Month: March 2019

Crusaders centre Ryan Crotty has said that they will head into their Super Rugby semi-final against the Hurricanes with confidence if they can get their preparation right.

The defending champions haven’t lost a game since going down to the Highlanders on March 17. Their only other loss this season came a week before that against Saturday’s semi-final opponents.

With momentum behind them, one would expect the Crusaders to be buoyed by confidence from their recent on-field performances, as well as home ground advantage. However, Crotty has claimed that in reality, their self-belief is made on the training ground.

“I think you take confidence from how you prepare, I think if we plan deep in our preparation and preview them like we have and put the time in during the week, that’s where you can get confidence from, how well prepared you are,” Crotty said, according to RNZ.

“Saturday then rolls around and that’s the easy bit, it’s about doing the hard work Monday to Friday and then the fun stuff on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Crusaders assistant coach Brad Mooar has admitted that the Crusaders will need to improve on their 40-10 quarter-final win over the Sharks, despite the resounding scoreline in that game.

“We realise that we need to be getting better every day and so get better or face the end of the season,” he said.

“A heck of a lot of respect for the Hurricanes, we got things right in a lot of cases against the Sharks, but we know there’s a lot we got out that we need to work on and we need to get better at for the Hurricanes.”

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Lions hooker Malcolm Marx is expecting a tough physical battle when the Johannesburg-based side hosts the Waratahs in Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final clash.

Marx gained 56 metres from five carries and won important turnovers for the Lions during their 40-23 win over the Jaguares in the quarter-finals, even scoring an intercept try.

He is now gearing up for the challenge of facing a side which has made more clean breaks (264) than any other in the competition.

“They will definitely be physical in their approach, but we just have to take it as it comes. We will definitely focus on our game and our approach to the game,” he said, according to Eyewitness News.

The Waratahs fought back from 23-6 down to beat the Highlanders 30-23 in their Sydney quarter-final, but facing the Lions away will be an even tougher test. According to prop Tom Robertson, they will have to be wary of Marx’s threat.

“From a forwards perspective, Malcolm is really a danger-man,” he said, according to the Citizen.

“He plays in the front-row but he gets around the park like a flanker. He’s pretty fit and quite handy with the basics too.”

Indeed, Marx played at flanker during his high school days, and it appears that he has not forgotten the skills he learned.

The Citizen quote him as saying: “You can never plan. I played No 7 in high school and even though I shifted to hooker in matric (his final year), I sort of always still wanted to fulfill that (poaching) role.”

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Samoa Sevens player Gordon Langkilde has been arrested and charged with assault following the tunnel bust-up at the Rugby World Cup Sevens that left three Welsh players injured.

The incident occurred in the tunnel at AT&T Park on Saturday after Samoa’s 24-19 defeat to Wales. The apparently unprovoked attack left Wales player Tom Williams with tournament-ending injuries – a broken nose and fractured cheekbone, while another 26-year-old Welsh player sustained facial injuries along with a 24-year-old team-mate, police said.

A statement from the San Francisco Police Department said Langkilde had been charged with aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury.

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World Cup-winning coach Jake White has slammed incumbent Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus for allowing the release of Duane Vermeulen ahead of the Rugby Championship.

Vermeuelen started all three of the Springbok’s June Test matches against England after returning from a three-year stint with Toulon.

Having looked poised to sign a deal with a South African Super Rugby franchise upon his return, Vermeulen instead opted to sign a short-term deal (until January) with Kubota Spears in the Japanese Top League, thus making himself unavailable for the Rugby Championship.

It makes sense for Vermeulen to want to cash in at 32 and still return in time for the World Cup. But White, who oversaw the Springboks’ 2007 World Cup title-winning campaign, believes with Vermeuelen having been away from South Africa for three years and with so little time to prepare for the World Cup, it would have been highly beneficial to have the 43-capped number eight around.

“The only logical way to explain it is that, unlike other national coaches, Rassie is not worried about keeping his job,” wrote White in a column on the website alloutrugby.com. “There’s no doubt in my mind that if his job depended on results over the next two years, there’s no way Vermeulen would have been allowed to go to Japan.”

“What I hear from the Bok camp is that we’ve got such a short time to prepare for the World Cup and that’s why we’re bringing back overseas players, even if they haven’t played 30 Tests. But Vermeulen is allowed to go to Japan and there’s a chance he won’t play in South Africa before the World Cup.

“This is not about vilifying Duane for playing in Japan. But if he is important enough to bring back from Toulon, and consider appointing him as the captain, why would you not have him involved in the next six tests against the best teams in the world? These are the same teams that the northern hemisphere heavyweights are so eager to test themselves against before the World Cup,” White warned.

“I find it incredible that the Bok coach, after two of the worst seasons in team history, is under so little pressure that he’s released the most impactful forward, who he just brought back from overseas. When players are allowed to negotiate where and when they’re available to play for South Africa, that’s how you lose your edge as a rugby powerhouse.”

South Africa host Argentina in Durban on August 18 in their opening encounter of this year’s Rugby Championship.

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Sale Sharks have confirmed the release of Samoan international loose forward TJ Ioane, who will join London Irish with immediate effect.

Ioane signed for the Sharks in January 2015 from the Highlanders, making a total of 55 appearances.

He will now join the relegated Exiles ahead of their season in the Championship, as they look to bounce back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

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Waratahs prop Tom Robertson is well aware that it will take some preparation to adjust to Johannesburg’s altitude, but says his team has the necessary experience to cope during Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final against the Lions.

The Waratahs edged the Highlanders 30-23 in Sydney to book their place in the last four, but history suggests they are in for another tough battle this weekend, as they have never won a Super Rugby play-off match in South Africa.

Ellis Park will host the clash and apart from playing in front of South African fans, the ‘Tahs will have to cope with playing over 1700 metres above sea level.

“It is just getting used to it throughout the week in training and stuff like that. A lot of us, all of us in the match day 23, have played a game over here and we know what it feels like. We’ve played a few Tests in Pretoria and Joburg and we know what it feels like so we’ll be getting used to it at training this week,” said the Wallaby prop, according to IOL.

Robertson has called on his fellow forwards to help supply clean ball to the Waratahs’ star-studded backline, which includes the likes of Kurtley Beale, Bernard Foley and Israel Folau.

“We have one of the best backlines in the competition and it is up to us forwards if we can get them good, clean ball so they can do the work. We are really confident in those guys,” he said.

“It is our task as a forward pack in the scrums and lineouts to deliver them clean ball and you’ve seen last week what Kurtley (Beale), Israel (Folau) and Bernard (Foley) can do, they are freaks on their own. It will be up to us to get them the ball.”

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Lions captain Warren Whiteley and full-back Andries Coetzee have both committed themselves to the Super Rugby semi-finalists for one more year.

The news comes as a significant boost for the Johannesburg-based side ahead of their Super Rugby semi-final against the Waratahs at Ellis Park on Saturday.

There were fears that Whiteley in particular would join a growing exodus that will see Jaco Kriel, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Franco Mostert depart for the Premiership next season.

But the duo have now joined scrum-half Ross Cronje in putting pen to paper as they strive for Springbok selection ahead of the World Cup in Japan next year.

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The seven best tries from the Men’s Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.

With thanks to World Rugby

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The Rugby Football Union will trial the new tackle laws in the second tier of English Rugby next season in a bid to make the game safer.

The height of a legal tackle in rugby union will be lowered to below the armpits rather than the line of the shoulders. The move comes as a result of growing concern about the safety of the game and more research being done into concussions and brain injuries.

“We believe lowering the height of the tackle will benefit both the ball carrier and the tackler,” said RFU professional rugby director Nigel Melville.

“The Championship Cup provides an opportunity for us to assess the impact of lowering the height of the tackle on the elite adult game.

“It will be a critical part of helping us develop game-wide approaches to concussion and injury reduction.”

Meanwhile, World Rugby chairman and former England captain Bill Beaumont hailed the RFU for their ground-breaking trial.

“We applaud the RFU and the Championship Cup clubs for embracing this important trial,” Beaumont said.

“The global game is committed to an evidence-based approach to injury prevention. The outcomes from this trial will provide comprehensive data and feedback to inform our continued commitment to further reducing concussion risk in rugby.”

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The seven best tries from the Women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens in San Francisco.

With thanks to World Rugby

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