Daily Archives: 2 February 2015
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.
Captain Sam Warburton will win his 50th cap against England on Friday as he leads a Wales side that contains 2 changes from the one that beat South Africa in their last outing.
Warren Gatland has named his team 48 hours ahead of schedule and it sees the return of British and Irish Lions Richard Hibbard and George North to the starting line-up for the Six Nations tournament opener.
Hibbard will line-up in the front row with Gethin Jenkins and Samson Lee, with Jake Ball and Alun Wyn Jones packing down behind.
Warburton is named in a familiar back row with Dan Lydiate and Taulupe Faletau.
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.
The World Cup countdown is officially on, as the Six Nations sides get the first opportunity in the spotlight.
xThe Northern Hemisphere teams will look to sharpen up on their game plans, test out combinations and look to see who to cut from their World Cup plans.
With England hosting the global showpiece this year, the onus is on the Northern Hemisphere sides to fully challenge and grab the opportunity of a World Cup on their turf.
The conditions, referees and schedule seems to favour them.
The Six Nations in 2014 saw a tournament only decided on the final day – with three teams still able to win it. Eventually Ireland won it, a perfect swan song for arguably the greatest No.13 in the modern era – Brian O’Driscoll.
England won the triple crown, beating all the other Home Nations, but failed to win the Six Nations. Italy was also in the record books for the most tackles in a Test match as they made 208!
What do we expect in the 2015 edition of the Six Nations?
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.
Greg Holmes
Reds prop Greg Holmes will be sidelined for up to 9 weeks, after tearing a ligament in his left thumb while lifting in a lineout drill earlier this week.
Holmes was recovering from a shoulder injury suffered during the National Rugby Championship and was expected to make his return in the Reds pre-season match against the Crusaders, but instead had surgery to repair the ligament on Friday.
Reds head coach Richard Graham was disappointed to lose a veteran of 121 games, but said it would provide some of Queensland’s young props an opportunity to further develop.
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.
Six Nations champions Ireland on Sunday trimmed their squad to 38 players for the opening two games against Italy and France.
Joe Schmidt’s side open their campaign in Rome on Saturday, before hosting France in Dublin the following weekend.
“Jack Conan and Michael Bent did well (on Friday night for the Wolfhounds) against the Saxons but will return to Leinster, as will Noel Reid who was restricted to a brief cameo as he was covering a number of positions,” said Schmidt.
“Rob Herring returns to Ulster and will look forward to having an opportunity for further game-time.
Shota Horie
Japanese international hooker Shota Horie will not return to the Rebels for the 2015 Super Rugby season.
Horie injured himself playing for his Japanese Top League Club, Panasonic Wild Knights, and will remain in his homeland to continue his rehabilitation ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Rebels’ Head Coach Tony McGahan was disappointed that Horie wouldn’t be returning to Melbourne.
Martín Landajo
Preparations are underway for Argentina’s entry to Super Rugby in 2016 with Martín Landajo and Guido Petti becoming the first players to commit to the Buenos Aires-based franchise.
The pair both currently play on home soil in Argentina’s domestic league, but will have their sights set on international provicinal competition when the new team comes into existence in a little over 12 months from now.
Both players and the UAR confirmed their signing via Twitter on Friday.
Landajo, a 26-year-old scrumhalf has 40 caps for Argentina while Petti, a 20-year-old lock has two to his name after debuting in a 20-18 victory over Italy in Genoa.
Matt Hodgson
Western Force captain, Matt Hodgson, is expected to miss the first 8 weeks of the 2015 Super Rugby season after suffering a hamstring injury in the team’s 38 / 19 win over the Asia Pacific Dragons in Perth on Saturday.
Hodgson underwent scans over the weekend, confirming a serious hamstring strain that will see him miss a significant portion of the season.
He is expected to return after the Force’s bye in Round 8.
Dave Rennie
Chiefs head coach Dave Rennie has extended his contract with the dual Super Rugby champions for another 2 years.
Rennie led the Chiefs to back-to-back Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013 as well as the Finals Series in 2014, where they fell to the Brumbies.
In addition to 7 new Chiefs making the All Blacks and another 2 earning re-calls, Rennie has introduced 39 new players to a Chiefs jersey.
Before joining the Chiefs he was Head Coach of the Manawatu NPC side. As the New Zealand Under 20 Coach, his side won 3 consecutive World Championship titles from 2008-2010. He also coached Wellington from 1999 – 2002 winning the NPC in 2000. In his playing days he played 59 games as a midfield back for the Wellington Lions from 1986.
Frans Malherbe
Siya Kolisi
French Top 14 club Toulouse are reportedly eager to attain the services of Springboks Frans Malherbe and Siya Kolisi.
French rugby newspaper, Midi Olympique, reports that the Stormers duo are on the shopping-list of the French giants who want to bolster their ranks after this year’s Rugby World Cup.
Prop Malherbe has played 4 Tests for the Boks, while flank Kolisi boasts 10 caps.