General
We try to feature a weekly Top 5 video, but here is a collection of previous Top 5’s that some of you might have missed:
[youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=epJErtWfJ90[/youtube]
Watch some more videos here:
Could this be a thing of the past?
A health expert has called for rugby to be more closely regulated in schools and for scrums and tackles to be removed from the game at that level.
Allyson Pollock, of Queen Mary University of London, told the Sunday Times that schoolboy rugby players have a one-in-six chance of serious injury every season.
We have a number of subscribers with serious music appreciation, even the WP Moffies form Cape Town, seem to know some cool music!
So, for a Tuesday evening’s pleasure, we will discuss music… and comedy!
Rugby takes a backseat tonight as the clan gathers…
Read the rules below carefully, or you WILL get burnt!
Here’s how it works:
Hello Rugby-Talkers,
We have created 2 brand new SuperBru Pools for the next two big tournaments envolving South African sides.
The ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division starts this Friday, 8 August 2014 and the pool we have created is known as Rugby-Talk Currie Cup 2014.
The Rugby Championship, between the Springboks, All Blacks, Wallabies and Pumas start on 16 August 2014 and the pool we have created is known as Rugby-Talk TRC 2014.
It is always nice and adds spice to rugby-enjoyment when one has a vested right in the results of games. The rivalry between Rugby-Talk.com subscribers makes for great fun and excitement between members of out friendly community, so hurry up and join in the fun!
The 2 Pools have both been upgraded to SuperPools at SuperBru itself, giving us extended features, such as the 2 new SuperBru Widgets on the Righthand Sidebar of Rugby-Talk.com, for easy access to these pools and an abbreviated Leaderboard.
Here are the complete details:
Yes, it’s Rugby-Talk.com’s birthday today!
On 28 July 2009 a number of us packed our goodies and left the place where we previously discussed rugby, because it was’nt pleasant to discuss rugby anymore. Our discussions there was marred by terrible fighting between bloggers, by racial slurring and racial abuse and it was a shambles, to say the least.
We had our own “THING” in mind and amongst us there were 2 IT guys, myself and a chap called Ed-The Lion. We immediately started a temporary blog where a few friends continued to discuss rugby, whilst I started constructing our new home, Rugby-Talk.com.
At that stage web design was not my strong point or my expertice, but as an avid and accomplished coder, I set to work and chose the WordPress platform after proper research.
Rugby-Talk.com bring u nie net die nuus en besprekingspunte nie, ons verskaf ook advies oor nuus wat breek en vermaan mense in en om Pretoria om die volgende waarskuwing ernstig op te neem!
Hi Rugby-Talkers,
What a frustrating day and a half it was on Monday and Tuesday morning!!
Our Rugby-Talk.com Web Hosts were supposed to automatically renew and extend the DOMAIN REGISTRATION of Rugby-Talk.com… and it slipped between the cup and the lip. I was supposed to check that the renewal took place… and did’nt.
So, Murphey’s Law applied and the DOMAIN NAME officially expired on 2 August 2014, keeping the cached pages live in South Africa till morning somewhere yesterday, Monday 4 August 2014… when it disappeared on us all for a while, saying the web page is not available.
Of course I immediately jumped on the Web Hosts and were all over them, like a rash.
To say that I was livid, is probably the understatement of the century!
Bottom line is the DOMAIN RENEWAL was done, post haste, paid for in US Dollar and within hours the website was live again… in the United States… but nowhere near Africa, of course!
What happens is that DOMAIN PROPAGATION has to take effect all over the world as the NAMESERVER POINTING takes place and now has to take hold all over, with the different world ISP’s refreshing their cache at different intervals. Proper Propagation of a Website Domain often takes as long as 48 Hours, luckily we were fortunate enough to have less than 24 Hours out in the cold dark world.
The Silver Lining, I suppose, is that this happened on a Monday and not later in the week or on a game weekend.
Apologies for the inconvenience and the downtime!
Net ingeval julle nie die grappige gevoel kry nie, hierdie is net ‘n grap, en nie bedoel om ernstig opgeneem te word nie!
Gister het ons n artikel geplaas van Frans Ludeke se “brief aan Oom Murray”.
Ons het egter dit net regverdig gevind om darem nie ‘n vooroordeel te wys teen die Bulls nie, so hier is ‘n “brief” wat Allister al vroeg in die Super Rugby seisoen ook aan Oom Murray geskryf het.
Geniet hom!
Hi Rugby-Talkers,
Another milestone reached… 11 Million Page Impressions!
We silently slipped past the 11 Million mark on 23 July 2014 in the afternoon some time.
Recently things have been happening quickly on Rugby-Talk.com… it was just the other day when we loudly celebrated the 10 Million Page Impressions mark. These milestones are still very important as we keep growing past these milestones and set the benchmarks for other sites to follow or to admire.
Rugby-Talk.com already proudly boast 9 960 News Articles and a further 219 Web Pages, as well as 350 275 Comments.
Our audience is still growing daily and it remains a pleasure to be involved in Rugby-Talk.com and to serve and enjoy the sport we love.
Once again an ideal opportunity for us to thank all those who subscribe to as well as read Rugby-Talk.com… it is really appreciated. A special word of thanks also goes to our regular Authors here, who supply the content we all enjoy.
Keep reading and keep keep contributing!
“And then people want to know why we take drugs, to forget the fact that we are dressed as turds, that’s why”
In rugby, like most sports, teams and athletes have had a bad playing strip or two. Individual sports that comes to mind is cycling and golf. There have been some truly terrible creations that those athletes have worn, all in the name of sponsorship and moolah.
In rugby, its generally the alternate, or so called away strip, where designers indulge in a bit too much whacky weed before sitting down in front of the drawing boards. For the most part, kits are practical and speak of tradition and history, however, there are times that the Sporting and Designing Gods sincerely fall out and abominations like the ones that appear below.
These choices of ours are by no means exhaustive and is fairly recent in it’s selection, however, if you disagree, let us know and tell us which ones you think should have made the cut.
There’s ccertainly been some strange kit in recent years!
It appears the Kit sponsors want to stamp some sort of mark on their creations, so prepare yourself for some more strange jerseys in future!
Gio Aplon in action for the DHL Stormers
“A good big player is better than a good small player” is something we have heard before on the rugby landscape in South Africa. Unfortunately, these type of utterances has been heard coming from the National coach, Heyneke Meyer, as well.
Is rugby not supposed to be the one game that people of every shape and size can partake and excell in? Remember when we were young kids, standing around with bare feet all excited about our very first rugby practice? Dividing the players into positions seemed like such a simple task…the fat kids were props, the tall kids were locks, the fast kids were wings. There seemed to be a position suited to every size and shape.
Professional rugby as we know it now has put paid to that philosophy, 15 supreme athletes seem to be the target for coaches. Centers weigh in at the 100kg mark or more, which is bigger and heavier than some of legendary Bok forwards of previous eras. Just this week the Under 18 Academy week was played in Worcester. One of the stand out players for the victorious Western Province Academy team was prop Carlu Sadie who weighs in at 122kg. The fact is, he is not judged on his size or weight, but on his playing ability and it would seem like this youngster has a bright rugby future ahead of him. Obviously when it comes to the position of front row, size is a huge asset, but what about the other positions?
The FIFA Football World Cup 2014 is well underway in Brazil.
The Group Stages are already done and dusted, only 16 Teams remain…. well only 12 after this weekend!
In the knock-out stages, there are no 2nd chances, you lose and you go home. You win and you live to fight another day!
The Games start out on Monday with France vs Nigeria and thereafter Germany vs Algeria, both on Monday 30 June.
On Tuesday 1 July it is Argentina vs Switserland and Belgium vs USA.
The Quarter-finals start on 4 July 2014.
All of the games are live on TV in SA on SS3 HD, SS3 & Maximo.
The FIFA Football World Cup 2014 is well underway in Brazil.
The Group Stages are already done and dusted, only 16 Teams remain!
In the knock-out stages, there are no 2nd chances, you lose and you go home. You win and you live to fight another day!
The Games start out with Brazil against Chile and after them it is Culombia vs Uruguay, both on Saturday 28 June.
On Sunday 29 June it is Netherlands vs Mexico and Costa Rica vs Greece.
All of the games are live on TV in SA on SS3 HD, SS3 & Maximo.
Wow, strange feeling for me to write about the Round Ball Game called POOFBALL… errr sorry I mean FOOTBALL, or SOCCER as it is more properly known in South Africa.
The world’s biggest sport, today starts it’s biggest tournament, the FIFA WORLD CUP 2014 in Brazil.
Being a Sports lover, I suppose is what it’s all about, so here goes with a SPECIAL ARTICLE on the world spectacle!
Gooooooooooo Bafana Bafana…. errr sorry, they’re not there, right?
Hahaha
Excuse the ignorance, me maties… but at the same time enjoy yourselves!
Here’s more about the tournament of Oscar-Driven stars on Tik:
Brazil kicks off the World Cup on Thursday hoping to unite the football-mad country after a chaotic seven-year build-up plagued by violent protests.
The 32-team extravaganza gets under way in the teeming mega-city of Sao Paulo, where the host nation’s beloved ‘Selecao’ faces Croatia at 17:00 Brazil Time (22:00 SA Time) in front of 61 600 supporters and a worldwide television audience of several hundred million.
Thursday’s Group A match signals the start of a month-long football fiesta taking place against backdrops which showcase Brazil’s breathtaking diversity, from the picture postcard beauty of Rio de Janeiro to fading colonial grandeur of Manaus, deep in the Amazon.
After years of apathy and simmering resentment at the tournament’s record $11-billion price tag, Brazilians were grudgingly embracing World Cup fever in the final hours before the big kick-off.
Our latest 2 SuperBru Pools, the Rugby-Talk June Tests 2014 and Rugby-Talk JWC 2014 Pools, have now been UPGRADED to SUPER POOLS.
This gives us added functionality, like individual Pool URL’s, the ability for the Pool Captain to put News Articles up on the Pool(s), the ability to send News Letters to members and also Pool Widgets we we can put up on our website, here on Rugby-Talk.
Have a look at the RIGHTHAND SIDEBAR here on the Rugby-Talk website and you will see our 2 new added SuperBru Widgets, with an abbridged version of the Leaderboard on each, as well as Shortcuts directly to the Pools or to make your Picks.
It is not expensive to Upgrade to Super Pools, and as your Webmaster & Pool Captain, it was a pleasure paying the R 150.00 per Pool to make everything… well… just perfect!
To those who have not yet joined the SuperBru Pools, get going, I will keep the Pools open for new applications for a while, before closing them.
Remember, the only QUALIFICATION you need to have to join Rugby-Talk’s SuperBru Pools, is that you are a REGISTERED SUBSCRIBER to Rugby-Talk, which of course is FREE, GRATIS, VERNIET, MAHALA, FOKOLI TJELT!
To those who recently joined a Rugby-Talk SuperBru Pool, take note that we have a Rugby-Talk.com SuperBru CLUB as well, for which you will find a link on the Pool page where you are already a member…. membership there is of course also free.
As per usual, Rugby-Talk will have SuperBru Pools for the Junior World Championships (JWC) and June Internationals!
The Junior World Championships starts on Monday 2 June 2014 already, so forgive me for only getting the time NOW to set up this pool.
Rugby-Talk’s SuperBru Pools are open to all REGISTERED SUBSCRIBERS to Rugby-Talk.com, so if you have not yet played in these Pools with us, join up and join our Pools… and remember to immediately make your Junior World Championships picks!
To all our new subscribers, who have recently joined up, yes you lot hobnobbits from Voldy too, join in with us and take part in the fun!
Our 2 new Pools are as follows:
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk JWC 2014
Pool Code: allyfact
(Just click on the Pool name and it will take you to SuperBru and the Pool, to join!)
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk June Tests 2014
Pool Code: emitsums
(Just click on the Pool name and it will take you to SuperBru and the Pool, to join!)
By the time you read this, Rugby-Talk had already glided seemlessly past 10 MILLION PAGE IMPRESSIONS (10 Million CLICKS to open or refresh the different Articles or Pages of Rugby-Talk).
For a website which started as a little discussion website between friends, about rugby and as a break-away movement from another rugby website which had resorted to racism, political immaturity, trolling, endless insults and general abuse, it’s not shabby at all, would’nt you say!!
Rugby-Talk is, according to my reconing now the prime Rugby discussion forum in the world, carrying impressive rugby news and information and has become the benchmark for rugby blogging in the known universe and has become the best rugby community on the Internet.
At around 21:38 SA Time on Sunday 18 May 2014, we went over the magic 10 Million mark.
Let me give you some facts and figures to ponder, about Rugby-Talk:
Hi Folks,
I am happy to report that the recent changes to Rugby-Talk (and by that I mean the new design and look and feel as well as the coding in the background and new additions of the website) is performing exceptionally well, in fact much better than expected or anticipated, keeping our use nicely within bounds on the web host server.
From a performance perspective, this has indeed been a massive step up from what we had previously… and the person who did the design certainly knows what he’s doing…. cough, cough, couch… it’s me of course, and I have to beat my own chest sometimes!!
Dear Minister,
Please allow me to introduce myself.
I am a middle-aged male of European descent living in the Ekhuruleni area, for most of my life.
In that time I’ve seen and experienced MANY changes in the daily lives of both my immediate family and my fellow South African citizens.
For me personally, one of the biggest changes in my life occurred when I discovered that my “local” Rugby Club was just a few kilometres from my house, and was situated in the “previously disadvantaged” area of Edenpark.
Hi friends & readers,
We have made a number of significant changes to the website, as you will no doubt notice at the outset, browsing and reading through the website!
We have a totally new “Look & Feel”, with a new design exclusive to Rugby-Talk, and designed by me, your friendly webmaster.
The development process is still ongoing, with a few elements not yet coded and added, the most notable of which is the COMMENT NUMBER. The “missing” comment number will be a priority to add and we ask for some patience on that score and a few other issues, as time constraints keeps me from just adding them nilly willy as I would like and as I am sure you would want.
The rules caught up to ALL of us. We never intended the DRAWS to be so dominating. All 8 remaining players left after the last Round, never expected a Bulls draw, so they all fall out and we have nobody left standing!
A draw is not a win and that is exactly how it feels after the Bulls disasterous draw against the Chiefs! It feels like the Bulls lost.
If one changes the Rules and count losses and draws together as NO WINS we will have all 8 players living to fight another day.
Another nine players in this competition were eliminated this weekend. The Lions proved to be their downfall and the way the Lions team came back from their year out in the cold has already cost many players in this game their life.
Some reprieve to all the other non-believers, the Lions have a bye this coming weekend.
The four men accused of beating former Royal Marine, Brett Williams, to death outside Kings Park rugby stadium have all pleaded not guilty.
Twenty-nine-year-old UK rugby fan Williams died outside the stadium following a Super Rugby match between the Sharks and Melbourne Rebels last year.
Players in this competition had to predict how many games each team will lose and draw during the regular season. No casualties to report. Everyone is still alive in our game.
Predicting how many games each of the South African Conference franchises will lose, is the object of this game. After 3 Rounds of Super Rugby in 2014 we still have no casualties.
Each franchise plays 16 games in the regular season, 8 against fellow South African Conference sides (home and away) and 8 against the sides in the other 2 Conferences.
Players in this competition had to predict how many games each team will lose and draw during the regular season.
All participants showed little faith in the Lions and the players who gave the Lions their best chance of not losing too many were Gumboots and Grootblousmile, with only 11 loses predicted. The Lions might just be the Achilles heel for most in the competition. The Lions were only given a chance to win between 2 and 5 games.
Rugby-Talk is ‘n trotse mede-borg van die Delas Rugbyklub Rugbydag op 22 Februarie 2014.
Klubrugby in Suid-Afrika gaan gebuk onder druk van alle kante, waar die owerhede, Suid-Afrikaanse Rugby Unie (SARU) en vermoënde borge maar min geld beskikbaar stel vir hierdie uiters belangrike komponent van rugby in Suid-Afrika.
Delmas Rugbyklub hou jaarliks ‘n Rugbydag en hierdie keer is dit al hul fyfde suksesvolle Rugbydag in ‘n ry in 2014.
Daar is 38 spanne, 19 wedstryde en wonderlike pret en plesier by die wonderlike byeenkoms. Ons nooi ieder en elk uit om saam met ons te deel in die genot van rugby op die platteland.
Daar is ‘n vlooimark, tonne vermaak en kunstenaars wat gaan optree… en natuurlik is ons ook daar saam met Radio Oos Rand Stereo (93.9 FM), Big Bang Events & Marketing Solutions, Phoenixian SA en die borge van die dag en die spanne.
Ons skeep ook nie Super Rugby af nie, want die 2 wedstryde van die oggend en die 2 middag en aand Super Rugby wedstryde word lewendig op die “Big Screen” aangebied, van waar Rugby-Talk dan ook lewendig oor die tellings en verloop van Super Rugby sal rapporteer.
Last year I took a bet with a fellow subscriber on Rugby-Talk and the whole idea of our own Prediction Game was born. We always brag or predict how many games other teams will win or lose. The idea was born to challenge you all to put your great rugby knowledge to test. This competition will eliminate the big mouths first and foremost.
Let me explain more…
This ARTICLE is the only place were you can participate and give your predictions. All Predictions must be in before 15:00 on Saturday 15 February 2014, that is roughly 2 hours before the first South African Super Rugby game of 2014.
This is a ONCE-OFF prediction game, you pick before the cut-off time, after that you just wait and see how far you go over the weeks. Once you have picked, the season will unfold and your wisdom will be tested. Rugby-Talk will compile a spreadsheet and monitor your progress or lack thereof.
Last man standing will be our winner. The prize for the winner, will be a gift voucher of R 1 000.00 from Garden Pavilion Garden Centre. This prize will be sponsored by Appelblaar Road Stall & Nursery in Hoedspruit, but will apply to any of the Garden Pavilion Garden Centres in South Africa.
The International Rugby Board which approves what players wear or disapproves of something that players wear of want to wear, has approved has approved the use of a particular kind of goggles for those with seeing problems.
The International Rugby Board (IRB) is considering stricter protocols to prevent players with possible concussion from returning to the field during matches.
According to a current protocol being tested in some tournaments, a player can return to the playing field if he passes a cognitive test within five minutes. It is called the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) trial – or ‘five-minute test’.
Samoan legend Brian Lima has resigned as defence coach of his country’s national team after his arrest for assault on his former wife.
This is Published Article 8 002 on Rugby-Talk as we silently went over the magical 8 000 mark with the Stormers Locks Article earlier today!
On top of it, it is 1 January 2014, the start of a brand new year, which promises so much.
Here’s to a HAPPY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR to all the readers, subscribers, contributors, authors and webmasters of Rugby-Talk!
It is mid December 2013, 14 days till we welcome the new year.
Tell us about your holiday plans and / or your plans for the Festive season, coming up!
Rugby-Talk’s holiday plans and Festive season plans include keeping you up to date on the doings and screwings in the rugby world, but we acknowledge that Southern Hemisphere rugby news is in short supply.
In light of the above we’ll also focus on a bit of cricket in the lean times and most importantly we’ll start this week with detailed discussions on the SQUAD MEMBERS of the different South African Super Rugby sides for 2014. For each player position we’ll have a seperate article for each franchise, for instance there will be 5 seperate articles discussing the props, same with hookers, locks, looseforwards, scrumhalves, flyhalves, midfield & back 3. That equates to 10 new Super Rugby articles a week for 4 weeks, thus 40 new Super Rugby articles in total to feast on.
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.
Helllooooooooooo!
The Currie Cup is done and dusted, The Rugby Championship is done… but we have a NEW COMPETITION to join.
The End Of Year Tours or Autumn Internationals as it is known up north, starts this weekend, so hurry up and join our new Pool!
To be a member of a Rugby-Talk.com SuperBru pool is easy as pie, all that you have to do is see to it that you are a REGISTERED SUBSCRIBER TO RUGBY-TALK.
The details are as follows: