Daily Archives: 4 May 2015
Piet van Zyl
Vodacom Bulls scrumhalf Piet van Zyl has been ruled out of rugby for the remainder of the season after he sustained a knee injury in last weekend’s win over the Emirates Lions at Loftus Versfeld.
Van Zyl ruptured his ACL in his left knee, Vodacom Bulls team doctor Org Strauss confirmed on Monday.
Dean Greyling, who was injured in a vehicle accident last week, picked up a hematoma on his right leg and will be back on the training field on 18 May.
Midfielder Burger Odendaal is also not training this week due to an ankle injury picked up in the match, but will be ready to play on 11 May.
Next Monday is also the date being pencilled in for Rudy Paige to return to the field, following his knee rehab.
Cobus Reinach
The Cell C Sharks’ task of rescuing their Vodacom Super Rugby tour of Australasia from disaster became more difficult on Monday when it was confirmed that Jaco Reinach had flown home after sustaining an arm fracture against the Highlanders last Friday.
Reinach was replaced at halftime in that game in what was explained to the television commentators as a tactical substitution. However, it has been subsequently learned that Reinach broke his arm and is on his way back to South Africa.
The Sharks took 3 scrumhalves on tour, so Director Of Rugby, Gary Gold, is likely to continue with Conrad Hoffmann, who finished the Highlanders game as Reinach’s replacement, with Stefan Ungerer coming into the match day squad to provide cover off the bench.
Ruan Botha
The DHL Stormers’ injury woes continue as lock Ruan Botha is the next casualty on the list of sidelined players.
Botha has been ruled out of this weekend’s Super Rugby meeting with the Brumbies at Newlands, whilst centre and vice-captain Juan de Jongh is an injury doubt.
Botha suffered an ankle ligament injury against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last Saturday, as the Stormers went down 17 / 25.
Botha is in a moon boot and could be ruled out from 3 to 6 weeks. The team doctor is still to make a call on the length of his lay-off, but he has been ruled out for this week.
De Jongh is suffering from a hip pointer injury which saw him leave the field in the 23rd minute, and it is usually a 10-day injury.
Utility back Jaco Taute is available but the initial plan is for him to play 40 minutes for Western Province in the Vodacom Cup.
“Giving him (Taute) 40 minutes in the Vodacom Cup is the initial plan, but with our injuries at present we could slot him into the team against a quality Brumbies outfit,” said Stormers coach Allister Coetzee.
With only 5 Rounds left before the 2015 Vodacom Super Rugby playoffs the top performing players in the competition are starting to cement their places in the top stats on the Vodacom Rugby App.
Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard is opening a considerable gap at the top of the Points category scoring 143 points for the Vodacom Bulls over 12 Rounds of rugby.
His closest rival is New Zealand pivot Beauden Barrett of the Hurricanes with 110 points with the Brumbies’ Christian Lealiifano and Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies sharing 3rd place with 103.
Stormers flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis is the 3rd South African at the top with the 101 points he scored so far this season.
Bulls winger Francois Hougaard and Cell C Sharks flanker Marcell Coetzee represent the country in the Tries category with scoring 5 apiece.
The top try-scorer after 12 Rounds of Vodacom Super Rugby is Highlanders flyer Waisake Naholo with 8, while the Hurricanes’ TJ Perenara and Julian Savea scored 7 and 6 respectively.
Equally influential are the men that made the tries happen, with Toyota Cheetahs fullback Willie le Roux sharing the top spot in terms of Try Assists with the Waratahs’ Israel Folau and Nic White of the Brumbies with 6 apiece.
Xander Janse van Rensburg
Reports of a mass exodus from the Vodacom Bulls at the end of the season have been rubbished by the franchise.
According to weekend reports a host of Bulls – which include Pierre Spies, Francois Hougaard, Deon Stegmann, Akona Ndungane and JJ Engelbrecht – will head to Japan after the conclusion of the Super Rugby season.
It was billed as the “biggest exodus” since 2013 – when the Bulls lost 20-odd frontline players, including the likes of Juandré Kruger, Wynand Olivier, Morné Steyn, Jano Vermaak, Zane Kirchner, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Dewald Potgieter and Jacques Potgieter.
However, Xander Janse van Rensburg, the High Performance Manager at the Blue Bulls Company, said that the facts of the reports are far removed from the truth.
“JJ and Grant have Japan clauses in their contracts,” Janse van Rensburg said, adding that the duo will head to Japan after the Super Rugby season, missing the Currie Cup competition, and will then return for Super Rugby 2016.
Franco Smith
Varsity Cup-winning coach Franco Smith has been appointed the head coach of the Toyota Free State Cheetahs for this year’s ABSA Currie Cup campaign.
While it was expected that Smith may also be given the reigns of the Toyota Cheetahs Super Rugby franchise, this wasn’t announced with current coach Naka Drotske still continuing in his contract until the end of October 2016.
In addition Rory Duncan, who coached the side alongside Smith in the Currie Cup last year, will from now on be the Director of Coaching and will handle all rugby matters for the franchise from now on.
“We want to make it clear that Naka Drotske, his coaching team and the current structures continue unabated in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby competition. Any media reports concerning Drotske’s position is pure speculation and is not accurate. Drotske has a contract with the Toyota Free State Cheetahs that expires on 30 October 2016,” a statement from the union said.
Nic White
Brumbies scrumhalf Nic White has arrived in Cape Town ahead of Saturday’s clash against the DHL Stormers at Newlands.
The Brumbies flew into South Africa on Monday ready for a big week in the Cape, the Stormers preparing to right the wrongs of last week after falling to the Toyota Cheetahs.
White returns for the Stormers match this weekend after 3 weeks out, his ankle injury now firmly beaten.
He said the Stormers presented the Brumbies with a significant challenge.
Quade Cooper
The Reds believe the Australian Rugby Union’s revised contracting system could convince star playmaker Quade Cooper to remain in Brisbane.
Cooper’s future remains a hot topic of conversation, following the announcement by Toulon than the 53-Test veteran had signed a 2-year contract with the French club.
Cooper, the Reds and the ARU vehemently denied his departure is a done deal – accusing the Top 14 club of jumping the gun.
It is now reported that Cooper has been offered a 4-year flexible contract by the ARU, which will allow him to play in Japan during the off-season and return for Super Rugby to remain eligible for the Wallabies.
Reds coach Richard Graham, addressing a media scrum in Brisbane on Monday, said they remain optimistic that Cooper will not take up the Toulon offer.
The Vodacom Bulls will take the attacking mindset they showed against the Emirates Lions with them overseas and play positive rugby on their tour.
The Pretoria side scored 4 tries in a thrilling 35 / 33 victory over their Gauteng rivals at Loftus Versfeld, which saw them move to the Top of the South African conference ahead of their tour which will see them take on the Blues, Chiefs, Brumbies and Melbourne Rebels before finishing their season with a clash against the Toyota Cheetahs at Loftus.
Coach Frans Ludeke took great encouragement from the way his side ran the ball in the 1st half and the determination they showed to close the game out against a resurgent Lions side.
The victory was vital to their hopes of making the play-offs this year, and Ludeke said that they will look to build on the performance on tour.
Based on their last 3 performances, it may seem foolhardy to some to suggest the DHL Stormers retain the inside lane for the SA Conference honours in Super Rugby this year.
Certainly if you were a non-partisan observer watching their unconvincing, tense and sparkle-lacking victories over the Western Force and Vodacom Bulls, and then Saturday’s extension of a ballooning Bloemfontein bogey as an under-strength Cheetahs outfit put a nasty spanner in their works, placing money on their domestic superiority come the end of ordinary season might seem a risky business indeed.
Yet the Capetonians, now bumped back into 2nd spot in the South African Conference, as the Bulls earned a full house of Log Points from a high-quality home derby triumph over the Lions in Saturday night’s main feature, probably remain the best-placed team in terms of remaining itinerary demands to end up on top.
They have an immediate chance next weekend anyway to recapture the lead in a yo-yo tussle as they entertain Australian pace-setters the Brumbies at Newlands, whereas the Bulls slowly muster their energy for their overseas tour via a BYE.
The Loftus-based side currently have a 4-Point lead over their great southern rivals after 11 matches each and 5 to go ahead of the finals series phase.
Johan Ackermann
Emirates Lions coach Johan Ackermann knows his side face a steep climb if they are to challenge for a play-off spot this season.
The Johannesburg side are currently in 8th position on the standings, and with 4 of their 5 remaining opponents above them on the log they will need to knock some top sides over in order to secure a place in the knock-out phase of the competition for the 1st time since the Cats did so in 2001.
Although his side have surprised many with their fighting spirit this season, Ackermann knows that they still face an uphill battle with home games against the Highlanders, Brumbies and Waratahs and away games against the Stormers and Cheetahs.
“Except for the Cheetahs the rest of our games are against teams in the Top 7, and that shows you the amount of rugby that lies ahead and the quality of the teams that we are going to play against,” he said.
The Lions coach expects the Highlanders to be riding high after their comfortable victory over the Sharks, and added that preparations will be made tougher by the fact that 5 of his players will be at a Springbok training camp until Thursday.
Nehe Milner-Skudder
Matt Proctor
The top-of-the-table Hurricanes have announced the re-signing of Nehe Milner-Skudder and Matt Proctor until at least the end of 2017.
Both Milner-Skudder, 24, and Proctor, 22, have proven themselves to be elusive members of the Hurricanes’ backline, and coach Chris Boyd said they would both be key figures in the team’s future.
“They’re both local products of the Hurricanes franchise, and it’s no secret that both of these guys are exciting talents.
Tatafu Polota-Nau
Waratahs and Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau could take a long leave of absence from rugby or even the quit the game entirely if he suffers another heavy head knock.
Polota-Nau, who has been working with Australian neurologists on the effects of concussion, was forced from the ground with a head injury early in the Waratahs’ Super Rugby win over the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.
The 29-year-old was also forced to miss a couple of games in the southern hemisphere’s provincial championship earlier in the season after suffering another blow to the head at training.
4 Months out from the World Cup, Polota-Nau, who has amassed 50 caps for Australia despite battling a litany of injuries throughout his career, said he was taking a cautious approach to his playing future.
Mick Mathers
Former Wallaby and Waratahs captain Mick Mathers has been appointed President of New South Wales Rugby Union, taking over from Tim Gavin who has stood down after 3 years in the role.
As a player Mathers represented the Waratahs on 14 occasions, and played 2 Test matches for Australia in a distinguished career on the field. Mathers also had the honour of captaining the Wallabies in non-Test touring matches.
He has held the position of Vice-President of NSWRU for the last 3 years, prior to that he held positions on the Unions Judicial panel and was Team Manager of the Waratahs in the early days of Super Rugby.
Former World Cup winning fullback Marty Roebuck was elected to the vacant Vice Presidents position.