New Zealand Rugby
Engineers will undertake checks at Wellington Regional Stadium ahead of next week’s Rugby Championship clash between the All Blacks and Australia following a 6.5 magnitude earthquake south of New Zealand’s capital city on Friday.
Flyhalf Matt Toomua will make his debut for Australia, while Quade Cooper was named on the bench for Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship match against New Zealand in Sydney.
Toomua was given the starting No.10 assignment ahead of Cooper by new Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie, for the match doubling up as a Bledisloe Cup encounter.
Blindside flank Liam Messam on Thursday withdrew from the All Black team to face Australia this weekend due to a hamstring strain, forcing coach Steve Hansen to draft in inexperienced Steven Luatua.
Messam pulled up sore at training, preventing him from featuring in the Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.
New Zealand coach Steve Hansen has put his faith in the fitness and mental toughness of Richie McCaw by naming him to lead the world champions in their opening Rugby Championship clash against Australia on Saturday.
The 32-year-old has only recently returned to rugby after a six-month sabbatical from the game, playing 80 minutes of a lower level club match and making cameo appearances off the bench for the Crusaders in the Super Rugby playoffs.
Flyhalf Dan Carter will miss New Zealand’s first two Rugby Championship Tests against Australia and could be sidelined for up to four weeks with a calf strain.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have admitted to trying to tempt former All Blacks superstar Sonny Bill Williams back to the 15-a-side code from Rugby League.
Williams left the 15-a-side game earlier this year to return to his first love, league, after a four-year flirtation with union.
Crusaders centre Ryan Crotty was rushed into the All Blacks squad Sunday as injury cover less than a week from their opening Rugby Championship game against Australia in Sydney.
New Zealand’s star flyhalf Dan Carter will take an extended break from the game next year to ensure he is fit for the 2015 World Cup.
The 31-year-old, the highest points scorer in international rugby, is under contract with New Zealand until the end of 2015.
However, like All Black captain Richie McCaw – who sat out the first six months of this year – Carter has a clause allowing him to take a sabbatical.
All Black back Beauden Barrett revealed he has resisted overtures from the Blues and will stay with the Hurricanes for next year’s Super Rugby season.
The new scrum laws will wind the clock back, says Dan Cron. Hookers actually hooking, halfbacks putting the ball in straight – it won’t be scrummaging as we’ve come to know it.
Veteran scrumhalf Piri Weepu has been dumped from the All Blacks for the Rugby Championship, but captain Richie McCaw returns.
All Black utility back Rene Ranger has pulled out of the upcoming Rugby Championship series, citing family reasons.
Chiefs (9) 27 / 22 (16) Brumbies (Final Score)
The Chiefs and Brumbies did battle in the Final of Super Rugby 2013 at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT, 17:35 AEST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Here are the Super Rugby team sheets for the two teams contesting the Final of Super Rugby 2013, as they were announded.
Some thoughts for you to chew on…
I was asked yesterday by someone at Sky what my feeling was on the future of SuperRugby and I said, all three Unions of SANZAR have recently released their year end figures and none of them made any real profit. They are all close to borderline break even.
The current number Super Rugby matches per annum is 125, so any reduction of matches would no doubt mean a reduction in broadcast money.
The talk is about South Africa splitting from SANZAR in terms of Super Rugby only. However the South African time zone goes a long way to pushing up the money that is earned from the broadcast deal.
If SA leave, more matches will be played in New Zealand and Australian time zones (according to the reports). This has no global appeal.
The defending Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs, were on Thursday sweating on the fitness of star wing Lelia Masaga in the countdown to Saturday’s Final against the Brumbies.
The Chiefs will play the Brumbies at home in Hamilton in front of a sold out Waikato Stadium as the fixture is officially sold out.
New Zealand’s front row resources have been reduced ahead of the starts of the Rugby Championship.
The defending champion Chiefs will be looking to produce the perfect parting gift to five players.
However, they will be keen to stay focussed on the job at hand – beating the Brumbies in the Super Rugby Final in Hamilton on Saturday, rather than getting caught up in the hype of the occasion.
The Vodacom Bulls missed out on a fourth Vodacom Super Rugby final in seven years when they were beaten in the second tense semi-final by a spirited Brumbies team in Pretoria on Saturday evening.
As a result, the Brumbies will now travel to Hamilton to face the defending champion Chiefs in the 2013 Final. Both teams have won the title before – the Chiefs last year and the Brumbies in 2001 and 2004.
The Chiefs won hosting rights for the Final when they beat the heavily-favoured Crusaders by 20-19 in a nail-biter at the Waikato Stadium on Saturday morning (SA time). The defending champions fought back brilliantly in the second half after they were behind by 3-9 at the break.
Uncapped Hurricanes loose forward Brad Shields has been included in a 30-man All Black training squad who will gather in Auckland this week ahead of the Rugby Championship.
Blues utility back Francis Saili is the second uncapped player included in the squad by All Black coach Steve Hansen, who has as expected welcomed back captain Richie McCaw.
South African referee Craig Joubert has been confirmed as the man to take charge of the Super Rugby final between the Chiefs and Brumbies in Hamilton this coming Saturday.
Following the results of the Super Rugby semi-finals of 2013 the Super Rugby Franchises are already starting to make their plans and get their structures in place for 2014.
Fresh news is that the Crusaders have extended coach Todd Blackadder’s contract till end of 2014, the Waratahs report that they have secured the services of Dave Dennis and Rob Horne and Kyle Godwin has cleanes up the awards for the year for the Western Force.
Reports of a proposed ‘split’ between South African and their Australasian partners are still “some way off”, but remains a reality.
It was reported in the Australian media on Saturday that Australia and New Zealand would form their own Australasian competition – one of a number of scenarios being considered by SANZAR.
Chiefs (3) 20 / 19 (9) Crusaders (Final Score)
The Chiefs and Crusaders did battle in a Super Rugby semi-final at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Here are the Super Rugby team sheets for the teams contesting the Semi-Final Round of Super Rugby 2013, as they were announded.
Both the Chiefs and Crusaders have announced their teams nd squads to contest the Semi-Final at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time) on Saturday 27 July 2013.
Here are the names of the gladiators who will go to war on Saturday:
The Chiefs have not forgotten the hammering they received at the hands of the Crusaders earlier this month and they are looking for revenge.
The Chiefs are having to keep an eye on their loose forwards ahead of this weekend’s Super Rugby semi-final against the Crusaders.
It was impossible not to admire the clinical way Todd Blackadder’s Crusaders destroyed the Reds in their Super Rugby showdown over the weekend.
SANZAR has announced the names of the match officials for the 2 games in the Semi-Final Round of Super Rugby 2013. The 2 games are both played on Saturday 27 July 2013.
The Chiefs will host the Crusaders in Hamilton with Steve Walsh in charge of that match and the Bulls will host the Brumbies with Craig Joubert taking charge.
The Toyota Cheetahs’ fairytale season came to an agonising end as they lost their maiden Vodacom Super Rugby play-off match against the Brumbies in Canberra Stadium on Sunday morning (SA time).
Despite being outscored by two tries to nil, the Brumbies’ nail-biting 15-13 victory in the second Qualifier in Australia’s capital means they now have to travel to Pretoria to take on the Vodacom Bulls in one of the two semi-finals, on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.
Crusaders (21) 38 / 9 (6) Reds (Final Score)
The Crusaders and Reds did battle in Super Rugby at AMI Stadium, Christchurch at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Here are the Super Rugby team sheets for teams 3 to 6 on the Combined Super Rugby Log, who have to compete in the Play Off weekend of Super Rugby 2013, as they were announded.
South Africa 17 / 6 Bay of plenty-Thames Valley-Counties
It was the last midweek match of the tour with only the 4th test remaining. The opposition was a combination of 3 relatively weak sides namely Bay of Plenty (who won only 1 of 5 matches played in the 1956 season); Thames Valley (who won only 3 of 8) and Counties (a team founded as South Auckland in 1926 and who won only 2 of 13 season games in 1956). These three teams combined for the first time in 1956 and played 2 warm-up games namely against Auckland (7th of August 1956 losing 6-7) and Waikato (11th of August 1956 losing 6-24) in preparation for the Springboks.