Monthly Archives: June 2014
Namibia have included seven foreign-based professionals in their squad to travel to Madagascar to compete in the final African World Cup qualifiers.
The team will be led by No 8 PJ van Lill and consists of 14 forwards and 12 back line players.
A late addition is wing Danie Dames who plays for Griquas in the Currie Cup.
Kieran Read
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen says that he expects the Crusaders to ease captain Kieran Read back into Super Rugby.
Read made his return to playing, after battling to recover from concussion, on Saturday for the All Blacks against England.
The IRB player of the year managed to play for 40-minutes and was then replaced by Liam Messam at halftime.
Hansen has now predicted that the No 8 will gradually increase his game time with the Crusaders in the coming weeks.
Matt Toomua
The Brumbies hopes of reaching the 2014 Super Rugby finals have been dealt a blow as Wallabies star Matt Toomua has joined an joined a growing list of casualties.
The Canberra based Super Rugby franchise are now feeling the cost of a three week break for the June Internationals which has left several key players in doubt for this week’s match against the Waratahs on Saturday.
Toomua (adductor), Josh Mann-Rea (hamstring) and Joseph Tomane (cheekbone), will all have scans on Monday to determine whether they will be able to play against the Waratahs at ANZ Stadium.
Pat McCabe has a shoulder problem and is being considered as a 50-50 chance to play while Sam Carter is still wearing a moon boot and is in a race to reach fitness for the match against the Western Force on 11 July.
Dan Carter
Dan Carter has played barely 120 minutes of club rugby since embarking on his sabbatical last November, but he has declared himself available for selection against the Hurricanes.
It is unlikely that the super-star flyhalf will be thrown straight into the mix. If selected, Carter would probably start off the bench.
Colin Slade, who was a member of the All Blacks squad for the recent series against England, is tipped to start at flyhalf Wellington as the Crusaders look to consolidate their position at the head of the New Zealand conference.
Robbie Fruean
Robbie Fruean is set to return for the Chiefs’ must-win battle with the Highlanders after recovering from an astounding three heart surgeries.
The 25-year old has seen some action in the past few weeks playing local club rugby after fearing that he may never return to the sport at all.
“It’ll be awesome, the past couple of weeks I’ve been playing a bit of club rugby,” said the block-busting centre.
Quentin MacDonald
Brad Weber
The Chiefs have signed former Crusaders and Tasman hooker Quentin MacDonald as well as Waikato captain Brad Weber.
Tasman hooker Quentin MacDonald has returned to New Zealand after playing for Munster in Ireland. MacDonald will join the Chiefs for the 2015 Super Rugby Season after this years ITM Cup season.
Damian McKenzie
New Zealand Under 20’s backliner Damian McKenzie has been promoted into the Chiefs squad for the rest of the Super Rugby season.
McKenzie was part of the Chiefs Wider training group and also featured for the New Zealand U20’s in the Junior World Championship.
A late penalty try saw the Springboks claim a dramatic 31-30 victory over Wales in a match dominated by the whistle of referee Steve Walsh in Nelspruit.
Wales came within minutes of recording their first-ever victory over the Springboks in South Africa, but it was not to be as the home side came back from the dead to sneak a victory.
After being blown off the park in the opening exchanges in Durban last week, Wales served the Springboks some of their own medicine in the first half-hour by scoring 17 unanswered points.
Both sides made a fairly sloppy start to the game, with crucial handling errors killing any meaningful momentum but Wales drew first blood when Dan Biggar sent his second kick at goal through the poles and Morne Steyn had a chance to respond but sent his kick wide.
Luke Burgess
The return of Super Rugby down-under is timeous for the Rebels with the return of Wallaby Luke Burgess and Nic Stirzaker from injury.
Burgess, who was called up to the Wallabies camp for the French series, hobbled from the field last time the Melbourne boys played the Reds, but only after scoring two tries.
Another scrumhalf, Stirzaker, who has sustained two injuries to the same ankle in 2014, can officially wipe his name from the injury list, and will join Burgess in contention for selection this week.
Sean McMahon
Liam Gill
Wallaby Liam Gill and Rebels flank Sean McMahon are all but certain starters for the Australian Sevens side in next month’s Commonwealth Games.
Provided the pair get through this weekend’s Super Rugby fixtures unscathed, they will be released to join the Australian Sevens camp next week and be included in new coach Geraint John’s final squad of 12 for Glasgow to be named on 7 July.
Reds openside flank Gill won a Sevens silver medal with Australia at the 2010 Delhi Games, while blindside flanker McMahon played his last Sevens tournament as recently as late last year in Dubai.
It is already Day 10 of the month-long FIFA Football World Cup 2014 in Brazil on Saturday.
Lionel Messi and Argentina are back in business while Nigeria and Ghana have a chance to keep Africa’s hopes alive. All of the games are live on TV in SA on SS3 HD, SS3 & Maximo.
Argentina face Iran at Estadio Mineirão in the first match of day at 18:00 SA Time, then Germany face off with Ghana at 21:00 SA Time. The final match of the day is a Group F encounter between Nigeria and Bosnia Herzegovina.
Some stunning results aleady and a number of big name sides are already doomed to be on their way back home!
As in the recent past, we cater for the Football fanatics too, so go for it you bloody Soccer Moffies!
Just kidding fellas, enjoy the Football!
Handré Pollard
Adriaan Strauss
Junior Springbok captain Handré Pollard, who was named IRB Junior Player of the Year on Friday, and experienced Test hooker Adriaan Strauss will join the Springboks in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.
Pollard superbly led the South African Under 20’s at the Junior World Championships in New Zealand. The Junior Boks twice beat the NZ U20s en route to the final, where they were edged 21-20 by England in Auckland on Friday.
Strauss has been a fixture in the Springbok squad since 2012 and missed out on the last three matches because of suspension. He is free to play again next weekend.
Seven players based in France and England have been released to their clubs and will not be considered for selection for next weekend’s final Test in the Castle Lager Incoming Series, against Scotland at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
GWK Griquas remain the only unbeaten team in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division qualifying rounds, while the Valke registered their first victory this weekend in an exciting third round.
In the weekend’s matches, Griquas survived a strong second-half fightback from the Leopards at GWK Park in Kimberley to secure a narrow 33-32 win, the Valke created an upset in George by thumping the SWD Eagles 52-34 and the Boland Cavaliers registered a convincing 37-12 victory against the Border Bulldogs at the BCM Stadium in East London.
Griquas’ failure to secure a bonus point, while the Leopards earned two bonus points for scoring four tries and losing within seven points, means that the Kimberley side boast only a two-point lead over the Potchefstroom team on the log table with three matches remaining in the race for the last available spot in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division.
Warren Gatland
The controversial penalty try two minutes from time which condemned Wales to a heartbreaking 31-30 defeat has not been argued by Warren Gatland.
Wales, having held leads of 17 and 13 points at different stages, were up 30-24 with just over two minutes remaining when Hendricks escaped the clutches of George North down the touchline.
It left fullback Liam Williams covering across to make a try-saving tackle, but he made no effort to wrap his arms around Hendricks and instead shoulder-charged him into touch.
Walsh referred the incident to the TMO, Glenn Newman, and after seeing replays from several angles the referee explained his decision at length to Wales skipper Alun Wyn Jones before heading under the posts to award the penalty try.
The Wallabies have set their sights on the all-conquering All Blacks and retrieving the Bledisloe Cup after sweeping their three-Test series against France this weekend.
The Australians had too much firepower for Les Bleus, winning 39-13 in Sydney on Saturday for their seventh consecutive Test win under coach Ewen McKenzie.
It has been 12 years since the Wallabies last held the Bledisloe Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy, but McKenzie said there was every reason for Australia to believe that a slice of history could be within their reach against the world champions.
“There’s no mortgage on these sorts of things,” McKenzie told reporters on Sunday.
New Zealand rugby writers have hailed the All Blacks record-equalling performance to trounce England in the third Test on Saturday, seeing it as a set-back for England’s World Cup hopes.
The “muscularity” of the All Blacks forwards was given as much credit as the flair of the backs who scored all five tries and ran England ragged, particularly in the first half.
“As good as it gets” said Fairfax Media, echoing the thoughts of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, while the Herald on Sunday praised the “well-oiled All Black machine”.
England came in for scathing criticism from their coaches after failing to measure up to the intensity of the All Blacks, who won the third Test in Hamilton 36-13 on Saturday.
“We started poor and it got worse,” assistant coach Andy Farrell said, referring to a Freddie Burns opening kick-off a that failed to go the required 10 metres, setting the All Blacks up for a first-half rout in which they led 29-6 at half-time.
In the first two Tests, the All Blacks had to come from behind in the second half to win, but in Hamilton they seized control from the start.
Philippe Saint-Andre
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre is running out of time to address his side’s shortcomings ahead of next year’s World Cup after their series whitewash at the hands of Australia.
The Wallabies’ 39-13 victory in Sydney on Saturday brought an end to another difficult season for France, which also featured a 4th placed finish in the Six Nations, and Saint-Andre is frank about his side’s current predicament.
“At the moment we are seventh (in the IRB rankings) and given our results, that is probably where we deserve to be.”
Samson Lee
Judicial Officer, Christopher Quinlan has on Saturday deferred his verdict in the citing of Wales prop Samson Lee.
The United States have rallied from a 10-point half-time deficit to defeat Canada 38-35 on Saturday in a Pacific Nations Cup rugby match in Sacramento, California.
The win was the United States’ first over Canada since 2009, and gave the Eagles second place behind Japan in the Asia / Pacific conference of the six-nation tournament.
Japan crossed the Pacific to post two victories, defeating Canada 34-25 on June 7 and downing the United States 37-29 last Saturday to seal top spot in the conference before the final clash between the North American neighbors.
Tyrone Holmes
Scotland head to South Africa this week on the final leg of what has been an arduous tour which has seen them play games in the USA, Canada and Argentina.
They set out with two squads selected for the tour, one which contained players for the North America leg and one for the Southern Hemisphere leg with some players there for the whole tour. There have been various changes made on the way though and now the Glasgow Warriors trio of Tyrone Holmes, Adam Ashe and Euan Murray have been added to the squad for the final test against the Springboks in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Springboks (14) 31 / 30 (17) Wales (Final Score)
The South African Springboks and Wales did battle in their 2nd Test of the June Internationals at
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit at 15:00 SA Time (14:00 BST, 13:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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All Blacks (29) 36 / 13 (6) England (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and England did battle in the 3rd Test of the June Internationals at
Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 08:35 BST, 07:35 GMT).
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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Wallabies (20) 39 / 13 (6) France (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and France did battle in the 3rd Test of the June Internationals at
Allianz Stadium, Sydney at 07:00 SA Time (15:00 AEST, 07:00 French Time, 05:00 GMT).
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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Pumas (8) 19 / 21 (7) Scotland (Final Score)
The Argentinian Pumas and Scotland did battle in the June Internationals at
Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba at 21:10 SA Time (16:10 ARG Time, 20:10 BST, 19:10 GMT).
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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Handré Pollard
South Africa Under 20 captain Handré Pollard won a consolation prize for his team when he was named the IRB Junior Player of the Year.
This followed after England were crowned IRB Junior World Champions for 2014, beating South Africa 21-20 in a pulsating Final at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Finalists South Africa and England each had a player nominated – in Baby Bok captain Pollard and wing Nathan Earle respectively, with Ireland centre Garry Ringrose and New Zealand wing Tevita Li completing the shortlist of players.
England Under 20 retained their title as the IRB’s Junior World Champions when they edged their South African counterparts 21-20 in Auckland on Friday.
It was far from a clinical display. In fact it was a typical Final – in which there was good and bad kicking, handling errors, moments of sublime brilliance and a few poor options.
However, it was a great and enthralling encounter to watch, as two of the giants of the junior game went head-to-head.
In the end England deserved the win, if only because they made fewer errors and managed to overcome their soft moments better than the Baby Boks did.
Two of the key aspects were the line-outs, where JD Schickerling reigned supreme, and the kicking game – with Handré Pollard and Warrick Gelant’s boots just so much more accurate and secure.
However, errors limited the Baby Boks’ ability to capitalise on their superiority on those departments.
Warren Gatland
Warren Gatland hopes Wales will “right the wrongs” of last week’s 38-16 thumping at the hands of the Springboks, when the teams play their second Test in Nelspruit on Saturday.
“We have been really happy with the response from the players during training this week, we have had a good week and we see Saturday as an opportunity to right the wrongs of last weekend,” said Gatland, announcing two changes to the side that got hammered in Durban.
“We were disappointed with last week’s display but we want to finish the season with a big performance and show what we know we are capable of.”
Geoff Parling
England were on Friday forced into a forward reshuffle on the eve of the third Test against the All Blacks in Hamilton with Joe Launchbury replacing injured lock Geoff Parling.
Launchbury will partner Courtney Lawes to re-establish England’s Six Nations middle-row pairing in what becomes the eighth change to the side that lost the second Test in Dunedin 28-27.
Parling has not fully recovered from a hamstring injury suffered in the Dunedin clash.
Junior Springboks (10) 20 / 21 (11) England (Final Score)
The South African Junior Springboks and England Under 20 did battle in the 2014 FINAL of the IRB Junior World Championship at
Eden Park, Auckland at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 08:35 BST, 07:35 GMT).
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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Captains Maro Itoje (England) & Handré Pollard (South Africa) holding the IRB Junior World Championship trophy
Dan Kriel will play on the right wing for the Junior Springboks in the IRB Junior World Championship final against England on Friday night at Eden Park in Auckland.
His inclusion in place of Lloyd Greeff is the only tweak to the team that beat New Zealand in a dramatic semi-final last Sunday in North Harbour.
The versatile Kriel, twin brother of outside centre Jesse Kriel, is preferred in the starting line-up because of his huge work rate on defence.
Bill Pulver
Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver on Thursday ruled out introducing player sabbaticals, preventing stars such as Israel Folau taking up lucrative short-term overseas deals.
Folau this week joined Test greats including ex-captains John Eales, George Gregan and Stirling Mortlock in calling for playing stints overseas to be allowed without losing eligibility to represent the Wallabies.
Folau, 24, is hot property across the two rugby codes and comes off contract next year, with French champions Toulon reportedly expressing an interest in the dual rugby international back.
ARU rules stipulate that players must complete a full season of domestic rugby in Australia to be eligible for national team selection.
England coach Stuart Lancaster has made a number of changes to his team ahead of the third and final Test against New Zealand at the Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, on Saturday.
Most notably was the decision to move Manu Tuilagi’s back to midfield, making his transition to a Test wing a very shortlived affair.
Tuilagi, who caused trouble for New Zealand from his preferred centre position in the first Test in Auckland, was largely anonymous on the right wing for the second Test in Dunedin last week.
He will be joined in midfield by his first Test centre partner Kyle Eastmond.
Wales have made two changes to their side to face South African in the second match of the two-Test series in Nelspruit on Saturday.
Scarlets prop Samson Lee will make his first start for Wales in the front row and flank Josh Turnbull comes into the starting XV after featuring from the bench last weekend.
Lee, who made his international debut last November against Argentina, will join Gethin Jenkins and Ken Owens in a new look front row.
Four of France’s leading players, including scrum-half Morgan Parra and centre Mathieu Bastareaud, are struggling to be fit for their final Test against Australia.
Team officials said lock Yoann Maestri and prop Nicolas Mas, who is on the bench after captaining the tourists in the opening Test, are also in doubt as France seek their first win in Australia since 1990.
Maestri pulled out of training early on Thursday with a left knee injury.