The Springbok selectors have named their team to face Italy in the first of to test matches, to be played this weekend, 19 June 2010,  in Witbank.

Victor Matfield will captain the Boks for the 11^th time against Italy in Witbank on Saturday.

Matfield takes over the captaincy from John Smit, who is resting this week after injuring his hamstring during the warm-up before the French Test at Newlands in Cape Town last Saturday.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made 11 changes to the squad of 22 for the first Test against Italy.

In the pack, Dewald Potgieter replaces Francois Louw. Bakkies Botha is back at lock in the place of Danie Rossouw, while Jannie du Plessis and Chiliboy Ralepelle take over from BJ Botha and Smit in the front row.

At the back, Butch James and Jean de Villiers are the new centres, with Wynand Olivier and Jaque Fourie granted a break.

On the bench, Bandise Maku, CJ van der Linde, Alistair Hargreaves, Ryan Kankowski and Bjorn Basson are included. None of them featured in the 42-17 victory over France.

Springboks vs Italy: Witbank, Saturday 19 June, 2010

Starting XV: 15. Zane Kirchner; 14. Gio Aplon; 13. Jean de Villiers; 12. Butch James; 11. Bryan Habana; 10. Morné Steyn; 9. Ricky Januarie; 8. Pierre Spies; 7. Dewald Potgieter; 6. Schalk Burger; 5. Victor Matfield (captain); 4. Bakkies Botha; 3. Jannie du Plessis; 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle; 1. Gurthrö Steenkamp

Replacements: 16. Bandise Maku; 17. CJ van der Linde; 18. Alistair Hargreaves; 19. Ryan Kankowski; 20. Ruan Pienaar; 21. Juan de Jongh; 22. Bjorn Basson

The All Blacks have named their squad to face Wales on 19 June 2010. It will be the in the second Steinlager Series Test and final ever test at Carisbrook, Dunedin.

The team features one change to the starting XV and three changes on the bench from the side that beat Ireland 66–28 in New Plymouth last weekend.  Flanker Victor Vito, who made his debut off the bench last week, starts at blindside flanker, while in the reserves, 61–Test veteran Tony Woodcock returns together with flanker Adam Thomson in the forwards and Richard Kahui returns from injury to cover the outside backs.

All Blacks Coach Graham Henry said:  “We were happy with the win over Ireland but also know that there are areas of our game we need to work on ahead of the Welsh Test and that is our focus this week.  We are expecting real intensity and physicality this weekend, which has been the hallmark of All Blacks–Wales matches in recent years.”

The All Blacks and Wales will also be marking the Final Test at Carisbrook on Saturday in front of a sold out 28,000–capacity crowd, with international rugby moving next year to the under–construction, indoor Forsyth Barr Stadium near Otago University.

“Carisbrook is an iconic ground that has hosted some marvellous rugby games over the years. It will be a special occasion and the All Blacks are delighted to be part of the celebrations to mark the final Test at the Brook,” Henry added.

The All Blacks and Wales have played 25 Tests since 1905, with 22 wins to the All Blacks.  The All Blacks last played Wales on last year’s Telecom end of year tour winning 19–12 in Cardiff.  The last match between the two sides in New Zealand was in Hamilton in 2003, which the All Blacks won 55–3.

All Blacks VS Wales – 19 June 2010:

Starting XV: 15. Israel Dagg (1); 14. Cory Jane (13); 13. Conrad Smith (34); 12. Benson Stanley (1); 11. Josevata Rokocoko (61); 10. Daniel Carter (67); 9. Jimmy Cowan (34); 8. Kieran Read (17); 7. Richie McCaw – captain (81); 6. Victor Vito (1 ); 5. Anthony Boric (14); 4. Brad Thorn (38); 3. Owen Franks (10); 2. Keven Mealamu (72); 1. Ben Franks (1)

Rerserves: 16. Aled de Malmanche (3); 17. Tony Woodcock (61); 18. Sam Whitelock (1); 19. Adam Thomson (15); 20. Piri Weepu (35); 21. Aaron Cruden (1); 22. Richard Kahui (8)

* Number of Test caps in brackets

A shoe-in for the award?

The following from SARU: Players from the Vodacom Super 14 finalist Bulls and Stormers have unsurprisingly monopolised the nominations in the race for the title of Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year award, the South African Rugby Union announced on Tuesday.

The 2009 winner, Vodacom Bulls flyhalf Morne Steyn, has again been nominated along with team-mates Fourie du Preez and Gerhard van den Heever. They are joined by the Vodacom Stormers’ lock Andries Bekker and centre Jaque Fourie in the five nominations.

The five polled the most votes among rugby media from a total of 26 players that were nominated.

Steyn set a record of 263 points in a Vodacom Super Rugby season as the Vodacom Bulls won the title for the third time in four seasons.  Van den Heever scored eight tries in the Bulls’ march to the title, while Du Preez, the 2009 SA Rugby Player of the Year, was outstanding once again.

The Vodacom Stormers’ first appearance in a final was reflected in several nominations for their players with lock Andries Bekker and centre Jaque Fourie, who scored seven tries in his debut season with the franchise, garnering enough media votes to be in the running for the award.

Meanwhile the Vodacom Blue Bulls’ last-gasp win in the Vodacom Cup was also reflected in nominations for the competition’s Player of the Year award. Team captain Gerrit-Jan van Velze, fullback Tiger Mangweni and flyhalf Francois Brummer, who kicked the after-the-hooter drop goal against the luckless Vodacom Cheetahs to clinch the R1m first prize, were all among the nominees.

Free State flyhalf Louis Strydom and Sharks No 10 Monty Dumond, who edged the former as the competition’s top scorer, completed the nominations.

The winners of the awards, as well as the rest of the SA Rugby Player of the Year awards, will be announced at the Springbok Banquet on November 2.

I’ve already posted the highlights of the Springboks VS France game from Saturday, but there were a whole host of other internationals played over the weekend, which I had to watch in drips and drabs, while balancing the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup action too. Here are the highlights for all of that action:

All Blacks VS Ireland – 12 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

Australia VS England – 12 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

NZ Maori VS NZ Barbarians – 12 June 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

Fiji VS Japan – 12 June 2010: [tonytai2017]

*Waiting on highlights from the Scottish victory over Argentina

The following from the NZRU: Irish loose forward Jamie Heaslip has today been suspended for five weeks for foul play during the All Blacks v Ireland Steinlager Series opening Test match at Yarrow Stadium in New Plymouth last night.

Heaslip was sent off in the 15th minute of the match for allegedly using his knee to strike All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.  The All Blacks won the match 66 – 28.

Heaslip appeared before IRB Judicial Officer Michael Cashman (Australia) in New Plymouth today.  The player admitted breaching Law 10.4 (a) for twice striking his opponent with his knee.  He denied striking the other player’s head.

The Judicial Officer determined that the first strike was to the other player’s head.  

After considering evidence and submissions from Heaslip and his legal representative, Mr Cashman assessed the offending to be in the mid-range of seriousness and, after taking relevant mitigating factors into account, he imposed a suspension of five weeks.

Heaslip is suspended from all rugby, up to and including Saturday, 17 July 2010.

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of the Haka. To the extent that I will wake up in the early hours of the morning (RSA being GMT +2) to watch it, even if I’m not so interested in watching the game. It truly does give me goose bumps every time I watch it, and I think it is one of the greatest features in modern sport.

This weekend’s match between the New Zealand Moari and the New Zealand Barbarians featured one of the best Hakas I have seen in a while. Here are the highlights:

Haka – NZ Maori VS NZ Barbarians: [BlogSpotRugby]

Long live the Haka!

The Springboks made a phenomenal start against France at Newlands on Saturday, when they opened the try scoring card in just the second minute of action.

Bryan Habana made the best of a French fumble, brushing off the French defence and offloading to Jaque Fourie, who in turn set it up for Pierre Spies, himself having a lot of work to do, before crossing the chalk for the try.

Less than 6 minutes later, the Springboks set up a maul in French territory, moving the ball towards the touchline, and creating space on the inside. Ricky Januarie drifted inside, popping the ball to Aplon who bounced Maxime Mermoz, stepped Morgan Parra and crossed the line for his first international try, in front of his home crown, and in the process showing why, despite his deminutive size, he deserves to be there.

The Springboks could have scored their 3rd try in the 11th minute, when Ricky Januarie chipped superbly for Kirchner to snatch out of the air, stepping the French defence and making his way towards the French line. Then in true Kirchner style, white line fever ensued and he ignored the the host of Springbok support runners, reaching for the line in the tackle and losing the ball in the process. Luckily for the Springboks, the advantage was being played and the Boks took the 3 points.

11 Minutes gone, and the Springboks were leading 17 – 0. From that point on, it was always going to be difficult for France to come back, and to be honest, the Springboks were too good on the day, whilst the French were nothing better than average, and it never looked as if the French would make any kind of decent comeback. The Highlights will tell you the rest.

My two cents worth:

• John Smit, although suffering from a hamstring injury, is in poor shape at the moment. If he is to lead the Springboks to RWC 2011, which they definitely need him to do, he will have to sort something out soon.
• The home based players were amazing in front of the Newlands faithful. Aplon was full of running and scored some flash tries, but the hero of the night had to be Francois “Flouw” Louw, who did the hard graft, forced 5 turnovers, won a number of penalties and scored a well worked try of his own.
• I’m beginning to sound like a stuck record when I complain about Wynand Olivier’s form in the green and gold. I don’t know what happens to his game, but his defence goes right out the window, and he just isn’t anywhere near the same player he is in Super 14.
• Zane Kirchner once again proved that he isn’t the solution for #15. He screwed up a try with his customary white line fever, and almost gave away another with a deja vu fumble reminiscent of last weeks performance against the Welsh. Ricky Januarie cops a lot of flack in this country. Most of the time it’s warranted, but he was good over the last 2 weekends. One criticism I can make, is that he needs to stop looking around whilst at the base of the breakdown, where he often gets knocked off the ball.

Highlights – Springboks VS France 2010: [WRNrugbynews]

Scorecard:

South Africa: 42

• Tries: Spies, Aplon 2, Steenkamp, Louw
• Conversions: Steyn 3, Pienaar
• Penalties: Steyn 3

France: 17

• Tries: Rougerie, Andreu
• Conversions: Parra, Skrela
• Penalties: Parra

The 2010 Fifa World Cup Soccer kicks off today, and is set to be a monumental success, but soccer isn’t the only sport on this weekend. There are a few matches, of that little game we call rugby, being played. Here are the fixtures and team sheets:

All Blacks VS Ireland:

12 June 2010 19h35 (GMT+12)

All Blacks: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Benson Stanley, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Anthony Boric, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Ben Franks.

Replacements: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Zac Guildford.

Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O’Driscoll (c), 12 Gordon D’Arcy, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ronan O’Gara, 9 Tomas O’Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 John Muldoon, 5 Mick O’Driscoll, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Sean Cronin, 1 Cian Healy.

Replacements: 16 John Fogarty, 17 Tony Buckley, 18 Dan Tuohy, 19 Shane Jennings, 20 Eoin Reddan, 21 Jonathan Sexton, 22 Geordan Murphy.

• Date: Saturday 12 June 2010
• Venue: Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth
• Kick-off: 19h35 (GMT+12)
• Referee: Wayne Barnes (England) 
• Assistant referees: Mark Lawrence (South Africa), James Leckie (Australia) 
• TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

BSR’ prediction: The All Blacks may not be in their best form ever, but I don’t see Ireland having what it takes to front up to them. All Blacks should take it by atleast 12 points.

Wallabies VS England:

12 June 2010 18h05 AWST (GMT +8)

Wallabies: 15 James O’Connor, 14 Digby Ioane, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Ben Daley.

Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 James Slipper, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Peter Hynes, 22 Kurtley Beale.

England: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Chris Ashton, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody (captain), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.

Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 David Wilson, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Mathew Tait.

• Date: Saturday 12 June 2010
• Venue: Subiaco Oval, Perth
• Kick-off: 18.05 AWST (GMT+8)
• Expected weather: No clouds and little chance of rain. High of 22°C, low of 5°C
• Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
• Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)

BSR’ prediction: England have been bad, really bad, but the squad they are fielding is no joke. Wallabies on the other hand have just come out of a strong Super 14, and played a confidence booster against Fiji last weekend. Wallabies to take it by 12

Springboks VS France

12 June 2010 14h00 (GMT +2)

Springboks: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 François Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Dewald Potgieter, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Jean de Villiers

France: 15 Clement Poitrenaud, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 David Marty, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Aurélien Rougerie, 10 François Trinh-Duc, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Julien Bonnaire, 7 Wenceslas Lauret, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (captain), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Thomas Domingo.

Replacements: 16 Guilhem Guirado, 17 Jean Baptiste Poux, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Louis Picamoles, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Skrela, 22 Marc Andreu, 23 Luc Ducalcon.

• Date: Saturday 12 June 2010
• Venue: Newlands
• Kick-off: 14h00 (GMT +2)
• Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds. with a high of 17°C and a northwester of 21 km/h. The possibility of rain in the evening.
• Referee: Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand) 
• Assistant referees: Keith Brown (New Zealand), David Changleng (Scotland)
• TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

BSR’ prediction: The Springboks beat Wales, with a largely under strength team, last wekend. The had a great Super 14, and the team is loaded with experienced Springboks. France on the other hand, are never a walk over. They play the same type of game as the Boks, and have been somewhat of a bogey team for the Boks in recent years. Expect the French to bring it up front. The Springboks should win it at home, by 11 or less.

Argentina VS Scotland:

12 June 2010 15h45 (GMT -3)

Argentina: 15 Martin Rodriguez-Gurruchaga, 14 Lucas Borges, 13 Gonzalo Tiesi, 12 Santiago Fernandez, 11 Horacio Agulla, 10 Felipe Contepomi (captain), 9 Alfredo Lalanne, 8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, 7 Juan Manuel  Leguizamon, 6 Genaro Fessia, 5 Patricio Albacete, 4 Manuel Carizza, 3 Martin Scelzo, 2 Mario Ledesma, 1 Rodrigo Roncero.

Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Marcos Ayerza, 18 Mariano Galarza, 19 Alejandro Campos, 20 Agustin Figuerola, 21 Ignacio Mieres, 22 Lucas Gonzalez-Amorosino.

Scotland: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Max Evans, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Dan Parks, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 John Barclay, 6 Kelly Brown, 5 Alastair Kellock (captain), 4 Jim Hamilton, 3 Moray Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Jacobsen

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Geoff Cross, 18 Scott MacLeod, 19 Alasdair Strokosch, 20 Mike Blair, 21 Phil Godman, 22 Jim Thompson

• Date: Saturday12 June 2010
• Venue: José María Fierro, Tucumán
• Kick-off: 15h45 (GMT -3)
• Expected weather: Mostly Cloudy. High: 16°C, low 9°C
• Referee: Dave Pearson (England) 
• Assistant referees: Christophe Berdos (France), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)

BSR’s Prediction: Not having seem much of either team this year, I’m going to stick with a Southern Hemisphere shut out and go with Los Pumas by at least 14.

Viva Bafana Bafana, Viva! Make us proud boys!

The following from Saru: The SA Under-20s secured their second win in the 2010 IRB Junior World Championship after running in 11 tries as they comprehensively defeated Scotland 73-0 in Sante Fe on Wednesday.

The Baby Boks were in rampant form on attack and were equally superb on defence in this Pool C clash played at the Estadio CA Colon stadium.

Siyamthanda Kolisi (flanker), Sibusiso Sithole (wing) and Elton Jantjies (flyhalf) each ran in braces of five-pointers while fullback Patric Lambie continued his form with the boot by converting eight tries.

The other try-scorers for the Baby Boks were winger Wandile Mjekevu, prop Marcel van der Merwe, prop Brummer Badenhorst, lock Kene Okafor and Lambie.

“We’re very happy with the win and equally happy that we have now managed to allow all 25 of our players in the squad some game time after two matches,” said SA Under-20 coach Eric Sauls.

“The guys stuck to the structures and scored some great tries today. What was also pleasing to me was to test all our combinations, and it’s great to see that there’s not a big difference between our first-choices and our back up players.

“We were solid on defence and looked sharp on attack. But we are not going to get ahead of ourselves after two games. We play Australia on Sunday and we know it’s going to be another tough clash between two southern hemisphere nations.”

The Baby Boks once again held the upper hand in almost every aspect of the game and comfortably held a 40-0 half time lead. Mjekevu scored the first try of the match in the first minute of play before Kolisi ran in a brace.

Then came the opportunity of the two SA props Van der Merwe and Badenhorst who powered their ways over the try line to score South Africa’s fourth and fifth tries respectively. Jantjies then scored the Baby Boks’ sixth try just before the half time break to ensure that the South Africans enjoyed a 40-0 half time lead.

Lambie scored the Baby Boks’ first try of the second half before Sithole added his brace. Jantjies and Okafor ran in SA’s final two tries in the last 15 minutes of the match.

“I am really proud of the guys who turned up today and scored 11 tries,” said SA Under-20 skipper CJ Stander. “It would have been an achievement for us to score four tries and get the bonus point, but we managed to achieve a lot more – which is great. We’ll enjoy the win and start our focus for our final Pool C match against Australia tomorrow.”

The SA Under-20s were sharp on attack and threatened the Scottish defence at every opportunity in the match.
Scrumhalf Louis Schreuder enjoyed a strong first half performance and as did the rest of the SA Under-20 backline. Jantjies was solid at No 10 and dictated play by ensuring that Scotland played most of the game in their half. The center combination of Francois Venter and Branco du Preez also created havoc to the Scottish defensive systems while the back three of Sithole, Mjekevu and Lambie continuously threatened with their counter-attacking runs.

But the game ultimately was won up front and compliments should be handed to the excellent performance of the Baby Boks’ pack. Stander once again lead superbly from the front and was ably assisted by his entire forward pack. The South Africans enjoyed excellent momentum from their scrum set piece and also received good first phase ball throughout the game.

The South Africans maintained their discipline and conceded few penalties on defence. Baby Boks hooker Monde Hadebe consistently found his jumpers – Okafor and Sebastian de Chaves in the line-outs while the new loose-forward trio of Mlungisi Bali, Kolisi and Stander were terrific at the breakdown.

There were no immediate indications of any serious injuries following the Scotland match.

• The Baby Boks play their third Pool C match against Australia at Sante Fe on Sunday at 21h00 (RSA time).

Newly-crowned IRB Sevens World Series champions Samoa have been named in a strong line-up of nations competing in the Rugby Sevens tournament at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi this October.

Samoa, who secured their first IRB Sevens World Series crown with victory in the Emirates Airline Edinburgh Sevens on May 30, will be joined by reigning Commonwealth Games Rugby Sevens champions New Zealand, World Champions Wales, hosts India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, England, Scotland, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Canada and Guyana in the 16-team tournament held on October 11-12.

Marking one year since Sevens’ inclusion as an Olympic sport at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, the tournament will be the first opportunity since that historic moment to witness its successful blend of high-paced action and competitive matches in a multi-sport Games environment.

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “We firmly believe that the Sevens tournament at the Commonwealth Games plays an important role in the ongoing development and promotion of Rugby around the world. The event continues to attract some of the world’s top players, delivering exciting matches and attracting new fans thanks to the remarkable talent of all the international teams competing.

“The Sevens tournament at the Commonwealth Games has consistently proven successful and this year we are particularly excited that the event is being held in India where Rugby is reaching out to new young audiences in a rapidly developing market for our sport. We are looking forward to what promises to be a memorable tournament for the Rugby family and sports fans alike.”

Mike Hooper, Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation said: “With a record crowd of 50,000 at the final Rugby Sevens session in Melbourne in 2006, the Rugby Sevens tournament has become one of the most sought-after attractions at the Commonwealth Games, providing an excellent spectacle for both fans and television viewers.

“The inclusion of some of the world’s best Sevens teams and star players from every corner of the world continue to broaden the Games’ global appeal even further.”

The Pools and Tournament Schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.

Some facts about the Commonwealth Games Sevens:

• Rugby Sevens was introduced to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur 1998
• The Rugby Sevens final at the Commonwealth Games 2006 in Melbourne was a record crowd for the seven-a-side format with 150,000 attending the three competition days
• 16 teams take part in the Commonwealth Games, including the host nation
• Following Delhi, the next Commonwealth Games will be in Glasgow in 2014