All Blacks
SA Rugby has hit back at SARPA in a strongly worded media release after accusations of dissatisfaction by SARPA and its members with the decisions taken on the blanket ban on all contracted Springboks. Continue reading
In the pre isolation years South Africa played 174 Tests winning 112 Tests, drawing 15 Tests and losing 47 Tests. With an overall win rate of 64% Continue reading
Reports are rife this morning that some contracted players are revolting against their conditioning programme and that certain agreements reached between them and SARU is being breached. Continue reading
The Vodacom Blue Bulls welcomes back Springboks Francois Hougaard, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Flip van der Merwe for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup clash against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Vodacom WP coach Allister Coetzee today announced his team to take on the Platinum Leopards at Newlands on Saturday 11 September 2010. Kick-off is at 17h00, and the game is NOT televised.
Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile is “furious” about the comment by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers that the Springboks support Blue Bulls prop and murder suspect Bees Roux.
“Goodness man! Get yourself a spokesperson!” was the advice offered by Stofile to the Bok coach.
Jake White wants his old job back – but only as an interim measure to help get Springbok rugby back on track before handing over to his former assistant, Allister Coetzee, after 2011.
Springboks (13) 39 / Wallabies (31) 41 (Final Score)
The Springboks hosted the Wallabies at Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein at 17:00 SA Time in their last Tri-Nations and Mandela Cup encounter of 2010. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, M-Net, SuperSport HD in SA.
Australia first squandered a 25-point lead, to clinch the game on full time with a successful long distance penalty by Kurtley Beale. Final score Wallabies 41 / 39.
The Springboks host the Wallabies in thier last Tri-Nations and Mandela Plate encounter of 2010 against one another.
As far as Tri-Nations glory goes, this is a dead rubber apart from playing to avoid the wooden spoon.
We preview this game below.
We preview the 4 Currie Cup Premier Division matches for this weekend.
3 Games are played tonight, 1 tomorrow.
The 4 matches to be played are:
- GWK Griquas vs Vodacom Free State Cheetahs – GWK Park, Kimberley, Friday 3 September 2010 at 17:00
- Platinum Leopards vs Barloworld Toyota Pumas – Friday 3 September 2010 at 19:00
- Xerox Lions vs Vodacom Western Province – Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, Friday 3 September 2010 at 19:10
- Vodacom Blue Bulls vs The Sharks – Loftus, Pretoria, Saturday 4 September 2010 at 19:15
The Wallaby coaching staff have replaced Saia Faingaa and Dean Mumm with the more experienced and hardened duo of Stephen Moore and Mark Chisholm. With some lineout wobbles in Pretoria and some less than perfect scrum work, a change here can’t be a bad thing.
Super 15 franchise the Force, has released coach John Mitchell from the final year of his contract and the New Zealander will join the Golden Lions on a three-year contract. Continue reading
The Currie Cup, Premier Division Teams have been named for the weekend’s clashes.
The 19 contracted Springbok frontliners will be available for at least three Absa Currie Cup matches this year, in order to give them match practice before the end of the year tour.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) jointly announced a ground-breaking rights deal for Springbok players’ image rights with the Springbok Players’ Trust on Tuesday.
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers’ mouth has gotten him in trouble again after he claimed that the Springboks were “100 per cent” in support of accused murderer and Bulls rugby prop Bees Roux.
A lot has been said about the way the Springboks seemed to have stagnated in their play. The most obvious direction to pass blame is towards PDV and his assistant coaches. They are the ones who must give direction to the team. They are also primarily responsible for selecting a group of players that can fit into a game plan that is required to win tests. Continue reading
Vodacom WP coach Allister Coetzee today announced his team to take on the Xerox Lions at Coca-Cola Park, Johannesburg, on Friday 3 September 2010. Kick-off is at 19h10.
The possibility of further misery or a likely last chance in 2010 to get his Test-level act back together?
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers had a simple statement for all those critical of the national team even though they had won this weekend: Either you’re for us or you’re against us.
This year’s Club Champs takes place at Maties from Saturday 18 to Friday 24 September and, in addition to Hammies and Noordelike, will feature the country’s 14 provincial champions in a 16-team first-round draw.
Recordings of both After Match Press Conferences were made by me, both on Audio Format as well as seperately on Video Format.
The Audio Recordings:
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The Video Recordings: The Videos are long, so they’ll take long to buffer before playing, hope you have proper broadband
[cincopa 10732781]
Springboks (24) 44 / Wallabies (28) 31 (Final Score)
The Springboks hosted the Wallabies in their penultimate encounter against one another this year in the Tri-Nations at Loftus, Pretoria, South Africa at 17:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The game was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SuperSport HD and M-Net with previews from 16:00 SA Time.
In a very strange match, the Springboks proved too tough for the Wallabies, running in 5 tries to 4.
What was apparent to me of this match was how severely off form Bryan Habana was the whole match and what a positive impact Chiliboy Ralepelle made as a substitute for a lacklustre John Smit.
Francois Hougaard is my Man Of The Match!
Victor Matfield did a lap of honour after the match to celebrate his 100th Test Cap.
Time for some tough decisions for Peter de Villiers….. put Bryan Habana and John Smit out to pasture, their time has come and gone!
Former Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer on Friday presented the Springbok jerseys to the Test team playing the Wallabies in a Tri-Nations Test at Loftus on Saturday.
For lock Victor Matfield this was a special occasion on the eve of his 100th Test match.
Pumas (10) 22 / Blue Bulls (11) 21 (Final Score)
The Barloworld Toyota Pumas hosted the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit at 19:10 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 7 on DSTV in SA.
The Pumas scored 4 tries, earning their bonus point and showed massive heart to beat the Bulls 22 / 21.
Well done Pumas.
The Springboks host the Wallabies at Loftus, Pretoria at 17:00 on Saturday 28 August in the 2nd last Tri-Nations encounter between the 2 teams for 2010.
We see the match like this:
The 4 Currie Cup Premier Division games all happen tonight, Friday night 27 August 2010, with only 2 of the 4 games broadcast live on TV, that of WP vs Free State Cheetahs (SuperSport 1) and Pumas vs Blue Bulls (SuperSport 7)
Here are the Team sheets:
John Smit was answering fan questions in the Springbok E-zine and was asked how long he still feels he can play at this level.
Despite consistent criticism throughout this year’s Vodacom Tri-Nations campaign, and a mediocre showing in his 100th Test match, where his fitness and form was consistently questioned, Smit still believes he can soldier on until the World Cup.
The captain was visibly irritated last week by questions about him retiring and a rumour that went around that he would call it a day after the 100th cap. After missing the tackle that cost the Boks the game against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium, he has returned this week more determined than ever to make up for his mistake.
A few little tit-bits regarding the rest of the Tri-Nations of 2010.
Ex Test prop Toks van der Linde, now part-time TV presenter, will become the first Ex-Springbok to sing the National Anthem on-field ahead of the Tri-Nations clash between the Springboks and Wallabies at Loftus on Saturday.
At the end of this year’s Tri-Nations the Springbok management will have to stand objectively and clinically look at the difference between blind loyalty and blind faith as opposed to reward in selecting the best Bokke to lead them into next year’s Rugby World Cup.
This is not their only poser, they have to decide whether Assistant Staff has the ability and afinity to take it competently from here as well as how to adapt or fine-tune game plans for the World Cup.
Today I look at player selection only, the game plan strategies and coaching staff will have to wait for another time.
The Cheetahs have opted for a change at flyhalf for their long trip south to take on Western Province in Cape Town for their Currie Cup clash on Friday.
Francois Steyn, who has been called up for South Africa’s Tri-Nations match against Australia, is “not ready” for Test rugby, according to his Racing-Metro coach Pierre Berbizier.
The Springboks have made two changes to their starting line-up for the Vodacom Tri-Nations Test against Australia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.
The New Zealand media wasted no time in getting another dig in at South African head coach Peter de Villiers.
The World Cup holders, the Springboks, are not in good health and the South African Rugby Union will be bonkers if Peter de Villiers, the fake coach, should remain in charge.