Inhaltsverzeichnis für March 2024 in SA RUGBY

Cheslin Kolbe's reel boasts some of the most electric rugby highlights ever displayed with pixels. There's the step to beat Owen Farrell inside and score in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, the goosestep to disappear from in front of British & Irish Lions centre Chris Harris in the 2021 series, the premeditated interception against the All Blacks at the Cake Tin in 2018 to score his first Test try, and the list goes on and on. Kolbe has crammed heaps of hair-raising highlights into his 60-Test career, right? Thing is … he's only played 31 Tests. A total of 17 Boks hold a larger try-scoring haul than Kolbe's 14 tries, and those players (all but four of them having retired) have won an average of 71 Test caps. Though…

‘YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE STAR AND A WARRIOR LIKE FEW OTHERS. YOU FIGHT A LONELY SPORT BUT YOU DID IT!’ RASSIE ERASMUS CONGRATULATES ‘YSTER’ DRICUS DU PLESSIS ON WINNING THE UFC MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP ‘RIGHT NOW IT PROBABLY WOULDN'T TAKE MUCH TO DO A BETTER JOB THAN ME’ SHARKS COACH JOHN PLUMTREE JOKES WITH THE MEDIA AFTFR HANDING THE REINS TO ATTACK COACH DAVID WILLIAMS WHILE HE VISITED FAMILY IN NEW ZEALAND ‘WE WENT TO BUY HIM FROM PEP STORES. NOBODY VALUED HIM AT THE TIME, BUT I COULD SEE HE HAD THAT X FACTOR’ STORMERS COACH JOHN DOBSON ON SIGNING FLYA^LF MNI^E LIBOJK FO^M SARK^ IN 221 ‘I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME FOR ME TO REALISE ANOTHER PROFESSIONAL GOAL OF PLAYING AMERICAN FOOTBALL IN THE US. THOSE…

GHESLIN KOLBE C heslin Kolbe is rugby royalty. He is the highest paid player in the world - and rightly so. Kolbe was born in Kraaifontein, in the northern suburbs of Cape Town. He was schooled at Brackenfell High, the very next suburb, and he starred for Western Province at U16, U18 and U21 levels, then at WP seniors and ultimately at the Stormers. I was born and raised in Kuilsriver, that other suburb that dissects Kraaifontein and Brackenfell. Add in Bellville and the northern suburbs quartet is the equal to the famed Bishops, Rondebosch, SACS and Wynberg in Cape Town's southern suburbs. They may be equal in geographic understanding, but they certainly are not equal in privilege or perceived rugby culture. The latter have the rugby history, the traditions…

HACJIVAH DAYIMANI ‘My fashion journey became a massive topic amongst the guys and I was considered being weird or attentionseeking. Some say I'm coming out the closet. I received a backlash on social media where people create fake accounts and call me names and insult me, and make it seem like they are just joking. ‘Sometimes, I wished people knew that fashion makes me feel alive and I want to inspire people to do what makes them happy. ‘I play rugby on weekends, which is considered a manly, tough sport. Then, on weekends I wear a dress/kilt and it just blows people's mind and they just don't understand. People must remember rugby is what I do, not who I am, and after rugby I have a life.’…

TJ PERENARA T J Perenara is not mucking around. He may be making his first steps back into active rugby after his achilles tendon rupture in late 2022 and he may have played just 10 games of Super Rugby since 2020 going into the 2024 season, but he is thinking about the top. That is, he is thinking about taking the starting No 9 jersey for the Hurricanes and winning the competition. He admits he is driven by regaining a spot in the All Blacks. That's the mark of the man. He's a competitive beast, as all top scrumhalves are. No skirting around the topic or saying he only has eyes for getting back on the field with the yellow and blacks. After all, with Aaron Smith and Brad Weber…

COACHING Stop chasing too many cats Our undercover coach who works at one of the best academies, and has access to the best pro-level coaches, fesses up. Last season, he and his coaching team asked too many questions, tried to cover too many moments of the game every session and found themselves checking their session plans constantly. This season it's time to chase just one cat. It's said that if you chase five cats, you will never catch one. That thought significantly impacted my coaching team and me last season. We were doing sessions the previous season where we'd say: ‘OK, in this part of the practice, we're going to go after this outcome, or this “cat”, then going to go after the next outcome [cat]’. Then at the end,…

CLUB FOCUS • Bordeaux was formed in 2006 as a merger between two clubs: Stade Bordelais and CA Bordeaux-Bègles-Gironde. It became formally renamed to Bordeaux Bègles in 2008. • The two founding clubs of Bordeaux won nine domestic titles between them between 1899 and 1991. However, Bordeaux have not won any major silverware since 2006. • Former France captain Thierry Dusautoir started his professional career at CA Bordeaux-Bègles-Gironde in 2001. • The 2014-15 season saw Bordeaux record the highest average attendance among European clubs, with 27 000 supporters per match, breaking the record previously set by Saracens. • Former Bulls scrumhalf Heini Adams (left) became the first South African to be named in Bordeaux's Hall of Fame, after playing 106 games for the club between 2010 and 2016.…

If I have a message to any aspiring South African rugby player, it is to never stop dreaming. You can't dream big enough. South Africa is the palace of world rugby excellence. Never stop believing because the glass is always half full in South African rugby. Equally, never lose perspective because that oke on the opposite team is good and that team is good. There are going to be moments when we lose and I say we as a South African collective. It is not about winning and losing but about being true to your own talent or the pedigree of your own team. Perhaps it was sporting isolation that did us in South Africa dirty in how we perceived the world, and in this case the world of rugby,…

CHRIS DRY ‘And new!’ - The former Blitzbok with UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis. ANDRÉ-HUGO VENTER ‘The North vs South derby never disappoints.’ - The Stormers hooker with former Grey College front-row teammate Jan-Hendrik Wessels after a URC match in Cape Town. BOB SKINSTAD ‘Good to catch up with and talk Arsenal football with my old mate Ugo Monye.’ - The former Springbok captain with the ex-England wing after the Bulls beat the Bristol Bears in the Champions Cup clash at Ashton Gate. DAMIAN DE ALLENDE ‘Nice to play some rugby with the big man again.’ - The Bok centre with Wild Knights teammate Lood de Jager, following the latter's return to competitive action after a lengthy period on the sidelines. RICHIE McCAW ‘Good morning from the top of…

The best Springbok teams of the pro era go head to head to determine the greatest ROUND 1 1998 BOKS VS 2009 BOKS Coach Nick Mallett's 17 win -streak Boks battle the Lions slayers of ‘09 in the first round of the mission to find the greatest Bok team of the professional era. In ‘97, Mallett was appointed coach of a struggling Bok side that hadn't won a trophy since the ‘95 World Cup, but things were about to change. A huge 61-22 win over the Wallabies in August 1997 kicked off what finished as the Boks’ greatest win streak of all time, going 17 Tests without tasting defeat. The streak spanned almost a year and a half and included scalps over Australia and Ireland three times, respectively, two wins…

Bafana Nhleko is confident the inaugural U20 Rugby Championship will help steer the Junior Springboks to break their world title drought. The U20 World Championship returns to South Africa in 2024, presenting the Junior Boks with a second opportunity to lift the trophy on home soil for the first time since 2012. Last year, the Junior Boks were beaten by a talented Ireland side in the semi-finals, but rebounded to beat England and finish third. Bronze is a colour that the SA U20s have had to become accustomed to, as 2023 marked the ninth time in the 13 tournaments since 2008 they have had to settle for third place. To be fair to South Africa's class of 2023, they were the only southern hemisphere team to finish in the top…

WHAT LAW OF THE GAME WOULD YOU CHANGE? VS DYLAN JACK WOULD SWOP THE VALUE OF A TRY AND PENALTY Reducing try points and inflating penalties could be the secret sauce to inject a fresh surge of dynamism into rugby union. Rugby made a major error in the law book by increasing the value of a try to five points in 1992, making it the main way to rack up points. Originally, a try was only worth one point, while a penalty, worth three points, was the highest form of scoring. Rugby needs to go back to something similar, making a try worth three points and a penalty worth five. Tries are currently far too valuable in rugby, meaning that we see far fewer of them as teams are all…

Thembile Jantjies Cape Town Stadium will definitely be full. I'm not sure about the Brannas Stadium. Russell Narunsky Loftus will get 176 people, Stormers will get 48 000 people - fact. Shamir Mrimmoy Wonderful opportunity for the Stormers to advance to the next stage. Uil Swart Can't wait… Euneil Bougaardt How were the playoffs decided, was there a draw? Antonio Salies Top of those who qualified plays against the bottom eight who qualified. The strongest qualifier plays against the weakest, and so on. Richard Valla Very good prospect. I wanna see him scrum against Kitshoff because he already destroyed Ox. James Tindall Best tighthead in the country! Gavin Douglas He's strong and very mobile. He doesn't do much talking but he gets his job done on the field. He reminds…

Was there some inspiration from Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira to make your move from Zimbabwe to South Africa? Definitely. Tendai has always been an inspiration to me, considering we both attended Churchill High School. So, moving to South Africa was a step in the direction that he inspired me to follow. What did you study at UWC? Economic development. Who's your favourite sports star outside of rugby? CR7 [Cristiano Ronaldo] tops the list. He is competitive, has a hunger for success in his field, and the way he looks after his body is exceptional. What's your favourite TV show at the moment? I barely watch TV shows, I'm a documentary guy. I recently watched DB Cooper. Cliff diving or shark cage diving? Definitely shark cage diving. If something goes wrong, the…

HACJIVAH DAYIMANI Hacjivah Dayimani is determined to reshape the mould of what is considered an archetypal Springbok loose forward, and he's doing it through sensational performances for the Stormers. A try, try-assist, 20 carries for 126m and a joint-record 10 defenders beaten. Those are the numbers Dayimani put up in the Champions Cup pool match against the Sale Sharks at Cape Town Stadium in December. For the record, the player who also holds the Champions Cup match record for defenders beaten is incumbent Springbok No 8 Jasper Wiese. Based on reputation, Wiese is known as the tackle-breaker, the ‘Upington Express’ who steamrolls his way through opposition defences. However, Dayimani is proving that his way - through hand-offs, sidestepping and targeting space rather than defenders - is just as effective and…

I ‘ve always believed that if you need to run a format explainer video before and during a tournament, then your format is flawed. The first of these videos I recall seeing was when Super Rugby fatefully ditched its simple league format for a convoluted conference system that signalled the beginning of the end for what was once rugby's best provincial/club tournament. Sanzaar paid a big price for fixing something that wasn't broken, and the EPCR seems to have made the same mistake with the Champions Cup. FIVE OF THIS SEASON'S LAST-16 MATCHES ARE A REPEAT OF EARLIER POOL CLASHES Pre-Covid, Europe's premier dub tournament had an easy to understand format. The 20 teams were divided into five pools of four, with teams playing home and away matches against their…

JURENZO JULIUS (CENTRE/WING) One of a handful of potential returning Junior Boks, Julius made a big impact in his first tournament. Playing on the wing, he scored two tries in five games, but also offered the Junior Boks a real outlet out wide with his strength and aerial ability. The product of Paul Roos is determined to take centre stage and move back into midfield this year, where he played most of his schools rugby. JF VAN HEERDEN (LOCK) Another returnee, Van Heerden played four games for the Junior Boks in his first tournament, including their semi-final against Ireland. The 19-year-old lock, schooled at Grey College, has continued to grow his game at the Bulls, to the point that he was called on to make his debut off the bench…

CLUB FOCUS Top 14 latecomers, Bordeaux are pushing for their first piece of major silverware. Based in the wine-growing hub of southwestern France, Bordeaux are starting to harvest the fruits of merging two dubs in the region as they have made an impressive start to the season, securing a place in the Champions Cup playoffs with one round to spare. While most of the Top 14 clubs were founded between the 1890s and early 1900s, the dub that is now known as Bordeaux Begles was only officially founded in 2006. Originally, there were two main clubs in the region: Stade Bordelais and CA Bordeaux-Bègles-Gironde. When CA Begles dropped down to the third-division Federale 1, while Bordelais were promoted to the second-division Pro D2, a plan to merge the clubs was…

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Hoverboards were meant to be here by now guys, if Back To the Future II was to be believed. There'd be giant artificial lifeforms amongst us, Blade Runner had it, and you don't wanna know what Total Recall suggested we'll have by 2084. Hey, fiction needs dreamers. Perhaps sport needs those visionaries even more. Rugby certainly does. And what's worth noting is that some new thinking and wondrous technologies aren't that far away. So let's take a look at the advancements that might begin lacing through our game in the very near future … WATCHING THE GAME What do you think of when you hear the phrase ‘augmented reality'? For some, the next obvious thought is ‘lineouts’. AR 51 out of Tel Aviv is a business which brings live 3D…