The Official Rugby Thread

[echo]

No no, you guys got me all wrong. I have no quibble with his game, but he's a doos when he keeps lifting his arms talking to the ref while the maul is moving or when the ball is sitting at the back of the ruck. That **** started with Joost, and i'm sorry I just can't take it.

Play the ball quickly instead.

Yeah, now I'm with you. The whole hands-in-the-air thing instead of getting the ball out grates me immensely.

Stormers bank on rookie pivot

Stormers:

15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Gary van Aswegen, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger (captain), 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 CJ van der Linde

Substitutes: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Juan de Jongh

Why the hell does he persist with Ricky?

[Die Jason]

Some good news though, Bekker is back! Weird to see De Jongh on the bench though, then I had a look at the starting centre pairing...

[wisp]

Crusaders withdraw from Hurricanes match

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

23 February 2011, 14:40

Sanzar CEO Greg Peters has announced that the Crusaders will withdraw from their Super Rugby match against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday, following the devastating earthquake that struck Christchurch on Tuesday.

Sanzar rugby nations New Zealand, South Africa and Australia stand behind the Crusaders and their decision to withdraw from the round two match against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday (February 26).

Crusaders Chief Executive Hamish Riach said the decision not to travel to Wellington this weekend, was reached following discussions between the Crusaders coaches, senior players and Crusaders? Board.

?After all that has happened here in Christchurch and with so many lives affected by this event, we have decided it would not be appropriate to play a game of rugby against the Hurricanes on Saturday. Our thoughts are with our families, friends and wider Crusaders? community and rugby is not a priority at the moment.

?All of the Crusaders players, team management, staff and board members have been directly affected by this terrible tragedy and it?s our desire to stay here and support our families and community at this time,? Riach said.

Peters said that the decision had the full backing of all three Sanzar countries.

?This decision had to be steered by the Crusaders Board, management and team. Our thoughts are very much with all of those affected by the earthquake,? Peters said.

NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew said that New Zealand rugby stood firmly behind the Crusaders and the Canterbury rugby region.

?New Zealand is dealing with an enormous human tragedy and our sympathies and thoughts are very much with the people of Christchurch at this time. We will continue to work to see how we can best support our friends and colleagues in the Crusaders and the Canterbury community over the coming weeks and months,? Tew said.

Hurricanes chairman Paul Collins said: ?We fully support the Crusaders? decision not to play this fixture and we wish to extend our sympathies to everyone who has been affected by this tragedy. Our focus now will be on finding ways in which the Hurricanes franchise can support the people of Christchurch through this terrible time. Obviously there are a number of logistical issues we have to work through with our commercial partners, members and supporters who were planning to come to the game on Saturday and we will be working hard to resolve these as soon as possible.?

Peters said that Sanzar executive committee involving all three countries had agreed to declare the Hurricanes v Crusaders match a draw and the competition points would be shared evenly between the two franchises (two points each), as consistent with similar situations in other international tournaments. Both franchises had been consulted and were in agreement with this decision.

www.supersport.com
My thoughts are with the people of Christchurch during this trying time

[Boggle24]

I was sitting here the past few days wondering what they are going to do regarding some upcoming matches in NZ.

Seems the most sensible thing to do, and I hope everyone in Christchurch can get through this, but apparently lots of people are heading off the Auckland and the like because they literally have nothing left in Christchurch.

[wisp]

Latests results
Highlanders beat the Chiefs
Rebels beat the Brumbies

The Highlanders are really off to a good start, last year they only won 3 matches and so far there 2 for 2 , congrats to the Rebels on the first suoer rugby win 25-24 over the brumbies

[Cleric]

Rebels... beat... Brumbies? Suddenly the world doesn't make sense anymore.

[Griff3n]

Gosh... I was getting so ****ed at Elton for missing those kicks... The lions would totally have won... But despite that the last 5 minutes and the last push by the Lions... made for really great rugby last night...

[wisp]

This weeks standing, Sharks klapped the blues nice one Lambie

Super Rugby
Aus
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Bonus Total
Waratahs 2 2 0 0 73 6 2 10
Brumbies 2 1 0 1 52 45 1 5
Force 1 0 0 1 20 21 1 5
Reds 2 1 0 1 27 50 0 4
Rebels 2 0 0 1 25 68 0 4

NZ
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Bonus Total
Highlanders 2 2 0 0 37 22 0 8
Blues 2 1 0 1 36 48 0 4
Crusaders 2 0 1 1 22 24 1 3
Hurricanes 2 0 1 1 9 14 1 3
Chiefs 2 0 0 2 33 51 0 0

SA
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Bonus Total
Sharks 2 2 0 0 50 21 0 8
Bulls 2 2 0 0 49 43 0 8
Stormers 1 1 0 0 19 16 0 8
Lions 2 0 0 2 36 43 2 2
Cheetahs 2 0 0 2 32 49 1 1

Joint Super Rugby Log
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Bonus Total
Waratahs 2 2 0 0 73 6 2 10
Sharks 2 2 0 0 50 21 0 8
Highlanders 2 2 0 0 37 22 0 8
Bulls 2 2 0 0 49 43 0 8
Stormers 1 1 0 0 19 16 0 8
Brumbies 2 1 0 1 52 45 1 5
Force 1 0 0 1 20 21 1 5
Blues 2 1 0 1 36 48 0 4
Reds 2 1 0 1 27 50 0 4
Rebels 2 1 0 1 25 67 0 4
Crusaders 2 0 1 1 22 24 1 3
Hurricanes 2 0 1 1 9 14 1 3
Lions 2 0 0 2 36 43 2 2
Cheetahs 2 0 0 2 32 49 1 1
Chiefs 2 0 0 2 33 51 0 0

[Die Jason]

Stormers had me worried, luckily the Lions kicking was horrible on the night. What a difference a season makes to a team, the Lions really look dangerous.

Any news yet on Schalk's injury?

Also, epic beard....

[echo]

Injury to keep Schalk out

Cape Town – The Stormers will be without influential captain Schalk Burger for Saturday’s Super Rugby match against the Cheetahs.

Burger took a knock to his knee in the first half of Saturday’s 19-16 win over the Lions at Newlands.

The injury came just a day after Cheetahs captain Juan Smith suffered a serious injury against the Bulls.

The Stormers’ management confirmed on Sunday that Burger will not be considered for this coming weekend’s match.

Burger did not emerge for the second half on Saturday evening and it was said after the match that he had only left the field as a precautionary measure. However, he is due to consult a specialist on Monday to have the strain to his knee assessed.

The Stormers will be keeping fingers crossed that the injury is not as serious as that of Smith, whose participation in the World Cup is in the balance following the serious Achilles injury he sustained in Bloemfontein.

Apart from the concern over Burger, the Cape players are set to report for duty at their training base in Bellville in a positive frame of mind on Monday.

After all, the Stormers have bagged another 4 log points and youngster Gary van Aswegen has put up his hand as a quality flyhalf.

There is also a good chance that Gio Aplon may be available for the match against the Cheetahs.

Coetzee was delighted when he spoke about the performance of Van Aswegen. The 21-year-old slotted all three of his kicks at goal, distributed nicely and did well in defence.

“For any young player the first challenge is a physical one. Gary showed that he’s up to the task. Not all flyhalves can defend and he showed that he can,” said Coetzee.

“You know you have done your job when you have earned the respect of your senior players. Gary succeeded in doing that.”
Coetzee now has a few difficult selection calls to make.

Peter Grant looked sharp when he replaced Van Aswegen and his experience will count heavily in his favour. Van Aswegen started because Grant was still playing rugby in Japan the previous weekend.

Bryan Habana’s form is a concern. The Springbok wing is simply making too many mistakes, but it will take a brave coach to drop a player with such a big reputation. And then he also has to be sure that there is a better alternative.

Juan de Jongh’s ability to break the line could be valuable against the Cheetahs.

The Stormers are likely to concentrate on improving their set phases in this week’s training. They struggled with their set phases and this had a major impact on the performance.

“We take pride in our set phases and it wasn’t good. But we won the lineout that mattered and scored a try from it. We also adapted in the scrums and almost scored a pushover try in the second half,” said Coetzee.

Hopefully it's not longer.

We played like ****. Never been a huge Grant fan, but he made a huge difference when he came on. Yeah, the Beard Strauss is really good and bloody strong. Why don't they play that Kamana (?) chap from the start though? He has lots of talent. This Lions team is gonna run a lot of teams ragged.

[Die Jason]

Hopefully it's not longer.

Thanks.

O, and I know it's been said a thousand times before, but really, Januarie is so immensely kak. If he loses the ball or knocks it one more bloody time....

[Cleric]

How Januarie starts ahead of Duwenager is anyone's guess. He is rubbish and has been rubbish for a long time.

[Boggle24]

Van Aswegen just doesn't seem to be at Super Rugby level yet, Grant probably saved that game for us when he came on, so I would definitely want him as the first choice from here on out, only problem being that the season is so damn long.

[Gammaray]

Van Aswegen's boot is not too bad, but I agree - thank goodness that Grant is back.

And that bloody useless Habana ... I predict he won't have a single try this super season.

As for the Bulls vs Cheetahs game, it was the better one for me. First I thought that the Bull's game has dropped a bit, but I'm starting to think that all our other teams have actually stepped it up a notch. Loving it.

[wisp]

Bryan Habana’s form is a concern. The Springbok wing is simply making too many mistakes, but it will take a brave coach to drop a player with such a big reputation. And then he also has to be sure that there is a better alternative.

maybe dropping him is a good idea then he might wake up , if he continues to play as he is he will be know good to us in the world cup .
Pietersen and Mvovo are excellant wings more than capable without Habana

[TiNRiB]

maybe dropping him is a good idea then he might wake up , if he continues to play as he is he will be know good to us in the world cup .
Pietersen and Mvovo are excellant wings more than capable without Habana

Habana is rubbish... Play Aplon in his position.

Habana = Schevchenko or Torres in the football world. $$$$$

[Die Jason]

Pietersen and Mvovo are excellant wings more than capable without Habana

Althoug I must admit some concern for Habana's form, I do think your suggestions are slightly biased ;)

Habana = Schevchenko or Torres in the football world. $$$$$

Hey! Bit early to start knockin Torres! But ja, Shevchenko....

[Cleric]

Habana's poor form is nothing new, he's been rubbish for over 2 years now.

[Boggle24]

And he's been rubbish because he always gets first pick.

If they'd put his ass on the line every now and then he might get it back into gear.
Aplon is gonna play at 14 anyway, don't know who we'll replace Habana with though, I didn't really notice that Poolman guy to be honest (did he play, was at a pub with friends so only glanced at the game every time something interesting seemed to happen ?)

[Cleric]

I still think that Pieterson is a class wing with good defense and should start. Is Nokwe injured again, because he has serious potential.