New Zealand Rugby
After an almost traditional slow start, the New Zealand Conference is now the form group in 2014 Super Rugby.
While this points towards a typically formidable squad for the All Blacks in the coming weeks, the Kiwis will not have it all their own way in the closing stages of the regular season.
The 7-time champions Canterbury Crusaders have slowly quietened the doubters of their Super Rugby title credentials in the past month and a victory over the table-topping Sharks in Christchurch on Saturday should silence them for good.
The Crusaders are the form team of the competition at the moment, having won their last 5 games, racking up 22 tries and 195 points in the process and moved from 13th on the table to 4th.
Kieran Read and Israel Dagg will be on the sidelines when the Crusaders take on Super Rugby leaders the Sharks in Christchurch on Saturday.
The All Black No 8 Read has missed the Crusaders’ past two matches, including last weekend’s 57-29 win over the Reds in Brisbane, after his second head knock in a month forced him off the field against the Chiefs in mid-April.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for Round 14 of Super Rugby 2014.
Garratt Williamson starts the weekend action in Wellington when the Hurricanes plays the Highlanders.
This weekend sees 6 matches, with 1 on Friday, 4 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
The Blues, Vodacom Bulls and the Chiefs have BYE weekends.
Tim Bateman has announced he will head to Japan at the end of the Super Rugby season to take up a two-year deal with the West Red Sparks.
Bateman’s decision to leave New Zealand has nothing to do with rugby and everything to do with family.
Sadly, Bateman’s second stint in the Fukuoka region, is because his wife Laura was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last year.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett was forced to make changes to his starting line-up for Friday’s all-New Zealand Super Rugby derby against the Highlanders.
Injured All Black hooker Dane Coles will miss his first Hurricanes match of the season.
Coles injured his lower back against the Rebels and the status of the injury is unclear.
A year from the Rugby World Cup, defending champions the All Blacks face a depleted talent pool to select from, as a wealth of players opt for lucrative overseas contracts.
Although there is an overflow of quality among the loose forwards and outside backs, in other areas there are looming shortages – particularly at hooker, where there is a struggle to find three of international standard for next month’s tour by England.
The reluctance of the Home Unions to come to the party is what is preventing a more acceptable global season to be implemented.
It has long been suggested that the selfish nature of Home Union officials – those from England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland – has been at the heart of the troubled and scattered international and domestic calendars.
The New Zealand Rugby Union confirmed on Tuesday the All Blacks will travel to take on the USA in Chicago on 1 November.
The world’s best will take on their American counterparts at the 61,000-seater Solider Field stadium, home to the NFL’s Chicago Bears.
Though rumours and speculation regarding this fixture have bubbled away for nearly six months, it was only on Tuesday that the match was publicly announced as the Kiwis’ newest overseas initiative, with the purposes of drawing on the developing market – boasting huge potential – in the USA, generating a ballpark figure of at least $1 million NZ dollars for the NZRU, and offering the Test side important preparation for the subsequent fixtures in Europe.
Five uncapped players were included in the All Blacks 35-man training squad named Monday, ahead of the three-Test series against England in June.
The squad, which will be whittled down to 31 on 1 June, also marks the return of Jerome Kaino to All Blacks consideration – while flyhalf Dan Carter is a notable omission as he continues a sabbatical before returning to the game in August.
Blindside flank Kaino, now back in New Zealand with the Blues, last played for the All Blacks in the 2011 World Cup Final victory against France before moving to Japan.
New Zealander Chris Pollock will be the referee when the Stormers host the Western Force in a Super Rugby clash at Newlands this Saturday (17:05 SA Time).
Pollock will be assisted by South Africans Marius Jonker and Quinton Immelman, with Shaun Veldsman on television match official (TMO) duty.
Corey Flynn has signed a two year contract with Toulouse in France starting after the current Crusaders season.
This announcement comes on the same day as the All Blacks training squad was released.
The Vodacom Bulls flew the South African flag in Vodacom Super Rugby this weekend as the other four teams all lost their matches on Saturday.
The team from Pretoria won their traditional North-South derby against the DHL Stormers by 28-12 on Saturday evening and had to dig deep early on when the Capetonians scored two very good tries in the first 20 minutes.
It was the Vodacom Bulls’ biggest victory over the DHL Stormers since round 11 in 2007, when they won by 49-12 in Pretoria.
Earlier on Saturday, the Lions almost caused a massive upset in Dunedin when they came back from 23-0 down at half-time to lose 23-22 after scoring four great second-half tries against the Highlanders.
Had their kicking been better – the visitors’ kickers missed three conversions – the Lions could easily have become the first South African team to win in New Zealand this year.
The Cell C Sharks went down by 16-9 to the Brumbies in a top-of-the-table clash in a very wet Canberra, but managed to hold on to their first position on the log thanks to a losing bonus-point.
And on Saturday afternoon, the Force won in South Africa for the first time since March 2011 and beat the Toyota Cheetahs for the first time in three years when they won by 23-16 in Bloemfontein, putting a dampener on Naka Drotské’s 100th match in charge of the team from Central South Africa.
Crusaders and Canterbury flyhalf Tyler Bleyendaal has become the latest high-profile New Zealand player to head abroad to continue his career.
He announced he will move to Ireland to play for the Munster at the end of this year.
All Blacks utility back Charles Piutau has been ruled out of next month’s Test series against England due to a knee injury.
Reds (17) 29 / 57 (16) Crusaders (Final Score)
The Reds and Crusaders did battle in Super Rugby at
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane at 08:05 SA Time (16:05 AEST, 18:05 NZ Time, 06:05 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Highlanders (23) 23 / 22 (0) Lions (Final Score)
The Highlanders and Lions did battle in Super Rugby at
Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 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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This is the last article in the 3-part series where we run the rule over team performances so far and take a look at the chances of teams as we enter the final stretch of the regular season.
We conclude with the South African Conference, who are positioned as the bottom performing country overall, with 4 teams in the bottom 6 at present.
SUMMARY: While the Sharks fly the SA flag and have established the 1st major break at the top of the table, now 5 points clear, only the Bulls have any chance of joining Jake White’s team in the knockout stage of the season.
The Lions’ promising start has been tarnished, the Cheetahs record season last year is a distant memory, while the Stormers haven’t been so far down the table since 1996.
Shane Christie has been ruled out of this weekend’s game against the Lions with a back injury that was sustained during training on Thursday.
Auckland coach Wayne Pivac has become the latest in a growing number of New Zealamd mentors who are heading to Europe.
The Scarlets announced that Pivac will join them as an assistant coach at Parc y Scarlets next season, to further strengthen the set-up in West Wales.
Rebels (10) 15 / 25 (12) Hurricanes (Final Score)
The Melbourne Rebels and Hurricanes did battle in Super Rugby at
AAMI Park, Melbourne at 11:40 SA Time (19:40 AEST, 21:40 NZ Time, 09:40 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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Chiefs (20) 32 / 20 (13) Blues (Final Score)
The Chiefs and Blues did battle in Super Rugby at
Yarrow Stadium, Taranaki at 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 07:35 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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All 5 South Africa’s Super Rugby franchises will be in action on Saturday, with the North-South derby in Pretoria the cherry on top when the Vodacom Bulls and the DHL Stormers clash at Loftus Versfeld.
The local action starts on Saturday morning at 09:35 SA Time with the Lions’ 2nd tour match in New Zealand, against the Highlanders in Dunedin. Looking back at history, the team based in Johannesburg have reason to be optimistic, but they will have to front up in the deep south of Kiwi-land.
In the 2nd match on Saturday, former Brumbies coach Jake White returns to Canberra where his Cell C Sharks take on the team from the Australian Capital Territories. These 2 sides occupy the top 2 positions on the Combined Log and it promises to be a high-intensity humdinger.
In Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon, Toyota Cheetahs coach Naka Drotské will become only the 2nd South African coach to reach 100 matches in charge at Super Rugby level when his team takes on the Force.
The Vodacom Bulls’ Frans Ludeke is the most experienced South African Super Rugby coach with 127 matches at the helm at this level (104 for the Bulls and 23 for the Cats), but current Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie tops the list with 131 matches as coach (66 at the Waratahs and 65 at the Reds).
It is Round 13 of Super Rugby 2014 this weekend! We have 7 games in Round 13, with 2 games on Friday, 4 games on Saturday and 1 game on Sunday.
The Waratahs have a bye weekend.
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.
Head coach Todd Blackadder has named a side with 5 changes as the Crusaders head to Brisbane on Friday to face the Reds on Sunday afternoon.
Corey Flynn will be the starting hooker this week and Ben Funnell will take a spot on the reserve bench. Lock Luke Romano has come off the pine to start at No 4 alongside Sam Whitelock.
Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph, has named the team to play the Lions at Forsyth Barr Stadium on Saturday night.
The squad returned home to Dunedin after claiming seven points from a possible 10 following a one-point loss to the Stormers in Round 12.
Lima Sopoaga has been ruled out of this week’s clash with an ankle sprain and is anticipated to be sidelined until Round 15.
SANZAR has released the names of the Match Officials for Round 13 of Super Rugby 2014.
We see 7 games this weekend, with 2 on Friday, 4 on Saturday and 1 on Sunday.
Mike Frazer strats the weekend action in the game between the Chiefs and Blues in New Plymouth.
The Waratahs have their BYE weekend.
Blues head coach Sir John Kirwan has made just one injury-enforced change to the starting 15 for Friday’s match against reigning champions the Chiefs at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth.
With midfielder Francis Saili suffering a high ankle sprain in the lead up to last week’s clash with the Reds and Jackson Willison succumbing to a hamstring strain during the game, George Moala has been promoted from the bench to start at centre.
Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett has given his forward pack a slight reshuffle as the Hurricanes take on the Rebels at AAMI Park on Friday evening.
One of the changes comes in the front row, where Reggie Goodes slots into loosehead prop for Ben Franks, who moves to tighthead in place of Jeffery Toomaga-Allen. Ardie Savea also comes into the line-up, with Jack Lam moving to the bench.
Chiefs coach Dave Rennie has made a number of changes to his team for the Super Rugby crunch match against the Blues.
The Chiefs and Blues go head-to-head in Taranaki on Friday in a game that could have a big bearing on deciding the New Zealand conference.
The Highlanders will take on the New Zealand Barbarians at Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill on Friday 20 June as they finalise preparation for their final three games of the 2014 Super Rugby regular season.
The New Zealand Barbarians led by President Bryan Williams are very keen to see the globally respected and highly recognisable Barbarian brand showcased in the deep south.
The Crusaders have made the decision not to play Kieran Read against the Reds in Brisbane this Sunday as he continues to recover from concussion suffered against the Chiefs in Round 10.
Crusaders head coach Todd Blackadder said that, while Read is recovering well, the symptoms have not completely cleared so the coaches decided it would be preferable to make a call early in the week and take him out of contention for the next game.
This is the first of a 3-part Series looking at each team’s chances with each Conference with little more than a third of the regular season remaining.
We kick off with the New Zealand Conference!
SUMMARY: The closest conference so far, there is only 5 Competition Log Points separating the teams and of all the countries, the amount of local derbies will ensure significant cannibalisation.
There are 11 New Zealand derby matches remaining in the last 7 rounds.
Dan Carter has put his jet-setting lifestyle to bed and is back on the training pitch as he prepares himself for a return to rugby.
The experienced All Blacks flyhalf has been using his sabbatical this year to mingle with sports and entertainment celebrities around the planet, from Elton John to Rory McIlroy.
Three wins and only one defeat against Australasian opposition meant the last round of Vodacom Super Rugby was the best weekend from a South African perspective since round two earlier this year.
However, two of the three wins in the second round were in local derbies. This weekend, only the Vodacom Bulls’ victory over the Toyota Cheetahs was an all-South African affair as the Cell C Sharks and the DHL Stormers clinched victories over Australasian opponents.
In fact, the Cell C Sharks broke a losing run of 13 matches in Australasia for the South African franchises (this includes the Toyota Cheetahs’ defeat in their 2013 Qualifier against the Brumbies in Canberra) when they beat the Rebels by 22-16 in Melbourne on Friday morning.