The Lions suffered their second successive defeat in Australasia when they went down 24-13 to the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.
The wet conditions made for a forwards battle which the Brumbies’ all-Wallaby pack dominated. The Lions had very little possession to speak of and never really troubled the Brumbies on the scoreboard.
Flyhalf Daniel Carter won a goalkicking duel with former teammate Stephen Brett to lead the Crusaders to a 33-20 win over the Blues in Super 14 rugby Saturday.
Carter kicked seven goals from seven attempts - three conversions and four penalties - for 18 points to steer the seven-time champions to their third win in four matches.
Brett, in his first match for Auckland against his former team, kicked four penalties and a dropped goal for 15 points. Canterbury scored tries through flanker George Whitelock plus centres Ryan Crotty and Robbie Fruean, while Auckland had a late try by halfback Alby Mathewson.
Referee Paul Marks denied the Sharks a penalty try at the death to gift the Waratahs a four point win in controversial circumstances in Sydney on Saturday. (more…)
There is little doubt that Burke is one of the most successful and respected international fullbacks of recent times, notching up the second highest all time points tally for an Australian Test player.
For the Waratahs he is the highest ever points scorer and the second highest capped player, with his illustrious Sydney career spanning from 1992 to 2004.
It appears that Sharks coach John Plumtree will be sacked if they don’t have success on their Super 14 tour of Australia and New Zealand.
Even the support from the Sharks’ rugby bosses appears lukewarm after the team lost their first three matches in this year’s competition.
It was reported this week that Sharks coach John Plumtree was not prepared to comment when he was asked whether the coach’s job is safe.
And, to make things worse, the Waratahs have stated that they will have no mercy for the struggling Sharks in Sydney on Saturday.
The Sharks have a poor record in Sydney. The last time that they won there was in 2000.
Of the eight games they have played there against the Waratahs, they have won only two.
“It’s sometimes a case that a team full of champion players like the Sharks aren’t a champion team,” Waratahs prop Al Baxter told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Waratahs coach Chris Hickey said that he realised how dangerous a wounded side like the Sharks could be.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will be asked to ‘test combinations’ as a way to rotate players to avoid player burnout ahead of the World Cup next year in New Zealand.
This proposal comes from South African Rugby Union President Oregan Hoskins, who on Tuesday confirmed earlier media reports that the Boks will feature in an additional Test against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on June 5.
Labelling the game a “rematch of the first game ever played at the Millennium Stadium” - when the two teams met in Cardiff 10 years ago - SARU glossed over the fact that the game will bring to 15 the number of internationals South Africa will feature in this year.
Media reports earlier suggested that SARU is ‘killing the Goose that lays the golden egg’.
With the Test against Wales now confirmed, it means the Boks will play seven Test matches in sevens weeks (eight Saturdays) in June and July.
Those seven Tests in June and July are two against New Zealand and one against Australia, one against the top Six Nations team France and two against Italy. Plus the one against Wales, of course.
With the 2010 Six Nations in full swing, we thought it would be great to have a look at some big hits of previous tournaments.
Here are some of the biggest hits in the 2008 Six Nations campaign…
The Vodacom Bulls continued their impressive title defence in the Vodacom Super 14 following their 48-38 victory over the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The victory by the Pretoria outfit was the only successful South African result after the Vodacom Cheetahs (24-31), Vodacom Stormers (19-17), the Auto & General Lions (33-18) and the Sharks (35-6) [...]
England fly half Andy Goode says the chance to play Super 14 rugby is just too good a chance to turn down. His set to make his debut for the Sharks against the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday.
Goode - who is playing for the Sharks on a loan deal, after being released by his French club Brive [...]
Defending champions the Bulls proved too strong at Loftus Versfeld on the weekend in their Super 14 match as they notched up their second half century in two weeks, beating the Brumbies 50-32 in an entertaining match.
Flyhalf Morne Steyn scored two tries and kicked five conversions and five penalties as the home side picked [...]
‘Old man’ John Smit is set to reach an impressive milestone on Friday night when he becomes the first local player to represent the same franchise in 100 Super Rugby games.
Bulls loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will join Smit a day later when he becomes a centurion for the Pretoria-based side.
AJ Venter holds the record for playing [...]
This hit by Sale centre, Lee Thomas, rocked Harlequins’ Will Skinner to the point that he needed to take a few minutes to recover from a serious case of having the wind knocked out of him. To his credit, that’s all it was, and he got up shortly afterwards and soldiered on.
Enjoy….
The Lions suffered their second successive defeat in Australasia when they went down 24-13 to the Brumbies in Canberra on Friday.
It appears that 
