Springbok Rugby
Eighteen members of South Africa’s triumphant 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning squad were included in the 2011 party when the 30 players selected to attempt to retain the title were revealed in a live broadcast announcement on Tuesday.
Eighteen members of South Africa’s triumphant 2007 Rugby World Cup-winning squad were included in the 2011 party when the 30 players selected to attempt to retain the title were revealed in a live broadcast announcement on Tuesday.
Pine Pienaar has announced the Bulls team to play against the Leopards on the weekend. It is safe to say those playing will not go to the RWC.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers was a mightily relieved man after his side’s 18-5 Tri-Nations victory over the All Blacks at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
He had flyhalf Morné Steyn to thank, perhaps more than any one else.
Rookie Springbok utility back Patrick Lambie will face an anxious 24 hours as he awaits a medical report on his injured shoulder.
In the world of the IRB and specifically Paddy O’Brien, protocols supersedes common sense.
The incident in question is the Jimmy Cowan try which was not awarded during Saturday’s Tri-Nations test match in Port Elisabeth based on the fact that the final pass on the try-line from Israel Dagg to Cowan was forward.
Sporting history is littered with tales of great teams and individuals who did not know when to quit and suffered humiliating exits.
Many South African supporters fear a similar fate awaits the ‘green and gold’ at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand as they try to become the first country to successfully defend the title.
So, the New Zealand All Blacks had made a truckload of changes from the team that trounced the Wallabies in Auckland. So, they were eight or more players short of their first-choice run-on team. So, they had never – but never – won in Port Elizabeth. They still expected to win! And a lot of good judges expected them to win, also.
What a classic Springbok / All Black test match.
It is games like these that keep the rivalry alive. Two opposing styles played almost to perfection with uncompromising defence and a bit of referee controversy into the mix.
What a game!
What a timely victory for the Springboks and congrats to the Springboks for not getting drawn into the capacious game so promoted and drooled over by the All Black ‘groupies’.
We want a contest not a flap-flap razzle and dazzle mismatch dominated by one team with a bunch of natural athletes suited to play a league hybrid gobbledygook.
Springboks (15) 18 / All Blacks (5) 5 (Final Score)
The South African Springboks hosted the New Zealand All Blacks at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
Although the Springboks did not score a try, Morné Steyn’s boot was the difference… and all the Springboks worked hard enough, to really deserve the win!
The passion was back in the faces, the focus narrowed, the set phases were good and the breakdown battle was won by the Springboks.
I often hear the old cliché “we want to play heads up rugby”. What the hell, a meerkat does that, he sticks his head out to survey the threats of nature. Then he runs, away, not forward into the danger zone.
Former Springbok wing Stefan Terblanche believes uncertainty in key selection areas is hampering the Springboks as they continue their stuttered build-up towards the defence of their World Cup title.
The Springboks are at risk of a white wash (losing all 4 Tri-nation tests matches) for the first time in tri-nations history. Desperate times indeed and that might explain some of the selections for this match.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry was happy to turn the pressure up on the beleaguered Springboks ahead of this weekend’s test, saying a victory would be “vital” to the South Africans.
With a World Cup campaign around the corner and both sides doing some serious tinkering with their lineups ahead of that tournament, it’s a moot point who has more to lose or gain out of this Tri-Nations test on Sunday (NZ time).
Most of us here also blogged somewhere during the 2007 World Cup. Just like this year, in fact every time a Springbok team is picked, we the real experts pick our team too. Yes and every “selector” has his own favourites. In 2007 we disagreed with some of Jake White’s selections. Now let us see how many players back then were in YOUR team. Dont lie, some of us can remember your favorites, no cheating.
This may shed some light on what is going on behind the scenes at SARU. Source Parliamentary Monitoring Group. A delegation of SARU presented a report of the preparation of the Springboks for the RWC.
Smith has not sufficiently recovered from an injured Achilles and have therefore withdrawn himself from the South Africa’s World Cup squad.
“I am not 100%,” an emotional Smith told the Volksblad newspaper.
Coach Peter De Villiers has dropped Springbok Captain John Smit to the bench for this weekend’s clash against the All Blacks. Continue reading
Springbok captain John Smit has not yet been ruled out of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, a South African Rugby Union (Saru) spokesperson confirmed on Sunday.
It is often said class is permanent , but form is temporary.
In relationships we often find ourselves in a situation where we are hanging on to something we know has been over for a quite some time.
How much stil makes sense in South African Rugby? Is it maybe a way for Peter and his coaching team to confuse all? How serious is our challenge? Who is not laughing? Is it not the perfect chance to let the politicians get their way and pick that 60% black team? Who would care if we send a brand new politically correct team to the World Cup? Most serious rugby supporters gave up anyway on our chances to win this year.
Springbok captain John Smit and fullback Frans Steyn are in doubt for the World Cup after they were both injured in South Africa’s 9-14 loss to Australia in the Tri-Nations.
Springboks (6) 9 / Wallabies (0) 14 (Final Score)
The South African Springboks hosted the Australian Wallabies at 17:05 SA Time. This was the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
The Wallabies mounted a massive second half fight back to beat the Springboks by 5 points, all their points coming in the second half.
Many years ago I read a book written by Org Mandino, called “The greatest salesman on earth”.
South Africa’s Springboks take on Australia’s Wallabies in a Tri Nations 4th round match 
Date: Saturday, August 13
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 17:05 (15:05 GMT)
Fourie du Preez and Heinrich Brussow will return to the Springbok starting line-up for the first time in 21 months, following the announcement of the team to meet Australia in a Tri-Nations Test at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
There is a bit of a public hysteria at the moment in South Africa after the first two Tri-Nations Tests this year, specifically because of the way the Springboks lost in both these games.
I don’t think any Springbok supporter will ever be happy with ‘throwing’ Test matches for the sake of a ‘larger/bigger’ objective. However, this is exactly what happened in 2007. Continue reading
After their loss to the All Blacks in Wellington, Springbok lock Victor Matfield said that “It seems as if they are untouchable. The refs allow them to get away with murder. … I cannot say much about the ref (Alain Rolland), because I will get into trouble. But there were a few times on attack when we struggled to play because our ball was deliberately slowed down.”
Just whingeing, or did Victor have a point? We decided to take a close look at the All Blacks’ “rules of engagement” at the breakdown.
A more efficient and streamlined South African Rugby Union (SARU) was unveiled to rugby stakeholders by Jurie Roux, the organisation’s CEO, at the announcement of a major operational overhaul in Johannesburg on Thursday.
SARU’s governance and operational departments have been radically re-engineered in the space of 18 months to complete the transformation of the organisation’s way of doing business, said Roux.
The Springboks have moved to shore up their problems in defence by bringing in defensive coaching specialist Jacques Nienaber on a consultant basis.
Speculation is rife… the Springbok senior players will be under-prepared, some say. Others say they have not rested enough. And then there are those that say these senior Springboks do not need to have played to be sharp as ever.
Let’s critically look at when last these senior Springboks played, and what their form was when they played.
The Springboks have called up loose forwards Ashley Johnson and Ryan Kankowski as cover for a number of injury concerns among their back row forwards.
Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has added the Cheetahs flank Heinrich Brüssow to the squad to face Australia on Saturday in Durban. Continue reading
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers on Friday named a 24-man squad featuring several players returning from injury rehabilitation for the home leg of the Tri-Nations series.