Free State Cheetahs
Bok coach Pieter De Villiers has, once again, put his foot in his mouth. Continue reading
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers couldn’t put it more plainly. Despite all the talk of resting players and the World Cup next year, the only focus on the upcoming Grand Slam tour next month is winning.
Some tough decisions await Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and his management team when they assemble with their wider training group in Johannesburg on Friday.
Continue reading
A recent report suggested that following the contracted Springboks’ conditioning program, Peter de Villiers might reconsider his plans to rest some senior Springboks and include them on the End of the Year tour in November.
The South African Rugby Union confirmed its full support for the current Springbok coaching team on Friday and said planning was underway for the end-of-year tour.
Head coach Peter de Villiers and assistant coaches Dick Muir and Gary Gold met SARU president, Mr Oregan Hoskins, in Durban on Thursday evening.
We are kiling ourselves. There are far too many EGO’s in South African Rugby!
They say if you want loyalty, go and buy a dog. It certainly seems to be the case in South African rugby.
The disharmony between Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and his assistants Dick Muir and Gary Gold has reached a crescendo with De Villiers seemingly in a desperate search for new assistants before the Springboks embark on their end-of-year Grand Slam tour.
Is Bok rugby heading towards a crisis? Well given that De Villiers is seemingly scrambling to get experts on-board and all of them are turning him down, it seems we are getting pretty close. Continue reading
After the umpteenth “review” on Pieter de Villiers it is clear the coaching panel is now cast in stone for the upcoming World Cup in New Zealand. It is therefor imperative that we now find within ourselves the passion and patriotism in our character to support our Springbok team and the coaching staff. Our personal feelings in this matter must be set aside as we look towards next year as the Springboks will need our positivity more than ever before and any negativity towards either Pieter de Villiers or anyone else involved will only deter them on focusing on the job at hand. Continue reading
The heads of Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and his two assistants, Dick Muir and Gary Gold, may all roll Today when their performance reviews are done.
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.
South African Rugby Boss Oregan Hoskins has called for calm amid widespread calls for Springboks coach Peter de Villiers to be sacked.
September 28 is D-Day for Peter de Villiers.
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.
How does a team that came of such a high in 2009 hit such a low in 2010, more importantly, can it be fixed? Continue reading
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.
The annual review of the Springboks’ performance in the Vodacom Tri-Nations will be scheduled with Springbok coach Peter de Villiers for later this month.
The review will cover all aspects of the Springboks’ performances.
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.
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
South Africa will look to replicate the expansive game that saw them score five tries against Australia last week, when the Springboks and Wallabies go head-to-head in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
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.
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
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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!
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:
A few little tit-bits regarding the rest of the Tri-Nations of 2010.
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.
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.
Flanker Juan Smith is the only injury concern in the Springbok camp following the weekend’s 22-29 loss to the All Blacks at the FNB Stadium.
After 4 Springbok losses in a row in a Tournament, the Tri-Nations, which lies very close to the hearts of South Africans and with the Rugby World Cup now exactly a year from now, the temptation is there to insist on taking the knives out and to cut some dead wood from the Springbok team and management.
… but we’ve been there before, remembering so well how we, me included, shouted from the rooftops that Jake White needed the axe.
Springboks (16) 22 / All Blacks (14) 29 (Final Score)
The Springboks hosted the All Blacks in their last Tri-Nations match against one another of 2010 at FNB Stadium, Johannesburg at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was bradcast live on SuperSport 1, SuperSport HD and M-Net.
The All Blacks won, scoring 2 quick tries in the last 3 minutes, to break the Bokke hearts and those of their supporters.
It must be said though that the Springboks showed moments of brilliance during the game though, with the Hougaard experiment working well and Juan Smith and Flip van der Merwe doing their part brilliantly too.
Jean de Vlliers shone at inside centre and Morne Steyn’s boot was as effective as ever.
… but well done Blacks, you came, you saw, you absorbed a shipload of pressure … and you won!
It’s the day before the momentous Test, the best in the World playing one another, in the Tri-Nations.
What more could you want, 90 000 spectators at the Southern Hemisphere’s best Stadium, the All Blacks standing ont the verge of the Tri-Nations crown for 2010 and Springbok captain John Smit due to run out for his 100th Test cap?
Will the Bokke be better at home or will the All Blacks continue their dominant form of 2010?