The South African rugby crowds’ attendance record in the Super 14 campaign have thus far beaten their rivals New Zealand and Australia in 2010.

At a time of concern in Australia and New Zealand over dwindling crowd attendances, which saw the Aussies hail last week’s total of 82,000 spectators at three different venues as a ‘bumper’ weekend, South Africa are about to go into a three-week period of sell-out crowds in the region of 50,000.

It will start at Newlands on Friday, when the second-placed Stormers host the third-placed Crusaders – a stadium with a capacity of 48,000. At last count there were just on 2,000 tickets available and the game is certainly heading for a sell-out.

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The new South African Eastern cape franchise the Southern Kings are ready to launch their bid to become the next and 15th Super  Rugby team.

Eastern Province Rugby Union supremo Cheeky Watson, one of the key figures in the new franchise, said the decision to expanded Super Rugby to a 15-team competition has opened the door for the Kings to join the world’s toughest provincial competition.

Watson confirmed that the Kings, which will be formally launched with a match against the British and Irish Lions in Port Elizabeth on June 16, will make a formal bid for inclusion in the SANZAR competition.

The 15th team will be decided through a tender process.

“We do not know when we will be able to start the tender process, because we are still waiting on SANZAR,” Watson told the Port Elizabeth-based Herald newspaper.

“However, we are very excited about this decision, because it will benefit us in the long run,” he said.

If the Southern Kings won the bid, Port Elizabeth will be the headquarters.

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Bulls and Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez will started running in training on Monday and will be given time to prove his fitness for the crucial Super 14 game against the Sharks.

Du Preez picked up a calf injury against the Force and did not play against the Cheetahs at Loftus on the weekend as a result.

Dr Org Strauss said on Monday morning that Du Preez will be closely monitored throughout the week and a final call as to whether he will be able to play against the Sharks will be made on Wednesday.

Strauss confirmed that apart from Du Preez there are no other serious injuries in the camp and everyone is eligible to play against the Sharks.

A bonus point in Durban will pave the way for a place in the semi-finals, but Frans Ludeke’s team knows that a win in the Shark tank will secure a play-off spot at fort Loftus.

Source + Pic: planetrugby.com

The five South African franchises competing in the Super 14 have been responsible for 50% of the yellow and red cards issued to date this season – and the Lions as a team and Bulls flank Deon Stegmann as an individual are the frontrunners in these two categories.

With two of the three red cards in the competition going to Stegmann and Rory Kockott of the Sharks, 27 of the 54 cards (50%) so far issued by referees this year have involved South African players.

The third red card was shown to Highlanders skipper Jimmy Cowan.

Four of the five sides carded most in the season are South African with the Highlanders equalling the poor disciplinary record of the Sharks and Bulls in numbers (six each) but not severity, as the two top South African franchises’ transgressions include red-card offences among their six cards.

Stegmann received his marching orders for a spear tackle and his two sin-binning offences were for repeated technical offences at the breakdown.

Kockott was sent off for punching in Saturday’s match against the Highlanders.

The Lions lag on the log but lead the card race. Their players have been sin-binned nine times – four more than the Sharks and the Bulls, who both have red cards on their records, for a total of six offences.

The Lions’ Ernst Joubert (two yellows), Sharks scrumhalf Kockott (a red and a yellow) and Heinrich Brussow of the Cheetahs (two yellows) were the other South African players with more than one carding offence.

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Chiefs and All Blacks eighth man Sione Lauaki is off the hook for a high tackle on Bryan Habana due to a technicality in the citing process.

Lauaki was cited for a high stiff-arm tackle on Bryan Habana in the 33-27 loss to the Bulls, where he received a yellow card for the incident.

But the disciplinary hearing on Monday was dismissed as the citing wasn’t received within the 12 hour period after the match finishes. In exceptional circumstances the judicial officer can allow citings submitted after the time period, but officer Dekker Govender could not find exceptional circumstances in this case that would have allowed the hearing to continue.

Lauaki will now be available for selection to face the Stormers on Saturday.

Source: keo.co.za

Springbok and Stormers centre Jean de Villiers will only partake in Super 14 rugby again next year.

De Villiers was forced off the field with a groin injury early on in his side’s defeat to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday.

Scans taken on Monday revealed that the Stormers captain will be out for four to six weeks, meaning that he unlikely to play any rugby before the Test series against the British and Irish Lions starting mid-June.

The news of De Villiers’ injury comes at a most unwelcome time for the struggling Stormers as lock Adriaan Fondse has a broken wrist, ruling him out for will be out for eight to twelve weeks, and Gcobani Bobo is suffering with an ankle.

The Stormers play their final tour game against the Highlanders in Dunedin this week before returning to South Africa for matches against the Chiefs, Western Force and Cheetahs.

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The Lions will prepare for the Super 14 rugby match this weekend against the Brumbies on Saturday without the services of their forward coach after the suspension of Leon Boshoff, pending further investigations.

Boshoff’s suspension flows from allegations made by some of the players in the aftermath of the 56-18 loss to the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

The Golden Lions Rugby Union is not prepared to comment further until the investigation has been completed, but it has been learnt the Lions captain and vice-captain will be meeting with Lions CEO Manie Reyneke later on Tuesday.

The coaches, including head coach Eugene Eloff and backline coach Timmy Goodwin, have been in the fans’ firing line for some time now, and the drubbing on Saturday has further increased their disenchantment with the team’s performances.

The Lions, who were last on the 2008 Super 14 log, have won only three matches from their last 22 Super 14 encounters – twice against the Cheetahs and once against the Chiefs.

Source: supersport.co.za