The Ligue National du Rugby, which organises professional rugby in France, has just had its seventh Nuit du Rugby at which it has made awards.
Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke had no hesitation in naming all his available Springboks in the starting line up of the Blue Bulls team to play Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday in the final pool game of Absa’s Currie Cup competition.
Lions coach John Mitchell has named veteran Springbok flank Wikus van Heerden on the bench for what is likely to be his team’s final Currie Cup match of the season.
The fact that Victor Matfield and his fellow Bulls Boks phoned from Cape Town at lunch time on Tuesday to enquire whether they could still make it to the Blue Bulls training session on time shows how eager the team’s five Springboks are to have the Barberton Daisy on their chests again and run out against Griquas on Saturday.
The Sharks are going to Newlands to win with the strongest available side – that was the message from head coach John Plumtree on Tuesday as he looked ahead to the top-of-the-log Currie Cup clash against Western Province at Newlands on Saturday evening.
“We have a policy at Loftus and if there are any banners that are political, racial, religious or cultural, we take those banners away,” said Loftus Versfeld stadium manager Hugo Kemp. Continue reading
Jurie Roux the new CEO of SARU, has been emailing a survey to subscribers of Bok supporters. Let us see if he can sweep clean as a new broom.
Both the Sharks and Province’s Directors of Coaching – Rudolf Straeuli (Sharks) and Rassie Erasmus (WP) have a history of employing ‘cat-and-mouse’ tactics in the run-in to crucial matches, and it could well be the case this week.
Following a closed competitive bidding process, Lions Rugby has announced the signing of an agreement with two of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs, paving the way for their investment in Lions Rugby and heralding an investment step change and a whole new era of opportunity for the Lions and for rugby in South Africa.
He has played in more than 100 Super rugby games and over 50 tests, and on Saturday Springbok Danie Rossouw will play his 99th Currie Cup match – as an eighthman.
It looks like Springbok Andre Pretorius, and not Patrick Lambie, will start at flyhalf for the Sharks against Western Province in the Absa Currie Cup league match in Cape Town.
The Sharks may “freshen up” in a few positions, but their coach John Plumtree has refuted any suggestion that he will follow the lead of the Bulls by choosing a B team for Saturday’s eagerly anticipated final Absa Currie Cup league game against Western Province.
The Leopards Rugby Union on Monday announced Leon Boshoff will take over from current Currie Cup head-coach Chaka Willemse with immediate effect.
The Melbourne Rebels announced their principle Title Sponsor and will be known as the RaboDirect Rebels. Sounds like a sickness or an affliction in my opinion, one might suspect they are rabid and bonkers…. well actually, the last part we know for certain!
30 June 1976 – Border &North-Eastern Cape 0 / All Blacks 24
The match was played in perfect weather conditions at the Buller Rugby Union Ground in East Londen and attended by a crowd of 10 000 people. Continue reading
Loftus Versfeld stadium manager Hugo Kemp reaffirmed on Sunday what the Blue Bulls Company had warned earlier in the week when he commented on AfriForum’s alleged attempt to use the venue as a platform to promote their smear campaign against Currie Cup sponsors Absa.
Twelve uncapped players have been included among a 40-man training squad that has been named for Australia’s seven-match tour of Hong Kong and Europe.
The newcomers are headlined by evergreen Queensland Reds lock Van Humphries, and the 34-year-old is the oldest player in the squad.
Pretoria – Vodacom Blue Bulls No 8, Pierre Spies, has been ruled out of Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup rugby match against Griquas in Kimberley. Continue reading
After an exciting weekend of Semi final deciding clashes the four semi finalists have been decided, the Sharks, WP, Bulls and Cheetahs have all secured their places to battle it out in the knock out stages in two weeks time. Continue reading
It has been reliably learn’t that WP Director of Rugby ,Rassie Erasmus, will be appointed as the Springboks techincal director in the next two weeks. Continue reading
The Free State Cheetahs moved to third place on the Absa Currie Cup log when they scored six tries in beating the Xerox Lions 43-37 in Bloemfontein in Saturday.
The Blue bulls kept their hopes of securing a home semi-final alive by crawling home to a 36-32 victory over arch rivals Western Province at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Cheetahs 43 / Lions 37 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Free State Cheetahs host the Xerox Lions in Bloemfontein at 17:05 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match is broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & HD & M-Net in SA.
Blue Bulls 36 / WP 32 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Blue Bulls host the Vodacom WP at Lotus, Pretoria at 15:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match is broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & HD & M-Net in SA.
Who would be South Africa’s best loose trio of all time? The loose trio is probably one of the most important combinations in union rugby. The loose trio consist of three players with overlapping but also very distinctly different tasks. Each player has a very clear and specific task traditionally. The allotted tasks might have changed slightly in the modern game and/or the aligned task might also differ from one country to the next but in essence the loose trio’s effectiveness in doing these jobs as well as their ability to hunt as a pack determines to a large extent to outcome of the match. The loose trio are also the players in the team with the fewest set responsibilities (most freedom to go where they want) and therefore the position where the player should have all round attributes such as speed, strength, fitness, handling skills and good tackling and rucking technique. Continue reading
Sharks (35) 63 / Leopards (6) 6 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Platinum Leopards at ABSA Stadium, Durban at 19:10 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The Sharks ran in 9 converted tries, totally demolishing the Leopards who only managed to convert 2 penalties for all their trouble.
It was like men against boys with the Sharks already bagging their bonus point for tries before 20 minutes had lapsed.
The Sharks have secured their home-semi now, only question which remains is whether WP can catch and surpass them for top spot on the Log.
Regular Vodacom Blue Bulls no 8, Gerrit-Jan van Velze, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Absa Currie Cup competition due to a thumb injury.
The South African Rugby Union announced on Friday the outcome of deliberations regarding the placement of logos and emblems on the playing jersey of South African teams at IRB World Cup events.
Several months of discussions took place with the relevant regulatory authorities before the Executive Council ruled on the management of the placing of the Springbok logo on team jerseys.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed its full support for the current Springbok coaching team on Friday and said planning was underway for the end-of-year tour.
Head coach Peter de Villiers and assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold met SARU president, Mr Oregan Hoskins, in Durban on Thursday evening.
Since re admission South Africa has been rather successful on the sporting arena. Particularly in Golf, Rugby and Cricket. We are a nation who loves to compete, and we hate losing. In fact it is fair to say that we are very often poor losers, case in point this year’s Tri Nations. PDV blames it on conspiracy theories, some of us blame it on the coach and the world plus a few objective Springbok supporters blame it on the ultimate outdated game plan. Continue reading
The heads of four members of the Springbok management team may roll on Friday. Continue reading
We are kiling ourselves. There are far too many EGO’s in South African Rugby!
They say if you want loyalty, go and buy a dog. It certainly seems to be the case in South African rugby.
Currie Cup Coach-of-the-Month for September, John Mitchell, made only the one anticipated change to the Lions starting lineup for Saturday’s decisive clash with the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The International Rugby Board has announced the Match Official appointments for the schedule of international matches to be played between October 30 and December 4, 2010.
Springbok Sevens star Lionel Mapoe will stay in Durban and will appeal the court ruling handed down against him by the Bloemfontein High Court on Wednesday.