News and discussion about the Springboks
“I’m fighting this illness with my faith. And my faith is strong.”
Those were the words of former Springbok hero, Joost van der Westhuizen.
He talked exclusively for the first time about the “death sentence”, which doctors informed him about four weeks ago.
Castle Lager, creator and sponsor of the wildly popular Bafana Bafana and Proteas SuperFans, is extending its search for South Africa’s ultimate sports fans into new territory: rugby. As the only sponsor of all three major national sports teams, Castle Lager will start the search for the Springbok SuperFans during the Lions vs. Cheetahs clash in Coca Cola Park on Friday, 6 May.
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Ricky Januarie, Sarel Pretorius, Duane Vermeulen and Lionel Mapoe have been included in the 51-man Bok World Cup planning squad. Rassie Erasmus will be part of the management squad.
The squad is as follows:
The following players are contracted to SARU until the end of 2011:
Bakkies Botha
Schalk Burger
Fourie du Preez
Jaque Fourie
Bryan Habana
Victor Matfield
JP Pietersen
John Smit
Juan Smith
Pierre Spies
Andries Bekker
Heinrich Brüssow
Bismarck du Plessis
Adrian Jacobs
Tendai Mtawarira
Wynand Olivier
Danie Rossouw
Morné Steyn
Juan de Jongh
Jean de Villiers
Jannie du Plessis
CJ van der Linde
Gurthrö Steenkamp
This is the official Springbok jersey for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Can you spot the Springbok?
Springbok scrum consultant Os du Randt’s contract has not been extended to cover this year’s World Cup.
The reason given by the media but not yet confirmed by SARU is that his contract was not renewed due to a lack of money. However, SARU have just signed a massive 5 year deal with Absa. And anyway, if they have to cut back, why cut back in a World Cup year of all years?
Other speculation:
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The Boks won the second test 36 – 27 against England and clinched the series. This is what Heyneke Meyer, Jean De Villiers and Francois Hougaard had to say about the game:
Heyneke Meyer
“I was very happy with the first half, we just lost our momentum. In that period we showed glimpses of what we are capable of and where we want to go as a team. That is the type of rugby I am looking for the team to play. Injuries played a part in the second half, but I don’t want to make excuses. We made a few unnecessary mistakes from set phase, but credit to England for the way they played in the second half. Towards the end we had several players off and mostly young guys on the field, so Jean did well to keep the players together and calm.
“We lost our way a bit in the second half because our first-phase play wasn’t good enough and we made mistakes that allowed England back into the game, but we played really great rugby in the first half.
“Injuries are part of rugby so I don’t want to complain about it, but the one England try was scored when Juandre was down, and the other one was the result of an overthrow at a lineout. England worked hard to come back at us but some of the points we gave away were unnecessary.
“Lambie went off injured and it was the second time in the space of a week that we have lost a fullback. Frans Steyn can play fullback but he hasn’t done so for a while and it required a bit of an adjustment. But we will take the win.
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Former South Africa coach Nick Mallet has expressed concerns that new coach Heyneke Meyer’s philosophies could impede on some of the players’ creativity, (more…)
The Springbok jersey for 2011, bearing the logo of new sponsor Absa, has been revealed.
Bulls duo Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson escaped punishment as a verdict of not guilty was delivered by SA Rugby in a press conference on Friday morning. (more…)
