Bay of Plenty captain Kurt Eklund is hoping to lead the province to its first National Provincial Championship title in 48 years.
Former All Black Hika Elliot has revealed the SOS call he received to play in this weekend’s NPC Final at Sky Stadium.
Former All Black hooker Hika Elliot has been named in the No. 16 jersey for Wellington in Saturday's NPC final vs Bay of Plenty.
It's semi-finals Sunday at the World Rugby U20 Championship and following last Tuesday’s weather-affected schedule, the hope will be that all six matches will be played to an 80-minute conclusion unlike on match day three when there were just four and a half matches completed due to the heavy rain making pitches unplayable.
Three matches are scheduled for Athlone: Ireland-Australia (2pm local time), France-Wales (4:30pm) and South Africa-England (7pm). Over in Stellenbosch, it’s Argentina-Fiji (2pm), Georgia-Italy (4:30pm) and New Zealand-Spain (7pm).
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Africa vs Argentina (7pm). Over in Athlone, Wales vs Spain is the opening match (2pm) followed by England vs Fiji (4:30pm) and Australia vs Italy (7pm).
Four players were ruled out through injury following the 35-11 win and will miss the remainder of the tournament. Meanwhile, lock Harvey Cordukes, who was red-carded during the first half, has been suspended for two matches.
Australia felt hard done by in their round two loss to Ireland in Paarl because in the aftermath of their 10-30 defeat, Irish back-rower James McNabney was cited and banned for foul play that happened in the 35th minute that was missed by the officials in real time.
Six new names feature in the Australia U20 squad for the World Rugby U20 Championship beginning at the end of this month in South Africa.
Six new names feature in the Australia U20 squad for the World Rugby U20 Championship beginning at the end of this month in South Africa.