SANZAR
As the 2013 Rugby Championship enters a defining phase, SANZAR will this week start the process of defining the shape of Super Rugby, post 2015.
They say they want a deal done by Christmas to present to the broadcasters.
Bulls captain Pierre Spies says he is in favour of a global rugby season which would see the Super Rugby competition finish earlier in the year.
The subject has been the focus of much speculation with the current SANZAR agreement set to expire in 2015, and Spies added his voice to the calls for the entire season to be restructured.
Australian rugby boss Bill Pulver has backed a proposal for Australia and New Zealand to form part of a two-conference Super Rugby competition in 2016.
Media analysts love to roll out the stats. They point to the number of missed tackles by one team or the percentage of territory of the other, but the surface numbers are utterly meaningless. They tell coaches next to nothing about the game. The stats are often numerical fiction.
The Springboks will utilize the skills of Richie Gray as breakdown consultant for the remainder of the Test season in 2013.
Some thoughts for you to chew on…
I was asked yesterday by someone at Sky what my feeling was on the future of SuperRugby and I said, all three Unions of SANZAR have recently released their year end figures and none of them made any real profit. They are all close to borderline break even.
The current number Super Rugby matches per annum is 125, so any reduction of matches would no doubt mean a reduction in broadcast money.
The talk is about South Africa splitting from SANZAR in terms of Super Rugby only. However the South African time zone goes a long way to pushing up the money that is earned from the broadcast deal.
If SA leave, more matches will be played in New Zealand and Australian time zones (according to the reports). This has no global appeal.
Reports of a proposed ‘split’ between South African and their Australasian partners are still “some way off”, but remains a reality.
It was reported in the Australian media on Saturday that Australia and New Zealand would form their own Australasian competition – one of a number of scenarios being considered by SANZAR.
Loftus Versveld and Waikato Stadium in Hamilton will be the venues for the two Super Rugby semifinals after details were confirmed by SANZAR.
SANZAR have warned coaches that taking unnecessary pot-shots at referees could land them in hot water.
New Zealand referee Chris Pollock has been axed from the Super Rugby play-offs, because of poor form.
Bulls lock Wilhelm Steenkamp has been suspended for two weeks after he was found guilty of foul play.
South Africa’s Craig Joubert, who was in charge of the Rugby World Cup 2011 Final, will referee the first Test under the scrum engagement trial sequence when he takes charge of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney on 17 August.
The International Rugby Board on Wednesday announced the names of the 12 referees for The Castle Rugby Championship. These appointments were made by the IRB Match Official Selection Committee following a detailed review of recent performances during the June Tests.
The Sanzar judicial officer Jannie Lubbe has accepted a guilty plea from Butch James of the Sharks for a dangerous tackle on Bulls’ Jurgen Visser, after he was cited during Saturday’s Super Rugby against the two teams.
The long history of South African teams being done in by the incompetence and, let’s be honest, the one-eyed approach of Australasian match officials took another turn for the worse on Friday as the DHL Stormers were beaten 30-21 by the Rebels in a Vodacom Super Rugby match in Melbourne.
We bring you the first of a four part series focusing on specific game measures for Super Rugby, that is, how scrums, tackles, work on areas and the referee team have been tracking so far in 2013 Super Rugby, today we bring you the scrum.
Injury Updates from the various Super Rugby camps:
With Springbok flyhalf Johan Goosen on his way home following a torn cruciate ligament, Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has included Riaan Smit in the number 10 jersey for his side’s final Super Rugby game abroad against the Western Force in Perth on Saturday.
Here are the Super Rugby Team Sheets as they are announded for Round 3 of Super Rugby 2013. Only the Western Force team sheet still outstanding.
SANZAR have released the names of the Match Officials for Round 5 in Super Rugby 2013. Jonathan Kaplan is in charge of the last match of the Weekend, the one between The Sharks and the Brumbies.
We take a look at Springbok participation in the Tri-Nations (now expanded and renamed The Rugby Championship).
The Springboks took part in the Southern Hemisphere’s premier international competition just five years after being readmitted to international competition in the 90’s.
There were several decisions this last weekend which are worth debating. One of them was the try scored by Chiliboy Ralepelle of the Bulls, a try which took the home team to 25-10 with 13 minutes to play.
Have you ever wondered where the TV and Radio Commentators get all their statistics on Teams, Coaching Staff, Players, participating Countries and detailed Tournament History?
Well, wonder no more, because here is exactly what they work from, for your own personal pleasure!
I took the trouble and the liberty to take the 402 page printed Media Guide Book – converted it into a fully indexed PDF Document (which opens with any version of Adobe Reader – which is normally installed on almost all computers – and the latest version of Adobe Reader XI [Free version or Professional version] is available for download and installation from www.adobe.com).
If you do not have Adobe Reader, you certainly still live in the stone age and definately do not belong in front of a computer… with your knuckles certainly scraping the ground when you walk! Tell you what, I’ll even teach you to make fire and help you re-invent the wheel… how’s that?
Whoopie!
Any expansion of Super Rugby in the near future is likely to leave the Pacific Islands out in the cold in favour of the United States or Canada.
SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters stated earlier this month that they are looking at United States and Canada after they were included in the Pacific Nations Cup.
Super Rugby News is now starting to come thick and fast!
Below you can read about the Super Rugby HALFTIME BREAKS being extended to 12 minutes, about Ben Mowen who remains Brumbies Captain, about the Super Rugby Draw for 2013, about Bismarck du Plessis’ injury and Frans Steyn gearing up for the 2013 season and about Wynand Olivier who is still in Japan. Tamati Ellison will miss the majority of the Competition for the Highlanders, due to injury.
And then, if a sub-standard squad was not enough, the Southern Kings lose two key forwards due to injury.
SANZAR CEO Greg Peters has intimated that it’s unlikely that Super Rugby will adopt television match official (TMO) rule changes next year.
Empowering the TMO to review possible infringements during try-scoring movements and incidents of foul play have been trialled in the Currie Cup and English Premiership competitions this year.
With the 5 South African Super Rugby franchises, or should I rather say the 5 participating Super Rugby franchis in 2013, all busy with pre-season preparations already, I suppose it would be wise to list the Fixtures for 2013 (although they have been up under Super Rugby, 2013 under the top menu for some time already now).
In addition, I am going to delve lightly into the games in the month of February, giving my very, very early views on what might transpire.
SANZAR look set to release the 2013 Super Rugby fixture list with Australian teams starting a week earlier than New Zealand and South African teams in order to accomodate the British and Irish Lions tour.
The inaugural Rugby Championship will feature the trial of the Pitch Side Concussion Assessment (PSCA) Protocols, part of a new global initiative designed to further enhance player welfare.
SANZAR have revealed the new trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the Four Nation Rugby Championship which replaces the TriNations.
SANZAR have announced the match officials for Week 17 of Super Rugby 2012, herewith the final appointments after some amendments were made for this weekend.
With Super Rugby taking a break for the June Internationals for the first time, SANZAR can announce that going into the break all three territories were tracking beyond comparative numbers from this time last year.
Lions prop CJ van der Linde has been found not guilty of biting Force lock Toby Lynn in the Lions loss to the Force on Saturday in Perth.
SANZAR has named the match officials for Week 15 of Super Rugby 2012, which starts on Friday with 2 matches and another 4 matches on Saturday.
With the exception of the Highlanders gritty victory against the Bulls, every winner in Week 13 was higher on the competition log table than their vanquished rivals, meaning that the title hopefuls tightened their grip on potential Super Rugby Final’s Series qualification.
LIONS president Kevin de Klerk believes next week’s crunch meeting between the South African Rugby Union and franchise bosses would “draw a line in the sand” on the Super Rugby participation saga. In January the Port Elizabeth-based Southern Kings were guaranteed their place in the 2013 Super Rugby tournament by unanimous decision at a General Council meeting of SARU.
Vodacom Super Rugby has been attracting bumper TV audiences as it reached the halfway mark at the weekend. Average viewership has increased by 15% on 2011, while viewership of South African derbies averages 685,581, making it easily the most popular sporting event on DSTV’s premium bouquet – apart from Springbok Test matches.