Internationals
With a R1-million first prize and some of the fastest speedsters in the business, this week’s inaugural NBM Sevens tournament in George, beginning on Friday, is ideal festive season television fare.
All 34 matches will be broadcast live on SuperSport 6, with the first match at 11am on Friday between the NBM All Stars and Boland.
Rugby-Talk will also cover this IPL-Style Inaugural competition with a Live Games Article.
Wallaby coach Robbie Deans looks likely to keep his job and be in charge for the British and Irish Lions tour next year after Australian chiefs said there was “very little chance” of change.
It is dubiously called a “Test window” period anyway, and the Springboks must use the three weeks of international activity in June next year as a genuine window of opportunity to prepare themselves for more glamorous goals later in the season.
Our national side has a greatly less taxing, on paper, June agenda than either of their most traditional southern hemisphere rivals, New Zealand and Australia … and must use it to their advantage in terms of bigger-picture aspirations like the Castle Rugby Championship a bit further up the gruelling 2013 drag.
The HSBC Sevens World Series was in South Africa this weekend, with the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament, the last Sevens tournament on the circuit for 2012.
New Zealand took the spoils after beating the South African Blitzbokke 12 / 5 in the Semi-final and thumping France 47 / 12 in the Final.
It was a better weekend for the men from South Africa though, getting through the pool stages unbeaten, also winning the Quarter final against the USA, but then stumbling against New Zealand, by only 7 points. South Africa demolished Argentina in the 3rd Place play-off, beating them by 35 / 0.
There is still a little bit of rugby to look forward to on TV in South Africa this weekend.
So, what’s in stall for us as far as TV rugby viewing is concerned this weekend?
Herewith the viewing schedule:
Controversial Wallaby playmaker Quade Cooper has settled his differences with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) by signing a new two-year deal on Friday.
The Springboks will face their Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool B opponents, Scotland and Samoa (as well as Italy), in an innovative new tournament featuring double-header Test matches in 2013, the South African Rugby Union announced on Thursday.
Wallabies and Reds playmaker Quade Cooper is believed to have come to terms with the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) with a new deal that will keep playing Super Rugby in Australia for the Reds.
Struggling French outfit Racing Métro is chasing the signature of the Bulls’ Springbok lock Juandré Kruger.
Richie McCaw is the All Blacks’ most capped player of all time, having represented New Zealand on 116 occasions to date.
Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has revealed that he will not take part in the 2015 World Cup in England as it is “18 months too far.”
England Rugby 2015 (ER 2015), tournament organisers of the 2015 World Cup, has appointed Neil Snowball to the new role of Rugby Operations Director.
Leading South African referee Marius Jonker has announced his retirement from international match officiating, although he will continue to referee in South Africa’s domestic competitions.
This past weekend saw the end of the Southern Hemisphere 15-man rugby season… a long and arduous season.
Now only the HSBC Sevens World Series Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament remains, after which we, as proud Southerners, have to rely on the scraps of rugby coming to us from the Northern Hemisphere, and then fill in the gaps with some cricket action to keep our sport addictions alive.
The South African Blitzbokke provide scant hopes for a good result in Port Elizabeth this coming weekend, but the party will continue… and we will party right along.
On the positive side, it was a good season again for Southern Hemisphere rugby, spoilt by the fantastic wins by France against the Wallabies about a month ago and of course the Coup de Grace by the England rugby side against the world number one side, the New Zealand All Blacks, this past weekend – lambasting them by a massive 38 / 21.
Hereafter a quick look at the respective seasons of the BIG BOYS of Southern Hemisphere Rugby:
All Black flyhalf Dan Carter was named the International Rugby Board Player of the Year at the IRB Awards in London on Monday.
Springbok Sevens playmaker Cecil Afrika is one of three players who joined the squad on Monday for the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens this weekend in Port Elizabeth.
All credit to New Zealand for not blaming the virus in the team or end-of-year-tiredness for their loss at the hands of a committed England team.
The All Blacks players looked more than a bit pale and lethargic as they entered the field and even the Haka lacked its normal spark.
Punctiliously I don’t however think it was either the virus or tiredness that saw the All Blacks lose this match. It was the England tactics and their good defence that won them the match.
Wales will be confirmed in the third band of directly qualified teams for the Rugby World Cup 2015 Pool Allocation Draw when the latest IRB World Rankings are published on Monday 3 December.
England (12) 38 / 21 (0) All Blacks (Final Score)
England and the New Zealand All Blacks did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Twickenham, London at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 Dec NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 2 & SH2 on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
England:
- Penalties – Owen Farrell (4), Freddie Burns (2)
- Drop Goals – Owen Farrell (1)
- Tries – Brad Barritt (1), Chris Ashton (1), Manusamoa Tuilagi (1)
- Conversions – Owen Farrell (1)
All Blacks:
- Penalties – 0
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Julian Savea (2), Kieran Read (1)
- Conversions – Daniel Carter (2), Aaron Cruden (1)
Teams:
England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Mike Brown, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (Captain), 6 Tom Wood, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Joe Launchbury, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 David Wilson, 18 Mako Vunipola, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 James Haskell, 21 Danny Care, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Jonathan Joseph.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Luke Romano, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Aaron Cruden, 23 Ben Smith.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 03:30 Sunday 2 December NZ time)
Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 7°C, dropping to -1°C.
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Nigel Owens (Wales), Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
********************************************************************************************************
Wales (6) 12 / 14 (9) Wallabies (Final Score)
Wales and the Australian Wallabies did battle in the End Of Year Tours at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff at 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 Dec EAST).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SHD 4 on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
Wales:
- Penalties – Leigh Halpenny (4)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – 0
- Conversions – 0
Wallabies:
- Penalties – Kurtley Beale (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Kurtley Beale (1)
- Conversions – 0
Teams:
Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Mike Phillips, 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton (captain), 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Ian Evans, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Samson Lee, 19 Ryan Jones, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Dan Biggar, 23 Scott Williams.
Australia: 15 Berrick Barnes, 14 Nick Cummins, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Kurtley Beale, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Scott Higginbotham, 5 Nathan Sharpe (captain), 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Sekope Kepu, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Michael Hooper, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Mike Harris, 23 Digby Ioane.
Date: Saturday 1 December 2012
Venue: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 16:30 SA Time (14:30 GMT, 01:30 Sunday 2 December AEDST)
Expected weather: There is a chance of rain, but with the roof set to be closed it should not be an issue. However, as we have seen, the surface cuts up badly regardless. It will be a high of 7°C and a low of 1°C
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite, Greg Garner (England)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ireland)
Friday 30 November & Saturday 1 December 2012 sees the HSBC Sevens World Series Emirates Airlines Dubai Sevens Rugby Tournament take place.
Herewith the Results, times given in Dubai time (2 hours ahead of SA Time).
Samoa took the overall title, winning the Cup by 26 / 15 against New Zealand.
In the Womans final, New Zealand trounced the South African woman’s side by 41 / 10.
The Southern Hemisphere Rugby season is fast approaching a welcome close for players , administrators and coaching staff, but at the same time some of us are are a bit despondant that we would have to watch cricket & golf as substitute in place of our crazy rugby addiction…. oh and lest we forget those things in and around the house we failed to have time for in the year.
************************************************
However, tomorrow and on Saturday there is still the HSBC Sevens World Series Emirates Airline Dubai Rugby Sevens, and on Saturday we get our last brief fix of full Test match rugby when England meet the All Blacks and Wales host the Wallabies (pity these two games are on at the same time again) at the End Of Year Tours to the Northern Hemisphere. PLUS of course we get a sprinkling of Northern Hemisphere Club Rugby to view too.
So, what’s in stall for us as far as TV rugby viewing is concerned this weekend?
**********************************************
Herewith the viewing schedule:
The All Blacks side has already been known and reported about, herewith the remaining 3 sides for this weekend’s End Of Year Toursgames on Saturday.
The Wales rugby player flattened by a swinging arm from New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore suffered three-day memory loss as a result of the incident.
Bryan Habana’s spectacular score against New Zealand in the inaugural Rugby Championship has been named Try of the Year for 2012 by the International Rugby Players’ Association.
Flyhalf Dan Carter has recovered from a calf injury and will start for New Zealand in their final test of the year against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore apologised on Thursday for a hit from behind on Wales lock Bradley Davies that resulted in a five-match ban, saying he had let down his team and the entire country.
This week there was two important citings for Southern Hemisphere teams who still have to play this coming weekend, that of Andrew Hore the New Zealand hooker and the other one that of Sitaleki Timani the Australian lock.
Both were found guilty and Andrew Hore received an effective 5-week suspension whereas Sitaleki Timani received a 1-week suspension.
Courtney Lawes was on Tuesday included in England’s 23-man squad for Saturday’s Twickenham Test against world champions New Zealand as coach Stuart Lancaster promised to meet the All Blacks’ challenge “head-on”.
Australian lock Rob Simmons had his ban for a dangerous tip-tackle during the Wallabies defeat by France this month cut from eight weeks to five weeks, following an International Rugby Board appeal hearing in Bristol, south-west England.
Andy Farrell has called on his “fearless” young England side to record a significant milestone in their development by beating world champions New Zealand on Saturday.
Australian second row forward Sitaleki Timani has been cited to appear before the International Rugby Board disciplinary commission.
Going through articles on various web sites I came across one where Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer explains some of his selections, where he sometimes got it wrong and sometimes got it right.
It was a try. The referee awarded the try and the referee is ‘the sole judge of fact and Law during a match’. But was his judgement right.
He did take advice from the TMO whose scripted advice was: ‘You may award the try.’
But should it have been awarded? Was the judgement right? Was the Law correctly applied? It is an interesting situation.
New Zealand hooker Andrew Hore has been cited by the IRB’s independent Citing Commissioner for allegedly striking an opponent during the match between Wales and New Zealand at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper on Monday said he was putting his Rugby Union career on hold, as he prepares to make his debut in the boxing ring early next year.