Boks office smash
17 Apr 2007
Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield can lay claim to the title of best lock combination in world rugby.
In the latest issue of SA Rugby magazine, we find out what makes Botha and Matfield so successful. When they’ve played together, the Boks have won 65% of their Tests. When Matfield plays without Botha that figure drops to to 45% and when Botha plays without Matfield it sinks even further to 40%.
“I enjoy them a lot and that’s because, for an optimum pairing, you require one athlete and one hard guy, the “dogâ€,’ says Mark Andrews. “You seldom get both together. South Africa is very lucky because having the right mix allows the athletic one to dominate the kick-offs and line-outs and general play. The other can dominate with his presence, taking the pressure off the hooker and tighthead, who usually get through the rough stuff.”
Also in the new issue of SA Rugby magazine:
– NEW: SA regional focus – all the behind the scenes news from your favourite franchise
– How Loffie transformed the Lions
– Why the Yellow Pages saved Ernst Joubert‘s career
– Keo on why Joe van Niekerk has only himself to blame for failing to reach his potential
– Three rested Boks, Derick Coetzee and Tim Noakes give their views on conditioning
– Byron Kelleher explains exactly what happened at the All Black conditioning programme
– EXCLUSIVE: How Saru ignorned warnings of an impending financial crisis
– Luke McAlister: “I play by my instincts”
– Ryan Cross on crossing codes and playing for the Wallabies
– Memorable moments from the Six Nations
– Beer and babes at the Hong Kong Sevens
– Percy Montgomery and John Smit‘s other life
– Super 14 stats and milestones
– Rassie on the rolling maul
– Our World Cup countdown continues
PLUS: Free Bakkies/Skinstad poster.
101 Comments
17 Apr 2007, 09:31 am
Ag Shame
17 Apr 2007, 09:32 am
i like your new cover! looks good
17 Apr 2007, 09:34 am
isnt tim noakes the guy that wrote “the lore of running”? what does he know about rugby or does he believe he knows everything?
17 Apr 2007, 09:38 am
WHAT?
No semi nude players?????
Skande.
17 Apr 2007, 09:42 am
Cover looks Cool! At last!
17 Apr 2007, 09:45 am
Re: 4 – ha ha ha
17 Apr 2007, 09:47 am
Looks like a great issue this month!! Cant wait!
17 Apr 2007, 09:48 am
Excellent cover. Can’t wait to read the Loffie the Lion and Ernst Joubert articles.
SA is really blessed with the Matfield/Botha lock combo? Matfield’s only weakness is that he needs a cracker up his arse every now and then to keep him going strong. He tends to fade fast when not under pressure.
17 Apr 2007, 09:55 am
#3 asha1
Yes he believes he knows everything. Tim Noakes is a professor of hindsight.
He always, ALWAYS comes in after the fact with claims that he knew this or that was going to happen.
17 Apr 2007, 09:55 am
Aggenee – ons het gewag vir n half kaal foto van Ollie oppie voorblad!! ek wou nog altyd gesien het hoe lyk n “beached whale”
Nou is dit net die “one dimensional ******** Bulls”
17 Apr 2007, 09:56 am
A cover without a Stormers/WP player? My word,how?
17 Apr 2007, 09:59 am
Cool cover!
17 Apr 2007, 10:03 am
Niks meer halfkaal ouens nie.
Ek’s teleurgesteld.
17 Apr 2007, 10:07 am
Ek het gedink ek sien Chuck Norris
17 Apr 2007, 10:08 am
Blueblood @ 11
Watch this space, WP are busy signing both Bakkies and Victor to come play here next year. 8)
17 Apr 2007, 10:08 am
Dawn
Think its for the best that they went back to “normal” covers. Even though it is two bulls players.
17 Apr 2007, 10:09 am
Andre
LOL
Just needs chunkier sideburns
Walker Texas
17 Apr 2007, 10:15 am
jondood
Einste lol
17 Apr 2007, 10:21 am
The hard men of SA rugby:
Bakkies,AJ,CJ,Pakslae,Akkers,Schalla,Guthro,
Jannie Doep, maybe stil Oupa Os.
wie nog?
17 Apr 2007, 10:22 am
O ja en Bolla.
17 Apr 2007, 10:23 am
Chuck Norris and Dolf Lundgren in SA Rugby?
17 Apr 2007, 10:33 am
Twee ysterperde !
17 Apr 2007, 10:42 am
Blueblood when was the last Wp player? Remember Russel was playing for the Sharks when they did him so I would say the last time was Watson…
17 Apr 2007, 10:46 am
What, its taken you guys this long to realise this? We’ve known about big vic and bakkies for ages, oh dear.
17 Apr 2007, 10:47 am
I like that ” lock , Stock and two smoking Bulls”
Well done Simon!!
17 Apr 2007, 10:50 am
And Keo can lay the claim for the “world’s worst rugga tipper”!
17 Apr 2007, 10:53 am
How do you buy this mag monthly in London??
17 Apr 2007, 10:54 am
Looks like that movie 300 !!!
17 Apr 2007, 10:55 am
#24 so have we, we justthought no one lese knew so we wanted to keept it top secret
17 Apr 2007, 10:56 am
lese=else
17 Apr 2007, 10:57 am
JL1 – coupla quid should do it.
17 Apr 2007, 10:58 am
Hey Dawn
Not working today?
17 Apr 2007, 11:00 am
#20
Bolla? you must be joking! Bolla Cape-Flat-Snoek-Vreeter is the bigest punk-*** trash! he always want to fight and swear…. but then again i suppose that is just the way he is! TRASH!
17 Apr 2007, 11:00 am
Of course … I work smart, not hard.
I never use work as an excuse for anything.
17 Apr 2007, 11:03 am
19
Johan Ackerman
17 Apr 2007, 11:04 am
jondood lay off Tackler.
17 Apr 2007, 11:06 am
Does anyone know where Tackler lives and for how long he has been there
17 Apr 2007, 11:07 am
“Beer and babes at the Hong Kong Sevens”
thats it, forget the S14, this sevens game seems interesting all of a sudden.
17 Apr 2007, 11:08 am
19
Did not see his name 1st time round.
As for Tackler you just need to find the highest reported case of sheep abuse.
17 Apr 2007, 11:16 am
Is Big Joe just chasing big bucks?
April 17 2007 at 04:35AM
By Peter Bills
It’s a fair bet that the present desperate exploits of English Premiership club Northampton are being watched very closely in one South African household.
Springbok Joe van Niekerk is said to have negotiated a lucrative two-year deal to sign for the English Midlands side once the World Cup is over this October.
But there are a couple of fairly unpleasant flies in this particular jar of ointment at the moment. The first is that it is by no means certain that Northampton will even be in the Premiership next season. In fact, they should know as early as next week whether the unthinkable has occurred and they have been relegated to division two. With one match left to play, they are one point adrift at the bottom.
But there is another aspect to this proposed move that raises some significant questions. Unless Van Niekerk is signing purely for money, and that surely couldn’t be the case for any professional player with ambition, then he ought to be very aware of Northampton’s woeful record when it has come to organising its club and spending its money in recent times.
In 2000, Northampton were champions of Europe and one of the most feared and respected teams in both Europe and England.
Under the shrewd tutelage of former Scotland coach Ian McGeechan they became a powerful outfit. As time went on, club owner Keith Barwell built a stadium to match.
But today, bizarrely, Northampton has the best stadium in the Premiership and just about the worst team. Van Niekerk and anyone else intending to join them should surely be asking why that is.
One major reason is that Northampton has never effectively replaced McGeechan. Former Western Province coach Alan Solomons did so, briefly, until an unpleasant combination of player power and demand for instant success saw him ejected.
Like all the English rugby club owners and wealthy benefactors, Barwell presumably gets his way on all issues – including the choice of star overseas signings.
It is hard to believe that New Zealand All Black Carlos Spencer was recruited at a figure thought to be ?220 000 (R3,14-million) a season without Barwell’s tacit approval.
If so, does this not point to the root cause of Northampton’s troubles? For the fact is, Spencer has been a crushing disappointment and a terrible waste of money.
Northampton have got it so right off the field in embracing the future but so wrong on it with their muddle over successive coaches and recruitment of the wrong players that you would have to wonder at such an outfit.
Yet if Van Niekerk joins up we are entitled to ask certain questions. Does he know all this? Is he bothered about it? Does he still have ambitions in the game? Or, as some cynics might suggest, is this just the South African’s future pension fund? In the case of the latter, the answer is, surely, not. Van Niekerk is a combative, competitive player. He wouldn’t be going anywhere just for the money. Would he?
o This article was originally published on page 18 of The Mercury on April 17, 2007
17 Apr 2007, 11:18 am
mds
This is old news
17 Apr 2007, 11:37 am
I like the cover. It has a very World War one-ish feel about it.
17 Apr 2007, 11:39 am
skim @ 42
were you there?
17 Apr 2007, 11:44 am
Not quite, but i’ve seen those propaganda ads….
17 Apr 2007, 11:44 am
Damn Huns.
17 Apr 2007, 11:49 am
The cover is great, very bold and dramatic yet subtle with very good use of colours
17 Apr 2007, 11:49 am
JL1,
You kissing ***? Very poetic…..
17 Apr 2007, 11:49 am
Dit is vir my ‘n moerse concern dat NZ 22 van hulle AB vir die eerste 7 weke gerus het, en nog steeds is daar 3 NZ spanne onder die eerste 4 op die S14 log.
17 Apr 2007, 11:52 am
Ja meneer. Dit piss ons almal maar af.
17 Apr 2007, 11:54 am
Just kidding guys,relax,too much tension in the world.
17 Apr 2007, 11:54 am
jlab
The Super 14 is not designed for SA teams. The travel puts our guys at a disadvantage. The Kiwi teams jump across and then bashes a Wallaby and then flies back to be in time to slap his missus around
Our teams do 5 weeks away
17 Apr 2007, 12:06 pm
Now that’s an almost perfect cover for a rugby mag… I still think the semi nekkid cheerleader will be better!
17 Apr 2007, 12:06 pm
jl
… but not as impossible as everyone makes it out to be. just have a look at this year’s performances. if you win your games, the 5 weeks away isnt that long.
17 Apr 2007, 12:12 pm
…if you win your games
Crusaders make a point of winning at home
We make a point of losing every 3rd home game
17 Apr 2007, 12:18 pm
JK1
I agree with what you say….it is not ideal for us. What do you suggest SANZAR do about it? Start a competition with Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana?
We travel for 5 weeks because it is the most cost effective option. Rugby is played on a field, the same dimensions regardless of location (we hope), and the Sharks seem to be doing fine.
17 Apr 2007, 12:18 pm
54
is there an echo in here?
our problem is that our teams, like the bulls did this year, decide long before we go on tour which games we’re propably gonna lose and then target the other games to gain some wins/ points. if we fail to achieve THAT wins, the tour is obviously then gonna be a very loooooong one.
17 Apr 2007, 12:29 pm
what about the Force…they can only win away from home????
Food for thought of those “can only win at home” people out there.
17 Apr 2007, 12:37 pm
We, as South African Sportspeople must learn to accept it if we loose a game (Cricket, Rugby etc). We must stop making excuses for our failures. How often do we hear, we lost because of, the long trip overseas, bad refereeing, TMO decissions, bad weather, unjustified citings, etc. Perhaps it’s time to acknowledge the real reason for most of these losses – underperformance. Why don’t we all addopt Rassie’s attitude – can anyone recall ever hearing Rassie make an excuse.
It is ironic that the commentators during a game, will almost always tell you what the reason for a penalty was, only to read in the press the following day that the ref has made the wrong decission, and that’s why we lost the game.
17 Apr 2007, 12:58 pm
Looks like Will Smith and Martin Lawrence have found replacements for BAD BOYS 3!
17 Apr 2007, 13:07 pm
Hey there guys what do you think of this squad, blend of youth and experience for the world cup?
Props: Gurthro Steenkamp, Os du Randt, BJ Botha, CJ van der Linde
Hookers: John Smit, Chilliboy Ralapele
Locks: Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, AJ Venter, Gerrie Britz
Loose forwards: Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Kabamba Floors, Pierre Spies, Bobby Skinstad, Ernst Joubert
Scrum-halves: Ricky Januarie, Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar
Fly-halves: Andre Pretorius, Butch James
Centres: Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Bradley Barritt, Waylon Murray
Wings: Odwa Ndungane, Akona Ndungane, JP Pietersen (Either of these can be swapped with Habana if he hits better form)
Fullbacks: Percy Montgomery, Francois Steyn
Looks like a good 30 to me.
17 Apr 2007, 13:13 pm
I’d rather have Andries Bekker than Gerrie Britz.
You can leave Earnst Joubert out and replace with Wikus van Heerden
17 Apr 2007, 13:17 pm
Bakkies and Victor has shown us how important combinations are in rugby and the continuety of it. These 2 deserve a cover and are the best lock pairing in the world , it’s just such a pity they are playing for such a **** team.
17 Apr 2007, 13:21 pm
remember how the Bulls supporters went on went Victor wanted to win the game against the Force instead of a draw….
….it showed courage and a winning nature…very un-Bulls like rugby.
17 Apr 2007, 13:22 pm
Seak1_cpt
Agree with that, have not been able to see much of bekker here with Skysports in London, is he pretty mobile to fit the scrapper (Bakkies) and master (Matfield) in the lineout for the Boks. Reason Earnst is there is for future leadership, and growth.
The guy on rugby365 compiled most of the team with a few tweaks from me.
17 Apr 2007, 13:26 pm
#62. Dit lyk vir my jy was ook op Greame Smith hulle se party.
17 Apr 2007, 13:38 pm
Re mag covers ….
There are the cricket boytjies, still frozen in their block of ice on SA Cricket cover.
Ag shame man.
17 Apr 2007, 13:39 pm
Dawn still not working??
17 Apr 2007, 13:40 pm
jlab , you probapley poured yourself a double , put on Delarey and sharpened your biltong knife after the bulls game eh wahahahahahaha
17 Apr 2007, 13:42 pm
Your cover this month is Da Boss. Well done.
17 Apr 2007, 13:43 pm
Meaning the BOKS OFFICE SMASH cover
17 Apr 2007, 13:50 pm
Victor Matfield looks like one of the Disciples.
17 Apr 2007, 13:52 pm
If I had to put in a loose forward (at the expense of EJ), it would be Keegan Daniel (prefered above Piere Spies in the U21 team I am told)
17 Apr 2007, 14:06 pm
JL1
Don’t you know? I just pretend to work. I fool everyone.
17 Apr 2007, 14:17 pm
Have not seen Daniel so cannot comment on that. Do you know which position Daniel is preferred at?
17 Apr 2007, 14:23 pm
Byron Kelleher is going to talk about watching the first 6 games at the pub with the boys
17 Apr 2007, 14:34 pm
If you’ve seen Byron’s girlfriend then you won’t be suprised if he didn’t watch any of the games
17 Apr 2007, 14:44 pm
chch how is life?
Big one this weekend-Sharks have beaten 4 out 5 Kiwi sides in the S14
The Chiefs are waiting now
17 Apr 2007, 14:45 pm
Dawn a need some coaching or a strategy to get they same result
17 Apr 2007, 14:49 pm
anyone taken into account that most guys, after appearing on sarugby’s cover, either lose form or get injured? keo, you’re temting fate, arent you?
17 Apr 2007, 14:49 pm
temting = tempting
17 Apr 2007, 14:51 pm
GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ROARRRRRRRR
17 Apr 2007, 14:58 pm
Hey check this out, it is not just in SA that some unions are struggling
Concerned Waratahs officials believe the NSW Rugby Union will struggle to make a profit this year because of plummeting home crowds
17 Apr 2007, 15:26 pm
65% win rate is still too low.
17 Apr 2007, 16:35 pm
Well I would just like to say that if you don’t like the BULLS don’t say nasty stuff about there players!!!!Victor and Bakkies are the worlds best locks and thats that!!!Yes sometimes they are a littel off but every player has his off day,that’s a fact!!!The Bulls are a great team but sometimes they forget to play and they can be one dimensional.But let us not forget they have some of the worlds best players in their team!!And with Pierre Spies back expect them to be even better!!
By the way really nice cover!!!
17 Apr 2007, 17:30 pm
#79
Hehe, smart observation…..
17 Apr 2007, 17:32 pm
Let’s see…..Previous covers:
Maruis Joubert, Schalk Burger, Brent Russel, Luke Watson, Jean & Jacques….
Don’t know about that one.
17 Apr 2007, 21:41 pm
Oh GREAT here I sit up in Sweden still waiting for my SA Rugby sub to arrive from last month. Haven’t had the chance to page through that yet, and you are already teasing me with a new one. SA Postal system sucks major league!
17 Apr 2007, 22:17 pm
And so to the SuperWrap’s weekly teams.
Schalk Burger has played a lone hand for the Stormers for so long now – on Saturday it meaningfully fell to him to give the pep talk after yet another demoralizing defeat! – that it is hardly surprising that he is the only one to gatecrash the Sharks/Bulls dominance of this week’s Springbok Barometer.
Burger, although not a classical fetcher, is in a class of his own as a destructive force and his steady improvement since coming back from his neck injury has once again made the green-and-gold No6 jersey his own.
The “Bokometer†not only reflected the supremacy of the country’s two top sides but showed – transformation quotas permitting – what a formidable side South Africa could pick to gear up for the World Cup.
Francois Steyn, at flyhalf, is noteworthy – especially if he improves his dubious option-taking – as is the presence of Bob Skinstad and the Sharks’ centre duo of Brad Barritt and Waylon Murray.
However the most significant aspect of Week 11’s Barometer is who is not in it. Victor Matfield for instance. Johann Muller’s strong game against the Blues, makes him the No5 lock, putting Matfield, who was up against less formidable opponents, on the sidelines while Skinstad shaded Juan Smith on the same grounds.
Add Jaque Fourie, André Pretorius, Jean de Villiers, AJ Venter, Heinke van der Merwe and Jano Vermaak, all of whom did not see action at the weekend and you start seeing the potential once the national selectors sit down to pick the best Bok side for the mid-year tests against England and Samoa and onward to the Tri-Nations.
The Springbok Barometer for Week 11:
1 Gurthro Steenkamp (Bulls), 2 Gary Botha (Bulls), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 5 Johann Muller (Sharks), 6 Schalk Burger (Stormers), 7 Bob Skinstad (Sharks), 8 Pierre Spies (Bulls), 9 Fourie du Preez (Bulls), 10 Francois Steyn (Sharks), 11 JP Pietersen (Sharks), 12 Brad Barritt (Sharks), 13 Waylon Murray (Sharks), 14 Odwa Ndungane (Sharks), 15 Percy Montgomery (Sharks).
The Super XV for Week 11:
1 Aled de Malmanche (Chiefs) , 2 Tom Willis (Chiefs), 3 BJ Botha (Sharks), 4 Bakkies Botha (Bulls), 5 Johann Muller (Sharks), 6 Richie McCaw (Crusaders), 7 Chris Masoe (Hurricanes), 8 Mose Tuiali’i (Crusaders), 9 Brendon Leonard (Chiefs), 10 Dan Carter (Crusaders), 11 Roy Kinikinilau (Chiefs), 12 Aaron Mauger (Crusaders), 13 Casey Laulala (Crusaders), 14 Hosea Gear (Hurricanes), 15 Leon MacDonald (Crusaders).
17 Apr 2007, 22:18 pm
asha1 and ratel,
Tim Noakes is a legend. His books are regarded as the holy grail of sport fitness and conditioning, world wide, from amateur level to olympic athletes.
17 Apr 2007, 22:44 pm
I think Paul O’ Connell is as good if not better than Bakkies.
Both are very similar in the enforcer role and both can go missing in games.
Bakkies with Matfield make a very good combination.
Lineout wise Matfield’s extra height is very important, however I’m forever reading that he’s lazy getting to rucks etc.
Where Bakkies and Matfield really get assistance is the extra options at the tail with the average height of 6,7 and 8 of the SA teams taller than other sides giving numerous variations on where the ball is going to be thrown, and numerous defending jumpers on the oppo throw.
In a dream team P.O.C. and Bakkies would be very nasty combo and P.O.C and Matfield very interesting.
Interesting enough by the way is that Donnacha O’ Callaghan is a bit of a late developer and will get much better. I was a bit miffed that the 4 of them didn’t get matched up in Dublin for the autumn internationals. Same as B.O.D Darce v J deV Fourie.
17 Apr 2007, 23:40 pm
#89, Tim Noakes is, was and always will be a “snake-oil vendor”. The gullible will always come-a-runnin’ when Timmy comes to town with his mighty fine opinion on everythin’
You don’t know whether pity or contempt for those troubled pilgrims is the more appropriate response…
18 Apr 2007, 00:26 am
Ring that bell, round 2, TheTackler vs TinyTimmy
18 Apr 2007, 02:44 am
Naah, he SURELY couldn’t daffy enough to want to be tackled that hard again, surely?
But, hey, who knows?
18 Apr 2007, 03:13 am
mate, i was surprised he went so quietly, like a student to his books in the library.
18 Apr 2007, 04:36 am
When you get tackled, you have to take lots of time on rest and recovery, I suppose. If you come back too soon, you’ll get “burn-out” or something…
18 Apr 2007, 04:45 am
Are you suggesting Timmy is on major sabbatical, taking his own advice. how professional…
Tackler can you please rank the nz locks.
1 jack
2 ali
3 robinson
4 rawlinson
5 ryan
6 eaton
i am tempted on form to have rawlinson at 3, but think of robinsons experience and how valuable it would be.
ryan is top notch too, but he didnt perform much in his bread and butter role.
eaton is suffering from 2nd season pains, but will still be selection concern.
18 Apr 2007, 05:54 am
If it were up to me (and it isn’t) I’d have Jack and Eaton in my run-on XV.
18 Apr 2007, 08:47 am
johnny @ 89
…. of running that is, doesnt make him an expert on everything else
18 Apr 2007, 09:28 am
Hey I think I’ll buy this edition.
It will be interesting to see the circulation figures with this edition. Would a significant increase in readership prove that the reading ability of the typical Bulls supporter is higher than the rest of the other provincial fans…..
18 Apr 2007, 14:04 pm
100 n.u.n.
1 May 2007, 17:16 pm
Bakkies is my hero! I loved this issue and I finished reading it before the end of this month!
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