South African rugby was racist, is still racist, and nothing will truly transform it.
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/ 23 February 2008
Wallaby Julian Huxley guided a bare-bones ACT Brumbies to a tense 22-20 Super 14 rugby win over New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders in Canberra on Saturday. The Brumbies, in a rebuilding phase after the loss of experienced halves George Gregan and Stephen Larkham, also went into the match without a further three injured Wallabies.
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/ 22 February 2008
Former Australia scrumhalf Matt Henjak had his contract with the Western Force Super 14 side terminated on Friday, but the Australian Rugby Union have not ruled out him returning to the game. Henjak had been found guilty by a Western Australia Rugby Union disciplinary committee of breaking teammate Haig Sare’s jaw after punching him at a Perth hotel.
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/ 15 February 2008
The Canterbury Crusaders moved straight into top gear as they started the new Super 14 season with a convincing 34-3 win over the ACT Brumbies on Friday. The four-try effort ensured maximum points for the perennial favourites, who have won the championship six times.
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/ 14 February 2008
The new Super 14 season, which begins on Friday, could help determine whether South Africa’s dominance of world rugby was a one-year wonder. South Africa provided both teams in last year’s Super 14 final — the Bulls beat the Sharks — and the Springboks went on to win the sixth World Cup in France.
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/ 12 February 2008
The Blue Bulls have refused to allow South Africa lock Bakkies Botha to join French second division Toulon. Ian Schwartz, media spokesperson for the Blue Bulls, said on Monday that Botha would not be released from his contract. ”We had no option but to decline his request,” Schwartz was quoted as saying.
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/ 11 February 2008
South Africa lock Bakkies Botha is set to join French second division club Toulon, sports daily L’Equipe reported on Monday. Botha (28) agreed a three-year contract on Sunday and could start playing for Toulon in April, L’Equipe said.
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/ 28 January 2008
South Africa’s World Cup-winning lock Victor Matfield could make his international reappearance against Wales in June if he can perform a delicate balancing act with his French club, Toulon. Matfield hasn’t played for the Springboks since the World Cup victory over England in October and has only featured in four games for the ambitious French second division side.
Victor Matfield became the latest big name to make his bow with ambitious French second-division side Toulon on Saturday. The giant lock forward, who hadn’t played since helping the Springboks to a second World Cup title on October 20, won generous applause after coming on as a second-half replacement as Toulon went on to beat La Rochelle 36-0.
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/ 26 October 2007
The World Cup last week then the EDF Energy Cup this? Not quite, but Butch James will barely have time for the Springboks’ victory tour of South Africa before he is back on a plane heading for Europe. After signing a two-year contract with Bath this summer, the flyhalf is expected to be in the squad when the Heineken and European Challenge cups start on November 9.
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Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has blamed his successor, John Connolly, for Australia’s shock World Cup exit last weekend at the hands of old enemy England. Connolly replaced Jones two years ago and there has been no love lost between the pair, particularly since Jones signed up as an adviser to South Africa for this year’s tournament in France.
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Defending champions England again proved Australia’s nemesis, dumping the match favourites out of the Rugby World Cup with a high-pressured 12-10 quarterfinal victory at Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on Saturday. England, who downed the Wallabies in the 2003 final in extra-time and in the 1995 quarterfinal, both with drop goals, handled the high stakes better.
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/ 24 September 2007
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New Zealand, Australia and South Africa may not have been at their destructive best but all three southern hemisphere giants have kept up their unbeaten World Cup records. Little Tonga pushed South Africa, and scored three tries, before they were edged out 30-25 in a pulsating clash in Lens on Saturday.
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/ 19 September 2007
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Wallaby ace Stephen Larkham has some unfinished business as he targets a likely quarterfinal against holders England in his return from injury at the Rugby World Cup. The experienced playmaker has zeroed in on a last-eight return early next month as his comeback game from minor knee surgery.
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/ 15 September 2007
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Two-time champions Australia beat Wales 32-20 in a bruising World Cup clash at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday to virtually make sure of avoiding South Africa in the last eight. The Wallabies, who had two players sin-binned late in the game, scored four tries but were pushed all the way by a spirited home side who had been on the ropes at 25-3 down at the break.
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/ 3 September 2007
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The great debate: Is this the Wallabies’ A team? Or merely the Wallabies’ A-frame team? That’s the question controversial Australian rugby columnist Greg Growden ask in his Monday Maul. It is impossible to avoid the fact that the Australian World Cup campaign revolves around those on their last Test legs, rather than those at the peak of their careers.