Player Movements
The IRB has cast its net further in making its appointment to the November Tests, mostly in Europe.
There are several of the tried and tested – Craig Joubert, Jaco Peyper, Nigel Owens, Steve Walsh, Alain Rolland, George Clancy, Jérôme Graces, Romain Poite, Wayne Barnes, for example. There are those finding their feet like Lourens van der Merwe, Glen Jackson, JP Doyle, Pascal Gauzère, Leighton Hodges, Greg Garner, Ian Davies, John Lacey and Francisco Pastrana. Then there are those who are just standing up and taking their first steps – Stuart Berry, Chris Assmus, Mike Fraser, Dudley Phillips, Federico Anselmi, Luke Pearce, Marius Mitrea, Joaquin Montes, Juan Sylvestre and Claudio Antonio.
Griquas coach Pote Human made 12 changes to his team for their final Currie Cup league match of the season, as he keeps his powder dry for the play-offs.
Griquas, who will be involved in promotion-relegation matches with the Pumas later this month, face the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has welcomed back the returning Springboks in his side for the vital clash against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Top of the Currie Cup Premier Division log is at stake when these two sides clash on the weekend, so the motivation and expectation cannot be higher for this match. The battle will commence at Kings Park and ill determine which of these sides might host a possible Home Final at the end of the season.
Sharks flanker Jean Deysel has welcomed the return of their Springbok players to training this week ahead of their final Currie Cup league phase clash against Western Province in Durban on Saturday.
Du Plessis brothers Jannie and Bismarck, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Tendai Mtawarira, Marcell Coetzee and Patrick Lambie were all back training at Kings Park on Tuesday morning and were expected to play some part in the top-of-the-table clash.
Willem Alberts, however, has been ruled out due to a neck injury he suffered against New Zealand in the final Rugby Championship game over the weekend.
As expected, New Zealand All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has given his charges the week off after their stellar performance over the weekend, clinching The Rugby Championship against the Springboks from South Africa.
They are nursing quite a number of bumps and bruises, the result from the hard encounter with the Springboks.
South African-born Ireland hooker Richardt Strauss has been ruled out for the rest of the season because of a heart condition that will require surgery.
Rory Kockott seems to be the latest South African to sign with French club Toulon.
Kockott who currently plays for Castres is likely to join Toulon next season in a 3 year deal.
With The Rugby Championship now done and dusted, the Springbok players involved look set to be returning to their Provincial Unions and respective overseas Clubs to continue plying their trade.
This of course leaves Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer a worried man and wishing he was in the fortunate situation which the All Blacks coach finds himself, where the All Black players will rest some more before the November Internationals start (of course there is still the matter of a Bledisloe Cup encounter between the All Blacks and Wallabies to consider on 18 October).
Pumas great Felipe Contepomi was not too dejected after the Wallabies spoiled his Test swansong with a 54-12 win in Rosario on Saturday.
The Rugby Championship clash at Estadio Gigante de Arroyito brought down the curtain on Contepomi’s illustrious international career.
The utility back, who made his Test debut for Argentina against Chile back in 1998, played in his record 87th Test and retired as the Pumas’ top points-scorer of all time having accumulated 651 Test points and broken Hugo Porta’s record of 590 points.
Following the final match of The Rugby Championship of 2013, the one between the Argentinian Pumas and Australian Wallabies, it has transpired that Argentina scrumhalf Martin Landajo has been suspended from all forms of the game for one week after stamping on some Australian players in Rosario.
Duty Judicial Officer Nigel Hampton has accepted a guilty plea from Landajo for contravening Law 10.4 (b) Stamping or trampling after he was cited.
World Cup-winning All Blacks blindside flank Jerome Kaino will return to the Blues next year after signing a two-year deal with the Auckland franchise.
The 48-Test All Black has been contracted to play with the Blues and be available for the All Blacks in 2014 and 2015.
Tasman’s Marty Banks, Auckland’s Hadleigh Parkes, and Mark Abbott from Hawke’s Bay have all signed on to join the Hurricanes in 2014.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett said all three had shown great form throughout the NPC, and each would bring different qualities to his strengthening squad.
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has reached a mutual agreement to grant James O’Connor an early release from his national contract for 2013 and will not offer him a national contract for 2014.
The decision to grant O’Connor an early release from his national contract follows an ARU integrity investigation into an alleged incident at Perth Airport involving the 23-year-old in the early hours of Sunday, September 15.
Steve Hansen, the All Blacks coach has made only 2 changes to the All Blacks starting 15 for their important Test match and a fitting finale to The Rugby Championship, against the Springboks of South Africa at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
As expected, Richie McCaw returns to captain the side and fill the openside flanker role, with Sam Cane dropping to the bench. Richie will play in his 120th Test match and has never had the opportunity to play in a Test at Ellis Park.
The injured prop, Owen Franks, has failed to recover from a groin strain and has been replaced by Charlie Faumuina at tighthead prop, with Ben Franks coming onto the bench.
Griquas coach Pote Human has made 3 changes to their team and specifically their forwards for the Currie Cup clash with the Free State Cheetahs in Kimberley on Saturday.
Bjorn Basson will make a welcome return to the Vodacom Blue Bulls side to play The Sharks in an Absa Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The winger, who scored two tries in his only appearance for the Blue Bulls in the competition this year, has been released by the Springboks ahead of their test match against New Zealand in Johannesburg.
Springbok Marcell Coetzee will play for the Sharks this week, but he will only come off the bench against the Bulls in Pretoria on Friday.
Demetri Catrakilis looks set to start at flyhalf for DHL Western Province for the first time since returning to the Absa Currie Cup champions from the Southern Kings.
WP face the MTN Golden Lions at Newlands on Saturday in a match they hope will clinch them their home semifinal spot and, if they win, also set up a log decider against the Sharks in Durban the following weekend.
Injury is likely to rule Golden Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies out for the remainder of the Currie Cup season.
Australia’s Rugby Championship campaign is being threatened by a pay row involving one of the key players in the team.
Media reports suggest Ben Mowen is considering walking out over a payment dispute with the Australian Rugby Union – just a fortnight after captaining the team against Argentina.
The 28-year-old is understood to be frustrated because he’s not receiving a top-up contract from the ARU, despite being a regular starter for the Wallabies.
Maties lock Reniel Hugo has decided to join the University of Pretoria where he will represent Tuks in next year’s Varsity Cup.
Hugo has decided to enroll for an honours degree in accounting at Tuks and will therefore play his rugby in Pretoria next season, which means he could come into consideration for Blue Bulls honours.
Otago forwards Gareth Evans and Tom Franklin have signed with the Highlanders, and livewire halfback Fumiaki Tanaka has recommitted for the 2014 season.
All Black wing Cory Jane is set to make his return to rugby after a long term injury.
He will be starting with baby steps and join up with his club Wellington to face Auckland this coming Saturday in the ITM Cup.
The All Blacks are flying Chiefs prop Ben Afeaki over to South Africa for their match against the Springboks this coming weekend.
Afeaki will be standing in for injured Owen Franks.
The Springboks were dealt a big blow when burly lock Flip van der Merwe was banned for one week and will miss the Rugby Championship decider at Ellis Park on Saturday.
A SANZAR judicial hearing found Flip van der Merwe guilty of contravening Law 10.4(e): Dangerous Tackling, which also constituted a breach of Law 10.4 (a): Striking.
The Bok lock was cited after South Africa’s 28-8 demolition of Australia in Cape Town at the weekend.
The All Blacks headed to South Africa on Monday banking on the return of talismanic captain Richie McCaw to put the seal on another successful season.
Although New Zealand require just a single bonus point to retain their Rugby Championship title, they are determined to seal it by beating arch rivals South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday.
And the All Blacks are confident they will have McCaw in their arsenal.
Flip van der Merwe of South Africa has been cited for alleged foul play during a Rugby Championship match at the weekend.
Van der Merwe is alleged to have contravened Law 10.4 (a) Punching or Striking when he made contact with Australian winger Joe Tomane. The incident occurred in the 39th minute of the match between South Africa and Australia at DHL Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday 28 September.
Players from Edinburgh Rugby, Glasgow Warriors and Scotland 7s have been drafted to the four British & Irish Cup teams, ahead of the cross border competition that starts on Saturday 12 October.
At the beginning of the season the same players were distributed between the ten RBS Premiership clubs. A further re-draft has now taken place to split them between Ayr, Gala, Stirling County and Edinburgh Accies.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has named his team to face the Wallabies at Newlands on Saturday.
Fourie du Preez makes a welcome return to the starting lineup at scrumhalf and Adriaan Strauss gets the nod at hooker, with Bismarck du Plessis set on the bench.
The recall of a fit-again Handré Pollard, first starts to William Small-Smith and David Bullbring and returns for Sampie Mastriet and Marcel van der Merwe highlights the Vodacom Blue Bulls team announcement ahead of their Absa Currie Cup clash against GWK Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday.
In all, Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar made six changes to his starting line-up, with Jurgen Visser also returning at fullback and Clayton Blommetjies dropping to the bench.
Springbok tourist Raymond Rhule is one of four players who felt the wrath of Free State Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské axe.
The Cheetahs host defending champions Western Province in a crucial Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Friday.
The Pumas have made six changes for their clash against the All Blacks this weekend.
One of the six changes will see veteran Patricio Albacete slotting in at lock.
Springbok Johan Goosen’s hopes of a comeback for the year-end tour has been dashed.
The 21-year-old has undergone surgery to remove an inflamed appendix.
Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis is set to play his 50th Test which will see him and brother Bismarck achieve a special milestone.
Jannie du Plessis and flyhalf Morné Steyn will play their 50th Tests for the Springboks when they tackle Australia’s Wallabies at Newlands on Saturday.
Ali Williams says he enjoyed being on the same side as South African Bakkies Botha for a change, having locked horns with the giant former Springbok on numerous occasions for club and country.