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An injury to New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence will see the Wallabies match against the Springboks being controlled by a different referee to the one that was planned.
Stephen Larkham, Justin Harrison and Marco Caputo will return to the Brumbies as part of the side’s coaching staff for the 2011 Super 15 .
Larkham will return to Canberra after completing his third season with Japanese club, the Ricoh Black Rams, to take up the position of the Brumbies Attack Coach while Harrison, who completed his 96-cap Super Rugby career with the Brumbies this year, will stay on as the club’s Forwards Coach.
ADAM Ashley-Cooper has reclaimed the fullback role for the Wallabies in their opening Tri-Nations rugby Test against South Africa on Saturday.
All I read this morning are excuses, blaming others and a good old SA whinge to excuse the Springboks diabolical performance for 2 straight weeks in a row.
My view is radically different… the All Blacks are a well oiled machine at the moment, they play situations and referees perfectly, they play cleverly and they use their heads, not for head butting and shannanigans but to outplay their opposition.
The Springboks and their coaching staff on the other hand come accross as hotheads who easily lose their cool with NO ABILITY to get the referee on their side… and they follow it up with sub-standard play and incompetance!
Sharks (10) 34 / Blue Bulls (8) 28 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Blue Bulls at ABSA Park, Durban at 17:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The Sharks get their Currie Cup campaign on track with this bonus point win and the Bulls salvage a bonus point by losing by only 6 points.
The Currie Cup log will be interesting now, with WP the only team with 2 wins.
WP (19) 32 / Lions (0) 0 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Western Province hosted the Xerox Lions at Newlands, Cape Town at 15:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on DSTV in SA.
WP kept the Lions totally scoreless, winning by 32 / 0 but just barely failed to score 4 tries to earn themselves a bonus point.
All Blacks (13) 31 / Springboks (7) 17 (Final Score)
The All Blacks hosted the Springboks at 09:35 SA Time in Wellington, New Zealand for the 2nd Tri-Nations Test. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The Game was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
For the 2nd weekend in a row the All Blacks score 4 tries against the Springboks to earn a bonus point.
This time the All Blacks win by 31 / 17, a 14 point margin.
Lots of complaints about they way the referee handled the game, but let’s be honest, the All Blacks were the better team on the day again.
Let’s hope Ruan Pienaar now gets a starting berth against the Wallabies and BJ Botha plays at tight head prop. Let’s also hope the National Coach realises that Jean de Villiers is not a right wing.
Rugby-Talk is 11 months old and I took the liberty of making an extract of the World Coverage we have received for this last week.
Every single red dot represents a reader or readers from a specific area.
The South African U18s on Friday kicked off their 2010 High Performance programme to the perfect start after they recorded a convincing 25-5 victory over the France U18s at the Buffalo City Stadium.
The hosts scored two tries which were added by fullback Craig Barry in the second half but were always in control of this international friendly after they managed to build up a solid 15-0 half time lead.
Cheetahs (14) 33 / Griquas (6) 26 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Free State Cheetahs hosted the GWK Griquas in Bloemfontein at 19:10 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 2 on DSTV in SA.
The Cheetahs earned their bonus point for tries, with amongst others a hat trick from loosehead prop Coenie Oosthuizen.
Griquas fought back valiantly fro far behind to earn a bonus point for losing by 7 points.
Final score Free State Cheetahs 33 / Griquas 26
Four games are played this weekend, one tonight and three tomorrow.
The games are:
Cheetahs v Griquas, 16 Jul 19:10 (SA Time)
Pumas v Leopards, 17 Jul 15:00 (SA Time)
Western Province v Lions, 17 Jul 15:00 (SA Time)
Sharks v Blue Bulls, 17 Jul 17:05 (SA Time)
Burglary charges against Wallaby and Reds star Quade Cooper have been dropped by a Gold Coast court.
Cooper had been charged with burglary and there were allegations that he stole two laptops which could have de-railed his career.
Tomorrow the high flying All Blacks host the Springboks in Test No 2 of the Tri-Nations of 2010, in Wellington.
The Springboks aim to impress and recover from a bad 1st outing against the All Blacks, whereas the All Blacks intend to really drive the nail home with another win over their biggest world rivals.
Former South African netball captain Irene van Dyk handed the Springboks their match jerseys on Friday before Saturday’s second Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington.
Nine players from South Africa’s previous IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign are amongst the final squad of 26 confirmed by SARU on Friday for the 2010 event in England.
The Lions coach for the Currie Cup, John Mitchell, has named his charges to take on WP at home at Newlands in Cape Town.
For once we see some consistency in selection at the Lions, giving them far more chance to have a decent enough Currie Cup campaign.
The coach of the Platinum Leopards, Chaka Willemse, has made two changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup rugby match against the Pumas in Witbank.
Speedster Lionel Mapoe will only know whether he will be able to join the Sharks and be released from his contract at the end of July.
The team doctor of the Blue Bulls junior teams, Ewoudt van der Linde, has been appointed as team doctor at the Sharks.
The Emerging Springbok, Wilhelm Steenkamp, is back for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their Absa Currie Cup match against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Vodacom WP coach Allister Coetzee today announced his team to take on the Xerox Lions at Newlands on Saturday 17 July 2010. Kick-off is at 15h00.
Here are a few rugby news snippets:
The Springboks have placed an SOS to big Bulls lock Flip van der Merwe to join them for the remainder of the Tri Nations away leg in Australasia.
The Bulls were given a scare when prop Jaco Engels injured his neck at training on Monday.
But X-rays done at a local hospital revealed the damage was minimal and that the burly prop will be ready to take his place again in the training squad later this week.
Springbok captain John Smit has reinforced the team’s need for discipline after stating there would be no room for “big egos” in the South African camp.
The All Blacks have been forced to delay naming their team to face the Springboks in the second Tri-Nations rugby Test due to injuries.
The Springboks have made three changes to their match 22 for the second Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
There are two enforced changes to the starting XV with lock Danie Rossouw promoted from the bench to replace the suspended Bakkies Botha and prop CJ van der Linde replacing injured tighthead Jannie du Plessis.
New Zealand suffered a setback ahead of the second Tri-Nations Test against South Africa, with centre Richard Kahui ruled out of the encounter in Wellington.
The 2010 Currie Cup kicked off to an exciting start after 26 tries were scored in the opening weekend of South Africa’s premier domestic rugby competition.
The All Blacks’ 32-12 thrashing of world champions South Africa in the opening Tri-Nations rugby Test has set the benchmark for the season, warned All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
Springbok tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis will miss the second Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
Du Plessis suffered a Grade 2 strain to his calf muscle in the first encounter at Eden Park in Auckland last weekend and has been ruled out by the medical team.
It is often quite funny how the different writers see the performance of players in a game… and often one wonders whether those people watched the same game. Well, here are my player ratings… see if we watched the same game.
Griquas (8) 40 / Sharks (22) 34 (Final Score)
The Griquas hosted the Sharks in Kimberley at 15:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
Griquas came back from well behind to complete a bonus point win over the Sharks, Final score 40 / 34.
This Currie Cup season is going to be very interesting… it already is!
All Blacks (20) 32 / Springboks (3) 12 (Final Score)
The All Blacks hosted the Springboks in Auckland, New Zealand at 09:35 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The All Blacks comprehensively outplayed the Springboks and dominated all facets of play, even the lineouts and scored 4 tries to none.
The All Blacks won 32 / 12, a full 20-point margin seperating the sides.
Defensively the Springboks were found wanting on the outside channels and also allowing the All Blacks to speed up the game and run with their dangerous back three with great effect.
On the ground Read, McCaw and Kaino were masterful and Kevin Mealamu had a sterling game at hooker.
Back to the drawing board for the Springboks but some players still emerge with credibility, Zane Kirchner, Schalk Burger and Jaque Fourie.
Heeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaa, the best rivalry in world rugby is alive and well… the 2 arch rivals going hammer and tongs tomorrow in the 1st Tri-Nations Test of 2010!
How long do we look forward to clashes between these 2 giants each year!
Tomorrow the All Blacks want revenge on 3 Springbok wins in a row in 2009 whereas the Springboks want to assert continued dominance over the All Blacks to prove that they are ready for RWC 2011 and to erase some of the backlog of wins the All Blacks have built up since SA re-admition in 1992.