Springbok Rugby

[Durbsboi]

This thread is for all the Springbok rugby news for the year.

Rugby being SA's key sport, because its the only one where we know we can actualy win competitions! This being a RWC year, could be 1 of the most important year of the Springboks, after last years dissapointing tour's & dreadful Tri Nations, Pride must be restored by our boys in Green & Gold.

The Super 14 has just finished with 2 SA sides on top, so at least the guys are showing their metal against the other southern hemisphere sides. Tomorrow is the 1st test against the English, we face a "3rd string" team as they call it in Bloem. Its bitterly cold there & only half the stadium tickets have been sold. Its the 1st test of the year so nobody will be expecting fireworks.

Regards the side, alot of woo ha has been made of the 36 players that were chosen to go to the Bok training camp, namely Mr Watson. Also of recent after the final of the Super 14 Andre Pretorious was dropped & Derek Hougaad was added.

I hope Jake gets his team right before teh Tri Nations & I hope & pray that they pick from merit & not according to quota's.

[Durbsboi]

SA Rugby has announced the names of 22 players in the line-up to face England on Saturday May 26 at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein.
The match will be the 340th Test for South Africa and the 27th Test against England. Of the previous 26 Tests between the two countries, South Africa won 13, lost 12 while the very first Test in 1906, played in London, was drawn.

The Springbok team for Saturday is as follows (existing caps in brackets):

15 Percy Montgomery (80)
14 Ashwin Willemse (11)
13 Wynand Olivier (12)
12 Jean de Villiers (27)
11 Bryan Habana (25)
10 Butch James (14)
9 Ricky Januarie (15)
8 Danie Rossouw (20)
7 Juan Smith (29)
6 Schalk Burger (27)
5 Victor Matfield (54)
4 Bakkies Botha (31)
3 BJ Botha (6)
2 John Smit (Captain) (63)
1 Deon Carstens (4)

16 Gary Botha (2)
17 Gurthro Steenkamp (8)
18 CJ van der Linde (33)
19 Johann Muller (9)
20 Pierre Spies (6)
21 Ruan Pienaar (5)
22 Francois Steyn (3)


Here are some interesting facts and figures about the match on Saturday:

· The starting fifteen with a total of 418 caps, have a distinct experience advantage over their opponents whose starting fifteen have 172 caps.

· John Smit will lead the Springboks for a record 39th time and will be playing in his 43rd consecutive Test match since the match against Georgia in the 2003 RWC (Also a record). He will also improve on his record of 61 Tests as a hooker.

· Other players who could improve their existing records are:

· Percy Montgomery – 654 points in tests; 98 conversions in Tests; 115 penalty goals in Tests and he will improve his record 66 Tests as a fullback. Percy needs 2 conversions to improve Johan Heunis’ record of 6 career conversions against England.

· Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha will improve the record they shared with Mark Andrews and Krynauw Otto with their 26th Test match as a lock pairing.

· Jake White will also equal Nick Mallett’s record of 38 Test matches as Head Coach of the Springboks.

· Saturday’s referee is Steve Walsh of New Zealand. Of the previous seven Test matches that Steve was the man in the middle; South Africa won 5, lost 1 and drew 1.

· The only Test lost with Walsh at the helm was against England at Twickenham in November last year.

· South Africa has scored 434 points to England’s 436 for an average score of 17-17. On home soil however, the average score is 22-15 in South Africa’s favour.

[Durbsboi]

The Super 14 season that passed prove to be SA's best Super rugby season to date, with none of the local teams finishing in the last 2, but with 2 team finishing in the Top 2, Namely the Sharks & Bulls respectivly. Alot of individuals showed their talents on the field none other than

Ruan Pienaar of the the Sharks



& Fourie du Preez from the Bulls





Now looking at the starting 22 from Jake shows us Ricky Januarie in the starting 15. Now I understand the Lions didnt have the best of seasons so Jake probably wants to see if Ricky still got it. But my point is Ricky never did have it! He was always chosen because of the quota, We have 2 top quality scrumhalfs in the country both of which ooze individual skill, also a point to point out that Ruan Pienaar has so many talents that Jake even played him at Flyhalf last year.

IMO I think Ruan is the best we got, but still SA Rugby still rank him 3rd best behind Du Preez & Januarie. Why I dont know maybe he doesnt like Ruans father? as in the case with Luke Watson. What ever the reason is I think its essential that he gets game time for he could be the hero for us in the RWC later in the year. Im not bragging because his from Natal & plays for the Sharks, but it will take a blind nutter not to see the talent this guy has. He is also a specialst kicker so if called apon he can convert oppotunitys, as proven in the against the Crusaders.

If SA rugby keep they stuborn stance, then I dont know why they will even have selectors.

[DennisRodman]

how come J.P pieterson is not in the lineup?

[SA BOY]

injury to JP
Boks smked the pathetic poms how sweet it is to see as I was at twikers when we got dusted by 50 a few years back

[Durbsboi]

Awesome game! We went to sleep abit in the start of the 2nd half, but after the subs came on it was flowing again! Big games by most of the lads but again Januarie played shite, but got praise by everyone. He was slow at the rucks, his passing was shit, and lacked vision. Ruan on the other hand came on at Full back made 2 tries in 5min. Now if he was on from the start?

[hsark]

ricky is useless is no3 at best ruan is our no2 but then again jack is a idiot and will want to play him @ fullback

[Martsbra]

I still dont like habana for scoring that super14 try at the end...
I have issues now thanks to him.need a shrink

[Jakes1]

Originally Posted by Martsbra

I still dont like habana for scoring that super14 try at the end...
I have issues now thanks to him.need a shrink

that was one of the single most devastating moments of my life. Cricket world cup all over again

[Martsbra]

dont even talk about the 1999 cricket world cup...
besides that was just make believe that we TIED the game and didnt go through

it never happened

[Durbsboi]

Bad memory's. I can uderstand you Brad, I also cannot look at Habana the same way now after the Super 14 final.

6 Boks are being quarunteend because they have the flu.

[Durbsboi]

Originally Posted by SA rugby.com

3 changes for Boks
Wednesday, May 30


The Boks have made three changes to their starting XV for the second Test against England on Saturday.

Two of those alterations have occurred in the frontrow, where the Sharks duo of Deon Carstens and BJ Botha are replaced by Guthro Steenkamp and CJ van der Linde respectively.

The move is clearly designed to counter the criticism the Boks have endured for their poor display at scrum time in the first Test. BJ Botha is also battling with a shoulder injury.

It certainly makes sense to include Carstens on the bench as he's able to play on both sides of the scrum should he be required

The only other change to the run-on side is the inclusion of Bulls winger Akona Ndungane at the expense of Ashwin Willemse.

There is surprisingly no space in the matchday 22 for Lions centre Jaque Fourie - who missed the first Test through injury and still seems to be a little off the pace.

Sharks scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar remains among the reserves despite his strong showing as a replacement last weekend.


Team vs England
02 Jun 07
15:00
Loftus Versfeld
Pretoria, South Africa


1 Guthro Steenkamp
2 John Smit
3 CJ van der Linde
4 Bakkies Botha
5 Victor Matfield
6 Schalk Burger
7 Juan Smith
8 Danie Rossouw
9 Ricky Januarie
10 Butch James
11 Bryan Habana
12 Jean de Villiers
13 Wynand Olivier
14 Akona Ndungane
15 Percy Montgomery
16 Deon Carstens
17 Gary Botha
18 Johann Muller
19 Pierre Spies
20 Ruan Pienaar
21 Francois Steyn
22 Ashwin Willemse

Ricky is still starting scrumhalf

[Nixx_900816]

why the hell do everybody in s.a know that ruan pienaar is better than january and that he should be in the starting line-up, but the flippin coach picks january anyway???

[SA BOY]

sorry to say but its to keep tparliment sports committee happy ie keep the unoffical quaota numbers. Januarie is a good player no doubt and has been the best scrummie in sa in the past , but at the momnet he couldent even start for the cats never mind the boks.

[Durbsboi]

Boks have been named for the test this week against Samoa, Its pretty much aa 2nd string team, & STILL Ruan cant make the starting line up!

[mike2005]

Did anyone see the Star this morning? If it is true we could see the end of SA rugby and a mass exodus of players. Am livid!

[Umhlanga]

It's absolutely stupid. Black players will earn their way into the side, and eventually there will be 10 black players in the side - ON MERIT. So why the fuck do these politicians want to force the issue? I wish they'd keep their idiotic noses out of sport. What's the point of 'Africanising' a sport if that sport will then suffer and become a shadow of its former self? (Answer: to spite whites.) How proud will those non-white players be when they play for a side that gets trounced regularly by the rest of the world? The fact remains that non-white players who deserve to be chosen on merit will be chosen. There's no rugby body in the world that doesn't want to field the absolute best side available. No rugby body except the new SARFU.

[dysan1]

dont worry about the star article, ones like that come out every june. its the same stuff over and over and you dont hear it again until the following june.

[Durbsboi]

Also worried about the article the Independent on Sat reported on its front page. With the face of SA Rugby being changed drasticly next year, with Luke Watson as captian & Jake White being replaced with a black coach & 80% of the team being black.

btw good win against Samoa, but it was'nt a classy performance.
This week the real testers start! TRI NATIONS! Bring it on!

[Durbsboi]

Well with Ricky liky injured & Fourie still sidelined, this weekend could be Ruans BIG break agains the Aussies!

See that Jakes meeting with Mbeki has been trashed by SARU, they got a point about them being appointed by government to oversea the Rugby sector but when shit happens & the coach got nobody to speak too, who can he go to? Stofile wont help him, & Yeye is just a puppet.