Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2020 i SA RUGBY

At the beginning of May, South Africa’s lockdown had been eased to Stage 4. It offered a glimmer of hope that there was some light at the end of the devastating coronavirus tunnel. On the rugby scene, it has been a particularly challenging time as talk of tournament cancellations and financial distress did the daily rounds. And yet there were also those who looked for the silver lining, suggesting that the break from action provided an opportunity to consider radical changes for the long-term betterment of the game. Here at SA Rugby magazine, we’ve also sought to carefully consider the best possible content to offer at this time, and there are no shortage of fascinating stories to be told even in the absence of live action. One of those comes…

The more things change the more they stay the same. Or do they? With Covid-19 unfortunately in full swing, turning the sporting world upside down, millions are reassessing their lives to see how they could possibly make changes for the better once things are back to ‘normal’. World Rugby also reassessed its future over this time, with a clear decision reached during the first round of voting. Sir Bill Beaumont was again selected to serve another four-year term in command. You’d think that with the best players and teams coming from the south – look at World Cup winners over the last nine tournaments: there’s an 8-1 advantage to southern hemisphere teams – the administration should reflect the same representation at the top table of leadership. But this is not…

At the end of Super Rugby last year, the Sharks lost a raft of loose forwards, including rugged players in Philip van der Walt and the Du Preez twins, Dan and Jean-Luc. New coach Sean Everitt needed experienced reinforcements, but he also wanted newcomers who would suit a game different from the direct approach of the Robert du Preez era. Notshe fitted the bill perfectly. ‘We felt we needed to change the way we play and Notshe wasn’t getting game time at the Stormers. They have so many good loose forwards and they also play differently to us. We want forwards — especially loose forwards — who can link with the backs in counter-attack, and we anticipated Notshe could do that for us.’ Everitt was spot-on. It has been a…

CHEETAHS FLYHALF TIAN SCHOEMAN ON STEYN’S RECRUITMENT ‘They say you must never be the smartest in the room, otherwise you are in the wrong room. Now I will have Ruan Pienaar on my inside and Frans Steyn on my outside. With that experience beside me I cannot see anything going wrong. Having said that, I am excited to play with him. I played against him while I was in France. He is an awesome guy and I think he will bring a new life and energy to the Cheetahs.’ CHEETAHS CENTRE WILLIAM SMALL-SMITH ON HIS FIRST MEMORY OF STEYN ‘Frans is a world-class player and just his versatility as a backline player will strengthen our ranks immensely. I remember watching him play for the first time. I was still in…

The Covid-19 crisis has forced unions to make significant cutbacks over the past few months. It’s also prompted everyone to face up to the harsh realities about tournaments and structures that have been mediocre for some time. The game cannot afford to plod along as it did before the devastating coronavirus outbreak. The powers that be have to find innovative ways to generate more interest and revenue. They also have to consider how the careful management of players will make for a more attractive and lucrative product. Newspapers and websites have been inundated with proposals and ‘10-point plans to save rugby’. A large number of erudite and respected rugby folk – from Clive Woodward to Ian McGeechan – feel the crisis has presented the game with an opportunity and that…

Fifteen-year-old Jordan Venter was dozing on the backseat when the car carrying his mother, stepfather and two stepbrothers was smashed by a careering coal truck, flinging him violently from the vehicle and on to the roadside in a maelstrom of debris and unimaginable horror. The family were cruising back across the South African border from a perfect holiday in Mozambique. The boys, Jordan, 15-year-old Christian and 12-year-old Aldin Kiesen had ridden jet skis, frolicked on the sun-baked beaches and forged bonds they expected would lay the foundations for a lifetime of friendship. In a wretched flash, their blossoming little clan was decimated. Of the five passengers, only Venter and his mother Gillian survived, each nursing terrible injuries. Nearly three years on, Venter is known as the gregarious prodigy snapped up…

2009 & 2010: Represented Free State U18 at Craven Week 2010-11: Blitzboks (7 matches, 5 tries, 1 tournament win at Las Vegas) 2011-12: Junior Springboks (8 appearances, 1 try, 1 tournament win at 2012 U20 Championship) 2012-15: Sharks Currie Cup (28 appearances, 10 tries, 50 points) 2012-16: Sharks Super Rugby (43 appearances, 9 tries, 45 points) 2016-19: La Rochelle Top 14 (35 appearances, 7 tries, 35 points) 2016-19: La Rochelle European Champions/Challenge Cup (11 appearances, 3 tries, 15 points)…

How did your move from the Sharks to the Hurricanes come about? My contract with the Sharks was coming to an end and they didn’t offer me a new deal. After we were bounced out of the Currie Cup last year, my agent phoned me and said that John Plumtree was interested in bringing me to the Hurricanes. I immediately said I was keen. It’s a massive move. I haven’t heard of any South African players going to New Zealand, given the talent they have in the country. For them to show interest in me felt unreal. I’m one of a privileged few from afar who gets to play for a New Zealand side. How have you coped without your family and friends in South Africa? Our coping mechanism has…

‘My ankle is coming right. By the time I get over to Leicester, I should be pretty close to making a return to full-on rugby training. Obviously with the current situation I have a bit of time on my hands so I can get the proper rehab in. I don’t need to rush anything. I’ve set myself up with a bit of a home gym and a wattbike, I can try to stay fit and follow my rehab programme. I’ve been in contact with Leicester, getting some work from them, so all the little things are helping. ‘I was probably going to look to do the last stages of my rehab with the Leicester medical team. I had to wrap up one or two things here and see the surgeon…

I remember my first in-person interview with Johan Goosen clearly, despite it taking place more than seven years ago. I was a young writer without the requisite emotional intelligence or experience to understand that talent alone counted for little at rugby’s elite levels. Goosen, then 20, was the most talented flyhalf in the country. Having watched all the YouTube tributes to the high school prodigy, I’d been caught up in the absurdity of his 60m goal kicks, marvelled at his running game and chalked off an indifferent start to his professional career to a natural adaptation period. I came into the interview as a super fan and my glowing feature in this magazine reflected that at the time. When Heyneke Meyer handed Goosen his debut against Australia in Perth, I…

We often speak about four-year cycles and how a World Cup marks the end. In the past, the tournament has signified the end of an era as a number of players retired from international rugby and opted to finish their careers abroad. Over the past 12 months, however, we’ve witnessed a change in that pattern. Only a few of the 33 players who featured for the Springboks at the 2019 World Cup have decided to move on. The majority of that squad will be available for South Africa in 2020 and in the lead-up to the 2021 series against the British & Irish Lions. The Covid-19 crisis brought competitive sport to a halt in mid-March. Before that, we saw how hard the South Africans were pushing themselves in Super Rugby…

Tell us more about the Ndungane Twins Foundation you launched with Akona. My brother and I started speaking about it just before I retired in 2017 and we set it up in 2018. The idea behind the foundation was to do something for the people of the Eastern Cape, which is where we come from. We understand the challenges people in that area go through. There is a lot of talent in the region but it’s a matter of getting opportunities. Our parents could afford to send us to a good school; we got a good education at Hudson Park and proper rugby coaching. What we want to do is help to expose kids to that kind of environment. We are working with the network we have in the Eastern…

BUSH FRIGHT Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has earned a reputation as a fearless leader, putting his body on the line for his team. However, during a visit to the bush with Scarra Ntubeni and Joe Pietersen, his nerves were certainly put to the test. A throwback video showed Kolisi casually chatting to Ntubeni and a few other guests around a campfire, only for Pietersen to suddenly come charging in wearing a mask. Kolisi clearly gets the fright of his life as he screeches in a high-pitched voice, leading to laughter from those that had set him up. ‘But why? Why would you do that?’ he asks repeatedly. ‘You knew it was coming,’ Pietersen answers. GETTING THE LAST LAUGH Former Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis certainly enjoyed the team’s 2019 World…

The Cheetahs will enter the next Currie Cup and Pro14 seasons with some swagger after securing one of the most valuable signatures in world rugby: that of Frans Steyn. The Currie Cup champions may have reduced the size of their squad by at least 10 players, but they do have the two-time World Cup-winning Springbok on their books for the next couple of seasons. After an extended stint with Montpellier, Steyn – who turned 33 in May – will be looking to close out his career at the Cheetahs. However, he is a man on a mission with plenty to achieve. Steyn has signalled his intentions of going into farming full time on his property just outside Aliwal North, but for now he has his sights set on the Pro14.…

Jake White wakes up to a magnificent sea view every day. When the mood takes him, he hops across to the empty boutique hotel next door and gets some exercise in the unoccupied gym. For much of the rest of the time, he checks in with players and coaches on Zoom or FaceTime; the communication tools of the Covid-19 age. Such is the life of the new main man of the Bulls, handed the keys to a kingdom he can’t enter due to the pandemic shutting down all sport. For all the obvious comforts that surround him at his beachside home in the Western Cape, he can’t wait to get his hands dirty in Pretoria. He’s eyeing a property to rent, has checked in with many of the Bulls office-bearers…

Mental health. Urgh. Like uncontested scrums, bag-snatching and Romain Poite, it’s a subject rugby players prefer to avoid. But, increasingly, it’s the elephant in the room that cannot be ignored. Players are slowly beginning to talk; to one another, to psychologists, to the media. ‘Among all my ex-player friends, I don’t know one guy who has finished up playing and hasn’t had diagnosable depression to some degree,’ says a prominent Cape Town psychologist who happened to play lock for the Lions and Biarritz until 2011. Trevor Hall is thus well placed to talk about mental health in rugby, having seen players struggle and then been involved clinically to help them. ‘The pressure to be athletic machines and morally upstanding is immense,’ he says. ‘An inordinate amount of pressure is placed…

If ever rugby needed sound leadership, it would be during these uncertain times brought by the coronavirus outbreak. With all sport around the globe suspended, postponed or cancelled, this year’s rugby season hangs in the balance, and with it the game’s finances. The result is the powers that be have been making blind calculations to mitigate financial damage, the extent of which they won’t know for months to come. Yet only half of the country’s leading six rugby franchises have chief executives, while SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux has been linked with a possible position at World Rugby. As we speak, only the Sharks (Eduard Coetzee), the Lions (Rudolf Straeuli) and the Cheetahs (Harold Verster) have CEOs, with the latter rumoured to be retiring in September because he is turning…

How have you been managing in lockdown? It’s a different and challenging time for all of us, being taken out of our comfort zones. But we’re taking it day by day, finding ways to be creative and just trying to make the most of a rather tough situation. You’ve been in an apartment in Durban. How have you been maintaining your fitness levels? It’s very difficult. I’ve got a watt bike so I try to get on that every day and I keep busy by doing body-weight exercises. I’ve also got stairs leading to my apartment so I do a little bit of running there too. Obviously I do this while trying not to disturb the neighbours and that sort of thing. It’s challenging but it also gives us a…

If anyone can provide perspective on the Covid-19 crisis, Michael Fatialofa can. Here is someone who is acutely aware how one event irreversibly changes life in an instant. Through all the pain, mental battles, loneliness and fear, Fatialofa’s positive progress from a freak spinal injury continues to inspire; to show what is possible with faith and inner drive to improve each day. A powerful lesson exists in his willpower. Videos of Fatialofa’s recovery – dubbed a miracle by doctors – have uplifted the sporting world. Yet his road ahead remains long and fraught. In this revealing interview he details the success and realities associated with his terrifying experience. Four months ago, Fatialofa suffered a C4 vertebrae fracture and spinal contusion when carrying the ball into contact, one minute after coming…

CHIEF WRITER JON CARDINELLI CALLS FOR A GLOBAL SEASON Many former players and coaches believe a global season is the only way to move the sport forward and address concerns around player welfare, as well as the overall product. When he was running for the World Rugby chairmanship, Agustin Pichot spoke about using the Covid-19 crisis as an opportunity to implement real and significant change. Consider the US model, where athletes in leagues such as the NFL have the opportunity to condition their bodies in a substantial pre-season. They’re in peak physical shape by the time the regular season starts. At the conclusion of the competition they’re afforded a proper off-season to rest before they begin the following season’s training programme. The upshot is that players are less susceptible to…

DILLYN LEYDS ‘Weird times but still trying to show a glimpse of a young smile. Stay home and stay safe everybody,’ said the Stormers fullback after a home workout. DAMIAN WILLEMSE ‘No child, mother or father should go to bed hungry. Today once again opened my eyes to see how privileged I am. People are really struggling in our communities and they need our help,’ urged the Stormers flyhalf, who assisted with food handouts in his community of Strand. VICTOR MATFIELD ‘5km driveway challenge … 25 x 150m sprint, 50m slow jog #matfieldlockdown,’ said the former Springbok lock after an exhausting workout session with his daughters. BRYAN HABANA ‘Happy Freedom Day South Africa #matchingmondays,’ exclaimed the former Springbok wing, who sported matching undies with his kids. HANDRE POLLARD ‘Sitting and…

The appointment of Jake White as director of rugby at the Bulls is part of a significant overhaul at the famous union. Alfons Meyer was named CEO in late 2018, but stepped down in May. Last year, billionaires Patrice Motsepe and Johann Rupert (via Remgro) were confirmed as equal shareholders of the Blue Bulls company (37% each), in line with SA Rugby’s constitution which caps private investment at 75%. The endorsement of Motsepe, brother-in-law to President Cyril Ramaphosa, is hugely significant to the game. His right-hand man, Dr Johan van Zyl, is a big Bulls supporter too. Rupert has long had an association with rugby and with White in particular. Previously, Remgro and the Blue Bulls Rugby Union each owned 50% of the franchise. Reducing their shares allowed a buy-in…

11 March: Covid-19 management committee meets for the first time. 12 March: Pro14 season is suspended indefinitely. 13 March: World Rugby cancels the Women’s World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series tournament, to be played in Stellenbosch on 28 and 29 March. 13 March: SA Rugby cancels Junior Springbok home and away internationals in April and May. 14 March: Sanzaar suspends Super Rugby. 16 March: SA Rugby suspends all national team training camps and business travel, and orders cost savings; postpones kick-off of SuperSport Rugby Challenge. 16 March: SA Rugby announces actions and issues guidelines on safe practices to all rugby bodies. 18 March: SA Rugby announces suspension of all rugby until the end of April and say that discussions are under way to reschedule competitions to exclude international travel and be…

CRAIG LEWIS (EDITOR) The selection of a Springbok dream team from the past 25 years is an entertaining but almost impossible task. South African rugby has been blessed with generations of world-class players, and trying to settle on a ‘Perfect 23’ is subjective business. Yet, it should also serve as a tribute to some of the legendary players this country has produced. In my backline, there is no denying a temptation to pick Andre Joubert, but the ‘Rolls-Royce of fullbacks’ played much of his rugby in a period outside our selection criteria from the past quarter of a century. With that in mind, you can’t look past the ultimate ‘Ice Man’, Percy Montgomery, who was so central to the Springboks’ 2007 World Cup triumph. Other World Cup winners such as…

Former Lions, Cheetahs and Boland lock David de Villiers is the GM of MyPlayers’ Financial Services, boasting an array of qualifications. He gained his first pro contract at 27 and thus advocates for players carving out a career alongside rugby. ‘I believe you’re a better player when you do both,’ he says. De Villiers believes the biggest recent challenge was players’ failure to build assets during their playing years, chiefly by paying bonds or contributing to a pension fund. MyPlayers assists players with several financial services, including a registered pension fund, with an advisory panel activated by the organisation. Approximately 650 of South Africa’s 700-odd professionals contribute to this; the fund recently became a compulsory component when players are contracted. An independent investment consultant reviews the fund every year. MyPlayers…

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Cyle Brink is an obsessive, unabashed adrenaline junkie. As a youngster in Johannesburg, he would ‘soup’ up cars and tear around the place with his pals, screaming away to discover some new fabled spot for adventure that had been filtered along the boy-racer grapevine. He loves bikes and boats and jet skis, and his idea of the perfect day out is juddering around the rugged African expanses in a Land Cruiser. ‘We did what we could to the motors to make them as fast as possible,’ the former Lions flank says. ‘I had mates who were mechanics or big into the car scene, so you knew who to take your stuff to. You’d hear about a place and we’d drive out there. Sometimes there’d be nothing, other times it was…

15. CHRISTIAN CULLEN He was a counter-attacking threat and with Jonah Lomu close by, caused countless headaches. 14. JONAH LOMU My first Super Rugby match was against the Hurricanes in Durban. I remember wondering how I would tackle him. 13. BRIAN O’DRISCOLL A huge threat on attack, his presence added an extra 15% to any team he played for. 12. DAMIEN TRAILLE He had wonderful vision and could play as a backup at 10. 11. TAKUDZWA NGWENYA He scored a memorable try when he rounded Bryan Habana in the 2007 RWC and also scored a majestic try in the European Cup semi-finals in 2010 when he ran 90m and outsprinted Shane Williams. 10. BUTCH JAMES He had the skills of a kicking flyhalf but could get the backline going. Also…