Once again, the very best of rugby action will be showcased at the Hamiltons Rugby Club for the Cape Town Tens Rugby Tournament 2012 on the 3rd and 4th February.

The popular tournament, now in its fourth consecutive year, is the brainchild of former Springbok stars Bob Skinstad and Rob Fleck.

Medac/Rockets, the country’s leading manufacturer and distributor of sports injury bracing and performance gear will be the official rehab partner for the event.

This year is set to be bigger and better than ever with the number of teams being increased from 56 to 72 and there will now be four divisions – a heavy and light Beer League, The Vets League and the more competitive Premier League.

As always, there will be appearances many from local and international rugby legends such as Breyton Paulse, Leon Lloyd, John Allen and Malcolm O’Kelly. The tournament will include plenty of entertainment off the field with live performances from top acts such as the UK band, The Lightyears and the popular Cape Town based Me and Mr Brown. There will also be beer and food tents, children’s play areas and lots of fun competitions and giveaways including a kicking contest that will see one lucky winner walk away with a brand-new Golf GTI worth R365 000.

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SARU has recently confirmed that the announcement that will name the next Springbok coach will take place earlier. The announcement scheduled for 14:00 on Friday, 27 January will now take place at 12:00.

Released on Thursday morning in a media statement, SARU confirmed that Friday’s conference has been advanced by two hours to 12:00, following the expected conclusion of SARU’s Special General Meeting at the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in Newlands, Cape Town.

Heyneke Meyer, formerly Head Coach at Leicester Tigers, is the overwhelming favourite to be named as Peter de Villiers’s successor.

Even recently retired Blue Bulls and Springbok star Victor Matfield has said he would come out of retirement should Meyer be named the next Springbok coach. Matfield, who is the most capped Springbok with 110 caps, captained the Bulls to Super 14 and Currie Cup victories under Meyer’s mentorship. A possible return to rugby by Matfield is likely to lure the likes of Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha and Gurthrö Steenkamp back to the national team since they left for opportunities abroad.

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Vodacom Bulls lock Fudge Mabeta will be missing the 2012 Super Rugby campaign due to an injury sustained from a car accident.

Team doctor, Org Strauss commented on Wednesday that Mabeta will be out of action for at least six months as he is scheduled for an operation and recovery time for a ruptured knee ligament. During the medical check-ups when the Bulls re-assembled in Pretoria after the holiday season break, Mabeta was the obvious casualty. Other players are also at various places of recovery and will join the team as soon as Strauss approves of their fitness level.

Juandré Kruger (10 days), Bjorn Basson (14 days), Gerrit-Jan van Velze and Wesley Dunlop (7 days) will join sooner rather than later, while Dewald Potgieter, Francois Venter, Warwick Tecklenburg and Wynand Olivier are among those who will be returning to full training next month.

Commenting on the gathering of the Bulls in the new year for the Super Rugby campaign, captain Pierre Spies commented that “We have big plans and big dreams for 2012. The Bulls have established a proud record in Super Rugby in recent seasons and that acts as a great motivating factor. Everybody is keen to go.”

The Bulls begin their Super Rugby campaign in a match against the Sharks in Pretoria on 24th February.

Source: Supersport

World Cup winning fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has officially retired from international rugby. The 32-year-old player of 91 caps for England as well as six Test appearances for the British and Irish Lions confirmed his decision in an announcement on his website on Monday.

Some of the post read as follows: “I would like to take this opportunity to announce my retirement from International rugby. To do so fills me with great sadness but I know that I have been blessed in so many ways to have experienced what I have with the England rugby team. I never ever believed that I would be able to give up on this dream which has driven me to live, breathe, love and embrace the game of rugby from the earliest days that I can remember…”

Wilkinson’s drop goal in the 2003 World Cup Final against Australia, saw England lift the trophy for the prestigious tournament. Wilkinson who leaves Test rugby as the second highest points scorer of all time behind the All Blacks’ Dan Carter, will continue to play for French club Toulon in the Top 14.

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IRB Seven’s Player of the Year, Cecil Afrika will lead the Blitzbokke in the Nelson Mandela Bay South Africa Sevens in Port Elizabeth on Friday. After suffering an injury at the Gold Coast Tournament and as a result missing out in Dubai, Afrika will return to play in front of his home crowd as coach Paul Treu made three changes for the match.

Afrika is an asset to the Blitzbokke, bringing some individual shine an unpredictability to a team that has on the most part, failed to be consistent. The unfortunate players to have been dropped from the squad are Renfred Dazel, Robert Ebersohn and William Small-Smith. While Ebersohn will be returning to the Cheetahs for pre-season trailing, Small-Smith, one of the few stars in Dubai has been unexpectedly and without explanation excluded.

Joining Afrika are Steven Hunt and Bernardo Botha. Botha, who missed a number of crucial tackles in Dubai, can consider himself lucky to have been included.

Springbok Sevens captain Kyle Brown said the prospects of playing at home in the new Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will be a huge motivating factor for the team. He also added that “We did not play to our full potential in either of the previous two tournaments and will be looking to rectify the small mistakes and play to the standards that we have set for ourselves.”

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110-cap Springbok, Victor Matfield is on the campaign trail and he’s just full to the brim with pearls of wisdom. First Big Vic spoke about the absolute faith he had in our local coaches and that ANY international intervention on this front would be a waste of time. Then the bearded bookseller came out firing against the “robots” in SA Rugby – those players who follow blindly and never ask or understand WHY!

In my honest opinion, what the ex-Bulls player is saying is layered with merit and I’m sure quite a few people would agree with this. What boggles the mind is how neatly he, the Bulls brains trust of the last decade and (for that matter) the whole Springbok squad danced around these types of issues when he was still plying his trade on grass as opposed to behind a table in the foyer of Exclusive Books. The issue of “robot-like” behavior is particularly close to Matfield’s heart as it has been a trademark of Bulls rugby from the days of Naas Botha. The ex-Springbok vice-captain cleverly disguises his old franchise’s ask-no-questions-hear-no-lies tactics as carefully thought-up structures that in no way resemble a programmed android. Furthermore, Peter de Villiers jumped onto this ideology as well and blindly instructed his troops to do whatever it is he felt was the trend at the time. I’m sure Matfield, Smit, Burger and du Preez will argue that they were consulted before the three Stooges (PDivvy, Muir and Gold) charged-off into a course set for disaster and stupidity, but I’m pretty sure they followed without asking – ala Robocop himself.

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Forget Kenny Kunene. There’s a new King of Sushi in the Republic and he goes by the name of Jacque Fourie. The Springbok number 13 has decided to stay in Japan for two more years and has signed an extremely lucrative contract with the Kobe Steelers. The exact financial terms of the contract are unknown, but it is rumoured that the ex-Stormer will earn in excess of R20 million over two years.

It was widely expected that Fourie will remain in Japan for only the first part of the Super Rugby season, but link-up with Jean de Villiers in time for the playoffs. Hopes of the return of the prodigal son were squashed by Rob Wagner, managing director of WP Rugby yesterday, when he confirmed that the Cape Town outfit simply could not match the offer Fourie received from his new employers back east. Fourie, who is currently playing for the Panasonic Wild Knights, was quoted as saying “Kobe have been incredibly professional, patient and understanding in all of their dealings with me, particularly in relation to my short term stint with Panasonic, so I thank them for that and look forward to enjoying success with the Steelers.” Apparently Fourie and his wife adore the Japanese culture and are finding the Orient the way they like it – covered in cash!

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