Internationals
Zane Kirchner and Chiliboy Ralepelle have been selected to travel with the Springboks to Australia and New Zealand for the next two Tests in The Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
The squad of 26 players who returned from Argentina on Monday was retained, with Kirchner (fullback) and Ralepelle (hooker) the only additions.
The All Blacks’ Bledisloe Cup victory over Australia on Saturday was not the summer solstice, a holy day or the dawn of the age of enlightenment.
It was a poor performance over fatally flawed opposition, aided and abetted by a South African referee who has clearly not yet come to terms with the principle of equality.
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie insists his team will not drastically alter their approach for their next Rugby Championship match against the Springboks in Brisbane.
McKenzie’s first two Tests in charge of the Australian side have yielded consecutive defeats to the All Blacks, but that has not deterred him from his goal of using possession more effectively.
The Wallaby coach made it clear that his team will continue to play to their strengths by holding on to the ball and using their ‘skill’ to put pressure on the opposition’s defence.
The Springboks’ decision to continue with their overseas-based players had its first impact as the team arrived back in South Africa on Monday with no fewer than six members of the 26-man squad having to fly back to France to represent their clubs this weekend.
Argentina loose forwards Leonardo Senatore and Pablo Matera have been cited for alleged foul play against South Africa.
Expectations were certainly high prior to the Rugby Championship Test between the Argentinian Pumas and South Africa’s Springboks on Saturday evening, specially in light of the fact that the Springboks demolished the Pumas the week before, by beating them 73 / 13 at Soccer City. However, the cautious amongst us warned that it would not be that easy this past weekend at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas in Mendoza, Argentina.
We still expected a comfortable win by the Springboks and demanded that the Springboks also score 4 tries in the process.
Well, neither was the win comfortable nor did the Springboks score 4 tries, in fact they were outscored by 2 tries to 1 by a very brutal and difficult Pumas side, yet the Springboks still showed composure to go on and win the encounter by 22 / 17.
As a result the South African Springboks still top the Log in The Rugby Championship, with 9 out of a possible 10 Log points and a larger points difference than the New Zealand All Blacks who also stand on 9 Log points. Argentina has 1 Log point and Australia’s Wallabies have none after 2 games.
The latest flyhalf injury to hit the All Blacks seems a minor setback for coach Steve Hansen whose major issue appears to be who to cut when all players are fit.
Tom Taylor, New Zealand’s fourth-ranked flyhalf, has been sidelined for three weeks with a rib injury suffered late in Saturday’s 27-16 win over Australia where he made his Test debut with a confident display.
Canada booked their 2015 World Cup berth on Saturday with a 13-11 victory over the United States.
Pumas (17) 17 / 22 (13) Springboks (Final Score)
The Argentinian Pumas and South African Springboks did battle in The Rugby Championship at
Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza at 21:10 SA Time (16:10 Arg Time, 19:10 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 (15) 27 / 16 (6) Wallabies (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and Australian Wallabies did battle in The Rugby Championship at
Westpac Stadium, Wellington at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 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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Bismarck du Plessis will play in his 50th Test for South Africa off the bench against Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday.
The experienced hooker has been selected on the bench after Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer decided to select an unchanged starting 15 for the second round of The Castle Lager Rugby Championship, with Adriaan Strauss starting in the No 2 jersey.
The match 23 shows only one change from the team that beat the Pumas by 73-13 last weekend – Jano Vermaak comes onto the bench as replacement scrumhalf for Fourie du Preez.
Argentina coach Santiago Phelan has made five changes to his Rugby Championship team to play South Africa in Mendoza on Saturday.
Former Australia winger Digby Ioane has avoided conviction over an assault charge in an incident at a Melbourne bar when he was in the city with the Queensland Reds in March, local media reported on Thursday.
The 28-year-old, who is undergoing rehabilitation after sustaining a shoulder injury in the first test against the British and Irish Lions in June, was involved in a scuffle over a mobile phone.
Wallaby back row forward Scott Fardy will make his run-on debut for Australia in the sole change made to the starting line-up for Saturday’s second Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand.
The encounter in Wellington also doubles up as a must-win for the Wallabies in the Wallabies if they are to have any hope of wrestling the Bledisloe Cup from the All Blacks.
Coach Ewen McKenzie has backed his new-look squad to respond to their opening loss against the All Blacks by giving them a chance to atone while continuing to develop as a group.
Tom Taylor will make his All Black debut at flyhalf against Australia in the second Bledisloe Cup Test in the Rugby Championship in Wellington on Saturday
The starting 15 features two injury-enforced changes from the team that started last week’s Bledisloe Cup Test, with lock Brodie Retallick coming in for Luke Romano and Taylor slotting in at No.10 for Aaron Cruden.
Springbok assistant coach John McFarland says the manner in which they scored was the most pleasing aspect of Saturday’s Soweto hammering.
The Springboks scored nine tries as they got their Rugby Championship campaign off to a perfect start with a 73-13 victory over Argentina at Soccer City.
However, it’s how they scored their tries rather than how many that showed the improvement the team have made over the past 12 months, according to McFarland.
Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie looks set to resist the temptation to dump his rookies after one bad performance.
There has been a clamour for McKenzie to make changes – with fullback Jesse Mogg and Matt Toomua the two players most in the firing line of the Australian critics.
Sevens looks to be the big winner as New Zealand’s professional rugby players are set to receive a significant pay increase through the new collective employment agreement.
The New Zealand Rugby Union and the New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association said today they had signed an agreement covering the professional game through to 2015.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is likely to keep his starting XV unchanged for their Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday (21:10 SA time kick-off).
The Boks annihilated the Pumas 73-13 at FNB Stadium last week and it is expected that Meyer will opt for continuity this week.
New Zealand suffered a triple blow ahead of their return match against Australia in Wellington on Saturday.
All Black pivot Aaron Cruden and his back-up Beauden Barrett have both been ruled out of the Rugby Championship Round Two clash.
Australia, still reeling from the humiliating 29-47 loss to New Zealand last week, have had injury added to the insult.
Wallaby back row forward Hugh McMeniman will miss the remainder of the Rugby Championship and also the year-end tour after being forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said rookie Trevor Nyakane must learn his lesson and come back a better player.
Nyakane was dropped from the South African squad, ahead of the trip to Mendoza and the return match against Argentina, for “repeated breaches of team protocol”.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) wants Jaque Fourie to again be available for Springbok selection.
Trevor Nyakane has been dropped from the national squad for “repeated breaches of team protocol”.
It was announced on Sunday that Lourens Adriaanse and Piet van Zyl, who made his Test debut in June against Scotland in Nelspruit, have been added to the Springbok squad of 26 players that travelled to Argentina on Sunday.
South Africa have the potential to rival New Zealand as the top team in the world.
This is the candid assessment of World Cup-winning Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, after his telling contribution to his country’s record-breaking 73-13 victory over Argentina in Soweto at the weekend.
Du Preez, who played his first Test in nearly two years after being released by his Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath, scored one of the Boks’ nine tries.
New Zealand have called four players into their squad as cover for Saturday’s Rugby Championship return match against Australia after suffering a number of injuries in the Sydney opener at the weekend.
Argentina captain Felipe Contepomi is looking for a big response from his team when they face the Springboks on home soil this weekend.
The Pumas were blown away by the Boks in Soweto on Saturday, conceding nine tries to one in a resounding 73-13 defeat, so they will have everything to prove in the return fixture in Mendoza.
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This was supposed to be the Bledisloe that sparked the Wallaby revival. Instead, after an emphatic All Black victory, all it’s done is heap more pressure on Australian rugby.
The Wallabies had such a huge buildup and high expectations around how they were going to turn things round.
Springboks (26) 73 / 13 (6) Pumas (Final Score)
The South African Springboks and Argentinian Pumas did battle in The Rugby Championship at
Soccer City (FNB Stadium), Soweto at 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT, 12:00 Arg Time.
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SS4, SLSA, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Wallabies (19) 29 / 47 (25) All Blacks (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and New zealand All Blacks did battle in The Rugby Championship at
ANZ Stadium, Sydney at 12:05 SA Time (20:05 AEST, 22:05 NZ Time, 10:05 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Engineers will undertake checks at Wellington Regional Stadium ahead of next week’s Rugby Championship clash between the All Blacks and Australia following a 6.5 magnitude earthquake south of New Zealand’s capital city on Friday.
Flyhalf Matt Toomua will make his debut for Australia, while Quade Cooper was named on the bench for Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship match against New Zealand in Sydney.
Toomua was given the starting No.10 assignment ahead of Cooper by new Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie, for the match doubling up as a Bledisloe Cup encounter.
Blindside flank Liam Messam on Thursday withdrew from the All Black team to face Australia this weekend due to a hamstring strain, forcing coach Steve Hansen to draft in inexperienced Steven Luatua.
Messam pulled up sore at training, preventing him from featuring in the Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies in Sydney on Saturday.
The Springbok side for Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship opener against Argentina at Soccer City in Soweto shows four changes from the team which beat Samoa in June.
Two of the changes are in the starting XV, both of them in the forwards, and two on the bench for this Test, which forms part of the Nelson Mandela Sport & Culture Day activities.