Month: May 2017

Who will be Bok 10 vs France? South Africa fly half vs Les Bleus to be Jantjies

After today’s announcement of the Bok squad to take on France, it appears that South Africa coach Allister Coetzee has placed ALL his flyhalf eggs in the Elton Jantjies basket.

Jantjies is the ONLY established No.10 in the squad. Frans Steyn can provide cover at a pinch, but most of his experience at that position came in the 2014 Super Rugby season when he stood in for the injured Patrick Lambie. Dillyn Leyds played 10 in the Stormers’ most recent Super Rugby game at the Blues, but his position is more likely to be at full back.

It is a somewhat surprising decision, given that Jantjies’ performances with Coetzee at the helm have been mediocre to put it mildly, both in his brief stint with the Stormers and last year with the Boks.

To be fair to AC, one could argue that his hands are tied, with Lambie out due to concussion and Handre Pollard injured. Kings flyhalf Lionel Cronje has been named in the A-squad. Continue reading “Who will be Bok 10 vs France? South Africa fly half vs Les Bleus to be Jantjies”

Warren Whiteley named 58th Springbok Captain- Bok Squad to face France 2017- 31 Man Roster

Golden Lions eighthman Warren Whiteley has been named by coach Allister Coetzee as South Africa’s 58th rugby captain after the retirement of Adriaan Strauss.

While Whiteley has excelled at Super Rugby level and possesses excellent communication and leadership skills, there are a few who still doubt whether he is South Africa’s best option at 8, with his performances not quite at the level of what Duane Vermeulen produced at test level for the Boks. The Stormers loose forward was one of the best players during the Heyneke Meyer era before his departure to French outfit Toulon.

Vermeulen is one of four overseas players included in this squad, with the others being Steven Kitshoff, Francois Hougaard and Frans Steyn.

The Golden Lions (9) and Stormers (7) make up half the squad, with the Bulls (5), Sharks (4), Overseas (4) and Cheetahs (2) finishing the 31 member list. Continue reading “Warren Whiteley named 58th Springbok Captain- Bok Squad to face France 2017- 31 Man Roster”

Video Pat Lambie Rhyno Smith Collision 2017- Should Patrick Lambie retire? Repeated concussions

If you’re a Sharks fan, you’d be hoping that Beterridge’s law of headlines should apply to the question asked above. But it is a serious one, given all the concussion and head knock related issues surrounding the sport currently.

Lambie’s career has looked to be in the balance after being pole-axed by CJ Stander last year. Given his style of playing- Lambie is a player who likes to take the ball to the line, instead of shovelling it along from deep, and unlike some other flyhalves, he is a more than capable defender, which means he makes his fair share of tackles instead of being hidden at wing, being afraid to take contact reduces his effectiveness on the field severely.

With Curwin Bosch off with the Baby Boks, Lambie was called back (perhaps too early in our opinion) to lead the side against the Kings, and suffered this sickening accident with his OWN full back Rhyno Smith. If it was a one off, it would perhaps be no issue- but given Lambie’s history of knocks, this could be a real cause for concern. He left the field soon after and was replaced for the rest of the game by Garth April.

Pat’s been a great servant of Sharks rugby, and we wish him the very best.

The Sharks have never had a full season of Lambie in his prime available to them, and this perhaps, is one of the reasons they’ve never won Super Rugby despite being coming close in recent years. Continue reading “Video Pat Lambie Rhyno Smith Collision 2017- Should Patrick Lambie retire? Repeated concussions”

Baby Boks cannot be South Africa’s nominated “second” national team from 2018- U20 Rugby Changes

World Rugby have today (May 10, 2017) passed a resolution that nations may no longer nominate their U20 team as their “second team” beginning January 2018.

The Boks’ U20 side have been South Africa’s nominated “second team” since 2013 which lead to the likes of Timo Swiel declining a call up to the U20’s as he wanted to keep his international options open. CJ Stander was the captain of the Baby Bok side in 2010, but they weren’t the second team then, and that allowed him to qualify for Ireland on residency grounds. Another example is Braam Steyn, who represented the Baby Boks in 2012, but now plays for the Italian national team.

WR have also passed a rule increasing the residency eligibility duration from 36 months (3 years) to 60 months (five years)

The five year residency rule is perhaps a good one for South African rugby, but there are fears that more U20 stars might end up representing other nations in the future, with nothing to tie them back to the Republic if they wanted to play for France, Italy, Japan or one of the Celtic nations.