Player Movements
Springbok lock and Ulster captain Johann Muller has announced that he will retire at the end of this season.
The 34-year-old joined the province in 2010; he has made 73 appearances for Ulster so far and has captained the team since the start of the 2011/12 season.
Ireland captain Paul O’Connell was passed fit on Thursday to lead the team against Wales in the Six Nations on Saturday following his dramatic withdrawal last weekend.
The veteran lock pulled out of last week’s 28 / 6 win at home to Scotland just hours before kick-off with a chest infection.
New Zealand fly-half Luke McAlister has extended his contract with French Top 14 side Toulouse by two years plus the option of a further year, the club have revealed on Thursday.
Winger Lee Jones has been added to the Glasgow Warriors squad for the forthcoming RaboDirect PRO12 matches, to provide injury cover until the end of the season.
The 25-year-old returns from Scotland 7s duty in New Zealand following his agreed loan from Edinburgh Rugby and will be available for this Sunday’s game against Connacht at Scotstoun Stadium.
The Lions will face a stern examination of their Super Rugby pedigree when they face the Sharks in Johannesburg on Friday.
And the biggest test will be in the scrums, where they will come up against the all-Springbok front row of Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis, as well as Tendai Mtawarira.
Highlanders wing Buxton Popoalii will miss the entire Super Rugby season to focus on recovering from surgery planned for later this month.
Scotland wing Sean Maitland is to miss the remainder of the Six Nations Championship, officials have announced on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old New Zealand-born back limped off midway through the first half of Scotland’s tournament opening 28 / 6 defeat by Ireland in Dublin on Sunday, suffering both concussion and leg injuries.
The DHL Stormers have announced that Juan de Jongh has injured his knee and will miss 6 weeks of rugby.
In addition, Schalk Burger makes double news, being named the Captain of the side who will take on the Southern Kings on the weekend and with the further news that he wants to stay put in the Cape, at least till after the next World Cup.
South African forward Gerrit-Jan van Velze is to join Worcester from rival English Premiership side Northampton in the European off-season.
Auckland teenager Akira Ioane is set to make his international debut in the Wellington leg of the IRB Sevens World Series this weekend.
Maori lock Hayden Triggs has been called into the Blues squad to replace the injured Culum Retallick.
The Southern Kings will have to appoint a new captain for the game on Friday when they take on the DHL Stormers (in a pre-season Super Rugby warm-up game for the Stormers) at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Round 2 of the RBS Six Nations tournament follows this weekend, after an eventfull Round 1 this past weekend.
Out of the England camp, it appears that winger Jonny May, who broke his nose against France hs been passed fit to play on the weekend.
France news is that Antoine Burban will miss Sunday’s Test against Italy with a hamstring injury and is replaced in the squad by Ibrahim Diarra.
Scotland’s Sean Maitland will miss the clash against England, suffering from concussion and a right leg injury.
Ireland’s inspirational captain, Paul O’Connell, is set to return against Wales after he withdrew from the team last weekend due to a chest infection.
The headlines were all about Benji Marshall, but the real winners were the Hurricanes.
The Hurricanes spoiled Marshall’s party, his debut in Rugby Union after his conversion from Rugby League, as they came from behind to beat the Blues 38-35 in their pre-season outing in Masterton on Saturday.
The former Kiwi League captain, Marshall, played in the first half and some of the New Zealand media reports raved about his performance.
Australia international James O’Connor will leave London Irish after completing his six-month contract at the end of the season, the English Premiership club announced.
Springbok wing JP Pietersen made a big impact when he came on as a substitute for the Panasonic Wild Knights in their Japanese league semi-final on Saturday.
Panasonic thrashed the Toshiba Brave Lupus 55-15 to book their spot in the final.
The injured Springbok Sevens duo of Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman will return to South Africa and will be replaced by Jamba Ulengo and Kwagga Smith for the Wellington Sevens on 7 – 8 February, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Thursday.
The two wings sustained ankle injuries during last weekend’s Las Vegas Sevens, where the Bok Sevens team won the tournament title for a second successive year. Smith and Ulengo will join the squad on Saturday.
England will take on France in Paris on Saturday with a backline featuring two debutants and a one-cap winger after coach Stuart Lancaster named his starting line-up for the Six Nations opener.
As expected, 20-year-old Jack Nowell has been rewarded for his promising displays for Exeter with the starting berth on the right wing – with regular No 14 Chris Ashton dropped from the squad – with Jonny May winning his second cap on the left.
Luther Burrell is the latest in a long line of centres and will link up with Billy Twelvetrees outside Owen Farrell and recalled scrumhalf Danny Care.
Former Bulls flank CJ Stander has committed to a long-term goal of playing Test rugby for Ireland by signing a two-year contract extension with Munster that will see them stay with the province until June 2016.
Stander joined Munster in October 2012 from Super Rugby side the Bulls and made his debut as a substitute against Scarlets that November at Musgrave Park.
Victor Matfield, who became a father for the third time on Wednesday, is expected to confirm his return to the playing field later this week.
Matfield’s name was omitted from the Bulls’ team ahead of their warm-up match against the Stormers at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, when coach Frans Ludeke unveiled two teams for the trip to Polokwane.
Ma’a Nonu admitted that the Blues fans may not embrace him after his highly publicised walk-out on the franchise in 2012.
The return to action of the veteran midfielder, who re-joined the Blues squad this week along with the rest of the All Blacks, will be delayed by an injury.
Scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius is back and will play in the Cheetahs’ pre-season game against the Pumas in Parys on Saturday, according to reports.
David Pocock will make his return from injury when he leads the Brumbies in their pre-season clash with the Highlanders in Queenstown this weekend.
He may have a long way to go, but former Rugby League star Benji Marshall has set his sights on eventually playing for the All Blacks.
The talented new Blues recruit is set to take his first steps on that journey when the Auckland franchise face the Hurricanes in a pre-season friendly this weekend, but he has made it clear that the ultimate goal is to play Test rugby for New Zealand.
Hurricanes wing and centre Alapati Leiua is believed to have signed a three year deal with London Wasps that will see him moving to England after the Super Rugby season.
Sharks wing Lwazi Mvovo says the injury he sustained against Saracens is not as serious as initially feared.
New Zealand were dealt a big blow ahead of their home leg of the IRB Sevens World Series.
The Kiwis, who lost to South Africa in the Cup Final at the Las Vegas leg at the weekend, will be without the services of Sam Dickson, who was handed a nine-game ban for eye-gouging in their final pool match against Fiji.
Springbok lock Bakkies Botha faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he suffered a fractured forearm in Toulon’s 10-23 Top 14 loss to Brive on Saturday.
Experienced flyhalf Francois Trinh-Duc was on Saturday called into the France squad for next weekend’s Six Nations opener against England after Remi Tales was forced to withdraw with an arm injury.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Friday that a group of 17 players had been contracted for the 2014 Springbok season – completing the process earlier than at any time for a number of seasons.
The signing of seven players to new Springbok contracts was completed in the past week to add to the ten players who agreed long-term contracts in 2013. Jurie Roux, CEO of SARU, confirmed that there was scope to contract additional players if the coach wished.
The seven newly-contracted players are Marcell Coetzee (loose forward), JJ Engelbrecht (centre / wing), Francois Hougaard (scrumhalf), Patrick Lambie (flyhalf / fullback), Willie le Roux (fullback / wing), Coenie Oosthuizen (prop) and Flip van der Merwe (lock).
London Wasps have moved to bring in experienced Australian scrumhalf Brett Sheehan until the end of the season.
Following Jack Moates’ injury earlier this year, Dai Young has added to his options at No.9 with the signing of Sheehan from the Western Force until the end of the 2013 / 2014 season.
Jacques-Louis Potgieter will make a welcome return to Loftus Versfeld next week after signing a two-year deal to return to the Vodacom Bulls ahead of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby tournament.
British and Irish Lion fullback Leigh Halfpenny has signed for European champions Toulon with the deal expected to be made official later on Thursday, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Springbok loose forward Marcell Coetzee has been withdrawn from the Sharks’ touring party for Saturday’s unique pre-season clash against Saracens in London due to injury.
Griekwas het die dienste van twee Leeus-staatmakers vir die Vodacombeker- en Curriebeker-reeks bekom.
Die haker Martin Bezuidenhout en die skrumskakel Tiaan Meyer, wat albei sterk aanspraakmakers op insluiting by die Cheetahs se Superrugby-span sal wees, sluit hulle later vandeesweek by die span in die Diamantstad aan.