Chance to shine for stragglers
With Farah Palmer Cup leaders Canterbury on their bye week, the competition will see two bottom-ofthe-table clashes.
The Premiership division’s Manawatu¯ will take on Waikato today, with neither side having won after two rounds.
Taranaki will host Tasman at the bottom of the Championship table.
Bay of Plenty play Auckland at Whakata¯ne’s Rugby Park today. BOP beat Auckland 34-29 last year and drew 10-10 in the rain in Whakata¯ ne in 2017.
Other FPC matches over the weekend include Hawke’s Bay hosting North Harbour and newcomers Northland hosting Otago.
Meanwhile, Canterbury will take a well earned rest after having two wins on the trot in the first and second rounds.
Canterbury beat Auckland 45-12 last Sunday, while Counties Manukau beat Manawatu¯ 43-14 in the last round.
The two teams are shaping up as the competition’s big hitters. Former South African coach Peter de Villiers won’t support the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup because of the handling of the Eben Etzebeth case.
Springboks lock Etzebeth has denied accusations of racism and is the subject of an investigation by the National Prosecuting Authority and the South African Human Rights Council into the alleged incident outside a bar in a South African resort town late last month.
The Boks have kept the former skipper in their Cup squad and he is in Japan preparing for next week’s opening match against the All Blacks.
De Villiers, who coached the Springboks at the 2011 World Cup to end a four-year term in charge, believes Etzebeth should have been suspended while an investigation took place.
He cited the recent case of England cricketer Ben Stokes, who was put on the sidelines while charges of affray played out. Stokes was eventually cleared.
‘‘I take allegations of racism personally because if you use racist words against the average man in the street then you can easily use it against me as well.
‘‘By simply accepting Etzebeth’s word and not launching an investigation, South Africa Rugby missed an opportunity to show that they are serious about stamping out racism.
‘‘I therefore cannot support the Springboks at this year’s World Cup,’’ De Villiers told Planet Rugby.
‘‘An internal investigation into the matter would have been the right thing to do as those are serious accusations made against the player.
‘‘I find it disappointing that black administrators at SA Rugby like [president] Mark Alexander and [deputy president] Francois Davids have not done the right thing by launching an investigation and suspending the player until he has cleared his name.’’
De Villiers, the first non-white coach to be in charge of the Boks, believes other South Africans could follow his stance.
‘‘We already have several black rugby fans here in South Africa backing teams like the All Blacks and with allegations like racism rearing its ugly head against a prominent player, it could result in more people deserting the Springboks for other teams,’’ he said.