Month: November 2009

Match Details
Date: Tuesday, November 17
Venue: Wembley Stadium, London
Kick-off: 21.45 SA (19.45 GMT)
Referee: James Jones (Wales)   
Assistant referees: Rob Debney, Paul Dix
TMO: Brian Abrahams, David Matthews

Teamsheets
South Africa: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 6 Jean Deysel, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.

Saracens (South Africans in bold): 15 Michael Horak, 14 Noah Cato, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Michael Tagicakibau, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert, 7 Justin Melck, 6 Wikus van Heerden (c), 5 Hugh Vyvyan, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Richard Skuse, 2 Ethienne Reynecke, 1 Rhys Gill.
Subs: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Carlos Nieto, 18 George Kruis, 19 Andy Saull, 20 Kevin Barrett, 21 Alex Goode, 22 Rodd Penney.

The trio of Rastas that bungled the SA anthem before the game against France have expressed surprise at being told they sucked. The South African embassy chose the singer of South Africa’s national anthem in Toulouse on Friday night. ‘Every time we welcome a foreign side, we ask the embassy to propose people for the national anthems,’ said French team manager Maso. ‘It’s the South African Embassy that put forward this man and we respected their choice.’

Durban local Ras Dumisani, who now records out of Paris, sang the anthem and was astounded when told players and coach Peter de Villiers were unhappy at his performance, saying  ‘everyone at the stadium told me I sang well, even after the match. The Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika has been my tune since a baby’ he added. ‘How can I not know the words? There are four languages: Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans, English. It’s just four bars, always saying the same thing. I am the biggest reggae man in South Africa and the Springboks are my team. Everyone has their own tastes and you can’t always account for that but most people find my music so beautiful.’

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcMA4Bz1SHI

Scorers
France 20 (11)
Try: Vincent Clerc
Penalties: Julien Dupuy (4), Morgan Parra

Springboks 13 (13)
Try: John Smit
Conversion: Morne Steyn
Penalty: Morne Steyn
Drop goal: Morne Steyn

Teamsheets
South Africa – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.

France – 15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cedric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Louis Picamoles, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 3 Fabien Barcella.
Subs: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sebastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Médard.

Stats
All Results South Africa v France:
Played 37 | SA won 20 (56%) | France won 11 | 6 draws
In France:
Played 17 | SA won 11 (69%) | France won 5 | 1 draw
In South Africa:
Played 20 | SA won 9 (45%) | France won 6 | 5 draws

John Smit

Finally! A reason to be happy that you moved to London.

Join our celebration dinner with some of the biggest names in rugby to honour the illustrious career of one of the world’s greatest rugby legends. Attending to pay their respects will be John’s team mates and rivals alike: including Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield and Juan Smith.

CLICK HERE for more info.

A shockingly inept performance from the Bok second stringers (especially in the scrums) saw them humiliated at Welford Road, going down 22-17 to a Leicester side without 16 of their top players. Players who will not want to watch the tape include Gurthro Steenkamp (pumped in the scrums and popped repeatedly, giving away penalties), Jannie du Plessis (folded like a ragdoll in the scrums), Chiliboy Ralepelle (anonymous until leaving the field injured after 20 minutes yet again), Andries Bekker (provided no muscle for his front-row in the scrums, lost the ball in the loose and not involved at all in the rucks), Davon Raubenheimer (excuse me, who?), and Ruan Pienaar (exposed behind a useless pack and looked panicked). The hardworking Ashley Johnson fought a lone battle and is the only player who can hold his head up high.

Leicester 22 (16)
Try: Lucas Amorosino
Conversion: Ben Youngs
Penalties: Ben Youngs (5)

SA XV 17 (11)
Try: Jongi Nokwe
Penalties: Ruan Pienaar (4)