“It will be a challenge playing Australia on the Saturday [July 20] and then flying out on the Sunday, only arriving in New Zealand on the Tuesday morning,” – Springbok director of Volume 19, Number 26 rugby and coach, Rassie Erasmus 18 July 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.rugbyrsa.co.za A Two Team Solution to the Travel Conundrum Virtually from the moment the fixtures were What was perhaps most interesting was when the announced for the abbreviated Rugby Championship apparent composition of the two teams was 2019, the punditry has been puzzling over how to announced last Friday. Erasmus named 23 players address the Springbok challenge of facing Australia for Saturday: in Johannesburg one week and then taking on the mighty All Blacks in New Zealand the very next 15. Warrick Gelant; 14. Sbu Nkosi; 13. Jesse Kriel; Saturday. 12. André Esterhuizen; 11. Makazole Mapimpi; 10. Elton Jantjies; 9. Herschel Jantjies; 8. Francois In the end, coach Rassie Erasmus opted for a two- Louw; 7. Pieter-Steph du Toit; 6. Rynhardt Elstadt; team solution: to play two different teams in the two 5. Lood de Jager; 4. Eben Etzebeth (captain); 3. matches. In his words: Trevor Nyakane; 2. Bongi Mbonambi; 1. Tendai Mtawarira. “It will be a challenge playing Australia on the Saturday [July 20] and then flying out on the Sunday, Replacements: 16. Schalk Brits; 17. Lizo Gqoboka; only arriving in New Zealand on the Tuesday 18. Vincent Koch; 19. Marvin Orie; 20. Marcell morning,” he said. Coetzee; 21. Cobus Reinach; 22. Frans Steyn; 23. Dillyn Leyds. At the same time, he dispelled the rumours that he was planning to select and A and B teams for these Simple deduction suggests that the 15 players flying encounters. “There are some guys who need game out early to New Zealand to, presumably, be the run time, who hasn’t [sic] played for six, seven or eight on 15 in Wellington would the 15 players remaining weeks,” Erasmus told a media gathering. in the 38-man squad: 15. Willie le Roux; 14. Cheslin Kolbe; 13. Lukhanyo Am; 12. Damian de Allende; 11. Aphiwe Dyantyi; 10. Handré Pollard; 9. Faf de Klerk; 8. Duane Vermuelen; 7. Marco van Staden; 6. Kwagga Smith; 5. Franco Mostert; 4. RG Snyman; 3. Frans Malherbe; 2. Malcolm Marx; 1. Steven Kitshoff. Interesting. Two open side flanks or “fetchers” and at least one very mobile lock (Mostert). If that’s the team, Erasmus has some very interesting tactics up his sleeve for Wellington. KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER 2019 Currie Cup Premier Division Kicks Off Women’s Inter-Provincial League Rugby Jaguares Go Top in Currie Cup First Division Gnashing of Teeth Over SA Schools Selections SA Rugby U21 Championship Getting Interesting Is SA Finally Getting Serious About PRO14? Page 1 2019 Currie Cup Premier Division Kicks Of Jaguares Go Top in Currie Cup First Division The three opening matches of the Currie Cup Premier The second round of the lower level of Currie Cup Division were on the goggle box last weekend and, rugby was played this past weekend and it delivered frankly, it was a mixed bag. It began in Durban at least one result that may have surprised local rugby where this season’s SuperSport Rugby Challenge fans. But more about that later. champions, Griquas, dished out a rugby lesson to the home team (13-37) and took a bonus point back to Kimberley. Fast forward to Saturday afternoon at Ellis Park where a young Golden Lions outfit showed a lot of fragility on defence but plenty of inventiveness and composure on attack. At the 60-minute mark, the visitors scored their fourth try to secure a bonus point and 21-37 lead. The rugby weekend commenced on Friday night in But the Lions showed superb resilience – or, as our George when the SWD Eagles put the previous editor puts it, plenty of testicular fortitude. They week’s disappointing draw with Valke behind them didn’t give up, kept attacking and eventually the by comprehensively outplaying the Leopards. The holes began to appear in a tiring Pumas defence. final score was 38-18 and puts the defending Despite the tight final score line (38-37), the home champions in second place on the log. side scored six tries to the four of this season’s losing finalists in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge. Speaking of the team from Brakpan, they travelled down to East London to take on Border Bulldogs on The late afternoon game was a north-south derby Saturday. That they were there to play was proven by between Western Province and the Blue Bulls at the 22-0 lead they put on in the first 25 minutes. Newlands but neither team really showed up for the contest. It was a scrappy affair and probably one of In the end, and despite a spirited fightback from the the most disappointing matches of the year so far, Bulldogs, Valke were too strong, winning the match given the undeniable talent on that field. 36-19, and jumping up to third on the log, behind SWD by virtue of a marginally inferior points The home side triumphed (20-5) in the end but difference. neither coach will be happy with his team after that outing. Both will want to lift their games Meanwhile, after a strong showing on the SuperSport significantly before the next round (see page eight for Rugby Challenge, Boland Cavaliers, were given a bit the schedule). of a hiding by the Jaguares in Potchefstroom. The final score was 54-17 and featured seven tries (including one penalty try) by the Argentinians to the two by the men from the Western Cape. The win puts the Jaguares on top of the competition log with two bonus-point wins from two matches. The fourth and final match of the weekend was a low- scoring back and forth battle the between EP Elephants and Griffons in Port Elizabeth. The final score was 19-23 in favour of the visitors. Page 2 Page 3 SA Rugby U21 Championship Getting Interesting SA Rugby U20 Championship Kicks Off It’s sad that we cannot find any match reports on the While the U21s are played round four last weekend, ongoing SA Rugby U21 Championship, or indeed, the teams contesting the SA Rugby U20 for either the U20 Championship (alongside) or the Championship played their first of only six rounds. Women’s Inter-Provincial League (page six). None Interestingly, this competition features nine teams of the mainstream news outlets appear to see value in arranged in three pools, presumably by virtue of covering games that are not televised. geographic proximity. And the only information available to us online is courtesy of SA Rugby, which reports fixtures, results, the logs and very basic competition statistics. But, as far as the U21 Championships are concerned, after four rounds (of ten) Blue Bulls are clear leaders on 19 points, having won four matches from four. Three teams (Free State, Sharks and Golden Lions) have lost two matches each so far and sit a point apart in second, third and fourth positions on 12, 11 and 10 points respectively. The remaining teams in the six-team competition are Western Province and Leopards, both with only one victory so far. Boland Cavaliers, Eastern Province and SWD Eagles Last weekend, Bulls defeated Sharks (31-26), Golden are grouped together while Limpopo Blue Bulls, Lions beat Leopards (24-19) and Free State Pumas and Valke form the second pool and Griffons, accounted for Western Province (45-39). This Griquas and Leopards combine to make up the third weekend, Golden Lions host Western Province at pool. As far as we can work out, each team plays the Wits Rugby Stadium at 1pm, leaving plenty of time other two teams in the group twice: home and away. to get across to Ellis Park for the 5pm Springbok kick-off against Australia – if you have tickets. Presumably, the semifinals in round seven will feature the top three from each pool along with the Also at 1pm, Leopards hope to get their season back best second place team based on a combined log on track against the Blue Bulls at Olen Park in position. But enough of the structure. As noted Potchefstroom. Earlier in the day and as a curtain above, the first round of three matches took place this raiser to the Sharks vs Western Province Currie Cup past weekend. Premier Division encounter in Durban, the U21 home team welcomes Free State (11:30 kick-off). In the first of these on Friday night, Pumas defeated Limpopo Blue Bulls (30-38) at Loftus Versveld In Pretoria. Then, at midday on Saturday, Leopards hosted and beat Griquas (36-30) in Potchefstroom while, at Wolfson Stadium in the Eastern Cape, Eastern Province thumped Boland (53-20). The fixtures for this weekend will see Griquas entertain Griffons in Kimberley on Friday afternoon (14:30) and, up in Pretoria, Limpopo Blue Bulls will welcome Valke in the early evening (17:00). On Saturday, SWD Eagles travel to Caledon to face Boland Cavaliers. Page 4 Page 5 Women’s Inter-Provincial League Rugby Gnashing of Teeth Over SA Schools Selections In researching the U20 and U21 championships on An argument erupted on social media this week when the SA Rugby website, we literally stumbled across a afflicted parties started moaning and generally competition about which we new nothing previously: gnashing their teeth over the omission of certain SA Rugby Women’s Inter-Provincial League (IPL). rising star players from squads for the international It started late last month and appears at first glance to youth series next month.