European Rugby
Leinster (3) 9 / 18 (7) Northampton (Final Score)
Leinster and Northampton Saints did battle in the Heineken Cup at
Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 20:00 SA Time (18:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 8 on TV in SA.
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Perpignan (9) 17 / 18 (3) Munster (Final Score)
Perpicnan and Munster did battle in the Heineken Cup at
Stade Aime Giral at 17:40 SA Time (15:40 GMT, 16:40 France Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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Toulon (15) 32 / 20 (10) Exeter (Final score)
Toulon and Exeter Chiefs did battle in the Heineken Cup at
Stade Felix Mayol, at 15:35 SA Time (14:35 France Time, 13:35 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 8, SH8 on TV in SA.
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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.
New Zealand international lock Ali Williams said on Thursday he is on the verge of prolonging his stay at European champions Toulon beyond the end of this season.
The Irish teams will be looking to back up their clean sweep last week when the second half of the European Cup double-headers get underway this weekend.
All four Irish provinces were on the winning side last week, and the challenge now is for them to repeat the feat against the same opposition at different venues in Round Four.
Bryan Habana’s thigh strain has proved more serious than initially thought and will require surgery which will rule him out for two months.
English Rugby Football Union (RFU) CEO Ian Ritchie is confident that the game has not been affected by spot-fixing.
Ritchie was speaking at a conference where ministers and MPs were discussing corruption in sport.
London Irish are set to announce a takeover of the club by a group of Irish businessmen on Thursday. The club have called a news conference at their training ground in Sunbury for 10:30 GMT, where they will announce further details of the takeover.
South Africans Craig Joubert and Jaco Peyper have been appointed by the International Rugby Board (IRB) to referee in next year’s Six Nations.
Struggling Racing-Metro have been given a boost with news that Welsh centre Jamie Roberts is finally ready to play again after a 12-week injury absence.
The barn-storming back sustained a ligament tear in his left ankle, and has had to watch as his team has struggled despite a raft of big-name signings including Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton and Welsh teammates Dan Lydiate and, more recently, Mike Phillips.
Bath director of rugby Gary Gold has left the Premiership club. The 46-year-old South African took over at the Rec in May 2012, replacing Sir Ian McGeechan.
Racing Metro’s dire performance in Saturday’s 8-32 Heineken Cup thrashing by English side Harlequins prompted the directors to announce that they had switched the mouthwatering Top 14 clash with European champions Toulon away from Stade de France to its own more modest stadium.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana will be sidelined for around three weeks after suffering a thigh strain in Toulon’s 14-9 European Cup win at Exeter on Saturday.
The teams, kick off times, venues and match officials have been announced for this weekend’s Heineken Cup third round clashes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Should weather conditions or travel difficulties prevent matches from going ahead as scheduled, ERC will work with the clubs and match officials to ensure that fixtures are completed as close to the original kick-off time as possible.
English clubs are set for at least one season without any European rugby after they confirmed their refusal to take part in a revamped Heineken Cup next season, despite last week’s decision by their French counterparts to return to the fold.
The chairmen of the 12 Premiership clubs, as well as representatives from Leeds and Bristol, met in London on Thursday.
Wales will have an opportunity to break their SANZAR bogey when they face the world’s top three sides in next year’s November internationals.
The International Rugby Board’s (IRB) top three ranked sides, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia will visit the Millennium Stadium along with Pacific Island nation Fiji.
England’s Premiership Rugby teams could miss out on playing European Rugby next year following the latest developments in Northern Hemisphere rugby row that has gone on for over a year.
Premiership Rugby bosses will meet this week to try and find a solution after French teams back tracked and pulled out of the proposes Rugby Champions Cup.
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.
Australia’s overseas-based rugby players will have to put country over money if they want to play in the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie said he would not consider for World Cup duties any player who was not signed with a Super Rugby club from the start of the 2015 season.
The Premiership clubs have been dealt a huge blow in their quest for a new European competition as the French clubs today agreed to stay in the Heineken Cup for another season.
The Springboks and South African fans on Wednesday received good news in the lead-up to the 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup in England, with the announcement that three of the team’s four round-robin matches will begin at 17:00 (19:00 SA Time) and only one at 20:00 (22:00 SA Time).
The Springboks kick off their Rugby World Cup campaign on 19 September 2015, against the top Asian qualifier at the Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton, at 20:00 (22:00 SA Time).
France scrumhalf Morgan Parra is set to miss the Six Nations opener against England after being ruled out for 10 to 12 weeks with a knee injury, his Top 14 club Clermont said.
The Wallabies will take on France in a three Test series in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney next year in their first tour to Australia since 2009.
Former Italy prop Giampiero De Carli will take up the position as Azzurri forwards coach next season.
Wales (17) 17 / 7 (7) Tonga (Final Score)
Wales and Tonga did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 21:30 SA Time (19:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
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This weekend sees Round 4 of the 2013 End Of Year Tours. It is the last weekend on tour for the Springboks from South Africa, with their last game on tour probably the most difficult one. A a win over France will see the Springboks ending with what can be called a great season.
All in all a good weekend of rugby lies ahead and it will be enjoyed the world over, like always. Here are the head to head stats to help you with your SuperBru picks. Good luck to all sides.
Round Eight of the Pro12 kicks off on Friday night with both Scottish teams in action – early season leaders Glasgow Warriors welcoming Newport Gwent Dragons to Scotstoun, whilst Edinburgh travel to Belfast to face Ulster.
Italian coach Jacques Brunel has made three changes to his starting team for their third and final year-end Test, against Argentina in Rome on Saturday. There is also a positional switch in the backline.
In the Argentina camp, player release has forced Argentina into 5 changes for their closing tour match against Italy on Saturday from the team beaten 40-6 by Wales last weekend.
For the Springboks this is the last weekend of competative rugby in 2013, bar of course the 9 Springboks who have been chosen to represent the Barbarians next weekend.
So, apart from some HSBC Sevens action and a weekend without the Springboks next weekend, the Southern Hemisphere season is fast approaching it’s end.
Just imagine all the Northern Hemisphere rugby and all the cricket we’ll have to get by on in December and Juanuary!
So, this weekend I’m stuck in front of the TVand watching every game I possibly can.
5 Tests will be broadcast live on TV in South Africa this weekend, 1 on Friday, 3 on Saturday and the last 1 on Sunday.
The Wallabies have made eight changes, including four to the starting line-up, for Saturday’s third year-end tour clash and Hopetoun Cup showdown with Scotland at Murrayfield.
The four changes to the starting XV have been made to the backline – with a new midfield pairing of inside centre Mike Harris and outside centre Christian Leali’ifano, along with a new wing pairing of Joe Tomane and Chris Feauai-Sautia.
The 2013 year has been a good year for Springbok Rugby and the cherry on the cake could be placed on the season should the Springboks manage to beat France in their last Test of the year.
Heyneke Meyer is however frustrated about the amount of Cards as well as the amount of penalties his Bok charges have conceded in 2013 and is constantly striving to better Springbok dicipline as he goes along, something (dicipline) he values intensely.
Pieter de Villiers, the former France prop, who is a South African born and bred specimen and current scrumming guru of the Springboks is plotting and working towards Springbok domination in the scrums against his erstwhile team. Pieter knows the French systems and some of the French key players for the weekend well, the question is, can he strike benefit from that in favour of the Springboks.
South African-born loose forwards Antonie Claassen and Bernard le Roux won’t line up against their countrymen when France face the Springboks on Saturday.
Melbourne Rebels prop Eddie Aholelei replaces the suspended Sona Taumalolo in the Tonga front row for Friday’s Test against Wales in Cardiff.
Wallabies centre Matt Toomua will miss the remaining matches of Australia’s year-end tour due to a hamstring injury.