Carlos Spencer was recalled as Lions flyhalf on Wednesday in what will be the former All Black's 100th Super rugby game.

Spencer returned to the No. 10 position for Friday's matchup against the Waratahs in Sydney after missing the Lions' defeat to the Brumbies with a pectoral muscle injury.

The New Zealander is one of six changes to the starting lineup made by coach Dick Muir following the 24-13 loss to the Brumbies in Canberra. Spencer will play his 100th Super game 14 years after his first for the Blues.

The Lions have lost all four of their games in the 2010 Super 14 and are second from bottom in the standings. The Johannesburg franchise has never beaten the Waratahs in Sydney in the Super 14.
Waratahs coach Chris Hickey named an unchanged lineup from the team that edged the Sharks 25-21 in round four.

Australia center Berrick Barnes will be making his 50th Super appearance.
Teams:


Waratahs:
15. Sosene Anesi, 14. Lachie Turner, 13. Tom Carter, 12. Berrick Barnes, 11. Drew Mitchell, 10. Daniel Halangahu, 9. Luke Burgess, 8. Wycliff Palu, 7. Phil Waugh (captain), 6. Dave Dennis, 5. Kane Douglas, 4. Dean Mumm, 3. Al Baxter, 2. Tatafu Polota-Bau, 1. Benn Robinson
Substitutes: 16. Damien Fitzpatrick, 17. Sekope Kepu, 18. Will Caldwell, 19. Ben Mowen, 20. Josh Holmes, 21. Kurtley Beale, 22. Rob Horne

Lions:
15. Earl Rose, 14. Tonderai Chavhanga, 13. Walter Venter, 12. Doppies la Grange, 11. Wandile Mjekevu, 10. Carlos Spencer, 9. JP Joubert, 8. Todd Clever, 7. Derick Minnie, 6. Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5. Willem Stoltz, 4. Franco van der Merwe, 3. Kevin Buys, 2. Hannes Franklin, 1. Heinke van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16. Charles Emslie, 17. JC Janse van Rensburg, 18. Jacques Lombaard, 19. Robert Kruger, 20. Jano Vermaak, 21. Burton Francis, 22. Wigan Pekeur

NEWS24

Political parties have scrummaged to sign Anton Oliver up to their ranks but the former All Black prefers to remain on the sidelines for now.

The Otago Daily Times reported that Oliver had been approached by National and Labour Party representatives. He was interested in politics but felt he lacked work experience and is flying to London next week for job interviews at banks and energy companies.

Oliver has strong views about green issues but says politically he is "economically right and socially left".

Oliver returned to New Zealand last year to care for his Blenheim-based mother who was battling breast cancer.

He was stunned by the proliferation of dairy farms throughout the South Island and did not think intensive dairy farming was the answer to future prosperity.

"It is not good for our image. New Zealanders are living in this fictional world where we are clean and green ... we aren't."

While praising the country's farmers as being "innovative" and excelling in a competitive global market with no subsidies, he called into question their right to water.

"Water is there for all of us."

The Oxford University graduate with a masters in environmental policy had also opposed the proposed Project Hayes windfarm.

RUGBYHEAVEN (NZ)

Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll will win his 100th cap on Saturday after coach Declan Kidney named an unchanged team for the visit of Wales in the Six Nations.

Kidney kept faith with the side that beat England 20-16 last month to keep their title defence just about alive.

Leicester fullback Geordan Murphy, who managed only four replacement appearances during last year's grand slam, keeps fit-again Rob Kearney on the bench where Andrew Trimble is the only man from 10 days ago to miss out on a place in the squad.

"Geordan was playing well all last season and he was unlucky in about game four of last year's Six Nations not to get the nod then and I think he went well enough against England to warrant a second run," Kidney told a news conference on Tuesday.

"Rob (Kearney) has worked really hard in getting back in. It's not like he's done anything wrong but it just went with Geordan on this one."

Ireland need top-of-the-table France to suffer an unlikely loss against either Italy or England and make up ground on points difference to stand a chance of winning consecutive Six Nations championships.

The pre-match build up will concentrate on Ireland's record try scorer O'Driscoll, who becomes the second Irishman to reach 100 caps after prop John Hayes crossed the century line against England.

"You don't really look on it as 'oh one day I want to attain 100', if it comes well and good," O'Driscoll said.

"At the start you want to get as many caps as possible and then your mindset changes and you want to win as many times as possible and then you get selfish and you want to win trophies.

"(But) I have always just played with the thought that the next game you play in a green shirt might be (the) last and I don't think you can go too far wrong if you have that attitude."

Ireland:

Geordan Murphy, Tommy Bowe, Brian O'Driscoll (captain), Gordon D'Arcy, Keith Earls, Jonathan Sexton, Tomas O'Leary; Cian Healy, Rory Best, John Hayes, Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell, Stephen Ferris, David Wallace, Jamie Heaslip. Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tony Buckley, Leo Cullen, Shane Jennings, Eoin Reddan, Ronan O'Gara, Robert Kearney.

NEWS24

Sharks' coach John Plumtree says his team will carry on fighting for their first win of the Super 14 season and he hoped they would get on a roll after that.

After their desperately unlucky loss to the Waratahs on Saturday, the Sharks now have just the game against the Brumbies remaining in Australia before heading back to New Zealand to play the Hurricanes and Highlanders.

The refereeing in the Waratahs' game was controversial and as captain John Smit said afterwards, when you lose three games in a row, the rub of the green goes against you.

Coach John Plumtree told the Sharks website: "There were some big decisions that went against us and they seriously cost us. Everybody has been talking about the slap-down of Stefan’s pass to Ryan which would have been a try but for that act of cynical play from Kurtley Beale. There was also a pass to Bismarck du Plessis that was called forward which on analysis was shown to be legitimate and again we would have scored from."

He added that the Sharks simply have to move on from decisions that don’t go their way and which he said "crop up every now and again and which are a part of the game".

"It happens and we are not focusing on it in our post-match analysis."

Talking about the match, he told the Sharks website he felt that the Sharks were starting to look like the team they want to be, but was disappointed that they didn’t get it all right.

"There were some good signs of us getting our game going again but we are still not accurate enough.

"We need to get all facets of our game working well, all at the same time because when one thing goes right, we tend to undo all the good work that went into it by not performing accurately enough in another area.

"But when we got consistency going, we were able to put 15 phases together and managed to score a really good team try - being helped by the new refereeing interpretations at the breakdowns which allow teams to string together a number of phases. If you can keep hold of the ball and remain accurate with it, enough to take advantage of the quicker ruck ball, you can really put the opposition under immense pressure and eventually tire them out."

However, one area that disappointed him was the lack of discipline at times which could have proved more costly.

"I was very annoyed with our discipline and have been for a while. I read the riot act to the guys in our post-match analysis. I told the guys that the next player to get a yellow card gets a red card from me.

"When you are down on your luck and trying really hard to get out of a hole, you can’t then make it tougher for the team by getting yourself binned. It is just silly and stresses the team unnecessarily.

"This has been creeping into our game now for a while and it has to stop right now. We were always a side that prided itself on discipline both on and off the field."

On the flip side, there were other positives to take out of the game, especially the spirit and commitment demonstrated when the chips were down.

"I was very pleased with the character the team showed when we came back from 25-14 down," said the coach. "We played the better rugby for most of the second half and finished pretty much on top. I was also proud of the guys because after the Crusaders game we made a promise to each other that we would not give up and they are sticking to that promise.

"We will just carry on fighting until we get that first win and hopefully get on a roll."

Plumtree confirmed on the Sharks website that the bad news that flank Keegan Daniel took a knock to the head and will undergo concussion testing in the latter stages of the week to assess the severity and that Odwa Ndungane's hamstring was a concern as well.

"He [Daniel] is certainly doubtful for the Brumbies game. Odwa has a slight hamstring strain and will be monitored during the week."

RUGBY365

He may well be South Africa’s form hooker so it was not surprising that the Vodacom Stormers recalled Tiaan Liebenberg to the starting team on Wednesday for Saturday’s Super 14 showdown with the Hurricanes at Newlands.

But had Liebenberg been less experienced and a lesser player, it would surely have been a much closer run thing following replacement Deon Fourie’s outstanding performance against the Highlanders when Liebenberg was off with flu last weekend.

Apart from scoring the first Stormers try, Fourie was all over the field, repeatedly popping up as the man who took the passes that put the Stormers into gaps, and on a few occasions giving the impression he could quite happily carry half the Highlanders pack on his back.

Fourie makes way for Liebenberg in the only change to the side that won 33-0 against the Highlanders. Sireli Naqelevuki, who got his chance in the starting team ahead of Gio Aplon, who was also laid low with flu, gets to stay in the team by virtue of the many metres he gained for the Stormers across the gainline against the Highlanders.

“It is always difficult to leave out a player who is in form, and Gio was in form before he was laid out with flu last week, but Sireli played well against the Highlanders, and the statistics showed that he gained several metres for us during the game,” said coach Allister Coetzee.

“With Tiaan coming back for Deon, we know Deon did well against the Highlanders, and we could not have asked for more than what he gave. It is really good to have a player of his quality pushing for a place. But we all saw the form Tiaan was in before last week, and we know the massive influence he has on the drive as well as in our scrumming.”

There is also the small matter that the Hurricanes do include some experienced All Blacks in their pack, and one of them is hooker Andrew Hore. Liebenberg’s experience will be crucial in what the Stormers are expecting to be a highly physical battle.

“We know they will probably target our scrum, but we feel our scrum has developed to a point where we should be equal to the challenge,” said Coetzee.

In terms of the importance of the game, Stormers skipper Schalk Burger said that last week’s win over the Highlanders had taken a bit of the pressure off, but that his men were extremely wary of what the Hurricanes are capable of.

“The Cheetahs beat the Hurricanes by being very direct with their attacking and also good with their defence, but I hope the Hurricanes don’t take out their frustrations from that game out on us as they are a team that can be hot and cold. When they are hot, they are very hot as they have several game-breakers,” said Burger.

Stormers team:
Joe Pietersen, Sireli Naqelevuki, Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh, Bryan Habana, Peter Grant, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger (captain), Andries Bekker, Anton van Zyl, Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Wicus Blaauw.
Substitutes: Deon Fourie, JC Kritzinger, De Kock Steenkamp, Pieter Louw, Ricky Januarie, Lionel Cronje, Gio Aplon.

NEWS24

The return of Springbok loose forwards Pierre Spies and Dewald Potgieter to the starting line-up for Saturday’s Super 14 rugby match against the Highlanders at Loftus Versfeld is the main selection news from the Blue Bulls camp.

Spies comes in for Danie Rossouw who moves to lock in place of Flip van der Merwe who drops to the bench.

On the other flank Derick Kuun is retained ahead of Deon Stegmann. “This is in accordance with our squad system and the agreement with players,” said Bulls coach Frans Ludeke at the team announcement on Wednesday.

“Every one of the players has been playing good rugby. The squad system is working well and all the players understand it.”

Ludeke has selected Stegmann and another loose forward, Pedrie Wannenburg, on the bench. He views the breakdown play of the Highlanders as one of their strong points for which he has made provision with the inclusion of the two additional loose forwards in a bench that boasts five forwards.

Prop Bees Roux was originally selected as one of the replacements but cut his eye against the scrumming machine on Wednesday morning. He is replaced on the bench by Rossouw de Klerk, who moves up from the Vodacom Cup side.

The versatility of wing Francois Hougaard who can cover at scrumhalf and the two backs on the bench, Jacques-Louis Potgieter and Jaco van der Westhuyzen who can cover the positions of flyhalf and centre in the case of Potgieter and fullback and flyhalf in the case of Van der Westhuyzen has made more backs on the bench an unnecessary luxury.

Springbok scrumhalf Heini Adams will therefore play for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in what could be a crunch match against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The Bulls team is: Zane Kirchner, Gerhard van den Heever, Stephan Dippenaar, Wynand Olivier, Francois Hougaard, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Dewald Potgieter, Derick Kuun, Victor Matfield (capt.), Danie Rossouw, Werner Kruger, Gary Botha, Grthro Steenkamp.

Substitutes: Bandise Maku, Rossouw de Klerk, Flip van der Merwe, Deon Stegmann, Pedrie Wannenburg, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

SAPA

The Auto and General Lions will welcome back gamebreaker Jano Vermaak to Vodacom Super 14 action against the Waratahs on Friday after the nippy scrumhalf was included in their match day 22 after arriving in Sydney less than 24 hours earlier.

Vermaak has just overcome a long term injury and will start off the bench as Coach Dick Muir returned to his more tried and trusted starting fifteen after rotating much of the squad last weekend.

Former All Black Carlos Spencer returns to the squad as one of six changes to the starting line-up that lost to the Brumbies in Canberra last week. Spencer missed the match with a pectoral muscle injury.

The Lions will be looking for their first win in this year’s competition against a Waratahs side which only scored their opening victory against the Sharks in dramatic fashion last weekend.

Spencer’s return sees Burton Francis move back to the bench while Earl Rose returns for Michael Killian at fullback.

With Dusty Noble back in South Africa after tearing his cruciate ligaments on his knee, Wandile Mjekevu moves up from the bench to the left wing, with new arrival Wigan Pekeur on the bench after making the trip with Vermaak.

Franco van der Merwe returns to the lock position while the front row of Hannes Franklin and Heinke van der Merwe also return after being on the bench last week.

George Earl drops out of the 22 with Jacques Lombaard keeping his place on the bench, while Robert Kruger also gets his first selection in the starting 22. Charles Emslie and JC Janse van Rensburg drop down to the bench for the game after starting last weekend.

Team: Earl Rose; Tonderai Chavhanga, Walter Venter, Doppies la Grange, Wandile Mjekevu; Carlos Spencer, JP Joubert; Todd Clever, Derick Minnie, Cobus Grobbelaar (c), Willem Stoltz, Franco van der Merwe, Kevin Buys, Hannes Franklin, Heinke van der Merwe.

Reserves: Charles Emslie, JC Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Lombaard, Robert Kruger, Jano Vermaak, Burton Francis, Wigan Pekeur.

NEWS24

Andy Ellis is out injured, and Isaac Ross is back in the starting line-up - these are the two changes for the Crusaders as they head for Hamilton to take on the Chiefs in their North Island - South Island derby on Friday.

Thomas Waldrom and Ben Franks will both be available to take places on the replacements' bench.

No.8 Waldrom did not play in the victory over the Blues last weekend - the first match he has missed for the Crusaders - due to an Achilles tendon strain suffered in the previous week’s win over the Sharks. Prop Franks was sidelined last week by a knee strain. Both players were initially bracketed but came through training well on Wednesday.

Scrumhalf Kahn Fotuali’i gets his first start of the season, replacing Andy Ellis, who received a head knock against the Blues.

At lock Isaac Ross teams up with Brad Thorn, with Sam Whitelock on the replacements' bench after starting in the previous four matches.

Coach Todd Blackadder is expecting a tough encounter in Hamilton against a Chiefs' side which will be hurting after losing to the Reds last weekend.

"The Chiefs are always tough at home and they obviously have some very exciting ball runners, but we’ll be well prepared and are looking forward to it," he said.

Crusaders: 15 Jared Payne, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Robbie Fruean, 12 Ryan Crotty, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Kieran Read, 7 George Whitelock, 6 Richie McCaw (captain), 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Ti'i Paulo, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Sam Whitelock, 19 Thomas Waldrom, 20 Willi Heinz, 21 Adam Whitelock, 22 Colin Slade.

Date: Friday, March 12
Venue: Waikato Stadium, Hamilton
Kick-off: 19.35 (06.35 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Matthew Stanish (New Zealand)
TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)

RUGBY365