Monthly Archives: November 2014
Lindsay Mould
The nominations for the presidency of the Free State Rugby Union as well as for the directors of the Free State Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd. concluded on Tuesday.
No new nominations were received.
Lindsay Mould was therefore re-appointed as president for a term of another three years.
The fixtures for the 2015 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International have been released, with a replay of the epic 2014 final between FNB UCT and FNB NWU-Pukke on the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds in Potchefstroom lined up.
Ikeys snatched victory from the jaws of defeat on the same field in the final last season with a last gasp, injury time converted try that came after a drop kick charge down on the stroke of full time. The Ikeys counter attack and try that followed will long live on in Varsity Cup folklore as one of the tournament’s enduring moments – the comeback of all comebacks.
The two sides will face each other again in Round Five which will take place on Monday 9 March.
Jacques Botes carried off the field on the shoulders of his Barbarians team mates
Jacques Botes getting ready to take the conversion of his own try.. to end off his career
Jacques Botes marked his final game with a try and conversion as the Barbarians dazzled to beat Leicester Tigers 59-26 in a 13-try feast on Tuesday.
The attendance at Welford Road was 11,169 – all who witnessed Springbok discard Juan de Jongh showing great sportsmanship to gift Botes the final try of the match in what was the veteran’s last game of a splendid career.
Both sides played some attractive, free-flowing rugby and the crowd lapped it up.
Despite a late first-half comeback by the Tigers, to close the gap from 0-21 to 19-21 at the break, the BaaBaas put on a display of fine entertainment to outscore the home team by nine tries to four in a game that marked the famous invitation club’s 125-year celebrations.
But the Barbarians showed their class in the second period and ran riot with their Super Rugby-led backline leading the way with a mixture of pace and power.
It’s PUB NIGHT!
Whooopie!
it’s been a better start to the week for me, but still bloody busy… need some serious R & R tonight!
The End Of Year Tours, or in South Africa’s case, The Castle Outgoing Tour, starts this weekend… against Ireland, the SIX Nations champions.
The Springboks have had a good chance to get all their ducks in a row this time round and proper preparation time, with the contracted Springboks out of the latter stages of the Currie Cup, so no excuses, we want some good performances on tour!
OK, let’s focus on the PUB tonight…. the idea with PUB NIGHT is to lighten up our dull Tuesday evenings with music, comedy and fun.
Rugby takes a backseat tonight as the clan and fellow rugby nutters gather…
Read the rules below carefully, or you WILL get burnt!
Just for clarity sake, when someone does not adhere to the Rules of the PUB, EVERYBODY jumps on them and pummels them, right… understood?
Here’s how it works:
Wales’ Jonathan Davies has failed to recover from injury in time to face Australia and so Northampton wing George North will switch to midfield.
It means Liam Williams starts on the wing with Leigh Halfpenny at fullback.
And Rhys Webb has been selected at scrum-half ahead of Mike Phillips for the match at the Millennium Stadium.
“We have been impressed with the form of Rhys and Dan [Biggar] at half-back for the Ospreys,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said.
“It will be good to see them together on this stage again.”
Bath loose-head Paul James is preferred to Gethin Jenkins, with the Blues player dropping to the bench.
Sam Warburton will lead the team from open-side, with Dan Lydiate taking the blind-side spot.
Jano Vermaak
Ruan Pienaar has been ruled out of the year-end tour because of a knee ligament injury and he will be replaced by Jano Vermaak.
Pienaar picked up the injury in the Springboks’ Test against New Zealand in Wellington in September and has been out of action since then.
“Ruan was re-assessed on Tuesday following the on-field fitness tests from Monday, and unfortunately he has developed some swelling and puffiness around the knee, indicating that he is not yet ready to partake in full training and playing in a match,” said Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts.
“He needs a few more weeks of rehabilitation before he’ll be ready to return to play and hence we’ve taken the decision to rule him out of the tour.”
Greig Laidlaw replaces injured Grant Gilchrist as Scotland captain
Experienced Scotland scrum-half Greig Laidlaw will lead his country into this Saturday’s viagogo Autumn Test match against Argentina at BT Murrayfield (kick-off 5.30pm) it was announced today
The 31-times capped Borderer takes on the mantle from 24-year-old lock Grant Gilchrist, who was ruled out of the series after fracturing his forearm in Edinburgh Rugby’s European Challenge Cup win over Lyon, just four days after being accorded the honour.
Laidlaw, who skippered Edinburgh Rugby for the three seasons before departing for Gloucester in the summer, has led Scotland on seven occasions to date, two of which were in Vern Cotter’s first Tests as head coach in the recent summer tour – wins over USA and Canada.
Vern Cotter said: “Obviously we’re disappointed for Grant, who misses the opportunity to captain his country at home on this occasion, however congratulations must now go to Greig who takes on that responsibility for this Saturday’s game. Greig offers us a bit of continuity, having captained the side on the summer tour. He’s been playing well for Gloucester and I think he deserves this selection.”
Ruan Pienaar
Eben Etzebeth
A bright sunshiny but chilly day greeted the Springboks when they arrived in Dublin on Sunday, where they kick off the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour against Ireland this weekend.
The South Africans left Johannesburg last night and travelled via London Heathrow to the Irish capital for their first visit to this part of the world in two years.
Eben Etzebeth stayed behind in South Africa and will join the squad on Tuesday following a family bereavement, while there will be more clarity on Ruan Pienaar’s fitness situation in the week.
A 24-man DHL Western Province squad will leave Cape Town for London on Thursday, as the 2014 ABSA Currie Cup champions get set to take on top English club Saracens in the Sanlam Private Investments Challenge this coming weekend.
DHL WP won their second ABSA Currie Cup title in three years less than two weeks ago and they are now preparing to face up to last season’s European Cup and Premiership runners-up on their home turf at Allianz Park in North London on Sunday.
Sixteen members of the victorious DHL WP matchday squad from two Saturdays ago will make the trip to take on Saracens, with new forward signings Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch and Wilco Louw joining the likes of Oli Kebble, Jurie van Vuuren, Dillyn Leyds, Pat Howard and EW Viljoen in the selection mix.
Bryan & Bernie Habana
Bernie Habana, the father of Springbok wing Bryan, is reported to be causing his landlord problems by not paying his rent.
According to the Times Live website, Habana snr has not paid his rent for months and is now refusing to leave the R2.4m house he is occupying in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, according to his landlord, Thorsten Weiss.
Weiss is taking Habana to the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal this week to get an eviction order.
Stuart Lancaster
As England’s injuries continue to stack up ahead of Saturday’s game with world champions New Zealand, coach Stuart Lancaster says his side have been the victims of “bad luck” after the loss of several forwards.
With regular forwards Alex Corbisiero, Mako Vunipola, Tom Youngs, Dan Cole and Geoff Parling already out of this month’s Test matches, second row Joe Launchbury has become the latest to withdraw due to a neck problem.
Northampton backs Luther Burrell and Stephen Myler have also been ruled out of the Twickenham match against the All Blacks.
Jonathan Sexton
Irish flyhalf Johnny Sexton looks set to make a full recovery in time to face the Springboks in Dublin on Saturday, after suffering a thigh injury in Racing Metro’s match against Oyonnax last weekend.
Sexton was forced from the field in the Top 14 game, with Metro’s coach Laurent Labit describing his injury as a ‘tweak’.
However, Ireland team manager Mick Kearney dismissed concerns and said the playmaker would be available on Saturday.
“It was intended that Johnny Sexton would only play a portion of the game for Racing on Saturday so he played 40 minutes and he came off,” said Kearney.
Ryan Grant
Ryan Grant, the 18-times capped Glasgow Warriors prop, has been invited to train with Scotland for year-end Tests, as an injury replacement for Edinburgh’s Allan Dell.
Dell sustained a leg injury in last Friday’s Pro12 match against Leinster at the RDS in Dublin.
He was assessed at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin and returned the next day to Edinburgh with the rest of the team.
Napolioni Nalaga
Clermont wing Napolioni Nalaga will miss Fiji’s November Tests against France, Wales and the United States due to family reasons, Fiji coach John McKee told AFP.
The prolific 28-year-old has scored nine tries in 16 internationals for Fiji, but won’t be adding to that this month.
“He expressed that he didn’t want to be considered for this tour,” said McKee.
“That is his decision, he had some family things to attend to. I respect that.”
Singapore clinched a four-year deal to host a leg of the IRB Sevens World Series at its state-of-the-art new National Stadium, starting next year, a media report said.
The Straits Times said the Singapore Rugby Union signed a host union agreement with the International Rugby Board last week.
It will join Vancouver and Paris as new entrants to the nine-nation, eight-month global campaign, with Tokyo, Las Vegas and Glasgow making way, the report said, without naming a source.
Tinus Linee
Former Springbok and Western Province centre Tinus Linee, who was suffering from Motor Neuron Disease (MND), passed away at the age of 45 on Monday morning. Continue reading
USA Eagles (6) 6 / 74 (43) All Blacks (Final Score)
The United States of America’s Eagles and New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Soldier Field, Chicago at 22:00 SA Time (15:00 Chicago Time, 20:00 GMT, 09:00 Sunday NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 CSN on TV in SA.
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Barbarians (12) 36 / 40 (14) Wallabies (Final Score)
The Barbarians and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at
Twickenham Stadium, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT & BST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Hi fellow Rugby-Talkers, readers and rugby nutters,
Yesterday we went well over the 12 Million Page Impressions mark here on Rugby-Talk.com, since we started counting on 31 October 2009 (exactly 5 years ago today).
To some it may be irrelevant, but it is a real world indication of how we have grown and how we are capturing the rugby audience all over the globe. It is an indication that we are successful in what we are doing on this wonderful rugby portal and it certainly is indicative that we keep growing… and growing on a serious exponential curve.
The sport we so gladly serve, makes it easier to reach these figures, but as we have seen from recent rivals who have fallen by the wayside, it still indicates that you have to do things right and not just sit back and expect people to access your site because you think that you are somebody or that the rugby world owes you something.
At the end of the 2014 calendar year we should reach a figure of 4.75 Million Page Impressions for the year… or more, a massive increase on the 2013 calendar year.
John McFarand
Conditions in the Northern Hemisphere may differ significantly from those at home but Springbok assistant coach John McFarland believed they favoured the South African players.
“Ellis Park is obviously much quicker and there’s a fatigue factor that always kicks in, whereas in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s a little bit slower and you need bigger guys in terms of the hitting,” McFarland said in Johannesburg on Friday.
“South African players are very successful in the Premiership under those conditions and if you look at how many are playing well in the European clubs, and are valued highly, it’s certainly because those conditions suit us.”
The Springbok squad departs for Dublin on Saturday ahead of their four-Test outgoing tour starting with a clash against Six Nations champions Ireland.
Brendan Venter
John Smit has defined the role that Brendan Venter will play at the Sharks with the former Saracens Director of Rugby coming in once a week as a technical advisor.
Smit’s big appointments since his former World Cup-winning coach Jake White walked out has been to bring in two men who coached the CEO during his playing career – Gary Gold, who was assistant coach to Peter de Villiers and Venter, who coached him at Saracens.
Gold has been installed as the hands-on head coach of the Sharks and will be assisted by the three Currie Cup coaches in Brad Macleod-Henderson, Paul Anthony and Sean Everitt.
Venter will be adding technical support and advice with Smit hoping to tap into his ‘intellectual property’ of how the game works.
“Brendan will provide intellectual property in terms of where the game is going, discussing trends and helping with detail,” Smit told the Sharks website..
“He will come in once a week depending on the emphasis of the skill-set for that week.
Clarke Dermody
Former Southland and All Black prop, Clarke Dermody has been unveiled as the Highlanders’ scrum and assistant forwards’ coach for the 2015 Super Rugby season.
He had a voluntary, part-time role with the Highlanders this year, before serving as an assistant with Southland during the national provincial championships.
Dermody had a remarkable playing career, which included playing for every New Zealand age-group team before playing three Tests in 2006 for the All Blacks and is no stranger to the Highlanders after representing them 44 times.
Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph hopes the fulltime work by Dermody will help shore up a scrum that was put under pressure this season.