Daily Archives: 9 July 2014
Tony Woodcock
Luke Braid
The Blues will be without veteran All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock and captain Luke Braid for their crunch Super Rugby match against the Chiefs at Eden Park on Friday.
Woodcock suffered a shoulder injury during last week’s loss to the Crusaders and with a six day turnaround coach John Kirwan felt he would not be fully fit and it was not worth risking him.
“Woody’s had a great season for us so it’s a big loss. He’s been quite outstanding really and one of our best players since he’s been back,” Kirwan said.
Kurtley Beale
Waratahs and Wallabies back Kurtley Beale says that a decision on where he will play next year is “just around the corner”.
Beale has offers from Europe, Japan and the NRL and comes out of contract with the Australian Rugby Union and New South Wales Rugby at the end of the season.
The Waratahs back is a core member of the team that will finish the Super Rugby in first place on the standings but was a replacement on the bench for the Wallabies in their three-Test series against France.
The ARU has a banding system which could make it difficult for a player on the Wallabies bench to negotiate a big top-up to his Super Rugby contract.
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.
Piri Weepu leading the Haka
London Welsh are today expected to announce the signing of Piri Weepu from the Auckland Blues, according to reliable sources.
It marks another huge signing in their already impressive recruitment drive, with the 71-cap All Black set to bring real experience of rugby at the very top level. He will join the likes of Olly Barkley and Tim Molenaar in what is starting to look like a very useful back line.
Weepu’s career is yet to take him outside of New Zealand, beginning his career in Wellington both for the ITM Cup side and the Hurricanes, before moving to Auckland and the Blues. It is understood that he has expressed a desire to play in the Aviva Premiership.
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.”
The FIFA Football World Cup 2014 is nearing the end in Brazil.
The Quarter-Finals are a thing of the past, only 4 Teams remain!
In the Semi-Finals we have 2 South American Teams against 2 European Teams, who will come out on top? If a Team wins here, they progress to the Final and the loser books a place on the 3rd Place Play-Off!
It is the 3rd Place Play-Off on 12 July and the all importeant Final on 13 July 2014.
In the 1st Semi-Final on 8 July it is Brazil vs Germany and the 2nd Semi-Final on 9 July is between Netherlands vs Argentina.
All of the games are live on TV in SA on SS3 HD, SS3 & Maximo.
Ex Wallaby and NSW Waratah skipper Phil Waugh
The NSW Waratahs have received the ultimate nod of approval, with the state’s most-capped player declaring Michael Cheika’s record-setting class of 2014 as possibly the most complete team in Super Rugby history.
Boasting 18 internationals and the inside running to a home grand final, former captain Phil Waugh believes only the Crusaders or an injury to attacking trump Israel Folau can stop the Waratahs from winning their maiden title.
”The talent and experience and the potential of the team they’ve got together now in that squad is right up there with one of the best that not just the Waratahs have seen but also probably Super Rugby has seen,” Waugh said.
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.
Craig Dowd
Craig Dowd, writing in his latest column seems to think that the Crusaders are once again peaking at the right time.
The Crusaders cop a lot of criticism, and I suggested last week in assessing the New Zealand Super Rugby teams that they “don’t look like a title-winning team”, but, really, you can’t fault them; yes, they have the fewest bonus points of the New Zealand sides, but they always turn up at the end of the year with enough points to qualify for the top six. At the end of the day, what more can Todd Blackadder do?
As a coach he gets shafted because someone like Dan Carter has taken a sabbatical – last year, Richie McCaw did the same – and then he loses Kieran Read with concussion worries and injury. But he is still developing new players and bringing them through. And yet poor old Todd gets criticised for the Crusaders not winning finals, but they are still the conveyor belt of New Zealand rugby.
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.
Ben Smith
Highlanders and All Blacks fullback Ben Smith remains in a Sydney hospital while recovering from a leg infection.
A statement released by the team on Tuesdays said they believed the infection was caused by a “supercicial graze” sustained by the player in Sunday’s loss to the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium.
Highlanders doctor Greg Macleod has remained in Sydney with Smith and says he is responding well to treatment.
Tom Kingston
Bryce Hegarty
Scott Higginbotham
Melbourne Rebels outside back Tom Kingston has been ruled out of his team’s final regular Super Rugby season match against the Bulls in Pretoria afetr succumbing to an ongoing chronic knee injury.
Kingston, who has flown home from South Africa and has been battling Patella Tendinopathy throughout the duration of the season, started on the wing against the Lions on the weekend however will now head back to Melbourne to undergo further assessment before the Club are able to decide what course of action to take to repair his knee.
Young flyhalf Bryce Hegarty remains in South Africa undergoing further assessment to a shoulder injury sustained against the Lions, and remains in doubt for the season-ending clash against the Bulls.
Scott Higginbotham meanwhile was suspended for a week after receiving his 3rd Yellow Card of the season.