SA Rugby
Former Sharks Director of Rugby, Brendan Venter, will help out with the coaching at Stellenbosch schools side, Paul Roos, next year.
The South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series, was held at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, takes place on 7 and 8 December 2013.
The tournament was played in emotionally charged circumstances after the death of beloved South African and world statesman, Nelson Mandela, who passed away in the night of 5 December 2013.
In these circumstances the open question was whether South Africa’s Blitzbokke could go one better than the previous tournament when they were beaten in the final by Fiji.
The question was answered… the South African Blitzbokke are the winners and title holders at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth!
Here are the Fixtures and Results:
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has paid tribute to the extraordinary life and unselfish contribution to the establishment of a united South Africa, of former President, Nelson Mandela.
Mr Mandela passed away peacefully at his home on Thursday. He was 95.
Springbok wing Bryan Habana will be sidelined for around three weeks after suffering a thigh strain in Toulon’s 14-9 European Cup win at Exeter on Saturday.
The George 7’sPremier League tournament, due to be played at Outeniqua Park on 14 & 15 December, has been moved to January due to the countrywide week of mourning and Sunday’s funeral of Nelson Mandela, who passed away on Thursday.
The Sharks will play a warm-up match against English Premiership club Saracens at Allianz Park in London on January 25 next year.
Ireland will tackle South Africa and Australia in next year’s November international Test series, the Irish Rugby Football Union announced on Friday.
A proposal to expand the Currie Cup to eight teams in 2014 was withdrawn before being put to the vote at a SARU Special General Council meeting in Cape Town on Friday.
Maybe it’s fitting that the South African leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series tournament of 2013 / 2014 takes place a couple of days after the passing of the world’s biggest ever statesman, Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) at the stadium named in his honor, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
It is the last sevens action in the HSBC Sevens World series of 2013.
The South African Blitzbokke will be eager to tribute this tournament to Madiba.
We bring you all you need to know about the 16 teams who will be vying for top honours in the Nelson Mandela Bay SA Sevens, the third round of the IRB Sevens World Series in Port Elizabeth this weekend.
Former Southern Kings utility forward Daniel Adongo has earned a place on the Indianapolis Colts roster and could make his NFL debut in Cincinnati on Sunday.
New Zealand rugby saluted Nelson Mandela on Friday, saying the sport had lost “a champion of our game” with the passing of the former South African president.
Only players who make a Test appearance will be given a Springbok number and regarded as full Springboks.
adidas ‘unlocked’ the DHL Stormers home and away kit for the 2014 season at a launch event held today (Thursday, December 5) at the adidas Performance store in the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.
Three teams of adidas Storm Chasers – made up of a DHL Stormers player, media personality and a Super Fan (selected from the adidas 3Stripes loyalty programme) – raced around Cape Town looking for clues to help them complete challenges akin to The Amazing Race, in order to reveal the 2014 kits.
Wales will have an opportunity to break their SANZAR bogey when they face the world’s top three sides in next year’s November internationals.
The International Rugby Board’s (IRB) top three ranked sides, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia will visit the Millennium Stadium along with Pacific Island nation Fiji.
The Varsity Cup matches in 2014 will be played with two referees on the field. It’s not a new idea but the use of it is moving up a notch with the Varsity Cup.
The South African Rugby Union’s executive committee is set to hold a meeting here on Thursday to discuss the future structure of the Super Rugby competition.
More teams will to be added from 2016, when a new TV broadcast deal will come into effect.
Forgotten Western Province and Lions utility back Earl Rose has been given another chance to resurrect his rugby career.
In preparation of the 2014 Super Rugby season, the pre-season is underway before the Christmas / New Year break later in December.
So, what happens to the remaining Southern Kings players, who now have to sit out of Super Rugby again? Whilst a lot have already found franchises like the Bulls, Sharks, Cheetahs to sign for and others are available on loan to these other franchises, there is still a number of players who want to find a spot to play Super Rugby in 2014. Sergeal Petersen, young wing sensation of the EP Kings and Southern Kings is one such player.
Then we move over to up-and-coming youngsters who have now played Currie Cup rugby and questions are asked whether they will step up and rock Super Rugby the way they did the Currie Cup. We specifically look at Cheslin Kolbe, who set the world alight at Western Province in the Currie Cup.
The Springbok Sevens have called up Steven Hunt, Kwagga Smith and Rosco Speckman as injury cover for Stephan Dippenaar, Jamba Ulengo and Frankie Horne.
The South Africans will be in action over the weekend in the Cell C Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens in Port Elizabeth.
The South African Blitzbokke and the other 15 international teams participating in this weekend’s Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens arrived at the Port Elizabeth International Airport on Monday evening.
The 16 teams arrived on two flights from Johannesburg, with the second flight about half an hour after the first flight.
The Nelson Mandela Bay Sevens tournament marks the last leg of the 2013 part of the 2013 / 2014 HSBC Sevens World series, to be resumed well into 2014.
SANZAR have announced the draw for the 2014 Rugby Championship which will start on the 16th of August when Australia host New Zealand in Sydney.
The 2014 Super Rugby season ends on August the 2nd and then the Southern Hemisphere’s best players will get the weekend of August the 9th off and then the Rugby Championship starts a week later on the 16th.
Wales dropped out of the top five on the IRB World Rankings following their 26-30 loss to the Wallabies in Cardiff on Saturday.
With only three international fixtures over the weekend, the focus was on the pulsating encounter between Wales and the touring Australians at Millennium Stadium.
Civil rights organisation AfriForum has warned SARU in a letter that its decision to implement racial quotas in the Vodacom Cup would constitute a violation of the IRB’s prohibition on racial discrimination.
SARU was also informed in the letter that the Olympic Charter, with which rugby has to comply as Olympic sport, explicitly prohibits racial discrimination.
A rip-roaring contest and magnificent entertainment it may have been, but Welsh faces after yet another defeat by Australia spoke only of more misery and another missed opportunity.
The Dubai leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series was played, with Day 1 on 29 November and Day 2 on 30 November 2013.
Here are the Results & Fixtures.
Fiji won the Tournament against the Blitzbokke of South Africa, by 29 / 17.
Loose forward Warren Whiteley has been named as Lions captain for next year’s Super Rugby competition, reports indicate.
The Junior Springboks were grouped with hosts New Zealand, Samoa and Scotland when the pools and fixtures of the IRB Junior World Championship 2014 were confirmed earlier today in Auckland.
The future stars of world Rugby will come together in New Zealand from 2-20 June 2014 for the seventh edition of the Under 20 tournament which will see matches played at North Harbour Stadium and Pukekohe Stadium during the pool stages and semi-finals on 2, 6, 10 and 15 June 2014.
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth is unlikely to feature much for the Stormers next year.
The young star revealed on Thursday that he will undergo surgery for an ankle injury sustained in South Africa’s 19-10 win over France last weekend.
“Going for operation on Monday,” Etzebeth tweeted, adding: “Plus-minus six months out of action.”
The captains of the top four seeds – New Zealand, Australia, England and South Africa – admit that they expect a tough test in this weekend’s Dubai Sevens.
Another new innovation from the Bulls, South Africa’s most successful Super Rugby franchise!
InvisBull becomes visible as PUMA launches the new Vodacom Bulls Super Rugby kit for 2104. Playing on the fact that Camo is designed to make you invisible, PUMA has launched a Camo Home shirt which stays true to the traditional Bulls’ blue, while the Away shirt is khaki green and brown.
Record-breaking wing Bjorn Basson has extended his contract with the Bulls and will be available for the Pretoria franchise until the end of October 2016.
Basson, who holds the national and Currie Cup record for tries in a season and the Bulls’ record for tries in a Super Rugby season, was also part of the Springbok squad in 2013.
The Springboks and South African fans on Wednesday received good news in the lead-up to the 2015 IRB Rugby World Cup in England, with the announcement that three of the team’s four round-robin matches will begin at 17:00 (19:00 SA Time) and only one at 20:00 (22:00 SA Time).
The Springboks kick off their Rugby World Cup campaign on 19 September 2015, against the top Asian qualifier at the Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton, at 20:00 (22:00 SA Time).
The Springbok Sevens will aim to improve on their Gold Coast performance of last month when they play in the Dubai Sevens on Friday and Saturday. The tournament marks Round 2 of the HSBC Sevens World Series, which consists of nine tournaments worldwide.
Back Cheslin Kolbe, who is currently on SA Sevens duty, and flanker Schalk Burger, who will play for the Barbarians in London this weekend, will join the WP Rugby training squad at a later stage.
Springbok tourists Jean de Villiers, Frans Malherbe, Eben Etzebeth, Duane Vermeulen and Gio Aplon will join the squad in January 2014 only. However, hooker Scarra Ntubeni, flanker Siya Kolisi and scrumhalf Louis Schreuder – all of whom also toured Europe with the Boks this month – will join squad training on Monday 2 December.
While 2013 may rate among one of the best years for Springbok rugby, enforcer flanker Willem Alberts said the team would not be satisfied until it had secured a perfect record.
“The season as a whole was very successful, it is one of the best years the Boks’ has ever had, but we will never be satisfied if you don’t win all our games,” Alberts said on arrival in Johannesburg on Monday.