Super Rugby
Reds and Wallabies flyhalf, Quade Cooper has done it, he has won his 2nd boxing fight by defeating former cage fighter, Warren Tressider, on Wednesday with a TKO in the 4th and last round of their fight.
All Black captain Richie McCaw may be moved around by the Crusaders this season, according to coach Todd Blackadder.
It appears Matt Todd is the preferred choice at No 7 for the Crusaders and when he returns from a chest injury next month, McCaw may well be wearing another number on his back.
All Black Brad Thorn is “helping” with the conditioning of the Highlanders and may turn to coaching.
Hurricanes head coach Mark Hammett has named his 27-man team to face the Blues in Masterton this Saturday.
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.
Former New Zealand international flyhalf Andrew Mehrtens has joined the Waratahs coaching staff as a specialist kicking coach, the team said on Wednesday.
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.
The Western Force will break new ground in Super Rugby sponsorship with the Western Australian club to feature individual partners on its playing jerseys for the 2014 season.
Ma’a Nonu admitted that the Blues fans may not embrace him after his highly publicised walk-out on the franchise in 2012.
The return to action of the veteran midfielder, who re-joined the Blues squad this week along with the rest of the All Blacks, will be delayed by an injury.
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.
Kurtley Beale is eager to prove a point against the Melbourne Rebels in a Super Rugby pre-season match on Saturday, but it has nothing to do with getting one over the club who released him.
With Israel Folau all but guaranteed to line up at fullback for the Waratahs in round one of Super Rugby, Beale and Bernard Foley have been left to fight it out for the flyhalf position.
Rebels centre Tom English says that the Melbourne Super Rugby franchise will be more focused on defence in 2014 instead of the “razzle dazzle”.
The Rebels have always had a good attacking game but their weakness has been in their defence which has let tries slip through.
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.
David Pocock will make his return from injury when he leads the Brumbies in their pre-season clash with the Highlanders in Queenstown this weekend.
Highlanders’ head coach, Jamie Joseph, has named an inexperienced starting XV to play the Brumbies at Queenstown Recreation Ground on Friday.
Seven players in the starting XV will pull on the Highlanders jersey for the first time, namely; Craig Millar, Gareth Evans, Lee Allan, Tom Franklin, Richard Buckman, Winston Stanley and Patrick Osborne.
He may have a long way to go, but former Rugby League star Benji Marshall has set his sights on eventually playing for the All Blacks.
The talented new Blues recruit is set to take his first steps on that journey when the Auckland franchise face the Hurricanes in a pre-season friendly this weekend, but he has made it clear that the ultimate goal is to play Test rugby for New Zealand.
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.
Hurricanes wing and centre Alapati Leiua is believed to have signed a three year deal with London Wasps that will see him moving to England after the Super Rugby season.
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.
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.
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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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 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.
London Wasps have moved to bring in experienced Australian scrumhalf Brett Sheehan until the end of the season.
Following Jack Moates’ injury earlier this year, Dai Young has added to his options at No.9 with the signing of Sheehan from the Western Force until the end of the 2013 / 2014 season.
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 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.