Brendan Venter, the Saracens director of rugby, was hit with
disciplinary charges on Wednesday after an outburst over the
standards of refereeing in the English Premiership.

Wallaby back Quade Cooper has returned to training with the
Queensland Reds as he awaits a court hearing on burglary charges,
club officials said on Thursday.

The Springboks, struggling to overcome the loss of more than
half the side that won the 2008/09 IRB Sevens World Series, have
been drawn with their Nemesis of late Fiji for the Las Vegas
tournament on February 13 and 14. South Africa also face hosts
United States and Canada in Pool B.

Bulls lock Bakkies Botha will be out for about three months and
will, therefore, miss a fair portion of the Bulls' Super 14
fixtures.

The Vodacom Bulls will play one warm-up fixture against the
Lions on January 30 in Polokwane before their Vodacom Super 14
tournament kicks off on February 12 in Bloemfontein.

It's generally good news for the Stormers on the injury front.
While they still have a number of players who are some time away
from fitness, there is the good news that flyhalf Willem de Waal
has started training.

Wasps coach Tony Hanks added his voice to the criticism of
refereeing standards in the English Premiership after his side lost
12-6 at home to Newcastle on Sunday.

English Premiership leaders Saracens signed Namibia forward Jacques Burger from Super 14 team the Bulls on Wednesday.

South Africa have the World Cup and the tri-nations title, and

was voted the 2009 IRB Team of the Year - but there can be little

doubt New Zealand were the Team of the Decade despite missing out

on two World Cups won by England (2003) and South Africa (2007)

respectively.

 New Zealand won the final of the IRB Sevens World Series

tournament in George when they beat Fiji 21-12 to become the new

champions with holders South Africa eliminated in the

quarterfinals.

Referee Rohan Hoffman was deservedly booed off the field in the

Cup quarter-final match between South Africa and Fiji which the

latter won 21-17 in the IRB Sevens World series at George on

Saturday.

Teams representing Argentina and Namibia were confirmed as

competitors in the 2010 Vodacom Cup competition at a meeting of the