Daily Archives: 18 May 2015
Sam Burgess
Springbok loose forward Francois Louw is backing his Bath teammate Sam Burgess to make his debut for England on the flank.
Rugby League convert Burgess has impressed since moving to the back row from the centres, and is widely tipped to be included in England’s pre-World Cup training squad – which will be named on Wednesday.
“I don’t think Sam will struggle at international level,” said Louw. “He will hold his own.”
“Stuart Lancaster has his hands full with loose forwards, but it’s not going to be too long before Sam makes his international debut on the flank.”
“Maybe it will be at this year’s World Cup and I’ll see him there.”
Nick Mallett
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett has highlighted the difference between local coaches compared to their New Zealand counterparts.
Mallett was speaking in the SuperSport studio on Saturday night following a dismal weekend for South African teams in Super Rugby.
All 4 teams competing lost, with the Vodacom Bulls going down to the Blues in Auckland (23 / 18), the Cell C Sharks losing to the Waratahs in Sydney (33 / 18), the Emirates Lions undone by the Brumbies in Johannesburg (30 / 20) and the Toyota Cheetahs thumped by the Highlanders in Bloemfontein (45 / 24).
Mallett said: “At halftime we heard Naka (Drotske, Cheetahs coach) say it’s back to basics. So for the 1st 10 minutes of the 2nd half we saw driving mauls and up-and-unders. And it was strange that they were kicking up-and-unders on Patrick Osborne because he’s a very big guy.
“The coaching that you get in New Zealand is very different from what you get here. At practice they will put players into situations that they’ll face in game. They will play attack against defence. The attack is faced with varying types of defence – a press defence, a shift defence, a slow defence, a staggered defence, a tight defence or a wide defence. And they get the attack to choose the right option in relation to the defence they’re confronted with.
Seabelo Senatla
The Stormers have returned from their week off with no major injury concerns ahead of their Super Rugby clash against the Melbourne Rebels at DHL Newlands on Saturday (kick-off 19:10 SA Time).
Johnny Kotze sat out Monday’s afternoon session with a minor niggle, whie fellow wing Kobus van Wyk remains on track for the Lions match on 6 June.
Speaking ahead of the Rebels match, Coetzee told the Stormers’ official website:
“The Rebels have beaten the Crusaders and the Brumbies away this year, so it shows their capacity as a team. We’ve had a good bye, with 3 big games coming up at Newlands, but it’s all about this weekend and getting the victory.
Sir Clive Woodward
England’s Rugby World Cup winning coach Clive Woodward is in the hunt to succeed Philippe Saint-Andre as France manager, L’Equipe reported on Monday.
The sports daily says the 59-year-old’s name is 1 of the 8 candidates on the French rugby federation’s shortlist to take over Les Bleus after this year’s World Cup.
The federation, which has not identified any of the finalists, will name Saint-Andre’s successor by the end of May after the 8 remaining candidates are interviewed by the federation’s selection panel.
The names most bandied about as Saint-Andre’s successor are those of Bordeaux-Begles coach Raphael Ibanez, former Montpellier manager Fabien Galthie and veteran Toulouse coach Guy Noves, who turned down the job in 2011.
L’Equipe suggests that while Woodward may be the best qualified for the job “it seems improbable that he’ll become the 1st foreign coach of Les Bleus”.
After a pivotal Round of fixtures played at high intensity, SANZAR has had the opportunity review each match and announce its Match Official appointments for the forthcoming weekend.
SANZAR Game Manager Lyndon Bray said, “While we acknowledge that the match officials cannot get it right all of the time, there are some basic standards that have simply not been upheld over this past weekend, resulting in some disappointing decisions and selection consequences.
“A thorough and robust system is in place whereby the development and performance of each match official is reviewed by SANZAR and its member unions on a daily basis and like any athlete participating in elite competition, our referees are accountable to performance levels for the competition.
“Appointments are made weekly based on performance reviews from the previous round but also includes an evaluation of the current form of each official over the term of the competition.
“We have completed our reviews from the weekend and have followed strong internal processes as we prepare our team to reach their physical, mental and technical peaks as we head into the critical last four rounds of the regular season and Super Rugby Finals Series.
“Public confidence in match officials is essential to the ongoing success of our product and we will continue striving to enhance the quality and accountability of refereeing across all SANZAR competitions.”
This next weekend’s Round 15 sees 7 matches, with 2 on Friday 22 May and 5 on Saturday 23 May.
The Brumbies have a BYE weekend.
Rudy Paige
Francois Hougaard
Vodacom Bulls halfback Rudy Paige and wing Francois Hougaard have been cleared to train with the team as they prepare for their Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the Chiefs in Rotorua on Saturday.
Paige had a knee ligament sprain and Hougaard a left quad contusion after their match against the Blues in Auckland, but will be available for the final tour match on New Zealand soil.
It was a tough Round of Vodacom Super Rugby for the 4 South African franchises in action this weekend as none of them managed to win their matches against Australasian opposition.
It was the 1st time in more than 8 years that 4 South African teams lost to sides from the other side of the Indian Ocean on 1 weekend.
In Round 9 in 2007, on 30 and 31 March, the Toyota Cheetahs, Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls all came up short in tour matches Down Under, against the Highlanders, Western Force and Hurricanes respectively, while the Emirates Lions were beaten at home by the Brumbies.
Round 6 in 2008 and Round 8 in 2014 saw 3 South African defeats offset by a solitary draw against opposition from Australasia.
Just more than a month ago, in Round 9, 4 Australian sides lost on 1 weekend – 3 of them against South African opponents – when the Western Force went down to the Toyota Cheetahs in Perth, the Waratahs lost to the DHL Stormers in Sydney, the Reds were beaten by the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria and the Brumbies came up short against the Blues in Auckland.
A similar scenario with New Zealand teams happened 15 years ago, in Round 12 in 2000, when all 5 of their sides lost to teams from South Africa and Australia.
On Friday morning, the Vodacom Bulls had to be happy with a losing bonus point in their 1st tour match as they went down by 23 / 18 to the Blues in Auckland.
Saturday kicked off with the Cell C Sharks losing in Sydney to the defending champion Waratahs (33 / 18), while the Emirates Lions lost in Johannesburg to the Brumbies (30 / 20) and the Highlanders were too strong for the Toyota Cheetahs in Bloemfontein (45 / 24).
The DHL Stormers had a bye this weekend, as they did way back in 2007 when their 4 South African counterparts also lost.
3 Of the 4 Vodacom Cup semi-finalists are from the North Section after the Xerox Golden Lions, Vodacom Blue Bulls and Steval Pumas all won their quarter-final encounters this weekend.
The unbeaten DHL Western Province will be the South Section’s sole representative in the Top 4 next weekend after the Steval Pumas upset the defending champions, GWK Griquas, at GWK Park in Kimberley on Friday evening.
The visitors from the Lowveld won 28 / 14 and outscored the 5-time champions by 3 tries to 2 in a match that came alight in the 2nd half.
DHL Western Province, champions in 2012, beat the Leopards XV by 47 / 22 at City Park in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.
The Xerox Golden Lions were made to work extremely hard in their quarter-final against the SWD Eagles at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon, with the visitors from George scoring 3 tries to the 2013 champions’ 2, but in the end it wasn’t enough.
The 4th quarter-final was a rather 1-sided affair at Loftus Versfeld on Friday evening, where the Vodacom Blue Bulls beat the Toyota Free State XV by 44 / 21, with William Small-Smith dotting down 3 times for the 3-time champions from Pretoria.
Werner Kok
Seabelo Senatla
Leading try-scorer on the 2014 / 2015 HSBC Sevens World Series, Seabelo Senatla and regular Tournament Dream Team member Werner Kok have both been nominated for the 2015 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year Award, in association with HSBC.
This announcement, made by World Rugby on Sunday evening, caps off a memorable season for the Springbok Sevens duo, who alongside fellow team member Kwagga Smith, was also named in the Series Dream Team after the completion of the final tournament in London.
Kok and Senatla were nominated with Fijian ace Semi Kunatani, with the trio voted for by the management teams of the 15 core sides who compete at all 9 Rounds of the World Series. Kok ended the season as the leading tackler of all players and also scored 23 tries.
Senatla finished the season as the leading try scorer with 47 tries and has scored 2 of this year’s fans’ favourites, as well as scoring in both of South Africa’s Cup final victories in Dubai and Port Elizabeth.
The Junior Springboks clinched their 2 match international rugby series 2 – 0 against Argentina Under 20 after beating Los Pumitas 39 / 28 in Rosario on Saturday, with prop Jan van der Merwe helping himself to a hat-trick of tries in the 1st half.
The 2 teams used the series as final warm-up exercise for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship in Italy next month.
On Saturday at the beautiful Club Gimnasia Stadium in Rosario, the Junior Boks raced into a commanding 25 / 6 halftime lead thanks to a trio of tries by front ranker Jan van der Merwe. Argentina struggled to match the visitors’ powerful forward surges and could only reply with 2 penalties.
The South Africans scored 2 more tries in the 2nd half through Leolin Zas (wing) and Joseph Dweba (replacement hooker). However, they had to show great determination on defence against Los Pumitas, who stormed back with 3 tries in the 2nd stanza.
Captain and No 8, Hanro Liebenberg, led with example with ball in hand and also did sterling work on defence. The Junior Boks dominated the scrums, were supreme in the lineouts and mauled powerfully which resulted in 3 tries.
Jannie du Plessis
Bismarck du Plessis
The Du Plessis brothers, Bismarck and Jannie, are set to sign a deal with French club Montpellier, a report in French media indicates.
Reports surfaced earlier this year that the Springbok brothers would join Montpellier on a 2-year deal after the conclusion of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, but Montpellier denied it at the time.
However, according to RMC Sport, the double signing of the Sharks duo is expected to be announced in the coming days.
The Du Plessis brothers are believed to have respected their earlier commitment despite having some contact with Toulon.
Montpellier are coached by former Springbok coach Jake White, who was quoted as saying after their weekend defeat at Stade Francais: “Big names will be announced in the coming days. To win the Top 14, you need the best players in the world.”
Reggie Goodes
The SANZAR Duty Judicial Officer Robert Stelzner SC has accepted a guilty plea from Reggie Goodes of the Hurricanes for contravening 10.4 (h) Dangerous Charging, after he was cited following a Super Rugby match at the weekend.
Goodes has been suspended from all forms of the game for 1 week up to and including Saturday 23 May 2015.
The incident occurred in the 36th minute of the Super Rugby match between the Hurricanes and Chiefs at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on 16 May 2015.
SANZAR Duty Judicial Officer Robert Stelzner SC assessed the case.
English Premiership organisers have confirmed the teams and venues for the 2015 Aviva Premiership Semi-finals.
Both Semi-finals will be played next Saturday on 23 May 2015 and the kick-off times will be at 14:00 BST (15:00 SA Time) and 17:00 BST (18:00 SA Time) and both will be broadcast on BT Sport in the UK.
Northampton Saints will host Saracens at Franklin’s Gardens in the 1st Semi-final.
In the 2nd Semi-final Bath will host Leicester Tigers at the Recreation Ground.
Jono Lance
Out of favour Waratahs’ utility back Jono Lance will join the Western Force for 2016, after signing with the franchise for 2 seasons.
Lance, who can play flyhalf, centre and fullback, hasn’t been featuring at the ‘Tahs playing behind Wallabies such as Bernard Foley, Kurtley Beale, Israel Folouu and Adam Ashley-Cooper, and is ready to play a starting role in Super Rugby.
He was a starting member of the Queensland Reds’ 2011 Super Rugby championship-winning team, before joining the Waratahs ahead of the 2014 season.
The 24-year-old son of former Canberra Raiders rugby league captain, Dean Lance, has represented the Australian Under 20 (2010) and Sevens squads (2010 / 2011).
Lance says he’s excited to have the opportunity to represent the Force from next season.
Sir John Kirwan
New Zealand Rugby has been forced to mediate a dispute between the Auckland Rugby Union and private owners for control of the Blues.
The Super Rugby franchise has been divided for the last fortnight due to a disagreement over whether to retain Blues coach John Kirwan or look for a replacement next season.
New Zealand Rugby released a statement from chief executive Steve Tew on Sunday explaining that he has been forced to try and resolve the issue.
“New Zealand Rugby confirms that it has been involved in discussions with the Blues shareholders,” the statement read.
“As a consequence it is apparent there are some relationship issues amongst shareholders and we have offered to mediate. We hope all parties will accept this offer so we can together resolve this issue. Because we are in the middle of discussions, we are unable to comment further at this time,” he added.
There has been tension for some time between the 2 stakeholders over which of them has control of the franchise, and Tew was apparently asked to step in by the private investors.