SA Rugby
FNB NWU-Pukke handed defending champions FNB UP-Tuks their first defeat of the 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International tournament on Monday to claim top spot on the standings.
Coach Robert du Preez’s team were ruthless in wet conditions Pretoria as they shut out the home side to claim a convincing 18-0 victory and leapfrog them on the log in the process.
FNB UCT recorded their third away win of the season in Johannesburg, scoring five tries on their way to a 37-29 victory over FNB UJ to move up to third position.
The Ikeys have lost both of their home games this season, to table-topping teams UP-Tuks and NWU-Pukke, but have won all of their games on the road, whilst the defeat leaves UJ down in seventh place and facing a tough road to make the semifinals.
The top four after five weeks of action is rounded off by FNB UFS-Shimlas who ended deadlocked at 13-13 with three-time champions FNB Maties in their clash in Stellenbosch.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann and his fellow selectors will have a few tough decisions to make this week.
Top of their list will be what to do with Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies, now that the pivot has been “medically cleared” to resume playing.
Will the Vodacom Bulls spring a surprise and bring former captain Dewald Potgieter straight back into the starting lineup?
That’s the question that needs to be answered ahead of their team announcement to face the Blues in their Vodacom Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee is to name his team for Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Crusaders in the early hours of the morning South African time on Wednesday, and it will be interesting to see what choices he comes up with in some key areas.
Francois Steyn is happy to see the Lions back in Vodacom Super Rugby – but he has warned that the competition returnees can expect no mercy from his Sharks team when the team’s clash in a derby at Growthpoint Kings Park on Saturday evening.
The Toyota Cheetahs are sweating over the availability of prop Coenie Oosthuizen ahead of their Super Rugby clash against the Reds in Brisbane on Friday.
The Springbok is struggling with a neck injury and will go for a scan in Brisbane on Tuesday.
UJ (16) 29 / 37 (29) UCT (Final Score)
FNB UJ (University of Johannesburg) and FNB UCT (University of Cape Town)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at UJ Stadium, Johannesburg at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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The Vodacom Bulls released two Media Releases today, the first dealing with their weekly fitness update and the second announcing some interesting loose forward signings to counter the two long term injuries of Pierre Spies (6 months) and Arno Botha (5 months to go).
Deon Stegmann is fit again and training with the team this week.
Wimpie van der Walt, who played for the Southern Kings in Super Rugby in 2013 and who now plies his trade in Japan, will join the Bulls for 2 months with options for him to stay on longer and negotiations with Dewald Potgieter who also plies his trade in Japan is in advanced stages.
Wits (4) 12 / 18 (5) NMMU (Final Score)
FNB Wits (University of the Witwatersrand) and FNB NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at Wits Rugby Stadium, Johannesburg at 16:45 SA Time (14:45 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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The Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers both scored their first wins of the season, but this past weekend of Super Rugby action should have confirmed the growing concern among neutrals that the story of the South African conference this year will be that there is the Sharks and then there’s rubbish.
The Sharks, who would hardly have been quaking in their boots as they watched the games featuring South African teams on television during their bye weekend, admittedly weren’t all that flush in their last performance, when they beat the Hurricanes.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has read the riot act to his players, and demanded a better performance than the one they put up in their Vodacom Super Rugby loss to the Melbourne Rebels.
Drotske was not a happy man after his side went down 35-14 to the Melbourne Rebels in their opening tour match – continuing their trend of not being able to win in their first match on tour.
It has been described as the “tour from hell” and also as “Mission Impossible”, but the toughness of the four-match trip that the DHL Stormers embarked upon with their departure from Cape Town on Sunday could just work for them.
The 19-18 win over the Hurricanes at Newlands this past Friday wasn’t enough to turn around the negativity that swamped Cape rugby after the shock defeat to the Lions in the opening game the week before, and which has arguably been around since the Currie Cup final last October.
The Reds have earmarked their encounter with a misfiring Cheetahs team as the game in which to bounce back.
The Reds suffered a disappointing 5 / 32 loss to the Waratahs in Sydney at the weekend, and are one from two after a 10-point win over the Brumbies the previous week.
The Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers returned to winning ways on a weekend of Vodacom Super Rugby where 6 from 7 home teams were victorious.
Ironically both the teams from Pretoria and Cape Town were outscored by 2 tries to 1 in their respective matches against the Lions and the Hurricanes, but won mainly because of pin-point goal-kicking accuracy.
On Friday evening the DHL Stormers snuck through by 19 / 18 against the Hurricanes at DHL Newlands, while the Vodacom Bulls beat the Lions by 25 / 17 in the first Gauteng-derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
It wasn’t a happy weekend for the Toyota Cheetahs though, as they lost their first tour match of the season by 35 / 14 to the Rebels in Melbourne.
The Cell C Sharks had a bye.
Predicting how many games each of the South African Conference franchises will lose, is the object of this game. After 3 Rounds of Super Rugby in 2014 we still have no casualties.
Each franchise plays 16 games in the regular season, 8 against fellow South African Conference sides (home and away) and 8 against the sides in the other 2 Conferences.
Players in this competition had to predict how many games each team will lose and draw during the regular season.
All participants showed little faith in the Lions and the players who gave the Lions their best chance of not losing too many were Gumboots and Grootblousmile, with only 11 loses predicted. The Lions might just be the Achilles heel for most in the competition. The Lions were only given a chance to win between 2 and 5 games.
There is little to choose between any of the teams in a mouth-watering set of fixtures in Round Five of the 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.
With two log positions the biggest gap between any of the teams in each match on Monday, the standings could get another serious shake-up with the play-offs getting ever-closer.
Top spot will be on the line when defending champions FNB UP-Tuks host FNB NWU-Pukke who trail them by just a single point, whilst it will be a very similar scenario in Stellenbosch where FNB Maties will look to move past opponents FNB UFS-Shimlas into third place.
DHL Stormers head coach Allister Coetzee has announced a 27-man squad for his team’s four-match Super Rugby tour of Australasia.
Centre Jean de Villiers will lead the squad abroad, a group that includes new Samoan star Sailosi Tagicakibau and the Japan-based Peter Grant, but excludes Argentinean lock Manuel Carizza.
Bulls (19) 25 / 17 (10) Lions (Final Score)
The Vodacom Bulls and Lions did battle in Super Rugby at
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 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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Stormers (6) 19 / 18 (12) Hurricanes (Final Score)
DHL Stormers and the Hurricanes did battle in Super Rugby at
Newlands, Cape Town at Fiday 28 Feb 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT, 06:10 Saturday 1 March NZ Time).
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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Rebels (17) 35 / 14 (0) Cheetahs (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels and Toyota Cheetahs did battle in Super Rugby at
AAMI Park, Melbourne at 10:40 SA Time (19:40 Melbourne Time, 08:40 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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Super Rugby is already in Round 3! We have 7 games in Round 3, with 3 games on Friday and 4 games on Saturday.
The Cell C Sharks have a bye weekend and of course Bye Points fall away in 2014.
In June / July 2014 the Antipion teams will catch up in played games with the South African counterparts, when the South African sides sit out for 1 Round.
The Combined Log will therefore be skewed for the majority of the competition and one has to question why individual countries are allowed to start such a long competition ahead of it’s rivals. In 2013 the Australian sides started a week early, but at least they had the excuse that they needed an extra week in the middle of the year to prepare for the British & Irish Lions series, which they lost.
Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has named his 23-man outfit to do battle with the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Ackermann has opted for consistency, making just two forced changes to the Lions’ starting 15, that derailed the DHL Stormers 34 / 10 last weekend.
Looking back on Round 2 of Super Rugby 2014, the first full Round where all three participating nations took part in Super Rugby, it might be good to look at some key factors coming to light in the Round.
The official SANZAR website, www.sanzarrugby.com brings you the seven key statistics over the second round of the 2014 season.
The Vodacom Bulls, who have been struggling in the first two Rounds of Super Rugby in 2014 are reportedly hunting the services of Dewald Potgieter, who is currently playing his rugby in the Japanese league and also the services of Juan Smith, who is playing his rugby at Toulon in France.
In the meantime, Frans Ludeke is still adament that backing Louis Fouché is the right thing to do, despite Louis Fouché being dropped from this weekend’s match-day 23.
Former Chiefs wing Sailosi Tagicakibau is set to join the Stormers on the Australasian leg of their Super Rugby tour.
The 31-year-old Samoan international has played 24 Tests (21 for Samoa and three for the Pacific Islanders) and has played in the last three World Cups.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter will earn a first Vodacom Bulls start at flyhalf since 15 May 2010 when the home side host the Lions in their first home match of the Vodacom Super Rugby competition at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The 29-year old pivot is one of four changes made to the starting side that came up short in Bloemfontein last weekend, with Grant Hattingh (as no 8), Victor Matfield (at no 5) and Frik Kirsten (as starting tighthead) the others to earn a start on the weekend.
Experienced flyhalf Peter Grant will hook up with the Stormers again in either the first or second week of their Super Rugby overseas leg … straight from his completed commitments in Japan.
This was confirmed by coach Allister Coetzee, who will relish adding “Bash’s” street wisdom to the tour mix as he is low on truly hardened, assertive characters and decision-makers in both the key slots of No 10 and scrumhalf this season.
SANZAR has released the names of the officials for Round 3 of Super Rugby 2014. Mike Fraser starts the action this weekend in Auckland with the Blues vs Crusaders match.
This weekend sees 7 matches with 3 on Friday and 4 on Saturday.
The Sharks have the bye weekend.
The Vodacom Bulls are set to make radical changes to their team to face the Lions this weekend in order to get themselves onto the winning path in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby series.
While Flip van der Merwe is set to captain the side once again, the team named on Wednesday will in all likelihood see Victor Matfield and Jacques-Louis Potgieter in the starting line-up and a bold move for regular lock Grant Hattingh to No 8.
Fresh from their victory over the Vodacom Bulls, Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has named an unchanged starting line-up for his team’s first Vodacom Super Rugby tour match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
Jaco Taute has been named at fullback for the DHL Stormers’ first home game of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The DHL Stormers will host the Hurricanes at DHL Newlands on Friday (kick-off 19:10), with Taute joining the starting line-up at fullback and Gio Aplon shifting across to the wing.
All Black and Hurricanes centre Conrad Smith admitted he was surprised by the Stormers’ showing against the Lions in Johannesburg last week.
Springbok Elton Jantjies will have to wait a while longer before he will make his comeback to Super Rugby.
Jantjies, with just two Tests but more than 80 first class games to his credit, made a successful return to the playing field with the with the Golden Lions Vodacom Cup team last week – following shoulder surgery in the off-season.
Following their horror start to the season at Ellis Park last week, Stormers captain Jean de Villiers is expecting a major response from his side at Newlands on Friday.
De Villiers was furious with the way his charges capitulated against the Lions last week, and he admitted that their were some harsh words said behind closed doors when they reflected on what went wrong against the Lions.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has called on fans to “keep the faith” after the team’s disappointing start to the Vodacom Super Rugby season.
The Bulls lost their opening two games against the Sharks and Cheetahs and on both occasions were struggling to get their own engine going, failing both on a tactical and a physical level against opposition they would normally look a lot more physical against.