SupeRugby Round 7 PreJudgement:

Looking at this weeks fixtures I'm going to put my head on a block for three certainties. Blues, Force and Reds for wins, good ones. The Bulls could sneak a win and the rest is pretty tough to call. With the Crusaders on a bye this week, which puts them on top of the log before a tackle is made, some of the other NZ hopefuls get a chance to strut their stuff for NZ National coach, Graham Henry. One thing for sure is the game of the week will without doubt be in Durban as the Sharks host the Stormers.

Highlanders v Brumbies (Invercargill)
The Brumbies will be hoping that the past weeks bye for the Highlanders will put them off the pace. The Brumbies have gotten off to a shocking start this season and are in serious trouble of not qualifying for the knock out stages. The Highlanders, on the other hand, will be looking to put the Australian team out of the running and strengthen their own chances.
PreJudgement: Highlanders by 4

Waratahs v Chiefs (Sydney)
The Chiefs are bottom of the NZ conference and looking to turn their luck around in Sydney against the Waratahs. Both the Waratahs and Chiefs haven't been performing to their usual high standards and are going to be attempting to capitalise this weekend. Kurtley Beale at 10 for the Waratahs might be the difference in this game.
PreJudgement: Waratahs by 11

Blues v Cheetahs (Northland, NEC)
I think the only people remotely willing to put money on the Cheetahs, would be a few die hard fans, the coaching staff and parents. I'm sorry to say but I think there could be a record broken here. I really hope that I am proven wrong but looking at what the Cheetahs have to deal with just in the backline, I fear the worst.
PreJudgement: Blues by 29

Hurricanes v Bulls (Napier)
This is proving to be a tough one to call. Both teams have lost their mojo, with the Hurricanes physically looking down and out once the Rebels started applying the pressure last week. The Bulls have just not been themselves. If one of these teams don't turn it on this week we could be in for the most boring game in history...
PreJudgement: Bulls by 8 

Force v Rebels (Perth)
The battle of the newbies. The two youngest SupeRugby franchises will be doing battle in Perth on Saturday. If the Rebels' short history is anything to go by, they are going to be on the wrong end of 40 points. The Rebels have often struggled the week after a win, coupled with the fact that they are away from home.
PreJudgement: Force by 17

Lions v Reds (Johannesburg)
The Reds are going to walk this by some margin. The Lions have shown some promise this season but it looks as if they they will only reap the rewards in the 2012 season. The Reds have been  on fire this season and with New Zealander Mike Harris getting his first start this season, there are going to be fireworks.
PreJudgement: Reds by 22

Sharks v Stormers (Durban)
The game of the weekend! I think the Sharks have made two mistakes with the run on team for Saturday: 1: Jacques-Louis Potgieter should be somewhere else and Meyer Bosman should start at 10 and 2: Lwazi Mvovo should be starting. The Stormers welcome Schalk Burger back to the starting line up which is always good to see for the Stormers, Springboks and neutral fans. Hopefully all the traveling won't get to the Sharks as they need to be on top of their game to beat a resurgent Stormers team.
PreJudgement: Stormers by 9

Adidas and the Stormers are ALL IN

A few of the Stormers were at Canal Walk, Cape Town promoting the new Adidas campaign, Adidas All In. Some of the Stormers Springbok representatives were present: Schalk Burger, Peter Grant, Jaque Fourie, Bryan Habana, CJ van der Linde, Jean de Villiers, Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh.

Just looking at these eight players it is no surprise that the Stormers are top of the SupeRugby log. The Stormers have the added bonus of welcoming captain, Schalk Burger, back from injury on Saturday, as he starts against the Sharks in Durban.Conrad Jantjies returns from injury too but can't make the Stormers squad to travel to Durban and plays in the Vodacom Cup.

Why no justice?

Sonny Bill Williams aka SUPERMAN has tried his best to take Ryan Kankowski's head off during, what I see as a dangerous tackle. Once the sighting commission had a look at the incident, they decided not to act on it as "it was not a red card offense"! What! What is that rubbish? How on earth is that 'tackle' legal? 

I am speechless at what seems to be inconsistent results that come out of these sighting commissions. 

Are the rules different from player to player or does it go as far as from country to country?

I would love to hear your comments on this matter. Feel free to view the clip first and let me know.

SupeRugby Round 6 Recap:

With four teams winning with a score of 40 or more points if you didn't watch an interesting game of rugby this weekend you weren't watching SupeRugby! The Stormers put 51 points past the Force.The Crusaders and Rebels both stormed (sorry about that) to comprehensive victories over the Sharks and Hurricanes respectively. Both the Stormers and Crusaders have put themselves in great positions to qualify at the top of their conference this early.If they carry on playing like they have this past week nobody will argue that statement either.
Right, here we go...

• The Rebels destroyed, and that is a nice way of describing the Hurricanes performance, their visitors from Otago on Friday by 42-25. It was an inspired performance and they are proving to be the most unpredictable team this year. Read my write up here.

• The Reds brought the Cheetahs back to earth with a thump as they beat them 41-8. Quade Cooper is in sublime form and was clearly in the mood to show off his skills with no look passes and a crazy cross field kick-pass to Digby Ioane behind their own try line, which nearly resulted in a try for the Reds. 

• The Chiefs lost a home derby versus the Blues in a rather uneventful game in terrible conditions. The game saw three tries with two going to the Chiefs. The Blues try came from makeshift centre Jared Payne who, I must say looks very comfortable at 13.

• The Australian derby was between the ACT Brumbies and the NSW Waratahs which was won in the last move of the game by a try from Sitaleki Timani of the Waratahs. The game looked destined to be a draw but the Waratahs had different ideas. With the lead changing five times in 80 minutes you would expect it to be close. The Brumbies however didn't capitalise on Tom Carter's 64th minute yellow card, they only added 3 points off the boot of Matt Giteau.

•  The Stormers finally slept well on Saturday evening after having played to their potential against the Force at Newlands. The Stormers more than doubled their tries scored this season in one game by running in six against the Australian franchise. A brace of tries from Deon Fourie & Jaque Fourie were sights for the sore eyes of the Newlands faithful. Jean de Villiers & Andries Bekker added 5 pointers too. James O'Connor was the only contributor for the Force with a try, conversion and three penalties.

• The Bulls ran in three tries to the two of the Lions as they beat the visiting team by 30-23. The Bulls are still not firing on all cylinders and are not looking at all like the championship winning side that they were in 2010. The Bulls start the away leg of the tournament next week as they take on the down and out Hurricanes and will be looking to start the tour with a win.

• By far the best game of the weekend (Rebels v Hurricanes came close) the Crusaders crushed the Sharks at Twickenham by 44-28. There were at total of nine tries scored of which five were scored by the Crusaders who are in the best from I have ever seen them in. An unbelievable display by Dan Carter , Sonny Bill Williams and Robert Fruean.The Sharks fought back valiantly but leaked too many points before half time. A mention must go to Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira who was out there to prove a point and did. He scrummed well and was running like a backline player.

What a great weekend which saw the first ever SupeRugby game played outside of South Africa, Australia or New Zealand. Twickenham is the proud owner of the Northern Hemisphere's first ever glimpse of SupeRugby, and what a spectacle the Crusaders and Sharks put on.

Player of the Week: Tendai 'Beast' Mtawarira
Team of the Week: The Melbourne Rebels
WTF of the Week: Jacques -Louis Potgieter (He was just poor against the Crusaders)

SA Players Abroad: JP du Plessis (Melbourne Rebels)

Born in Kroonstad South Africa in 1991, du Plessis is earmarked as a Springbok. Having matriculated from Paul Roos Gymnasium who would be surprised?
He switched codes to play Rugby League in 2010 at the Sydney Roosters and fortunately has made his way back to Union in 2011, playing for the Melbourne Rebels.
At 6ft 1in and weighing 92kg's his preferred positions are wing and centre. I am looking forward to seeing what he has to offer.

Melbourne Rebels smash Hurricanes to secure second SupeRugby win!!

With 8 All Blacks in their team you would expect the Wellington Hurricanes to teach the Melbourne Rebels a rugby lesson, similar to that of the Waratahs and the Reds.
This was not the case as the Rebels ran in 6 tries to the Hurricanes 4 for a 42-25 home win. After 17minutes it was business as usual for the struggling Hurricanes as they shot to a 17-0 lead and looked in control. However, come half time, the Rebels had got their game together and leveled matters at 20-20.
The second half proved to be the biggest problem for the Hurricanes as the only added 5 points and conceded 22. The Rebels fought and fought hard for the victory and clearly wanted it more than the Hurricanes. Special mention must go to Jarrod Saffy, Richard Kingi and Nick Phipps who really lead from the front for the Rebels. The Wellington outfit only decided to travel to Melbourne on Thursday instead of traveling earlier in the week to settle in. This does seem a bit out of the norm and I am sure the travel arrangements will change for away games in the future.
The Hurricanes are in serious threat of not qualifying for the play off spots in a few weeks as they keep slipping up to teams they were expecting to take bonus points off.
See game stats on espnscrum.com.
All in all a great performance by the underdog Melbourne Rebels, well done!

SA Players Abroad: Neil de Kock (Saracens)

Neil de Kock was born in Cape Town on November 20, 1978.He plays scrumhalf and excels there, I do however remember him scoring a brilliant try on the wing for the Stormers.
Schooled in Cape Town he went to Stellenbosch University, where he struggled to make the Western Provence team. The 1999-2000 season saw him at the Free State Griffons and from 2000-2006 de Kock played for WP and Stormers. After 10 games for the Springboks and 2 tries he opted to head to the Northern Hemisphere and play for Saracens in the Guinness Premiership (now Aviva Premiership). He has captained the premiership club a number of times and is still an integral part of the set up.

Springbok Selections....No 10

So, the debate/argument/discussion is happening already, whether its in the pub or on social networking sites:

Who will be the Springbok Flyhalf this year?

Yes, it is a position which is often depicted by who the scrumhalf is or vice versa and we are pretty sure to have either, Fourie du Preez or Francois Hougaard starting in the number 9 jumper. This will be discussed at a later date.

There are possibly one or two more options available to us but, honestly, we're looking at a choice between these guys:

 

Morne Steyn: Pretty much last seasons first choice flyhalf for the Boks. He is having a relatively poor season according to his standards but in fairness the entire Bulls team fits into that category. It would be tough not to start him and there is no ways on earth barring injury that he won't be in the squad.

 

 Patrick Lambie: A youngster on the international scene with a handful of caps for the Boks but currently the leading points scorer in SupeRugby for 2011. An extremely exciting player and we all love a running flyhalf but I think he might still be a bit raw. Its a tough one and I would love to see him as our first choice number 10. 

 Butch James: 2007 World Cup winning Flyhalf and apart from that, he is just damn good. One of reasons we like him so much is he busts his ASS to make sure his opponents go home feeling that he has hit them harder than a freight train. Soon to be running out for the Lions in the SupeRugby we are all keen to see what he has learned playing for Bath.

 Peter Grant: Back in Cape Town and playing for the Stormers after a stint in Japan. His plan was to become a better player and one thing is for sure, he is kicking a little bit better than before. The Stormers have however only scored one try in 3 games which isn't always his fault but you do tend to blame the pivot when the outside backs aren't doing the business. Still a great option and can't be overlooked.

Personally, I think this will be tough for everyone except Peter de Villiers, he will go for tried and tested and the most recent to fit into that category would be Morne Steyn and Pat Lambie. The latter however could fill a 'utility' position in the squad which will allow for either Butch James or Peter Grant...Who Else?

SupeRugby game at Twickenham

Twickers - The Cabbage Patch

This Sunday at 4pm (5pm South African Time) history will be made as Twickenham will host its first SupeRugby game. The game between the Canterbury Crusaders and the Sharks.
The game has been moved due to the Crusaders being unable to use their home ground after the devastating earthquake a few weeks ago.
There are at least 10 billion South African and New Zealand expats in London alone so I can imagine the ticket sales will be interesting especially since over 30 000 tickets were sold in just under a day and a half.
The Sharks will be without star flyhalf Patrick Lambie who is replaced by new signing Jacques-Louis Potgieter.
The Crusaders have come off some monster wins and are really getting into their stride which, is a problem for every team they play right now.

Nike and England Rugby Grand Slam FAIL!

Above is an advert that was made by Nike for 'Grand Slam' winners England! It was clearly never meant to be leaked, but it has been. So enjoy it.
There were also a few thousand grand slam winning t-shirts dumped after Ireland thumped the English in the last of their 6 nations games.
Truth be told, you should never right off the Irish at home especially against the English, but worst of all, if Wales beat France well (by approximately 23 points) then the Welsh would be 6 Nations champions.... 
Belief or arrogance...you decide. I say, don't count your chickens before they hatch.
Either way you look at it and how ever bizarre this ad is, England are the 2011 6 Nations Champions. So well done to them.

SupeRugby Round 5 Recap:

Well, Well, Well. One or two upsets this weekend with the Cheetahs leading that headline by beating the Waratahs and the seemingly out of form Stormers beating the also, out of form, Bulls at Loftus. There is however one consistency in SupeRugby this season and that would be the Canterbury Crusaders. After a slow and unsettling start to the season they have been flexing their muscles ever since. They are by far the team of the tournament so far. Right, let’s jump into the past weekends action: The Chiefs dished out the first loss of the season to the Sharks team. It was played in wet conditions and was dominated by penalty kicks. The Sharks defended well but let it slip in the second half. 15-9 to the Chiefs.  The Reds dominated the Rebels in Queensland by running in seven tries, six conversions and two penalties to the one penalty of the Rebels. The Reds were in control from the 9th minute with a try from Anthony Faingaa, after a 5th minute penalty from Danny Cipriani. The Queenslanders move up into third place in the overall standings behind the Crusaders in second and the Stormers on top. Reds run riot 53-3 The Crusaders moved to the top of the NZ conference with an away win at the Highlanders. The Canterbury outfit ran in six tries to the one from Otago's Adam Thomson. The Highlanders had an opportunity to gain some dominance in the 34th minute when Sam Whitelock received a yellow card. They only however managed to score 3 points in those 10 minutes while conceding 11. Crusaders up 44-13. The Auckland Blues sent the out of form Hurricanes packing with a five try to one beating in Auckland. It was a tightly contested match until the 66th minute when the Blues ran in the first of three converted tries to end the match. In all fairness the Hurricanes were a man down as Andrew Hore was keeping a seat in the sin bin warm. Blues 41 -17 Hurricanes Besides the Rebels win over ACT, this is by far the surprise of the 2011 season. The Cheetahs break their Aussie losing streak by beating the Waratahs in Sydney….WELL! The Cheetahs were worth all the points they scored as they beat the Sydney based team 23-3. The Waratahs were, honestly, not ever in the game and will have spent the last few days wondering when the nightmare will end. Well done to the Cheetahs All South African hearts were hoping the Lions would walk away victorious from the clash with the Western Force in Johannesburg. It was not to be, the Force team were too strong and were in control as early as the 9th minute through a Nick Cummins try. All the Lions had to offer in resistance to the Force’s 2 tries, 5 penalties and a conversion were 4 penalties and a drop goal from the boot of Elton Jantjies. There seems to be a changing of the guard in South African rugby at the moment as the Bulls seem strangely off the pace of SupeRugby. They have struggled through the tournament and normally embrace home games as the Fortress that is Loftus is worth a few points before kick off. Not on Saturday though as the Stormers seemed to have more support in Pretoria than the home team. The Stormers finally broke their try drought with a try from winger Bryan Habana who deserved his try. He worked tirelessly and knocked on more than he cares to remember, lets hope he continues to improve and if so the Stormers will be a strong force in this years competition. There has been a complete shift in the overall and conference tables this week as the sharks move down to 4th overall. The Stormers are on top, Crusaders second and Reds third. Player of the Week: Israel Dagg Team of the Week: Cheetahs WTF of the Week:  Waratahs

Happy St Patricks Day!!

In celebrating this wonderful day, I would encourage you all to enjoy a nice cold pint of Guinness. We all know that it is not only the Irish that enjoy a cold pint of the ruby red liquid (Yes, it is actually red in colour and not black) so try it if you haven't. 

Back to rugby, the all important Six Nations game on Saturday is Ireland vs England from the Aviva Stadium.

England are looking for a win to give them not only the Six Nations title but the Triple Crown as well as the Grand Slam. England have the record for the most Grand Slams with 12 and last won it in 2003.

To see both teams stats and head to head stats click here.

SA Players Abroad: Shaun Sowerby (Toulouse)

Shaun Sowerby has been a great loss to South African Rugby. Only capped once for the Springboks against Samoa, Sowerby left the Sharks for a very successful career in France with both Stade Francais (2004-2007) and Toulouse (2007-present).
Richard Shaun Sowerby was born on July 1st 1978. His preferred position is 8th man. He stands at 1.93m tall and weighs 108kg's.
He has been the first choice 8th man for both teams barring injury and has won both the Heineken Cup as well as the French Top 14.

Guinness Rugby Ad- Just to warm you up before St Patricks Day

Corey Jane to leave SupeRugby?

New Zealand All Blacks and Hurricanes winger, Corey Jane could be off as rumors surface that the welsh club Llanelli Scarlets are after his signature.
See full story here.

SupeRugby Round 4 Recap:

This round of PreJudgement's went a little better than my first attempt. The Crusaders, Stormers and Hurricanes showing me up and the Blues , Force draw the games I got wrong, which left only 2 other games for me to get right. A little more practice is clearly needed.
A brief look at this weekends SupeRugby:

• The Crusaders destroyed the Brumbies after an early score by Matt Giteau which was followed by a yellow card. The Crusaders ran in 6 tries in total and proved that they can now finish teams off. Winger Sean Maitland scored four of those six tries. I believe warning has been sent by the Canterbury team.
• Newbies to SupeRugby the Melbourne Rebels nearly earned their second win of the season against the favored Sharks team from Durban. Both teams secured a four try bonus point but it was one more successful conversion by Patrick Lambie that secured the away teams second away win of the season.
• Yet another try-less game at Newlands ends in a Stormers win. Peter Grant did the business for the home team with six penalties to the two from Robbie Robinson.
• The Hurricanes secured their first win of the season with a narrow 3 point win over the Chiefs. A major surge by the Hurricanes in the second half gave them the lead which they held onto for the win.
• An 81st minute penalty by Blues replacement flyhalf, Stephan Brett, allowed both sides to share the points after the Force lead from the 39th minute. With a try a piece the rest of the game was dominated off the kicking tee.
• The Loins earned their first win of the season against another SA team, the Cheetahs. Both teams were without a win before kick off and I am sure both saw this as an opportunity to really get the season going. The Lions ran out deserved 25-20 winners.

The Sharks and Waratahs are in the top two spots on the table with the Rebels and Cheetahs propping up the bottom.

Player of the Week: Sean Maitland
Team of the Week: Canterbury Crusaders
WTF of the Week: Sean Maitland scoring four tries against the Brumbies

Best Fantasy Team after 4 SupeRugby Rounds:

For those of you who play the Sports Illustrated Fantasy Rugby, I have taken the liberty of showing you who you SHOULD have picked!

Front Row:
1: 78 points: Bismark du Plessis (Sharks)
2: 60 points: Kevin Mealamu (Blues)
3: 46 points: Tony Woodcock (Blues)
Locks:
4: 52 points: Steven Sykes (Sharks)
5: 48 points: Josh Bekhuis (Highlanders)
Loose Forwards:
6: 52 points: Adam Thomson (Highlanders)
7: 50 points: Willem Alberts (Sharks)
8: 48 points: Ryan Kankowski (Sharks)
Half Backs:
9: 60 points: Fourie du Preez (Bulls)
10: 111 points: Patrick Lambie (Sharks)
Centres:
12: 52 points: Meyer Bosman (Sharks)
13: 50 points: Robbie Freun (Crusaders)
Back Three:
11: 70 points: Sean Maitland (Crusaders)
14: 68 points: James O'Conner (Force)
15: 62 points: Kade Poki (Highlanders)

Total Points: 985 points: with Bismark du Plessis being captain and Patrick Lambie your kicker.
This puts you a full 59 points ahead of series leader. There is however one other small issue, and that is, that a maximum of three players are allowed from any one team. meaning you would have to replace 3 Sharks players. That would be OK with me, as being in the top 100 is a long way away from the position I am in now at 5759/26929.

SupeRugby Round 4: PreJudgement

Right here goes with my second attempt at predicting the future... The first time round was not good. See here. The Bulls, Reds and Waratahs are all having a break this weekend which, if you have forgotten, automatically gives them 4 log points for sitting on their bums...nice!

Crusader v Brumbies (Nelson)
Sheesh, what a match up this is going to be to start the round off. the Crusaders have come off a nice win against the 'Tahs and the Brumbies have spent the week licking their wounds after a loss to the Reds. Daniel Carter had a good game last week and will be looking to unleash his monster centres against the Aussie outfit. Lets not forget about the massive battle upfront as both teams will be looking to give their talented backlines the edge.
PreJudgement: Crusaders by 19
Rebels v Sharks (Melbourne) The Rebels are going to have their work cut out for them on Friday as they face the Sharks. The Sharks have come off a great win against the Force and welcome John Smit back for his first start of the season at tighthead prop. In other team news, Mvovo replaces injured Pietersen and Ndungane remains in the team after an injury scare. PreJudgement: Sharks by 12 Stormers v Highlanders (Cape Town) I think the Stormers have had a lot think about this week leading up to facing the Highlanders on Friday. In all honestly the Otago team have played the more exciting and much better attacking rugby this season. The Stormers on the other hand have quite frankly been struggling. With Duvenage replacing Januarie at scrumhalf, Peter Grant will get quicker ball from the base. Lets hope the loosies and tight 5 can secure good ball to unleash their exciting back line. PreJudgement: Tough call but Highlanders by 7  Hurricanes v Chiefs (Wellington) Both these teams are at the bottom of the NZ conference and are in desperate need of a win. The hurricanes have 2 more points than the Chiefs but are without 6 first choice players due to injury and 1, due to suspension. Local derby's are generally great games so making a call on this game is tough. I do think the away team are going to sneak a win though. PreJudgement: Chiefs by 6 Force v Blues (Perth) Coming off a big loss to the Sharks last week, the Western Force will be looking to remedy that against the Blues. The Blues have just returned from South Africa and i am sure will be feeling a little sluggish. Lets hope this games turns out to be an exciting running rugby encounter. PreJudgement: Force by 5 Cheetahs v Lions (Bloemfontein) Bottom of the table South African derby.... I'm just not sure that it is going to be as boring as it sounds. Both teams are desperate for a win and have come very close in the opening weeks games. There have been a few changes made on the Cheetahs side with Naas Olivier dropped for Robert Ebersohn's twin brother Sias. This will be his first start this season. Heinrich Brussow makes his much awaited return after a lengthy wait on the sidelines due to injury. PreJudgement: Lions by 7

How to score a team try...

22 minutes into the game and the Stormers were leading the Chiefs 6-3 away from home. What you are about to witness is one of the best team tries of the year if not the decade.
The Stormers 15 showed great hands and will to keep the ball alive. Bryan Habana could have quite easily scored the easiest try of his career.

SA Players Abroad: Jarrod Saffy (Melbourne Rebels)

Full name Jarrod Saffy Date of birth 24 October 1984 (1984-10-24)  Place of birth Johannesburg, South Africa                       Height 191 cm Weight 106 kg School(s) St Joseph's, Hunters Hill
Jarrod Saffy made his rugby union debut at blindside flanker for the Melbourne Rebels in the 2011 SupeRugby competition. He has played most of his professional rugby in Rugby League for St. George Illawarra Dragons but started out in Union. He has played Sevens for Australia, Sydney University, the Waratahs Academy and Australia Under-21s. Saffy switched to rugby league to progress faster and made his debut in first grade rugby league  Wests Tigers in 2006. He made seven first grade appearances for the Tigers in 2007. Saffy plays rugby league at second-row and also at prop-forward. He played in the Dragons' 2010 NRL Grand Final-winning team.

Moments to look back on...

Every one who enjoys rugby, enjoys the Haka. It has been around in rugby as long as we all can remember. It is one of those things that excite us all, whether we support the All Blacks or not. 

Below is a clip which, to me, epitomizes what the Haka is about and what it represents to the New Zealand rugby players.

A few years ago the All Blacks played Munster in one of the end of year tour games. The Munster team consisted of 4 New Zealanders, one being Doug Howlett . This is how it started...

The All Blacks eventually winning 18-16 with quite a strong team. It was a great result for Munster and their fans

Humble Pie.....

What a weekend of rugby and some great results too.
Out of my weekends predictions ,SupeRugby Round 3: PreJudgement, I only got 2 results partially correct. You have to love this game!

Just a little recap on this weekend:

• Crusaders came out firing after a slow start and ended up destroying the Waratahs 33-18. Between Carter and the centre pairing of SBW and Robert Fruean they were on another level.

• Lions fought valienlty, again, but eventually lost to an exciting Blues team. Rene Ranger coming off the bench to score two tries. The Lions keep putting themselves into winning positions but can never close up shop.
• Chiefs beat the Rebels and it looked as if the ACT win hangover was still around.
• Reds take down Brumbies in Canberra and yet another Aussie derby goes against the Brumbies. The Reds were in the lead as early as the 4th minute and never gave it up.
• The Sharks dominated their first away game of the campaign. The Force suffered an early red card due to a spear tackle and were never in the game after that. A great win for the Sharks and valuable bonus point too.
• Stormers ground out a win in what was dubbed a 'snore-athon' on twitter. The stormers will look at the win and hope it gets MUCH better for them in the future. They are still however sitting 3rd on the combined log.
• Highlanders shocked the Bulls this week with a 3rd straight win in the competition. The much unfacied team from Otago are looking good this year. Lets hope they hold it together...or not!

All in all some nice upsets and good rugby this weekend. We are in for some awesome match ups this weekend with Crusaders hoping to rub salt in the wounds of the Brumbies, The Rebels facing their first SA team in the Sharks and a local SA derby as The Cheetahs take on the Lions.

Player of the Week: Rene Ranger
Team of the Week: Highlanders
WTF of the Week: Stormers vs Cheetahs....zzzzzzzzzzz

What is a wingers job?

If you ever wondered what the job of a winger is (ie: number 11 and number 14), all you have to do is look at this try. Chris Ashton scores an absolute world class try against Australia. The individual effort stands head and shoulders above anything but I think the decision by the English players involved to run the ball, should be applauded too!

SBW

"...Fighting out of the Red Corner, weighing in at 108kg's standing 6ft 3in and making his debut in Super Rugby is Sonny Bill Willliaaaaaams!"

C'mon, don't tell me you can't all hear the ring announcer shouting that out later this morning?
SBW, or aptly nicknamed, wait for it.....SUPERMAN is running on for the Crusaders at inside centre today to make his Super Rugby debut versus the Waratahs.
This monster of a man has had the rugby world watching his every move eagerly awaiting this moment. Well, wait no longer because today is the day.
Sonny Bill Williams was born in Auckland and is an ex Rugby League Pro and professional boxer in his 'spare' time. Enjoy the game!

Is it a bird....Is it a plane...

John Smit - Captain In The Cauldron

Let me say this up front.
I have always been a massive John Smit fan. This does not in anyway influence what i am about to say.

What a read. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his story. It is awesome to read about how things operate and work behind the scenes and what really goes on.
Go check it out and buy here: http://www.kalahari.net 

Early Injuries....

There have been a few early injuries in the starting weeks of Super Rugby, with a majority of injuries coming to key Springboks.
Juan Smith, Bakkies Botha, Jaques Fourie & Schalk Burger are all out this weekend, with the Stormers and the Cheetahs taking the biggest hit out of he three teams.

Juan Smith

Juan Smith is a massive loss for the Cheetahs and possibly the Springboks. He has torn his Achilles and will be out for the rest of the Super Rugby competition and may not be fit for the World Cup. Naas Olivier will be standing in as Captain and lets hope they can build on a positive start to the campaign. Smith is replaced by Ashley Johnson. 

Bakkies Botha is being rested this week after bruising his foot. He will be replaced by Springbok Danie Rossouw who is more than capable of filling in at lock or in the loose forwards.

Jaques Fourie and Schalk Burger will be replaced by Juan de Jongh and Pieter Louw respectively with the major concern coming with the bench cover and not the starting line up replacements. Both de Jongh and Louw have played Super 14 rugby and are more than capable of doing the job and more. they are extremely hard workers and have a little x-factor to add, especially with de Jongh at 13. I am interested to see who and when coach, Allister Coetzee, will make changes and what impact they will have.


I am looking forward to seeing the youngsters, de Jongh, Louw and Johnson in action this weekend as the talent is evident in these three players. They have rightfully been playing second fiddle to extremely talented and  in form Springboks but now is there time to shine!