Springbok Rugby
Martial arts have quite a number of fascinating or secret fighting strategies which are made known to the experienced or deserved practitioner. Continue reading
Peter de Villiers was quoted recently saying he will have to make some tough selection decisions in this Rugby World Cup year, the toughest of these, will be who wears the number 10 jersey.
For the last 7 months I have not been very active on Rugby Talk so I thought I after all this time I would frustrate you all with this article.
Fourie du Preez may be nowhere near his best, but even when playing at less than a third of his capacity he is still better than any other scrumhalf.
John Smit is being done a massive disservice at the moment, one that could spell disaster and cost him the Springbok captaincy for the Rugby World Cup later this year. Continue reading
South Africans will know on 2 May whether John Smit will again lead the Springboks at the World Cup.
Four candidates have been identified by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers to assist the team in retaining their status as world champions in New Zealand later this year.
“I have a few people in mind and at this moment I can think of four,” De Villiers said on Wednesday.
The South African Rugby Union have named a 23 strong group of players that have been contracted to the Springboks for the 2011 season.
Eleven players have more than 50 Test caps and two of those whom have more than a century to their name.
The World Cup is looming, competitions gone by teaches us, that experience wins World Cups, how that is applicable to 1995 is a mystery though, but that is beside the point. Pundits in South Africa and here on Rugby-Talk, says we can’t win without the old guard, being Fourie, Victor, John Smit, Bakkies, Pakslae and the like, all this while Tim Noakes says, the old guard is overplayed and under rested, and therefore unable to live up to their expected form come NZ 2011. This begs the question: “Can we win the World Cup without our Senior Boks?”
As we sit here in March 2011, the Cricket World Cup has hit the end of the group stages, & barring the heroic victory by Ireland over the very oldest of enemies, England, the minnows have by and large been crushed by the established Cricket playing nations.
Later this year the greater sporting love of most Rugby-Talk bloggers, Rugby Union will hold it’s version of the World Cup in New Zealand. Can we expect the same sort of pattern with the smaller nations or can we expect an upset or two?
In the last Super Rugby match of the weekend, the Toyota Cheetahs hosted the Lions in a bottom of the table clash in Bloemfontein.
In what was effectively a make or break game for both sides, it was the visitors from Johannesburg who emerged with the points that they hope will ressurect their Super Rugby season.
Os du Randt has been axed as the Springboks’ scrumming consultant.Os du Randt confirmed to Sport24 on Tuesday that he had been informed in writing by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) that his contract as scrumming consultant will not be renewed and that he will therefore not be part of the Boks’ World Cup management team.
Cheetahs captain Juan Smith will miss the rest of the Super rugby season but could play for the Springboks at the Rugby World cup.
The Bok flank had surgery on his Achilles on Monday after he injured it playing in the Cheetahs second round clash against the Bulls.
The Cheetahs’ inspirational captain JUan Smith is set to miss South Africa’s defence of the World Cup, after he tore an Achilles tendon.
There is no guarantee that Os du Randt will be the Springboks’ scrum coach during this year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
Yet another of the Springboks of yesteryear, Dirk de Vos who represented South Africa in the 1960’s and 70’s has passed away.
Forty years ago, Syd Nomis’s intercept try against Brian Lochore’s All Blacks swept him into Springbok folklore. As Afrikaans radio broadcaster Gerhard Viviers shouted breathlessly “Sydie … Sydie … Sydie!”, Nomis sprinted for the line, securing a 17-6 victory for the Boks.
Many rugby players will go down in history as legends, very few will be classed as a genius. Continue reading
The executive council of the SA Rugby Union apparently became concerned at the amount of freelancing the Springbok management team did last year, and asked president Oregan Hoskins to convey the message that it was time the World Cup became their priority.
The expanded Super rugby competition, particularly its emphasis on bone-crushing derby matches, holds peril Springbok coach Peter de Villiers admits may keep him up at night.
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers and vice-captain Victor Matfield presented the Proteas, South Africa’s national cricket team, with a special banner to wish them luck for the forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup, to be held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh between February 19 and April 2.
Springboks Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson will learn if they can play in the 2011 Rugby World Cup on Friday when the South African Rugby Union announces the results of their doping hearing.
The Springbok management will have access to key national players during the Vodacom Super Rugby tournament following an agreement with the coaches of the five teams at a cordial and productive meeting in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Failure to plan is planning to fail, or so the old saying goes.
The newly-established SANZAR (South Africa, New Zealand, Australia Rugby) organisation based in Sydney has appointed former international referee Lyndon Bray to the new role of Game Manager.
With a little over 200 days to go until the IRB Junior World Championship 2011 kicks off in Italy, Pool C opponents South Africa and England are stepping up preparations in their quest to end New Zealand’s dominance of the prestigious Under 20 tournament.
Springbok rugby and South African rugby in general is coming to the end of an era, and it might be time to think about what the future holds. Continue reading
Fewer home Tests, a shortened Tri-Nations and no end of year tours in a Rugby World Cup year means that the three big Southern Hemisphere powers will as a consequence earn less money in 2011.
James broke back into the Springbok squad last season but was injured playing for them in the TriNations.
Now that he is back in the fold for South Africa he stands a chance of playing in the Rugby world cup next year.
Statistics are like a lamppost to a drunk man. It does not serve to illuminate but rather, to keep him upright. Continue reading
It being the end of the year it is a good time to review what actually happened this year with the Springboks. Coming last in the Tri-Nations, losing at home against Australia (on the Highveld first time since 1963), losing all three Test matches against New Zealand and then the gut wrenching loss against Scotland was almost too much for this ardent Springbok supporter.
It is all over, done and dusted, now but I have been pondering non-stop (I hope PdV is doing the same thing) about our season.
What exactly went wrong and how bad was it really? Continue reading
The South African Rugby Union have revealed that the Springbok duo of Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson will face a anti-doping tribunal after their B samples also tested positive.
South Africa fell between chairs with their tactics in the early stages of Saturday’s defeat to the Barbarians, but that does not have to be a concern ahead of next year’s World Cup.
Barbarians (19) 26 / Springboks (3) 20 (Final Score)
The Barbarians and the Springboks met at Twickenham, North London, at 16:30 SA Time on Saturday in the last match for Southern Hemisphere rugby interest for 2010. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 2, M-Net and SuperSport HD on TV in SA.
It was an error-ridden match with lots of penalties by the French referee and most of the excitement came from the Barbarians in the first 20 minutes.
The Barbarians scored 4 tries, the Springboks 3.
Kicking to posts by Elton Jantjies was abysmal.
Much has been made lately of the ‘style’ of rugby different nations play. It is a topic I always found interesting because this moves away from the general rugby analysis we are used to and touches on the very thing that makes us uniquely South African. Continue reading