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Rugby: Loftus tickets reduced to attract spectators

The Blue Bulls Company has reduced ticket prices for the final round of the four-nation Incoming Series rugby contest, Beeld reported on Monday.

Tickets for the upper east pavilion and restricted viewing seats in the south pavilion had been reduced by R100 to attract a larger crowd to Loftus Versfeld where the Springboks face Samoa and Italy meet Scotland, on Saturday.

A disappointing 23,663 spectators witnessed the first double-header in Durban, while 30,018 spectators were present in the 41 ,000-capacity Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday. – Sapa

Mulder regrets passing away of Louis Luyt

The passing away of Dr. Louis Luyt is a huge loss to South Africa. As a businessman, rugby administrator, Afrikaner leader and politician he consistently made contributions to the country.

Dr. Luyt played a huge role in South African rugby during the most important transfer period following 1994. He especially never received the necessary recognition for his important contribution to the huge success of the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

“In talks between the FF Plus and Dr. Luyt’ s Federal Alliance party in 2007, I experienced him as an honest person who was genuinely concerned about South Africa’s future. The talks resulted in a successful amalgamation of the two parties. Where there are often conflicts following such a joining of parties and leaders, we worked well together in the interest of the bigger issue of South Africa’s future, Dr. Pieter Mulder, FF Plus leader, said.

As a witness of Dr. Luyt’s strong leadership qualities, is his commercial history where he worked himself up from nothing into one of South Africa’s biggest businessmen.

I would like to, on behalf of myself and the Freedom Front Plus, express my sympathy with the family of Dr. Louis Luyt with his passing away.

Rugby player parts with testicle

British rugby league player Paul Wood has lost a testicle after a collision during the English sport’s showpiece final at Manchester’s Old Trafford stadium on Saturday.

Wood was playing for the Warrington Wolves against Leeds Rhinos in the Super League Grand Final.

The prop sustained the injury one minute into the second half, but managed to play the rest of the match before seeking treatment.

Despite Wood’s determined effort, Warrington lost the match 26-18 to 2011 champions Leeds.

Just coming out the hospital to go home… Seriously feel like I’ve left something?
Paul Wood

“Ruptured my right testicle, got a knee one minute into the second half, had to have it removed,” tweeted the 30-year-old father of two. – CNN

Showing his sense of humor remained intact, he later tweeted: “Just coming out the hospital to go home… Seriously feel like I’ve left something?

“Tony Smith (Warrington coach) did say in his pre-match team talk last night ‘your balls are on the line here guys!’ I didn’t think he meant literally.”

Rugby League is similar to Rugby Union, although each team has 13 players rather than 15.

In addition to being played in Britain, the sport is also popular is Australia and New Zealand.

After win over Australia, Heyneke Meyer still cautious

mike-harris-try — Australia's Mike Harris, left, scores a try as Springbok Andries Bekker, center, attempts a tackle

Coach Heyneke Meyer says South Africa must become more clinical finishers if they hope to beat New Zealand in Soweto next weekend.

The Springboks and the All Blacks square up at the 90,000-capacity Soccer City stadium where late tries by flanker Richie McCaw and full-back Israel Dagg saw the visitors snatch a 29-22 victory two years ago.

South Africa will enter the final-round Rugby Championship clash with their confidence boosted by a five-try 31-8 victory over Australia at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria Saturday.

Right wing Bryan Habana scored three tries and full-back Zane Kirchner and flanker Francois Louw one each as a fired-up Springbok pack set the platform for a convincing first success against the Wallabies in six attempts.

But Meyer was not getting carried away after the Springboks ended a dismal run in which a lucky draw away to Argentina was followed by losses in Australia and New Zealand.

“We have high standards and should have scored three more tries against the Wallabies,” said the coach who transformed the Northern Bulls into southern hemisphere provincial juggernauts and also worked with the Leicester Tigers.

“It is great to come home and win and we have not beaten Australia for some time, but we have to start taking those opportunities,” he told a Loftus media conference.

“While we want to score tries again next week, we are aware of the challenge of playing the world champions. New Zealand are a very settled side and a number of players have been part of their defensive system for ages.

“They are the world champions and one of the reasons for that is their defence. It is going to be really difficult to create and score against them,” stressed Meyer.

“We will need to be more patient with ball in hand and more tactically astute. If we get scoring chances, we will need to make them count. We are hoping that all South Africans get behind us.”

There is cause for Springbok optimism as they could have beaten New Zealand in Dunedin this month instead of losing 21-11 had seven kicks at goals not been fluffed, and endless possession squandered through mindless field kicking.

That defeat led Meyer to drop long-time fly-half Morne Steyn and 20-year-old replacement Johan Goosen recovered from a couple of early missed penalty attempts in his first Test start to regularly bring the backline into play.

Centre Jaco Taute also did well on debut after Francois Steyn withdrew with an ankle injury and flank Francois Louw from English club Bath was the pick of a Springbok pack that impressed in the set piece and loose exchanges.

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Australia lost so many players to injury — centre Adam Ashley-Cooper was the most serious with concussion — that they ran out of replacements and played the last eight minutes a man short.

Full-back Berrick Barnes, centre Pat McCabe and prop Benn Robinson were other first half casualties and No 8 Radike Samo quit during the second half with wrist and shoulder problems.

“We are going to have to bring some players across from Australia which will be challenging because we have already delved so deep into our resources and there are a couple who will not have visas organised,” said coach Robbie Deans.

Australia face Argentina at the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito in Rosario eight hours after the Springboks and All Blacks come face to face in a potential Championship highlight. – AFP

Blue Bulls win at last against Cheetahs

The Blue Bulls broke their three-week losing streak with a clinical performance to trounce the Free State Cheetahs 34-30 in Pretoria on Saturday.

While the Bulls had underperformed in previous weeks, things seemed to click for the hosts as they dominated every aspect of play to shut the Cheetahs out.

The victory kept the Bulls in the running to secure a place in the playoffs, lifting them off the bottom rung of the Currie Cup ladder, while the Cheetahs dropped down to the bottom of the log.

Bulls flyhalf Louis Fouche opened the scoring with a penalty conversion in the fourth minute while Cheetahs winger Nico Scheepers returned the favour four minutes later.

The Pretoria side got over the whitewash in the 12th minute when eighthman Arno Botha pierced the Cheetahs’ defensive line.

The talented loose forward calmly offloaded to a speeding Sampie Mastriet, who scored in the corner, with Fouche missing the conversion kick.

Scheepers closed the gap once again with a successful shot at goal in the 17th minute to take the scores to 8-6.

Fouche then stepped up to the plate to slot over a monstrous attempt at goal from deep inside his own half.

He succeeded with two more penalty conversions to extend the Bulls’ lead to 11 points with eight minutes left in the opening period.

The Cheetahs then added another three points on the half-time whistle with Scheepers converting a penalty to reduce the home side’s advantage.

After the break, Fouche converted another penalty conversion to regain their 18-point lead.

The Cheetahs, however, refused to bow down as they hit back with two tries within the space of 10 minutes.

The visiting attack found a new spark as Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske sent Sias Ebersohn on to replace Tewis de Bruyn at flyhalf.

It was, however, exciting backline player Raymond Rhule who was rewarded in the 53rd minute for an all-round sterling performance on the night, with Scheepers converting.

Midway through the second half the Cheetahs once again found a gap in the Bulls’ defence with Scheepers scoring in the right hand corner and converting his own try.

The closing minutes were filled with drama with the Bulls defending a four-point lead.

The hosts, however, took the game out of the Cheetahs’ reach as replacement loose forward CJ Stander added his name to the try scoring sheet with four minutes remaining in the encounter.

The Free Staters had the last say of the match as prop Marcel van der Merwe scored the final try with a minute left on the clock.

Scorers: Bulls 34 (17): Tries: Sampie Mastriet, Franco Mostert, CJ Stander. Conversions: Louis Fouche (2). Penalties: Fouche (5).

Free State Cheetahs 30 (9): Tries: Raymond Rhule, Nico Scheepers, Marcel van der Merwe. Conversions: Scheepers (3). Penalties: Scheepers (3).- Sapa

Western Province triumph over Griquas

Western Province produced a fine display of running rugby in their six-try 45-21 win over Griquas in their Currie Cup match at Newlands on Saturday afternoon.

The crowd of just under 10 000 rejoiced as the match produced seven tries, five of which were scored in the first half.

Both sides made several handling errors, and Province probably left another four tries out on the field.

Given the favourable underfoot conditions at the kick-off there was every prospect of the teams running the ball at every opportunity and that was very much the order of the day in the first half.

Province needed only three minutes at the start to take play up to the Griquas 22-metre line and came good when they ran in a tap-penalty for fullback Joe Pietersen to score. Flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis goaled the conversion from the touchline to give Province a 7-0 lead.

It took Griquas some time to wrest the initiative and when they did they cracked the Province midfield defence nine minutes later for flanker Marnus Schoeman to run in unchallenged from 25 metres out. Flyhalf Francois Brummer converted to level the score at 7-all.

In the next 20 minutes, Province took the match by the scruff of the neck and ran three in three unanswered tries to record a rare first-half bonus point. The three-try burst followed concerted Province pressure, both on defence and attack.

Wing Gerhard van den Heever and centre Marcel Brache scored after interceptions, and flanker Deon Fourie dotted down after a rolling maul.

Catrakilis was in splendid form with the boot, goaling all three tries from the touchline to crown the 21-point burst.

In between Van den Heever and Brache’s try Pietersen scored a long-range penalty, to help Province secure a commanding 31-7 lead at the break.

Neither team managed to strike a measure of rhythm in early second-half play, especially as the defence was considerably tighter on both sides.

Griquas held a territorial advantage and managed several sorties into the Province 22-metre area where they managed one particularly good scrum in the 53rd minute which resulted in a penalty try. Brummer converted to reduce the deficit 31-14.

Province managed to put the setback behind them and despite several substitutions their game started to flow again and their efforts were rewarded when the hardworking hooker Scarra Ntubeni snatched up the ball from broken play, ran in from 25 metres out and dotted down in the corner. Again Catrakilis converted splendidly (38-14).

This advance seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Griquas’ challenge and they were never in the game again. Instead Province kept probing away with strong ball-in-hand runs and grubber kicks through the opposition defence.

Most of their raids into the Griquas 22-metre area looked promising but only one try emerged, thanks to fine finishing by eighthman Jebb Sinclair.

Catrakilis added the conversion to round off Province’s scoring in the match.

Wing Rocco Jansen scored a converted try in the final minute of the match.

Scorers: Western Province: Tries: Joe Pietersen, Gerhard van den Heever, Marcel Brache, Deon Fourie, Scarra Ntubeni and Jebb Sinclair. Conversions: Demetri Catrakilis (6). Penalty: Pietersen.

Griquas: Tries: Marnus Schoeman, penalty try, Rocco Jansen. Conversions: Francois Brummer (3). – Sapa

South African rugby ‘too white’, says former Springbok coach

By making the Springbok team too white, black South Africans were being alienated from the sport and the team, which was divisive for the country, former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said in an internet radio interview.

“We have to know what country we’re living in, and at the moment we’re turning a lot of black people against us by making the team white,” he told Ballz Radio earlier this week.

De Villiers did not want to comment on the Springbok team’s recent performance, as he said he had not watched the team lose their match against the All Blacks 21-11 in Dunedin, New Zealand last week, Beeld reported.

“People don’t want to talk [about race], but I have to… we’re breaking up the country, and damaging a sport that we all love,” De Villiers said.

He did not want to comment on current Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s selections for the team, but said that the best players should be sent onto the field.

“I don’t want to comment on his team selections, but I do know that you can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.” – Sapa