grootblousmile
The Free State Cheetahs will tackle Western Province in their Currie Cup semifinal on Saturday with a Springbok prop on the bench.
Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke named an unchanged side for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup semi-final clash against the Sharks in Durban.
Newlands will host three semi-final clashes on Saturday 16 October. The rugby action kicks off at 12h30, when Vodacom WP u19 take on the Leopards u19. The u21 semi-final between Vodacom WP and the Vodacom Cheetahs follows at 14h25.
Front page allegations of racism at the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union have clouded the Sharks’ build-up to the Currie Cup semi-final against their perennial rivals, the resurgent Blue Bulls, on Saturday.
New Zealand and Australia will compete for the gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games after beating England and South Africa in their respective semifinals.
The strength of the situation the Sharks were in when they found themselves with an unassailable lead at the top of the Currie Cup log with one match to play was that they could use their final league match to ask the questions that needed answering.
Top South African referees Marius Jonker and Mark Lawrence have been handed this weekend’s crucial Absa Currie Cup semifinals.
The Western Province celebrations of their excellent 33-21 win over the Sharks in the final Absa Currie Cup league match have been tempered by the doubt hovering over the participation of the two Fouries, Jaque and Deon, in Saturday’s semifinal against the Cheetahs.
Vodacom Blue Bulls loose forwards Deon Stegmann and Pierre Spies will know on Tuesday whether they will be given the green light to play in Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup semifinal against the Sharks in Durban.
WP (20) 33 / Sharks (7) 21 (Final Score)
Vodacom Western Province hosted the Sharks at Newlands, Cape Town at 17:05 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & SuperSport HD & M-Net on TV in SA.
WP were clearly the hungrier team in this game and the Sharks played a strange lacklustre attacking game, with both teams scoring 3 tries each in the process.
With this last game in the regular Currie Cup season, the semi-finalists and where they will play is now determined, with the Sharks taking on the Blue Bulls in Durban and the WP taking on the Cheetahs in Cape Town.
The Final Currie Cup Log Standings list the top 4 as follows:
- Sharks 52
- WP 48
- Cheetahs 47
- Bulls 47
Griquas (15) 36 / Blue Bulls (22) 48 (Final Score)
The GWK Griquas hosted the Blue Bulls at GWK Park, Kimberley at 15:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Blue Bulls started slowly as a spirited Griquas took the early initiative but the Blue Bulls ran in 7 tries against the 5 tries from Griquas, which included 2 pearlers by Bjorn Basson, the man who now holds the all time Currie Cup record for tries in a season with 21 tries.
Lions (17) 27 / Pumas (17) 34 (Final Score)
The Xerox Lions hosted the Barloworld Toyota Pumas at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The Pumas showed guts and determination and a very good mauling and scrumming game to beat the Lions at Lions headquarters.
Final score Pumas 34 / 27.
We can look forward to the following rugby on TV in SA this weekend:
Here are the Teams as anoounced.
The Lions were forced to make four late changes to their team that will face the Pumas in a Currie Cup clash in Johannesburg on Friday.
Centre Doppies la Grange, who pulled a hamstring early in last week’s 37-43 loss to the Cheetahs, has been ruled out – forcing a complete reshuffle in the backline.
Former Springbok training squad back Earl Rose will play rugby out of Kimberley from 2011 after he has agreed to join the Griquas on a one year deal.
Vodacom Blue Bulls hooker Gary Botha has been ruled out of the remainder of the season due to an ankle injury.
Botha underwent a procedure in Pretoria on Thursday and although there was no need for an operation to repair ligaments as expected, the player will be out of action for the next two months.
Free State Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has resisted the temptation to rush both his returning Springboks back into the starting XV for their final Currie Cup league match of the season.
The Cheetahs, who can still finish second on the standings and secure home ground advantage in the play-offs, face the Leopards in Phokeng on Friday.
The Ligue National du Rugby, which organises professional rugby in France, has just had its seventh Nuit du Rugby at which it has made awards.
Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke had no hesitation in naming all his available Springboks in the starting line up of the Blue Bulls team to play Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday in the final pool game of Absa’s Currie Cup competition.
Lions coach John Mitchell has named veteran Springbok flank Wikus van Heerden on the bench for what is likely to be his team’s final Currie Cup match of the season.
The fact that Victor Matfield and his fellow Bulls Boks phoned from Cape Town at lunch time on Tuesday to enquire whether they could still make it to the Blue Bulls training session on time shows how eager the team’s five Springboks are to have the Barberton Daisy on their chests again and run out against Griquas on Saturday.
The Sharks are going to Newlands to win with the strongest available side – that was the message from head coach John Plumtree on Tuesday as he looked ahead to the top-of-the-log Currie Cup clash against Western Province at Newlands on Saturday evening.
Following a closed competitive bidding process, Lions Rugby has announced the signing of an agreement with two of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, paving the way for their investment in Lions Rugby and heralding an investment step change and a whole new era of opportunity for the Lions and for rugby in South Africa.
He has played in more than 100 Super rugby games and over 50 tests, and on Saturday Springbok Danie Rossouw will play his 99th Currie Cup match – as an eighthman.
It looks like Springbok Andre Pretorius, and not Patrick Lambie, will start at flyhalf for the Sharks against Western Province in the Absa Currie Cup league match in Cape Town.
The Sharks may “freshen up” in a few positions, but their coach John Plumtree has refuted any suggestion that he will follow the lead of the Bulls by choosing a B team for Saturday’s eagerly anticipated final Absa Currie Cup league game against Western Province.
The Leopards Rugby Union on Monday announced Leon Boshoff will take over from current Currie Cup head-coach Chaka Willemse with immediate effect.
The Melbourne Rebels announced their principle Title Sponsor and will be known as the RaboDirect Rebels. Sounds like a sickness or an affliction in my opinion, one might suspect they are rabid and bonkers…. well actually, the last part we know for certain!
Loftus Versfeld stadium manager Hugo Kemp reaffirmed on Sunday what the Blue Bulls Company had warned earlier in the week when he commented on AfriForum’s alleged attempt to use the venue as a platform to promote their smear campaign against Currie Cup sponsors Absa.
Twelve uncapped players have been included among a 40-man training squad that has been named for Australia’s seven-match tour of Hong Kong and Europe.
The newcomers are headlined by evergreen Queensland Reds lock Van Humphries, and the 34-year-old is the oldest player in the squad.
Sharks (35) 63 / Leopards (6) 6 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Platinum Leopards at ABSA Stadium, Durban at 19:10 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The Sharks ran in 9 converted tries, totally demolishing the Leopards who only managed to convert 2 penalties for all their trouble.
It was like men against boys with the Sharks already bagging their bonus point for tries before 20 minutes had lapsed.
The Sharks have secured their home-semi now, only question which remains is whether WP can catch and surpass them for top spot on the Log.
Regular Vodacom Blue Bulls no 8, Gerrit-Jan van Velze, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Absa Currie Cup competition due to a thumb injury.
The South African Rugby Union announced on Friday the outcome of deliberations regarding the placement of logos and emblems on the playing jersey of South African teams at IRB World Cup events.
Several months of discussions took place with the relevant regulatory authorities before the Executive Council ruled on the management of the placing of the Springbok logo on team jerseys.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed its full support for the current Springbok coaching team on Friday and said planning was underway for the end-of-year tour.
Head coach Peter de Villiers and assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold met SARU president, Mr Oregan Hoskins, in Durban on Thursday evening.