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Bledisloe finale: All Blacks can close gap on Boks, Wallabies eyeing top-five finish
New Zealand can cut the gap to South Africa to 0.82 ranking points with a win in Sydney, while Australia stand to crack the top five if they end a 12-match losing streak against the All Blacks in the second Bledisloe Cup Test.
Bulls ring the changes against Stade Français as Giliomee earns first start and Pollard returns
The Bulls make sweeping changes for their Champions Cup opener against Stade Français, with Luan Giliomee earning a first senior start at fullback, Handré Pollard returning at flyhalf and Elrigh Louw leading the side.
Giliomee at the Bulls: A sponge in the right environment
Giliomee's Bulls move is framed not as a snub to the Sharks but as a calculated environment upgrade — a young player seeking daily proximity to Le Roux and Pollard as he prepares for Champions Cup rugby.
Willemse: Stormers are done with quarterfinal exits
Willemse says the Stormers have made a club-wide decision to push beyond the quarterfinals this Champions Cup season, with the group targeting a maiden title after back-to-back early exits — including last year's one-point loss to Toulon.
Giliomee's Bulls move is about more than a paycheck — it's a masterclass in learning
Giliomee's mid-season move to the Bulls was less about the contract and more about positioning himself alongside players he'd grown up watching — and his early immersion suggests the gamble is working.
Donald backs Barrett to push Marx for World Rugby's top prize
Stephen Donald is backing Jordie Barrett to challenge Malcolm Marx for the 2026 World Rugby Player of the Year award, arguing Barrett's consistency at 12 for the All Blacks — underscored by another standout display in the Bledisloe — has set a new personal standard. Marx is flagged as the main rival, making this a potential Bok-vs-All Black title fight for the game's top individual honour.
France lose Flament to shoulder injury ahead of Springbok Test in Paris
Thibaud Flament has been ruled out for several weeks with a shoulder injury, leaving France without both him and Emmanuel Meafou in the second row for the November Tests — including the Nations Championship clash with South Africa in Paris on 13 November.
Roos set for season debut against familiar opposition in Champions Cup
Evan Roos makes his return from the sidelines as the Stormers prepare for a home Champions Cup fixture in Cape Town on Saturday.
Louw and the Bulls serve notice ahead of Champions Cup opener
Elrigh Louw makes the case that a settled Bulls squad — Boks included — is ready to back up their Champions Cup ambitions with results, starting at home against Stade Français on Saturday.
SA's referee drought explained — and when it might end
URC referee boss Tappe Henning explains SA's absence from top-level officiating as a generational transition rather than a quality gap — and maps out a three-to-four-year runway before Colby, van Rooyen, and Allison are realistically in the mix for Test appointments.
Dobson on how the Boks' blueprint is shaping Stormers selections
Dobson unpacks how the Stormers are applying the Springbok 6-2 blueprint in practice — the hybrid roles that make it viable, and how Bok backing of fringe players like Porthen is feeding back into franchise development.
Matfield's theory: Super Rugby's Trans-Tasman gap is rotting the Wallabies from the inside out
Matfield argues Australia's Super Rugby inferiority against New Zealand clubs has created a deep-seated mental block that surfaces every time the Wallabies face the All Blacks — and points to the All Blacks' improved aerial game and returning forward depth as factors that made the 50-19 Bledisloe result almost inevitable.
Cape Town to host landmark CISG Athlete Brain Health Symposium with SA Rugby backing
SA Rugby has backed the CISG Athlete Brain Health Symposium in Cape Town on November 25-26 — the first such event held outside the USA or Europe — covering concussion management, long-term neurological outcomes and youth athlete welfare.
Bulls and Stormers have no excuse — this is the weekend to go big in Europe
Both the Bulls and Stormers open the Champions Cup at home with their full Bok squads available — a first. The piece argues this is the most favourable launchpad SA teams have ever had in Europe, and that squandering it would repeat a familiar, self-inflicted pattern of under-prioritising the competition once they've qualified.
Marshall rates Wilson above Wiese as world's best No.8 — where does that leave the Boks?
Marshall ranks Wilson above Wiese as the world's best No.8, but his reasoning — lower involvement in a deeper Bok forward pack — raises questions about how fairly Wiese's impact is being measured.
Cape Town to host first CISG Athlete Brain Health Symposium outside USA and Europe
The CISG Athlete Brain Health Symposium will be held in Cape Town on 25-26 November 2026 — the first time outside the USA or Europe — with SA Rugby's backing, building on the Brain Health Service launched jointly with World Rugby and MyPlayers last year.
Louw backs hip-drop law changes — and warns Bulls face a set-piece battle against Stade Français
Louw endorses the new hip-drop tackle laws from personal experience, admits he's still working back to peak form post-injury, and previews a set-piece-heavy Champions Cup opener against Stade Français at Loftus.
Rennie's November offensive: the Boks' scrum and maul dominance is in the crosshairs again
Rennie is heading to November's World Rugby meeting intent on pushing scrum simplification and maul restrictions — changes that would directly undercut the Springboks' structural strengths. The piece dissects the political dynamics behind what's being framed as a law-improvement drive but reads more like a second attempt by the All Blacks camp to reshape the game after losing the argument at the Shape of the Game conference.
Crisis management or depth on display? Stormers' loose-forward headache has a silver lining
Dobson calls it a loose-forward crisis, and the injury list backs him up — but fielding a fully Bok back row while key men are sidelined makes the Stormers' depth hard to argue with. The bigger structural concern may be at lock, where departures and Dixon's concussion absence are quietly thinning the options.
Rennie's November offensive: The All Blacks want to reshape rugby's laws — and the Boks are in the crosshairs
Rennie is heading to November's World Rugby meeting with a hit list — scrums, mauls, and the broader setpiece dominance that currently favours the Boks and France. Nel unpacks the political and ideological battle lines forming ahead of what could be a significant moment for how the game is shaped.