New Zealand beat the Springboks 31 – 17 yesterday in Wellington to secure their second successive bonus point in the Tri-Nations tournament.

Ma’a Nonu, Mils Muliaina, Rene Ranger and Israel Dagg all scored tries for the All Blacks, while flyhalf Daniel Carter, who had a poor goalkicking performance in missing five attempts at goal, slotted two penalties and a conversion.

Piri Weepu also added a penalty for the home side, who had beaten the Springboks 32-12 in Auckland last week.

Danie Rossouw and Schalk Burger scored tries for the world champions, while Morne Steyn added a penalty and two conversions. Read the rest of this entry »

Take a look at the Pools and Match schedule for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The Springboks are playing Wales (11 September – Wellington), Fiji (17 September 2011 – Wellington), Namibia (22 September – Auckland) and Samoa (30 September – Auckland).

Source:   rugbyworldcup.com

Juan Smith renewed his contract with the Free State Rugby Union, citing pride and business interests as his reasons.

The 28-year-old Smith owns a butchery in Bloemfontein and also farms with cattle between Bloemfontein and Kimberley.

Smith’s agent, Stephan Weyers, confirmed on Thursday that the Lions and Sharks were interested in signing him.

A number of offers from overseas were also on the table, but the Cheetahs captain did not want to risk jeopardising his Springbok career by accepting one of those prior to the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

“He signed a contract for a further two years with the Cheetahs. Juan also has a Springbok contract that runs until the end of next year. One can only admire his loyalty,” said Weyers.

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The Springboks might lose a few games next year in the run up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup, because the best team may not always be selected.

Experts at a media workshop in Johannesburg agreed that a number of standout players will have to be carefully managed in the next two years.

Springbok fitness and conditioning coach Neels Liebel and sports scientist Tim Noakes said this would be vital to ensure top players were are fit and in peak condition for the World Cup in New Zealand September 9 in 2011.

Noakes showed a series of graphs on how players used excessively in a season tended to either get injured or under-perform the following year.

Liebel agreed senior players like Victor Matfield, 32, Bakkies Botha, 30, and John Smit, 31, should still be available for the 2011 World Cup – but on condition that they were properly managed.

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The South African Rugby Union have entered their bid in Dublin on Thursday to host the Rugby World Cup in 2015 or 2019.

SARU president, Mr Oregan Hoskins, announced at a media conference in Johannesburg that positive discussions with Government had seen the last brick fall into place.

The Government has been very supportive and they have provided the financial backing to allow us to complete what we believe is a compelling case to bring the Rugby World Cup back home, said Mr Hoskins. South Africa in this day and age is set up to host the very biggest global sporting events and we believe we would offer Rugby an unrivalled showcase for the game.

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The match schedule for the Rugby World Cup 2011 was announced on Thursday with thirteen venues across New Zealand chosen.

Rugby New Zealand (RNZ) 2011 CEO Martin Snedden confirmed the Tournament will kick off at Eden Park in Auckland on Friday 9 September 2011 when New Zealand will play Tonga.

Auckland (Eden Park), Wellington and Christchurch have been allocated five pool matches each while North Shore, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Rotorua and Dunedin will each host three matches. Whangarei, Nelson, Palmerston North, Napier and Invercargill will host two matches.

“Our philosophy all along has been a Stadium of Four Million. We believe today’s announcement, building on the knock-out decisions announced last year, takes us further towards the fulfillment of that promise” said Mr Snedden.

“RNZ has worked very closely with Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) over the past few months to bring this to a reality. Our collective view is that the Match Schedule represents the best balance between ensuring a successful Tournament in New Zealand while also recognising its global standing”.

The quarter-final match-ups were also confirmed, with the top two teams in Pool A (featuring currently qualified teams New Zealand, France and Tonga) and Pool B (featuring Argentina, England and Scotland) playing off in Christchurch. Wellington will host quarter-finals featuring the winners and runners-up from Pool C (featuring Australia, Ireland and Italy) and Pool D (featuring South Africa, Wales and Fiji).

In addition, the dates for the final weekend, which coincides with Labour Day, were also confirmed with the Bronze Final to take place on Friday October 21 at Eden Park, followed by the Final on Sunday October 23 at the same venue.

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The South African Rugby Union’s bid to host the 2015 Rugby World Cup in South Africa got a major boost following meetings with the government on Tuesday.

A joint delegation from SARU and the International Rugby Board (IRB) met sports minister Mr Makhenkesi Stofile and deputy minister Mr Gert Oosthuizen in Cape Town as part of an information-sharing session. The IRB delegation included president Mr Bernard Lapasset and chief executive Mike Miller. SARU were represented by president Mr Oregan Hoskins, Mr Mark Alexander (deputy president) and Mr Rautie Rautenbach (vice president).

SARU is bidding to host either the 2015 or the 2019 Rugby World Cups and is seeking government support for the bid. Interested unions will make their presentations to the IRB in May and a decision on the hosting nations for both tournaments will be announced on July 28, 2009.

�We were delighted with the meeting and very pleased with the government�s expression of support for the South African Rugby union�s bid,� said Mr Lapasset. �A tournament of this size � the third-largest sporting event in the world � is not possible without a close partnership between the government and the rugby union and we were impressed with the enthusiasm and the support the government offered.�

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Springbok and Sharks star Francois Steyn could be lost to South African rugby within a couple of months.

According to a report in Afrikaans Sunday newspaper Sondag, Steyn has emerged as the major target of French club Racing Metro on their trip to South Africa next month and has been offered �one of the biggest contracts ever in rugby history� to make the move to France.

Steyn has apparently not signed anything yet, but according to Sondag�s information he is the only Springbok who is still looking overseas after the recent contract offers from SA Rugby.

SA Rugby�s player of the year Jean de Villiers, has reportedly said no to a massive offer of almost R4 million per season from Irish province Munster. Steyn�s contract offer is said to be in the region of R4.5 million per season.

SA Rugby yesterday announced the names of 19 players who signed contracts, but confirmed that CJ van der Linde has not signed a contract by the deadline on Saturday.

Steyn�s agent Gerrie Swart meanwhile admitted the young utility back has been approached about the contract.

�He hasn�t signed anything yet and will look at the offer with the same careful consideration and the knowledge of both SA Rugby and the Sharks. Frans needs to discuss the offer in his own time with his family and must then take a decision that will have all the implications considered,� Swart said.

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Australia ended their end of year UK tour with a victory over the Barbarians. The Aussies won 18 – 11 at Wembley Stadium in an very exciting and action packed game.

“The Wallabies, with England referee Chris White seemingly in the festive season spirit already and very generous in his handling of the constant breaches of the law, simply tackled the BaaBaas into submission.

But it was the Australians’ greater enthusiasm and willingness to push the law to its utter limits in both defence and at the breakdown, that won them the day.

The victory was sealed only two minutes from time, by replacement Lachie Turner’s breakaway try after South Africa’s Francois Steyn, who also missed a number of goal-kicks, turned the ball over yet again.

The result meant Australia had won four of their six tour matches – also beating Italy, England and France, but losing to New Zealand, in Hong Kong, and Wales last weekend in Cardiff.

Australia took the Rugby Union gold medal in 1908 with a 32-3 victory over Great Britain, represented by the south-west English county of Cornwall.

The Barbarians, in honour of that match, all wore yellow Cornwall socks as they departed from their usual tradition of players wearing their club socks.

BaaBaas try-scorer Jerry Collins, who last year played for Cornish side Barnstaple, even dyed his hair yellow.

The Barbarians were 6-13 behind with just under 30 minutes left when they got back into the game with a superb try.

Australia fullback James O’Connor’s poor kick out of defence gave possession back to the Barbarians and Steyn, playing at flyhalf, threw a long cut-out pass to Welsh wing Shane Williams, the newly-crowned International Rugby Board Player of the Year.

Williams, on as a half-time replacement for Percy Montgomery, sprinted clear down the touchline.

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Vodacom Western Province stumbled and fumbled their way to a 9-3 (halftime 6-0) victory over the Free State Cheetahs in a dreary ABSA Currie Cup match in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.Persistent rain earlier in the day made for waterlogged conditions and sporadic showers during the match only added to the tally of handling errors.

Flyhalf Willem de Waal again carried the load for Western Province, scoring all his team’s points with three successful penalty-kicks. The Cheetahs managed to goal a single penalty in three attempts by flyhalf Chris Rossouw.

The highlight of a tiresome match was the home team’s accurate lineout, as Western Province won 14 of 18 attempts at the set piece. The Cheetahs only claimed six of their 10 lineout throws, thanks in most part to the spoiling work of WP locks Ross Skeate and Adriaan Fondse.

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