Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2020 i SA RUGBY

What a year 2019 was for Pieter-Steph du Toit. When you think back to 2015, it was hard to imagine he would go on to accomplish what he has, despite his immense talent. Back then, Du Toit was coming off a series of injuries and took some flak for his role in the Springboks’ historic loss to Japan at the World Cup, when he was picked seemingly out of position at blindside flank. However, he has never been one to let obstacles get in his way. Now with 55 Springbok caps to his name, Du Toit has just about won it all, helping the Boks to a World Cup and Rugby Championship double, while being named World Rugby and SA Rugby Player of the Year for 2019. He joined Naas…

Bongi Mbonambi’s booming laugh fills the small coffee shop that sits in the shadow of Newlands stadium. It’s a couple weeks before the start of the Super Rugby season, and he smiles when I ask him about his World Cup winner’s medal and what it means to him. Mbonambi appears content. At the time, he didn’t know another challenge lay around the corner: he suffered a serious hamstring injury in the Stormers’ opening game of the season, against the Hurricanes. Yet, Mbonambi has always been a fighter. He was picked ahead of Malcolm Marx to start at hooker in the World Cup playoffs against Japan, Wales and England last year, and on each occasion Erasmus cited Mbonambi’s appetite for combat as an asset. Where does that bulldog tenacity come from?…

It wasn’t surprising that a decade ago, when the Bulls were in their prime, the Loftus Versfeld DJ decided that after every kick he would belt out the chorus to Tina Turner’s smash hit ‘Simply the Best’. It was never revealed if the Bulls paid royalties for every airing of the song, but if they did they would have been quite a bit poorer for the choice, especially as it attached itself to the kicking exploits of Morne Steyn. Steyn’s return to Loftus has been celebrated with a tinge of nostalgia. The architect of so many wins and the holder of so many records in South Africa, his homecoming seems to have the right feel about it. And make no mistake, Steyn hasn’t returned to earn a bit of money…

2008 FIRST FOOTSTEPS ‘I made my debut for the Stormers in 2008, the year after my senior debut for Western Province. This was my first taste of real international rugby, playing against the Highlanders [left]. I enjoyed every moment of it, playing with my best mates. This is at Newlands, my home ground. It’s special to run out there because my grandfather Jan Pickard played a big role in Western Province rugby in the 1980s; he was president of the union and one of the stands is named after him. You dream of becoming a professional player and suddenly you find yourself there. It’s quite a surreal moment; you’re still a young man and just taking it stride by stride.’ 2011 LATE CALL-UP ‘This is the official capping ceremony for…

Going back to 2015, you featured in four Tests before the World Cup that year. How difficult was it to miss out on that World Cup squad after the work you’d put in? I get asked this question all the time. I was pretty heartbroken, but previous disappointments are a dangerous thing to dwell on, so I don’t. I took the lessons that needed to be learned and looked ahead. Did the omission affect your confidence or form? On the contrary, it gave me a lot of fuel, especially considering that 2016 looked like the perfect opportunity for me to make my mark because Fourie du Preez had retired after the World Cup. I had a great pre-season, started the season well and then tore my ACL, which sidelined me…

On a crisp Port Elizabeth morning, 14-year-old Mike Willemse stood gawping pitchside, transfixed by a schoolboy monster, blood gushing from his face and fury burning in his eyes. As a junior pupil at the storied Grey High School, Willemse was expected to brandish the school flag and cheer on the older students in their ferociously contested matches. There was one boy, says Willemse, who stood above them all. It was on that morning that the young hooker laid eyes on Siya Kolisi, the snarling township urchin who would become a World Cup-winning captain. Kolisi was not yet 17, but already there was an avalanche of hype building around this back-row phenomenon. The kid was a colossus, a schoolboy encased in the body of a giant. ‘Siya was captain of the…

‘TO THE PEOPLE WHO SAY IT IS A MASSIVE RISK THAT I HAVEN’T BEEN A HEAD COACH BEFORE, WHAT CAN I SAY? THEY ARE PROBABLY RIGHT. I CAN’T ARGUE … BUT I WOULDN’T HAVE ACCEPTED THIS IF I DID NOT THINK I COULD MAKE A SUCCESS OUT OF IT’– Jacques Nienaber on his appointment as the Bok coach ‘Jacques will be responsible for the Test match preparation and day-to-day team operations but, as the director of rugby, I will be with the team for the majority of the time and in the coaches’ box with Jacques at matches’– Rassie Erasmus clarifies his role ‘THERE IS A LOT LEFT TO ACHIEVE. I’M TRYING TO BUILD A LEGACY THAT EVERYONE IN SOUTH AFRICA, ESPECIALLY MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS, CAN BE PROUD OF’–…

HOT This one is hard to resist considering the Bok lock plays for the aptly-named Honda Heat in Japan. Having taken the route adopted by several South African players, Snyman has traded the rigours of Super Rugby for some ‘lightweight’ action in Japan, and it’s clear he’s been having some fun. The 2.07m lock again showed he has the skill to go with his height when a video of his try-scoring exploits went viral in January. Chasing a kick-off, Snyman rose above the opposition to claim the ball, shrugged off a couple of tackles and sprinted clear to score with an acrobatic dive over the line. In the third round of the Japanese Top League, the World Cup winner was at it again, charging off on a 40m run in…

Jacques Nienaber spins in his office chair to admire a frame on the wall. One can deduce from its proximity to the door it’s the first thing he sees when he arrives and the last thing he sees before he leaves. It houses a green and gold pennant commemorating the series win against the British & Irish Lions and sits above a photograph of the 2009 Springbok team: John Smit, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana and the rest of the galacticos stare down from the wall. ‘The Golden Age’ declares the label above the picture, as if no team will ever enjoy the same degree of success. The new Springbok coach explains why this photo enjoys pride of place, rather than a memento of South Africa’s World Cup triumph last year.…

What was your childhood like in Chicago in Paarl East? Chicago was a tough place. Rugby was my only way out. I was at school in New Orleans. My teacher, Henkie Green, introduced me to Ian Schwartz [then Bulls high performance manager and charged with recruitment of schoolboy talent]. Ian introduced me to Heyneke Meyer, who convinced me to come to the Bulls. I moved to Pretoria, and that literally saved my life. What do you mean? If I’d stayed at home I would have been a gangster, in jail or dead. I had a lot of friends in that life. I saw people shoot each other right in front of my eyes. I was asked to shoot people to prove my worth to a gang. We were poor, so…

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A BLOODIED GESTURE Referee Nigel Owens is noted for his character and willingness to interact with players. This came to the fore once again during a Pro14 match between the Glasgow Warriors and Benetton Treviso. Owens happened to spot blood on the forehead of veteran Warriors prop Petrus du Plessis just before a lineout. Rather than wait for the team’s medic to come on for a conventional clean-up, Owens offered Du Plessis the back of his shirt to wipe off the blood. The player took to social media to express his gratitude. ‘This is why we love rugby!’ Du Plessis tweeted. ‘In great spirit, Nigel Owens offered me his shirt to speed up the game! What a gentleman!’ SELF-AWARE ADVERTISING A high-profile player as talkative and hilarious as England prop…

ALBERTS AND KRIEL RETURN TO LIONS DEN After weeks of speculation, the Lions confirmed the signing of former Springbok Willem Alberts for the 2020 Super Rugby season, just three days before the competition began. The 35-year-old Alberts played for the franchise over a decade ago, before spells at the Sharks and more recently, Stade Francais in Paris. After the opening weekend of action the Lions also announced the return of former Bok flank Jaco Kriel from English club Gloucester. FOLAU SWITCHES BACK TO RUGBY LEAGUE Former Wallabies fullback Israel Folau returned to competitive sport after signing a one-year deal with rugby league club Catalan Dragons. Having settled his drawn-out legal dispute with Rugby Australia after his sacking for controversial social media posts, Folau returned to the 13-man code for the…

The career of one of the most promising talents of the past decade, Inny-Christian Radebe (known previously as Innocent Radebe), is on the precipice of a tragic end. Coming out of Craven Week in 2013, playing for the second year for the Golden Lions, Radebe, a black flyhalf with a bull’s-eye boot, was one of the hottest properties in town. The former St Stithians College pupil took his talents to the Sharks after high school, beginning a wild rollercoaster ride. At first he dazzled as the UKZN Impi flyhalf and also stole the show at U19 level. But as senior honours trickled in, it quickly became apparent he was turning out to be one of the most mismanaged talents in recent history. Despite getting his first Super Rugby cap at…

OUTSIDE BACKS Despite his side’s poor start to the Japanese Top League season, Willie le Roux has been in excellent form for Toyota Verblitz. The Bok fullback created and scored a number of tries in the opening games of the competition. Moving to Europe, Duhan van der Merwe has been grabbing the headlines with his consistency for Edinburgh. The 24-year-old brother of Bok hooker Akker recently signed an extension to his contract and will qualify to play for Scotland by the time they tour South Africa in July. A call-up would come as no surprise as the wing had already scored a number of tries in the Challenge Cup and Pro14, and in late January topped the competition stats for running metres, defenders beaten and clean breaks. Other outside backs…

Rugby is reaching something of a tipping point: the need to balance finances and player welfare. Many positive noises have been made about the state of the game and there’s no doubt the World Cup in Japan was a huge success, attracting more people to the sport in a non-traditional market with brilliant spectacles as well as generating funds off the field. However, it’s not all good news. There are lingering questions around the sustainability of the sport at the top level, with just a few clubs making money and several unions in financial trouble. TEST RUGBY This year marks the start of the ‘integrated’ season agreed in San Francisco in 2017. It appeared it might be replaced by World Rugby’s Nations Championship proposal but, as that was not approved…