all teams named for semi finals

chiefs
Gareth Anscombe, Lelia Masaga, Charlie Ngatai, Andrew Horrell, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Aaron Cruden, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Matt Vant Leven, Tanerau Latimer, Liam Messam, Brodie Retallick, Craig Clarke (c), Ben Tameifuna, Hika Elliot, Toby Smith. 
Res: Rhys Marshall, Ben Afeaki, Mike Fitzgerald, Sam Cane, Augustime Pulu, Bundee Aki, Robbie Robinson.
v
crusaders
1. Wyatt Crockett, 2. Corey Flynn, 3. Owen Franks, 4. Luke Romano, 5. Sam Whitelock, 6. George Whitelock, 7. Matt Todd, 8. Kieran Read (c), 9. Andy Ellis, 10. Dan Carter, 11. Zac Guildford, 12. Tom Taylor, 13. Ryan Crotty, 14. Tom Marshall, 15. Israel Dagg.
Replacements: 16. Ben Funnell, 17. Joe Moody, 18. Luke Whitelock, 19. Richie McCaw, 20. Willi Heinz, 21. Tyler Bleyendaal, 22. Adam Whitelock.


Super Rugby Semi-Final (Match D)
Match No.123/125: Chiefs v Crusaders
Date : Saturday 27 July, 2013
Venue : Waikato Stadium, Hamilton, New Zealand
Kick Off local: (1935 local, 1735 NSW/ACT, 0935 SAT, 0735 GMT)
Referee: Steve Walsh
Assistant Ref 1:Glen Jackson
Assistant Ref 2:Chris Pollock
TMO : Glenn Newman



bulls
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Mornè Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Dewald Potgieter (c), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Mornè Mellett, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Jürgen Visser.
v
brumbies
15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Clyde Rathbone, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 George Smith, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Ruan Smith, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 Colby Faingaa, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Andrew Smith, 22 Joe Tomane.


Super Rugby Semi-Final (Match C)
Match No.124/125: Bulls v Brumbies
Date : Saturday 27 July, 2013
Venue : Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, South Africa
Kick Off local: (1705 local, 0305 NZ, 0105 NSW/ACT, 1505 GMT)
*Date will be Sunday 28 July in Australian Central Eastern/Central and NZ time zones.
Referee: Craig Joubert
Assistant Ref 1:Jaco Peyper
Assistant Ref 2:Stuart Berry
TMO :Shaun Veldsman

howdy peeps, no teams named just yet, but here are the officials involved with the semifinals fixtures.

some news regarding some of the teams though, the bulls and crusaders are looking good on the injury front, both are expected to name full fit teams and in the crusaders case the same as last week is the safe bet.

chiefs have got a few injury concerns though, ben afeaki, ben taumafuina, hika elliot and brodie retallick are managing preexisting injuries, while sam canehas a head knock he suffered against the blues which has rennie and co keeping a close eye on him, maybe olecruz could shed some light here???
i read that tim nani william is very likely to miss out on the semifinals too, this is an even bigger blow for the chiefs, but a boost for the crusaders.

didnt hear a peep from whites brumbies, but i wouldnt be surprised to see rathbone hit the bench for tomane who had more of an impact last week against the cheetahs, to be fair to rathbone though, speight was a big meh too, but speight and tomane have been the best brumbies wingers all year.

 Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Mornè Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Dewald Potgieter (c), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.

Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Mornè Mellett, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Jürgen Visser.

Brumbies: 15 Jesse Mogg, 14 Henry Speight, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Clyde Rathbone, 10 Matt Toomua, 9 Nic White, 8 Ben Mowen (c), 7 George Smith, 6 Peter Kimlin, 5 Sam Carter, 4 Scott Fardy, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Scott Sio.

Replacements: 16 Siliva Siliva, 17 Ruan Smith, 18 Fotu Auelua, 19 Colby Faingaa, 20 Ian Prior, 21 Andrew Smith, 22 Joe Tomane.

*update.*

brumbies and bulls have been updated, :o)

kruger injured??? pretty much a full strength team minus kruger botha and spies, brumbies have got their work cut out for them.
it dosent help that white continues with rathbone over tomane, thats just crazy. they are going to have to be very disciplined, otherwise mornes boot will punish them

hope the cheifs and crusaders are named tomorrow.

Mogg is probably going to get a lot of work..... Can he handle it though?

*update*

crusaders have been updated, :o)

thats one bad ass team, chiefs wont be feeling too comfortable IMO.

* Edit*

Team originally posted on Chiefs website and  I pasted here has been changed. Corrected team below:

Chiefs: Gareth Anscombe, Lelia Masaga, Charlie Ngatai, Andrew Horrell, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Aaron Cruden, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Matt Vant Leven, Tanerau Latimer, Liam Messam, Brodie Retallick, Craig Clarke (c), Ben Tameifuna, Hika Elliot, Toby Smith.

Res: Rhys Marshall, Ben Afeaki, Mike Fitzgerald, Sam Cane, August Pulu, Bundee Aki, Robbie Robinson.

 Bumping to the top - please note corrected Chiefs team

*update*

chiefs have been updated, nice work boys, :o)

i am shocked to see bundee aki dropped to the bench though and while i rate andrew horrel a lot, bundee has been a real find for the chiefs in 2013.
the selection of andrew horrel tells me that chiefs have adopted more of a kicking strategy, as they now have three solid tactical kickers in the team with cruden and anscombe being the other two.

Mike,

If there isn't a Bulls Crusaders final you could lose that podium spot... Oimatey will pounce!!

I really have no idea who to pick for my last centre position. I have 13 trades left as well so I really want to use at least 1 or 2 more for this round. I was thinking Steyn for Lealifano?? Any suggestions??

Moore

Chilliboy

Romano

Sam Whitelock

Read

Matt Todd

Dan Carter

Lealiifano

Ryan Crotty

??????

Dagg

Tom Marshall

@canrugby,

steyn and leilafano are both flyhalves, so u wont be able to recruit them in the centers, and errrrrrr u already have leilafano in ur team??? o_O

jan serfontein is a nice pick, hes dirt cheap and been a consistent points cow, IMO he and crotty will be the two most popular picks for centersm especially with budee on the bench.

Sasuke,

I wasn't meaning Steyn for Lealiifano in the centre position. I just read my post again and I actually do make it sound like that. Sorry.

I was asking two questions. Who to put at centre, and if I should switch Steyn for Lealiifano.

Serfontein scares me a bit. If you look at his points throughout the year it's actually not that great. Against the Brumbies in round 7 he only had 150 points. His two biggest games were against the Kings, where he scored a try each time, and after that only had two other big games.

Can - FWIW I switched Steyn for Lealifano and picked Serfontein at center. Considered Ngatai

Testrugby roster:

Moore

Elliot

Romano

Whitelock

Reid

Todd

Carter

Steyn

Crotty

Serfontein

Mogg

Marshall

Haven't got to Foxsport yet - with unlimited transfers, 15 roster spots and 8 reserves its a lot of thinking especially as the salary cap is finally starting to become a factor, unlike Testrugby where it was a factor early in the season but is no longer.

Thanks, Oimatey. I'm probably going to do it as I have 13 transfers left.

You are going with Mogg, eh? I was thinking about that as well. He should get a lot of work.

ive done both my teams, but will prob tweak the foxsport on sat.

testrugby
FR: chiliboy ralepelle, stephen moore
LK: sam whitelock, peter kimilin
LF: jacques potgiter, kerean read
HV: dan carter, christain leilafano
CT: ryan crotty, jan serfontein
OB: tom marshall, jese mogg

made three changes, all cheetahs memebers with labuschange, strauss and ebehrson all out of here, had i more transfers , would have been a differnt story, but a nice learning curve for next year.

@canrugby,
ur right, serfontein hasnt been all that according to testrugby, hes been solid on foxsport though, and has come a long way since then, so IMO hes still a pretty good investment, but u have a nice luxury of a few transfers under ur belt and both ngati and horrel are dencet choices too, got a feeling horrels regarded as an outsideback though, o_O

 Yep Can - thinking Mogg gets a lot of work (kick catch is 20 points) and the Bulls kick-and-chase is  a lot better than the Cheetahs at putting the catcher under pressure so he should have to run it more than he did against the Cheetahs which may get some go-forward points. Brumbies fortunes lie with Moggs counter-attacking IMO - if he is able to get the Bulls on the backfoot territorially but more importantly is able to find space running the ball it will make all the difference. He has to be a lot more aggressive than he was against the Cheetahs.

Sas - c'mon man ! Give me a look-see at your Foxsport lineup so I can see where I could possibly get an edge - hahaha, just kidding. Better keep it under wraps bud, I'm gunning for you !!  I usually wait for the last few hours before doing that one too, will have to take some risks in an attempt to bridge the gap.

@oimatey,

LMAO, :oD

here u go bro, but i am most likely going to tweak it.

foxsport
PR: ben taumafuina, owen franks, (R) scott sio
HK, chilliboy ralepelle (c), (R) stepehen moore,
LK: brodie retallick, sam whitelock, (R) matt van leven
LF: george smith, kerean read, matt todd, (R) dewald potgeiter
HB: francois hougaards, (R) tarewa kerr barlow
FH: daniel carter, (R) matt toomua
CT: jan serfontein, ryan crotty, (R) jj engebrechtt
OB: leilala masaga, israel dagg, tom marshall, (R) clyde rathbone

considering starting sio over big ben, van leven over retallick and jj over crotty.
not sold on masaga either, mogg and speight are serious contenders to get a call in.
the unlimited transfers does help big time though with selections, as because u know u have umilited transfers, ur bench is not as important as it usually is during the year, so u can put the odd cheap player in there to help with the budget. i am a big fan of how testrugby is not so forgiving transfer wise, :o)

 Good team mate.

I am concerned about Retallick simply because it was a race for him to get healthy so I would imagine that he is probably playing at 80%, if that? I am probably going to start Moore at hooker. Got burnt by Speight last week (4 points) so don't think I'm starting him again. Mogg I like more in Testrugby simply because you get points for all his catches (almost as much as a goal kick), but if he goes to kicking it all the time like he did against the Cheetahs it could really hurt you in Foxsports point scoring - really hope that is not the gameplan !!!  

 Agree on the limited transfers in playoffs - think Foxsport should adopt it as well, much more challenging.