Luke Watson has confirmed that he has signed a 3-year deal with Eastern Province Kings starting in 2011.
South Africa fell between chairs with their tactics in the early stages of Saturday’s defeat to the Barbarians, but that does not have to be a concern ahead of next year’s World Cup.
Yes, I know it was the second stringers; it was a team full of young players; some of the players haven’t played for 4 weeks and were just a little of the boil; the team came back well and could have won had we landed all our kicks but let’s stop the damn excuses.
This game demonstrated exactly what is wrong with Springbok rugby. There is firstly a huge gap between our A-team and our second stingers. So stop this infuriating tendency to think some sort of young star is going to sort our problems. What huge difference did the Beast make when he came on? Continue reading
We have reached the end of the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Season for 2010, but that does not mean that Rugby-Talk will close over this period.
We will still cover the IRB Sevens Series in George over the coming weekend and the dribbles of news which comes our way from all over and some of the Northern Hemisphere games and results.
In addition we will cover the Proteas vs India Cricket Tour, both on the Twenty Over Format, the OID’s and of course the 5-Day Tests, the first Test starts on Thursday 16 December.
The Ashes series between Australia and England is currently played in Australia. A daily Cricket thread covering International Cricket will be posted here.
Barbarians (19) 26 / Springboks (3) 20 (Final Score)
The Barbarians and the Springboks met at Twickenham, North London, at 16:30 SA Time on Saturday in the last match for Southern Hemisphere rugby interest for 2010. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 2, M-Net and SuperSport HD on TV in SA.
It was an error-ridden match with lots of penalties by the French referee and most of the excitement came from the Barbarians in the first 20 minutes.
The Barbarians scored 4 tries, the Springboks 3.
Kicking to posts by Elton Jantjies was abysmal.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) held its last General Council meeting for the year on Friday in Newlands. The Council agreed to adopt the policy pertaining to the New Zealand Maori, which now paves the way for matches between South African teams and the Maoris.
“Africa’s Major” tournament, the Nedbank Golf Challenge, is underway at Sun City.
Much has been made lately of the ‘style’ of rugby different nations play. It is a topic I always found interesting because this moves away from the general rugby analysis we are used to and touches on the very thing that makes us uniquely South African. Continue reading
The Springboks and Barbarians goes toe to toe on Saturday 4 December 2010 at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time.
This game is difficult to judge, it is a festival game and we should see a very different playing style from a Springbok team which shows 12 changes from last week’s side. All the youngsters and “Fringe-Bokke” gets game time this week.
The International Rugby Board has announced the Match Official appointments for the 2011 Six Nations Championship, which will be played between February 4 and March 19.
The HSBC Dubai Sevens is happening, this is the 1st event yearly in the IRB Sevens Calaendar.
Nick Mallett does not share the pessimism about South African rugby, and believes Peter de Villiers’s Springboks are headed for next year’s World Cup semi-finals with New Zealand and Australia.
Eat your heart out, all you STATS CRAZY freaks, here’s some of the End Of Year Tours stats:
We give some statistical totals for the three-week period when the International Board. Test window was open. There may be some easy ones – most tries scored and fewest tries, most penalties conceded and fewest penalties, most penalties scored and most penalty attempts missed, line-out throws and failures. And you can see who the most penalised player is.
The international between the Barbarians and South Africa will go ahead as scheduled at Twickenham on Saturday, despite the current cold weather.
With a host of domestic club games, scheduled for this weekend, already called off because of the frosty conditions and heavy snowfall, there were fears the Twickenham encounter may also fall foul of the weather.
Earl Rose’s chances of returning to Super Rugby next year suffered a major setback when he wasn’t included in the Cheetahs preliminary 42-man training squad.
The versatile players has joined Griquas following his fall from grace at the Lions, which makes him available for the Cheetahs in the Super 15.
English players who opt to play for foreign clubs after the 2011 World Cup will no longer be selectable for the national team, the Rugby Football Union announced Thursday.
The RFU’s move is designed to give England the best chance of winning the World Cup when it is staged on home soil in 2015.
I hope this is a joke. No seriously, I hope that Peter de Villiers was sarcastic in his interview in the build up to the Baa-baa’s test.
Don’t know what I am referring to?
Let me help.
Lionel Mapoe’s run of bad luck continues after he was ruled out of any action at this year’s Emirates Airline Dubai Sevens with an ankle injury.
For a player who was more in the headlines off the field following a contractual tussle between the Cheetahs and Sharks over his services, Mapoe was to use the return to the field as a boost after not playing since March.
Now back in the less glamorous surrounds of his French club, the once wunderkind Francois Steyn will be left to reflect on a funny old November with the Springboks.
Vodacom Blue Bulls legend John Mametsa has decided to call it a day on his playing career.
Argentina face the daunting task of joining the top three rugby union teams in the world, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, in an expanded Tri-Nations from 2012.
All Blacks and Crusaders captain Richie McCaw has been named the International Rugby Board Player of the Year for the third time.
The 29-year-old flanker is the first player to receive the prestigious accolade three times, as well as in consecutive years, cementing his position as one of the greats of the Game.
The accolade completes a hat-trick of IRB Awards for New Zealand announced , with the All Blacks named IRB Team of the Year 2010 and Graham Henry unveiled as IRB Coach of the Year for a record fourth time.
First Andries Strauss, Sharks centre, and now Werner Kruger, Bulls tight head prop, answered the Springbok S.O.S. call to join the Springboks in the UK for the last match of the season against the Barbarians at Twickenham, this Saturday.
Lambie will start at 15 and Janjties will start at 10 for Saturdays game against the Barbarians. Continue reading
Following the Springboks victory of England this weekend, I read with interest how the English press announced that South Africa showed they will be a force in the World Cup. Continue reading
Once again the All Blacks are the pacesetters in world rugby. A fantastic 93 per cent winning record in 2010 is light years ahead of the next in the rankings and provides plenty of confidence for 2011. Continue reading
As the international season winds up, Greg Growden rates the top competitors before next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Graham Henry believes that new laws and a faster paced game mean that players would be better served by having two referees in control.
Ireland were the only significant climbers in the top 10 of the latest IRB World Rankings, released on Monday.
Wallaby playmaker Matt Giteau will get the chance to show his class when he captains a star-studded Barbarians against the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday.
Giteau will feature at flyhalf in his third appearance for the BaaBaas and will want to make a strong impression having been dropped from the Australian starting line-up on their European tour by coach Robbie Deans.
In London to cover the last two games of the Springbok tour to the UK, it seems I am part of an ever shrinking group of people that not only believe in, but love the Barbarians concept.
In this professional era it seems we are happy (or forced) to let the once legendary traditions of rugby past just to slide into ignominy…
A new points system is expected to be launched when the Super 14 expands to a Super 15 Rugby tournament in February next year.
The Barbarians squad to take on the Springboks at Twickenham on Saturday is the following:
Is former All Blacks prop Kees Meeuws heading for Port Elizabeth to end his rugby career with the Eastern Province Kings?
Wow! I don’t know what game some of the reporters were watching, but I thought it was an excellent rugby match and classic Test match stuff! Hard, bruising tackles, rock solid defenses, no one giving an inch, and men dying for their inches…well amost. Continue reading