Wallabies
Judgment has been reserved in the Butch James judicial hearing.
Bulls lock Bakkies Botha will play in his 100th Super Rugby match for his team when they take on the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Stormers have named their team to play the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein with Peter Grant named in the starting line up.
The Bulls have confirmed that scrum half and winger Francois Hougaard will not be leaving the Bulls before October 2012.
The Western Force has withdrawn from talks with James O’Connor’s management after further intensive negotiations failed to find common ground on contract length and remuneration.
The Force will consider taking a train to Melbourne for Friday’s Super Rugby clash with the Rebels if their flight to the Victorian capital is cancelled.
SANZAR have released the match officials for the 18th Round of the 2011 Super Rugby tournament with Jonathan Kaplan getting the big Bulls vs Sharks clash in SA.
I had to borrow this slogan from the Varsity Cup simply because it best describes why some teams seem to be on the up, and others going down.
The Sharks take on the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld this coming weekend, and having seen the Bulls resurgence it becomes more difficult than ever to see how the Sharks can win this one. I have no doubt as to the ability of the Sharks and that they have the players to beat the in-form Bulls.
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.
The Sharks will be sweating over the fitness of several key players, as they start their build-up to the Super Rugby crunch match against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
An ankle injury will bring to an end Nathan Sharpe’s run of 53 consecutive games for the Western Force after club medical staff ruled him out for two weeks.
The Vodacom Bulls are set to bring back two of their big guns – Springboks Bakkies Botha and Fourie du Preez – to face the Sharks in their final Vodacom Super Rugby league match at Loftus on Saturday.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has said that Peter Grant will definitely play for the Stormers against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein this week.
Melbourne Rebels coach Rod Macqueen will stand down after the club’s final Super Rugby match against the Western Force at AAMI Park this weekend.
The Lions’ Springbok flyhalf Butch James is to face a SANZAR judicial hearings after being cited for alleged foul play during his team’s 30-all draw with the Sharks at the weekend.
Have a good look, Butch’s feet are totally off the ground in a flying leap, an arm around Keegan Daniel’s neck… and the result
on the ground was that Daniel was arched on his back, with Butch trying to stretch Keegan Daniel’s neck to new lenghts.
Stormers (3) 16 / Bulls (6) 19 (Final Score)
The DHL Stormers hosted the Vodacom Bulls at Newlands, Cape Town at 18:10 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
This game cannot be described as rugby, it was rather trench warfare… and the Bulls won the brutal war, revenging the Stormers win of earlier in the season at Loftus.
The Bulls were just simply better in the set pieces, the rest was all equal.
Lions (20) 30 / Sharks (9) 30 (Final Score)
The MTN Lions hosted the Sharks at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg at 16:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
In a humdinger of a match the MTN Lions and the Sharks drew 30 / 30 but it took a momentous effort for the Sharks to pull back a 21-point deficit and they managed to pull 14 of those points back whilst Butch james was off in the sin bin, yellow carded for a head high flying tackle on Keegan Daniel.
Western Force (16) 21 / Reds (14) 24 (Final Score)
Waratahs (19) 33 / Highlanders (7) 7 (Final Score)
Crusaders (13) 23 / Blues (11) 16 (Final Score)
The Crusaders hosted the Blues at Alpine Energy Stadium, Timaru at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Crusaders prevailed with a 7-point win, going top of the New Zealand Conference, with one week to go.
Brumbies (18) 32 / Rebels (3) 17 (Final Score)
The Brumbies hosted the Melbourne Rebels at Canberra Stadium, Canberra at 11:40 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
The Brumbies never looked like losing the match, although the Melbourne Rebels hit back with two late tries, making the score look more respectable than it actually was for them.
Chiefs (15) 18 / Hurricanes (5) 18 (Final Score)
The Chiefs hosted the Hurricanes at Waikato Stadium, Hamilton at 09:35 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & CSN on TV in SA.
The rain stifled what was initially a promising match, fair result on the day.
Herewith ALL the Super Rugby team sheets as they were announced for week 17 of Super Rugby 2011.
The Sharks have named their team to face the Lions at Coca Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday with John Smit being named at hooker.
The MTN Lions will be playing The Sharks this Saturday, 11 June 2011 at Coca-Cola Park. Kick off is at 16:05. The team was announced this morning and is:
Sanzar CEO Greg Peters has admitted that “disparities between penalties” remain a concern as the first season of conference style Super Rugby moves into the home stretch.
Stormers flyhalf Peter Grant will miss his team’s match against the Bulls at at Newlands on Saturday after he failed a fitness test.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash against the Stormers at Newlands in Cape Town.
As the cold of Winter starts to really be felt on the Highveld, Lions Rugby have started a drive to collect blankets for those souls less fortunate than those of us here on Rugby Talk.
The collection will take place in earnest at the Lions – Sharks match this weekend.
Springbok and Bulls scrumhalf Fourie du Preez could make a surprise early comeback for the Bulls clash with the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.
SANZAR have released the match officials for the 17th Round of the 2011 Super Rugby tournament with Steve Walsh returning to action.
The Crusaders have suffered another cruel blow with the loss of Captain Richie McCaw for the rest of the regular Super Rugby season.
Although I have said many times that I do not like the new format of Super Rugby, be it due to the unevenness of not playing all the teams in the Competition and playing local derbies twice, it still does make for interesting reading going into the final two rounds of Competition.
The Sharks survived an early scare as they found form in the second half to beat the Cheetahs 18-23 in Bloemfontein keeping them alive for another week.