Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i SA RUGBY

The start of the November tour to Europe signalled the Springboks are on the home straight to the 2023 Rugby World Cup with few furlongs to go before the showpiece event in France. Three years have passed in the blink of an eye and by this time next season we'll hopefully be celebrating South Africa retaining the Webb Ellis Cud. But no matter what happens at the next World Cup, we won't come out of it frantically searching for the next generation of Bok talents – they've already announced their arrival. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Henco van Wyk, Ruan Venter and Suleiman Hartzenberg represent a group of rising stars who have shone brilliantly in 2022. Such is the quality of these four players that three of the quartet made the tour to…

‘HE'S PROBABLY THE ULTIMATE STORMER’ COACH JOHN DOBSON PAYS TRIBUTE TO FRANS MALHERBE BEFORE THE TIGHTHEAD PROP'S RECORDBREAKING 124th APPEARANCE FOR THE FRANCHISE ‘EBEN IS THE BEST LOCK IN THE WORLD’ SHARKS COACH SEAN EVERITT AHEAD OF THE BOK'S URC DEBUT FOR THE DURBAN-BASED FRANCHISE ‘I'VE GOT A BRITISH PASSPORT … I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO ABROAD STRAIGHT AFTER SCHOOL, FROM SEVERAL CLUBS’ SACHA FEINBERG-MNGOMEZULU SAYS HE CHOSE THE JUNIOR BOKS OVER ENGLAND U20 ‘IT IS REALLY HURTING’ SPRINGBOK WOMEN'S COACH STANLEY RAUBENHEIMER AFTER HIS TEAM SUFFERED A LAST-MINUTE LOSS TO FIJI AT THE WOMEN'S WORLD CUP ‘SA RUGBY DON'T GIVE A S**T’ FORMER SPRINGBOK SEVENS WOMEN'S COACH PAUL DELPORT SLAMS SA RUGBY FOR FAILING TO INVEST IN THE WOMEN'S GAME ‘IT'S A VERY DARK DAY FOR RUGBY’ FORMER…

Ntuthuko Mchunu remembers the day his family found out he was to be the head boy of Maritzburg College. Confusion reigned as his mother swung the assembly hall doors open in a moment of Hollywood timing just as it was announced he would be only the second black head boy in the school's history. ‘I'll never forget, it was quite a special moment,’ says Mchunu. ‘She was over the moon, though at first she didn't really understand what was going on until the headmaster gave her a call and explained her son would be head boy. I called my dad and told the family and at first I was starstruck because being head boy at Maritzburg, it's quite a big thing.’ Joel Stransky, Butch James, Peter Grant, Craig Burden and…

‘I was playing for the Lions Sevens team and the Blitzboks were playing warm-up games in the same tournament in Bedfordview. Mzwandile Stick [above] would give me advice between matches on how to play and as a 19-year-old I had a million questions. Some of the people who saw us together thought we were brothers, even though we don't look alike. At our next training session, I wore the Blitzboks shorts and socks that Mzwandile had given me and our coach, Pieter Visser, who had been a Springbok Sevens manager, started calling me “Stix”. And it stuck.’…

THE SCRUM Work the tighthead prop Live situations help you check your tighthead's shape and footwork under pressure from the opposition hooker and loosehead. This is key with the ‘crouch-bind-set’ engagement. WHY USE IT Prepares your tighthead to react to different pressures from opponents while using their own lock and flanker for power. SET-UP A midline on the pitch, start 2 vs 2 then move up to 4 vs 4. HOW TO DO IT Setupa 2 vs 2 Gothroughthe engagement process. Stand at the side to check the body position of the tighthead (No 3). If you can film it with your phone to show the prop, even better. Nowrepeatthe process but stand behind the loosehead (1) and hooker (2), After the engagement, tap either 1 or 2 or…

WHO SHOULD BECOME BOK COACH IN 2024? VS SIMON BORCHAROT SAYS JAKE WHITE SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will leave a huge hole if, as expected, he vacates his post after next year's World Cup and takes Jacques Nienaber with him. How do you replace a World Cup-winning Springbok coach of Erasmus’ calibre? With another World Cup-winning Springbok coach, of course. Jake White has made no secret of his desire (some would say obsession) to coach the Springboks again. The former SA U21 coach inherited a Bok team in disarray after a quarter-final exit at the 2003 World Cup that was only slightly less embarrassing than the Kamp Staaldraad which preceded it. White achieved instant success when the Boks won the 2004 Tri-Nations and while there were some bumps…

JESSE KRIEL ‘De Klerk Wedding.’ – The Springbok midfielder with teammates Damian de Allende, Lukhanyo Am and head of athletic performance Andy Edwards at Faf de Klerk's wedding reception. MARCELL COETZEE ‘Saam die Legende van Loftus [together with the legend of Loftus].’ – The Bulls captain caught up with Frik du Preez before a training session. SIYA KOLISI ‘Magician.’ – The Springbok captain met Spain and Liverpool midfielder Thlago Alcantara at the Premier League club's Melwood training ground. TENDAI MTAWARIRA ‘Tried on my Springbok Jersey from 2019 and the dude has gained some… muscles,’ – The Bok great showed he's still got it. ANTON DU TOIT ‘Some good times.’ – The Maties utility back enjoyed some quality time with brothers PieterSteph, Johan and Daniel at an event at their farm…

You hung up your boots as a player in 2018. How did you move into coaching? I started working as an academy scout for [SA Rugby sevens high-performance manager] Marius Schoeman. While I was working towards my coaching qualifications and being mentored by Marius, I started coding matches and taking more responsibility on the field. I took the bull by the horns and grew. I then applied for the job of assistant coach at the academy, got it, and took the boys to Dubai and Colorado. Then I applied for the head coach position at the academy. What did you learn from former Blitzboks coach Neil Powell when you were a player and as academy coach? As a player, I learned about discipline, being a warrior and leading by example.…

FORWARDS ‘OS WAS DEtSE IVELY gUICK OFF THE MARK FOR HIS SIZE’ BACKS ‘JONAH AT FUll SPEED WAS UKE A RUNAWAY FREIBHT TRAIN’…

LINEBREAKS Gino Mb Maybe there should have been a qualifying round for some of the teams, including South Africa. There is a massive gap between some of these teams and some matches are too one-sided. Kenneth Cockcroft Japan lost to New Zealand in the men's game with a record score and came back to beat the Boks. They all have to start somewhere. Louis Nortier You have a fully professional No 1-ranked England side, unbeaten for 28 games, playing an amateur Springbok side made up of players who have jobs and play on weekends and people blame the coaches. If you want to compete with professional teams it's a good idea to be professional yourself and let players make it a full-time job as opposed to a hobby. Wayne Poisson…

What's your favourite Free State town? I haven't travelled much farther than Bloem, but Clarens is definitely on my to-do list. What I like about Bloem is that it's quiet, the people are friendly and overall it's a good space. Is it true that salad is just chicken in the Free State? What's a salad!? We want meat! Top Gun or Mission Impossible? Mission Impossible all day. I enjoy movies that are like a puzzle, and you have to figure out what's going to go down next. What do you hate most about training? Being an athlete you get used to training so often, so there's nothing I particularly dislike except for maybe training in the cold. Especially early mornings around June with the icy grass, You never really get…

‘To have esteemed former players swapping roles to coach the team they served for so long, is testimony of the great culture that was created over the years. ‘We have seen what the Blitzboks are capable of – they have been one of the top three sides in the world consistently over the past decade or so. That did not happen by chance, as their success was built over a long period at their base at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport. ‘Both coaches were part of the welt-respected Blitzboks culture and are driven by that. They will certainly make sure the values of the system will continue to grow with the next generation of players.’…

Which team is the greatest in the history of Super Rugby? Was it the 2009 Bulls powered by Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez, the all-star Stormers side that contested the 2010 final, the Sharks outfit that coasted into the 2007 decider or the 2017 Lions who tripped at the final hurdle? Or how about Joeli Vidiri's Auckland Blues of the mid-1990s, Sam Whitelock's 2018 Crusaders or the masterful 2011 Reds steered by halfbacks Will Genia and Quade Cooper? The envy of northern hemsiphere rugby for the better part of two decades after the game turned professional, Super Rugby produced most of the talent that went on to win a World Cup between 1996 and 2019. SARugbymag.co.za readers have tackled the opportunity to participate in a unique 32-team knockout tournament…

CAREER IN PHOTOS PICTURES…

The United Rugby Championship is structured in such a way that no side can rely on their international players throughout the whole season. It has been the most wonderful thing for South African rugby. Never has the depth of talent been so strong, and neither has the opportunity for youngsters been so prominent. In the absence of certain players during the international window, coaches have had to entrust young players to perform at a high level, and in turn they have revelled in the responsibility. It was fantastic to see the immediate reward, in the form of a national call-up, for the likes of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Henco van Wyk who have come straight from representing South Africa at U20 level to thriving for their franchises in the URC. The…