All Blacks
Herewith ALL the Super Rugby team sheets as they were announced for week 8 of Super Rugby 2011.
Bulls fullback Zane Kirchner has been given the green light to play against the Crusaders in Timaru on Saturday.
The fullback recovered from a knee strain and will front up against the home side in the Bulls second match of their 2011 Super Rugby tour to Australasia.
The Sharks have lost lock Alistair Hargreaves for three weeks as a result of the shoulder injury he sustained playing against the Stormers in Durban last weekend.
SANZAR have released the match officials for the eighth Round of the 2011 Super Rugby tournament and Nathan Pearce starts the action for this week on Friday.
This week the Blues, Chiefs and Rebels have a BYE so there is one match less than last week. Friday has one match and Saturday has five matches.
Jonathan Kaplan will finish the action on Saturday in Durban.
Fourie du Preez may be nowhere near his best, but even when playing at less than a third of his capacity he is still better than any other scrumhalf.
FNB Maties, the 12-time SAA National Club Champions, firmly closed the book on their disappointing FNB Varsity Cup campaign when they recorded a resounding win on the opening weekend of the Western Province Super League A last Saturday.
Sharks (6) 6 / Stormers (13) 16 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the DHL Stormers at Kings Park, Durban at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
In a hard and brutal battle the Stormers overcame the Sharks on Sharks home turf, resulting in the 3rd successive loss in a row for the Sharks now in the Super Rugby Series of 2011. The Stormers on the other hand stays the only unbeaten side in the Super Rugby Series of 2011.
Lions (14) 25 / Reds (10) 30 (Final Score)
The MTN Lions hosted the Reds at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 15:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Lions took the early initiative and built up an early lead with the Reds being penalised relentlessly but gradually the Reds came more and more into the game and by Halftime had almost caught up. Then in the second half the Reds started dominating proceedings and eventually took the lead and then extended the lead gradually. Late in the game the Lions came back a bit with 2 penalties of their own, eventually going down to the Reds by a 5-point margin.
Hurricanes (3) 14 / Bulls (15) 26 (Final Score)
The Hurricanes hosted the Bulls at McLean Park, Napier at 08:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Bulls started well with the wind and the early penalties as well as 2 Morné Steyn drop goals set up a good early lead. After that the canes were always playing catch-up rugby and eventually the Bulls ground out a 12-point win, in New Zealand.
Blues (14) 29 / Cheetahs (3) 22 (Final Score)
The Blues hosted the Cheetahs at Okara Park, Whangarei at 06:30 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Blues bagged 5 Log points, with the gutsy Cheetahs coming back hard at them with constructive attacking rugby after the Cheetahs played dumb helter-skelter rugby in the first half.
In an official Lions Media release, the Lions have announced that Lions Professional Rugby is now officially called the MTN Lions. This follows the recent signing of a three-year sponsorship deal by the Mobile operator.
… but that’s not all…
South Africans will know on 2 May whether John Smit will again lead the Springboks at the World Cup.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers says he will speak to the Lions about acquiring the services of fullback Frans Steyn from French club Racing Metro before the end of the Super Rugby season.
Herewith ALL the Super Rugby team sheets as they were announced for week 7 of Super Rugby 2011.
Schalk Burger makes a welcome return to the Stormers side and resumes the captaincy for their Super Rugby encounter the Sharks at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
Lock Steven Sykes looks set to become the latest Sharks player to leave the franchise to further his career overseas at the end of the current Super Rugby season.
There were smiles all around with the news that the Vodacom Bulls talisman Francois Hougaard returns to the side for this weekend’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Hurricanes in Napier.
The Sharks are sweating on an injury to replacement fly half Jacques-Louis Potgieter who has been sent for scan on his calf.
The potential injury will be a big blow for the Sharks as they have already lost Patrick Lambie for about three weeks to a finger injury.
Four candidates have been identified by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers to assist the team in retaining their status as world champions in New Zealand later this year.
“I have a few people in mind and at this moment I can think of four,” De Villiers said on Wednesday.
The two Semi-finals of the Varsity Cup was played today, the 1st match at 17:00 and the 2nd match at 19:00. This was the combined match thread for discussion of the Games. The matches were broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
UCT (45) 57 / Shimlas (3) 20 (Final Score)
UJ (6) 11 / Tukkies (14) 25 (Final Score)
The Bulls ended their losing streak when they held on to beat the Lions 30 / 23 at Loftus Versfeld in a tightly contested match.
Springbok and Cheetahs flanker Heinrich Brussow will miss the next month of Super Rugby after being injured against the Reds.
The unbeaten and table-topping Stormers will face the Sharks without one of their key players, flank Pieter Louw.
Coach Allister Coetzee confirmed on Sunday that Louw will miss the trip to Durban, after he sustained what appears to be a serious knee injury in the 51-16 win over the Western Force at the weekend.
Our friends at NewsPOD Media delivers again.
The DHL Stormers triumphed in their 5th match of the Super Rugby tournament with an impressive 51-16 victory over the Western Force.
Crusaders (34) 44 / Sharks (18) 28 (Final Score)
The Crusaders and the Sharks did battle in a game “Hosted” by the Crusaders at Twickenham, London, England at 17:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on TV in SA.
What a game!
Scintilating rugby, game of all time in the History of Super Rugby!
5 Tries by the Crusaders, 4 tries by the Sharks.
Bulls (10) 30 / Lions (6) 23 (Final Score)
The Bulls hosted the Lions at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The match started with a lot of errors both ways but gradually go better until late in the 2nd Half when the tries suddenly started raining in.
The Bulls deserved their win.
Stormers (27) 51 / Force (16) 16 (Final Score)
The Stormers hosted the Western Force at Newlands, Cape Town today. The Stormers comprehensively outplayed the Force in every aspect of the game. The Stormers scored 6 tries to the 1 try scored by the Force. Take a bow the Stormers tight 5, they were huge. The Force were basically just a one man show with James O’Conner the only real stand out player.
Reds (29) 41 / Cheetahs (3) 8 (Final Score)
The Reds hosted the Cheetahs at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane at 06:30 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Cheetahs played stupid rugby, letting the Reds run at them from all over and making a plethera of simple errors.
The Reds were enterprising and red-hot, blasting the Cheetahs away with consumate ease.
Wynand Olivier renewed his contract with the Blue Bulls Company and will be available for the Vodacom Bulls and Blue Bulls till the end of 2013.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) made a small operating profit – as per forecast – in a year of depressed revenues, the Union announced on Wednesday.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter has replaced Patrick Lambie in the Sharks team to face the Crusaders at Twickenham on Sunday.
The World Cup is looming, competitions gone by teaches us, that experience wins World Cups, how that is applicable to 1995 is a mystery though, but that is beside the point. Pundits in South Africa and here on Rugby-Talk, says we can’t win without the old guard, being Fourie, Victor, John Smit, Bakkies, Pakslae and the like, all this while Tim Noakes says, the old guard is overplayed and under rested, and therefore unable to live up to their expected form come NZ 2011. This begs the question: “Can we win the World Cup without our Senior Boks?”
Herewith ALL the Super Rugby team sheets as they were announced for week 6 of Super Rugby 2011.
The Vodacom Bulls were dealt a major setback when it emerged that Springbok prop Gurthro Steenkamp has fractured a bone in his arm and will be out of action for between 6-12 weeks.
Sharks coach John Plumtree confirmed that his star flyhalf, Patrick Lambie, will be out of action for three weeks with a finger injury he picked up in their last match on tour against the Chiefs. Continue reading