“If anything #CapeTown7s 2019 should be remembered for the piss poor officiating we saw all the way in to the Final and @WorldRugby7s should be ashamed but well done to @AllBlacks7s on the win!” - TheYellowCap venting on Twitter Volume 20, Number 1 after the Cape Town 7s. 03 January 2020 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.rugbyrsa.co.za

An Action-Packed 2020 Beckons

And so, after a decent break of a bit over six weeks, And while there are a number of South Africans we’re back and anticipating another (mostly) playing in those leagues there will be more direct southern hemisphere season of action-packed rugby. local interest in the home and away PRO14 derbies It began with the friendlies that usually presage the on successive weekends between Cheetahs and season last weekend on “SuperHero Southern Kings. This Saturday the match is in Port Sunday”, which, this year was at the FNB Stadium Elizabeth and next weekend it will be in on the outskirts of Soweto. Bloemfontein - see page two.

Initially there was some whinging on social media The other action this weekend is the resumption of about the shift in venue from Cape Town Stadium. the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Hamilton. Predictably, complainants were mostly from the After the disappointment of going down to the Western Cape and initially moaned vociferously that thieving kiwis in Cape Town, Neil Powell’s the stadium was empty but they quietened down Blitzboks will be well motivated to return the favour when it became apparent that the crowd had swelled in New Zealand. But there’s a fly in the ointment – to almost 50 000 people. see page two.

The teams put on a great show with Stormers beating And while we’re on the subject of Sevens rugby, this Sharks 21-19 and then Bulls edging the Lions 40-35 is an Olympic year and the venue is Tokyo. in their traditional derby. Next stop for Super Rugby Mouthwatering. will be the opening round that begins next weekend but we’ll provide more details in next week’s newsletter.

Looking at the weekend ahead, the northern hemisphere leagues get back under way after a few weeks of sporadic activity due to Champions Cup and Challenge Cup fixtures. There will be plenty of action in England’s Gallagher Premiership and the French Top 14 (as well as in the second tier competitions in both countries (Championship and Pro D2, respectively)).

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Crunch Time in PRO14 for Cheetahs; Kings Revelling in Wonderful RWC2019 Memories HSBC Sevens Circus Moves to Hamilton, NZ Saracens: A Cheat is a Cheat is a Cheat Super Rugby 2020 Begins Next Friday A Top Team of Saffers Playing Abroad

Page 1 Crunch Time in PRO14 for Cheetahs; Kings HSBC Sevens Circus Moves to Hamilton, NZ

As mentioned on the first page of this issue, the next The third leg of the HSBC World Sevens Series two weekends may well prove decisive for any 2019/2020 arrives in Hamilton this weekend. But it aspirations Cheetahs have on lifting the PRO14 title does so, as reported in the Daily Maverick, under a this year. On the other hand, their erstwhile cloud of controversy after World Rugby changed the opponents this Saturday and next have little left but schedule by eliminating the men’s quarter-finals. pride for which to play, or so we're being told by the pundits.

Both teams have two games in hand over their northern hemisphere rivals so these matches are hugely important. One win for Cheetahs would put them back into third place on the Conference A table while two wins would provide a little bit of breathing space to the fourth-placed Glasgow Warriors.

Kings, however, even if they win both matches with "After 20 years of the same format, World Rugby bonus points, cannot improve on their log position have juggled scheduling to accommodate the increase because they languish at the foot of Conference B, in women’s events on the circuit. The trade-off is trailing Benetton by 17 points. But the PE boys can either increasing the duration of the tournament from put a spanner in the plans of the Bloemfontein-based two to three days when there are both men’s and outfit and the fact that the first derby will be in Port women’s events, or cutting out matches. Elizabeth could aid that cause. "In round two at the Cape Town Sevens in December All of that said, it may be premature to write off 2019, a women’s tournament was held for the first Kings. After this pair of derbies, they will have time in the Mother City. As a result, the tournament eleven more matches in which to make an impression was held over three days – from Friday to Sunday. on the Conference B table. Difficult yes, especially That meant that the men’s event was not curbed and considering the performances to date, but not it included four quarter-finals. impossible. "In rounds three and four – in Hamilton and Sydney There’s a useful analysis by Charlie Bennett on this over the next two weekends – the men’s event will week’s match running on the PRO14 website. see the winners of each of the four Pools advance But perhaps the most interesting statistic about this straight to a semi-final. The quarter-finals, which fixture is that, in four matches against Cheetahs in have traditionally included the top two teams from PRO14, Kings have ended on the losing side every each Pool, have been scrapped." single time. Could that be about to change? Unlikely, What this means is that there are no longer any but stranger things have happened. second chances. Drop one game in the pool stages and you could be out of the running, right there and then. Which brings us to the pools for this weekend’s event: South Africa is in pool B with Kenya, Japan and bloody England.

And just to add a little spice, the Blitzboks will be captained by Stedman Gans in New Zealand and Australia (next weekend). Probable winners of the other pools are New Zealand, France and Fiji. But Rugby365 has a useful preview of the third round of this season’s Sevens Series.

Page 2 Page 3 Super Rugby 2020 Begins Next Friday

As a new season of Super Rugby beckons, confusion still hovers around the competition’s future. Last year we heard that the would be dropped in 2021 but after Japan's success at the World Cup, that is now in doubt.

But focusing on 2020, South African fans may find it interesting to peruse the squads of our four franchises. And, in the unlikely event that you want to know which players make up the squads of the teams from New Zealand, Argentina, Japan or, shudder, Australia, you can find them all here. And: “This process will not impose any sanctions on players. This is not designed to penalise the player in any way but to hopefully shine a light on poor technique that has been shown to increase the risk of significant injury and attempt to affect behavioural change via education and identification.”

Right. No sanctions? What on earth is the point then? Why is SANZAAR even bothering with Going into the new season, there are a number of this if there will be absolutely no sanctions? law changes that may cause a bit of havoc for the unwary. But the one change that has grabbed all All of which are very good questions considering the headlines is World Rugby’s High Tackle the panel of referees selected for the Super Rugby Technique Warning law trial will be introduced competition this year. With one noteworthy for Super Rugby this year. exception, the absolutely brilliant Rasta Rasivhenge, it’s a real gallery of rogues. A SANZAAR statement refers: “Preventing dangerous high tackles remains a high priority for Think back to the referees who courted the most SANZAAR and World Rugby as we look to controversy during the Rugby World Cup in reduce the number of concussions. Research has Japan and you'll probably find their names on shown that the majority of concussions are caused SANZAAR's list. Par for the course. by tacklers who tackle with an upright body.

“SANZAAR is focusing on implementing a process that identifies high-risk upright tackles. The shadow trial will see SANZAAR looking at all tackles each round and identifying tackles in which the tackler is in an upright body position, and in the event it is deemed the tackler has shown poor technique in executing an upright tackle, a warning may be sent to the player and player’s coach."

Page 4 Page 5 Revelling in Wonderful RWC2019 Memories Saracens: A Cheat is a Cheat is a Cheat

During the Rugby World Cup tournament last year Back in the days of ubiquitous print media, the recent we featured a number of analyses by @SquidgeRugby revelations about how Saracens Rugby cheated on – mostly because we found them to be insightful and English club salary cap regulations would have delightfully humorous in equal measure. Well, over resulted in many column centimetres of copy on the the December break we discovered that Squidge subject. has put all 35 of his RWC2019 videos up on YouTube . And even in the online world, that phenomenon persists – searching Google for ‘Saracens scandal’ returned 879 000 results in under half a second last night.

But, just in case you just got back from holiday and you missed the news, last year’s English Premiership champions paid its players more than is allowed under the competition rules.

PlanetRugby.com captured the mood perfectly: “That the great success story of the past decade has been founded on a web of deception is too far-reaching a concept to fully grasp for some time. We’ll need another dynasty, an honest one this time, before we can understand what success in the modern era really looks like.

All in all, it provides a grand total of over seven hours of delightful rugby commentary and insight, with more than a few laughs along the way. We heartily recommend that you dip in every now and then and watch one.

They’re typically 5-10 minutes long but the RWC2019 final preview edition was almost 19 minutes long and the analysis of how the Springboks triumphed in the end stretched to a wonderful 34-plus minutes. If you love rugby, you’ll love these clips, It’s a thoughtful piece and well worth your time, But which cover every one of the 41 matches during the for us, perhaps the most amazing thing about the tournament. whole saga is that, to our knowledge, the club has NOT been stripped of its titles.

Yes, it has been relegated for next season, penalised 35 points this season and given a £5.3 million fine. But is that enough? Shouldn't Saracens also be stripped of any and all titles won under dubious circumstances?

Oliver Brown certainly thinks so.

Page 6 A Top Team of Saffers Playing Abroad

As we hinted in the opening story this week, many South Africans are plying their trade in various rugby competitions around the world. To pay homage to these players – and their performances in flying the flag high - SA Rugby is running a piece highlighting the top-performers during last weekend’s Champions Cup, Challenge Cup and Japanese fixtures.

We hope this turns into a regular feature but we don’t know that it will. For now, we’ll just enjoy this really interesting piece that begins with a team of Saffas selected from the three competitions Over in Japan, meanwhile, Willie le Roux has been a mentioned based on their performances – a key attacking threat for in the opening potential overseas Springbok team if you will. two rounds of the Top League in Japan. Despite his team going down in a heavy defeat by the last Saturday, Le Roux made telling contributions on attack, scoring a try and setting up another with a well-placed kick.

But it was RG Snyman who had social media abuzz with a clip of his try against the Kubota Spears that went viral earlier this week. Snyman’s stunning solo effort emphasised how much talent the former Vodacom Bulls lock possesses.

That’s according to SA Rugby magazine. We saw the The article also highlights specific performances of, clip and, to be honest, he looked to be wading through among others, Marcell Coetzee, Willie le Roux and a team of midgets – which given that he stands well RG Snyman. Coetzee plays eighthman for Ulster over two metres in his socks, is perhaps not surprising. and delivered a big performance in his side’s However, his team, , lost that match 23-21, thrilling victory over Bath. despite his heroics

Page 7 For your weekend rugby viewing pleasure

It’s still early in the season but there is some rugby to watch this weekend. It all begins at the Hamilton Sevens on Saturday in the wee hours – 2:03am to be precise – when the Blitzboks take on Japan. Five and a half hours later, at 7:30, they tackle England.

Also in the early hours of Saturday, action in the Japan Top League kicks off at 4:30am but most of the games begin at 6:00am – if you can find a broadcaster or a streaming feed into which to tap. Later that day – at a more conventional 15:30 – Kings welcome Cheetahs to the first of their PRO14 derby matches on successive weekends. There’s also a slew of Top 14 and Gallagher Premiership matches over the weekend.

Back to the Sevens and the Blitzboks third pool match is against Kenya at 01:13 Sunday morning and, if they win all three matches, they’ll make it to the semi- finals, which kick-off after 5am. The final is scheduled for just before 10am that day.

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