The Stormers from Cape Town will take on the New Zealand Conference-leading Blues on Friday in Auckland without three of their key back line players.

Injuries have ruled out key Springbok trio Peter Grant (ankle), Jean de Villiers (groin) and Jaque Fourie (chest) of Friday’s Super Rugby crunch fixture.

Grant and Fourie are expected to be fit for next week’s match against the Brumbies while De Villiers is consulting a specialist to determine the severity of his injury.

Subsequently, Lionel Cronje will start at flyhalf and Juan de Jongh and young Johann Sadie will form an all-new midfield combination with Danie Poolman, who joined the squad earlier in the week, coming onto a five-two split bench.

“Sadie is an out-an-out 13 and can also cover wing, whilst Juan can play both 12 and 13,” said coach Allister Coetzee.

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This try by Jaque Fourie must be the try of the Super 14 campaign. He scored this try in the 47th minute against the Crusaders on Saturday…

Source: youtube.com

A try scored by Jaque Fourie against the British & Irish Lions has been named  the International Rugby Players Association Try of the Year 2009.

The Springbok fought off stiff competition from some of the biggest names in the Game to claim the prestigious award after the global Rugby community selected his try from a shortlist of 15 in an online vote at www.irb.com. Nearly 8,000 votes were cast in the process.

Fourie’s try, scored in the 74th minute of the nail-biting encounter in Pretoria in June, sealed a dramatic Series victory for the Springboks, who went on to be named IRB Team of the Year in association with Emirates Airline and demonstrated superb control, team work and skills before the centre squeezed over in the corner.

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The arbitration hearing between the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) and Springbok centre Jaque Fourie (regarding his move to Western Province) has been postponed until 12 October.

The hearing, which started on Monday, was adjourned on Tuesday after no conclusion had been reached.

“In reference to the arbitration between Jaque Fourie and the Golden Lions Rugby Union, no finality has been reached at this stage.

“As such, the hearing has been adjourned to reconvene on Monday, 12 October 2009,” read a brief statement by the GLRU.

Via: sarugby.com

Jaque Fourie appealed his suspension of four weeks for a dangerous spear tackle on Ma’a Nonu that happened in the Tri-Nations encounter between the All Blacks and the Springboks last weekend and the SANZAR Appeals Committee comprising of Terry Willis (Australia, Chairman), Bruce Squire QC (NZ) and Jannie Lubbe SC (South Africa) convened to discuss the matter.

The Committee, after hearing submissions from Aaron Lloyd, Counsel for the player, and reviewing all the available evidence, upheld the decision that the tackle in question was a lifting tackle and in breach of IRB Law 10.4 (i).

While upholding the decision as to the breach, the Committee found that in all the circumstances the penalty was inappropriate and amended the sanction so that the player was suspended from 14 September up to and including 3 October 2009.

Fourie will be unavailable for two Absa Currie Cup matches, on 26 September and 3 October.

Source: sarugby.co.za

Pic: zimbio.com

The Golden Lions Rugby Union is willing to ‘fight till the bitter end’ for their Springbok centre Jaque Fourie as the dispute with Western Province heads for arbitration at the end of this month.

The contractual dispute between the GLRU, the Bok centre, Fourie and WP Rugby (Pty) Ltd is being “closely monitored” by the South African Rugby Players Association as a “watershed” case.

Fourie, who has an offer worth almost ZAR4-million from WP on his table, claims that his contract with the GLRU is not binding – a statement disputed by his current union.

The two unions, the Lions and WP, have agreed to an arbitration meeting – scheduled for September 28 and 29, to be chaired by advocate Schalk Burger – but GLRU President Kevin de Klerk has made it clear they will not stop there in their battle to end the mass exodus that has plagued the Lions since Eugene Eloff was sacked as head coach in June.

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