The following from the NZRU: There are potentially 107 cancelled tickets to this Saturday’s All Blacks v Wales Steinlager Test Match in Hamilton that may have been on-sold to unsuspecting rugby fans.

Any people who did not purchase their rugby tickets through official ticketing outlets are urged to check their tickets to ensure they are not from the cancelled batch.

The tickets have been voided by the Waikato Rugby Union after they were accidentally delivered to a wrong address.  The WRU had been unable to recover the tickets to date, and subsequently lodged a complaint with the police who are now investigating the matter.

The WRU felt it was important to be proactive in alerting the rugby public about this matter to ensure unsuspecting rugby fans would not be disappointed on Saturday night.

The misplaced tickets have been cancelled and the original order re-delivered.

The cancelled seat details are:

Front Row Area ( Uncovered Wel Networks Stand) entry through gates 1 or 2

• Aisles 25 -26 – Rows Q and R – Seats 169 – 178: 20 Tickets
• Aisle 23 – 24 – Rows T, U, V and W – Seats 217 – 226: 40 Tickets
• Aisle 23 – 24 – Rows S, X, Y and Z – Seats 217 – 226: 40 Tickets
• Aisle 23 – 24 – Row R – Seats 217 – 220: 4 Tickets

Brian Perry Stand (Uncovered) entry through gates 3 or 4

• Aisle 7 – 8 – Row T – Seats 149 – 151: 3 Tickets

These details are posted on www.mooloo.co.nz

If you have these tickets please call Ticketek on 0800-466-665 (option 3).  Ticketek staff will then verify whether or not you have a cancelled ticket in your possession.

If it is a cancelled ticket you will be encouraged to place a complaint at your local police station, explaining how you purchased the ticket; as well as be offered the opportunity to buy a seat to the game.  (The WRU has held back some seating for people who may be affected by these cancelled tickets to purchase).

The cancelled tickets will not allow people entry into this match as all tickets are scanned on entry.

On game day, if a scanned ticket shows up as cancelled, Ticketek staff at the gates will the assist the person/people affected by directing them to ticket booths to purchase valid tickets, if available.

Ticket Update for Test Match

There are currently around 1500 seats available in the end of ground stand for Saturday’s match.  Adult tickets in this area are $50 and $60, with children’s tickets $20 (14 years and under).

The public are encouraged to get in quick to buy the final seats.  The ticket booth Gate One at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton is open from 9am to 5pm this week, and tickets are available via mooloo and the usual ticket outlets.

This is one of the funnier rugby ads I’ve seen doing the rounds on the Internet. And how fitting for it to be aired during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, where a few players have put on Oscar worthy performances thus far. “I’d like to thank the Academy…”

Czech rugby ad running during 2010 Soccer World Cup [unionversity]

Smit back where he belongs...?

The Springbok selectors have named their team to face Italy in the last of two test matches, to be played this weekend, 26 June 2010,  in East London.

John Smit has recovered from his hamstring injury and will lead the Springboks on Saturday in the second Test against Italy, at the Buffalo City Stadium in East London.

Smit’s inclusion at hooker is one of seven changes to the starting team, five new players and two positional switches, that beat Italy by 29-13 in Witbank last weekend. There are a further six changes on the bench.

Speaking at a press conference in East London today Smit said he was excited to be back at the helm.

“It is important for us to refocus for Saturday’s Test. It is quite strange to be watching from afar one week and then be back in the thick of things the next. We have a good team and have to make sure that what we do in training translates on the field on match day. We had a good session on Monday and an even better on today and we have to carry that attitude into the game on Saturday,” Smit said.

With Victor Matfield getting a break this week, Andries Bekker is back at lock for his first Test of 2010, while Schalk Burger is also fit again and takes over at flank in the place of Dewald Potgieter.

The only players that started the first Test against Italy and are selected in the same positions, are Bryan Habana (left wing), Morné Steyn (flyhalf), Ricky Januarie (scrumhalf), Pierre Spies (No.8), Francois Louw (flank), Bakkies Botha (lock), Jannie du Plessis (tighthead prop) and Gurthrö Steenkamp (loosehead prop).

Gio Aplon moves from right wing to fullback and Jean de Villiers from centre to wing, while Bekker, Burger, Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh and Smit will all get their first start against Italy this season. 

BJ Botha, Danie Rossouw and Wynand Olivier have been included on the bench after not featuring in Witbank.

Matfield, Zane Kirchner, Bandise Maku, CJ van der Linde, Alistair Hargreaves, Ryan Kankowski and Bjorn Basson drop out of the 22.

Asked if the Boks’ mental approach for a lower ranked team was any different, Smit replied: “It is important that we prepare the same every week regardless of who we play. We concentrate on what we do well and on how we want to play. We have to fix some of the problem areas from last week but generally we want to make sure we are good in all departments.”

Smit expressed appreciation for the support of the East London community after hundreds of people turned out to watch the open training session at Grens High School on Tuesday.

“The buzz was massive at today’s session. It shows how much people appreciate the fact that Test rugby has come to their city and it is important that we make time to meet people and sign autographs.”

• The Bok 22 to face Italy boasts a total of 732 Test caps, with 545 caps amongst the run on XV.

Springboks vs Italy: East London, Saturday 26 June, 2010

Springboks: 15. Gio Aplon (3),  14. Jean de Villiers (57), 13. Jaque Fourie (56), 12. Juan de Jongh (3), 11. Bryan Habana (59), 10. Morné Steyn (14), 9. Ricky Januarie (43), 8. Pierre Spies (30), 7. Francois Louw (3), 6. Schalk Burger (56) 5. Andries Bekker (21) 4. Bakkies Botha (66) 3. Jannie du Plessis (15) 2. John Smit (95) 1. Gurthrö Steenkamp (24)

Reserves: 16. Chiliboy Ralepelle (11), 17. BJ Botha (21), 18. Danie Rossouw (48), 19. Dewald Potgieter (4), 20. Ruan Pienaar (39), 21. Butch James (36), 22. Wynand Oliver (28)

• Number of test caps in brackets.

The following from the NZRU:  The Welsh rugby team will throw the doors open on their training session at Hamilton Boys High School, Hamilton, tomorrow (Wednesday 22 June) inviting schoolchildren and any rugby fans from around the city to watch them for its duration.

Wales head coach Warren Gatland, who is back in the place of his birth, is preparing his side for their second Test against New Zealand – to be played at Waikato Stadium on Saturday – but is keen for local fans to get the chance to greet his team ahead of match day.

Gatland, who is a former pupil of the Hamilton Boys High School, is encouraging Hamiltonians to come and see Wales as they are put through their paces for around an hour from 10.30am on the school pitches.

Fans will be able to familiarise themselves with a Wales side set to return to the area for two pool matches in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

“We like to make a positive impact on host cities wherever we travel,” said Wales team manager Alan Phillips.

“We can’t always control absolutely what happens on the pitch, but we can control how we are off it and inviting fans to come and see us train is just part of our intention to win over some hearts and minds ahead of our return in the world cup.

“Everyone is welcome, fans just need to turn up at Hamilton Boys School at 10.30am and they won’t be able to miss us.”

The following from the IRB: The International Rugby Board has announced a shortlist of four nominees for the IRB Junior Player of the Year 2010, the second IRB Award in association with Emirates Airline to be presented this year.

The IRB Junior Player of the Year will be announced following the IRB Junior World Championship Final between Australia and New Zealand on Monday, June 21 at the Estadio El Coloso del Parque in Rosario.

The two finalists and hosts Argentina are represented in the shortlist with New Zealand captain Tyler Bleyendaal joined by team-mate Julian Savea, Australia centre Robbie Coleman and Argentina fly half Ignacio Rodriguez Muedra.

The shortlist represents the voting of team head coaches, match officials and media at the tournament.

IRB Junior Player of the year nominees 2010 [irb]

• Tyler Bleyendaal (New Zealand)
  The 20 year old has led the Baby Blacks with distinction, showing great vision and maturity. It was not only his composure as captain that caught the eye, but also his decision-making under pressure which created opportunities and gave the New Zealand backline vital extra seconds. A formidable kicker, even from inside his own half, Bleyendaal has drawn comparisions to last year’s IRB Junior Player of the Year, Aaron Cruden.
• Robbie Coleman (Australia)
  Playing in his second IRB Junior World Championship, the 19 year old centre is one of a number of Sevens players in the Australia squad. His experience on the IRB Sevens World Series is evident in the confidence he shows as a ‘second general’ outside fly half Matt Toomua. A try scorer in each of the pool matches, Coleman has also created tries for his team-mates with extraordinary strength, speed and ability to change tactics.
• Ignacio Rodriguez Muedra (Argentina)
  The fly half’s imagination and creativity have led the host nation to what will be their best ever position in the prestigious Under 20 tournament. With good positional play, Rodriguez Muedra has proved elusive thanks to his reading of the game and willingness to take risks in order to conjure something from nothing. A number 10 who would not look out of place in any of the other participating teams.
• Julian Savea (New Zealand)
  Described by commentators as a “smaller Jonah Lomu”, the powerful and athletic wing has been almost impossible to stop when in full flight, leaving defenders in his wake and scoring some memorable tries. The 19 year old has scored eight tries in less than two and a half matches, equalling the record of former Baby Black wing Zac Guildford for a single tournament. Having starred for New Zealand Sevens, he has shown great spatial awareness coupled with speed and strength.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that Julian Savea will walk away with the award, or should. He is definitely a player to watch in the future.

I’ve already posted the highlights of the Springboks VS Italy game from Saturday, but there were a whole host of other internationals played over the weekend

• New Zealand Maori VS Ireland: The New Zealand Maori capped off their centenary in style when they recorded a historic win over the Irish at the Rotorua International Stadium on Friday night. The game was a bit of a back and forth affair, but the Maori prevailed 31 – 28 on the day. Here are the highlights:

New Zealand Maori VS Ireland – 18 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

• All Blacks VS Wales: The All Blacks completed a 42 - 9 route of Wales over the weekend, during the final international to ever be played at the House of Pain, in Dunedin. The All Blacks will be happy with their performance, and the fact that their all star flyhalf, Dan Carter looked more and more like his old self. They will however be less than happy with their casualty list from the weekend, of which Cater is one. All in all, at times, it was as if the All Blacks were playing a blind school, as they seemed to simply step through the Welsh defense unscathed. Here are the highlights:

All Blacks VS Wales – 19 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

• Wallabies VS England: Martin Johnson’s England side were simply the better team on the day, when they took down a young, but usually impressive Wallabies side when they recorded a 21 – 20 win over the home side in Sydney over the weekend. Like the All Blacks, the Wallabies will be licking their casualty list wounds from the weekend. With stars like Will Genia out for four weeks, whilst Digby Ione will have to have reconstructive shoulder surgery and be out for 4 months. By no means would I write the Wallabies off though, with a wealth of young players waiting in the wings, expect them to bounce back. Here are the highlights:

Australia VS England – 19 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

There were plenty of action packed pics from the weekend, but when I saw this one, I had a good chuckle. I can only imagine what was going through Wallaby coach, Robbie Deans’ mind as the clock wound down and his team were on the wrong side of the scoreline against an England team who have been shockingly poor, by their own standards, for some time now. [Zimbio]

Ouch!

The Springboks took on Italy,  in the first of a two match series, in Witbank over the weekend, and what a dismal affair for the home team. From the outset the Springboks didn’t look as if they were too interested in being there.

From an Italian point of view, they will in all likelihood be pleased with their performance, and with the fact that they often stopped the Springboks from being able to play to their full potential. In the process, scoring their best ever result over the Springboks, made better by it being an away fixture for the Azzurri.

The referee seemed confused at best, making some of the most awkward calls I’ve ever seem, especially when “playing advantage”, and blowing the whistle as soon as the attacking team got clean ball, and looked as if they were going to use it.

The Springboks will however be pleased with their scrumming display, in which they more than stood up to the Azzurri juggernaut scrum. But if the scrums were the best of the Springbok game on the day, then the handling was the worst, with both teams having a string of handling errors. At best it was a messy performance by the world champions, and one they will most likely want to forget sooner than later.

The Springboks opened the try scoring through a Bryan Habana try, after Zane Kirchner put through an uncharacteristically good grubber kick, for Habana to scoop up and trot over the line.

After lots of aimless kicking by both sides, the Springboks put together a great maul near the Italian line and Francois Louw, who was perhaps the only standout Springbok player on the day, managed to sneak around the blind and cross for his second international try.

The scoreline may have been much closer than the home team would have enjoyed, but the truth is that even with the dismal Springbok performance, the Italians never had any real chance of recording their first ever victory over the Boks.

The highlights will tell you the rest of the dismal story.

My two cents worth:

• After watching the weekend’s games, it’s really clear that the standard of Northern Hemisphere referees is well below par.
• Zane Kirchner is showing more and more with each performance that he just isn’t the answer at #15.
• I really don’t understand the idea behind playing some of the most experienced players in world rugby out of position, especially Jean De Villiers.
• Francois Louw just keeps going from strength to strength this season.
• Ricky Januarie may have had a good couple of weeks, but he was back to his old tricks this week, looking around at the base of the ruck, and being dispossessed.

Springboks VS NZ Italy – 19 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

South Africa:

• Tries: Habana, Louw, Steyn, Kirchner
• Conversions: Steyn 3
• Penalties: Steyn

Italy:

• Try: Parisse
• Conversions: Bergamasco
• Penalties: Bergamasco 2

Earlier in the week, I posted a clip of the awesome New Zealand Maori Haka against the New Zealand Barbarians. This morning [RSA time], the New Zealand Maori took on, and beat Ireland 31 – 28.

Unfortunately, the game wasn’t broadcast here in the Republic, so for all those avid Haka fans out there, our boy, tonytai2017, as always, already has the clip up:

*Update: Apparently the game was broadcast on SuperSport. My bad…

Haka – NZ Maori VS Ireland 2010: [tonytai2017]

Simply awesome! Goose bumps every time!

The All Blacks tend to have quite a bit of fun during their down time, whilst in camp, and Piri Weepu is definitely one of the funniest characters in the team setup. Always good for a crack up, and poking fun at the newbies. All in good fun though.

You can see for yourself and follow him: @Powza13 on Twitter. Here is a clip from the All Blacks’ Youtube page. Worth a laugh or two:

Room Raiders with Piri: [nzrugby]