“We bid farewell to a rugby legend, a gentleman of the game, a friend to all he encountered and a menacing opponent on the field. Good luck with the next chapter.” The Official Blue Bulls Twitter account joins the Pat Lambie appreciation society. Volume 19, Number 1 23 January 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.leopardnewsletters.co.za A Wonderful Year of Rugby Ahead Glancing at the rugby fixtures over the next several And in early March, the HSBC Sevens Series visits weeks and months, it is clear that we have a lot about Las Vegas, USA and Vancouver, Canada on which to look forward. And it begins this weekend as successive weekends. Also in March, the Gold Cup club rugby in Europe resumes in the guise of PRO14, gets underway as South Africa’s clubs duke it until The Gallagher Premiership and the French Top14. mid-April. Across the pond in America, the second season of April also sees the HSBC Sevens Series stop off for a Major League Rugby gets underway on Saturday. No weekend each in Hong Kong and Singapore. On the doubt, more than a few former South African players local rugby front, the SuperSport Challenge is set to will be enticed by the dollar and some may even start as the Gold Cup winds up and, on the last day of represent the USA or Canada in years to come. April, the World U20 Rugby Championships get underway in Argentina. The HSBC World Sevens Series also resumes this weekend with the tournament in Hamilton, New On the last weekend of May, the HSBC Sevens Zealand. Next week, the whole kit and caboodle hops Series arrives in London for the penultimate round of across the Tasman Sea and takes the circus to the season and hops over the English Channel the Sydney, Australia for round four of the series. final round in Paris on the first weekend in June. In mid-February, Super Rugby returns but before that Through all of this, Super Rugby has continued week we have a few weekends of warm up matches as after week and it finally begins to wrap up with the preparations at the local franchises get serious. playoffs scheduled for 21st & 22nd of June – around the same time that the local youth tournaments kick off. The Super Rugby final leads almost directly to the Rugby Championship in July and August. While that’s going on, the Currie Cup and the U19, U20 and U21 championships take place between late July and early September, leading almost directly into the World Cup in September and October (it finishes on 2nd of November). If this proves to be our year, Siya Kolisi will become the third Springbok captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. But there’s a lot of rugby to be played, and watched, between now and then. KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER Dry, Gans recalled for Antipodean Adventure Willie Should be Big in Japan Catching Up With the PRO14 Announcing the Super Rugby Superheroes Pat Lambie Hangs Up his Boots Major League Rugby, Season 2 Page 1 Dry, Gans recalled for Antipodean Adventure Catching Up With the PRO14 The experienced Chris Dry will return to the In the six weeks or so that we’ve been away, the Springbok Sevens squad for the first time in more than Guinness PRO14 continued in the northern a year after being named in the tour group for the hemisphere but, inexplicably, without the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series tournaments in participation of the two local franchises: the Cheetahs New Zealand and Australia. and the Southern Kings. Meanwhile, the competition continued in Europe and the two local teams are now Dry last played for the defending World Series languishing near the bottom of their respective tables, champions in Cape Town in December 2017. His albeit with a game in hand. return to the side for his 65th tournament is just reward for the months of rehabilitation since he was ruled out That game happens next week when the two face off with a knee injury 14 months ago. He takes over from against each other in Bloemfontein as they did in Port Ryan Oosthuizen in the forwards. Elizabeth last week, when the Cheetahs ran out victors in what has been described as a bad-tempered There are two changes amongst the backs to the side affair. that finished third at the HSBC Cape Town Sevens in Indeed, at one point, the match descended into an December 2018. Stedman Gans, who last played in ugly brawl. London in June last year, will replace injured Muller du Plessis and Selvyn Davids, the 13th player in Cape But as the official match report has it, Luan de Bruin Town, comes into the match day squad for Rosko scored a last-gasp try to help Toyota Cheetahs edge a Specman, who has joined the Vodacom Bulls. 24-17 victory over Isuzu Southern Kings in the Guinness PRO14, extending their unbeaten run against their South African rivals to eight games across all competitions. The win moves the Cheetahs back into contention for a place in the Guinness PRO14 Finals Series, while the Kings remain rooted to the bottom of Conference B. What the report doesn’t say is that the Kings have been on the rough end of some seriously dodgy refereeing decisions this season and are looking unlikely to be able to lift themselves off the foot of the table any time soon. Philip Snyman will again lead the side after missing the second day in Cape Town with a shoulder niggle, while Justin Geduld and Werner Kok, who underwent minor surgery for knee and facial injuries last month, have also being declared fit to play in Australasia. Mfundo Ndhlovu and Cecil Afrika were not considered due to injury. The inclusion of Kyle Brown, for his 68th World Series tournament, will see the former team captain equal the record for tournament appearances in the Blitzboks jersey, held by Frankie Horne. “We had a slower start than usual to the season, so the next two tournaments will be important for us to keep on improving on our performance,” said Springbok Sevens coach Neil Powell. Page 2 Page 3 Pat Lambie Hangs Up his Boots Willie Should be Big in Japan At the tender age of 28 former Springbok flyhalf Pat All Out Rugby is running a piece suggesting that Lambie has retired from rugby to protect his health. Willie le Roux will not continue his career in South Lambie made the announcement in Paris on Saturday Africa after the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The article following nearly three years of battling the effects of a appears to be from a press release [the “Staff Writer” series of concussions. byline was our clue - Ed] issued by his UK club, Wasps. The club announced that le Roux would be leaving at the conclusion of this season. Racing 92 owner and president Jacky Lorenzetti confirmed the news on Saturday and praised Lambie as a player and as a person. “At flyhalf‚ in the centre‚ and at fullback‚ he has repeatedly proved that he was one of those rare players who know how to spark a The Springbok and Wasps fullback had previously team. It's no coincidence that he played for the been linked with the Bulls in a possible return home Springboks 56 times.” next season, but it has since been confirmed that he will be joining Jake White at Toyota Verblitz on an Lambie explained his decision in more detail to exclusive deal that rules out any off-season stints, www.sarugbymag.co.za. “I am following the advice of such as participating in Super Rugby. two neurologists‚ one in South Africa and one in France‚ both of whom I have seen on a number of “Willie joined Wasps at a time when he wasn’t a part occasions‚” Lambie said. of the Springboks side and since making the move here, he has rediscovered his form and shown that he Following the announcement, and in a touching is a world-class player which in turn has seen him tribute, the Official Blue Bulls Twitter account joined restored to the national side, going on to make over the Pat Lambie appreciation society: “We bid farewell 50 appearances.” to a rugby legend, a gentleman of the game, a friend to all he encountered and a menacing opponent on the Le Roux’s form at Wasps led to a Test recall and he field. Good luck with the next chapter.” quickly re-established himself as SA’s first-choice fullback. However, his relationship with the club reportedly soured after Wasps docked Le Roux’s salary for every match he missed while on Bok duty. The Bulls stepped in with a failed attempt to negotiate an early release from Wasps that would bring Le Roux to Loftus Versfeld and the 53-Test veteran has since agreed to terms with Verblitz. Page 4 Page 5 Announcing the Super Rugby Superheroes South Africa's Super Rugby teams have revealed the “Form, however, will factor into selection. How the super hero jerseys they will wear this season. The new players fare in the Super Rugby tournament and in the jerseys, inspired by Marvel's Spider-Man, Thor, Black truncated Rugby Championship could influence the Panther and Captain America, will debut in public at pecking order in certain positions.” the Super Hero Sunday preseason double-header at Cape Town Stadium on February 3. As de Jager puts it: “We’re all starting at zero.