semi’s. 2013 Will be a big year for the boys. With almost the whole of the young 2012 squad still available and the coaching staff remaining unchanged (unlike the very disruptive 2012 start), this side has every chance of going all the way this year. Add to the squad the likes of Burger, Cilliers, Rhodes, Taute and Jantjies, depth in every position looks so much better.
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS at the Southern Kings 2013 Super Rugby group.
It is extremely difficult to pre-judge the Southern Kings and the performance we could expect from them, hell it is even difficult to get full player particulars of the players who are squad contenders in many instances, so here it goes.. warts and all.
Vodacom Bulls lock Juandrè Kruger did not extend his contract with the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd beyond the the 2013 Vodacom Super Rugby season and will leave the Vodacom Bulls to join up with French club Racing Metro 92.
In the first week of discussion of Super Rugby squad contenders (17 to 23 December), we will discuss 2 positions in seperate Articles (Props & Hookers) and also seperate the Articles of the 5 SA Super Rugby participating franchises.
That means 10 Super Rugby Articles every week from now on.
The basic idea is to discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS in the Vodacom Bulls 2013 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
A year has come and gone, and now we face a “rugby drought” until Super 15 kicks off mid February 2013. It is the “dry season” as far as rugby news goes, so am sure most of us are getting withdrawl symptoms. Hopefully this will solicit some debate or scorn.
I list the possible contenders for props in the Cheetahs 2013 Super Rugby group. The Cheetahs seem to have a penchant for grooming young props, with most of the contenders still puppies as far as props go.
The Southern Kings have admitted they went ahead and signed additional foreigners, despite a South African Rugby Union statement that they are allowed just two imports.
The Crusaders Super Rugby licence has been awarded to a limited partnership that is owned by the six provincial unions within the Crusaders region with the Canterbury Rugby Football Union (CRFU) being the major shareholder.
Toulon lock Bakkies Botha will be sidelined for up to two months as the Springbok international undergoes surgery on a fractured eye socket.
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll is on course to feature in the Six Nations tournament after returning to training with Leinster following ankle surgery.
Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White was assaulted at a music festival and has fractured his jaw, but is not expected to miss the start of the Super Rugby season.
Wales and Clermont fullback Lee Byrne looks set for a long lay-off after breaking a bone in his back during Saturday’s European Cup clash with Leinster.
A bit late sorry but we take a look at an interesting weekend’s action in the Heineken Cup. This weekend saw some very close games as well as a few run away wins and perhaps most significantly saw Ulster lose their first competitive match of the season in one of the weekend’s close affairs.
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters has intimated that it’s unlikely that Super Rugby will adopt television match official (TMO) rule changes next year.
Empowering the TMO to review possible infringements during try-scoring movements and incidents of foul play have been trialled in the Currie Cup and English Premiership competitions this year.
The Southern Kings have signed Toulouse hooker Virgil Lacombe as their fourth international player for Super Rugby next year.
Wales are set to play on a plastic pitch at the Millennium Stadium in a ground-breaking move being proposed by the Welsh Rugby Union.
Roger Lewis, the WRU’s go-ahead chief executive, has revealed behind closed doors talks have taken place about implementing the artificial surface at the home of Welsh sport.
With a R1-million first prize and some of the fastest speedsters in the business, it was time for the inaugural IPL-style NBM Sevens Premier League tournament in George, South Africa
The Matches were hosted here and all 34 matches were broadcast live on SuperSport 6, with the first match at 11am on Friday between the NBM All Stars and Boland.
Saturday’s play began at 11:00, and culminate with the final at 6pm.
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland says Jonny Wilkinson is in the frame for the Australia tour, but Toulon’s success may hamper his hopes.
Connacht and Leinster have become embroiled in angry exchanges following Ireland lock Mike McCarthy’s decision to move to the Heineken Cup champions.
Two-time defending European Cup champions Leinster host Clermont in the fourth round of the competition this weekend in the knowledge that they will have to dig deep for a “vital” bonus-point victory.
Adidas, the global sports brand, on Friday unveiled the new-look DHL Stormers kit which brings the Western Province and the Stormers brands much closer for the 2013 season.
All-conquering All Black captain Richie McCaw has been named New Zealand’s Player of the Year.
Former Springbok prop Robbie Kempson has been appointed as one of the new provincial academy managers, SA Rugby Union (Saru) announced on Friday.
South Africa’s Player of the Year, record-breaking Springbok wing Bryan Habana, is yet again in the sights of Toulon’s eccentric boss Mourad Boudjellal.
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland fired the first verbal salvo ahead of his team’s tour to Australia next year, claiming the Wallabies are the easiest to knock over of their Southern Hemisphere rivals.
Representatives and stakeholders from the European Rugby Cup met in London on Wednesday in order to agree on the way forward for the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup but again failed to find a solution.
English and French clubs are not happy with the current format as their opposition teams do not have to qualify for the Heineken Cup in the same way and have automatic qualification regardless of their level of skill.
Warren Gatland will have some familiar faces around him when he takes his 2013 British & Irish Lions tour party to Australia next year.
The 2013 head coach, Gatland, on Wednesday revealed that he will have 2009 coaches Graham Rowntree and Rob Howley rejoining him, both former Lions themselves.
With a R1-million first prize and some of the fastest speedsters in the business, this week’s inaugural NBM Sevens tournament in George, beginning on Friday, is ideal festive season television fare.
All 34 matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport 6, with the first match at 11am on Friday between the NBM All Stars and Boland.
Rugby-Talk will also cover this IPL-Style Inaugural competition with a Live Games Article.
Wallaby coach Robbie Deans looks likely to keep his job and be in charge for the British and Irish Lions tour next year after Australian chiefs said there was “very little chance” of change.