2014 will kick off where England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy will battle it out for the Six Nations Trophy. Wales, the defending champion will have their work cut out to retain their title. Ireland, especially after their brilliant performance against the Kiwis, will definitely have a positive chance to bring the Six Nations Cup home. This international competition will give us a very good idea of what their side might look like during the Rugby World Cup in 2015.
Following the Six Nations, will start our own very exciting new Super rugby competition, where the Lions will re-join current 14 sides to form a Super 15. The increase in home derbies played, we will see a double round of games where our five sides battle it out on home turf. This part of the competition is brutal as our South African side do not give each other any room to manoeuvre.
Are the South African sides, especially the Lions, beefed up enough to compete well in this brutal 2014 competition? I believe the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls, have signed the right players, but the Lions and Cheetahs need more international competitive players to provide bigger depth. If they do not sign any extra players before the Super 15, they might struggle to last the full season.
After the Super rugby competition, our national coach, Heineke Meyer, will start to finalise his squad for the followings year’s RWC. Yes, can you believe it that RWC is little more than a year away again? 2014 will be a very exciting international rugby year, where you will see many new combinations in the sides, but mostly, coaches will test defence patterns and especially make sure they can penetrate with the attack.
Hopefully the law makers of the world will not tamper with any new laws. I have heard in the grapevines that the Varsity Cup will experiment with two referees. Well, if so, that’s old news, as I personally was very privileged to start my career in Stellenbosch where the late Dok Craven used two referees in the hostel rugby competition. Wise man, Dok was, and now the new rugby gurus think they have come up with a unique new refereeing system. The two ref system is not easy, and takes great communication and team work. Do you think it will work?
