Super Rugby
In the first week of discussion of Super Rugby squad contenders for 2014 (23 to 29 December), we will discuss 2 positions in seperate Articles (Props & Hookers) and also seperate the Articles of the 5 SA Super Rugby participating franchises.
That means 10 Super Rugby Articles every week from now on.
The basic idea is to discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS in the Cell C Sharks 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
In the first week of discussion of Super Rugby squad contenders for 2014 (23 to 29 December), we will discuss 2 positions in seperate Articles (Props & Hookers) and also seperate the Articles of the 5 SA Super Rugby participating franchises.
That means 10 Super Rugby Articles every week from now on.
The basic idea is to discuss the players IN the Super Rugby Group, and not all the options beyond that.
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS in the Vodacom Bulls 2014 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
The year was full of spectacular moments and performances as well as disappointing lows and infamous incidents; we name and shame the best and worst in our 2013 Awards.
New Zealand and Wales ruled their respective hemispheres for the second successive year, the All Blacks enjoying a flawless 2013 campaign.
Reports out of Argentina suggest that the Pumas are lining up a bid to secure a Super Rugby franchise in time for the 2016 season.
The Blues have been dealt a significant blow with the loss of experienced lock Culum Retallick for six months.
28-Year old Retallick ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee during a training drill on Tuesday.
International Sports Apparel Company BLK has today unveiled “The Cell C Sharks” home and away replica jerseys ahead of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
The playing and replica jersey design project commenced immediately following the announcement of a partnership between the Super Rugby franchise and the rapidly expanding BLK brand for the next five years.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have confirmed that cross-code star Sonny Bill Williams has signed with the Chiefs for 2015.
Williams, who will continue in rugby league with the Sydney Roosters in 2014, has signed a two-year deal, meaning he could appear for the All Blacks at the 2015 World Cup.
He will return to the Chiefs, for whom he played in 2012, in the Super Rugby competition.
Cell C Sharks Director of Rugby Jake White has given an enthusiastic thumbs-up to his team’s Super Rugby draw for 2014 as he looks to build on the Absa Currie Cup successes.
Whilst the euphoria of being crowned Absa Currie Cup Champs back in October may have died down, there is no denying the value that winning the trophy does for a team. Just like losing is a habit, so success breeds further success and White will be hoping that the players continue to enjoy the winning feeling as they chase a maiden Vodacom Super Rugby crown.
A big squad of players – including eight of the 2014 WP Rugby Institute intake – have been put through their paces in recent weeks under the watchful eyes of the senior coaching staff and, of course, Stephan du Toit (the DHL Stormers’ head of strength and conditioning).
Now, the players will take a deserved break – officially termed a “maintenance phase of conditioning” – before reconvening on Tuesday 7 January 2014.
In 2013 the whole Lions side did not take part in Super Rugby, however some of their frontline players were out on loan with other South African Super Rugby franchises. In addition a number of South African players were injured for most of, if not all, of Super Rugby in 2013, whereas some seasoned campaigners did not take part in the Currie Cup, due to injury.
Amongst the Stormers, we can look forward to seeing Schalk Burger, Peter Grant and Jaco Taute back in Super Rugby, whilst Demetri Catrakilis will be determined to make his switch from the Southern Kings to the Stormers, a memorable one.
Amongst the Sharks there will be a total rebirth in the coaching and administrative setup, with John Smit now the CEO of the Sharks, Jake White the Head Coach and Director Of Rugby and a totally changed coaching formula, having replaced John Plumtree. Then there is also the return to Super Rugby of Frans Steyn (who was in France in the 2013 Super Rugby season) and maybe Ryan Kankowski will be back as well. In addition there is the addition of some Southern Kings imports, like SP Marais and Justin Downey and if rumours could be believed, even the possible addition of Luke Watson.
At the Bulls we will see the return to the field of Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann, Francois Hougaard, Louis Fouché as well as a possibility that Victor Matfield and Derick Hougaard could make their return to Super Rugby. In addition Bandise Maku, Vleis Engelbrecht and David Bullbring were added with their migration from the Southern Kings.
The Cheetahs will have Johan Goosen back at pivot and the luxury of some astute buys from elsewhere in South Africa. They will have the services of Heinrich Brüssow back at openside and their whole squad will be richer for the experience they garnered in 2013.
The Blues’ Rugby League convert Benji Marshall is counting on the guidance of Graham Henry as he prepares for his first Super Rugby season.
The World Cup-winning All Blacks coach is now a technical adviser with the Blues, and Marshall said that he has been a valuable sounding board in pre-season.
It is mid December 2013, 14 days till we welcome the new year.
Tell us about your holiday plans and / or your plans for the Festive season, coming up!
Rugby-Talk’s holiday plans and Festive season plans include keeping you up to date on the doings and screwings in the rugby world, but we acknowledge that Southern Hemisphere rugby news is in short supply.
In light of the above we’ll also focus on a bit of cricket in the lean times and most importantly we’ll start this week with detailed discussions on the SQUAD MEMBERS of the different South African Super Rugby sides for 2014. For each player position we’ll have a seperate article for each franchise, for instance there will be 5 seperate articles discussing the props, same with hookers, locks, looseforwards, scrumhalves, flyhalves, midfield & back 3. That equates to 10 new Super Rugby articles a week for 4 weeks, thus 40 new Super Rugby articles in total to feast on.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie is not concerned by the possibility that the Waratahs may play Israel Folau at centre next year.
The exodus in Port Elizabeth continues with confirmation that Southern Kings coach Matt Sexton will leave the union and return to New Zealand this month.
Sexton, who joined the union in June 2012 to assist them in their preparations for their entry into Super Rugby, has decided to return home for personal reasons.
The Vodacom Bulls named a squad of 37 players to assemble in early January in Pretoria for a training camp to be held at Sun City during the weekend of 10-12 January 2014.
The squad was named after three weeks of pre-season training at Loftus Versfeld in preparation of next year’s Vodacom Super Rugby season.
SANZAR are hoping to finalise their plans for the restructuring of Super Rugby early in the new year, with local derbies shaping up as a bone of contention.
With the current broadcast deal expiring at the end of next season, speculation is rife about the form that Super Rugby will take in 2016 and beyond.
The partnership between the Golden Lions Rugby Union and MTN South Africa came to an end as of Friday 13 December 2013, with the company opting not to renew their sponsorship of the GLRU teams.
After a fruitful three-year relationship, the telecommunications giant have chosen to realign their sponsorship portfolio and will no longer sponsor a rugby outfit.
All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter will have surgery to remove bone spurs from his right ankle, which is a separate issue from his Achilles injury.
The proposed exhibition match between Super Rugby champions the Chiefs and European Cup champions Toulon will not take place this season.
The Chiefs released their pre-season schedule on Friday, which sees them face the Reds and the Blues and not Toulon after both teams failed to get clearance from their national bodies.
Springbok World Cup-winning prop CJ van der Linde has signed for Premiership club London Irish for the remainder of the season.
Five key members of the Springbok squad in 2013 will go head-to-head for the annual SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, while the Steval Pumas have been rewarded for their great form this season with nominations in four categories.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, the winner in 2008 who led South Africa to 10 victories in 12 Tests in 2013, will go up against Bismarck du Plessis, Eben Etzebeth, Willie le Roux and Duane Vermeulen for the most prestigious individual award in South African rugby.
Australian Rugby Union CEO Bill Pulver pulled no punches about what he thinks of Quade Cooper’s boxing career.
Former Reds and Wallabies scrumhalf Sam Cordingley will join the Queensland Rugby Union in 2014 as Queensland Reds Rugby Operations Manager.
Crusaders Chairman Murray Ellis has announced that the Canterbury franchise achieved a break-even result for the 2013 financial year.
All Blacks hooker Hika Elliot has been ruled out of Super Rugby next year after undergoing neck surgery and may quit rugby altogether.
Wallabies loose forward Scott Higginbotham has been named as the Melbourne Rebels captain for the 2014 Super Rugby season.
Brumbies back Matt Toomua says that even though his selection for the Wallabies has boosted his bargaining power he will not shop around and will stick with the Canberra Super Rugby franchise.
However Toomua says that the Australian Super Rugby salary cap could complicate matters if the Brumbies hope to retain their current squad as the players start to look for new deals.
The Sharks will play a warm-up match against English Premiership club Saracens at Allianz Park in London on January 25 next year.
adidas ‘unlocked’ the DHL Stormers home and away kit for the 2014 season at a launch event held today (Thursday, December 5) at the adidas Performance store in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.
Three teams of adidas Storm Chasers – made up of a DHL Stormers player, media personality and a Super Fan (selected from the adidas 3Stripes loyalty programme) – raced around Cape Town looking for clues to help them complete challenges akin to The Amazing Race, in order to reveal the 2014 kits.
The South African Rugby Union’s executive committee is set to hold a meeting here on Thursday to discuss the future structure of the Super Rugby competition.
More teams will to be added from 2016, when a new TV broadcast deal will come into effect.
Quade Cooper is set to meet with Reds CEO Jim Carmichael to discuss the future of the flyhalf’s budding boxing career.
In preparation of the 2014 Super Rugby season, the pre-season is underway before the Christmas / New Year break later in December.
So, what happens to the remaining Southern Kings players, who now have to sit out of Super Rugby again? Whilst a lot have already found franchises like the Bulls, Sharks, Cheetahs to sign for and others are available on loan to these other franchises, there is still a number of players who want to find a spot to play Super Rugby in 2014. Sergeal Petersen, young wing sensation of the EP Kings and Southern Kings is one such player.
Then we move over to up-and-coming youngsters who have now played Currie Cup rugby and questions are asked whether they will step up and rock Super Rugby the way they did the Currie Cup. We specifically look at Cheslin Kolbe, who set the world alight at Western Province in the Currie Cup.
Brumbies centre Christian Lealiifano will undergo ankle surgery that will rule him out of the start of next year’s Super Rugby season.
Despite being axed as Wallabies skipper, James Horwill will not reliquish captaincy of the Reds according to coach Richard Graham.
The New Zealand Rugby Union, via the All Blacks coaches, high performance unit and player’s association, look to have given the green light for the Chiefs to head to France in February to play Toulon.
The fixture, now looking increasingly likely to go ahead, will see for the first time the Super Rugby winners play the European Cup champions.