Proteas
South African rugby has this reputation of having a powerful scrum. In fact the perception is that South African rugby is totally dependent or at least of being over dependent on its scrum to the extend that if you can counter the South African scrum the Springboks are easy to beat.
Heinrich Brüssow, a ball fetcher par excellence, should be named along with team-mate Ashley Johnson when the Springbok team for the Tri-Nations is announced on Saturday.
Brüssow will undergo medical tests when the preliminary World Cup group assembles in Cape Town on Wednesday. He is expected to be fit to face the Wallabies and All Blacks on 23 and 30 July in Sydney and Wellington respectively.
Continue reading
Female rugby supporters can now hang up their over-sized rugby jerseys and slip into a sexy Rugby Dress and show their support in style.
Canterbury has officially launched their revolutionary new jersey that will be worn by the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
(Take note, the picture on the left and the picture on the right are just cartoons and DO NOT APPEAR on the jersey!)
Dr Ross Tucker, a well known Sports Scientist placed good articles about Rugby fatique before. I found this Article about the subject and want to share a few of his thoughts. The second part of his Article about home ground advantage is interesting, Here are a few extracts from the Article.
With the Super 15 nearing its conclusion, a lot more clarity has been provided to Springbok coach Peter de Villiers with regard to the make-up of his World Cup squad. The emergence of exciting talents like Coenie Oosthuizen and Bjorn Basson have added to the burgeoning pool of talent, but there are plenty of headaches for “Div”.
I enjoyed this article a lot, the reason why I am sharing it here. I have not read anything of Lungani Zama before, read it and give your opinion.
Chiefs first-five Stephen Donald appears to be out of the running for the place in the All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad after he was left out of an All Black camp.
To mark the final World Cup-ometer, let’s take a look at the building blocks already laid down by the Tri Nations contenders over the regular rounds of the competition.
There will be further twists and turns over the coming weeks of finals football – and the opportunity to see how the players cope with the unique pressure of the knockout stages – but there has been ample evidence already presented to make a judgment of how the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks are shaping up.
Former Hurricanes and Crusaders No 8 Thomas Waldrom has made the first cut in his quest to help England win the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.Waldrom, nicknamed the ‘Tank Engine’ for his exploits in a standout Super Rugby career, has been making headlines since joining the Leicester Tigers in England’s Premiership.
Twenty-one Rugby World Cup winners were among a preliminary Springbok squad of 49 players named for the 2011 tournament by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Monday.
The final Rugby World Cup squad of 30 will be named on August 23.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry has said that his selectors face a tough job as they must ensure that New Zealand’s entire squad must get game time ahead of the world cup and still win Test matches.
The Springboks Rugby World Cup training camp had to be cancelled on Monday as the Springbok team management forgot to account for the busniess end of the Super Rugby competition.
With less than 90 days to go before the Springboks have to defend their title in New Zealand and the squad reduced to 37, the debates will start flowing towards which players are currently out of form and will really need to start showing some willingness and ability to appease the supporters on whether they deserve to go to the World Cup. Continue reading
Springbok loose forward Juan Smith says he’s nearing a return to light training after a torn Achilles’ tendon in February threatened his chances of playing at the Rugby World Cup.
Brumbies and Wallabies lock Mark Chisholm has been ruled out for the rest of the season including the Rugby World Cup with a knee injury he sustained in Super rugby.
Activists in New Zealand have threatened to disrupt this year’s Rugby World Cup with protests over government cutbacks, including possibly flour-bombing Auckland’s Eden Park stadium from the air.
I found this website on News24 and all Peter de Villiers fans are invited to listen to this interview with Peter. Take your time , it is in three parts and is 31 minutes long.
Listen to Peter when he is calm and not under pressure.
All the overawed Sonny Bill Williams fans Peter, has a point! Watch these videos with an open mind.
Motormouth Springboks coach Peter de Villiers has launched another scathing attack on Crusaders star Sonny Bill Williams, describing his flamboyant offloading style as “nonsense” and a poor example for young rugby players.
By Marc Hinton
Who’s hot and who’s not… and who’s not injured?
Every Tuesday until the All Blacks’ World Cup squad unveiling in late August, Fairfax digital sport editor Dan Gilhooly will assess the status of players in the selection frame.
Who are the certainties to make the cut for coach Graham Henry’s squad of 30? Who are battling for contentious spots and what are their odds of selection?
Peter de Villiers has confirmed that John Smit will captain the Springboks at the World Cup. Rassie Erasmus was appointed as technical adviser.
At a press conference on Monday, Peter de Villiers confirmed the appointments of his captain and management staff. Smit will continue as captain with Victor Matfield named as vice-captain. Erasmus has been brought in as a technical adviser and conditioning coach Derik Coetzee is the other new appointment.
This article was written before this weekends matches by Liam del Carme.
With the gap between form players and his likely World Cup picks widening by the week, Bok coach Peter de Villiers, perhaps understandably, has resorted to cliche. A few of the players mentioned here already started their return to form. Funny how one week later you can see such a big difference.
If you read all the Rugby pages and Newspapers you can clearly see the urge to pick a Springbok World Cup squad. It is more than 142 days before the Tournament begins, 144 days before the Springboks play Wales in our first match and 170+ days before the Quarter Finals. But let it out, I know you want to! I constantly read about the teams everyone would pick, all the time.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, is starting to push the panic buttons.
Western Province senior professional coach Rassie Erasmus will be part of the Springboks management team at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
The South African Rugby Union on Wednesday named 51 players who have been called to a national team planning session at the start of next month. The players will attend two days of meetings and logistical discussions in the first of three national camps in preparation for the international season.
Former Lions and Springbok prop Brian Mujati is having an exceptional season in Europe with his English club Northampton Saints.
So much so that Peter Bills of the Independent newspaper feels he may be the type of Tighthead Prop that Bok coach de Villiers should be looking to take to New Zealand for Rugby World Cup 2011, but realises that in South Africa, talent alone decides very little at the end of the day.
Herewith the full article. Continue reading
The International Rugby Board has announced the Panel of match officials who will preside over the 48 matches at Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand in September and October.
A streamlined Panel of 10 Referees will be supported by seven dedicated Assistant Referees and four Television Match Officials at Rugby’s showcase event.
For the last 7 months I have not been very active on Rugby Talk so I thought I after all this time I would frustrate you all with this article.
Fourie du Preez may be nowhere near his best, but even when playing at less than a third of his capacity he is still better than any other scrumhalf.
South Africans will know on 2 May whether John Smit will again lead the Springboks at the World Cup.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers says he will speak to the Lions about acquiring the services of fullback Frans Steyn from French club Racing Metro before the end of the Super Rugby season.
Four candidates have been identified by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers to assist the team in retaining their status as world champions in New Zealand later this year.
“I have a few people in mind and at this moment I can think of four,” De Villiers said on Wednesday.
The World Cup is looming, competitions gone by teaches us, that experience wins World Cups, how that is applicable to 1995 is a mystery though, but that is beside the point. Pundits in South Africa and here on Rugby-Talk, says we can’t win without the old guard, being Fourie, Victor, John Smit, Bakkies, Pakslae and the like, all this while Tim Noakes says, the old guard is overplayed and under rested, and therefore unable to live up to their expected form come NZ 2011. This begs the question: “Can we win the World Cup without our Senior Boks?”
The All Blacks are considering doing away with their iconic silver fern at the World Cup and replacing it with a red fern in a symbolic gesture to quake-hit Christchurch.
As we sit here in March 2011, the Cricket World Cup has hit the end of the group stages, & barring the heroic victory by Ireland over the very oldest of enemies, England, the minnows have by and large been crushed by the established Cricket playing nations.
Later this year the greater sporting love of most Rugby-Talk bloggers, Rugby Union will hold it’s version of the World Cup in New Zealand. Can we expect the same sort of pattern with the smaller nations or can we expect an upset or two?