Super Rugby
The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff Wales has been confirmed as a venue for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.
Whilst South Africans might admire the fact that New Zealand Rugby has successfully retained Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and soon to be confirmed, Sonny Bill Williams – post Rugby World Cup 2011, there are some who believe the All Blacks have ‘sold their soul’.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
Quake-ravaged Christchurch will lose its Rugby World Cup hosting rights on the back of a new report showing the city’s stadium is unfit for games, British media is reporting.
London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper says it has confirmation from a senior International Rugby Board (IRB) source that the engineers’ structural report will end the city’s hosting chances.
Rugby World Cup 2011 tournament organisers have confirmed that key match ticket sales and revenue targets have been achieved for 2010 and that international visitors will number at least 85,000.
After the All Blacks’ astounding successes in 2010 which has left them well and truly perched on the top of the world, their coach Graham Henry fears burn-out as they prepare for the 2011 World Cup.
Henry told the media: “Our biggest challenge is that they’ve got to be reasonably sharp mentally coming into the World Cup and the Tri-Nations prior.
Nick Mallett does not share the pessimism about South African rugby, and believes Peter de Villiers’s Springboks are headed for next year’s World Cup semi-finals with New Zealand and Australia.
Following the Springboks victory of England this weekend, I read with interest how the English press announced that South Africa showed they will be a force in the World Cup. Continue reading
The Grand Slam dream is over. The one thing that could have redeemed the Boks and its management came to an embarrassing end on Saturday as the Springboks went down to the Scots, and as my three-year old would say; ‘Now what now?” Continue reading
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.
Reports are rife this morning that some contracted players are revolting against their conditioning programme and that certain agreements reached between them and SARU is being breached. Continue reading
This season could be the most important in the history of rugby union. We are entering a 12-month period that will define the game’s future, change the view we had of it looking back, and put down the foundations for global domination that will see rugby challenge the biggest spectator sports.
How does a team that came of such a high in 2009 hit such a low in 2010, more importantly, can it be fixed? Continue reading
John Smit was answering fan questions in the Springbok E-zine and was asked how long he still feels he can play at this level.
Despite consistent criticism throughout this year’s Vodacom Tri-Nations campaign, and a mediocre showing in his 100th Test match, where his fitness and form was consistently questioned, Smit still believes he can soldier on until the World Cup.
The captain was visibly irritated last week by questions about him retiring and a rumour that went around that he would call it a day after the 100th cap. After missing the tackle that cost the Boks the game against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium, he has returned this week more determined than ever to make up for his mistake.
At the end of this year’s Tri-Nations the Springbok management will have to stand objectively and clinically look at the difference between blind loyalty and blind faith as opposed to reward in selecting the best Bokke to lead them into next year’s Rugby World Cup.
This is not their only poser, they have to decide whether Assistant Staff has the ability and afinity to take it competently from here as well as how to adapt or fine-tune game plans for the World Cup.
Today I look at player selection only, the game plan strategies and coaching staff will have to wait for another time.
After 4 Springbok losses in a row in a Tournament, the Tri-Nations, which lies very close to the hearts of South Africans and with the Rugby World Cup now exactly a year from now, the temptation is there to insist on taking the knives out and to cut some dead wood from the Springbok team and management.
… but we’ve been there before, remembering so well how we, me included, shouted from the rooftops that Jake White needed the axe.
With the Springbok Tri-Nations hopes over, how should they approach their remaining three home fixtures?
Survey Results now added
You might ask what do the Springboks and Stuart Tinner have in common on the 17th November 2009? If your answer is £250,000 you would be right.
It is not often that I listen to Freestaters but this one made quite an interesting point. Continue reading
Is success in rugby defined by an individual or by a collective team effort? Continue reading