European Rugby
Wales coach Warren Gatland has revealed that his star fullback Leigh Halfpenny will miss the rest of the season after dislocating his shoulder in the 29-18 loss to England at Twickenham.
Edinburgh rugby player, Izak van der Westhuizen, who also played for the Free State Cheetahs, will be joining the EP Kings in June.
EP Rugby CEO, Charl Crous said the 28-year-old lock out of Kimberly, had signed a three year deal with the Kings.
England (20) 29 / 18 (15) Wales (Final Score)
England and Wales did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Twickenham, London at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 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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Scotland (14) 17 / 19 (9) France (Final Score)
Scotland and France did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Murrayfield, Edinburgh at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT, 18:00 French Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 7 on TV in SA.
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Ireland (17) 41 / 7 (7) Italy (Final Score)
Ireland and Italy did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 15:30 Italy Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 7 on TV in SA.
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Gloucester No 8 Ben Morgan was the one injury-enforced change to England’s starting line-up announced by coach Stuart Lancaster on Friday for their Six Nations international against Wales at Twickenham this weekend.
Morgan replaces Billy Vunipola, the man he came on for during England’s 13-10 win over Ireland at Twickenham last time out, after his fellow back-row forward was ruled out of the final two rounds of the Six Nations with an ankle injury.
France manager Philippe Saint-Andre has made seven changes to the team that put in a dismal display against Wales as Les Bleus seek to put their Six Nations challenge back on track when they face Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Saint-Andre has remained loyal to Jules Plisson at flyhalf for the fourth match in a row, pairing the Stade Français player with Maxime Machenaud and relegating Jean-Marc Doussain to the bench.
Ireland team announced on Thursday to play Italy in a Six Nations international at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road on Saturday.
Italy will be without injured captain Sergio Parisse but will start with a new half-back pairing of Luciano Orquera and Tito Tebaldi for Saturday’s Six Nations clash against Ireland in Dublin.
Parisse, who along with Martin Castrogiovanni picked up a record 104th cap for Italy against Scotland in Rome, is suffering from a calf injury and is just one of several third row players missing from Jacques Brunel’s squad.
Scotland have made three changes including recalls for Kelly Brown and Geoff Cross in their Six Nations championship match against France at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Cross has been rewarded for his contribution off the bench in the 21-20 win against Italy, with the starting berth at tight-head and David Denton enlisted for the back-row in place of Ryan Wilson who has been laid low by a tonsillitis bug over the last few days. Brown starts instead of Chris Fusaro.
Wales have named their team to play England on Sunday in the Six Nations at Twickenham with Lions duo Jonathan Davies and Alun Wyn Jones returning to the starting team.
British and Irish Lion Davies returns from injury to reunite Wales’ most capped centre pairing as he lines up alongside Jamie Roberts.
The fourth round of the 2014 RBS 6 Nation Championship takes place this weekend with the first match kicking off in Dublin on Saturday where Ireland host Italy. Scotland are hosts to France shortly after this, while the final game of the weekend takes place on Sunday with England hosting Wales at Twickenham.
There has been a bit of a gap in Six Nations action with no games played last weekend and so the thinking has been that this may be a good time to share an article to remind us of the action from the previous round.
Scotland have made three changes to their pack, among which Kelly Brown is recalled as captain, for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations Championship match against France at Murrayfield.
Edinburgh Rugby confirmed on Tuesday that scrum-half and captain Greig Laidlaw will leave the club to join English Premiership side Gloucester at the end of the season.
Scotland were boosted by the availability of stalwart tight head prop Euan Murray for this Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations encounter against France at Murrayfield.
Murray has yet to feature in the tournament this year due to an injured thumb.
Meanwhile, France hooker Dimitri Szarzewski has become the latest in a long list of French players who will be unable to play in the match. He misses out due to an ankle injury.
This means that France will fielding their third choice hooker on Saturday.
Edinburgh Rugby won the tightest of contests against the Ospreys 31-25 with the decisive contributions coming from Carl Bezuidenhout and Grayson Hart in their match in round sixteen of the RaboDirect PRO12 last night at Meggetland, Edinburgh’s temporary new home ground.
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has dropped number eight Louis Picamoles from his squad to face Scotland next weekend because he showed a lack of respect towards referee Alain Rolland during Friday’s loss to Wales.
Billy Vunipola will take no further part in the Six Nations due to a sprain to his right ankle.
The Saracens No 8 had a scan on Monday which revealed some ligament damage that will keep him out of action for the rest of the tournament.
French centre Wesley Fofana is unlikely to play any further part in this season’s Six Nations Championship after suffering a broken rib in the 27-6 defeat in Wales according to Clermont.
Long-serving Edinburgh Rugby duo Ben Cairns and Steven Lawrie have been forced to retire from rugby due to long-term knee injuries.
The news ends the tenure of the long-serving local lads, both capped for Scotland, who will now pursue careers on the other side of the white paint.
South African scrumhalf and kicker, Rory Kockott, has committed his future to Castres, with the French champions announcing that he had signed a new three-year deal.
English rugby legend Jonny Wilkinson celebrated his 100th match in the Top 14 in suitable fashion on Sunday as he kicked all of European champion Toulon’s points as they secured a 15-9 win at relegation-threatened Bayonne.
The 34-year-old landed four penalties and one drop goal to give Toulon only their second away win in eight away matches this campaign and consolidated their place in the top six places for the post-season playoffs – they are five points ahead of seventh placed Toulouse.
Top-level sport is often decided by small margins. Take the events in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.
Scotland trailed Italy 20-18 with the clock showing that 79 minutes had elapsed. Scotland had one chance to snatch a desperately-needed win.
England (3) 13 / 10 (0) Ireland (Final Score)
England and Ireland did battle in the Six Nations at
Twickenham, London at 18:00 SA Time (16:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 8 on TV in SA and BBC1 in UK.
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Italy (13) 20 / 21 (3) Scotland (Final Score)
Italy and Scotland did battle in the Six Nations at
Stadio Olimpico, Rome at 15:30 SA Time (14:30 Rome Time, 13:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 8 on TV in SA and BBC1 in UK.
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Wales (20) 27 / 6 (6) France (Final Score)
Wales and France did battle in the Six Nations tournament at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 22:00 SA Time (20:00 GMT, 21:00 French Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Australia backrow forward George Smith has signed a two-year deal with rising French second division side Lyon, the ProD2 club announced on Friday.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has named an unchanged starting team for Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations showdown with England at Twickenham (kick-off 4pm). Paul O’Connell will lead the side on the occasion of his 90th cap as Ireland seek their first win at Twickenham since 2010.
England named experienced tighthead prop David Wilson in place of the injured Dan Cole in their team to play Ireland in the Six Nations at Twickenham on Saturday.
The inclusion of Wilson on Thursday was the only change in the starting line-up from the side which beat Scotland 20 / 0 at Murrayfield two weeks ago.
Racing Matro flank Wenceslas Lauret returns to the French lineup for the Six Nations match against Wales in the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff on Friday night.
Wales scrumhalf Mike Phillips has been demoted to the bench for Friday’s crunch Six Nations international against unbeaten France in Cardiff.
Kick-off is at 22:00 SA Time (20:00 GMT).
Top-14 outfit Grenoble are confident that they will have Stormers and Springbok wing Gio Aplon on their books for next season, club sources have said on Wednesday.
Scotland have made three changes to their forward pack for Saturday’s Six Nations match against Italy in Rome.
Former England and British & Irish Lions prop Matt Stevens has agreed to return home to Durban and play Super Rugby for the Sharks at the end of this season.
Alan Solomons has lured former IRB Junior World Championship-winning Baby Bok prop Allan Dell to Edinburgh.
Educated at Queens College in Eastern Cape, the promising young prop, who can play on both sides of the scrum, qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother, Joan Carmichael, who was born in Paisley and brought up in Edinburgh.