SA Rugby
The first Currie Cup Final was played in 1939 (before that the Currie Cup did not have a Final Game), at Newlands when Transvaal beat Western Province. The Sharks (a.k.a. Natal) are back in the Final for the second year in a row and will be playing the Golden Lions (a.k.a. Transvaal) for the fourth time in a Currie Cup Final.
The South African Rugby Union has congratulated Springbok Sevens player Cecil Afrika on capturing the IRB Sevens Player of the Year Award for the 2010/11 season.
The experienced Bryce Lawrence will referee the Absa Currie Cup Final when he takes charge of the match between the MTN Golden Lions and The Sharks in Johannesburg on Saturday.
John Smit and Victor Matfield have been vital cogs in the engine room of the Springbok team for more than a decade; will their contributions in the Green and Gold jersey ever be matched?
Former Springbok flyhalf legend Naas Botha will join Hoërskool Waterkloof’s coaching staff for 2012.
Vodacom Bulls stalwart Jaco Pretorius has retired from rugby. The 32 year old outside centre has been battling a back injury all season and acting on medical advice, decided to call it a day.
Ian Jones made an interesting remark the other night on TV during pre-match run-up to the RWC final. The panel were debating Graham Henry’s tenure as All Black coach and what makes him so successful. Jake White over emphasized –for understandable reasons- the fact that NZRU stuck with Henry and gave him another change, which brought that experience of having been there and knowing what it’s all about into the team environment. Jake has a good point to which I’ll return a little later in my dialogue, but Ian Jones took a different angle.
Despite a trophy cabinet which has remained empty for a full decade and after the Western Province pack’s reputation took another battering against the Golden Lions in the Currie Cup semi-final on Saturday, Western Province Rugby’s Senior Professional Coach Rassie Erasmus has already indicated he is not of the intention to buy a single forward player.
The Western Province duo of Rassie Erasmus and Allister Coetzee have declared themselves unavailable for the Springbok coaching job and have no interest in the position at this time.
Springbok and Western Province centre Jaque Fourie has announced that he will be joining Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights.
Vodacom Bulls and Vodacom Blue Bulls utility player Gerhard van den Heever has transferred to Western Province and the Stormers.
Five members of the Springboks’ World Cup squad have been nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, with the winner due to be announced at a function at Gold Reef City on November 3.
It may be New Zealand’s moment in the limelight, but the Springbok victories in 1995 and 2007 will be honoured as the captains and coaches of World Cup winning teams are inducted into the International Rugby Board’s Hall of Fame tonight.
According to the Sunday Times, the Lions Rugby Union have turned to their own vice-president as the new investor in the union since their deal with the Guma Group turned sour.
So the world cup is over, and what have we learnt?There were some controversial issues, some very close matches and some really angry fans.
Lions (19) 29 / WP (12) 20 (Final Score)
The MTN Golden Lions hosted DHL Western Province at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg in the Second Semi-Final for the Currie Cup at 17:00 SA Time.
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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The MTN Lions laid the foundation for the win in the first half, going ahead 19 / 12 at the break.
However desperate and dedicated DHL Western Province’s attacks were in the second stanze, equally desperate and resolute was the MTN Lions defence.
Sharks (3) 20 / Cheetahs (13) 13 (Final Score)
The Sharks hosted the Toyota Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park, Durban in the First Semi-Final of the Currie Cup at 14:30 SA Time.
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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After the Free State Cheetahs started really well and whilst the Sharks kicking to goal was abysmal, the Cheetahs built up a 13 / 3 lead at halftime, only to watch the Sharks score all the points in the second half.
The Sharks advance and the Cheetahs join the Blue Bulls on the sidelines.
The concept of the X-factor actually comes from racehorses, specifically from a horse called Eclipse. An extremely large heart is a trait that occasionally occurs in Thoroughbreds, linked to a genetic condition passed down via the dam line, known as the “x-factor”.
Eclipse, the horse, was necropsied after his death in 1789. Because Eclipse’s heart appeared to be much larger than other horses, it was weighed, and found to be 14 pounds (6.4 kg), almost twice the normal weight. Eclipse is believed to have passed the trait on via his daughters, and pedigree research verified that arguably the best racehorse ever, namely Secretariat can trace in his dam line to a daughter of Eclipse.
In the 20th century, the heart of Phar Lap was weighed and also documented to be 6.35 kilograms (14.0 lb), or essentially the same size as that of Eclipse.
Now you might ask what this has got to do with the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup final.
This is it. Eight teams worked hard during the 2011 season to reach this stage, but only four – the MTN Golden Lions, The Sharks, Toyota Free State Cheetahs and DHL Western Province – have qualified for the Absa Currie Cup semi-finals.
Rugby fans will be able to watch a full day of high-octane international Sevens rugby from as little as R 80.00 at South African rugby’s biggest party at Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens Tournament later this year.
Tickets went on sale today for the SA leg of the hugely popular international HSBC Sevens World Series tournament, which this year moves to an exciting new venue at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Sharks coach John Plumtree has named his team to face the Free State Cheetahs at Kings Park in the Currie Cup in the Semi-final with a new front row.
I still just can’t get over that quarter final loss.
The more I think about it the more I feel we were robbed. Yes, the referee was bad and wrong and yes we contributed to our demise with how we approached the game and by the appointment of a puppet as Springbok coach 4 years ago. However, all of that (poor referee, game plan, coach selection) and the Pool construction process at this year’s Rugby World Cup is part of an insidious virus, in my opinion, which is destroying Rugby Union as we know it. It is this virus which orchestrated our demise in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match against Australia.
The Free State Cheetahs have named their team to play the Sharks in their Currie Cup semi-final in Durban on Saturday.
The MTN Golden Lions will be playing the DHL Western Province this Saturday, 22 October 2011 at Coca-Cola Park in the first home semi final in 12 years. Kick off is at 5:00pm.
The Lions will be back to their full compliment of players after John Mitchell had rested certain jkey players for the match against the Sharks a few days ago.
The last time the Lions and Western Province met was barely a few weeka ago, in a game where the Lions brutally punished Western Province.
Allister Coetzee today announced the DHL WP team to take on the Lions at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday 22 October in the Absa Currie Cup semi-final.
Western Province have revealed that they are in the process of finalising Springbok centre Jaque Fourie’s contract and the move to Japan is off.
Springbok duo Gurthro Steenkamp and Gary Botha’s arrival at French club Toulouse has been held up by visa problems, the Top 14 club’s forwards coach Yannick Bru said on Wednesday.