The new face of Super Rugby
20 Dec 2010
Find out everything you need to know about the expanded competition in the bumper 156-page issue of SA Rugby magazine.
We kick off our Super Rugby preview section with an idiot’s guide to the new format (if you still don’t know how it works after reading this, we can’t help you). That’s followed by three pages on each South African team (how they are shaping up, player signings/losses, fixtures, previous log finishes, numbers that matter etc) and one page on each of the Kiwi and Aussie sides.
Also in the new issue:
– The Springboks failed to make any progress on their end-of-year tour
– Is Victor Matfield too conservative to be Bok captain?
– The All Blacks capped off an outstanding 2010 with their third Grand Slam in five years
– The Wallabies were frustratingly inconsistent on their end-of-year tour
– If England are to seriously challenge for the World Cup, they will have to stand up to the big beasts of the game
– Behind the swagger lies a secret diary that is driving England wing Chris Ashton to new heights
– Why the Barbarians are still relevant in the professional era
– Yet again the World Cup schedule helps the big nations and hinders the smaller ones. Why can’t the IRB make rugby’s showpiece event fair to all?
– Plus: Why Stuart Abbott is back in SA, Tim Noakes on the Boks ‘doping’ controversy, Heinrich Brussow’s injury battle, SA players in Europe
Click here to subscribe to print edition
Click here to subscribe to digital edition
2,264 Comments
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22 Dec 2010, 12:04 pm
@TheTackler : @ 418. Your are so far in credibility deficit. Jancis has been challenged and by no lessa personality than the world’s leading wine critic, Robert Parker. They differed in their assessments of several wines and a tasting between the two was arranged,to be judged by their peers. Parker won hands down. The fine wine column concludes
“Well this was obviously nothing close to a scientific or controlled experiment – just a bit of fun with some friends, and so the results should be ‘judged’ accordingly. It did indeed seem that a large part of the discrepancy was down to the personal palates of the critics. Mr Parker did, true to reputation, seem to favour the larger and fuller bodied offerings, with Jancis Robinson marking up the purity and finesse of the Pontet Canet 2001 but marking down the unmistakably fuller and sweeter 2003.
But I was certainly not alone in awarding the prize overall to Robert Parker for consistency and coherence.”
This from Jancis’ countrymen.
Contradicted ? Tick.
Not the worlds number one wine critic ? Tick
Still misquoted by Tackler ? Tick.
Stay in the Witless Protection Programme, Pilgrim.
22 Dec 2010, 12:22 pm
SA wine unleashes nearly £1m
13 Nov 2009 by Jancis Robinson
I did tweet about this at the time but I would just like to thank all those South African wine producers who supplied wine for our gala dinner at Le Café Anglais in London last Tuesday night in aid of Room to Read – and Martin Krajewski of Ch de Sours in Bordeaux who offered the opening lot in the live auction in the form of a harvest stay there.
Thanks to the efforts of wonderfully energetic auctioneer David Elswood of Christie’s and founder John Wood’s extraordinary ability to induce a crowd to back Room to Read’s programme of establishing schools, libraries and scholarships in Asia and Africa, this one dinner raised very nearly £1 million.
This was helped significantly by a generous pre-dinner promise on the part of an anonymous donor to match what was raised on the night up to £500,000, but I’m sure that the quality of the South African wines played their part. Julia also played an important part in steering me towards wines that had particularly impressed her on her visit there last May. Wines of South Africa co-ordinated the whole thing and Sensible Wine Services took charge of storage and delivery in the UK.
Here’s what Rowley Leigh and his team served us:
Cheese Straws, Anchovy Palmiers, Radishes
Quoin Rock, Simonsberg Oculus 2007 Stellenbosch
Scali Pinotage 2005 Voor Paardeberg
Scallop and Salmon Pate en Croûte, Fines Herbes Beurre Blanc
De Morgenzon Chenin Blanc 2007 Stellenbosch
Ataraxia Chardonnay 2008 Western Cape
Stuffed and Braised Breast of Veal with Ceps, Pommes Mousselines
Boekenhoutskloof Syrah 2007 Franschhoek
Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards, Syrah/Mourvèdre 2005 Tulbagh
Montgomery Cheddar and Vacherin Mont d’Or
Morgenster Estate Wine 2004 Stellenbosch
Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2004 Stellenbosch
We were lucky to have such crème de la crème wines and they went down very well with the generous crowd. You can read Julia’s tasting notes on many of these wines here.
22 Dec 2010, 12:27 pm
Ataraxia Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Western Cape
19 Jun 2007 by Jancis Robinson
Find this wine
The Kiwis are busy talking up their 2007 vintage so Sauvignon Blanc lovers should look out for Marlborough’s best offerings from this year, which should start to arrive in the northern hemisphere just as summer starts to fade. To keep you going, however, think seriously about South African Sauvignon Blanc.
It’s different from the NZ version – less strident and pungent, generally less sweet in overall impression and often with a bit more minerality and complexity. I shall be writing this Saturday about some of South Africa’s best white wines and this recommendation is by way of an aperitif. It’s from a very new but very promising outfit established only in 2004 by Kevin Grant, ex winemaker at Hamilton Russell. He is also based in the cool, marine climate of Walker Bay and put his first vines into the ground only in 2005. He does not expect to be self sufficient in fruit until 2010 or 2011 at the earliest so at the moment is making wine from carefully-scouted vines belonging to others. This Ataraxia Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Western Cape, only his second vintage, comes mainly from a neighbour in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley in the hinterland of Hermanus, with a bit of fruit from the upper Helderberg from a Stellenbosch grower who used to supply Rustenberg’s Brampton label.
The result is a remarkably complex 13 per cent wine with a very fine, mineral nose with a really lovely, palate-caressing texture and completeness. It’s rewarding on the nose – aromatic but with several keynotes rather than one, and also has notable persistence. It’s far from the cheapest South African Sauvignon Blanc but perhaps the way out of Cape wine’s woes is to make more of these arresting, obviously top quality whites and start charging a fair price for them. (Pause while I dismount from this particular hobby horse.)
I was also impressed by Ataraxia Chardonnay 2005 Western Cape, which apparently comes from the only ungrafted commercial vineyard in South Africa, 1,000m up in the Agter Witzenberg Valley’s apple country well north of Paarl. This wine, a 14 per center, is still very tight, but shows every inclination to develop impressively. It is almost defiantly dry and concentrated. I’d love to see it in three years time – and there aren’t many Chardonnays anywhere one can say that about.
22 Dec 2010, 12:28 pm
Merry Christmas everyone. Enjoy a good wine, no matter where it comes from.
22 Dec 2010, 12:58 pm
f’ng wine bibbing become a notorious dedication of imbecilical connoisseur snooty nosing then we really know this human animal is well and truly one foot over the preconditioned precipice over the rails. When a fermented fruit starts ******** men’s brains to the delusional dedicated emphasis that it does then its a true reflection of how far from sanity this homogeneous sapien has devolved to.
Keep sniffing those fermented fumes and declaring your emphatic superiority over such abysmal bunkum, such is the state of your so called ‘civilization’ when a fermented fruit denotes your illusions of highfalutin illustriousness.
22 Dec 2010, 13:13 pm
Pissed again, I see.
22 Dec 2010, 13:13 pm
@stormer in a teacup : @stormer in a teacup : Two nices posts. Thanks enjoyed reading them.
To you and your family have a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
22 Dec 2010, 13:14 pm
@Puma : meant – nice
22 Dec 2010, 13:18 pm
@skopiskoobidoo : He Skoobidoo, Don’t Worry Be Happy..lol. That song keeps going round and round in my head today.
Remember leaving about this time on a ferry from De Hoek in Holland to speand Christmas and New Year 1993 in Scotland. They played that song non stop (almost) all the way over.
So for you old timer, “Don’t Worry Be Happy” This is the festive season Skop. We all enjoy it. Hope you do too.
All the best to you and your family over the festive season. Wine or no wine just enjoy it.
22 Dec 2010, 13:20 pm
@Puma : Sorry for some typos up there.
he = Hey
speand = spend
22 Dec 2010, 13:29 pm
It HAS to be said that if Keo has now come down to whose vino is better than whose, then this is taking DESPERATION to all new levels.
It’s wine, ladies. Squeezed grapes !
I’ve tasted great wines from every Old World country. And sh*t ones too. I’ve gurgled **** wines from NZ. And savoured plenty of sensational ones too. I personally can’t say I’ve ever tasted a decent SA white wine but Ive had SA pinotage that has knocked my socks off, albeit I simply find it too powerful for more than 1-2 glasses.
But this desperation to 1-up each other simply over a matter of taste, literally ?!
Perhaps Gunther can come along and explain how this, by extension, converts in to which nation is now Morally Superior. Then we really would have to acknowledge that you’ve all been suckered in to the point of no return.
22 Dec 2010, 13:31 pm
@stormer in a teacup : Awesome post and reply Stormer. You burnt Tackles properly.
He is such a doos and blimmin’ NZ bum-licker.
22 Dec 2010, 13:32 pm
@skopiskoobidoo : Hahaha – thats Pure poetry Skop!
22 Dec 2010, 13:37 pm
@TheTackler : Dammit! I joined this too late to remind Tackles how Prof Noakes totally made an @rse of Tackles in this very site.
For those newer bloggers on this site, it was a beautiful day. Tackles had to retreat with his tail between his legs and was basically in tears.
Im surprised to see he is even daring to mention the Prof again.
Hopefully there will be a round 2 and Prof can tear you a new one Tackles
22 Dec 2010, 13:38 pm
I’m a whiskey person meself.
22 Dec 2010, 13:40 pm
@Transformation : Aaaah well done Transie! The truth shall set you free!
22 Dec 2010, 13:40 pm
@THEBokFan :
Tackler is a disturbed individual with sociopathic tendencies.
He will murder Noakes if he comes within earshot, or gunshot range.
22 Dec 2010, 13:43 pm
@Black Panther :
Our wine is better than your wine.
22 Dec 2010, 13:46 pm
@Dawn : @ 468
Sure, Peaches, you whin(e).
22 Dec 2010, 13:46 pm
@stormer in a teacup :
Would it surprise you to know Skop is a teetotaller
22 Dec 2010, 13:52 pm
@Black Panther :
Gunther is off to the fair village of Arniston.
No time to pander to panther.
22 Dec 2010, 13:53 pm
@Black Panther :
Trotzdem … our whine is STILL better than your whine.
22 Dec 2010, 13:54 pm
Why they fussing over all the cricket centurions and ignoring my man Chris Gayle who made 333 against Sri Lanka.
22 Dec 2010, 13:56 pm
our bloody red wind nailed me big time this morning.
Moer of a party at a restaurant last nite then a 9 am brekfast meeting this morning…..the okes thought my speech was as rousing as Braveheart….little did they know i was still totally pissed!
22 Dec 2010, 13:57 pm
wind is wine….LOL…still seeing a bit double.
22 Dec 2010, 14:03 pm
@grant10 : 474 – Grant…hahahahahaha. Good one.
22 Dec 2010, 14:05 pm
@Dawn : Our EVERYTHING is better than theirs Dawn
Tackles might try and murder Noakes if he saw him, but Noakes would give him the Eye of Steel and start telling him what a dork he is, Tackled would start shaking and his bottom lip will start trembling, and then he will collapse crying and asking Noakes for forgiveness… just like last time.
Jislaaik that oke is sad
22 Dec 2010, 14:05 pm
@Black Panther : 461 – Howzit BP, Well I personally don’t care where the wine comes from as long as it is a good wine.
To you and your family have a great Christmas and all the best for the New Year.
22 Dec 2010, 14:08 pm
@Dawn : And his boyfriend “Black Panther” is not far behind (if ever there was a nickname that screams unfulfilled boyhood dream of being a superhero its that one).
Maak my lag hoe hulle almal lekker met jou flirt. Die kans om met n ware SA meisie te gesels en nie die lelike dinge op hulle eiland is net te veel van n verlei. Jys n supermodel op hier blad
22 Dec 2010, 14:10 pm
@Black Panther : 461 – BP, Also when you visit the Cape in Feb, think you will change your mind about our white wines. We have some really great white wines here, but it is our reds that are brilliant. I too don’t like Pinotage, but we have plenty other superb reds, far, far to many to mention here. Enjoy it, so many wine farms to visit in the Cape. You will be busy. Also hope you get to see a rugby game at Newlands.
22 Dec 2010, 14:18 pm
bp….you ever come to CT you get hold of me my man….we will go huge.
22 Dec 2010, 14:25 pm
@Puma : @ 478
@Puma : @ 480
Yeah, of course they could bottle it up in a Disney packaging and as long as it tasted great noone would be turning their nose up at it would they ?! It all comes down to our taste buds. Im partial to Aussie reds – I saw your comment about chilled Shiraz and did chuckle; chilling reds just completely takes away the taste and depth of red wine in my humble opinion. Whereas a room temp white wine almost has the reverse effect. My wifes best mate here is a Safa and she will only drink SA reds, whereas we drink primarily Kiwi whites. And yet we have a friend that has warned us NOT to bring Kiwi Sav-blancs to dinner, “only French whites thanks”. Its just what tastes we get used to I suppose.
I had a similar exchange with BokiNZ about Kiwi wines – he lives in Gisborne, which is well known for chardonnays – and he said “all” NZ wine was horrible. Maybe he was just trying to rile the Kiwi, but I did think this said more about him than it did about me, let alone NZ wines. What I do know is that in UK, NZ white wines are now no1 seller, more than French or Aussie wines. So someone is doing something right. I suppose New World countries like NZ or Chile or Argentina have an advantage of sorts in that soils and climate change the character of varietals and the winemakers dont feel bound to follow conventional routes bound up in centuries of old-school techniques, and therefore we are blessed with different tastes from the same grape. Thats pretty exciting to me !
And dont be surprised if the exciting wines of the future come from Engl (sparkling wine) or even a stamp that we are already familiar with
‘Made in China’. – theyre planting vines everywhere !
22 Dec 2010, 14:27 pm
@grant10 :
That would be great, G10. I may have to get thru customs under disguise first but Im absolutely salivating at the prospect of exploring your country.
And you know, as does Puma, that the barbie will be on at Chez Panther if you ever make it to RWC’11.
22 Dec 2010, 14:30 pm
@Dawn : @ 472
I knew you had it in you to talk sense, for once, Peaches.
22 Dec 2010, 14:34 pm
@Black Panther : thanks BP…appreciate that.
22 Dec 2010, 14:41 pm
@THEBokFan : @ 479
“if ever there was a nickname that screams unfulfilled boyhood dream of being a superhero its that one”
?!?
Ah yes, I recall Gunthers grand entrance here too when he waded in with his own assumptions that my nik was somehow a racial-slur on a SA site given the ‘Black panther’ movement in the USA decades ago. In fact, Black Panther was the nikname of Waka Nathan – an AB star of the 60′s – and also a reference to Michael Jones, my favourite AB.
Rugby players on a rugby blog – who would have thought.
Atleast your own nik makes your own intentions clear. For a minute there I thought you must have had unfulfilled aspirations of being an Australian. Silly me.
22 Dec 2010, 14:43 pm
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22 Dec 2010, 14:44 pm
Okay, that Christmas tree bombed out. But you get the idea. Have a good one.
22 Dec 2010, 14:45 pm
@Black Panther : 482 – BP, Exactly it is what we enjoy, we all have our own tastes. I personally hate red wine that has been chilled, any kind for that matter not just Shiraz. Cause like you I think it takes away the lovely flavours of the wine.
I believe the NZ whites are superb, all the Aussies that I do business with rave about it. I will get to try them sometime. I much prefer a red wine, but I do have white wine sometimes.
I will take you up on your offer if I come to the WC. Here we call it a braai.
Take Grant10 up on his offer to tour Cape Town. He knows the place well and you will be in for a great holiday mate. Cape Town in Feb is magnificent. You in for a treat. One of the most beautiful cities in the world. You have to go around with Grant to enjoy it. A local will always show the places a tour guide will miss.
22 Dec 2010, 14:46 pm
@grant10 :
Can we all come look at him too?
22 Dec 2010, 14:47 pm
@>^..^< katman :
actually I thought that was bloody good. I only assumed you copied this off the net somewhere but if youre conjuring these up on your own then youre not only patient but rather artistic. Complimenti !
Hope Santa leaves you something under yours that puts a smile on your face.
22 Dec 2010, 14:48 pm
@>^..^< katman : Katman, All the best to you and your family. Have a great Christmas and a brilliant New Year. All the best to your Lions too. Think they gonna do very well next year.
22 Dec 2010, 14:48 pm
@>^..^< katman : Baie mooi – dankie Katman, alles van die beste vir jou ook
22 Dec 2010, 14:48 pm
@Black Panther : I tried to improve one off the Net, but perhaps this is not my forté.
22 Dec 2010, 14:49 pm
@Black Panther :
Can we come stare at you too in Feb?
22 Dec 2010, 14:50 pm
@Puma :
Puma you are the most honourable person here, ever!
And I wish you all the best too.
Genuine.
22 Dec 2010, 14:50 pm
@Dawn : @ 490
My wife will be there too, Peaches, wouldnt want to make her jealous now would we. I know how you are partial to Scots blood, so we wouldnt want a scene.
22 Dec 2010, 14:50 pm
@Black Panther : love the clueless assumptions you make. Never once said anything about racism or the Black Panthers.
I dont give a fark what your name means and which idiot player it references old man.
My nik SHOULD make my intentions clear! I am a proud Bok supporter on a site about Bok rugby, made for Springbok rugby fans. How amazing that someone should have a nik that proclaims this?
There are also sites for NZ rugby, Im sure, I havent visited them cos I couldnt give a flying fark. You should go check them out
22 Dec 2010, 14:50 pm
Thanks. I don’t want anything for myself for Christmas. I only want some silverware for the Lions. And it’s this kind of selflessness that often gets noticed by Santa. Here’s holding thumbs.
22 Dec 2010, 14:51 pm
@>^..^< katman :
And to the only person ever to touch my stuffed dog, you and your family have a brill festive season!
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