Springboks
The Vodacom Blue Bulls will play with the same run-on side against Western Province on Saturday as the one that that smashed the Free State Cheetahs in the second half on the weekend.
Van Rooyen to start for u.21’s against Western Province.
Van der Merwe to take on Western Province in u.19 game.
Fiery hooker, PW Van Vuuren and Ryno Benjamin return to the Free State Cheetahs team that takes on the Sharks in Durban this weekend.
Blue Bulls (6) 33 / Cheetahs (17) 30 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Blue Bulls hosted the Toyota Free State Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Blue Bulls won a very tough encounter… by only 3.
Griquas (6) 11 / Lions (36) 49 (Final Score)
The GWK Griquas hosted the MTN Golden Lions at GWK Griqua Park, Kimberley at 15:00 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
The MTN Lions showed a hunger and a lot of passion and scored 8 tries to demolish the Griquas.
Leopards (9) 9 / WP (23) 47 (Final Score)
The Platinum Leopards hosted DHL WP at Profert Olën Park, Potchefstroom at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
Mission accomplished, 5 Log points for DHL WP.
The two most successful Absa Currie Cup sides from the last decade, the Vodacom Blue Bulls and the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, square off in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.
These two sides have won or shared the Absa Currie Cup no less than seven times in the last ten years. The Vodacom Blue Bulls were champions in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2009, while the Toyota Free State Cheetahs won the trophy in 2005 and 2007. They shared the spoils in 2006.
CJ van der Linde has signed a contract of just over 2 years to join the Lions from 1st August 2011 to 31st October 2013 the Johannesburg based Union announced in a media release this morning.
Herewith the full announcement as received from the Lions.
The Toyota Free State Cheetahs coach announced his side to take on the Blue Bulls at Loftus on Saturday
Blue Bulls Rugby coach Pine Pienaar has selected the same Blue Bulls starting team that lost to the Sharks for their match against the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup on Saturday.
The Sharks have named an unchanged team for their Currie Cup Rugby clash against the Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday at Mbombela Stadium.
Golden Lions coach John Mitchell has made three changes to his backline from the side that beat the Pumas last Friday night for the Currie Cup match against GWK Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday.
Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar’s knowledge of several young players in the Free State rugby team is not a major concern for the Cheetahs ahead of Saturday’s Currie Cup match in Pretoria.
Allister Coetzee, head coach of DHL WP, today named his team to take on the Leopards at Olën Park, Potchefstroom on Friday 22 July.
This is relatively SHORT NOTICE but Ashley, our friend and fellow blogger has set up a Pool for us on testrugby.com for the Tri-Nations.
We have just more than a week to get registrations in and get raring to go, so please, all Rugby-Talkers, join up… and all Non-Rugby-Talkers, join up as a registered Rugby-Talker and then join up for this Competition as well.
This works diferently from SuperBru, here you have to select your players, do transfers of players and score according to your player performances. It still seems easy enough, nothing too fancy… and it did not take long for me to understand the Interface.
Come on, give it a go!
Go to www.testrugby.com and join!
Team name: rugbytalk
Password: blerriestormers
Come join our Tri-Nations + prediction game on SuperBru! It’s free and loads of fun.
Just Click on the SuperBru Logo, it will take you to the SuperBru web site, where you can join.
Pool Name: Rugby-Talk 3 Nations +
Pool Code: bidswoes
Western Province’s flyhalf woes seem to have followed them from Super Rugby into the Currie Cup with news that Gary van Aswegen will be sidelined for the next two months.
Sharks (22) 35 / Blue Bulls (9) 16 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Kings Park, Durban at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, M-Net & SH2 on TV in SA.
The Sharks were full value for their money, scoring a bonus point win over a Blue Bulls side who had a lot of possession but who was also very blunt on attack.
WP (16) 26 / Griquas (16) 26 (Final Score)
The DHL Western Province hosted GWK Griquas at Newlands, Cape Town at 15:00. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, M-Net & SH2 on TV in SA.
A kiss-your-sister result probably suits Griquas more than it suits WP.
Lions (16) 31 / Pumas (17) 27 (Final Score)
The MTN Golden Lions hosted the Ford Pumas at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & SH2 on TV in SA.
The Lions squeeked a win, which they really did not deserve on the night against a very gutsy Pumas outfit
It’s the start of the Currie Cup, the Craven Week u/18 Tournament draws to a close, the ITM Cup in New Zealand is featured and the Big Guns in the Southern Hemisphere start their Internationals for 2011.
The Currie Cup kicks off this weekend and there are some massive clashes in store in Round One of South Africa’s premier provincial competition.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske named a strong team filled with Super Rugby players for their opening Currie Cup clash against the Leopards in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Sharks have named their team for the Currie Cup opener against the Blue Bulls with former Cheetahs centre Marius Joubert making his debut for the Sharks.
Vodacom Blue Bulls Currie Cup coach, Pine Pienaar, included three Springboks in his side for Saturday’s opening fixture in Absa’s Currie Cup competition against the Natal Sharks in Durban.
At a media function in Johannesburg earlier this afternoon, the Golden Lions announced their Currie Cup squad, as well as the team to play the Pumas in the opening fixture of the 2011 competition on Friday night.
The GLRU recently held a meeting with their Sponsors MTN and Discovery Health following the demise of their equity partnership deal with Guma TAC.
Despite a distinct lack of communications to the media over the last week from the GLRU regarding the talks with the sponsors, recent communications indicate that MTN are still on board as an investor in the Johannesburg based Rugby Union.
In 1891, just before the departure of the British Isles Rugby team for South Africa, Sir Donald Currie, owner of the Union Castle Line presented the squad with a golden trophy.
With the trophy came a very clear instruction to present the trophy to the team that gave the most spirited opposition during a tour match.
After a hard fought match Griqualand West became the first ever holders of the trophy that would, over the next century or so become the Holy Grail that South African provincial Rugby Teams would work tirelessly to possess.
The Blue Bulls Company Pty (Ltd) is pleased to announce that Johann Sadie and JJ Engelbrecht have signed two year contracts (till 31 October 2013) with the Vodacom Bulls.
The Free State Cheetahs are facing a massive fight to keep their Springbok fetcher Heinrich Brüssow in Bloemfontein after it emerged that Western Province have made a massive offer for him.
Brüssow is widely regarded as one of the best fetchers in the world, and is a shoo-in for the World Cup squad, but his contract with the Cheetahs ends at the end of this season and he has become a major target for other sides.
Compulsary rugby games will be played on Friday. Currie Cup teams must play a game against the “B” division teams. Sharks the current Currie Cup champions take on South Western Districts Eagles, Griquas will play against Border Bulldogs, Blue Bulls will play the Griffons and Free State Cheetahs take on the EP Kings. If more teams are released this post will be updated. If any of these matches will be broadcast Live is not known.
Bloemfontein – Springbok reject Sarel Pretorius will continue his Super Rugby career in Australia. Continue reading
The 2012 Currie Cup Rugby tournament’s Premier Division will be contested by six teams instead of the usual eight Currie Cup teams.
The succession battle for the captaincy of the Bulls will begin in earnest in the next few weeks as the former defending Super Rugby champions look for a worthy leader to take over the leadership reins from outgoing Bulls captain, Victor Matfield. Continue reading
Damn, double damn!
Bulls fly half Morne Steyn has been linked to a move to English Premiership Club Bath for next season as a replacement for Butch James.
Wynand Olivier renewed his contract with the Blue Bulls Company and will be available for the Vodacom Bulls and Blue Bulls till the end of 2013.