In this week’s exclusive column, former Springbok prop Cobus Visagie discusses refereeing decisions and key match-ups.

I promise this is the last article I will publish about this subject. Cobus said it all, I cannot add any more. This is a good analysis by a Professional player with many years of experience.

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As a general rule I watch the rugby not the referee.

This of course doesn’t mean that I don’t shout at the referee (even in front of the TV knowing pretty well that he can’t hear me) when he makes mistakes. I can see when the referee has a bad game and of course I get upset but I am, as a spectator, more interested in how we play; what do we do with the ball; our structures and systems at the tackle ball; our game tactics; what is the script we are following; our defensive patterns; are we showing improvement on previous games in areas we didn’t do well; how is our scrum going; are we using starter moves; running angles of the backline; how well is No10 dictating the match and where does he take up position behind the scrums, at rucks and line-outs and so forth.

A consequence of all that is that I tend to reflect more on why didn’t we get things right or what went wrong and what can we improve on, independent of whether we lose or win after the match.  Continue reading

Our friend and fellow blogger, Ashley, felt strongly enough about the issue to send me the following Article to publish… this is his view on the matter and he asks certain rather interesting questions.

Here are his thoughts:

Has the hierarchy at New Zealand Rugby at last lost faith in their team? Have they (or at least some powerful individuals) at last reached a stage where they no longer believe that their team can win the World Cup on their own steam?

Well, from where I’m sitting it certainly seems to be the case.

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Following on from GrootBlouSmile’s article about South African rugby’s next step. Here is my input.

For South African rugby a new era is about to dawn. Soon Peter de Villiers will finish his contract and South Africa will look for a new coach. The South African Rugby Union need to be bold this time, they need to look at which candidate will have the ability to break the mould, someone who will be brave enough to change the way we attack, someone willing to get rid of the old guard and bring in youngsters who still have the ability to play without fear of losing, the new coach will have to find a new ethos and game plan for the Springboks, something that is long overdue.

GBS and BonzaiGBS

The South African National rugby shift boss…. errr sorry, coach appeared to have resigned in interviews in New Zealand, only to then deny that he had resigned upon arrival in South Africa. Whatever the situation, his 4-year contract comes to an end at the end of December 2011 anyway, which leaves the process open for a replacement to be appointed.

There has already been wide-spread speculation as to who the right candidates might be…. but that’s not why I am writing this Article!

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Danny Svoboda (in picture) played for Rhodesia in 1970 on the wing. The picture here shows him playing against the 1970 All Blacks touring side.

Danny’s widow, now living in Thailand, has contacted me in search of information about Danny.

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As you read this, Bakkies Botha is back in Pretoria, leaving behind him New Zealand and the next 3 games of the Rugby World Cup which ends on the 23 October.
Cause: “Achilles Tendon injury”.

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Halfway through a frustrating night -during which I slept little due to the massive disappointment of SA dropping out of the 2011 RWC- I started to see some reasons why the Springboks lost.

The thing that kept me awake most was the fact that the Springboks had 76% of the ball, dominated scrums and line-outs (Matfield taking 6 of their line-out balls), had territorial advantage for most of the match and had the Wallabies under massive pressure for almost the entire match and still lost the game.

Here are the 13 reasons I came up during my night of suffering.   Continue reading

John Smit was born on 3 April 1978 in Pietersburg, he went to Pretoria Boys High where he was head prefect and played for the first XV from 1996 to 1998. As natural born leader he was destined to become captain of the Springbok team and was identified at a very young age by Jake White, making his debut for South Africa against Canada at the tender age of 22. Since his debut in 2000 John Smit has played 111 test matches for South Africa, captaining his country on 83 occasions. South Africa won 69 of the 111 tests in which John Smit represented his country, he captained South Africa 83 times winning 54 tests.

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