Forty years ago, Syd Nomis’s intercept try against Brian Lochore’s All Blacks swept him into Springbok folklore. As Afrikaans radio broadcaster Gerhard Viviers shouted breathlessly “Sydie … Sydie … Sydie!”, Nomis sprinted for the line, securing a 17-6 victory for the Boks.
Arguably the first significant curse of the still-sweltering “silly season” in South African rugby has struck last season’s Super Rugby runners-up, the Stormers.
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“Unlike in previous years, there is no limit on the size of the squad. Franchises can nominate as many names as they like,” said regional tournament director Johan Botes.
Pumped and ready to rumble. How the South African Super rugby coaches feel before the start of the season.
The warm-up game between the Stormers and Boland Kavalliers took place early this evening… we only had opportunity to give you score updates, from time to time because the 2 Six Nations matches overlapped this game.
Stormers (12) 34 / Boland (3) 6 (Final Score)
Scotland (3) 6 / Wales (16) 24 (Final Score)
Scotland hosted Wales at Murrayfield, Edinburgh at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SS1 on TV in SA.
Wales started well but the game fizzeled out a bit and eventually Wales deserved their win, ground out the hard way.
England (31) 59 / Italy (6) 13 (Final Score)
England hosted Italy at Twickenham at 16:30 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SS1 on TV in SA.
England absolutely demolished Italy, with Chris Ashton scoring an impressive 4 tries in the process.
Mitchell is the man to turn pussycats into Lions. This article is the red flag the Lions needed.
It seems the powers that be in Rugby just can’t let sleeping dogs lie. New interpretations, definitions, and clarifications on the Rules of the game were recently distributed by IRB via the South African Rugby Referees Association.
Some you may have previously seen or been aware of, some not. The full list is under. Continue reading
Experienced South African sports and rugby communications consultant Anthony Mackaiser has been appointed Communications and Marketing Manager of the recently established SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia Rugby) organisation.
Melbourne Rebels coach Rod Macqueen says that his new Super rugby team must be a competitive franchise from day one.
The Rebels are Super rugby’s newest franchise and they will need to build support and a fan base quickly as he most gruelling provincial rugby competition will quickly any weaknesses.
The Crusaders ended their pre-season trial matches with a 40-21 victory over the Highlanders at Whitestone Contracting Stadium in Oamaru.
The Stormers have revealed that winger Gio Aplon will miss the next three weeks of rugby due to injury.
In exactly 1 week from this morning, the Super Rugby Competition of 2011 kicks off.
SANZAR has released the match officials for Week 1 of the new Vodacom Super Rugby tournament with Bryce Lawrence taking charge of the first ever Super Rugby match in a tournament with 15 teams.
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Many rugby players will go down in history as legends, very few will be classed as a genius. Continue reading
The Bulls will not only be fighting to keep their title as the best team in Super Rugby, they will also be fighting to keep their players. Continue reading
Round 2 of the Six Nations Championship will be played this weekend. Our Superbru Predictor of the Week EEE, leads the pack on 6.5 points. Get your predictions in before the cut off on Saturday 12 February, game starts at 16:30 SA time.
Three tries and a 19-3 lead after only 13 minutes tell the general story of the match between the Lions and the Argentine champions Tucuman at Coca-Cola Park on Wednesday night.
South African concerns that the expanded Super Rugby tournament will lead to players suffering from exhaustion at this year’s World Cup have been laughed off by their Australian counterparts.
With their preparation for their defence of their Vodacom Super Rugby crown complete, the Vodacom Bulls gave their players the best news they could receive ahead of the long season ahead – a five-day holiday to rest.
The annual Boland Cavaliers vs DHL Stormers warm-up match, hosted by Boland Rugby, will take place at the DHL Newlands Rugby Stadium on 12 February 2011, with Kurt Darren & Friends taking care of the pre-match entertainment.
The Lions will be playing Tucuman from Argentina on Wednesday, 9 February 2011 in their second last warm up match ahead of the 2011 Super Rugby competition.
The Lions face the EP Kings on Friday and the team will be announced on Thursday.
All Blacks and Crusaders captain Richie McCaw will miss the first month of the Super Rugby season after fracturing a bone in his foot.
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The dark clouds did not hang over Loftus Versfeld for very long before Zane Kirchner delivered the silver lining with a broad smile.
28 August 1976 – All Blacks 42 / Natal 13
The All Blacks have resonated well with Natal rugby over the years maybe because of it being predominantly an English community -the last outpost of the British Empire as Tommy Bedford described it in 1970- but the friendships was renewed and McLean writes in general very positively about Natal rugby as he did in his book about the 1970 tour. The feeling I get it that he had a bit of soft spot for the Banana-boys and was just a little to elaborate with his praise and appreciation of players and province.
The match against Natal was, however, interesting in many ways. Natal -not one of the top provinces in SA in 1976- was playing reasonably good rugby and was certainly no walkover having beaten Transvaal 7-6 just a fortnight ago. Continue reading
Maties (6) 32 / Pukke (6) 6 (Final Score)
FNB Maties hosted FNB Pukke at the Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch at 19:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
With both teams starting slowly and the halftime score at 6 / 6 it did not look too exciting but Maties came out firing in the second half and scored a furthr 26 points to none by Pukke, eventually ending as comfortable winners by 32 / 6.
Following a directive to all referees from the IRB issued on 21st January 2011, Rugby followers can expect to see dangerous (high) tackles penalised more severely than previously.
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Shimlas 10 / Ikeys 23 (Final Score)
Shimlas hosted FNB UCT (Ikeys) at Shimla Park, Bloemfontein at 17:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 and CSN on TV in SA.
FNB UCT controlled the game well and led right through, with Shimlas making far too many basic mistakes.
This mtch was scrappy in general.
It is not often that the losing coach is the happier one in the post-match press conference. Continue reading
A rib injury to Vodacom Bulls fullback, Zane Kirchner, blotted a perfect evening for his team’s 68-5 victory over the Pumas in Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday.
The Maties have won three titles in a row and even though some find winning boring – those who lose tend to find it boring, it seems! – there is no doubting the overall excellence of the Men in Maroon since 2008.
The executive council of the SA Rugby Union apparently became concerned at the amount of freelancing the Springbok management team did last year, and asked president Oregan Hoskins to convey the message that it was time the World Cup became their priority.
The expanded Super rugby competition, particularly its emphasis on bone-crushing derby matches, holds peril Springbok coach Peter de Villiers admits may keep him up at night.
Melbourne’s eminent entry into the Super Rugby club took another step in the right direction when the Rebels showed they truly belong.
Although the Rebels lost 14-19 to the seven-time champion Crusaders, they attracted a crowd of 13,013 for the first ever Rugby Union game at the new state of the art stadium in Melbourne.