Daily Archives: 14 May 2015
Elton Jantjies
Back in the Emirates Lions starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash against the Brumbies at Emirates Airline Park, Elton Jantjies is enjoying one of his better seasons on South African soil.
The Johannesburg side are very much in playoff contention and Jantjies has become coach Johan Ackermann’s 1st choice pivot along the way.
A few rugby minds have now started wondering whether or not Jantjies has done enough to work his way into Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s World Cup plans. The smart money remains on the flyhalf slot going to either Handré Pollard or Patrick Lambie and while Jantjies has not ruled out any possibilities he chooses instead to let his performances do the talking.
“I can talk a big game but if my performances on the field don’t match up, there is no point in me saying that I want to go to the World Cup and be the 1st-choice flyhalf,” Jantjies said.
Taqele Naiyaravoro
The Waratahs’ Fijian-born wing Taqele Naiyaravoro’s is finally cleared to travel outside Australia.
It was confirmed on Thursday that the Australian Department of Immigration finally approved a temporary work (long stay activity) visa (subclass 401).
It ended a diabolical state of affairs that effectively forced the defending champions to use separate home and away wings in pursuit of their title defence this year.
The Waratahs confirmed in a statement that Naiyaravoro will be available to travel with the team to South Africa later this month – where they will play the Emirates Lions and Toyota Cheetahs – pending approval of an entry visa by South African government.
The Highlanders are preparing for a forward onslaught against the Toyota Cheetahs as they name a 6 – 2 split on the bench for the clash in Bloemfontein.
The Highlanders ran out of steam against the Lions last weekend, resulting in a late surge from Johan Ackerman’s team to steal the win. This has resulted in Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph naming 6 forwards on his bench, ensuring he has plenty of firepower to see through the full 80 minutes.
There are 2 players making their Super Rugby debut in the team named to face the Cheetahs. The debutants are Tasman lock Alex Ainley who comes into the side for Tom Franklin, and Hawkes Bay wing Ryan Tongia who replaces the injured Waisake Naholo.
Jacques Potgieter
Springbok Jacques Potgieter won’t be facing his new team, the Cell C Sharks, when they face the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday.
Potgieter, who has been nicknamed ‘Jackpot’ by his Waratahs teammates, has been ruled out of the Super Rugby Round 14 encounter with an ankle injury.
The Waratahs head into the match up coming off a disappointing loss to bottom of the conference Western Force on the road.
The Sharks are coming off a game that ended in similar fashion.
The Sharks played terrific rugby in their game against the Hurricanes last week but ultimately lost.
As usual, the talk around the paddock at training was all about the forwards.
Sean McMahon
3 Internationals return to the Melbourne Rebels’ matchday 23 this week, as head coach Tony McGahan named his side to face the Reds at Ballymore on Friday in Round 14 of Super Rugby.
Wallaby loose forward Sean McMahon and All Black centre Tamati Ellison are injected straight into the starting lineup after each missing last week’s 42 / 22 win against the Blues with minor injuries, while Wallaby tighthead prop Laurie Weeks is named on the bench after recovering from a knee injury sustained in Round 7 against the Hurricanes in Wellington.
McGahan said it was pleasing to welcome back the trio.
Allan Alaalatoa makes his 1st career start while Matt Toomua returns to the fray at No 12 when the Brumbies take on the Emirates Lions this Saturday in Johannesburg.
Needing a win to stay in finals contention, the match proves as vital in the context of both side’s seasons as the play-offs edge closer each week.
Alaalatoa has featured heavily off the bench this season and played the bulk of last week’s game at loosehead prop, but Saturday’s start provides the young prop with an opportunity to stable the scrum which was heavily penalised against the Stormers.
The pair’s inclusion pushes JP Smith and Robbie Coleman from the starting side to the replacements bench.
Faf de Klerk
Elton Jantjies
Emirates Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has announced his team to face the Aquis Brumbies at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday afternoon.
Ackermann has made 2 changes to the forwards for the encounter, as Martin Muller will start at lock and Robert Kruger moves into the starting lineup at flank.
The backline sees 3 personnel changes with Faf de Klerk starting at scrumhalf, Elton Jantjies returning to the starting flyhalf berth and Lionel Mapoe, having fully recovered from injury, starting at right wing. As a result, Ruan Combrinck will shift to left wing for the match.
Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Gary Gold has retained the same team to play the Waratahs on Saturday morning, having made no changes to the side that took on the Hurricanes last weekend.
It was a rousing display of commitment and passion and everyone involved will be hoping they repeat that, sort out the areas of their own they have identified, and contain a very big and physical Waratahs team.
“There is a lot of pride at stake,” said Gold of this match. “We’ve been bitterly disappointed this year, for various reasons, and it’s important for us to show that we’re still in this fight to the end.”
Assessing the Waratahs strengths and threats, he immediately points to their physicality.
The Hurricanes and Chiefs have both named their matchday sides for the exciting top of the Log derby between the 2 sides on Saturday.
On the Hurricanes side, the centre combination of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith will run out for their joint 50 game together as centre pairing and in addition prop Jeffrey Toomaga-Allen will run out for his 50th cap for the Hurricanes. On the Chiefs side, Sonny Bill Williams will have aspirations to counter and defeat the strong Canes midfield, in a bid to stake his All Blacks starting place for the World Cup and Hosea Gear is back on the right wing for the important clash. The Chiefs will also start with young Damian McKenzie at flyhalf.
André Watson
Under-fire South African referees boss Andre Watson is set to hear his fate at a disciplinary hearing chaired by an independent arbitrator.
According to reports, the process is likely to be concluded on Wednesday.
Meetings were already held with Watson last month after complaints were laid against the former referee by members of the South African Rugby Referees Association (SARRA).
At the heart of the matter was the unhappiness of some SARRA members with Watson’s management over the 11 years that he has been in office.
Tank Lanning
When flying to Joburg or Cape Town, do you buy a ticket or build a plane?
Simple answer if you fly once a month. Slightly more complex if you fly every day. And vastly more complex if you actually own an airline.
When needing to win a Super Rugby title, do you buy in Vincent Koch or develop Steven Kitshoff? The former developed by someone else and coming in at a cost. The latter developed by you, and now buggering off to make money off those skills in France?
WP come in for a lot of stick re losing players. Think Francois Hougaard, Handré Pollard, Willie le Roux, Thomas du Toit, Tim Swiel and Johann Sadie. Yet in their Academy and Institute, they have one of the best player development systems in the world!
One only has space for 23 players each week. Loyalty seems to be something you get only from a dog in today’s professional era. So is it really worth spending all that money on player development and retention? Why not just buy what you need at the time?
I’ll tell you why. Buying in players gives you the Sharks. Developing players gives you the Lions.
Waisake Naholo
Despite signing a contract to join Clermont next season, New Zealand Rugby is reportedly hopeful of retaining Super Rugby’s top try-scorer, Waisake Naholo.
Quotes attributed to the club’s Sporting Director, Jean-Marc Lhermet, suggest the move is not a foregone conclusion given the form of the Highlanders’ winger, who has a competition-leading 8 tries in his 11 appearances.
“As it stands we have a contract of 2 years with an option that has been signed by the player,” Lhermet told La Montagne – a newspaper based in Clermont.
“It’s true that his agent reassured us initially when there were noises about the NZRU wanting to keep him. Now, his performances in Super Rugby are remarkable and we are under an increasing amount of pressure from the NZRU. And when the All Black machine gets going, it becomes complicated.
Tabai Matson
Crusaders Assistant Coach Tabai Matson has confirmed that he is committed to his current role at the Crusaders, despite reports linking him with the Blues.
Matson said he wanted nothing more than to help the Crusaders towards the Super Rugby Finals Series this season and he was sorry about any unnecessary distraction that the speculation around his future has caused.
“I love this team and I certainly was not out looking for a new coaching role because I am very happy here. It is true that I was approached by the Blues about whether I would consider a move to their coaching team in the future should the opportunity arise.
Chris Kuridrani
Queensland Super Rugby side the Reds have signed powerful winger Chris Kuridrani and emerging scrumhalf James Tuttle for the 2016 season and beyond.
Kuridrani has signed for a further 2 seasons, while Tuttle has committed for 3 years.
Kuridrani, the younger brother of Crusaders winger Nemani Nadolo and son of former Reds winger Isei Siganiyavi, was one of the star backs for Brisbane City in the inaugural season of the National Rugby Championship.
He has started for the Reds in 6 of his 8 appearances this season, after making his Super Rugby debut in 2014 in the Reds’ final game of the season against the Waratahs.
He also starred for Brisbane City in the 2014 NRC, scoring 6 tries and starting in all of the side’s matches during its championship-winning season. Kuridrani said he was looking forward to continuing to develop over the next 2 years.
Jonathan Kaplan
Retired former Test referee Jonathan Kaplan has taken aim at officialdom he feels are sweeping under the carpet mistakes by under-performing match officials.
Writing in his weekly column on his website, RatetheRef, Kaplan was particularly scathing of Australian referee Angus Gardner, New Zealander Chris Pollock, along with TMO’s Ian Smith (Australia) and Aaron Paterson (New Zealand).
Despite describing Gardner as “one of the best so far this season, Kaplan did not hold back over his performance in the Rebels’ 42 / 22 win over the Blues in Melbourne last Friday.
He felt there was a “critical error” by Gardner at an “important juncture” in the game when he allowed a quick throw-in after the ball was handed to the thrower by the ball boy.
“The TMO (Smith) didn’t seem to be that interested in this misdemeanour either, and incredibly allowed the try even after a number of slomo replays,” Kaplan said.
“This cannot be good enough at this level! At any level.
“The public is being robbed of the contest.
Gio Aplon
South Africa’s Gio Aplon and Australia’s George Smith are among the new additions to the Barbarians squad for this month’s matches against Ireland and England.
Smith, the Lyon flank, is one of 5 players from 5 different countries named as the famous invitation club continues its 125th anniversary celebrations.
Head coach Robbie Deans has also added Springbok Aplon (Grenoble), Tonga prop Soane Tonga’uiha (Oyonnax), Uruguay lock Rodrigo Capo Ortega (Castres) and Japan No 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani (Panasonic Wild Knights) to his squad.
They join up with the likes of Joe Rokocoko, Adam Jones, Alex Cuthbert and Berrick Barnes for the matches against Ireland at Thomond Park on 28 May and an England XV at Twickenham on 31 May.
Oregan Hoskins
Oregan Hoskins, President of the South African Rugby Union, has applauded the life bans handed down to 3 players of the Fort Beaufort Barbarians Club for physically assaulting a referee.
The trio – Edmund Gunn, Clayton Bantom and Hyron Burgess – were found guilty of assaulting referee Llewellyn Loots at a pre-season tournament in the Eastern Cape town of Bedford on 28 February.
They were sentenced by an Eastern Province Rugby Union disciplinary committee.
The Fort Beaufort Barbarians Club was also suspended from all rugby activities for the rest of the year by the committee.
They were found guilty of bringing the Eastern Province Rugby Union into disrepute by failing to ensure the safety of the match official and by not assisting the union in identifying other players believed to have been a party to the assault.