Is that a constrictive feeling New Zealanders are feeling around their collective throats...?! Having lost just one of their previous 22 internationals – to the Wallabies in Hong Kong last year – in the 2011 Tri-Nations the All Blacks have suddenly lost two in a row, but the Springboks will be regarding this interesting development... Continue Reading →

Quite understandably rugby fans get their knickers in a knot over occasions as emotional as a World Cup squad announcement. This is good because it shows passion for the Boks is as strong as ever, but so often fans worry about things they read into a squad selection that never end up transpiring. Put another... Continue Reading →

The Springbok selectors on Wednesday confirmed the names of 12 players who have been placed on standby should the Rugby World Cup squad be affected by injury. Meanwhile a number of players sat out the first squad training session on Wednesday. Peter de Villiers, Springbok coach, said that they were all as the result of... Continue Reading →

Bloodied but unbowed, the battered face of Heinrich Brussow will be the lasting impression of the Boks’ 18-5 victory over the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth at the weekend and while he was too groggy to do his Man of the Match appearance at the post-match press conference (following a serious stitch-up after the game),... Continue Reading →

An emotional Juan Smith yesterday bowed to the inevitable and withdrew himself from the Springbok Rugby World Cup squad because of ongoing compications with his achilles tendon injury. The 30-year-old flanker has for sometime been behind schedule in his recovery from the injury sustained in Super Rugby in March, and he has been training with... Continue Reading →

Maybe it was the close-range Butch James penalty attempt that wobbled adrift at a crucial time of the game at Kings Park last week, maybe it was an influential word from stand-in captain Victor Matfield in Peter de Villiers’ ear, or maybe it is indeed all part of the grand plan that James’ restoration at... Continue Reading →

Springbok elder statesman Jean de Villiers called it like it really is for the Springboks when he emphatically said that a positive result against the All Blacks on Saturday will count more than anything else (World Cup planning, being the inference). “Performance versus the result could potentially be a tough question (for other teams) in... Continue Reading →

There was lofty praise indeed for Springbok scrumhalf Fourie du Preez yesterday when All Blacks backline coach Wayne Smith rated him as “the best footballer we have played against over the last eight years (the tenure of the current management team). “Du Preez might be a bit rusty at the moment but he is an... Continue Reading →

There was a defiant message to the South African public from Springbok coach Peter de Villiers yesterday, and one we have heard a few times from coaches over the years: “Judge us on Saturday,” he said after announcing the most experienced Springbok team in history (810 caps). “It is our own doing that people have... Continue Reading →

A line of questioning to the Springbok players this week has been the issue of what is most important in the only two games the full-strength side will play before meeting Wales in Wellington on September 11 – wins no matter how they are achieved or solid foundations being laid against the top ranked teams... Continue Reading →