Player Movements
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.
Brumbies centre Christian Lealiifano will undergo ankle surgery that will rule him out of the start of next year’s Super Rugby season.
On the European and UK rugby front preparations for the Six Nations tournament of 2014 is gathering momentum, with news trickling through of injuries at this stage ruling some players out of the start of the Six Nations whilst others might miss the whole tournament.
England fullback / wing Ben Foden will likely miss only the start of the Six Nations, with a knee injury suffered for Northampton on the weekend against Newcastle.
England and Wasps wing, Christian Wade is out for 6 months after suffering a foot injury against London Irish over the past weekend.
Wales scrumhalf and “naughty boy” who was axed by Bayonne, Mike Phillips has reportedly signed a two and a half year deal with Racing Metro in France and will be available from Tuesday 3 December 2013.
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.”
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.
Wales will face a refreshed Wallaby side in their final Test of the year at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday according to one of Australia’s key men.
World Cup-winning Springbok Danie Rossouw may be forced to retire as a result of the onset of arthritis.
The Stormers’ Bok trio of Jean de Villiers, Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermuelen will only be required to join pre-season training in January.
News out of the Stormers camp is that coach Allister Coetzee says Wallaby wing Cooper Vuna has not signed and will not join them for the 2014 Super Rugby season.
Wallaby wing Cooper Vuna has reportedly agreed to join the Stormers for next year’s Super Rugby competition.
Following the game between Scotland and the South African Springboks, there has been some movements amongst the Springbok player corps.
Fourie du Preez is on his way back to Japan and won’t be available for the France game, in his place Jano Vermaak has been recalled to the Springbok side, from France itself, where he has been in great form.
Injured Frans Malherbe will be replaced by Frik Kirsten who has been called up by Heyneke Meyer.
Francois Louw, who left the field on a stretcher in the Scotland clash with an apparent neck injury looks to be OK for the coming weekend.
France have recalled prop Thomas Domingo and No 8 Louis Picamoles to their squad for this weekend’s Test against the Springboks.
Junior Springbok Cheslin Kolbe has joined the Springbok Sevens training group in Stellenbosch, ahead of the World Series tournament in Dubai.
Eastern Province Kings players Lizo Gqoboka (prop) and George Whitehead (flyhalf) have both been called up to take part in the Sharks wider training camp ahead of the 2014 Super Rugby Season.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has explained why he decided to not include lock Pieter-Steph du Toit in his squad to face Scotland on Sunday.
Australian international wing Digby Ioane is still waiting for the medical staff of his Top 14 club Stade Francais to give him permission to start playing again, he said on Wednesday.
Teenage lock forward Jonny Gray is the only uncapped player in Scotland’s 23-man squad to face South Africa in the viagogo Autumn Test at Murrayfield on Sunday.
England’s front row crisis worsened afer it was confirmed that Alex Corbisiero has been ruled out of Saturday’s Test against the All Blacks at Twickenham.
England are also without Mako Vunipola, who is nursing a knee injury, while Joe Marler still has to pass a concussion test to prove his fitness.
Samoa centre George Pisi is set to miss the remainder of his country’s matches in November after he was handed a six week ban for a tip tackle on Ireland wing Tommy Bowe during last Saturday’s 40-9 hammering by the Irish at Lansdowne Road.
England centre Manu Tuilagi could miss next year’s Six Nations after his club Leicester revealed on Tuesday that he will be sidelined until February with a chest injury.
The Barbarians have announced that four more Springbok players will represent them when they tackle Fiji later this month.
Wales and Scarlets centre Jonathan Davies has signed a two-year contract with Clermont, the French Top 14 club announced on Tuesday.
Although his passion for Test rugby remains, All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore’s time in the Test arena appears to be drawing to a close.
Combining a fair bit of Springbok news, as speculation flows…
John McFarland, Springbok defensive coach says the Springbok defences were already better last week compared to the previous game against the All Blacks.
Scribes worry and remind Bakkies Botha to keep his dicipline on field and not to succumb to the “Red Mist” od ill-dicipline and the real threat of Yellow or Red Cards.
It also appears that both the formidable frame of young Pieter-Steph du Toit (lock) and that of Patrick Lambie will be in the run-on side for the Springboks on the weekend, with scribes writing up the virtues of Pieter-Steph du Toit almost non-stop, whilst others consider Lambie the perfect fir for the Scotland game.
Ireland will be without Keith Earls and Chris Henry in Saturday’s Test against Australia in Dublin.
International news is flowing like a river in flood today, seems I have been updating all day, today… but we like it that way, don’t we!
Reviews of the Fourie du Preez try, clearly shows that Jaque Fourie was ahead of Fourie du Preez when he kicked, did not retreat and the subsequent try, however well-worked, should not have been awarded. Another blemish on refereeing in 2013!
Looking ahead at this weekend’s clash against Scotland, it appears at this stage if Bakkies Botha might get a starting berth at lock and it looks likely that Patrick Lambie will get the nod at flyhalf.
Meanwhile Morné Steyn is responding well to treatment for his back spasm injury and it looks likely that he’ll also be ready for Sunday’s match.
Two players have been cited for alleged foul play, following the weekend’s round of Test matches.
Kings duo Rynier Bernardo and Shane Gates have both been called up to the Cheetahs wider training camp ahead of next year’s Super Rugby season.
A barrage of news and speculation greets us early on a Monday morning after a power game against Wales by the Springboks, this past weekend.
Firstly, the match analysis… reports indicating that Team Management and leaders in the side are lauding Fourie du Preez for his Man Of The Match performance against Wales.
Secondly, it appears that the injury to Bok flyhalf Morné Steyn, who had to leave the field after only 18 minutes in the game is not serious, with a troublesome back spasm picked up in the pre-game warm-up blamed and the player taken off to prevent real injury.
Thirdly, with 1 win under the belt and 2 games remaining, the next one being against Scotland on Sunday, speculation is rife whether Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will rest some weary players and pick a hand full of other players, to test new combinations against what should be South Africa’s weakest opposition on tour.
We will discuss the above under seperate headings below:
France manager Philippe Saint-Andre took a gamble on Thursday when he picked the inexperienced flyhalf Remi Tales in an untested halfback pairing with Morgan Parra to face world champions New Zealand on Saturday.
Wallaby forward Rob Simmons has been chosen at blindside flank in the only change made to the Australian starting line-up for Saturday’s second year-end Test against Italy at Stadio Olimpico.
Pumas speedster Rosco Speckman was this week added to the Springbok Sevens training squad in Stellenbosch.
The group is preparing for the next two legs of the IRB Sevens World Series – in Dubai and Port Elizabeth.
Munster back Keith Earls has been ruled out of Ireland’s opening Autumn International Test match against Samoa in Dublin due to a knee injury.
With Jannie du Plessis out for the End Of Year Tours for the Springboks it seems likely that Frans Malherbe will make his debut for the Springboks.
With Du Plessis out, only two options remain at tighthead prop and these are Frans Malherbe and Lourens Adriaanse, who are both uncapped.
A week after losing the captaincy, Wallabies lock James Horwill could find himself on the bench for the clash against Italy this weekend.
Although he produced an improved performance without the burden of the captaincy in the defeat to England at Twickenham last week, the return of line-out specialist Rob Simmons could see Horwill riding the pine on Saturday.