Internationals
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers said that his team is focused solely on their match against Wales this weekend.
A cold and rainy Cardiff greeted the Springboks on Sunday upon arrival in Wales, where they will kick off their tour at the Millennium Stadium.
The New Zealand Maori team suffered a double blow in the wake of their impressive win in the opening match of their North American tour.
Jamison Gibson-Park, a late entry at scrumhalf after Piri Weepu was unable to start, scored two tries to spark the New Zealand Maori team to a 40-15 victory over Canada on Sunday.
It was confirmed on Monday that Weepu and hooker Hika Elliot are returning home as a result of injuries.
From time to time Rugby-Talk is approached by rugby enthusiasts, who read our content, who enquire whether they can write guest articles for publication.
My response is the same every time… send it along, if it is good, we will publish it. More aptly, I also invite these people to register and become part of our wonderful website, to join in the comments with us and should we see value in their style and knowledge, there will be no hesitation to make them fullyfledged authors here on Rugby-Talk.
I hope this is an inspiration to more people to contribute…
Here is a wonderful piece on the history of the Six Nations:
England (6) 20 / 13 (13) Wallabies (Final Score)
England and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday AEDT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Japan (6) 6 / 54 (28) All Blacks (Final Score)
Japan and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Prince Chichibu Memorial Ground, Tokyo at 07:00 SA Time (14:00 Japan Time, 18:00 NZ Time, 05:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 5, HD5 & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Round 1 of the End Of Year Tours of 2013 is upon us and it is that time of the year where we see the teams from the South migrate to the North to go do battle with those from Europe and beyond.
The Test rugby games of the End Of Year Tours or November Internationals are always a nice spectacle to see. Some teams use this as an experimental base, whilst other teams use this competition to prepare for other competitions like the 6 Nations. The big thing here is that the 3 Southern Hemisphere giant teams are ranked No 1 to 3 in the world. So, every team wants to beat these sides for bragging rights and to also get an indication of where they stand in preparation of the next Rugby World Cup.
So let the battles begin!
Fullback Juan Martin Hernandez is out of Argentina’s squad to face England at Twickenham on November 9 with a torn right thigh muscle, the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) said on Thursday.
Joel Tomkins will make his England debut in Saturday’s international against Australia at Twickenham Stadium.
The centre will be joined by Saracens teammate Billy Vunipola and London Irish wing Marland Yarde, who both won their first caps in Argentina in June and make their first starts at Twickenham.
Veteran lock Alun Wyn Jones said Wales’ upcoming clash with South Africa promises to be a fast, frenetic encounter.
South Africa have had a lot of changes to their squad in the last couple of years, but they’ve still got a number of guys who have been playing in the Green and Gold jersey for a while.
Springbok and Kobelco Steelers centre Jaque Fourie has scoffed at suggestions that he won’t be able to take the step up to Test level for the Springboks on their end of year tour, after having spent two years playing in Japan.
Speaking to BallzRadio, Fourie said Suntory Sungoliath and Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s return to the Springbok fold had proved that players playing in Japan could return to the national side without appearing out of their depth.
James Horwill has been axed as Wallaby captain amid a radical leadership overhaul which has swept controversial playmaker Quade Cooper into the vice-captaincy.
Back row forward Ben Mowen will captain Australia for a second time in Saturday’s Cook Cup clash against England at Twickenham.
Japan were given a timely boost ahead of their one-off Test against the world’s top-ranked side, New Zealand, in Tokyo on Saturday.
The home side was boosted by the fitness of centre Harumichi Tatekawa, who missed training earlier this week due to a knee injury and had been a doubt for Saturday’s game.
With Japan coach Eddie Jones still in hospital recovering from a stroke, assistant Scott Wisemantel could not have been handed a tougher task for his first assignment in charge.
Experienced Springbok tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis has been ruled out of the forthcoming Castle Lager Outgoing Tour to Wales, Scotland and France because of injury.
His place in the touring team will be taken by the uncapped GWK Griquas prop Lourens Adriaanse, a member of the Springbok squad during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship who was on the official standby list and will play with Du Plessis for The Sharks next season.
The All Blacks have named four uncapped players in their matchday squad for the historic Test at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo on Saturday
The starting XV sees bustling Counties-Manukau and Blues wing Frank Halai selected in an All Blacks side for the first time, with massive Crusaders and Canterbury lock Dominic Bird also making his debut.
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett has backed current coach Heyneke Meyer NOT to rest his key players on the end of year tour, despite the risk of player burn-out.
Speaking to BallzRadio, Mallett said that the Springbok Tests should take precedence over the Currie Cup and Super Rugby, and said franchise coaches should take responsibility for managing players better. Mallett also praised Sharks Director of Rugby Brendan Venter as one of the few coaches using proper player rotation.
England lock Geoff Parling has been ruled out of Saturday’s opening November international against Australia at Twickenham with concussion.
Parling was concussed during a training session at England’s training base in Bagshot, south-west of London, on Tuesday and will now follow the standard procedure for players who’ve suffered head injuries.
Captain Sergio Parisse and popular prop Martin Castrogiovanni are closing in on a century of caps after the Argentine-born pair were named in Italy coach Jacques Brunel’s 30-man squad for next month’s international tests.
Both Stade Francais No 8 Parisse and Toulon’s Castrogiovanni have 98 caps and could surpass the century landmark during tests against Australia, Argentina and Fiji in November.
Siyabonga “Scarra” Ntubeni is one of four uncapped players who will join three stalwarts of the Rugby World Cup winning squad of 2007, JP Pietersen, Jaque Fourie and Bakkies Botha, in 32-man Springbok squad for the forthcoming Castle Lager Outgoing Tour to Wales, Scotland and France.
It will be Botha and Fourie’s first involvement with the Springboks since the previous Rugby World Cup, in 2011 in New Zealand, while Pietersen is back in the squad for the first time this year.
Scotland wing Tim Visser will be sidelined for up to four months after breaking his shin and damaging ankle ligaments in a club game.
Argentina will be without their captain Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe on their upcoming European tour after he injured himself playing for Toulon.
France and Toulouse No 8 Louis Picamoles has been ruled out of a French training camp due to heavy bruising – but is relieved not to have suffered a recurrence of a hip injury.
England prop Alex Corbisiero has been ruled out of his side’s opening November Test against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday.
Corbisiero twisted his left knee playing for club side Northampton just over a fortnight ago and won’t be fit to face the Wallabies.
A familiar question hangs in the air ahead of the start of this year’s November internationals – who can defeat New Zealand?
The world champions have been in especially scintillating form of late, winning all six of their matches in the southern hemisphere rugby championship.
Sharks centre Francois Steyn is set to undergo minor surgery that will rule him out of action for at least three weeks.
Steyn, 26, underwent surgery in May this year after he injured his leg playing for the Sharks against the Highlanders in the Super Rugby competition.
At the weekend they were fierce rivals, but very soon they will team up to don the Green and Gold of South Africa.
This is the verdict on two of the most talented young second row forwards in the world, who were in opposing camps when the Sharks became Currie Cup champions with a 33-19 win over Western Province at Newlands.
Springbok scrumhalf Jano Vermaak was the hero for Toulouse as he scored a crucial try in Saturday’s top-of-the-table clash against Toulon in the Top 14.
With the clubs level at the summit of the standings at kick-off, the match was the highlight of the French rugby weekend as Toulouse came back from 12-0 down at half time to win 13-12.
James O’Connor is expected to make a decision on his future in the “next 24 or 48 hours”, according to London Irish coach Brian Smith.
O’Connor has been linked with a move to the English Premiership side after the Australian Rugby Union terminated his contract following a string of embarrassing off-field incidents earlier this month, culminating with the talented 23-year-old being escorted from Perth airport for drunken behaviour.
This weekend saw the conclusion of the ABSA Currie Cup, with The Sharks upsetting overwhelming favourites, before the game, DHL Western Province, by playing the better tactical game and winning by a handsome 33 / 19. This leaves us with the International window opening again and all Southern Hemisphere sides getting ready to travel north, for the End Of Year Tours.
It would however not be fitting to move our attention over to the Internationals, without paying tribute to those domestic stars, who performed out of their skins for their respective Unions in the Currie Cup. For this purpose and although the Springboks took part in the latter rounds of the Currie Cup, we decided to compose 2 Player-by-player sides of the best candidates in their positions, but purposely excluding the players of the Springbok group from the equasion.
Chief writers, Rudi Geldenhuys and Timothy Bornman takes a look at these players… and it appears that in most positions the same logic applies, however there are certain positions where we differ on exactly who performed best. We chose not to pick players out of position but rather to choose players in the positions they regularly played during the Competition.
The End Of Year Tours (Autumn Internationals) starts this coming weekend and this week we should see a lot of news in preparation of these Tours. The New Zealand NPC is over, the South African Currie Cup has a new Champion, now the International stage lights up again!
The New Zealand All Blacks believe Dan Carter will be ready to face Japan and has also sent an S.O.S. call to prop Jeff Toomaga-Allen as cover for Joe Moody who was injured in the NPC Final.
Chris Robshaw has retained the England captaincy for the November internationals, coach Stuart Lancaster announced on Wednesday.
Andrew Trimble has missed out on a place in Ireland’s squad for the November games against Samoa, Australia and New Zealand at the Aviva Stadium. The Ulster wing fails to make Joe Schmidt’s 34-man squad which includes uncapped trio David Kearney, James Coughlan and Jack McGrath.
Argentina named Daniel Hourcade as coach on Tuesday for the Pumas’ tour of Europe and with a view to keeping him on until the 2015 rugby World Cup in England.
Australia’s top rugby players have accepted a 23 percent cut in their test match fee from A$13 100 ($12 700) per game to A$10 000 over the next four years, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Wednesday.
The ARU, whose coffers were only partially replenished by this year’s British and Irish Lions tour, have engaged in a raft of cost-cutting measures since new chief executive Bill Pulver took over earlier this year.
Martiens Louw and Robbie Barnard, hooker and prop, who played together for Transvaal and South Africa, have died just over a week apart.
Louw died in Pretoria on 12 October 2013 and Barnard on 20 October 2013. Louw was 75, Barnard 71.
The side will be captained by Wellington and Hurricanes back Tim Bateman and features six former All Blacks and 11 players who played for the Maori All Blacks last year.
The squad departs for North America on Monday 28 October.