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.

The Bulls versus Sharks game at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, a stadium with a capacity of 50,000, is already a sell-out. The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd confirmed on Thursday that all tickets for the game have been sold out.

That will make it 98,000 spectators at just two venues in South Africa in one weekend, and does not take into account the games in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein. While neither of these grounds (Johannesburg with 62,000 seats and Bloemfontein with 45 000) will be a sell-out, they will push the South African attendance figures for this weekend well beyond 100,000.

The sell-out crowds don’t end there.

Next week the Sharks can expect to come close to their stadium’s 45,000 capacity when they host the Stormers, while Loftus will most likely also come close to 50,000 spectators when the Bulls welcome the Crusaders.

And the Stormers versus Bulls match at Newlands on May 15 is already a sell-out – it has been for some time now.

In New Zealand crowd attendances beyond 20,000 are hailed as “good”, with season ticket holders in Wellington no longer arriving for the games – despite having paid up front for their seats.

Compare this with the winless Lions, who – despite 10 straight defeats this season – have already managed to attract 34,000 spectators to a game.

Critics have pointed to Bloemfontein, who average just on 16,000 spectators per match this season. However, their ‘per capita’ stats – the number of people living in the city, compared to the number of spectators at games – should be compared with Hamilton in New Zealand, not big cities like Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Auckland, Sydney or Brisbane.

It is worth noting that Hamilton seldom rose above 10,000 spectators per game, and more recently managed just 7,000.

To also put this in perspective, Brumbies officials are confident a season best crowd will be in attendance at Canberra Stadium on Saturday – continuing what they describe as a “resurgence of Australian attendance figures” in this year’s Super 14.

The Brumbies will play the Reds in a match crucial to both sides’ semifinal prospects and the game is expected to draw the first 20,000 crowd of the year in the national capital.

The media release from the Australian Rugby Union said last week’s aggregate attendance of “almost 90,000″ (it was 82,000) was the highest figure ever recorded for Super Rugby matches in Australia on the same weekend.

The Waratahs played to a record regular season crowd of 40,271 at Homebush in downing the Brumbies; the Reds attracted 30,259 to Suncorp Stadium for their victory over the Stormers; and the Western Force declared a sellout attendance of 19,279 after their stunning upset over the Crusaders.

The previous record on a single weekend in Australia was under 80,000 – 79,157 on the second weekend of May in 2003, just months before Australia hosted the World Cup as defending champions.

The new landmark created last weekend was a massive 13 percent  increase on the previous record.

Source: rugby365.com

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.

The expansion plans were formally released on Tuesday, following weeks of media speculation about the new Super Rugby format.

The competition will be expanded to 15 teams from 2011 and feature more local derbies, under a compromise plan unveiled by the South African, New Zealand and Australian rugby boards.

The competition has been expanded from 14 to 24 weeks, starting in late February and ending in August.

The future of the SANZAR alliance had been under threat, with the three countries divided about details such as the length and format of the new competition, before brokering a deal at a meeting in Dublin last week.

Under the agreed proposal, which still has to be approved by broadcasters next month, the 15 teams will be split into three Conferences, one in each country.

Each of those sides will play the teams in their own Conference twice a season, home and away, to increase the number of local derby matches. They will also play eight of the other 10 teams from the other two Conferences once, either at home or away.

The three Conference winners will qualify for the finals, along with three wild cards, which will comprise other teams with the highest points for the whole season from any of the conferences.

The top two teams, on standings points, go automatically into the semifinals, with the other four teams playing in a preliminary knockout round and the two winners from that joining the top two in the semifinals.

The new 24-week season will also include a three-week break in June to allow for mid-year internationals.

The Tri-Nations, which normally starts in July, will now commence at the end of the Super 15, in early August, and will follow a permanent pattern.

South Africa will stage the first leg of the series, while New Zealand and Australia will meet in the last two matches so the Springbok players are available for the domestic Currie Cup – one of the major talking points in the negotiations.

Source: rugby365.com

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

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.

The nine cards shown to Lions players means that they have been one man short for 90 of the 880 minutes they have played in their 11 matches – more than 10% of their playing time.

In total the five South African franchises have played with a player short for 270 minutes, or 6.13%, of the time spent on the field by the five teams – and that excludes the longer time off that the red cards warranted.

Wycliff Palu of the Waratahs and David Hall of the Highlanders have also received two yellows to date.

The side with the best disciplinary record is Western Force, who have not been carded at all, while both the Stormers and the Blues have only been yellow-carded once.

The teams and their cards (all yellow except where indicated) are:

Lions 9
Hurricanes 6
Bulls 5 (1 red)
Sharks 5 (1 red)
Highlanders 5 (1 red)
Cheetahs 5
Crusaders 4
Waratahs 3
Chiefs 3
Reds 3
Brumbies 2
Blues 1
Stormers 1

Source: sport24.co.za

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

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.

With a De Villiers a near-certain selection for South Africa against the touring B&I Lions, the news is also a massive blow for the Springboks who will be hope the centre recovers in time for the first warm-up games against Namibia at the end of May.

Source: planetrugby.com

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

The disturbing list includes three of the All Blacks’ biggest stars: Dan Carter, Richie McCaw and Ali Williams while Mils Muliaina, Richard Kahui, Leon MacDonald, Brad Thorn and Andrew Hore are all on the mend.

Blues hooker Keven Mealamu has also been struggling with a calf injury while Conrad Smith, Piri Weepu, Jimmy Cowan, Jamie Mackintosh, Rudi Wulf and Sione Lauaki have all missed Super rugby action this year through a variety of complaints.

A distressed Hurricanes coach, Colin Cooper believes that modern rugby players are struggling to cope with the demands placed on their bodies due to the intensity and volume of competitions.

“Fifteen is a lot isn’t it,” he said. “I didn’t realise it was quite that many,” Cooper told Rugbyheaven New Zealand.

“I probably shouldn’t be surprised though. I think we are going to see a lot more of this unless something changes.

“I actually feel sorry for the guys, our top guys that play in the All Blacks, because they just don’t get enough rest and recovery time and are not being given a chance to fulfill their potential.

“Something has got to change and change fast, because we are all losers out of this.”

While All Blacks coach Graham Henry has gone to surprising lengths to protect his players from burnout, New Zealand’s Super 14 coaches are finding it very difficult to rest their top Test stars.

“The team that manages its players best is getting the benefits [of rest], so there is a definite incentive to do it,” Cooper said.

“But until things like travel load are sorted then this trend is just going to get worse.

“The sooner we sort the global game out the better for everyone, especially the players.”

Source: rugby365.com

De Villiers took a heavy knock to the head four minutes into the second half of the 15-20 Super 14 loss to the Sharks at Newlands on Saturday and he was stretchered off and taken to hospital immediately.

It was feared that he would be out for a long time.

However, Stormers media manager Frikkie Erasmus said on Sunday allayed those fears.

Even though De Villiers was taken to hospital for tests on Saturday, he was later discharged.

“I have spoken to the doctor and he has reassured me that it is nothing serious,” Erasmus said.

“Jean will be playing again as soon as he feels comfortable.

“We don’t know yet how long he will be out, but he was just taken to hospital as precaution and the tests were also precautionary.

“He is stiff and sore but other than that it is nothing serious. It is definitely not concussion and he suffered more from whiplash. We will be monitoring his situation during the week.”

* There was no immediate news on the other Springbok, lock Victor Matfield, who also suffered an injury at the weekend.

Matfield’s shoulder injury, suffered in the Bulls’ 33-20 win over the Reds in Pretoria, looked the more serious of the two.

With the arrival of the British & Irish Lions in just under three months, the last thing the Bok coach needs now is long-term injuries to his top players – with Matfield and De Villiers both vital cogs in the Bok mix.

There will be concern in the Bulls and Bok camps over the shoulder injury picked up by Matfield, who tumbled to earth while trying to collect a restart in the second half.

He was treated on the field and tried to stay on, but later left the field and was replaced by Danie Rossouw.

Initial reports suggested that he had damaged his AC joint and could be sidelined for a long time.

The medical staff will have a better idea of the full extend of the injury on Sunday or Monday, but it is not looking good.

Source + Pic: rugby365.com