Monthly Archives: June 2015
Willie le Roux
Cornal Hendricks
With the player transfer window in South Africa looming large from 1 July, there is a lot of movement already in player signings.
Willie le Roux has opted not to renew with the Cheetahs and will in stead go to Japan for the remainder of the year after Super Rugby and International committments, whereafter he will return to South Africa but join the Cell C Sharks for the 2016 Super Rugby season.
Cornal Hendricks has also asked for permission to start negotiating with other interested parties, although the transfer window for negotiations will only be open from 1 July.
But the Cheetahs are not the only Franchise hit hard, at the Bulls, Francois Hougaard has signed in Japan for the Canon Eagles, the same Club which Willie le Roux has signed for and has not re-committed to the Bulls for Super Rugby in 2016.
Also at the Bulls, William Small-Smith has requested permission to also start early negotiations with 3rd parties, earlier than the 1 July Transfer Window’s opening.
Adriaan Strauss
Handré Pollard
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made 7 changes to his starting team to face the Melbourne Rebels in a Super Rugby clash in Melbourne on Saturday. There are 3 changes in the backline that faced the Brumbies last weekend and 4 in the pack.
Jesse Kriel, Travis Ismaiel and Jacques-Louis Potgieter all move into starting positions off the bench, replacing Jurgen Visser, Bjorn Basson and Handré Pollard respectively. Visser and Basson will play off the bench, but Pollard will be rested for this clash.
Instead, Tian Schoeman, who joined the touring party on Tuesday, will be the back-up flyhalf on the bench.
In the pack, injured Deon Stegmann is replaced by Lappies Labuschagne, with Grant Hattingh moving to the bench to make way for Victor Matfield. The veteran lock will play in his 148th match at this level. In a straight swop, Jacques du Plessis starts at No 7 and Arno Botha moves to the bench.
Adriaan Strauss was only not considered due to the resting agreement with SARU, resulting in Callie Visagie running onto the field for his 50th match for the Vodacom Bulls in the No 2 jersey. Jaco Visagie will be on the bench.
According to Ludeke this is do or die for the team.
Italy (5) 5 / 33 (21) Springboks (Final Score)
Italy Under 20 and South Africa Under 20 did battle in the World Rugby Under
20 Chamionship at Stadio San Michele, Calvisano, Italy at 20:30 SA Time (20:30 Italy Time, 18:30 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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It was a weekend of Super Rugby 1ts and doubles as the DHL Stormers consolidated their place at the Top of the South African Conference, while the Emirates Lions and Cell C Sharks both got one over their Australian opponents.
The weekend started on a false note for the Vodacom Bulls on Friday though, as they came up short by 22 / 16 in their 3rd tour match, in Canberra against the Brumbies.
The Cell C Sharks won their 2nd consecutive match against Aussie opposition when they beat the Melbourne Rebels by 25 / 21 in Durban on Friday evening. It was the KwaZulu-Natalians’ 4th win over the side from Melbourne, who is still winless after 5 seasons of coming to South Africa.
Saturday’s derby in Cape Town between the DHL Stormers and Toyota Cheetahs ended in a rather one-sided 42 / 12 win for the home team as the visitors from Bloemfontein bid farewell to their coach, Naka Drotské, after 8 seasons and 118 matches in charge of the men from Central South Africa.
Only 3 coaches – Frans Ludeke of the Cats and Vodacom Bulls, Ewen McKenzie (Waratahs, Reds) Robbie Deans (Crusaders) coached in more matches than Drotské, who guided the Toyota Cheetahs to a spot in the Top 6, 2 seasons ago.
The final match of the weekend was a real humdinger as the Emirates Lions got their 1st-ever win as a franchise over the defending champion Waratahs, by 27 / 22 in Johannesburg, their 9th victory of the season.
No fewer than 6 players – 2 South Africans and 4 Aussies – scored a brace of tries this weekend. They are Seabelo Senatla (DHL Stormers), Ruan Combrinck (Emirates Lions), Henry Speight (Brumbies), Scott Higginbotham (Rebels), Quade Cooper (Reds) and Lachie Turner (Reds).
Blitzbok star Senatla scored his 1st try at Super Rugby level, as did his DHL Stormers team-mate Vincent Koch and Heimar Williams from the Cell C Sharks.
Laurie Weeks
Melbourne Rebels prop Laurie Weeks has been suspended for 3 weeks after he was found guilty for punching Cell C Sharks prop Jannie du Plessis in their Round 16 encounter.
The sanction means that Weeks will play no further part in this year’s competion as his team only has 2 games left.
Weeks was found guilty under Law 10.4 (a): Punching or striking, after he was sent off during a Super Rugby match at the weekend.
The incident occurred in the 29th minute of the match with footage showing Weekes throwing a flurry of punches to Du Plessis’ head.
Weeks has been suspended from all forms of the game for 3 weeks up to and including 20 June 2015.
Willie le Roux
It was announced yesterday that Willie le Roux has signed for the Cell C Sharks for the 2016 season of Super Rugby, after agreeing to a deal that the Cheetahs were reportedly unable to match. Le Roux will play a short stint in Japan after the World Cup but will join the Sharks after.
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A new Vodacom Cup champion was crowned in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon when the Steval Pumas lifted the coveted trophy for the 1st time ever. The Lowvelders, coached by former Springbok Sevens player MJ Mentz, became the 8th team to win this competition since its inception in 1998.
The Steval Pumas completed a remarkable run in their 3 playoff matches – they beat the Vodacom Cup champions of 2012, 2013 and 2014 on 3 consecutive weekends away from home.
On Saturday, they upset the odds yet again by beating DHL Western Province, the only unbeaten team left in the competition, in the final. The scoreline of 24 / 7 suggests it was a walk in the park for the Steval Pumas, but they had to dig deep and showed the value of playing knock-out rugby with experienced players.
And as they did in the semi-final last weekend, big lock Rudi Mathee scored a try for the visitors and livewire flanker Marnus Schoeman added a brace of 5-pointers.
Although he could only add 4 points to his overall tally, Steval Pumas flyhalf JC Roos finished the season as the top points scorer with 115 – the only player in 2015 to surpass 100 competition points – while SWD Eagles speedster Alshaun Bock scored the most tries, with 8.
Schoeman, courtesy of his 4 tries in the last 2 matches, ended 2nd on the list of try scorers with 7, while DHL WP’s Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Kefentse Mahlo of the Vodacom Blue Bulls, Martin Sithole of the Down Touch Griffons and the Hino Valke duo of Riaan Arends and Anrich Richter all scored 6 tries.
Hanro Liebenberg
Junior Springbok coach Dawie Theron stuck mainly to the combinations that earned him a 2 – 0 series win in Argentina as he announced his team to start against Italy on Tuesday.
No 8 Hanro Liebenberg will lead out a Junior Springbok match-23 sprinkled with several players who also took part in last year’s event in New Zealand, where they lost by a single point against defending champions England.
Sharks prop Thomas du Toit will anchor the scrum and is 1 of the players that will participate in his 2nd successive tournament, as well as lock Abongile Nonkontwana (Blue Bulls) and Jean-Luc du Preez (Sharks). Another survivor from last year, Joseph Dweba (hooker, Cheetahs), will play off the bench.
Theron opted for a strong forward pack while the backline has a settled look.
Warrick Gelant is also returning for his 2nd tournament in a row and the Springbok Sevens international starts in the No 15 jersey. Much is expected of the centre pairing of JT Jackson (Blue Bulls) and Daniel du Plessis (Western Province), in particular.