Year: 2010

Springbok captain Victor Matfield has been nominated for the 2010 IRB Player of the Year award.

Matfield is joined on the shortlist for the award by last year’s winner, All Blacks’ captain Richie McCaw, his teammate Mills Muliaina, France’s Imanol Harinordoquy and Australians David Pocock and Kurtley Beale.

The winner will be announced on December 1 when the awards for IRB Coach of the Year (Graham Henry) and Team of the Year (New Zealand) will also be made known.

Previous winners: Richie McCaw (2009), Shane Williams (2008), Bryan Habana (2007), Richie McCaw (2006), Dan Carter (2005), Schalk Burger (2004), Jonny Wilkinson (2003), Fabien Galthie (2002), Keith Wood (2001).

Supersport’s senior rugby correspondent Gavin Rich joined from London for a Q&A session ahead of the clash with England at Twickenham on Saturday.

Q: Hi Gavin, what do you think the chances are of Peter de Villiers getting fired? You said before the tour that any mishap either on or off the pitch on this tour might cost him his job.
A: I think he is one 80 minute poor performance from being fired. If the Boks lose at Twickenham, I would say he is certainly gone. Even if they win, this is something they need to look at – the Boks aren’t growing their game at all and have regressed significantly not only in this past year, but from where they started after 2007.

Q: Reading the Supersport blogs, I can see that many people are very angry with PDV because of the lost to Scotland. Many want PDV to be fired. What are your comments on that. (more…)

Date: Saturday, November 27
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 16.30 SA (14.30 GMT)
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
Assistant refs: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ire), Simon Mcdowell (Ire)
TMO: Iain Ramage (Scotland)

England: 15 Ben Foden; 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Mark Cueto; 10 Toby Flood, 9 Ben Youngs; 8 Nick Easter, 7 Lewis Moody (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Courtney Lawes, 3 Dan Coles, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Steve Thompson, 17 David Wilson, 18 Simon Shaw, 19 Hendre Fourie, 20 Danny Care, 21 Charlie Hodgson, 22 Matt Banahan.

South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Frans Steyn, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Patrick Lambie, 22 Adi Jacobs.

The Boks’ grand slam ambitions are over after being beaten by Scotland on the weekend. The Scots were poor but thoroughly deserving of their victory over the diabolically dumb Springboks who played their worst game since the 49-0 drubbing at the hands of Australia.

In a post-match interview a seemingly jovial Peter de Villiers gave the impression that he didn’t care about what had just transpired on the field. “All credit to Scotland, but we only had ourselves to blame. Some of the refereeing decisions were puzzling, however we did not respond the way we should have done. We now have to pick ourselves up physically and mentally for the challenge of playing England next weekend.”

Victor Matfield seemed in a foul mood on Saturday, almost losing the plot with referee Stuart Dickinson. It must have been the inconvenience of having to play a game of rugby during his golf tour of Scotland. Just look at his build-up to the big game on Saturday:

Tues 16th: Another set back today with Bryan breaking his hand. The only good news this last two days is that we got in at St Andrews Old Course.
Wed 17th: Dick Muir had a hole-in-one on the 11th at St Andrews. How spesial is that.
Thurs 18th: Really enjoyed yesterday at St Andrews. Just an unbelievable place but now its back to business.On our way to training.
Thurs 18th: Didnt want to be arrogant but Spies and myself took Jean and Hougies money. We were all square walking down the 18th.You cant buy experience.

No wonder the players want de Villiers to remain as coach – it’s just one long holiday while he’s in charge. Well done for not taking Scotland lightly…

Scotland 21 (12)
Penalties: Dan Parks (6). Drop goal: Dan Parks

Springboks 17 (9)
Try: Willem Alberts. Penalties: Morne Steyn (4)

Date: Saturday 20 November 2010 | 16:30 SA Time
Venue: Murrayfield, Scotland

Scotland – 15. Hugo Southwell, 14. Nikki Walker, 13. Max Evans, 12. Graeme Morrison, 11. Sean Lamont, 10. Dan Parks, 9. Rory Lawson (c), 8. John Barclay, 7. Kelly Brown, 6. Nathan Hines, 5. Scott MacLeod, 4. Richie Gray, 3. Euan Murray, 2. Ross Ford, 1. Allan Jacobsen
Subs: 16. Dougie Hall, 17. Moray Low, 18. Richie Vernon, 19. Ross Rennie, 20. Greig Laidlaw, 21. Ruaridh Jackson, 22. Chris Paterson

South Africa -15. Zane Kirchner, 14. Gio Aplon, 13. Francois Steyn, 12. Jean de Villiers, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Morne Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Ryan Kankowski, 7. Juan Smith, 6. Deon Stegmann, 5. Victor Matfield, 4. Bakkies Botha, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Beast Mtawarira
Replacements: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. CJ van der Linde, 18. Flip van der Merwe, 19. Willem Alberts, 20. Ruan Pienaar, 21. Patrick Lambie, 22. Adrian Jacobs

Wales 25 (17)
Tries: George North (2), James Hook
Conversions: Stephen Jones (2)
Penalties: Stephen Jones (2)

Springboks 29 (9)
Tries: Willem Alberts, Victor Matfield
Conversions: Morne Steyn (2)
Penalties: Morne Steyn (5)

Bok player ratings

Other tests
Italy 16 – 22 Argentina
England 35 – 18 Australia
Ireland 20 – 10 Samoa
France 34 – 12 Fiji
Scotland 03 – 49 New Zealand

The IRB has disgraced itself still further by reducing Keven Mealamu’s ban for headbutting England captain Lewis Moody from 4 weeks to 2 after an appeal by New Zealand. The All Blacks are fast becoming the most hated team in rugby with their cheating tactics on the field and their hypocrisy off the field. The fact that they have Paddy O’Brien of the IRB in their back pocket just adds to the mounting worldwide dislike for this All Blacks team.

Here is the video of ‘Kevvy’ Mealamu blatantly headbutting Moody in front of the referee. Bakkies Botha received a 9 week ban for exactly the same offence (against New Zealand) during this years Tri Nations. Are the IRB biased? What do you think?

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