Internationals
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.
It is understood that French-based players in the Springbok squad are unlikely to be available to play Scotland in next week’s Test in Port Elizabeth.
This means the likes of Morne Steyn, Gurthro Steenkamp, Bakkies Botha and Bryan Habana will all have to report back to their clubs.
It’s understood the clubs will invoke International Rugby Board (IRB) Regulation Nine, which governs the release of players for the June test window.
The regulation stipulates that releases are required for the second, third and fourth weekends of June, or for three matches.
Victor Matfield
Victor Matfield will on Saturday become the most-capped Test player in the history of South African rugby when he leads the Springboks against Wales in his 112th Test match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
Matfield made his Test debut on 30 June 2001 against Italy in Port Elizabeth. He retired after the Rugby World Cup in 2011 on 110 caps, but made a highly successful return to the game earlier this year.
“This is a fantastic accolade for Victor,” said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer on Wednesday.
“He has been a terrific servant of the game in South Africa and has led his country with distinction since returning to the Green and Gold.”
Kieran Read
Kieran Read will play in his first Test of the year, after finally overcoming the concussion issues that has sidelined him for months.
Read’s inclusion in the starting 15 is one of two changes to the team hat will play England in the third and final Test of the June series at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, on Saturday.
The All Blacks made just the two changes, injecting Read and Malakai Fekitoa to the starting line up as they chase a clean sweep in the series.
Coach Steve Hansen said he’d decided not to try new combinations with the series already won, as he looks to develop his preferred run-on side – who were far from perfect in winning the first two Tests 20-15 and 28-27.
Grant Gilchrist will captain an inexperienced Scotland side against Argentina in Cordoba on Friday.
The 23-year-old Edinburgh lock will be playing in his seventh international, having scored a try in last Saturday’s 19-17 win over Canada.
Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland and Peter Horne also keep their places as 13 new faces joined the tour party this week.
Scrum-half Grayson Hart, lock Jonny Gray and back-row forward Kieran Low all make their first starts.
With scrum-half Greig Laidlaw among those returning home after victories against USA and Canada, Gilchrist becomes Scotland’s youngest captain since Gregor Townsend led the team against Australia 18 years ago.
Duane Vermeulen
Springbok No 8 Duane Vermeulen will be hoping for a special performance against Wales when he makes his homecoming appearance in Mbombela on Saturday.
Playing in his 18th Test in the green and gold, Vermeulen missed out on the first ever Springbok match played in the Mpumalanga capital, against Scotland last year, because of injury.
The 28-year-old would return to the place where he took his first steps on the rugby field as a barefoot young boy.
Abongile Nonkontwana
The Baby Boks will be up against the tournament’s other big boys as they prepare for a forward dominated Final in the Junior World Championship.
England cruised to the Final by destroying Ireland in the semifinal with their sizable forwards and impressive set pieces.
The monstrous English Under 20’s play a game that is not to far from the South African’s one, relying on a good platform to be set by the forwards as they physically dominate their opposition.
The question come Friday will be: which pack can destroy the other enough to swing the game in their favour?
The South Africans forwards have impressed throughout the tournament, most evidentially in their two victories against the hosts, New Zealand.
Waratahs enforcer Will Skelton will make his Test debut for the Wallabies as they target a clean sweep of the French in Sydney on Saturday.
With Australia entering the match with an insurmountable 2-0 series lead, coach Ewen McKenzie has opted to give the 203cm, 140kg lock an opportunity in the starting side in his home state.
His inclusion represents one of the two changes made to the starting XV, with Skelton’s Waratahs teammate Wycliff Palu returning at No 8 after missing the second Test in Melbourne with a minor ankle injury.
There have been two further changes made on the bench with Brumbies prop Scott Sio and Waratahs outside back Rob Horne getting their first opportunities in the match day squad for 2014.
There was little change in the International Rugby Board’s rankings after the weekend’s matches, according to the IRB website.
New Zealand, who beat England 28-27 in Dunedin to secure the three-match series, remain at the top with 93.81 ratings points.
The Springboks, who beat Wales 38-16 in Durban, stay in 2nd position on 89.34, while Australia – who were 6-0 victors over France in Melbourne – stay in 3rd position (86.92) ahead of England (85.68).
Hugo Bonneval
Fulgence Ouedraogo
France coach Philippe Saint-Andre has continued his selection merry-go-round when he named the team to face Australia in the third and final Test in Sydney on Saturday.
Saint-Andre made two changes to his starting line-up in a bid to salvage a win in the series against the Wallabies.
Saint-Andre recalled Hugo Bonneval, who played at fullback in the first Test, to replace Maxime Medard on the wing.
Fulgence Ouedraogo comes into a reshuffled back row and will start at openside flank, forcing captain Thierry Dusautoir to the blindside.
David Denton
The already depleted Scotland team suffered another big blow, with back row forward David Denton out of their mid-year tour.
The 24-year-old Edinburgh player, Denton, will play no part in the tour matches against Argentina in Cordoba on Friday and for the closing match against South Africa in Port Elizabeth a week on Saturday.
Scotland team doctor James Robson explained that Denton suffered a concussion in his last game of the season for Edinburgh against Leinster in the Pro12 last month.
Owen Farrell
England flyhalf Owen Farrell has been ruled out of the third Test against New Zealand on Saturday after straining the medial ligament in his left knee.
Farrell, who was a late arrival in New Zealand due to the English club final, played in the second test at Dunedin, won 28-27 by the All Blacks to clinch an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
The England team said he would remain with the squad until the end of their tour, which concludes following the third Test in Hamilton on Saturday.
Handré Pollard
The International Rugby Board has confirmed the shortlist of four nominees for the prestigious Award, with the winner set to be announced following the Junior World Championship final at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday.
Finalists South Africa and England each have a player nominated in captain Pollard and wing Nathan Earle respectively, with Ireland centre Garry Ringrose and New Zealand wing Tevita Li completing the quartet of players.
The management of the 12 teams involved in the IRB Junior World Championship of 2014 in New Zealand voted on their top three players after each round with votes tallied to provide the shortlist of nominees.
The public now has the chance to vote on this shortlist on the official Facebook page www.facebook.com/irbjuniors. The results of the public poll will be considered, along with the original votes, when finalising the winner.
Lawrence Sephaka
Springbok Women’s coach Lawrence Sephaka on Tuesday named 11 players with World Cup experience in his 26-member squad for the IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup in France from 1 to 17 August.
The team’s participation in the tournament has been made possible by a R2,3m grant from the National Lotto Distribution Trust Fund.
The squad will be led by experienced captain and No 8 Mandisa Williams, who guided the team in the 2010 showpiece in the UK as well as the 2013 IRB Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow.
Aaron Cruden
New Zealand rugby has secured a major commitment from one of its key players, with All Blacks and Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden signing on for a further three years.
The 25-year-old Cruden, who played his 31st Test in the All Blacks victory over England on the weekend, has signed with New Zealand Rugby and the Chiefs through until 2017. He has also re-signed with his Manawatu Turbos provincial side for the same period.
Cruden said it was an easy decision for him to make.
Danny Cipriani in action for England against the Crusaders
England outscored the Crusaders by six tries to one to cruise to a comfortable 38-7 victory in Christchurch on Tuesday.
It was their first win on their tour of New Zealand in their first-ever clash with the seven-time Super Rugby champions following narrow defeats in both Tests against the All Blacks so far.
The fluent performance against a Crusaders side boasting six All Blacks will certainly give England coach Stuart Lancaster some interesting food for thought ahead of the final Test in Hamilton this weekend.
Flyhalf Danny Cipriani staked a claim for inclusion in England’s side for the third Test with a brief but influential performance.
It is deep into the 1st week already of the month-long FIFA Football World Cup 2014 in Brazil.
We’ve seen some astonishing results already!
As in the past week, we have another Football article, so go for it you bloody Soccer Moffies!
Just kidding fellas & flatties, enjoy the Football!
Marnitz Boshoff
The win his Junior Springbok team scored in Sunday’s exciting age-group semifinal in New Zealand may have prevented Handre Pollard from making his senior debut much quicker than he may have anticipated.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has made no secret of how highly he regards Pollard and has indicated that the Bulls pivot is definitely under consideration for next year’s World Cup. There were whispers earlier this month that Pollard could find himself getting an opportunity for the Boks as early as sometime during the June series if the Junior Boks got knocked out early, with everything hinging on their pool game against the Kiwis 10 days ago.
Had the Junior Boks made an early exit, Pollard could have been the solution to a potential flyhalf crisis in the squad now that Johan Goosen is doubtful for the rest of the series because of a knee injury sustained in this past weekend’s 38-16 win over Wales in Durban. Goosen limped off not long after coming onto the field and Meyer admitted afterwards that Goosen was the big concern looking ahead to next week’s second test in Nelspruit.
Morné Steyn
South African coach Heyneke Meyer dished out a swipe at the ongoing criticism of Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn.
The 55-Test veteran was a pivotal player in the Boks’ 38-16 (5 tries to 1) demolition of Wales in Durban at the weekend, but still haven’t convinced his detractors that he is the real deal.
Not only did he produce a 100 percent goal-kicking performance (5 conversions and a penalty), but the 37 times he handled the ball he kicked just 10 times – with 21 passes and 6 runs.
The Bok coach, Meyer, pointed out that the high attrition rate among flyhalves makes Steyn an even more valuable asset to the national team.
Heyneke Meyer
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer had every reason to be beaming on Saturday night as he reflected on a performance against Wales that spoke volumes about how far his team has travelled since he took charge in 2012.
In the end a sloppy second half and a more committed Welsh defensive line saw to it that the Boks didn’t complete the massacre that threatened at halftime, when the hosts led 28-9 and had already scored four well taken tries. Just 10 points were added after the break against a Welsh try to George North, but who would quibble about a 38-16 win over Wales.
It was the most complete performance turned in at the weekend by the big three southern hemisphere teams, and was arguably better than Australia’s annihilation of France the previous week. There was always going to be a step up in the Bok performance once the test matches arrived and they’d left the ambiguity of playing a World XV that included several of their countrymen behind, and they provided it.
It was at the same Kings Park a just a week out from being a year ago that the Boks first started to show indications that under Meyer they weren’t going to be stuck in the conservative rut they had been in the previous season. They thumped Italy fairly comprehensively, and afterwards everyone was talking about the pace that had been injected out wide.
Ed Slater
England have named a team of fringe players to face the Crusaders on Tuesday, with coach Stuart Lancaster looking to ensure all his touring party receive game-time in New Zealand.
Debutant Ed Slater will captain a starting XV against the seven-time Super Rugby champions which features only one player, flank James Haskell, who has started a Test during the New Zealand tour.
While Lancaster insisted “we are treating this as like an additional Test”, the selection indicates he is aiming to develop depth in his squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup while retaining his first-choice players for the final Test in Hamilton on Saturday.
The Semi-Final Play-off Round of the IRB Junior World Championship is a thing of the past, with South Africa Under 20 and England Under 20 advancing to contest the FINAL and leaving Ireland Under 20 and New Zealand Under 20 to contest for 3rd place.
South Africa, the top seeds, beat New Zealand by 32 / 25 in a hard-fought game, socring the winning try with 2 minutes left on the clock.
England trounced Ireland by 42 / 15 and of course is the defending champions, looking to successfully defend their title.
Other results:
- France beat Wales 19 / 18
- Australia demolished Samoa by 53 / 16
- Scotland narrowly beat Italy by 21 / 18
- Argentina saw off Fiji by 38 / 12
The All Blacks will get another crack at matching the record for consecutive Tier One Test victories when they face England in Hamilton this weekend.
The record of 17 victories has been reached by the All Blacks side of the late 1960’s and Nick Mallett’s Springbok team of the lates 1990’s, and Richie McCaw will have his third shot as captain at joining them on Saturday.
The Wallabies have twice ended an All Blacks winning streak on 16 victories in recent years, springing a surprise in Hong Kong back in 2010 and then earning a draw in Brisbane in 2012.
Israel Folau
In-demand Wallabies star Israel Folau has ruled out any move to Europe or a switch back to league in Australia before next year’s World Cup.
Folau is hot property across the two codes and comes off contract next year, with French champions Toulon reportedly expressing an interest in the dual rugby international back.
Toulon, the reigning European Cup and Top 14 champions, are one of the wealthiest clubs in the world, boasting a star-studded roster including former Wallabies backs Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and the newly signed James O’Connor.
But Folau, 25, said he would not decide his future before rugby’s showpiece event which starts in England in September next year.
Conrad Smith
All Blacks centre Conrad Smith will miss the 3rd and final Test against England after breaking his thumb in the 2nd Test win on the weekend, coach Steve Hansen said.
He said the in-form Smith would be sidelined for at least a month after being injured in the 28-27 victory in Dunedin.
Fiji opened their defence of the 2014 Pacific Nations Cup with a bonus-point 45-17 victory over Tonga in Suva on Saturday.
Watisoni Votu and Sireli Bobo, who missed last week’s warm-up match against Italy, both scored twice with Nemani Nadolo and captain Akapusi Qera also registering a try.
Nadolo contributed 20 points in the match with a try, six conversions and a penalty.
He had Fiji on the board within three minutes of the start with a penalty as they raced to a 24-3 lead by halftime.