Daily Archives: 28 May 2015

Super RugbyThe DHL Stormers will be hoping to retain their Top spot in the South African Vodacom Super Rugby Conference when they host the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday, while the 3 other local teams are in action against Australian opposition.

Round 16 kicks off from a South African perspective when the Brumbies host the Vodacom Bulls in Canberra, a venue where the men from Pretoria have not won since 2007.

The Cell C Sharks are back at home and will be looking to extend the Melbourne Rebels’ woes in South Africa when they host the team from Melbourne in Durban on Friday evening.

On Saturday evening, the Emirates Lions take on the 1 Australian team they’ve never beaten, the defending champion Waratahs, in Johannesburg.

In the 4th and penultimate match of the weekend, the DHL Stormers will celebrate 125 years of existence of their home ground, DHL Newlands, against the Toyota Cheetahs, the only local side they’ve lost against this year.

DHL Newlands is regarded as 1 of the most iconic rugby venues in the world, having hosted some memorable matches over the years and the DHL Stormers will be looking to increase their lead at the Top of the South African Conference in this match on Saturday afternoon.

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Vodacom CupThe Steval Pumas and DHL Western Province have travelled as far afield as Windhoek, Secunda, Kimberley and Caledon, and will converge on Cape Town this weekend for the Vodacom Cup Final.

The match – the 1st time ever the Vodacom Cup Final will be hosted in Cape Town – will form part of Newlands celebrating its 125th year of existence this weekend. And to add a little spice, it’s a replay of last year’s quarter-final, won 13 / 8 by the Steval Pumas in Nelspruit.

One member of that Steval Pumas side, who will be watching from the sidelines in the colours of the DHL Stormers, is Vincent Koch. 10 Of his team-mates from last year’s quarter-final will return to Cape Town this weekend – Jacques Momberg, Frankie Herne, DJ Terblanche, Marius Coetzer, Uzair Cassiem, JC Roos, Wilmaure Louw, Jerome Pretorius, JW Bell and Reynier van Rooyen.

For the home team, only 6 members of their match-22 this weekend were part of the side that tasted defeat in the Mbombela Stadium last year. They are Jan de Klerk, Rayn Smid, Michael Willemse, Sti Sithole, Deacon Chowles and Robert du Preez.

DHL WP coach John Dobson has selected Wilhelm van der Sluys as the “sole survivor” of their 2012 title winning side. Louw and Simon Westraadt, now plying their trade in the Lowveld, were in the colours of GWK Griquas that night 3 years ago.

Louw was also member of the Steval Pumas side which lost in the final against the Xerox Golden Lions in 2013, and will return for the final along with 10 other members of that team – Momberg, Terblanche, Coetzer, Cassiem, Pretorius, Bell, Herne, Eduan van der Walt, Stefan Watermeyer and Blitzbok Rosko Specman.

The last time these 2 sides met in Cape Town, was in semi-final in 2012, with DHL WP winning comfortably by 33 / 20 en route to their maiden Vodacom Cup title.

At home, DHL Western Province hold a commanding 4 / 1 lead over the Steval Pumas, with the visitors from Mpumalanga recording their 1st and only win at DHL Newlands in 2002 (58 / 18). The Capetonians though emerged victorious at home in 2012 (33 / 20), 2011 (27 / 14), 2008 (59 / 19) and 2003 (33 / 28).

Overall, they’ve played against each other 9 times in the Vodacom Cup, with DHL WP winning 6 times and the Steval Pumas on 3 occasions.

“It’s a great occasion for Western Province rugby and we’d like to go out there on Saturday and make our supporters proud of this team,” said Dobson, who will be head coach of the Cape Town-based union in the ABSA Currie Cup.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work this season and it’s wonderful that we can play a final in front of our supporters at DHL Newlands, but we know it will be a tough encounter against a well-coached and experienced Pumas side. You only have to look at the way in which they won their playoffs in the last fortnight to see that they are peaking at the right time of the season.”

Steval Pumas coach MJ Mentz said: “We’ve already eliminated the champions from 2014 and 2013, and now we have an opportunity to do the same against the champions from 2012.

“It sounds easier than it is though and playing at Newlands provides us with yet another massive challenge. The structures at Western Province are very well established, they are a well-coached side and always bring through some superb young players.

“But we’re focused on our own game and what we want to achieve. We saw against the Golden Lions last weekend what our experienced players can do and we’ll be counting on them again to pull this one through.

“We’re going to Cape Town with a belief that we can win, otherwise we may just as well stay at home. We’ve shown what we can do in the last two weeks by winning tough matches away from home and Newlands will be even tougher.”

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SpringboksThe Junior Springbok rugby squad arrived in Italy on Thursday afternoon for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship and immediately settled in at their tournament base in Parma.

Conditioning coach, Dr Warren Adams, took the squad of 28 players for an active recovery session which consisted of a good stretch followed by a swim in the pool.

The squad left South Africa yesterday and arrived here via a domestic flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then the overnight haul from the City of Gold to Frankfurt in Germany.

That was followed by a 90 minute airplane journey to Milan, from where the South Africans travelled by bus to their tournament destination.

Hanro Liebenberg and his squad are in a good condition after attending an intensive training camp of almost 2 months at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport.

South Africa play their opening fixture next Tuesday evening in Calvisano against the hosts, Italy in what is expected to be a fiercely contested clash.

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DHL StormersDHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has made 3 changes ahead of Saturday’s all-South African Super Rugby clash against the Toyota Cheetahs at DHL Newlands (kick-off 17:05 SA Time).

1 Of the changes sees Nizaam Carr replace Schalk Burger at No 6, the latter being rested as part of the SA Franchises’ agreement with SA Rugby and Carr winning his 50 DHL Stormers cap in the process.

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