Internationals
Quintin Geldenhuys
Quintin Geldenhuys, who on Saturday will captain Italy for the first time against Fiji, is looking to start off with a bang.
Geldenhuys leads a team that has plenty of experience, especially in the scrum, but one noticeable absentee is usual captain Sergio Parisse.
Jacques Brunel spoke of his teams experience as well as its enthusiasm.
Cornal Hendricks
Ruan Pienaar
JP Pietersen
South Africa’s Sevens Player of 2013, Cornal Hendricks, will make his debut for South Africa in the 15-man code next to ten players who started in the Springboks’ final Test of 2013 when they face a star-studded World XV, sponsored by Samsung, at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday (kick-off at 17:00 SA Time).
The speedy Hendricks is the only newcomer in the team as Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer opted for continuity in his team’s first match of the year.
The old firm of Bakkies Botha and interim captain Victor Matfield are re-united in the second row. JP Pietersen moves to outside centre. Schalk Burger makes a return to the side for the first time in two and a half years while Frans Steyn, Schalk Brits, Lwazi Mvovo and Johan Goosen are also back after playing no Test rugby last year.
Steve Hansen
Steve Hansen could never be accused of being a conservative.
The All Blacks coach has struck a balance between future and present in naming three new caps on the reserves bench to play England at Eden Park on Saturday.
Centre Malakai Fekitoa, lock Patrick Tuipulotu and halfback TJ Perenara have all been named in the 23-man squad for the first test of the international season.
Les Bleus coach Phillipe Saint-Andre pulled a major surprise on Wednesday by leaving out tour captain Thierry Dusautoir.
There was however room in the starting line up for mercurial vetern flyhalf, Frederic Michalak.
Dusautoir, the 2011 player of the year underwent surgery to his left arm after tearing his bicep during this year’s French Top 14 competition and is still regaining full power.
England’s forwards will need to maintain the form they discovered in the Six Nations if they want to compete against the All Blacks this weekend, lock Joe Launchbury said on Wednesday.
The tourists will field a weakened side in the opening test in Auckland, with many first-choice players unavailable because they played in the Premiership final between Northampton and Saracens last Saturday.
But Launchbury said the players lining up to face the world champions at Eden Park on Saturday were primed for the challenge, despite being written off by many pundits.
Nick Mallett
The Nick Mallett-coached World XV players have been warned to have the right attitude when they run out against the Springboks in Saturday’s international friendly at Newlands.
Speaking n Cape Town on Tuesday, Mallett, a former Springbok coach, said he told his players at a de-briefing that they would be in for a “very unpleasant afternoon” if they did not approach the match in the right frame of mind.
Mallett said sound preparation was a hallmark of Heyneke Meyer’s coaching career over the years.
Nick Mallett
Heinrich Brüssow
World XV coach Nick Mallett says he was keen to include Cheetahs flank Heinrich Brüssow in his squad to face the Springboks.
The teams clash at Newlands on Saturday in what will be the Boks’ first international outing of the year.
Mallett requested to include the Cheetahs flank in his squad to face the Boks but he was already earmarked for the first Bok training camp of the year, which took place in Durban last week.
Brüssow was not included in Bok coach Heyneke Meyer’s final squad named last Saturday, but because he was part of the Bok training camp earlier in the week, he became ineligible for the World XV side.
Dawie Theron
The Junior Springboks suffered a huge injury setback on Tuesday with the news that three players were ruled out of their vital IRB Junior World Championship Pool C clash against New Zealand this coming Friday.
Midfielder Rohan Janse van Rensburg, who came on as second half replacement against Scotland in the JWC opener at the QBE Stadium in North Harbour on Monday, will return home after he sustained an ankle injury in the match. He will be replaced by Duhan van der Merwe, a SA Sevens contracted player and a member of the Baby Boks’ training group.
Powerful inside centre Andre Esterhuizen was ruled out of action for the next couple of days after receiving a blow to the head in the second half against the Scots. He will not be considered for the New Zealand clash. The team’s medical staff is currently managing him according to the Graduated Return to Play Protocol (GRTP).
The third casualty is flank Jacques Vermeulen. The Cape-based loose forward is also suffering from an ankle injury and has been ruled out of Friday’s encounter.
As per usual, Rugby-Talk will have SuperBru Pools for the Junior World Championships (JWC) and June Internationals!
The Junior World Championships starts on Monday 2 June 2014 already, so forgive me for only getting the time NOW to set up this pool.
Rugby-Talk’s SuperBru Pools are open to all REGISTERED SUBSCRIBERS to Rugby-Talk.com, so if you have not yet played in these Pools with us, join up and join our Pools… and remember to immediately make your Junior World Championships picks!
To all our new subscribers, who have recently joined up, yes you lot hobnobbits from Voldy too, join in with us and take part in the fun!
Our 2 new Pools are as follows:
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk JWC 2014
Pool Code: allyfact
(Just click on the Pool name and it will take you to SuperBru and the Pool, to join!)
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk June Tests 2014
Pool Code: emitsums
(Just click on the Pool name and it will take you to SuperBru and the Pool, to join!)
Kieran Read
Sam Cane
All Blacks loose forward Kieran Read has been withdrawn from the New Zealand side for the first Test against England on Saturday due to ongoing concerns over concussion-like symptoms, while Sam Cane has been ruled out of the three-match series with a knee injury.
Bullocking winger Julian Savea is also a doubt for the opening clash at Eden Park with a long-standing knee injury that will require a scan later on Tuesday.
Will Genia
Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has dumped scrumhalf Will Genia and relegated former skipper James Horwill to the bench for his side’s first Test against France in Brisbane on Saturday.
McKenzie, who coached the pair at the Reds to a Super Rugby title in 2011, instead opted to reward players in form in the southern hemisphere competition for the opening clash of their international season.
The Reds have had a terrible Super Rugby season and only snapped a six-game losing streak last Friday when a converted 83rd minute Jake Schatz try gave them a 38-31 victory over the Highlanders.
Francois Steyn
The good news is that the chronic knee injury that Frans Steyn is currently playing with won’t get worse and stop him from playing, but the bad news is that it is going to have to be managed for the rest of his playing career.
Steyn was the subject of quite a lot of consternation when Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said he was concerned about his condition during last week’s national training camp in Durban. However, the Bok management denied suggestions in some media forums that they were unhappy with the Sharks for playing Steyn through the injury, and it now appears the Boks might manage Steyn in the same way the Sharks have – by limiting the load placed on his affected knee in training.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt was forced to make two changes to his travelling squad prior to their departure for the tour of Argentina.
Versatile back Keith Earls has been ruled out due to illness (gastroenteritis), while prop Martin Moore, who helped Leinster retain the PRO12 title, will not travel as he is nursing a fractured toe.
Victor Matfield & Bakkies Botha
Victor Matfield will captain the Springboks in the Castle Lager Incoming Series this month in the absence of the injured Jean de Villiers – and he will lead them out for the first time since his return to rugby in Saturday’s match against a star-studded World XV, sponsored by Samsung, at Newlands (kick off 17:00 SA Time).
Tom Heathcote
Edinburgh Rugby are delighted to announce the signing of 22-year-old Scotland stand-off Tom Heathcote, from Bath Rugby, on a one-year deal to 2015.
Born in Inverness, Heathcote won his first cap for the nation as a replacement in the 2012 EMC Test against Tonga at Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen.
He was selected in Scotland’s 2013 RBS 6 Nations squad and subsequently started at stand-off for Scotland A, kicking eight points in the 13-9 win over England Saxons, the side’s first win on English soil.
He then went on to make two starts for Scotland in the 2013 summer quadrangular tournament against Samoa and Italy, and is considered one of the brightest young contenders for the national number 10 jersey.
Damian de Allende with crutches
DHL Stormers midfielder Damian de Allende was forced to withdraw from the Springbok squad on Monday and will be replaced by Marnitz Boshoff, flyhalf of the Golden Lions.
De Allende, one of seven uncapped players in the Springbok squad, suffered a medial knee ligament injury in the DHL Stormers’ last Vodacom Super Rugby match, against the Cell C Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The 22-year-old centre was taken for scans by the Springboks’ medical team on Monday morning and will be sidelined for between four and six weeks, ruling him out of the Castle Lager Incoming Series.
Jake White
Heyneke Meyer
On Rugby-Talk recently, debate in the comments sections between Sharks supporters and other South African supporters often turned and revolved around Jake White’s management or mismanagement of his core players and around the players who will have to do duty for the national side, the Springboks.
The argument often used by Sharks supporters were that the June Internationals are less important, against weakened sides and that Jake White needed to do exactly like he did, play his players week after week and arguably into the ground.
Players like Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Willem Albers and more pertinetly Francois Steyn have looked increasingly jaded and this past weekend’s Sharks loss against the Stormers was a stark reminder of the situation.
One of the regular journalists I share the Press Box at Loftus Versfeld with, Brenden Nel, of SuperSport, penned an interesting article on this same matter. I think he nails this one on the head, here is what he says:
Nick Mallett
International stars from around the world, Wallabies Matt Giteau, James O’Connor, Drew Mitchell and All Blacks Hosea Gear, Carl Hayman, Andrew Hore and Jimmy Cowan are all included in the Samsung World XV’s 23-man squad to play South Africa at DHL Newlands on Saturday 7 June.
Joining them will be France’s French Top 14 highest point’s scorer Francois Trinh-Duc and back row forward Alexandre Lapandry.
Five players from Toulon’s double winning European Cup and French Top 14 side will also feature in the squad, including Steffon Armitage from England, who was recently voted European player of the year.
Handré Pollard
The Junior Springboks were off to an impressive start at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand.
The Junior Springboks opened their IRB Junior World Championship with an impressive 61-5 win over Scotland at the QBE Stadium, North Harbour in New Zealand on Monday.
The South Africans scored nine tries, with good improvement in all phases of play as the match progressed.
The IRB Junior World Championships are underway in New Zealand.
Rugby-Talk will update the Fixtures and Results on a regular basis.
The Tournament started on 2 June 2014 and will run till 20 June 2014.
As expected, the “Big Guns” all started with wins on the 1st day of the Tournament.
Day 2 of the tournament is on Friday 6 June.
Damian de Allende
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer may find himself considering a change in plan for the midfield he was going to select for the opening match of the international season against the World XV at Newlands due to the injury concern over Damian de Allende.
The centre suffered a knee injury during the second half of the Stormers’ 21-19 win over the Sharks in Durban at the weekend, and Meyer said on Sunday that he was concerned about his condition.
“The doctor hasn’t looked at him yet but he is limping and it appears he has suffered a knee ligament injury. I was only informed of it late on Saturday night, after the squad had been announced,” said Meyer.
Malakai Fekitoa
Patrick Tuipulotu
The All Blacks have called up two new players and recalled two World Cup-winners to the squad to face England.
Highlanders midfielder Malakai Fekitoa and Blues lock Patrick Tuipulotu are the two uncapped players, whilst loose forwards Jerome Kaino and Victor Vito return after extended absences.
The backs – forwards split sees 17 forwards selected (two hookers, five props, four locks and six loose forwards) and 14 backs (three halfbacks, three first five–eighths, four midfielders and four outside backs) and the squad has a combined total of 1,125 Test caps.
Stephen Moore
Veteran hooker Stephen Moore will captain the Wallabies in the opening Test against France this coming weekend, coach Ewen McKenzie said Monday.
Moore, 31, is Australia’s most capped hooker with 91 Tests and is in his 10th season with the Wallabies.
“It is a huge personal achievement in being chosen to lead your country,” McKenzie said.
England head coach Stuart Lancaster has added 16 players to their New Zealand tour squad after Northampton Saints and Saracens completed their domestic season.
The 16 players have been drawn from Aviva Premiership finalists Northampton Saints and Saracens, along with Bath Rugby’s Anthony Watson and Harlequins’ Kyle Sinckler, will fly to New Zealand on Monday night and arrive in Auckland on Wednesday morning.
England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster said, “We are looking forward to the guys flying in and adding to the group. ”
The Barbarians went some way to restoring their reputation with a 39-29 win over an unfamiliar-looking England at Twickenham on Sunday.
Following the invitational team’s much-criticised display in a 59-8 thrashing by the British and Irish Lions in Hong Kong last year, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward labelled the match “a waste of time”.
But in front of a crowd of more than 50,000, the Barbarians ran in five tries from Benson Stanley, Juan-Martin Hernandez, Mamuka Gorgodze and Hosea Gear, who crossed twice.
England were fielding what was, effectively, a ‘Fourth XV’, with Stuart Lancaster’s initial squad already in New Zealand ahead of next week’s first Test against the world champion All Blacks and players involved in Saturday’s Premiership final between Northampton and Saracens not considered for this match.
Heyneke Meyer
South Africa will wish to avoid falling into a fast and loose “Barbarians” style of play when they tackle the World XV in their first international of the season at Newlands on Saturday.
Coach Heyneke Meyer said at a press briefing here on Sunday that he saw the game as an important preparatory device for the challenge of Wales in the first of two more conventional Tests a week later in Durban.
He also said he was still thinking about the captaincy, given the absence at present of Jean de Villiers, who was seen on crutches at the team hotel: “I don’t want to make a too-hasty decision … I’m almost there but must still speak to the relevant people; I think I can tell you tomorrow (Monday).”
Seven uncapped players, Damian de Allende, Lood de Jager, Cornal Hendricks, Teboho Mohoje, S’bura Sithole, Marcel van der Merwe and Callie Visagie, have been called up to Springbok duty as part of a 36-man squad for the Castle Lager Incoming Series next month.
The squad also includes experienced World Cup winners Schalk Burger and Victor Matfield, while there is a return to the Springboks for Schalk Brits, Juan de Jongh, Francois Hougaard, Lwazi Mvovo and Frans Steyn, all of whom last played Test rugby in 2012.
The national selectors have also kept a great deal of continuity. In total, 12 players who started the final Test of 2013, where the Springboks beat France in Paris for the first time in 16 years, have been retained in the squad.
However, notable omissions include Springbok captain and SARU’s Player of the Year in 2013, Jean de Villiers, who is out with a knee injury, and the Young Player of the Year for the last two seasons and IRB Player of the Year nominee last year, Eben Etzebeth, who has been given more time to fully recover from the foot injury which has kept him sidelined this entire season.
The Springboks will also be without one of their vice-captains, Adriaan Strauss, who has been suspended for three matches as well as the experienced Jaque Fourie, who started all three Tests last November but has been ruled out with an ankle injury and Pat Lambie, a regular member of the squad for the last two years.
Juan Manuel Leguizamon
Argentina flanker Juan Manuel Leguizamon has been selected to captain a Barbarians team including five All Blacks against England at Twickenham on Sunday.
Lyon forward Leguizamon will captain a side that also includes British and Irish Lions lock Donncha O’Callaghan, who will make his Barbarians debut, and just one uncapped player in Clermont’s Australian fly-half Brock James.
Head coach Dean Ryan, also the coach at Worcester Warriors, picked 13 of his starting XV from the French Top 14.
An under-strength England squad arrived in New Zealand Thursday, with coach Stuart Lancaster rejecting suggestions his weakened side faces a “Tour from Hell” against the world champion All Blacks.
Lancaster had to leave up to a dozen top players behind for the Premiership Final between Saracens and Northampton, meaning they will be unavailable for the opening match of the three-Test series.
“It’s not ideal when you come to play the world champions in their own back yard and you don’t have your best side available,” he told reporters in Auckland.
Lock Bradley Davies will miss Wales’ two-Test tour to South Africa in June because of a hamstring injury.
The Cardiff Blues lock, 27, who is heading to Wasps, suffered the problem in training and has undergone surgery.
Meanwhile, Racing Metro flanker Dan Lydiate is out of Friday’s Wales Probables v Possibles trial in Swansea.
But Lydiate’s hamstring strain is not expected to rule him out of the tour, which starts with a warm-up against Eastern Province Kings on 10 June.
Francois Steyn
Cell C Sharks backline star Frans Steyn is unlikely to feature for the Springboks in the June Internationals.
Steyn was one of 10 players who took no or little part in the field sessions at the Springbok training camp in Durban, which concluded on Wednesday.
Steyn has been suffering from a chronic knee dysfunction which has been managed by Sharks and upon a request from his franchise, the load on his knee was limited by keeping him out of training.
While the severity of the injury will only be confirmed later in the week, Steyn is expected to miss the June internationals. It is also possible that Steyn could miss the latter stages of Super Rugby, which would be a body blow to the Sharks.
Graham Kitchener
England have named their team to play the Barbarians at Twickenham Stadium on Sunday with Graham Kitchener captaining the team.
Leicester Tigers second row Kitchener will captain the England selection which includes players from seven Premiership sides.
Twenty-one-year-old Exeter Chiefs fly half Henry Slade has been named a the vice captain of the team.
Owen Williams
Leicester flyhalf Owen Williams will miss Wales’ tour of South Africa in June after being given a six-week ban which sidelines him until 1 September.
Williams, 22, would have been hoping to earn his first senior cap in the Test series with the Springboks, but the Rugby Football Union has handed a lengthy suspension to Williams, who pleaded guilty for acts contrary to good sportsmanship.
Super Rugby is regarded in the Southern Hemisphere as the elite stepping stone towards Test rugby, and while the penultimate year before a Rugby World Cup is rarely considered as an experimentally season, future development and injuries will likely dictate some new faces will appear.
We run the rule over the players who could be heading for the highest honour their national union can bestow upon them.
The All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies will reveal their final June squads at the conclusion of Super Rugby Round 16.
Heyneke Meyer emotional and animated in the game between Wallabies vs Springboks, The Rugby Championship, Brisbane, 7 September 2013
The June Internationals are close at hand and Heyneke Meyer has already showed his hand to a certain extent by selecting a Springbok Training Group, which currently excludes players plying their trade in the UK and Europe.
The recent injury to Springbok captain, Jean de Villiers, now determines that a “Stand-in” Springbok captain will have to be selected and coupled to this the Springbok midfield positions are bound to be re-constituted.
Injuries to key players, specially flyhalf, as well as the 3-match suspension of Adriaan Strauss at hooker will see some juggling around of the match-day 23 and some very clear thinking will be required by Heyneke Meyer to address these issues.
We take a look at the Springbok Captaincy candidates as well as midfield combination and look at hooker options to function as back-up to Bismarck du Plessis.