SA Rugby
The Vodacom Bulls have announced both their sides to face the Golden Lions in the curtain raiser and the DHL Stormers in the main game on Saturday in Polokwane.
The DHL Stormers have also announced their side to face the Vodacom Bulls in the main game.
The Springboks are likely to play a game against a World XV at Cape Town Stadium later this year.
According to reports, the game is due to be played on 7 June 2014.
The Super Rugby warm-up match between the Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers on Saturday in Polokwane won’t be broadcast on TV, as confirmed by SuperSport.
Southern Kings coach Robbi Kempson is hoping the experience and bulk of prop Charl du Plessis will help their scrumming performance when they take on the Lions in a Super Rugby warm-up match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday (kick-off 17:00).
In their opening friendly against the Cheetahs last week, which the Kings lost 36-21, Kempson was not impressed with the pressure placed on the home forwards and was planning for a better showing against the Lions.
Scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius is back and will play in the Cheetahs’ pre-season game against the Pumas in Parys on Saturday, according to reports.
A Special General Council Meeting to discuss the restructuring of the Currie Cup has been postponed, the SA Rugby Union (SARU) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The meeting, scheduled to be held in Cape Town on Friday, has been moved to 13 February.
This weekend sees the only Vodacom Bulls warm-up fixture in preparation for Super Rugby in 2014. The Bulls play the DHL Stormers in Polokwane.
In an interesting twist, the Bulls will also use the curtain raiser game between the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Golden Lions as part of their Super Rugby preparations, with a strong side which closely resmbles their Currie Cup side, to face the 2nd string Golden Lions outfit. This Bulls side will include the likes of Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf, Handré Pollard at flyhalf and a number of Bulls players who will see enough Super Rugby time in 2014.
The Stormers have announced a 26-man squad which will travel up to Polokwane to face the Bulls in a Super Rugby warm-up fixture on the weekend.
In addition it appears that the Stormers are still open to contract a ‘Big Wing’ to alleviate their shortcomings and lack of size and stature of their current back three.
Lions coach Johan Ackermann will bring out most of his big guns for their second Super Rugby pre-season outing.
The Lions, who return to Super Rugby in 2014 after sitting out last year, head to Port Elizabeth where they will face the Southern Kings on Saturday.
The Boland Rugby Union and Western Province Rugby Football Union have announced a brand new club rugby competition, the Community Challenge Club Rugby Competition.
A total of eight clubs – four clubs each from the Boland and Western Province premier leagues – will form part of the inaugural Community Challenge, which kicks off on March 1, 2014. The finals will take place on March 29, 2014.
French Top 14 club Perpignan are reportedly hunting the services of retired Springbok flyhalf Butch James and possibly Gary van Aswegen of the Stormers.
The DHL Stormers look set to play without a few of their players in the warm-up game in Polokwane (Pietersburg) this weekend, due to injury.
Brok Harris, Manuel Carizza, Jaco Taute and De Kock Steenkamp are not available to play on the weekend.
As the Super Rugby season draws nearer, the teams will be trying to get their injury lists as short as possible, to go into Super Rugby with real war machines.
At the Bulls it was last weak feared and speculated that the Bulls would go into the Stormers warm-up with 3 key players not available. That fear is now eased with the news that only one player, Morné Mellet, won’t be ready to play on the weekend.
The Bulls also expressed their confidence in their all-round props after last year’s Super Rugby season saw them struggle in the scrums at times.
South Africa defended their Las Vegas Sevens successfully when they defeated New Zealand 14-7 in another dramatic and tense Cup final between the two rugby rivals in the early hours of Monday morning (SA time).
The teams were tied 7-all at halftime after Scott Curry had opened the scoring for New Zealand and Branco du Preez replied for the Springbok Sevens.
Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo says the injury he sustained against Saracens is not as serious as initially feared.
Saracens lock Mouritz Botha praised his side’s “brilliant performance” after his man of the match performance in the 23-15 win over the Sharks in atrocious conditions at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
Sharks Director of Rugby Jake White says matches between South African provinces and English clubs could be the way forward.
After winning the Currie Cup final and acquiring the services of World Cup winner Jake White as their director of rugby, most of the attention in the build-up to the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season has been hogged by the Sharks, but the Stormers claim they prefer it that way.
This time last year, on the basis that they were the reigning domestic champions and had also won the South African Super Rugby conference in both years of the new format, the talk was all about the Stormers. There was an air of expectation in the Cape, and even outside of the region there were rugby people installing the Stormers not only as conference favourites, but also a good bet to win the competition for the first time.
Former Springbok captain Joost van der Westhuizen on Sunday announced that he is heading to the USA for clinical studies in connection with his diagnosis of a form of Motor Neuron Disease (MND).
The Cheetahs had to come from behind to earn a 36-21 victory over a spirited Southern Kings side at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Trailing 21-12 at half-time, the Cheetahs controlled most of the possession in the second half to whittle away at the Kings’ lead and to finally emerge winners in a hard-fought battle.
Saracens (20) 23 / 15 (3) Sharks (Final Score)
Saracens and the South African Cell C Sharks did battle in a friendly match which doubles up as a warm-up
game in preparation of Super Rugby, at Allianz Stadium, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 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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Sometimes it seems you have only to say things are going better for events to make you look a fool. Last Saturday I wrote that Edinburgh’s coaches had successfully tightened up their defence, and then their team concedes six tries to Munster.
Natal Sharks director of rugby Jake White thinks his team’s game against Saracens could lead to regular club matches between English and South African sides.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Friday that a group of 17 players had been contracted for the 2014 Springbok season – completing the process earlier than at any time for a number of seasons.
The signing of seven players to new Springbok contracts was completed in the past week to add to the ten players who agreed long-term contracts in 2013. Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU, confirmed that there was scope to contract additional players if the coach wished.
The seven newly-contracted players are Marcell Coetzee (loose forward), JJ Engelbrecht (centre / wing), Francois Hougaard (scrumhalf), Patrick Lambie (flyhalf / fullback), Willie le Roux (fullback / wing), Coenie Oosthuizen (prop) and Flip van der Merwe (lock).
The Springbok Sevens’ defence of their Las Vegas Sevens title started off on a powerful note as they ended day one without conceding a point.
Placed in a tricky pool alongside Wales, Canada and Kenya, the Blitzbokke placed their marker early on as they smashed Wales 43-0 in the opening game of the tournament and then followed it up with a comprehensive 29-0 win over Canada in the second game of their pool fixtures.
The Lions started their return to Super Rugby with a runaway 52-14 win over the NWU Pukke team at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park on Friday.
After watching from the sidelines in 2013, the Lions are determined to make more of an impact than their last appearance in Super Rugby – when they finished last in 2012.
The business of poaching / attracting schoolboy rugby players has reached enormous proportions in the Valke Rugby Union.
It has even reached the stage where a charge of kidnapping is reported to have been laid with the police against two members of the staff of Dr EG Jansen of Boksburg, the destination of two Under-14 schoolboys who are excellent rugby players.
In December 2013 and January 2014 we looked at Squad Contenders in the SA Super Rugby participating franchises. This tiime we will focus on the SA Conference Coaches for Super Rugby 2014.
We’ll have a look at all the head coaches and briefly their assistant staff, for the various South African Super Rugby franchises.
We look at their history and discuss their coaching styles and speculate about what can be expected.
Saracens have named their side to face the Cell C Sharks in Saturday’s Sanlam Private Investments Shield match at Allianz Park, London, with kick-off at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT).
Steve Borthwick will captain the side from lock, and is partnered by England second-rower Mouritz Botha.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter will make a welcome return to Loftus Versfeld next week after signing a two-year deal to return to the Vodacom Bulls ahead of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament.
The Blitzbokke will be aiming for a third title in four years at the Las Vegas Sevens this weekend.
The BlitzBokke head into the fourth round of the IRB Sevens World Series in Las Vegas off the back of an emotional Cup win on home soil in December.
The Vodacom Bulls will be without three of their regulars when they take on the DHL Stormers in their only pre-season match in Polokwane on 1 February.
The Bulls will be missing the likes of Springbok Arno Botha, prop Morne Mellett and lock David Bulbring for the game, after the medical team decided to withdraw them from the clash ahead of a long and tough season that lies ahead.
Western Province and Stormers forward Michael Rhodes was cleared of further sanctions on Thursday, after being cited for a dangerous tackle in the Currie Cup Final against the Sharks in Cape Town last season.
The Cell C Sharks have named their team to take on Saracens in the friendly Sharks pre-season encounter at Allianz Park, London, England on Saturday 25 January at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT).
Quotes from Director of Rugby, Jake White
“What I enjoy about this game is that it mimics a little bit of what we can expect from the Bulls.
“Saracens play a little bit like the Bulls, they have a big pack of forwards, their set-piece is strong and they kick a lot. It gives me and the coaching staff an opportunity to see the things we want to do against the Bulls and to have an idea of whether or not we can play against the Bulls in a certain way.”
Springbok loose forward Marcell Coetzee has been withdrawn from the Sharks’ touring party for Saturday’s unique pre-season clash against Saracens in London due to injury.