Décès de NABOLE/TRAORE Mariam Eliane Marie Isabelle : Remerciements

A new competition dedicated entirely to rugby’s most brutal contest is gaining traction, with a prop at the centre of the action.

Conor Ganley, a semi-professional front rower, has launched the Elite Scrummaging Championship – a tournament featuring nothing but scrums.

There is no ball and no scrumhalf, just eight-man packs going head-to-head in a test of power and technique.

“What more could you want as a prop forward?” Ganley told The Times. “All of us in the front row love scrummaging, and no one else really gets it.”

The concept is simple: eight teams compete in head-to-head bouts, pushing their opponents over the halfway mark in timed rounds.

It is, as Ganley describes it, “the world’s most brutal game of chess”.

MORE: Bok scrum here to stay

The eight teams are largely made up of players from the semi-professional or amateur levels three, four and five of the English pyramid. They will gather at Rosslyn Park in London on 2 May to sort the men … from the men.

“It’s like wrestling,” Ganley explained. “Eight of the biggest guys on the pitch, all alone. You can lift any weight in the gym you want, but it’s nothing like scrummaging.”

The idea has already caught the attention of top players, including Thomas du Toit.

“I’ve seen this! Sign me up,” the Bok prop told The Times.

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Manchester will come next after a second London event in August. He has had calls asking to bring the Elite Scrummaging Championship to Cape Town, Sydney, Boston or Chicago.

ALSO: World Rugby shuts down scrum-killing talk

How it works

• No ball, no scrumhalf.
• Teams made up of eight-man pack, two substitutes and a travelling reserve tighthead prop.
• Engagement sequence is “crouch, bind, set”.
• Hookers must show a “brake foot” (a foot extended in front of them to steady their pack).
• Once the scrum is steady, the referee will sound a horn to start the contest.

How it’s scored

• The aim is to drive the opposing pack over the halfway line.
• Each team starts with 10 points, like boxing.
• If all eight players cross halfway, they win the round 10-7. This is called a “blowout”.
• If no “blowout”, the greatest territorial gain wins, and a 10-9 score.
• Points are deducted for scrum infringements (e.g. collapsing, wheeling. pushing early, standing up).
• Any intentional collapse ends the round. Scored 10-7.
• Fighting is banned. Any scraps will result in an immediate round loss. 10-5.

FULL STORY

The post Saffa dream, Aussie nightmare: Nothing but scrums! appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.

The Sunshine Tour recognised some of the standout performances from its professionals at its 2025/26 Sunshine Tour Season Awards held at the De Zalze Winelands Golf Estate on Wednesday evening.

Amongst the notable awards of the evening, Casey Jarvis received the prestigious Commissioner’s Award in recognition of his outstanding performances in winning three times on the Sunshine Tour – including the DP World Tour co-sanctioned Investec South African Open – and a further victory on the DP World Tour alone. He also finished second in the Joburg Open.

“The Commissioner’s Award is in recognition of the player who broke through and just kept on achieving. Casey did exactly this over the season. He’s a wonderful young talent and we wish him all the best as he now looks forward to playing the Majors as well,” said Thomas Abt, Commissioner of the Sunshine Tour.

Herman Loubser won the Players’ Player of the Year Award, while Shaun Norris was honoured with the Sportsman of the Year Award, and Hennie Otto received the Executive Director’s Award for his longevity on the Sunshine Tour.

Loubser was recognised by his fellow professionals for a season in which he won on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series and had a further four top-five finishes in what has been his most successful season on the Tour.

“I wasn’t expecting this. When other players vote for you and they recognise how much work it takes and how hard it is to perform, it really is special to receive that,” he said.

Norris received the Sportsman of the Year Award for his act of sportsmanship during his playoff with Jayden Schaper in December’s Alfred Dunhill Championship, when he applauded Schaper’s brilliant fairway bunker shot onto the green in the playoff.

“We all strive to win tournaments, and here was a youngster with all the talent in the world who had a wonderful year leading up to that event. It’s hard to win, so for him in that position, to pull off a shot like that, I just felt it deserved an applause. I was amazed by the shot, so I just felt like congratulating him for even pulling it off, and then making the putt on top of it. He did everything correctly and he pulled it off, so for me it was just a case of knowing what it feels like to go through that and to try and win a tournament, which is not easy. I was very happy for him to pull that off,” said Norris.

Otto was recognised for his incredible longevity in a career that started on the Sunshine Tour in 1999 and which has seen him win multiple titles here and on the DP World Tour.

“The Sunshine Tour gave me opportunities and from there I was able to play on the HotelPlanner Tour and DP World Tour. I want to thank the Tour for where I am now. And to the younger professionals, I’d like to say please realise the opportunities you get through the Sunshine Tour to achieve your higher goals in the game,” said Otto.

In other awards, Daniel van Tonder received the Best Finish to Win Award for his phenomenal closing stretch of two birdies and an eagle to win the Serengeti Playoffs on the Courier Guy Playoffs series.
Haydn Porteous received the Comeback Player of the Year Award for winning on the Vodacom Origins of Golf series this season, his first victory on the Sunshine Tour since 2016.

And Kyle Barker received both the Media Choice Award, recognising the player who created the most engagement in promoting the Tour, and the Tour Style Award, voted by the players and recognising the individual who stood out for his overall presence on and off the golf course.

Reflecting on the significance of the awards, Abt said: “This was a wonderful celebration of our Tour and our players. We run a big Tour with roughly 30 events on our schedule, and this is a moment for the players to look back and realise they’ve done well this season.”

Issued By Michael Vlismas Media

The post Sunshine Tour Player Awards pay tribute to a season of Greatness appeared first on SportsClub.

L’équipe nationale d’Algérie a bouclé, jeudi matin, sa préparation en vue du match amical qui l’opposera au Guatemala. Prévue vendredi à 20h30 au stade Luigi Ferraris, cette rencontre s’inscrit dans le cadre des ajustements techniques avant les prochaines échéances officielles. Dans une ambiance studieuse et concentrée, les Verts ont effectué leur dernière séance d’entraînement, mettant […]

L’article Cap sur Gênes : les Verts prêts pour leur match amical est apparu en premier sur Shoot Africa.

Lesotho national team coach Bob Mafoso has explained how Seychelles suffocated his team into a goalless draw in Thursday’s 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) preliminary round qualifying match.

The islanders, faced with a lack of a certified home venue back home, hosted Likuena at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa in the preliminary round first leg match.

AFCON 2027 Qualifiers Update

Lesotho were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by Seychelles in the first leg of their preliminary round clash in Bloemfontein.

Likuena dominated but couldn’t find the breakthrough, while Seychelles put up a solid defensive display to earn a valuable… pic.twitter.com/jYSm0F6AcA

— Football Intel Africa (@_footballintel) March 26, 2026

Seychelles, playing to their strength, came up with a suffocating game-plan that left Lesotho with the ball but with nothing much to do with it.

How Lesotho tried to manage Seychelles aggression

In a post-match interview with the Lesotho Football Association, Mafoso credited the result to the hosts’ defensive solidity.

“It was a 90 minutes I would say where we controlled most phases, he said. “In the first 20 minutes we had the ball, we had the spaces to play into and they were a bit aggressive with transitions.”

Having struggled with Seychelles game-plan, the Lesotho coach noted improvements from his charges.

Mafoso said: “We managed to control their transitions and aggressions. Then from there, we controlled the game until the end of the first half. It was played in their defensive third but it was too compact. We were not patient enough. We rushed some of the decisions.

“We had a chance and if we had scored, they could have at least not have played in their box. It was a game where the home team defended very well with their numbers. I feel that one or two decisions could have helped us to win especially against a team playing in such a low block and you know you won’t have many opportunities because of the discipline of the home team.”

What next now between Lesotho and Seychelles?

Now it is the turn of Lesotho to host Seychelles on March 31 at the same venue in the reverse fixture.

The overall winner between Lesotho and Seychelles will secure a spot in the group phase of the AFCON finals which Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya will co-host in 2027.

A previous meeting with Seychelles in the preliminary round of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, saw Likuena advance to the next stage via a 3-1 aggregate score.