Super Rugby 2017

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/one-more-year-in-cape-for-stormers-jones-20170206

One more year in Cape for Stormers' Jones

Cape Town - Scotland international Huw Jones will leave Newlands at the end of 2017 to join Glasgow Warriors on a two-year deal.

The athletic midfielder started his professional career in Cape Town after coming through the amateur ranks, playing club rugby for False Bay and University Rugby for UCT before making his mark for both Western Province and the Stormers.

Jones made his Scotland debut against Japan in 2016 and scored two tries during a man of the match performance against Australia at Murrayfield later that year.

The 23-year-old is committed to the Stormers and Western Province for their respective 2017 Super Rugby and Currie Cup campaigns.

To date, Jones has made 24 appearances for the Stormers in Super Rugby, scoring five tries during his time in Cape Town.

He has also played 16 times for Western Province and finished 2016 as the joint top try scorer in the Currie Cup with seven in six appearances.

Jones said that whilst he will always cherish his time in Cape Town, he felt the time was right to move back to the northern hemisphere with his Test career starting to take off.

"It felt like the time was right to join Glasgow, having enjoyed my time in Cape Town playing Vodacom Super Rugby. Obviously playing for Scotland, it makes a lot of sense to be playing in Scotland and I was ready to make the move," he said.
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I have absolute no issue with him going to Glasgow, Scotland is his home.
 
http://www.supersport.com/rugby/super-rugby/news/170207/Mitchell_eyes_Super_Rugby_return

Mitchell eyes Super Rugby return

Drew Mitchell is keen to finish his career at home when his contract with French club Toulon ends in June and says Super Rugby side ACT Brumbies is a possible destination.

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham said last week he would be keen to bring in the winger and his teammate Matt Giteau, who has already said he is leaving Toulon.

"Where my head's at, I'm leaning towards coming home," Mitchell, who moved to France in 2013, told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday. "Maybe open to the Brumbies, not so much about being open to Canberra. I don't know how I'd do there.

"I've spoken about wanting to come home and finish but they're discussions I've got to have with people at home - whether they want to, or whether they want you to could be two different things. Hopefully it's not," added the 32-year-old.

Mitchell, who has 71 test caps for the Wallabies, previously played for the Queensland Reds, Western Force and New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby.
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http://www.rugby.com.au/news/2017/02/06/02/42/cubelli-injury-update

Tomás Cubelli Injury Update

The Brumbies have confirmed that the Puma's scrumhalf ruptured his patellar tendon after seeing a specialist in Sydney this morning.

Cubelli is set to undergo surgery on Tuesday and will begin his rehabilitation with the Brumbies straight away. He is set to miss the start of the Super Rugby Season and a return date is yet to be confirmed.
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Ouch! It is not easy to squander up depth at that position. The Brumbies are going to have to push hard.
 
The Sunwolves one and only warmup match against the Top League XV (All Stars) is starting to look better than the one they had in 2016.

The All Stars has named Akihito Yamada as their captain, including World Cup winning try scorer, Karne Hesketh, against the Springboks and Maori All Black, Andre Taylor, in the initial line-up.
 
http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/38907983

Fa'atiga Lemalu: Saracens sign Samoa lock on short-term deal

Saracens have signed Samoa international Fa'atiga Lemalu on a short-term deal from Japanese Super Rugby side Sunwolves.

The 27-year-old lock has won 18 caps since making his international debut against Tonga in 2012.

Lemalu will provide cover for England second row George Kruis, who is out for 12 weeks with a knee injury.
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Leaving the Sunwolves behind with 7 locks, great opportunity as the Saracens are on a high.
 
http://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/super-rugby/sharks-lose-daniel-for-12-weeks-7641924

Sharks lose Daniel for 12 weeks

DURBAN – The Sharks have suffered a setback ahead of the new season after loose forward Keegan Daniel was ruled out for 12 weeks with a hand injury.

He suffered the problem last Friday in a pre-season clash with the Cheetahs at the King Zwelithini Stadium, which the Cheetahs won 37-7.

Daniel had to leave the action with an injury to his right hand, and subsequent scans determined that he had a fractured radius and needed to undergo an operation on Saturday morning.

He’s expected to be out for approximately 12 weeks which is a blow to the Sharks squad.
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http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/38910070

Oli Kebble: Glasgow Warriors expected to sign Stormers prop

Glasgow Warriors are expected to sign former South Africa Under-20 prop Oli Kebble from Super Rugby side Stormers.

The 24-year-old will follow friend and club-mate, Scotland centre Huw Jones, in moving to Scotstoun next season after his commitments in South Africa.

It is thought Kebble is considered a project player by Scottish Rugby, who have monitored him for several years.

As he is not tied to South Africa, the prop could become eligible to represent Scotland after three years' residency.

Kebble, the son of ex-Springbok prop Guy Kebble, who won four caps from 1993-94, won the 2012 Junior World Championship with South Africa Under-20s.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11797337

Heat wave warning: Brisbane 10s rugby stars face dangerous degrees of separation

The weather forecast makes scary reading for the rugby stars contesting the Brisbane 10s this weekend.

Organisers Duco will turn to World Rugby's heat welfare guide in what will be sweltering conditions for the inaugural tournament.

The Brisbane weather forecast is predicting maximum temperatures of 36 and 38 degrees celsius, with extreme sun protection warnings for both days. Plenty of water and rolling subs will be the order of the day.

It will be especially tough for Japan's Panasonic Knights, whose home city is experiencing temperatures around one degree, and the Chiefs have travelled from Hamilton, where the temperatures are about 15 degrees.

Chiefs stalwart Liam Messam told the Sydney Morning Herald: "It's something that has to be managed, because it can be quite dangerous if it gets too hot, as we saw with the A-League last week."

Wellington Phoenix footballers were left dazed and one vomited at half-time playing in 39 degrees at Adelaide on January 29.
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All Black lock Patrick Tuipulotu's case 'one in 10,000' after being cleared of doping

Drug Free Sport New Zealand boss Graeme Steel says Patrick Tuipulotu's doping case is a "one in 10,000" occurrence after the All Blacks lock was cleared of taking a banned substance.

Stuff broke news that Tuipulotu tested positive for a specified substance last November, and was subsequently suspended from taking part in all rugby.

NZ Rugby said at the time Tuipulotu was sent home from the All Blacks end-of-year tour for personal reasons.

On Sunday NZ Rugby confirmed Tuipulotu's A sample tested positive, but on Thursday announced it had received notification from Six Nations of the B-sample results which cleared him of any wrongdoing.
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http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2017/02/458136.html

Rugby: Panasonic upset 2 Australian sides on 1st day of Brisbane 10s

Panasonic Wild Knights laid down a marker Saturday at the Brisbane Global Rugby Tens as they finished the first day with two wins over Australian Super Rugby sides.

Robbie Deans' team beat the Waratahs 15-5 in their opening game in Group B at Suncorp Stadium before holding on to down the Rebels 17-12.

The two victories should see the Wild Knights -- who play the Chiefs from New Zealand in their final pool game on Sunday morning -- into the quarterfinals.
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It is a sorry that the Wild Knights does not include any Sunwovles. Well done to Robbie Deans. Wish that Suntory, Panasonic or Yamaha could tour against our Provincial teams.
 
I'm going to try hard again this year, last year I totally lost interest in Super Rugby half way threw the season as I think it's simply too long. Eventually I only followed(didn't even watch all), Bulls and Lions games, as I'm a Bulls supporter and the Lions simply played beautiful rugby.

I think with this tournament getting bigger and longer even more so in the future, teams will have to start rethinking. They'll need bigger and bigger squads enabling them to essentially field 2 totally different top quality teams, which will allow them to properly rest players.
 
Holy crap!!

NEWS: FORMER ALL BLACK SIONE LAUAKI HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 35, THE NEW ZEALAND RUGBY UNION SAID SUNDAY.

His departure follows less than a week after the death of Springbok legend Joost van der Westhuizen.

The cause of Lauaki 's death was not immediately revealed, but the powerful loose forward had apparently suffered from kidney failure.

The blockbusting forward had recently been on dialysis, having been diagnosed with renal failure and cardiovascular problems in 2012.

"The thoughts of everyone are with the family of Sione Lauaki. Sione played 17 Tests from 2005-2008. AB#1055. Gone too soon. RIP, Wax," the NZRU tweeted, referring to Lauaki by his nickname.

Lauaki made his Super Rugby debut for the Chiefs in 2004 and was selected for the All Blacks for his maiden Test against Fiji the following year.
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More here
 
From Supersport.com

Double injury blow for Stormers

The pleasure that came for the Stormers through completing the warm-up phase to the new Vodacom Super Rugby season unbeaten was tempered on Saturday afternoon at Newlands by the loss of two star players to injuries that could rule them out for a lengthy period.

The Stormers were impressive at times in their 57-40 win over the Lions, but wing Leolin Zas suffered a broken leg that the Stormers management say will put him out for the entire year, while outside centre and captain Juan de Jongh sustained an MCL injury that could see him ruled out for much of the Super Rugby season.

“It is a horrible blow for us,” said coach Robbie Fleck afterwards. “Leolin was really looking forward to this season and he’s just come back from an injury. He is very distraught. And Juan is also not good. I will leave it to the medical staff to make their assessments, but it looks like he’s going to be out for a couple of weeks too.”

Fleck said it looked like a grade 2 tear, which could mean that De Jongh will be out for more than six weeks, and possibly even longer.

“Obviously that does leave us with a captaincy issue,” said Fleck.

The loss of the two backline players was partially off-set on Saturday night by Fleck’s disclosure that the Bulls’ Springbok capped wing Bjorn Basson has signed to play for the Stormers this year.

While there has been no official announcement as yet, Basson was at Newlands on Saturday. Former Stormers fullback Joe Pietersen, who has done well for the Cheetahs and the Sharks subsequent to leaving the Cape a few years back, is also back home and has been training with the Stormers.
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Not too phased about the JdJ injury. This means that Huw Jones should rightfully slot into the number 13 jersey to form an exciting combo de Allende. The Zas injury though, is more unfortunate. He's got wheels and is a good defender. Interesting news regarding Bjorn Basson though. Didn't even realise that was on the cards.
 
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/...-players-stretchered-off-at-the-Brisbane-Tens

Three Kiwi Super Rugby players stretchered off at the Brisbane Tens

Three Super Rugby players, including two fringe All Blacks, have been stretchered off the field at the Brisbane Tens.

The involvement of the Hurricanes' Vaea Fifita, and the Chiefs' Brad Weber and Mitchell Graham for at least the early part of the Super tournament looks to be in severe doubt.

But it didn't leave Chiefs coach Dave Rennie too unhappy, saying after the final that it was just a part of rugby.
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http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/SuperRugby/sa-to-lose-a-super-rugby-team-20170213

SA to lose a Super Rugby team?

Cape Town - The number of teams playing Super Rugby could be reduced from next season.

Afrikaans weekly newspaper, Rapport, reported on Sunday that the tournament could be reduced from 18 to 16 teams from 2018.

A team from South Africa and one from Australia would lose its Super Rugby status, the newspaper speculated.

The lowest-ranked South African and Australian teams would possibly be the ones eliminated.

SANZAAR, the Southern Hemisphere’s governing body, will meet later this year to discuss the format of the competition.

The tournament was expanded from 15 to 18 teams from the 2016 season, with South Africa’s Southern Kings, Argentina’s Jaguares and Japan’s Sunwolves added to the mix.

The current structure of the competition has come under scrutiny.

There were some major mismatches as well as criticism of a conference system which allowed home advantage in the playoffs to some teams despite them having worse records than others.
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Good, though it is only speculation.
 
Not too shabby defensive work for a 40-year-old.

[video=youtube;VSenCl7Uh6A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSenCl7Uh6A[/video]
 
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