The Springbok and Wallaby teams have been named to play the seventh Tri-Nations test of 2010. The match will take place on Saturday the 28th of August in South Africa. It will be Victor Matfield’s 100th test for the Springboks. If victorious he will be the first Springbok to win his 100th test. Percy Montgomery lost his landmark game, and John Smit played his 100th test against the All Blacks in last week and lost.
Springboks
15-Francois Steyn, 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Jaque Fourie, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Morne Steyn, 9-Francois Hougaard, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Juan Smith, 6-Schalk Burger, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Flip van der Merwe, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-John Smit, 1-Gurthro Steenkamp Reserves: 16-Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17-CJ van der Linde, 18-Danie Rossouw, 19-Ryan Kankowski, 20-Enrico Januarie, 21-Butch James, 22-Juan de Jongh.
Wallabies
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O’Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Saia Faainga, 1 Benn Robinson. Reserves: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Ben McCalman, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Berrick Barnes, 22 Anthony Faainga.
The All Black and Springbok teams have been named to play the sixth Tri-Nations test of 2010. The match will take place on Saturday the 21st of August at 5pm, local time at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.
All Blacks:
15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Ben Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 John Afoa, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.
Springboks:
15 Gio Aplon, 14 JP Pietersen, 13, Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (capt), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw , Francois Louw, Ricky Januarie, Butch James, Wynard Olivier.
Points of Interest:
The match at Soccer City Stadium will be in front of over 90,000 fans.
The Springboks have made eight changes to the their team. Gio Aplon, JP Pietersen, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Francois Hougaard, Juan Smith, Jannie du Plessis and Flip van der Merwe come into the team.
The All Blacks have made two changes to their starting fifteen, with Ben Franks replacing his brother Owen at tighthead prop. Owen Franks drops out of the 22 and John Afoa comes onto the bench.
Jimmy Cowan returns from injury and replaces Piri Weepu, who moves to the bench. Israel Dagg replaces Benson Stanley on the All Black bench.
John Smit is playing his 100 test for the Springboks.
Victor Matfield is playing his 99th.
Keven Mealamu will join Ian Jones as the fifth-most capped All Black, with 79 tests.
Daniel Carter needs 3 more points to overtake Andrew Merhtens, who holds the record of most test points against South Africa for the All Blacks, with 207.
Joe Rokocoko has 9 tries against South Africa. He needs one more to equal Christian Cullen’s record of ten.
Each week this All Blacks team is breaking so many records that many of them are not getting the sort of fanfare they deserve. In last night’s victory Ma’a Nonu became the 35th player to get 50 test caps for the All Blacks and Tony Woodcock became the most experienced test prop in All Black history. Both records were achieved with minimal fanfare. The exploits of the current team is bringing familiar criticism of the All Blacks notorious record of peak in between world cups and their inability to win the big trophy.
Here’s a list of some of the achievements and records the All Blacks have made or could possibly make in 2010.
Tony Woodcock overtook former team mate Greg Somerville as the most capped All Black prop, with 67 caps.
The nine wins in a row against the Wallabies is equal to their best streak against them, drawing with run the All Blacks had from 1936 to 1947.
Ma’a Nonu played his 50th test.
Joe Rokocoko became the most capped All Black wing of all time, over taking All Black greats John Kirwan and Jonah Lomu. His 46 test tries has him second on the All Black try scoring list, equal with Christian Cullen. Rokocoko needs 49 tries to be equal with Doug Howlett as the highest test try scorer for the All Blacks.
This season the All Blacks overtook France as having scored the most points and the most tries in test rugby. They did it in 200 fewer test matches.
Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina both have 87 test caps. They are 5 short of Sean Fitzpatrick’s All Black test cap record of 92.
Richie McCaw now has Sean Fitzpatrick’s record of most wins by an All Black captain, and he’s about to pass his record of 51 tests as captain. Saturday’s test was McCaw’s 50th as All Black captain.
Saturday’s All Black starting 15 had a combined 717 test caps. They are three short of the world record of 720 test caps, set by Ireland in 2007.
Joe Rokocoko, Richie McCaw, Tony Woodcock and Mils Muliaina are now the most experienced All Black players ever in their respective positions.
Dan Carter became the first All Black to pass 1000 test points. He needs 65 more points to reach Jonny Wilkinson’s record of 1178.
Last night in Christchurch Ma’a Nonu became the 35th player to play 50 tests for the All Blacks. It’s an amazing achievement for a player with such a chequered history with the black jersey.
It’s taken him seven years to make 50 test caps. That’s a long time in the modern game. To put it in perspective, Brad Thorn debuted a week after Nonu and has now played 44 tests, but he didn’t play for the All Blacks at all for four years, from the end of 2003 till 2008. Ma’a Nonu, on the other hand, has featured for the All Blacks in every year since his debut. However, between then and 2008 he only made five more starts, with another 12 caps coming off the bench.
Way back in 2003 Nonu debuted for the All Blacks, partnering with Tana Umaga in the midfield against England. The dreadlocked pair lined up against future world cup winning midfield Will Greenwood and Mike Tindall.
The All Blacks lost that night 15-13, and it started an uneasy relationship between Nonu and the black jersey that dogged him for years afterwards. Following the loss the 21 year old fell out of favour with the then All Black coaches John Mitchell and Robbie Deans, who reverted to Aaron Mauger for most of the remaining tests they coached. That attitude was continued by the new coaching regime of Graham Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen. For the first four years of their tenure he was seen mainly as utility back and specialist bench impact player.
His reputation as a brilliant ball runner was equally tempered with a reputation for flakiness and on-field ill discipline.
Fortunately for the coaches and New Zealand rugby fans, Nonu came of age as a no. 12 just as their established 12s, Aaron Mauger and Luke McAllister departed for England after the 2007 World Cup.
He has started 29 of the 31 tests since then, and only winger Shane Williams from Wales has scored more international test tries since that tournament. The rotation that plagued the All Black midfield is now a thing of the past, with Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu firmly entrenched in the starting jerseys.
The Wallaby and All Black teams have been named to play the fifth Tri-Nations test and second Bledisloe Cup game of 2010. The match will take place on Saturday the 7th of August at 7.35pm, local time at AMI Stadium in Christchurch
Wallabies:
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O’Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Anthony Faingaa, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia; 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (capt), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Saia Faingaa, 1 Benn Robinson.
Reserves: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Berrick Barnes, 22 Cameron Shepherd.
All Blacks:
15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Piri Weepu; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Alby Mathewson, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Benson Stanley.
Points of Interest:
If the All Blacks win they will retain the Bledisloe Cup for 2010.
The Wallabies have lost the last 8 test matches in a row against the All Blacks.
The All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 49-28 in Melbourne last weekend.
Jimmy Cowan suffered rib cartilage damage in that match and has been replaced by Piri Weepu in the only change to the All Black starting 15. Alby Mathewson joins the reserves bench. The only other change is Benson Stanley replacing Israel Dagg on the bench.
Tony Woodcock will overtake former team mate Greg Somerville as the most capped All Black prop, with 67 caps. He has scored 6 test tries, with 5 of them being against the Wallabies.
Ma’a Nonu will play his 50th test. He first debuted for the All Blacks against England in 2003. He has started 29 of the 31 tests since the 2007 World Cup.
Kurtley Beale and the Faingaa twins have been promoted to the starting Wallaby line-up. Kurley Beale starts at fullback, with Adam Ashley-Cooper moving to centre to replace the injured Rob Horne. Hooker Stephen Moore and Second-Five Berrick Barnes drop to the bench to be replaced by Saia Faingaa and Anthony Faingaa respectively.
The Faingaa twins became the 40th set of brothers and third set of twins to play for the Wallabies. This will be their first start together.
Cameron Shepherd comes onto the bench for possibly his first cap since 2008
The Wallaby and All Black teams have been named to play the fourth Tri-Nations test of 2010. The match will take place on Saturday the 1st of August at 8pm, local time at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne.
Wallabies:
15 Adam Ashley Cooper, 14 James O’Connor, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia; 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (capt), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Reserves: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Anthony Faingaa, 22 Kurtley Beale.
All Blacks:
15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan; 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.
Points of Interest:
There are only two changes from the Australian team who beat South last week. Stephen Moore in place of Saia Faingaa and Berrick Barnes comes in at no. 12 with Matt Giteau replacing the suspended Quade Cooper at 10.
If twin brothers Saia and Anthony Faingaa come off the bench they will become the 40th set of brothers to play a test together for the Wallabies.
Nathan Sharpe will equal the record for most tests by an Australian lock. It is currently help by John Eales with 84 test caps.
Joe Rokocoko will become the most capped All Black wing, over taking All Black greats John Kirwan and Jonah Lomu.
With 66 caps, Tony Woodcock will join former team mate Greg Somerville as the most capped All Black prop.
The Wallabies have lost the last 7 test matches in a row against the All Blacks.
Matt Giteau needs one more conversion to move ahead of Springbok Percy Montgomery for most conversions scored against the All Blacks.
The All Black and Springbok teams to play the second Tri-Nations test of 2010. The match will take place on Saturday the 17th of July at 7:35pm, New Zealand time at Westpac Stadium in Wellington.
All Blacks
15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Rene Ranger, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Liam Messam, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.
Springboks:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Jean de Villiers, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie; 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Reserves: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Butch James, 22 Gio Aplon.
Points of Interest:
There are only two changes to each starting team. Piri Weepu and Rene Ranger start for the the All Blacks. Danie Rossouw and CJ van der Linde start for the Springboks
Bakkies Botha has been banned from all rugby for nine weeks for headbutting Jimmy Cowan in the last test.
The Springboks were beaten by the All Blacks last week 32-12 at Eden Park, Auckland.
The All Blacks need just seven points to overtake France as the highest point scorers ever in test rugby. However, the will do it in a third less games. France has scored 11,792 in 660 tests; New Zealand has scored 11,786 points in 462.
Over the last few years it has been hard not to notice the impact KooGa Rugby has started to have on the rugby union landscape. What is really striking about the success of KooGa Rugby recently is the amount of professional sports teams they provide rugby gear and rugby clothing to. The list reads like a who’s who of rugby teams.
KooGa International Rugby Teams
Internationally they supply KooGa sportswear to the Wallabies from Australia and the Fijian Rugby team, both of whom are in the top ten IRB ranked countries, with the Wallabies traditionally sitting in the top 3 countries in the world. Earlier this year a new KooGa rugby jersey was launched for the Wallabies.
KooGa describe the new Wallabies KooGa rugby jersey as ‘bullet proof’ and ‘indestructible’. Some of its materials include carbon fibre and hydrosteel, so it definitely sounds tough. The new rugby jersey was launched on Australia Day this year and coincided with the announcement of a new deal between Australia and KooGa rugby that goes till the end of 2013. KooGa also provide rugby gear to the USA Eagles and the Samoan and Tongan national rugby teams.
The new KooGa Wallabies Jersey
Rugby Clubs who use KooGa Rugby Gear
KooGa Rugby seems to particularly dominate the professional club scene in the UK. They supply KooGa rugby gear to the likes of Llanelli RFC, the Ospreys, Scarlets, Swansea, Saracens, Harlequins and Bristol. In the Super 14 KooGa supplies both the ACT Brumbies and Queensland Reds from Australia.
KooGa Rugby Technology
Having such an impressive stable of professional rugby teams places them on a comparable level to traditional rugby apparel power houses as Nike, Adidas and Canterbury Rugby. Competing at this level allows KooGa rugby to stay at the forefront of rugby gear technology. They are part of the market leaders when it comes to professional rugby union apparel technology. An example of this is their revolutionary approach to match jerseys, such as the previously mentioned Wallabies rugby jersey. They have also developed ‘Evaporex’, which is they describe as a ‘lightweight polythermal fabric’, which basically expels perspiration so the player does not get bogged down by the weight and maintains the ideal temperature for the rugby player’s body. KooGa rugby gear, such as the just mentioned KooGa rugby jerseys, KooGa headgear and other KooGa protective gear are all IRB (the International Rugby Board) approved.
KooGa Rugby League
Although KooGa specialises in rugby gear, KooGa sportswear in general has started to gain traction in other sports for being durable and technologically advanced. In professional Rugby League, KooGa has also become quite predominant, providing a variety of teams with Rugby league shorts and jerseys as well as rugby league headgear where required. The Newcastle Knights, Indigenous All Stars and the NRL All Stars all use KooGa sportswear. New Zealand International Rugby League team, the Kiwis also use KooGa apparel. At the time of writing KooGa still sponsored the Melbourne Storm, although their association with the club was being questioned following the Storm salary cap scandal of 2010. In Rugby League in the UK, teams such as Wigan Warriors, Hull Kingston Rovers, Huddersfield Giants and the Bradford Bulls use KooGa sportswear as well. Former Kiwis Rugby League star and England Rugby player, Henry Paul is also sponsored by KooGa. Henry Paul has returned to Rugby League and now plays for the Harlequins.
Players Sponsored by KooGa Rugby
As well as accumulating an impressive stable of International and Club rugby teams, KooGa seem to have an impressive array of individual rugby players representing them, particularly in the Europe club scene. Saracens lock and England Captain Steve Bothwick and Wales captain Ryan Jones are both sponsored by KooGa, as is England and Bath veteran Danny Grewcock. Argentina and Leicester Tigers prop Marcos Ayerza and fellow Argentine Juan Leguizamon, who plays flanker for Stade Francais, both endorse KooGa sportswear. Italian Veteran Marco Bortolami who plays for Gloucester is also sponsored by KooGa.
Former All Blacks Bruce Reihana and Carlos Spencer are also sponsored by KooGa. Reihana and Spencer were both Northampton Saints until Carlos Spencer returned to the Super 14 to play for the Lions. I noticed recently that All Black legend Christian Cullen is employed as KooGa Rugby’s Wellington representative in New Zealand.
If it looks like there is a distinctive Northern Hemisphere flavour to the teams KooGa sponsors, it’s because KooGa is based in the United Kingdom rugby apparel company. Its head office is in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. It is clearly dominating the scene there but has started to filter south, as can be seen with supplying of KooGa rugby gear to Australian rugby union and league teams and the New Zealand rugby league team, the Kiwis. Not bad for a company that was only established in 1997.
Check out this video of the KooGa Rugby jersey in action. It features both club and international games of rugby.
To celebrate 100 Super Rugby games the Hurricanes gave Rodney So’oialo the party that the Crusaders didn’t give Richie McCaw. The Hurricanes beat the Reds 44 to 21, getting the 4 try bonus point and staying in semi final contention.
Rodney So’oialo joined former captain Tana Umaga as the Hurricanes’ only players to reach 100 caps. He first began his career for the Hurricanes in 2001 against the Reds, and took over the captaincy from Tana Umaga in 2006 and going on to lead them 49 times. He stepped down at the beginning of this year, handing the captaincy to Andrew Hore so So’oialo could focus on regaining his fitness, bulk, and his place in the All Blacks.
So’oialo debuted for Wellington in 2000 against Taranaki, winning the final in that year and has so far played 52 matches for his provincial team. He is still known for his sevens background, where he showcased his huge aerobic capacity in six international Sevens tournaments and winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games Manchester in 2002.
In tribute to Rodney So’oialo, his former captain Tana Umaga said “For me the memory that stands out was the 2000 season and the NPC final where I believe he and JC [Jerry Collins] really turned the game for us with their enthusiasm and willingness to take it to Canterbury. I just remember him being everywhere”. Early in the week So’oialo revealed he had already received congratulatory texts from both Umaga and former Hurricane star Christian Cullen.
His running game and tendency to kick the ball more than most forwards shows his background as a rugby union fullback; he didn’t convert to the forwards until after he finished high school. However, when he eliminated most of his kicking from his game was when he finally broke through and owned the No. 8 jersey for the All Blacks.
He first debuted for the All Blacks in 2002, taking part in the 2003 Rugby World Cup in John Mitchell’s team, and finally breaking into Graham Henry’s team on the End of Tour in 2004. In ‘that’ game against France in 2004 he came of age as an international 8, owing the jersey until 2009 and forming one of the best and most complementary All Black loose forward trios in history. The combination of Jerry Collins, Richie McCaw and Rodney So’oialo saw the All Blacks through till then end of the 2007 Rugby World Cup before Jerry Collins started to show signs of all the wear and tear. Collins wasn’t selected in 2008 and went to play overseas. Without his long-time provincial and international loose forward partner, and as a sign of his age, time in the game, and in no small part to the way he plays it, Rodney So’oialo is also showing signs of the same wear and tear. Last year for the first time in five years he didn’t finish the year as the best number 8 in New Zealand. His position in the All Blacks is currently held by Kieran Read.
Still bucking the trend by still putting his body on the line for New Zealand Rugby at 31, So’oialo will be hoping a big Super 14 will get him back in the All Blacks. His experience will be invaluable to the All Blacks challenge for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
