SA Rugby
Bismarck du Plessis
Their Castle Rugby Championship 2014 hopes having taken a stinging blow with that controversial, late loss to Australia, South Africa need to find an A-game against formidable New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday … and to have the best chance they must employ every A-grade player they can muster.
Bismarck du Plessis is one such character, his pedigree hardly disputed anywhere in the rugby world, and with others like Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie currently unavailable in berths where the Springbok are battling, it makes little sense to muzzle this particular pit-bull to a presence among the substitutes again.
Akona Ndungane
Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke recalled Springbok wings Akona Ndungane and Bjorn Basson to his team to face the EP Kings at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Friday (19:10 kick-off).
They replace Sampie Mastriet and Jamba Ulengo, who started against the Golden Lions last week. They are two of three changes to the backline for the clash in Port Elizabeth.
In another rotational move, Piet van Zyl will start at scrumhalf, with Rudy Paige moving to the bench.
It has been widely acknowledged that the standard of refereeing in the Rugby Championship this past weekend was less than stellar. All lovers of the game, from fans through to coaches and players, are justifiably exasperated by such result-affecting calls by refs.
Sadly, this is not the first time and, probably, won’t be the last time the rugby world is incensed by sub-standard refereeing performances – unless something proactive is done to address what is a very real problem.
What is missing in all the blustery huffing and puffing though, are solutions or suggestions that the IRB (or World Rugby) can use to address the problem.
So here are my suggestions. My solutions. As just a passionate lover of the sport. See if you agree or disagree. Pick them apart. Point out their weaknesses. Tell me why they won’t work. No hard feelings. All I ask is that for every criticism, you offer an alternative solution.
Hopefully with all the traffic Rugby Talk.com is attracting these days, someone of influence will read all our comments and maybe… just maybe… do something positive with them.
I believe a three-part solution will sort out most of the issues but, like anything, there has to be the political will to address and sort out the problem instead of worrying about offending egos or apportioning blame.
Chester Williams
Former Springbok wing Chester Williams wants to get involved in transforming rugby in South Africa.
In an interview with the Cape Times, Williams said he supported the SA Rugby Union’s new Transformation Strategic Plan, which aims to bring all of South Africa’s representative rugby teams, along with domestic teams in line with national targets in five years.
SARU wants to make sure that by 2019 at least half the Springbok side consists of players of colour, with 60% of those required to be black African.
Jean De Villiers
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers cannot quite believe that he is about to play his 100th Test match, given he felt he might not even get a second after he destroyed ligaments in his knee, seven minutes into his debut.
The centre spent nine months recuperating after that Test against France in Marseille in November 2002, returned to play a game as the Springboks warmed up for the 2003 World Cup in Australia, then suffered a shoulder injury.
Tony Johnson
There’s work to be done yet, but the All Blacks are in the driver’s seat for the Rugby Championship after the events of Saturday night.
With the Springboks losing in Perth, a New Zealand win in Wellington this weekend will give the All Blacks the chance to wrap up the title in La Plata, ahead of their return clash with South Africa at Ellis Park.
The win in Napier should be put into context – they contained a powerful forward pack that had bossed the Springboks about in two tests and scored the requisite four tries in very tricky conditions. That’s a good night’s work.
South Africa have opted to look internally, rather than focus on and get distracted by external sideshows.
Speaking ahead of the Springboks Rugby Championship Round Four encounter with arch rivals New Zealand, in Wellington on Saturday, assistant coach Ricardo Loubscher said this week is all about themselves – as they look to bounce back from last week’s heartbreaking loss to Australia.
Cosatu’s provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich.
Trade union federation Cosatu says it wholeheartedly supports the SA Rugby Union’s plans to ensure that half the Springbok team is made up of players of colour by 2019.
SARU on Monday confirmed its Transformation Strategic Plan, which aims to bring all of South Africa’s representative rugby teams, along with domestic teams in line with national targets in five years.
SARU wants to make sure that by 2019 at least half the Springbok side consists of players of colour, with 60% of those required to be black African.
Spiro Zavos
When Rob Horne cut inside the Springboks covering defence and headed for the line to score the Wallabies’ last try I almost jumped out of my chair.
Then I started to rage that he had dived early rather than run round to create an easy conversion that would give the Test to the Wallabies 24-23.
Andrew Mehrtens
When there was so much positive to come from the two tests at the weekend and with the Wellington test holding all sorts of intrigue, I’m sorry to start this week’s column with a bleat.
But I can’t help myself.
Why, of all the major sports around the world, does our game have the worst standard of international refereeing? And by a long shot.
OK, I accept that rugby is a complicated game with a lot of rules, and a lot to watch. But where are the referees with a feel for the game?
De Kock Steenkamp
Welsh club Ospreys have confirmed that they have signed Stormers lock De Kock Steenkamp on a three-year contract, despite the player having one more year on his contract in the Cape.
Steenkamp, 27, secured an early release from his Stormers contract and will join the PRO12 club after representing the Stormers on 49 occasions in Super Rugby and playing 59 games for the Western Province in the Currie Cup.
“Joining the Ospreys is a great opportunity for me and a challenge that I can’t wait to get stuck into,” said Steenkamp in a statement on Ospreys’ official website.
Ruan Pienaar
Get better as quickly as possible, Fourie du Preez!
That should be the earnest, continued wish of all astute Springbok enthusiasts… even given the knowledge that his return to fitness after an ankle operation for national team purposes probably only comes in time for next year’s roster.
But with 2015 hardly unimportant as it signals the advent of another World Cup, in the United Kingdom, that’s still not the worst scenario to mull over.
Jerome Garces
France’s Jérôme Garcès will referee the All Blacks v Springboks Rugby Championship clash in Wellington on Saturday.
Following a weekend of highly debatable referee, assistant referee and TMO decisions, Heyneke Meyer will be hoping Saturday’s crucial clash is free of controversy.
The Springboks’ remaining Rugby Championship matches will be refereed by Wales’ Nigel Owens (v Australia at Newlands on 27 September) and by England’s Wayne Barnes (v New Zealand at Ellis Park on 4 October).
Yes, Irish referee George Clancy made some howlers at the weekend, but the Springboks should really have no excuses for losing to Australia in Perth.
The Wallabies sneaked a 24-23 victory after at one stage trailing 23-14 in the second half.
The performance of Clancy was no doubt below par, but the decision-making and poor execution of skills of the Springboks should also be highlighted.
Here are FIVE key moments which cost the Springboks in their Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies in Perth:
SA Rugby transformation Agenda
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has confirmed its plans to ensure that half the Springbok team is made up of players of colour by 2019.
Rapport on Sunday revealed SARU’s Transformation Strategic Plan, which aims to bring all of South Africa’s representative rugby teams, along with domestic teams in line with national targets in five years.
Of the Springbok team currently competing in the Rugby Championship, 19% of the players are non-white, while only 12% are black African. Zimbabwean-born prop Tendai Mtawarira was the only black African player to start in the defeat to Australia in Perth, with Trevor Nyakane warming the bench.
But SARU wants to make sure that by 2019 at least half the Springbok side consists of players of colour, with 60% of those required to be black African.
SARU also set a mandate for Bok coach Heyneke Meyer to select at least five black players in his squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England as well as include seven players of colour in his match-day squad in the lead-up to the tournament.
According to Beeld, all 14 of South Africa’s provincial unions approved the new strategic plan on August 13 this year.
SARU has already shared the plan with SASCOC and the sports ministry. The next step is for SARU’s general council to approve the plan.
Jonathan Kaplan
Do I really need to confirm what everyone else already knows… This was not a good weekend for referees!
We are operating in a system where I have said that these type of weekends are not avoidable and until key elements of the system are exposed, and then adequately addressed, this will continue into the future.
The referees are not getting it right, and it is pointless saying after the fact, that things need to be looked at, when the writing was on the wall from the get go.
Not a happy camper: Lion’s coach Johan Ackermann
Xerox Golden Lions coach Johan Ackermann was close to tearing his hair out in frustration, not so much by the way his team stumbled to a 36-26 loss at the hands of the Vodacom Blue Bulls in their Absa Currie Cup encounter, but more by the refereeing decisions that negated his side’s normally strong scrum platform.
Ackermann called the contest “the most boring game” and admitted to being frustrated by referee Marius van der Westhuizen’s high penalty count – against both sides – at the set piece, that robbed the game of much momentum and made it a stop-start affair.
Greg Growden
The Wallabies have at last beaten someone perched above them in the world rankings.
It has taken awhile.
But if the Australian players and management seriously start believing they are back on track then it’s time for them to take some ‘truth pills’.
Their one-point win over the Springboks was deeply flawed, exposed many of their inherent weaknesses including a lack of discipline, and showed their fundamental skills are at best average.
The Wallabies can also no longer carry on about being a luckless team, as they received the benefit of a string of dreadful decisions from referee George Clancy, who should have his whistle confiscated after such a diabolical performance. The Springboks have every right to cry foul as they were victims of numerous Clancy blunders.
Springbok captain Jean de Villiers will play in his 100th test against the All Blacks this coming Saturday.
It is fast becoming the “100 hoodoo” … and it is a trend South Africa must fight grimly to snap when they take on the might of New Zealand in the Castle Rugby Championship on Saturday (Wellington, 09:35 SA time).
Three of four Springboks to have earned the milestone for caps – Percy Montgomery, John Smit and now Bryan Habana – have had the big day soured to a significant extent by ending it in Test defeat.
In the cases of the first-named two, the reverses came at the hands of the very All Blacks, so there’s a potential hat-trick of heartbreak in the offing at the “Cake Tin”, because Bok captain Jean de Villiers hits the landmark then as fifth recipient for the country.
Griqua players celebrate their first win of the Currie Cup.
The mini-slump being experienced by the defending champions, the Sharks, is a key feature of the Currie Cup at its midway point in league play.
Two losses on the trot – after a three-match winning start that hadn’t produced much champagne rugby and was already delivering certain warning signs – have left the Durban-based side with an increasingly precarious hold on a “semi-final” slot.
They lie fourth on the overall table and with an awful lot of work to do in the second half of their ordinary-season roster if they are to recover enough ground to challenge for rights to a possible home final – perhaps simply making sure they actually get into the last four must be a shorter-term, lesser objective now.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer
The Springboks will need a monumental effort to down the All Blacks, but coach Heyneke Meyer believes South Africa can win for the first time in New Zealand in five years.
South Africa face to the world champions in Wellington next Saturday trailing by three points on the Rugby Championship standings after a last-gasp 24-23 loss to the Wallabies in Perth on Saturday.
It was the Springboks’ first defeat in this year’s four-nation tournament after winning back-to-back against Argentina, but they face their supreme test away to the All Blacks.
(Revised)
Will Genia and Joe Tomane will join the Wallabies but Henry Speight’s Test start will have to wait, as Australia begin preparations to face an improved Argentina on the Gold Coast this week.
It is understood Genia is some way off his Test return but will be brought into the training squad this week, along with Tomane and Rebels centre Tom English, after playing in the National Rugby Championship on Saturday.
But in a disappointing development over the weekend, Speight will remain in Canberra after pulling out of an expected NRC appearance with a sore hamstring.
Die Springbokke moet in die spieël kyk om te sien waarom hulle gister hier in die Patersons-stadion met 23-24 teen die Wallabies verloor het.
’n Drie deur die linkervleuel Rob Horne minder as twee minute voor die einde het die Bokke se lot verseël nadat hulle met ’n kwartier se speeltyd steeds ’n voorsprong van nege punte (23-14) gehad het.
’n Keerpunt was die geelkaart wat Bryan Habana, met 15 minute oor, gekry het vir ’n beweerde hoogvat op Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Centurion Bryan Habana
The Springboks will seek “clarity” around Bryan Habana’s controversial sin-binning but have refused to blame match officials for their one-point loss to the Wallabies in Perth.
Referee George Clancy’s call to pull a yellow card from his pocket in response to Habana’s high shot on Australian winger Rob Horne in the 65th minute lit up social media with a torrent of criticism for Clancy and the International Rugby Board’s management of its match officials.
And while a clearly agitated Heyneke Meyer walked into the post-match media conference after the match, the South African coach demurred from jumping on board, calling instead for “consistency” across the board.
Blue Bulls (19) 36 / 26 (12) Golden Lions (Final Score)
The Vodacom Blue Bulls and Xerox Golden Lions did battle in the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division at
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Sharks (8) 18 / 21 (15) Griquas (Final Score)
The Cell C Sharks and GWK Griquas did battle in the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division at
Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban at 17:05 SA Time (15:05 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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New Zealand (13) 28 / 9 (6) Argentina
It was never going to be pretty, but the All Blacks will find plenty to admire when they look back on a 28-9 win over Argentina.
Steve Hansen’s side delivered enough to keep their coach smiling as they ran in four tries to remain unbeaten in this year’s Rugby Championship.
FS Cheetahs (7) 17 / 31 (16) Pumas (Final Score )
The Toyota Free State Cheetahs and Steval Pumas did battle in the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division at
Free State Cheetahs at 15:00 SA Time (13:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Wallabies (11) 24 / 23 (14) Springboks (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and South African Springboks did battle in The Rugby Championship at
Patersons Stadium, Perth, Australia at 12:05 SA Time (18:05 AWST, 10:05 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & M-Net on TV in SA.
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Cheslin Kolbe
Western Province made it five from five in the Currie Cup with a convincing 49-14 win over the Eastern Province Kings at Newlands on Friday night.
The hosts, the only remaining unbeaten team in the Currie Cup, picked up their third bonus point win of the season in the process as they racked up seven tries whilst conceding just two, reports WP’s official website.
Skipper Juan de Jongh opened his team’s tally in the 11th minute when he snapped up a loose EP Kings pass, that after kickers Scott van Breda (Kings) and Demetri Catrakilis (WP) missed goal kicks inside the first ten minutes.
WP (21) 49 / 14 (7) EP Kings (Final Score)
DHL Western Province and the Eastern Province Kings did battle in the ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division at
Newlands, Cape Town at 19:10 SA Time (17:10 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
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Out of Africa: Bryan Habana trains with the Springboks in Perth this week.
Bryan Habana likes to talk about what rugby has done for him.
He talks about the 1995 World Cup, when he was an 11-year-old boy in a bubble of privilege with an abstract understanding of the dividing force of apartheid in his country, but no experience of its implications.
He talks about the path he was put on, one afternoon at Newlands Stadium, when his father pulled him out of school and drove him down from Johannesburg to watch the Springboks beat the Wallabies in the opening round of that historic tournament.
Jean de Villiers
South Africa captain Jean de Villiers says the Wallabies might be feeling some “psychological pressure” going into Saturday’s clash after dropping their last three Tests by 20 points or more to the Springboks.
After years of Mandela Challenge Plate dominance, the Wallabies have gone missing in the two sides’ last three hit-outs, going down 28-8, 38-12 and 31-8.
Who’s the man!! Victor Matfield celebrating the 2007 World Cup victory.
He is 37, last played a Test match in Australia four years ago — and he’s standing in the way of the Wallabies and redemption.
Victor Matfield, the legendary lock who will suit up for the Springboks on Saturday night, is one of world rugby’s all-time greats.
He’s been off the Wallabies’ radar for a while, understandable given that he retired from all rugby at the end of 2011. But after dusting off his boots at the start of the year he’s back firmly in their sights.
HE’S BEEN LABELLED A MAN OF STEEL
There’s adding steel to the Springboks pack, and then there’s literally adding steel to the Springboks pack.
Copping criticism: Wycliff Palu
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has rejected a stinging accusation that Wycliff Palu “dogged it” at Eden Park and let Australia down badly in the heavy loss to the All Blacks.
Former Test fullback Greg Martin made the comments on FoxSports Rugby HQ program on Thursday night and they caused a sizeable ripple in Perth ahead of the Wallabies’ next Test with South Africa tomorrow night.