SA Rugby
The Lions don’t learn from their mistakes they will be doomed to repeat them.
This was the harsh message from coach Johan Ackermann after his side held the Cell C Sharks for 65 minutes, before allowing them a turnover inside the Lions’ own half and watched as the game slipped away from them through an excellent Lwazi Mvovo try to lose 25-12 in their Vodacom Super Rugby match on Saturday.
Every time the Cell C Sharks score a win there are mutters in the background that they still have to travel overseas, but the rate they are going they will leave for Australasia needing to do very little to confirm themselves as the winners of the South African conference in Vodacom Super Rugby.
It has been written that the Sharks, in beating the Lions at Ellis Park this past weekend, showed that they are not as commanding away from home as they are at Growthpoint Kings Park. But that should surely be a given in a season where until the past two weeks home ground advantage was so important, and these days a win over the Lions in Johannesburg is not something you just accept as an expected event. You have to work for it.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke admits he will be again looking for reasons why his side dominated the possession stakes against the Highlanders and didn’t get the reward.
The Bulls had more than enough ball in their Vodacom Super Rugby game on Friday but defensive lapses and a lack of execution cost them as they went down 27-20 in Dunedin.
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke will know on Wednesday if he could select Jurgen Visser, Flip van der Merwe and Akona Ndungane for this weekend’s Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Waratahs in Sydney.
After slipping to their sixth defeat in eight games in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby season, even coach Naka Drotske had to admit that his team’s slim outside chances of staging a massive comeback is dead and buried and now only pride remains for the team to play for.
Just how will Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer go into any international this year without the boot of Frans Steyn?
The big midfielder underlined his importance with four massive penalties and a conversion for a total of 14 points as the Cell C Sharks returned to the top of the Vodocom Super Rugby table with a 25-12 win over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett was impressed by the performance of Sharks centre S’bura Sithole against the Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday night.
Sithole was named man-of-the-match following the Sharks’ 25-12 victory which took them back to the top of the Super Rugby standings.
The men from Pretoria, the Vodacom Bulls, started strong and seemed in control of proceedings against the Highlanders. With lock Victor Matfield leading from the front, they were comfortably winning their lineouts and also won key scrum battles more often than not. (Photo of the man sorely missed on the left – Deon Stegmann)
Lions (6) 12 / 25 (6) Sharks (Final Score)
The Lions and Cell C Sharks did battle in Super Rugby at
Ellis Park, Johannesburg at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 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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Cheetahs (10) 31 / 52 (19) Crusaders (Final Score)
The Toyota Cheetahs and Crusaders did battle in Super Rugby at
Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT, 03:05 Sunday NZ Time).
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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Cheetahs lock Rynard ‘Ligtoring’ Landman has signed a three-year deal with Pro 12 side Newport Gwent Dragons.
Dragons’ Director of Rugby Lyn Jones was delighted to announce the signing which sees the 1.96m, 120 kg second row move to Wales.
The University of Cape Town’s Varsity Cup win this week has been tainted by allegations of a post-match assault by an Ikey Tigers player.
Highlanders (13) 27 / 20 (13) Bulls (Final Score)
The Highlanders and Vodacom Bulls did battle in Super Rugby at
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin at 09:35 SA Time (07:35 GMT, 19:35 NZ Time).
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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It is Round 9 of Super Rugby 2014 this weekend! We have 6 games in Round 9, with 2 games on Friday and 4 games on Saturday.
The Blues, Hurricanes & DHL Stormers have bye weekends.
In June / July 2014 the Antipodian teams will catch up in played games with the South African counterparts, when the South African sides sit out for 1 Round.
The Combined Log will therefore be skewed for the majority of the competition and one has to question why individual countries are allowed to start such a long competition ahead of it’s rivals. In 2013 the Australian sides started a week early, but at least they had the excuse that they needed an extra week in the middle of the year to prepare for the British & Irish Lions series, which they lost.
Dear Minister,
Please allow me to introduce myself.
I am a middle-aged male of European descent living in the Ekhuruleni area, for most of my life.
In that time I’ve seen and experienced MANY changes in the daily lives of both my immediate family and my fellow South African citizens.
For me personally, one of the biggest changes in my life occurred when I discovered that my “local” Rugby Club was just a few kilometres from my house, and was situated in the “previously disadvantaged” area of Edenpark.
The Cell C Sharks starting line-up remains unchanged for this Saturday’s Vodacom Super Rugby clash with the Lions from the team named by Director of Rugby Jake White for the Waratahs a fortnight ago.
This means that Odwa Ndungane will run out for his 100th Super Rugby cap.
Paul Jordaan is over his injury and returns to the match 23, replacing Heimar Williams on the bench in the only change White has made. Despite the physical nature of the battle against the Waratahs, the Cell C Sharks had the good fortune of being able to keep the squad intact.
The Vodacom Bulls were forced into a late change to their backline and bench on Thursday when Akona Ndungane pulled a hamstring during the team’s captains run in Dunedin ahead of their Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Highlanders in the Forsyth Barr Stadium on Friday.
Lions Head Coach Johan Ackermann has made just one change to the run on side from that which was well beaten by the Crusaders to take on the Sharks at Ellis Park this weekend last week.
The full media briefing from the Lions reads:
Springbok Sevens forward Chris Dry will miss the last two rounds of the HSBC Sevens World Series in Glasgow and London as a result of the back injury he sustained in Hong Kong, the South African Rugby Union confirmed on Wednesday.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Wednesday commended the Leopards Rugby Union (LRU) for taking a zero tolerance approach after a recent incident of referee abuse in a club match.
Hennie van den Heever, a coach of the Vaal Reefs Rugby Club’s second team, was suspended for life from all forms of rugby by the LRU following a disciplinary hearing where he was found guilty of transgressing Regulation 20.4 (b) of the International Rugby Board.
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské has named an unchanged 23-man squad for their Super Rugby clash against the Crusaders in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
There will be a 39-year-old facing off against a 36-year-old in Dunedin on Friday.
No, it is not in an old-crocks club game, but a high-charged Super Rugby encounter – when two of the most respected locks, both World Cup winners, go head-to-head.
Nick Mallett, who will take charge of the World XV against the Springboks in June, has ruled out a return to coaching full-time.
Mallett, 57, was earlier this week confirmed as coach of the team to face the Springboks at Newlands on 7 June.
He did, however, state that he was not interested in getting a coaching role on a full-time basis.
Gert, may I wish you all the best in your new position. I am sure you are the man who can restore pride and dignity to WP Rugby but please don’t let “diplomacy” trip you up at the first step and derail everything before it even starts.
A Big Broom Sweeps Cleanest
Please use the opportunity to sweep the stage clean and start afresh much like the Sharks have done to great success. This is not an attack on the coaches as people who are all ‘good guys’ but it is important we recognize their limitations and the dire situation in which WP Rugby finds itself.
Springbok scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar is in a race against time to be fit for the June Tests after injuring his AC joint playing for his Irish team Ulster.
The Vodacom Bulls have made known, through their official Facebook Page, the names of the team to take on the Highlanders on Friday 11 April 2014.
As expected after the injuries to Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann, who both have had to return to South Africa as a result of longer term injuries, Grant Hattingh gets the nod at No 8, with Jono Ross selected at openside flank (No 6) and with Jacques du Plessis at blindside flank (No 7).
Jacques “Vleis” Engelbrecht reverts to the bench.
Cell C Sharks flank, Marcell Coetzee, knows that he has to stay on top of his game if he hopes to break into the Springbok loose trio this season as competition is ‘insane’.
Coetzee got his international break in 2012, with Bok coach Heyneke Meyer showing great faith in him from the start of his tenure, but the emergence of Francois Louw and Siya Kolisi saw the Sharks flank play a supporting role from the sidelines last year.
Benn Robinson could finally relax.
The Waratahs and Wallabies prop had been on edge for weeks, carrying around a precious piece of Australian and South African rugby history believed lost for decades.
It had brought him to a hotel lobby in Cape Town, where David Malan was waiting to receive the missing Springboks jersey his father, Abie Malan, had worn to captain South Africa against the Wallabies 51 years earlier.
The Lions will be holding thumbs that their winger Courtnall Skosan is cleared to play ahead of their crucial Vodacom Super Rugby match against the Cell C Sharks on Saturday.
Skosan failed a concussion test on Monday and has been sent for further tests, with the medical team deciding on Tuesday whether or not he will play, but coach Johan Ackermann is hoping the nippy wing will be cleared to take his place for the last home game before the Lions go on tour.
Pukke (13) 33 / 39 (10) UCT (Final Score)
FNB NWU-Pukke (North West University) and FNB UCT (University of Cape Town)
did battle in the 2014 Varsity Cup Final at Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds, Potchefstroom at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 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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It was a disappointing weekend for South Africa’s Vodacom Super Rugby franchises, with the best result among the four teams that took to the field being a 43-43 draw by the Toyota Cheetahs.
The Vodacom Bulls faced the Hurricanes in Napier on Saturday in their first tour game with the hope of becoming the first domestic franchise to win in the Antipodes this season, but penalties conceded at crucial times allowed the hosts to come away with a 25-20 victory.
The Toyota Cheetahs, meanwhile, built up an encouraging 34-10 half-time lead against New Zealand conference leaders and defending champions, the Chiefs, in Bloemfontein, but they allowed the visitors to fight back strongly after the break and had to settle for a 43-43 draw.
At Ellis Park, the Lions produced a competitive first-half performance against the Crusaders to trail only 6-0 after 40 minutes, but the home side battled to shut out the seven time Vodacom Super Rugby champions in the second half, and went down 28-7.
In the last match of the weekend, the DHL Stormers’ woes continued in their first home game after their Australasian tour, as they suffered their fifth back-to-back defeat after going down 22-11 against the Waratahs in a physical encounter at DHL Newlands.
SANZAR has released the names of the match officials for Round 8 of Super Rugby 2014.
Rohan Hoffmann starts the action this weekend in Dunedin when the Highlanders take on the Vodacom Bulls.
This weekend sees 6 matches, with 2 games on Friday and 4 games on Saturday.
The Blues, Hurricanes and Stormers have BYE WEEKENDS.
Remember that Daylight Savings Time changes occured all over the Globe on Sunday, so the Time difference between South Africa and their Antipodian counterparts increase bu an hour.
The Eastern Province Kings have confirmed Kevin Luiters as their latest signing ahead of their 2014 Currie Cup Premier Division season.
EP Kings CEO, Charl Crous, confirmed that the 21-year-old Luiters, who played scrumhalf for the Free State Cheetahs, had officially joined the Currie Cup training squad on Monday.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will start his international season by going head to head against his friend and former boss Nick Mallett at Newlands on 7 of June.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed that the Springboks will open their international season against a World XV – coached by former Springbok coach and SuperSport rugby expert Mallett before heading into tests against Wales and Scotland in the June international window.
The game will be at Newlands – and not the Cape Town Stadium – as initially reported with tickets going on sale Monday for the clash, priced at R250 and R350.
The 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International title will be decided on Monday when Potchefstroom hosts its first-ever final.
Apart from the showdown between FNB NWU-Pukke and FNB UCT, the Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championship final and the promotion/relegation battle between FNB UJ and the FNB UKZN Impi will also be decided at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds – all televised live on Supersport 1.
Coach Robert du Preez’s NWU-Pukke side will be hunting their first title when they take on the Ikey Tigers who lifted the trophy the last time they made the final back in 2011.
Both teams secured home semifinal victories, with NWU-Pukke edging the FNB NMMU Madibaz in dramatic style and UCT taking care of old rivals FNB Maties in the wind and rain on the Green Mile.
The hosts will have the psychological advantage of having beaten the Ikeys in Cape Town in the opening round, but coach Kevin Musikanth’s team are yet to lose away from home this year so they cannot be taken lightly.