New Zealand’s World Cup winning captain Richie McCaw is not expected to be available for the Crusader’s Super Rugby campaign until April. Although the player is running again since he underwent foot surgery, he is not yet fit enough to join his team mates in the campaign.

During last year’s World Cup, McCaw was suffering from immense pain from a screw that was inserted into his foot for the Super Rugby competition that was causing him a lot of aggravation.

As a result, the flank had the screw removed in this latest surgical procedure and told reporters in Auckland on Tuesday at the launch of the Super Rugby competition that he doubted he would be back in action any time before April.

McCaw said “The foot is really good. I’ve just started back running. I’ll progress over the next few weeks to hopefully get back out on the field soon, but hopefully it’s all behind me.” he also insisted that he doesn’t want to put to tight a time frame on his recovery and expected return.

The Crusaders who will be coming to South Africa for two matches against the Lions in Johannesburg on March 31,  the Bulls in Pretoria on April 7 and the Stormers on April 14 will also be without flyhalf Dan Carter who suffered from a groin injury.

Source: Super Sport

On Saturday the 4^th of February, Stor-Age, South Africa’s leading self-storage company gave away a brand new Golf GTI to Doug Mallet, son of former Springbok coach Nick Mallet, at the Castle Cape Town Tens event that took place over the weekend.

As a sponsor of the Castle Cape Town Tens, Stor-Age ran the competition throughout the weekend, and in a lucky draw saw Mallet and five other contestants put their skills to the test on the field. An elimination round saw three contestants drop out while Mallet became one of two contestants in the running to win the GTI. In order to win, contenders had to hit the crossbar of the goal posts with a rugby ball.

Each contender was allocated one shot only from the ten metre line. To the crowds disbelief, Ikey Tigers player Mallet hit the target and walked away with the Golf, valued at R365 000.

Elated by the win Mallet commented that it was “Completely ridiculous. Stupidly lucky!”.

“We are thrilled that Mallet won the car and think it was an outstanding ending to an already successful rugby festival” said Gavin Lucas, CEO of Stor-Age.

Watch the moment that won Doug the car in the video below:

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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