So near, yet so fat......

Tribute to out fallen heroes! Heroes??? A hero - a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength. For instance, "RAF pilots were the heroes of the Battle of Britain".With this definition in mind, i'm forced to change my sentiments and statements to try and highlight some of the most distinguished and seasoned South AFrican Rugby legends who have failed to lure the eyes of the Bok selectors. Looking at their performances and characters in the past season, one is forced to think that they have been unlucky not to have donned the Bok jersey. One thing for sure is that they MAY not don the springbok jersey at all, throughout all their rugby playing careers.

It is every schoolboy's dream to wear the GREEN and GOLD at some point in time. This jersey has inspired many youngster to abandon their studies, leave their families and girlfriends, in search of the gateway to the BOK jersey. As a soccer mad growing youngster, my sudden profound interest and twist to rugby transpired in 1995, during the RWC in South Africa. Suddenly I HAD A DREAM. My dream to become a great rugby player , having been inspired by guys like Pienaar, Chester and the great Os to thrive and strive to wear that green and gold. But so many obstacles and challenges in life have intefaced and thus resulted in my dreams not living to reality. But at least i have not regrets in following and being acquainted to the SPORT that i love so much.

Needless to say, there have many deserving and much more talented guys that have unfortunate to wear the bok jersey. Guys that have perenially graced the rugby scene in the country and abroad, by they are still being overlooked by the selectors. The following names come into mind: Cobus 'baywatch' Grobler, Keegan Daniels, Jaque Botes, John Mametsa, Ryno Gerber, Ross Skeate,Rito Hlungwani, Braddley Barrit, Tiger Mangweni, Jaco Engels, the list is endless. These guys should forget about playing for the boks. Its late for them. They are now too old (their avg age is 24). Considering that nowadayds in rugby, if you dont make it as a 20 year old, then you better start looking for overseas contracts.

Then comes a bunch of the famous, "one cap wonder".These guys have played less than 4 tests for the BOKS and it doesnt look like they are gonna make it in FUTURE AT ALL: Waylon Murray, Morne Steyn, Hilton Lobberts, Meyer Bosmann, Heinkie Van de Merwe, Adriaan Strauss, Wynard Ollivier and so forth. I see no more caps coming out of this bunch.

Also another tag of "former Springboks' seems to be falling on the following players: Chavanga, Muller, Castens, Pedre Wannenberg,Bolla Conradie, Derrick Houggard (only at 25), Wickus Wan Heerden, Albert Van der Berg , the list is also endless. Hardy okes, you better join the BOK CROCKS team.

WARNING!!!!!The following youngsters should watch out otherwise they will end up just attaining the "Currie Cup legend" tag, famously personalised by guys like Anton Leonard and AJ Venter. These are Deon Stagmmann,Stephan Dippenaar, Marius Delport, RORY KOCKOTT, STEVEN SYKES, ALISTAIR HARGREAVES,JEAN DEYSEL, PATRIC CILLIERS and NIKOLAI BLIGNAUT.In my opinion, none of these guys are ever gonna make the springboks again, unless something terrible happens to the incumbent crop.

The moral of the story is, some get the opprtunity, and some dont. And for those that do get one, they beeter make sure that take it with BOTH hands, otherwise its the end of it. We have too many talented players in South African rugby, but we can only have 22 man squad at every test game. As they say, a fringe player from any of the 5 unions in South Africa would start in any team abroad.

Looks like it could be the end of the unlucky Luke....

This man is the MAN of the Moment. It seems the media cannot sell any better stories other than the Puke and the Fluke Saga. This man has made non-rugby followers to start talking rugby, and caught the attention throughout all walks of life, from politicians to ordinary lay-men on the streets. He deserves a recongition for his contribution to SA rugby (having more people interested in the sport).

With his immediate withdrawal from the Bok end of year tour, questions are still being asked to know if this could be the end of not only his short TEST carrier, but also the end of RUGBY for him.

Back at WP, Rassie has long been a fan of Duanne Vermeulen and he has put down a R1 million on his tag. This is one of the no8s that have had a fine season, unlucky to have missed the EOYT. More so, there's also the OBSESSION about the much-loved and highly-rated WP prodigy, NIC Koster, who recently has been included in Jake White's Babarians squad to play Australia. With this in mind, considering that Watson had a fairly quiet season, coupled with the media controversy clouding him, one may be at will to assume that the chances of Luke donning the no8 jersey alongside the "Dutchmen" Schalla in the Stormers loose-trio are very SLIM.

However, this could be a premature judgement though since Luke is a very important figure in the Stormers' set up and still has a lot to offer. So will Rassie, "the Dutchmen" fall victim to media and political debate and decide to limit Luke's role in the Stormer's set up? Will Schalla "the Dutchmen" want to protect Luke from being rackec when he's at the bottom of the ruck? Only time will tell.

As a big fan of Luke (both as a player and as a person), i think Luke should focus on his Rugby with the Stormers and forget about all this controversy....lets leave all the talking to the field, and lets see who will have the last laugh!

The People have spoken.....

According to a poll that was held on this Rugga-bloggaz' forum, the following results shows us the final results of the nomination.

SA Rugby Player of the Year : Jean De Villiers
S14 Player of the Year : Ryan Kankowski
Currie Cup Player of the Year : Jean Deysel
Vodacom Cup Player of the Year: Ashely Johnson (F no8...now Griffons no8)
Most Promising Player: Burton Francis
Most Improved Springbok Player: BEast Mutawarira
SA U20 Player of the Year : Robert Ebersohn
Try of the Year : Ricky's (vs All blacks in Dunedin)
The Moemish of the Season : Zane Kirshner's Spear tackles
SA Referee of the Year : Jonathan Kaplan
Best TV Rugby Analyst : Bob Skinstad

Thank you to all the guys that took part...............Happy EOYT

Who is your SA Rugby Player of the Year?

Choose umayi-khethela!

Now that the CC season is almost over (with the final on the 11th of October), it is time that we give honours to the guys that excelled in rugby throughout the whole year. I have a couple of categories that i would like you guys to nominate and therefore please feel free to be biased. You are only allowed to nominate two players per category.


SA Rugby Player of the Year :
S14 Player of the Year :
Currie Cup Player of the Year :
Vodacom Cup Player of the Year:
Most Improved Springbok Player:
SA U21 Player of the Year :
SA U19 Player of the Year :
Try of the Year :
The Moemish of the Season :
SA Referee of the Year :
Best TV Rugby Analyst :

Please provide your nominations ASAP so that we can vote and post the final result on the blog. Your contribution is greatly appreciated. Thanks

There’s a good in every bad

Peter De Villiers only managed to win two games out of a possible six during this year’s Tri-nations. A bad feat considering that we are the current World Champions. His starting record does not look very alluring especially if you consider that his predecessor has an incredible record start when he took over the Springboks in 2004.

However, there are some positives that have come out during his mixed tenure as Bok coach. First of all he has been able to foresee talent that was overlooked by other previous coaches and he has also unearthed some incredible ammunition. The first name that quickly erupts from my lips is the BEAST. This young man has been the greatest revelation for the Boks in the just ended international season. Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira has had an implausible 2008 season. He has grown immensely in just over a year to become one of the greatest loose-head props in world rugby, having effortlessly out-scrummed some of the biggest tighties in world rugby circles (Sommerville and Mat Dunning). Mobility and loose play has always been his strength, but he was often criticised for his scrimmaging last year. He has worked on his conditioning and scrum techniques under the guidance of John Plumtree at the Sharks and this year he came back with a BANG. Big up to the BEAST and he surely looks set to fill up Os’s BIG boots.

Another eye-opener comes in the wake of Adi Jacobs, a player that has been overlooked for the past 6 years ever since his Bok debut in 2002. He has managed to silence his critics (including myself) about his worthiness for the Bok no13 jersey. With his diminutive size (as compared to Steyn), I openly doubted his defensive abilities in the 12/13 channel but have since been proved wrong. This guy is a marvel to watch on attack and has broken lots of opposition defensive channels many a times. His try scoring rate is probably the highest at the moment for the springboks. Hats off to DiV for having faith in the player that he had once coached at junior level.

Other revelations of the current international season include Conrad Janjies who gone to stake his claim on the no15 jersey (away from the legendary Percival). Great under the high ball and consistent attacking capabilities, Conrad has grown to be confident and composed at the back. Andries Bekker has also been one of the findings of the season. Superb on the line-outs (dah…..he’s 2.08m tall) and equipped with great hands and ball skills, this consistent grafter has given us a raison d'être to stop licking Matfield’s feet (he can very much contest the “Moemish of the season” award alone). Sorry Big Vic, you’re no more the National Treasure, gone are those days, you better go back to Saint-Denis and look for that “Mighty-King-Matfield-Status” tiara as well as that work-rate that you dropped after the world cup final against England.

Besides these revelations, other players have also been exposed (Frans, Butch, Percy, Matfield, Schalla, Juan just to mention a few)......Not for good reasons, but on the SHOCKING part. Nonetheless, I believe the POSITIVES out-weigh the negatives overall. So at least there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.

Breaking the Silence.......

A very good morning to you all ladies and gentleman. It's been quite sometime since the Coach posted an article on this much preferred blog and i must say the past few weeks have been rather abysmal to some extent, with all sorts of untimely events proceeding. Nonetheless, I would like to send a deferred "SHOUT OUT" to the Boks for plummeting the Wallabies pretentious ship at the Coca Cola stadium last weekend. I must say the 'Wobbles' were beginning to grow big-heads after overwhelming the Boks at the Shark tank in their previous fixture, only to be brought down to earth by the Nokwelishas stirred 'Bhoko-bhoko'.

Amazingly enough, the Bok mentor is still being taunted and ridiculled by the the so called 'ragga-bloggers' after that emphatic victory. I wont dwell much on this issue. If we truelly are proudly Bok followers, the least we can do is to congradulate DiV and his side for a job well done. Let the 'anti' and 'pro' DiV factions settle this on their own. The tri- nations is gone.

Nevertheless, one appealing MANIA that was brought t0 light by the recently ended tri-nations was the DOMINANCY and SUPREMACY of Cape rugby. The Bok team had on average at least 5 players on the run-on XV (Conrad, Jean, Ricky, Schalla, Luke, Mujati, ) on most times. To quote one of the WP's die-hard followers and 'rugby GURU's statement, " At least two sets of qualifiers for the Boks in the Currie Cup.....(Percy and Monty, Ricky and Bolla, Schalla and Luke) alongside other familiar bok faces in Andries, Mujati, Grant, Tondie and Brits......SIYASHISA Madala"

On paper, I believe we have the best BEST SIDE in the world... the only side or team that i see maybe trying give us a tussle or good run for our money is perhaps the JAMAICAN 4X100m relay team that broke the olympic world record (BOLT, ASAFA, Frater,Carter). Otherwise no other rugby side would look this good on paper. Well, all we need to do is to translate this on the field, like we did in the Super14, and we'll be completely untouchable.

We also are privileged to have the GOLDEN-BOY of South African Rugby in NIC KOSTER. For him to be in the match squad despite a number of Springboks coming down is surely an indication that the technical team has got MAMMOTH plans for him in next years Super 14. The Cheetahs must look forward to some serious battering this weekend.

Go WP..........jou lekker ding!!!!!!

This article was inspired by the "rugby GURU", CoachTJ.

Haunted by jersey no10...

I am a bit concerned about a succession plan at the flyhalf position. To add more worry to that, it does not look as if PDV is really worried about that.

If i look at the three flyhalves that are playing in the Tri Nations, it really worries me to realise that we do not compete with the Oz or All Blacks. None of our flyhalves can match the brialliance of either Dan Carter or Giteau. Butch seems to have lost that touch and it will take a while to gain his confidence back. Actually there's no time to allow him to gain it. Meaning we need a solution immediately, coz i do not see Butch playing after the British Lions tour in 2009 (or maybe i'm pushing too further).I do not think Frans Steyn is the answer. He has been tried and tested many atimes and to me i dont see him as a flyhalf. Ruan Pienaar seems not to be KEEN to play there and he has insisted on rather being 4th on the Scrum-hlaf packing order. BEside, he hasnt excelled in that position.

Peter Grant could have been the obvious solution but then he's injured. More so he hasnt justified himself enough to claim that position. As much as he is an excellent footballer, to me he is suited to the midfield than at flyhalf.He doesnt have a kicking game and he battles on defense. Whoelse...lets see...maybe Morne Steyn....But we dont wanna watch boring Dutchmen rugby. He's a typical Houggard, and there's no flair at all. I think our only hope will have to lay on the hands of our youngsters, players like Burton Francis and Francois Brummer. These youngsters have been a marvel to watch at junior level and they have done well at Currie Cup level. We should start introducing slowly into the test arena.

This past weekend i watched Bishops play Rondebosch. There's this centre/flyhalf (Nico Loezedels) from Bishops who reminds me of Steve Larkham. He scored 4 brilliant individual tries and made assists in pther tries scored that morning in the 49-15 drubbing of Rondebsch. This is the third time i've watched he and he has been exceptional. These are players that we need to watch closely so that they are not lost to other nations (like Barrit).

DiV needs to start worrying about a succession plan at flyhalf becase it looks really bleak. Not that other positions are sorted already, but i think the flyhalf one is critical. DiV said he wants to make sure that there's at least 5 good players in every position but i dont think this is so at the PIVOT. Other positions look fine but............we are haunted by the GHOSTS at Flyhalf

1 Butch
2. dont know (maybe Frans)
3 dont know(Percy)
4 dont know (maybe Peter Grant)
5 dont know (maybe Ruan0

THIS IS A SERIOUS ISSUE and DiV must START acting now!!!!!!!!!