New Zealand Rugby
SANZAR have announced the draw for the 2014 Rugby Championship which will start on the 16th of August when Australia host New Zealand in Sydney.
The 2014 Super Rugby season ends on August the 2nd and then the Southern Hemisphere’s best players will get the weekend of August the 9th off and then the Rugby Championship starts a week later on the 16th.
The New Zealand Rugby Union have confirmed their Test schedule for 2014 which starts with a four match tour of New Zealand by England.
England will tour New Zealand for the first time since 2008 and along with three Test matches they will also play a midweek match against the Crusaders.
Wales dropped out of the top five on the IRB World Rankings following their 26-30 loss to the Wallabies in Cardiff on Saturday.
With only three international fixtures over the weekend, the focus was on the pulsating encounter between Wales and the touring Australians at Millennium Stadium.
Call it Federer Syndrome.
It is the condition, common in every era of sport, where journalists and fans stampede through the town square in a headlong rush to proclaim Jonny Rackets as the greatest player of all time. It is a very human instinct. If we are living in exceptional times, then maybe we are also somehow special, too.
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.
The Junior Springboks were grouped with hosts New Zealand, Samoa and Scotland when the pools and fixtures of the IRB Junior World Championship 2014 were confirmed earlier today in Auckland.
The future stars of world Rugby will come together in New Zealand from 2-20 June 2014 for the seventh edition of the Under 20 tournament which will see matches played at North Harbour Stadium and Pukekohe Stadium during the pool stages and semi-finals on 2, 6, 10 and 15 June 2014.
Ireland prop Cian Healy bought himself a whole lot of publicity – little of it complimentary – when he slammed the All Blacks’ haka in the lead-up to the test at Lansdowne Road.
Veteran All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore confirmed his international retirement on Wednesday after 83 Test appearances for New Zealand.
The 35-year-old could not find a Super Rugby team for next season and said he planned to concentrate on working on his South Island farm.
New Zealand media have dubbed the 2013 All Blacks “The Unbeatables” after their perfect season, but acknowledged their rivals are closing the gap ahead of the next World Cup.
The tone was more relieved than triumphant after the New Zealanders snatched a 24-22 result over a desperately unlucky Ireland to record 14 wins from 14 and become the first international side in the professional era to win every single Test in a calendar year.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt said it was devastating that his side had come within seconds of an historic first ever win over world champions New Zealand only to lose 24-22 with the final kick in one of the sport’s most memorable ever Test matches.
The Irish had possession deep in the All Black half with less than a minute to go, but they conceded a penalty and the Kiwis produced a stunning passage of play to move the ball downfield for Ryan Crotty to score a try – which Aaron Cruden converted at the second opportunity.
Ireland (22) 22 / 24 (7) All Blacks (Final Score)
Ireland and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Aviva Stadium, Dublin at 16:00 SA Time (14:00 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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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.
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.
Wing Fergus McFadden compounded Ireland’s injury woes after being ruled out of Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks.
McFadden fractured his hand in the 15-32 loss to the Wallabies and joins Keith Earls, Craig Gilroy and Simon Zebo on the sidelines. Coach Joe Schmidt has subsequently called up Felix Jones.
England’s Wayne Barnes will referee the Boks’ final end of year Test against France in Paris on Saturday.
Barnes will be the Boks’ third northern hemisphere referee in as many matches on their tour after Ireland’s Alain Rolland took control of their 24-15 win over Wales in Cardiff, while France’s Jérôme Garcès was the man in the middle in their 28-0 victory over Scotland in Edinburgh last Sunday.
South Africa captain Jean de Villiers was one of nine Springboks included Tuesday in a 23-man Barbarians squad to play Fiji at Twickenham on November 30.
The squad contains eight members of the South Africa squad who have already beaten Wales and Scotland on their current tour of Europe, as well as legendary Springbok flanker Schalk Burger.
Whilst the All Blacks will be without the injured Dan Carter in Dublin on Sunday, Ireland may miss the services of their own playmaker Jonny Sexton.
England (16) 22 / 30 (20) All Blacks (Final Score)
England and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday NZ 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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Meanwhile, other Internationals were in progress at the same time, here are the scores:
Italy (20) 37 / 24 (5) Fiji (Final Score)
Wales (23) 40 / 6 (3) Argentina (Final Score)
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Ting Ting… Round 3 of the End Of Year Tours and it is another weekend filled with lots of rugby. This weekend has a total of 11 clashes and some great ones to predict.
When the Southern teams go North, every match is hyped up as both hemispheres want to prove a point and claim global domination. The big games this weekend to look forward to is England vs New Zealand, Ireland vs Australia and finally Scotland vs South Africa. All in all a good weekend ahead for rugby and it should be enjoyed the world over.
England have made one change to the team that beat Argentina for this weekend’s Test at Twickenham against New Zealand’s All Blacks.
England hooker Dylan Hartley will win 50th England cap this weekend when he faces the country of his birth.
Back-to-back Super Rugby Champions the Chiefs, NPC champions Canterbury and the Rugby Championship-winning All Blacks dominate this year’s annual celebration of the best of New Zealand.
The 2013 awards will be held in Auckland on Thursday, December 5.
All Black coach Steve Hansen made just one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s revenge mission against England.
As expected, star flyhalf Dan Carter will pick up his 100th Test cap, as New Zealand aim to make amends for a shock loss to England last year – Hansen’s only defeat since taking the reins in 2011.
The Reds will start their 2014 Super Rugby campaign with a pre-season match against defending champions, the Chiefs, in Toowoomba on 8 February 2013.
Reds head coach Richard Graham said the trial would provide his team with a good platform to launch their season.
South African Rugby Union (SARU) president Oregan Hoskins wants to see a 17-team Super Rugby competition in future with fewer local derbies and an Argentine team in the mix.
The Super Rugby format is set to change from 2016 when a new broadcast deal takes effect and Hoskins would like to see a change from the current 15-team format.
England’s front row crisis worsened afer it was confirmed that Alex Corbisiero has been ruled out of Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
England are also without Mako Vunipola, who is nursing a knee injury, while Joe Marler still has to pass a concussion test to prove his fitness.
France’s Jérôme Garcès will referee the Scotland v Springboks Test at Murrayfield in Edinburgh on Sunday.
Kick-off is at 17:00.
New Zealand’s Kieran Read says his side will be more eager to mark Dan Carter’s 100th cap with a good performance than avenge last year’s loss to England when the teams meet on Saturday.
Carter, 31, will become the fifth All Black to reach a century of caps if he plays at Twickenham.
Auckland based Super Rugby franchise the Blues have made two new key appointments to their management team ahead of the 2014 Super Rugby season.
Richard Fry has been appointed manager of rugby, while former Blues star Isa Nacewa will assume the role of mental skills coach.
Although his passion for Test rugby remains, All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore’s time in the Test arena appears to be drawing to a close.
Chris Rattue, one of the well-known New Zealand Rugby Journalists, wants Dan Carter not to be selected for the England clash and he believes Dan does not have the magic of old anymore.
The home and away Super Rugby derby matches could be dropped in favour of playing every team when the tournament format is restructured in 2016.
The current Super Rugby format has split teams into three conference of five teams each and the teams in the conferences play opposition teams on a home and away basis.
The Springboks’ victory over Wales on Saturday has slightly narrowed the gap between them and the All Blacks at the top of the IRB world rankings.
It was not the perfect weekend for the All Blacks, with France running them close. This begs the question whether Daniel Carter is still the flyhalf maestro he once was.
All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, says the All Blacks will be better against England compared to how they went against France.
On the weekend, one of the clasheds we most look forward to is the battle between England and the All Blacks.
England have been hard hit by the injury to Mako Vunipola though, who is out of the clash.
The war of words have also started and it seems that England contend that they are not afraid of the mighty All Blacks
All Black captain Richie McCaw added another accolade to his unrivalled résumé in the 26-19 win over France at the Stade de France on Saturday.