Rugby Championship: South Africa make wholesale changes for clash with ...

Victor Matfield: Returns to the South Africa line up

Veteran lock Victor Matfield has been recalled to the South Africa side for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash with Australia in Perth.

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Matfield returns to the engine room as one of a number of changes made by coach Heyneke Meyer on the back of the victories against Argentina in the opening two rounds of the competition.

Adriaan Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira, Marcell Coetzee, Morne Steyn and Jan Serfontein are also included in the side.

Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Warren Whiteley and Pat Lambie come into the squad, joining Bismarck du Plessis and Lood de Jager on the bench

Gurthro Steenkamp, Juan Smith, Handre Pollard and Damian de Allende are among those to drop out of the match-day squad.

“We were always planning in moving our personnel around during the competition,” Meyer said.

Excited

“The only new player in the team is Warren, whom I’m very happy for and excited to see what he can do. He covers all three positions in the loose trio and can make an impact later in the game.

“Saturday’s Test against Australia will take a massive effort from every member of our squad. We’re not looking at their recent result against New Zealand and we know they will be a tough opponent.”

The match will be Bryan Habana’s 100th Test – and Meyer has paid tribute to the former IRB Player of the Year.

“Apart from scoring tries and always giving 100 percent on the field, Bryan is also a humble servant to the game and a true ambassador for his family, his friends and his country,” Meyer said.

“He will go down in history as one of the greatest rugby players of all time.”

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Jean de Villiers (capt), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 1 Tendai Mtawarira, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Francois Louw, 7 Marcell Coetzee, 8 Duane Vermeulen.

Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lwazi Mvovo  

Watch South Africa take on Australia live on Sky Sports 3 on Saturday, with coverage from 11.05am on Saturday morning.

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12504/9328985/leicesters-graham-kitchener-to-captain-england-against-barbarians

Rugby Championship: South Africa make wholesale changes for clash with ...

Rugby player Girvin Imrie guilty of Fife garden rape

3 September 2014
Last updated at 16:22

A rugby player has been convicted of raping a woman in a Fife garden just hours after playing in a sevens tournament.

Girvin Imrie, 25, an engineer from Cupar, grabbed his 20-year-old victim, who was drunk and incapable of giving consent, from behind and raped her.

The attack took place in a garden at the rear of Howe of Fife Rugby Club, Cupar, on 5 May 2013.

He was found guilty at the High Court in Glasgow. He had denied the charges.

He will be sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh on 1 October.

Vice-like grip

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in evidence she was at the rugby sevens event at Duthes Park, Cupar, with friends and ended up at the clubhouse.

She told advocate depute Shanti Maguire, prosecuting, after a few drinks she decided to go to the toilet, but, instead, ended up outside.

The woman said: “I was very happily drunk. I remember thinking I had to phone my boyfriend, but I can’t remember if I phoned him.”

Ms Maguire said: “What happened next?” and she replied: “I just remember somebody being behind me. I know he was quite strong. He was hurting my arm. I was scared. I remember a big dark shadow. He never said a word.”

She said the only part of him she could see was his hands as he held her in a vice-like grip and raped her before running off.

The court heard the hat Imrie was wearing that night had been found close to where the rape took place.

A DNA sample was taken from his victim, but went missing after Cupar police office closed down the day after the attack. The sample which was in a fridge in the CID office disappeared during the removal process.

However, after hearing police were investigating an incident at the rugby club Imrie told them he had had consensual sex in the garden area that night with the woman.

Judge Lord Kinclaven remanded Imrie in custody and ordered a background report.

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12504/9328985/leicesters-graham-kitchener-to-captain-england-against-barbarians

Rugby player Girvin Imrie guilty of Fife garden rape

Woman was raped by rugby player in garden

Girvin Imrie, an engineer from Cupar, Fife, grabbed his 20-year-old victim from behind and raped her.

The attack took place in a garden at the rear of Howe of Fife Rugby Club, Cupar, on May 5, 2013.

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After the jury at the High Court in Glasgow returned its verdict, Imrie, 25, sat in the dock crying. He will be sentenced next month.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in evidence that she was at the rugby sevens event at Duthes Park, Cupar, with friends and ended up at the clubhouse. She told advocate depute Shanti Maguire, prosecuting, that after a few drinks she decided to go to the toilet but ended up outside. The woman said: “I was very happily drunk. I remember thinking I had to phone my boyfriend, but I can’t remember if [I did].”

Ms Maguire said: “What happened next?” and she replied: “I just remember somebody being behind me. I know he was quite strong. He was hurting my arm. I was scared. I remember a big dark shadow. He never said a word.” She said the only part of him she could see was his hands as he held her in a vice-like grip and raped her.

The court heard that the hat Imrie was wearing that night had been found close to where the rape took place.

After hearing an incident at the rugby club was being investigated by police, Imrie claimed he had had consensual sex in the garden area that night with the woman.

Imrie told his defence solictor advocate Iain Paterson: “It was a joyful occasion, We were having fun with each other. She was drunk and in good spirits.”

Judge Lord Kinclaven remanded Imrie in custody and ordered a background report. He will sentence him at the High Court in Edinburgh on October 1.

Article source: http://www1.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12504/9328985/leicesters-graham-kitchener-to-captain-england-against-barbarians

Woman was raped by rugby player in garden

Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton breaks jaw in club game

Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton faces a race against time to be fit for the autumn internationals after breaking his jaw while playing for Racing Metro.

The 29-year-old British and Irish Lions star was injured in a heavy clash with Craig Burden in Sunday’s French top-flight contest against Toulon.

South African hooker Burden was sin-binned for the challenge.

The first of Ireland’s three autumn games is against South Africa in Dublin on 8 November.

They then host Georgia and Australia, with head coach Joe Schmidt keen to ramp up the long-range preparations for 2015 World Cup.

Schmidt hopes Sexton will complete a move back to Leinster from Parisian side Racing Metro next summer, although the French club are keen to retain his services.

The 45-cap playmaker is arguably Ireland’s most important backline general now that Brian O’Driscoll has retired, so Schmidt will give him every opportunity to make the fitness grade for the autumn series.

Sexton – Ireland’s only frontline star plying his trade overseas – endured a difficult first campaign in France last term.

He played 13 club games in 12 weeks after joining the Paris side, much to Ireland’s frustration, with former Leinster boss Schmidt unable to dictate how often Sexton turned out for his club. Ireland’s home-based stars are subject to the IRFU’s player management scheme, which limits the number of games they play.

Sexton duly picked up a leg problem, which put his participation in last year’s autumn series in doubt. He sat out the first game against Samoa but was in the team for the big clashes with Australia and New Zealand.

Ulster’s Paddy Jackson would be the front-runner to start in Sexton’s absence after filling the fly-half understudy role last season.

Leinster’s Ian Madigan would also come into the frame, while fast-progressing Munster duo Ian Keatley and JJ Hanrahan are coming up on the rails.

Article source: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2014/05/_bt_sport_to_air_aviva_premiership_rugby_play_offs_this_weekend/

Ireland fly-half Jonathan Sexton breaks jaw in club game

Irish success in women"s rugby was no fluke

Lynne Cantwell (right) and Nora Stapleton during the Women’s Rugby World Cup in France. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Article source: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2014/05/_bt_sport_to_air_aviva_premiership_rugby_play_offs_this_weekend/

Irish success in women"s rugby was no fluke

Humphreys handles it at Gloucester

“We have to manage that and understand this is the environment we are coming into. Putting a team together is not as simple as bringing in good players and good coaches, then hoping it all works.”

If that really is the Kingsholm faithful’s expectation, they have endured 27 years’ disappointment, Gloucester being the only one of four top-flight sides never relegated to have never taken the title either.

The others are Leicester, Bath and Wasps – all multiple champions, though in Bath’s case not since 1996, when the league was still in its first decade and Bath had had their phenomenal era under Jack Rowell’s coaching.

“I’ve looked into it: the club is 150 years old and it’s only that Jack Rowell block of the 80s and 90s,” said Rowell’s successor Mike Ford.

“They weren’t successful before and they weren’t afterwards.

“Whether this young team we are assembling win something next year or not, we believe we’re going to crack it sooner or later, and when that happens we intend to crack it for the year after and the year after that.”

Article source: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2014/05/_bt_sport_to_air_aviva_premiership_rugby_play_offs_this_weekend/

Humphreys handles it at Gloucester

SportsTalk: Super League and rugby union Championship PLUS football"s ...

TWO podcasts in one week as we talk Super League and rugby union’s Championship PLUS the winners and losers in football’s deadline day dealings. Download these Yorkshire Post podcasts here or via iTunes.

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In Monday’s episode (feeds above), Dave Craven joins us to review the weekend’s action and assess the play-off picture.

Plus, with the rugby union season dawning, we preview the Championship season and the prospects of the region’s trio of clubs; Yorkshire Carnegie, Rotherham Titans and Doncaster Knights.

Nick Westby hosts SportsTalk from the Yorkshire Post.

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And in Wednesday’s episode (feeds above), Leon Wobschall looks at the summer transfer window for Yorkshire’s clubs, who were the busiest, who were the quietest, and who were the winners and losers. Plus, Leon discusses the managerial searches at Leeds United and Huddersfield Town.

Article source: http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/news/2014/05/_bt_sport_to_air_aviva_premiership_rugby_play_offs_this_weekend/

SportsTalk: Super League and rugby union Championship PLUS football"s ...