Monthly Archives: September 2010
Andy Leslie –the 1976 All Black Captain- said after the tour: “South Africa is a country at war”. The tour was a disturbing experience for the New Zealanders in many ways and is without a doubt the reason for the title of Terry McLean’s book on this tour.
Terry McLean entitled his book “goodbye to glory”. An interesting title and a choice based on the fact that this tour was in many ways an end. It was a goodbye to innocence in terms of separating rugby and politics for New Zealand rugby players because there is no glory in playing rugby against a country that treats more than half of his population as substandard humans. This tour was an eye opener for the New Zealand rugby people (players and administrators). As the teams prepared for the first test, in Durban, it was announced that Egypt had become the 29th country to boycott the Olympic Games in Montreal –a direct protest against the All Black tour. Continue reading
The Blue Bulls grabbed five valuable Currie Cup points in Potchefstroom on Saturday, but struggled to beat a game Leopards side 39-26.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) moved swiftly to shift blame, following Springbok utility back Frans Steyn’s claims that Bok coach Peter de Villiers has been disrespectful.
Lions (10) 22 / Sharks (10) 20 (Final Score)
The Xerox Lions hosted the Sharks at 17:05 SA Time at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & HD and on M-Net on TV in SA.
In a nail-biter till the end the Lions came back at the death to score a try through captain Franco van der Merwe and with the sucessful conversion from Elton Jantjies sealingthe win by only 2 points…. final score Lions 22 / 20.
College Rovers won the SAA National Club Champs for the first time in their history when they beat Maties 24-15 (halftime 11-5) at the Danie Craven Stadium on Friday.
Leopards (13) 26 / Blue Bulls (24) 39 (Final Score)
The Platinum Leopards hosted the Vodacom Blue Bulls at 15:00 SA Time totay. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 & HD and on M-Net.
The Bulls scored 6 tries to 2 by the Leopards, but the Leopards put up a brave fight against an off-colour Blue Bulls side.
Not good enough Blue Bulls, you face the WP next….
Racing-Metro’s South African back Francois Steyn says he’s prepared not to take part in next year’s World Cup because of the lack of respect shown to him and his club. Continue reading
WP (29) 48 / Griquas (3) 32 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Western Province hosted the GWK Griquas at Newlands, Cape Town at 19:10 on Friday 24 September 2010. This is the match threads for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSpor 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
WP never looked in danger to lose this game and scored 7 tries, but Griquas made a good comeback in the second half and scored 5 tries of their own.
2 Players got hat tricks in tries, J J Engelbrecht for WP and Bjorn Basson for Griquas.
The following rugby is on TV in SA oday and this weekend:
Springbok captain John Smit will get an opportunity next year to fill in the one gap that was left in his impressive CV following the 2007 World Cup triumph.
The SWD Eagles rugby side threatened on Wednesday to boycott Friday’s Currie Cup First Division rugby match against the Falcons at Outeniqua Park in George unless they are paid.
Here are the Team sheets for the Currie Cup Premier Division clashes of the coming weekend.
Coach Naka Drotske has announced 2 changes to the run on team that faces the Puma’s this weekend. Continue reading
The Blue Bulls Rugby Union believe the growing storm surrounding their signing of Springbok winger Bjorn Basson is an “internal matter” in the Cheetahs franchise and has nothing to do with them.
Suddenly there is a crop of younger players making an impression on South African rugby – Elton Jantjes (20), Patrick Lambie (19), Nick Köster (20), Jaco Taute (19) and in his second year of Currie Cup rugby, Wandile Mjekevu (19), Gerhard van den Heever (21) and Martin Bezuidenhout (just 21).
The KZN champions College Rovers have qualified for the SAA National Club Championship final following their deserving 33-14 victory over NWU-Pukke
Maties dethroned defending champions and Western Province arch-rivals Hamilton 45-19
Continue reading
Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu requested the use of rogue winger Lionel Mapoe for the upcoming Commonwealth Sevens tournament, but was refused by the Free State Rugby Union.
Vodacom WP coach Allister Coetzee today announced his team to take on the Griquas at Newlands on Friday 24 September 2010. Kick-off is at 19h10.
Springbok captain John Smit has officially been ruled out for the End of Year Grand Slam Tour as he is recovering from an operation. Continue reading
Gary Botha is back as captain and hooker for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their Absa Currie Cup clash against the Leopards in Potchefstroom on Saturday.
The ink has not yet dried on the Blue Bulls contract of Griquas and Springbok wing Bjorn Basson and already there have been major consequences for the Griqualand West Rugby Union (GWRU).
The recent actions by SA Rugby boss, Oregan Hoskins, in his ‘strongly worded letter’ to the big (5) unions on their apparent lack of commitment to transformation is particularly disturbing. Continue reading
The Vodacom Blue Bulls have made a massive coup by signing Griquas and Springbok winger Bjorn Basson to join them from November 1.
Western Province are comfortable with the knowledge that Griquas are coming to Cape Town on Friday in a desperate mood for if there is one thing they really want right now, it is to have their game subjected to a thorough examination.
Was this year really such a massive failure? What will Peter answer to questions and what plans will he put on the table.
If you were part of the review panel on the 28th of September , what would you ask Peter? Post your questions here.
The Blue Bulls are approaching their remaining Currie Cup league fixtures as quarterfinals and “must-win” games. Continue reading
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) should consider changes to its competition structures to ensure that promising black players, in particular, do not “disappear” between under-21 and senior level.
There are four periods of extended misery in Springbok rugby history: 1963-65, 1972-74, 1996-97 and 2000 to 2003. The 1972-74 period was of course the loss against John Pullen’s England team and the dreadful series lost against the 1974 lions. The period 1996 to 1997 –the Markgraaf/Du Plessis era- was a time when South Africa was able to win only 4 tests out of 12 against New Zealand. It was also during this period that South Africa lost, for the first time, -in its long rugby history- a series at home against the All Blacks. What made it worst is the fact that South Africa was the reigning world champions at the time. Continue reading
Defending champions Hamiltons of Western Province and 12-time winners Maties will clash in a crunch semifinal at the SAA National Club Champs after both sides powered through their last-eight matches at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Monday.
National rugby coaches are like lightning conductors for raw emotions and there is no such place on earth like the seat of the South African rugby coach, he gets struck multiple times with the intensity of heaven and hell colliding.
Apologies herewith for the hour or so that the site was down today. Apparently our Web Host had updated their Kernel, which caused some problems.
Seems that they’re up and running now.
The Currie Cup clash between the Bulls and the Lions was marred as a contest by over zealous officating. Continue reading
Someone said earlier this week that some of the best coaches must come together and write a coaching manual. They said there is a need for it. I found this website and would like to share it with you. Rugby-Talk also added a section called LAWS & REGULATIONS, The links to this site can be found there.
Six teams are still jostling for semi-final places in the 2010 Absa Currie Cup as the Premier Division competition enters its final three weeks of league fixtures.
Archie Henderson: So the Tri-Nations wasn’t as bad as we thought. We might have lost all but one of the six matches against our old enemies and conceded the most tries, but – hell’s bells! – we made a lot of money going about it.