Taking centre stage
10 Jun 2008
Jean de Villiers is determined to become the axis around which the Springboks revolve.
In the latest issue of SA Rugby magazine, on sale Wednesday 11 June, the Bok centre talks about the pain of missing the 2007 World Cup, what he has that Frans Steyn doesn’t (and vice versa), and why he’d be happy to wear the Bok No 13 jersey even though he prefers 12.
He also expresses his burning desire to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand this year. ‘It’s still a huge goal among the senior players,’ he says. ‘We achieved a lot under Jake [White], but the fact that we’ve never won in New Zealand has always bugged me. After this year’s Super 14, I’m confident we can head over there with a very strong side and pick up the win.’
Also in the latest issue:
– Ian McIntosh on the ELVs: the former Bok coach (who was on the IRB’s Law Group Project) gives unique insight into how they were conceived, why they were supposed to be adopted as a package, and the ‘orchestrated’ effort to undermine them
– Seven steps to glory: former Bok mental coach Henning Gericke on how to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand
– The key to Robbie Deans: why he’s the right man for the Wallabies job
– Frank Bunce rates Anthony Tuitavake, while Stirling Mortlock aims to bury the Wallabies’ World Cup ghosts
– Jeremy Guscott on why Ian McGeechan will get the Lions roaring in 2009
– Former Bok centre Joe Gillingham left South Africa for France and never returned. Keo finds out why
– WP scrumhalf Paul Delport has suffered more setbacks than most, but he hasn’t given up on his Bok dream
– Currie Cup preview: Can the Sharks win first title since 1996?
219 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 » Show All
10 Jun 2008, 10:20 am
#41 katman: spaar ‘n gedagte vir Bernoldus die legende van Marie Ferrari en ‘hou my vas korporaal’ faam.
10 Jun 2008, 10:21 am
#47 squonkmonk:
Ja well as a religious person I find atheists offensive…
10 Jun 2008, 10:25 am
#45 squonkmonk:
Must be my short term memory problem again. Last year in the RWC he was almost invisible. It took Steyn at 12 to bail us out. Yep – that boy hasn’t got a brain ?
10 Jun 2008, 10:27 am
#46 Tacitus: Well, whether you preceded it by “not be be callous” or not, it still was.
You seriously saying that because his life took a sad turn we should discount everything he said or stood for? Shall we start applying this logic to everyone?
10 Jun 2008, 10:32 am
#51 shooter: He was a legend before his time.
Hou my vas, Korporaal,
ek’s ‘n kind skoon verdwaal
Gaan ek weer my cherry sien,
as ek van die trein af klim?
Ja, sowaar, Korporaal,
dis maar swaar, Korporaal
Ek speel oorlog met my beste dae
Ja ja ja.
Ek en al my maatjies bymekaar
10 Jun 2008, 10:33 am
#4 klingon_x: He has class my friend! How can you try and compare Steyn to him? Steyn will be lucky making the Sharks Currie Cup team this year!
10 Jun 2008, 10:33 am
Jean is good, very very good. He’s playing some great rugga at the moment… I believe he is up there with the world’s best… Must admit it does help when you are playing outside BJ… Butch could even make Bobo look good last year playing for the sharks.
I’d still like to see Steyn at 12 and Jean at 13… If Steyn does get a bit selfish, Butch can always throw one of his famous skip passes… Jacobs deserves to be on the bench where he plays his best rugby from.
10 Jun 2008, 10:34 am
This should be fun – Tac, what is your opinion on Koos Du Plessis and Eugene N Marais?
10 Jun 2008, 10:39 am
#31 jondood: he is the only center that i rate as a specialist in the all black set-up.
10 Jun 2008, 10:40 am
#47 squonkmonk: ja boet, he points to his dad who died a while ago. man you have a short memory…..it was all over the media the first time he did it.
10 Jun 2008, 10:41 am
Sniper, where do you get off insulting steyn… As far as I’m concerned I think he’s a national hero. Remember those two drops against Australia to win the match. Let’s see De Villiers do that. Let’s see any other player in the world do that. He’s a match winner that makes rugga worth watching.
10 Jun 2008, 10:42 am
#47 squonkmonk:
I find your comment offensive!!!!!! Live and let live, please all get off the ***** bashing……not good at all and not warranted on this rugby site!!!!!!!!!!
10 Jun 2008, 10:43 am
#61 Butch James 4 president: I havent insulted Steyn! I have called the obvious! He is not up to standard this year. Match winner – Mmmm one match – don’t think so!
10 Jun 2008, 10:44 am
#58 Kerneels: Marais was not only a brilliant writer and poet and one of the most important voices that helped shape Afrikaans as we know it today. He was also an expert in several fields of natural science and much of his work on ant colonies and primate behaviour was widely plagiarised by European scholars at the time.
He was also a morphine addict and took his life in the thirties with a shotgun. By Tacitus’s standards we should shun him too.
10 Jun 2008, 10:44 am
#58 Kerneels:
Koos Dup was a genius. Very powerful.
Tac prefers Carike Krezenkamp singing “Kaalvoet in die reen”.
10 Jun 2008, 10:44 am
#62 Tripple E: #47 squonkmonk: you like stirring don’t you. you need to seek attention elsewhere muppet….
10 Jun 2008, 10:46 am
#61 Butch James 4 president: I can only remember him losing matches. Remember the Super 14 Final?
10 Jun 2008, 10:46 am
#62 Tripple E: Don’t take everything so seriously…it was a comment said in jest to rile Tac who has an unnatural obsession with the man and a seeming dislike for any sort of reaction by a try-scorer.
#60 Windhond_Sharks: ditto
PS He seems very sure that his dad went up when there are in fact two directions (according to old testament scripture) one can go
10 Jun 2008, 10:46 am
What the hoohaa is going on here?
10 Jun 2008, 10:46 am
#66 Windhond_Sharks: now I like stirring?
Koos Dup and Marais were both brilliant
10 Jun 2008, 10:47 am
#61 Butch James 4 president:
Typical saffer twats. You find them on all the forums. They were ecstatic when Steyn helped us at the RWC with one of the most impressive performances from a youngster ever at the RWC.
10 Jun 2008, 10:47 am
#66 Windhond_Sharks: Everyone on here seems to like stirring, I’m just trying to fit in.
10 Jun 2008, 10:48 am
It is amasing how so many amasing poets and song writers tend to just loose the plot and end up taking the so called sad turn in life.
10 Jun 2008, 10:49 am
#70 Tripple E: not you, obviously. i merely seconded your reply to sm’s post….
10 Jun 2008, 10:49 am
#53 klingon_x: That’s a touch unfair…he played one game!
Besides, I think Jake (and I am NOT a Jake basher…I actually liked him a lot as coaches go) stifled his natural ability in getting him to be a crash-ball centre.
See how much better he is under Rassie and PdV
10 Jun 2008, 10:49 am
#72 squonkmonk: of course you are….
10 Jun 2008, 10:50 am
#47 squonkmonk:
Why do you find it offensive. He might be ponting at the birds for all you know.
10 Jun 2008, 10:50 am
#68 squonkmonk: Led Zeppelin also confirmed this two-direction theory in their anthemic hit, Stairway to Heaven:
If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow
Don’t be alarmed now
It’s just a spring clean for the May Queen
Yes there are two paths you can go by
but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on
10 Jun 2008, 10:52 am
#77 Brickwall: Don’t run into it!: Maybe I don’t like birds
10 Jun 2008, 10:52 am
#75 squonkmonk:
What does your nick mean?
10 Jun 2008, 10:53 am
#80 Brickwall: Don’t run into it!: **** stirrer!
10 Jun 2008, 10:54 am
#79 squonkmonk:
So Atheists don’t believe in birds either?
10 Jun 2008, 10:54 am
#77 Brickwall: Don’t run into it!: Or maybe I’m just like Tac and dislike any show of emotion, be it directed at the fans, the coach, the team, God, *****, the Devil, Allah, ********, mother, father or the cape bloody vulture
10 Jun 2008, 10:55 am
#83 squonkmonk: or I might just be taking the piss…
or, ooops, stirring!
10 Jun 2008, 10:55 am
#64 katman: That was my point Kat…
Eugene Marais is (in my opinion) the best Afrikaans poets and his work in natural science (Soul of the Ape, Soul of the Ant) are nothing short of brilliant. But as you , he took his own life (shot himself in the stomach with a shotgun) after some truly tragic events – mostly derived from depression and his addiction to morphine.
gewis is alles net ‘n grap
ons speel in die komedie mee
geblinddoek deur ‘n lamfer lap
was selfs doe son ‘n skadu gee…
(from Skoppensboer)
10 Jun 2008, 10:55 am
#75 squonkmonk:
His try on Saturday being an example. Clinging on to the ball and just keep going until he is buried – lucky to make the tryline against a weak Welsh team. He is really not much of different player than Steyn : although we have seen Steyn showing much more imagination on the break at 12 in the RWC.
10 Jun 2008, 10:56 am
#80 Brickwall: Don’t run into it!: it means what is says
10 Jun 2008, 10:58 am
Tri-Nations op Superbru vir Keo bloggers.
Pool code: bearamid
Pool name: Keo?s Bigmouths
10 Jun 2008, 10:58 am
JDV is the best centre in the world on current form.
10 Jun 2008, 10:59 am
Can I join this brawl?
10 Jun 2008, 10:59 am
#87 squonkmonk:
What does it say?
10 Jun 2008, 11:00 am
why are the christians brawling with the atheists?
arent the christians supposed to turn the other cheek?
i am a man of faith myself, but i have little faith in the human condition.
10 Jun 2008, 11:01 am
#90 Dawn: please do dawnie.
10 Jun 2008, 11:01 am
#71 klingon_x:
Who you calling saffa twats.
I WILL hurt you.
10 Jun 2008, 11:01 am
#90 Dawn:
Since when do you ask?
10 Jun 2008, 11:02 am
#86 klingon_x: The thing is I’ve seen him offload for more often than Steyn has (can’t recall Steyn passing to Fourie once in the final…not that I care…we won).
Not that I dislike Steyn…awesome talent…but we seem to forget that the guy is barely out of nappies and still has lots of learning to do. To do so under the mentorship of JdV and Fourie (and Jacobs…he’s not large but he’s a very intelligent player and we need some of those) will make him an even greater player.
I don’t for a moment subscribe to the idea of dropping Steyn entirely, but for now at least I see him as a bench player, especially as he is so versatile.
However, in the 3N if I were coach I would start Steyn ahead of Adi if Jacques’s not back in the mix.
What I really like though is the competition developing for just about every spot in the team…very healthy for Bok rugby
10 Jun 2008, 11:02 am
JDV…now this is a good player. Noone can over rate him!
Unfortunately RSA dont see this…remember RWC…everyone was hoping he was dropped for steyn…wonder what happened to steyn.
Steyn sometimes plays like a ‘rabbit in headlights’.
10 Jun 2008, 11:03 am
#91 Brickwall: Don’t run into it!: **** Stirrer bro **** stirrer
10 Jun 2008, 11:03 am
There is not a better 12 in NZ nor Aus than JDV. Not on current form.
10 Jun 2008, 11:04 am
#87 squonkmonk:
Seriously though, don’t think it has a particular meaning, just liked the ring of it.
A squonk, however, is a mythical creature of the Scottish forests that is very ugly and very shy because of its ugliness; when cornered by humans it gets so uptight it bursts in to tears and melts away to nothing.
Read in to that what you will
Pages: « 1 [2] 3 4 5 » Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.