Boks to fight fire with an inferno
27 Sep 2011
The Springboks intend to outbully the confrontational Samoans in Friday’s Test at North Harbour Stadium.
After a disappointing campaign in the Pacific Nations Cup, Samoa stunned the rugby world when they beat the Wallabies 32-23 in Sydney. Many believed the historic win signalled the beginning of something special, and the massive Samoan contingent in the greater Auckland area moved to buy tickets to the Samoa vs South Africa World Cup pool clash on 30 September.
The North Harbour Stadium will be at full capacity this coming Friday. There is a big South Africa-fan base in that part of New Zealand, but it won’t compare to the number of spectators clad in the blue of Samoa.
Both sets of fans will be expecting a physical romp, and there’s good reason to believe that this Samoa side will be tougher to top than sides of previous years. While they’re as physical as their predecessors, they play with more structure and purpose.
The Boks have taken note of Samoa’s performances at the 2011 tournament. They weren’t quite good enough to beat Wales, although they were competitive for large parts of that match. They steamrolled Namibia and hammered Fiji. They’re unlikely to dominate the Boks upfront, but there’s no doubt that they will try to win the battle at the collisions.
It will be a bruising contest, and there may be casualties if neither side is willing to move away from an attritional approach. Samoa have already spoken about moving the ball around, but the Boks intend to take the islanders on at the coalface no matter the cost.
It’s a strategy that should bring them the desired rewards, but they will be hoping that it doesn’t lead to further injuries to key players a week out from a quarter-final against Australia.
Bok centre Jaque Fourie said that playing two intensely physical matches back-to-back shouldn’t be a problem for this South Africa team. Following last week’s win against Namibia, the Boks enjoyed a couple of days rest, and Fourie believes this has made all the difference. The Boks have used this time to recharge and prepare themselves for an all out war at the point of contact.
‘It’s going to be physical, I’m sure we’re going to be feeling the bruises afterwards,’ said Fourie. That’s why it was important that we had the break. Your body needs to be fresh, but your mind needs to be fresh as well.’
Several players have stood out for Samoa in this tournament. Scrumhalf Kahn Foutali’i, who also plays for the Crusaders in the Super 15, has been one of the more direct No 9s while the 120kg winger Alesana Tuilagi will be an attacking threat if he’s brought into the line. Centre Seilala Mapusua is another who will look to impose himself in the tackle.
Fourie played down the threat of these individuals. While he acknowledged their talents, he believes the collective is more dangerous than before because Samoa are now using their natural talent and inclination for contact to pursue a common goal.
‘They’re a very physical team, and as is the case with the Fijians, if you allow it to get loose, they will punish you. If your kicking game and first-phase is not up to standard, they will punish you.
‘All round they’ve got a good team, so we’re not going to focus on one or two players. They stay in their structures, so we have to look at how we are going to beat the team rather than the individuals. They’re dangerous in broken play, but they seem to be even more dangerous now that they’re structured.
‘I think they’ve modelled their game on how the All Blacks play.’
The Boks have the pack to boss the islanders proving they don’t go into the game with a complacent attitude. They will also need to take the fight to the islanders in midfield, and this is where men like Frans Steyn, Fourie and even Jean de Villiers will need to prove their worth.
‘They’re very direct and physical, there’s no funny business,’ said Fourie. ‘You know what to expect, they just come straight and hard, and there defence is good as well.
‘We need to be clinical in what we want to do; we need to be as direct and physical as we can be.’
In the build up to the Fiji and Namibia matches, the Boks promised to play direct, pragmatic rugby. What transpired against Fiji was a looser albeit profitable approach against a weak defence. The Boks were also too adventurous during the early stages against Namibia, and the loss of structure led to frustration and unnecessary errors.
As Fourie suggests, the clash against Samoa will require a lift in accuracy and intensity. The Boks should beat Samoa, but their success will be determined by their ability to maintain a high standard over the course of 80 minutes. A consistently physical effort will ensure they beat the Samoans by a comfortable margin and take some much needed momentum into the play-offs.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Taupo
537 Comments
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27 Sep 2011, 09:53 am
Bakkies is a champion Maori Tosser… Maybe rivalled by Schalk…
27 Sep 2011, 09:54 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-128: Yea sorry we don’t fall to our knees in rapture at a bunch of dudes making throat-slitting gestures at us!
27 Sep 2011, 09:54 am
@kelefua(kelefua)-134: They chose to play for Samoa, cause they couldn’t make NZ. Not really a choice.
13 Apr 1995 Win: 60-8 Ellispark, Johannesburg
10 Jun 1995 Win: 42-14 Ellispark, Johannesburg
06 Jul 2002 Win: 60-18 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
01 Nov 2003 Win: 60-10 Suncorp Stadium (Lang Park), Brisbane
09 Jun 2007 Win: 35-8 Ellispark, Johannesburg
09 Sep 2007 Win: 59-7 Parc des Princes, Paris
Expect more of the same!
27 Sep 2011, 09:54 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-149:
So, you fight for what is dear to you by insulting other races. Good luck with that!
How many people have you conviced to love your culture with this attitude? Just rough figures, I’m curious to know.
27 Sep 2011, 09:54 am
@Atreides(Atreides)-146: I agree. That is why I said, one incident does not hve to paint the whole place in a bad light, esspecially since many people have said Taupo is one of the most beautiful places they’ve visited.
27 Sep 2011, 09:55 am
“Someone fitting his description”
I wonder what that description was.
Something like: “The dealer is black. Whoa! There he is. Take him in boys.”
27 Sep 2011, 09:55 am
@Brads(Brads)-90:
The question really is the description they based the enquiry on.
It seems they were just looking for a black guy. Not a 5’9″ slightly chubby, black guy wearing a brown trench-coat and black jeans and wearing gold rimmed specs (or whatever)
It’s a mistake that happened in a holiday town. Probably would not have happened in Auckland
Of course our race radar is a tad over-sensitive. NZers have their areas of over-sensitivity too
27 Sep 2011, 09:56 am
I reckon Frans Steyn can toss a Maori a fair distance too.
27 Sep 2011, 09:57 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-148: Well my mate said that there are actually no contracts involved, at exactly 15 minutes before kick off mustachioed, vinyl clad men appear from subterranean passageways and lurk close to the DJ, box and PA system, no one knows how it began but all attempts to stop it have failed. Recent rumors are that they have selected Will I am as their appointed savior, someone to lead them past the quarter century quantum sound flux
27 Sep 2011, 09:57 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-158:
If he can perch the Maori on a kicking tee, he’ll put him between the poles from 80m
27 Sep 2011, 09:58 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-147: Nice archive pull.
Hey, I agree, his approach will not achieve anything. Just saying, there has to be a source.
27 Sep 2011, 09:58 am
@Helen(Helen)-160: Fcksakes!
27 Sep 2011, 09:59 am
@Atreides(Atreides)-146: New Zealand police arrested and strip searched a black South African rugby journalist drinking with white colleagues in a pub because he “fitted the profile of a drug dealer”.
Vata Ngobeni, who works for the Pretoria News newspaper and acts as an analyst for South Africa’s national broadcaster SABC, was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning and taken to a police station where he was strip searched.
When he tried to explain that he was a journalist on tour covering the Springboks’s performance in the Rugby World Cup, which New Zealand is hosting, he was told they were following standard procedure when they spot someone who fits “the profile of a drug dealer”.
Colleagues in the bar with him confirmed he was the only black person present.
“I have never been so embarrassed in my life,” he told a South African newspaper after being released. “I have never experienced this kind of treatment in all my travels around the world, so to be singled out as a common criminal in front of so many people is something I will never forget.”
Ngobeni also detailed his experience via a column titled ‘An unlucky black man’.
Ngobeni’s white colleagues claimed via twitter that the arrest was racially motivated.
“Thoughts with my travelling comrade @Vata-Ngobeni who was detained in Taupo, New Zealand, for being Black. Racism alive in this place!” Micheal Mentz wrote.
Brenden Nel, another South African journalist, tweeted that the police action was “racial profiling at its worst”.
“To stop and search and haul an SA journo to a police station because of the way he looks without any evidence is ridiculous,” Nel wrote.
27 Sep 2011, 09:59 am
@francois93(francois93)-159: Hahahahahahahaha.
27 Sep 2011, 09:59 am
Ja, Frans Steyn is a champion Maori booter.
27 Sep 2011, 10:00 am
@Biscuit(Biscuit)-157:
We don’t know what the full description by the “informant” was, the only thing publicised is the colour of the guys skin.
27 Sep 2011, 10:01 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-161: see if he can find the apology in his archives too, which was sincere and was accepted by everyone..
of course, it doesnt help Trans point so he wont mention it…
27 Sep 2011, 10:01 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-156: Probably.
That is why I am going to make certain I can kick *** like that Colombiana chick Zoe Saldana! 
27 Sep 2011, 10:02 am
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-163:
Local police chief Superintendent Glenn Dunbier rejected Ngobeni’s demand for an apology, telling Television New Zealand: “I’m not about to apologise for our police staff acting in a lawful manner, totally within police policy and in a way that was incredibly understanding and empathetic.
“This isn’t about race,” he said. “It isn’t about the Rugby World Cup. It’s about police dealing with drug-dealing in Taupo.”
Dunbier said police had information about increasing quantities of the drug ecstasy and cannabis being sold in the town and were warned it was likely to increase during the Rugby World Cup.
He said Ngobeni fit the description of somebody dealing drugs “and we were obliged to act on that information. Ethnicity, occupation or any other details would be irrelevant”
27 Sep 2011, 10:02 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-167: Tell us another SA AIDS joke… Really funny those.
27 Sep 2011, 10:03 am
it seem poop ran out of racist insults…. Googling some new ones before he logs on again
27 Sep 2011, 10:05 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-170:
Yes, I love those. They make me want to respect the haka.
Maybe poop’s strategy works after all
27 Sep 2011, 10:05 am
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-163: My point is you can’t believe everything you read in a newspaper, obviously the different parties will put a different spin on it.
27 Sep 2011, 10:06 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-167: Poppa I luv ya, and always have. You’re a good guy, these fellows know it too. They are great guys as well. Underneath all the cracks, they do respect your country, and your people, believe me. They are all rugby men, it’s ingrained. Some of them will throw remarks to get a rise, and some of them are reacting to your comments. It will end, when you learn that most are taking the piss.
27 Sep 2011, 10:06 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-170: keep lying HG, the joke was about what Saffas do with mon kies, as you well know..
but continue to twist it, shows your true nature chump…
27 Sep 2011, 10:07 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-175:
What do you mean by “mon keys”?
27 Sep 2011, 10:07 am
Police have hit back at accusations that the search of a prominent South African sports writer at the weekend was racially motivated.
Vata Ngobeni, chief rugby writer for the Pretoria News, has labelled himself “the unlucky black man in Taupo” in a column published overnight in his newspaper after he was taken to a police station and searched after being accused of peddling drugs in a Taupo bar.
Bay of Plenty Police district commander Superintendent Glenn Dunbie said they had “received credible information about an alleged offence and we were obliged to act on that information. Ethnicity, occupation or any other details would be irrelevant – the police focus was on the alleged offence”.
Dunbier said in recent weeks police have received information about increasing quantities of ecstacy and cannabis being sold in and around Taupo.
Dunbier said that the police officer on duty outside the bar was approached by a patron who told him that a man was dealing drugs in the toilets.
He said it was explained to Mr Ngobeni that the police had been told a man fitting his description was alleged to have been drug dealing and he was advised that the police could search him for drugs.
“They asked me if a bag that was five metres away from me was mine. I said no. Then they said that someone said that I offered them tablets in the toilets. I said to them, ‘That’s crazy’.”
Ngobeni left the bar to talk to the officers and told them who he was and what he was doing in New Zealand.
Dunbier said Ngobeni was then taken to the nearby police station because it “wasn’t appropriate” to conduct the search in public.
“I had to take off my shoes, empty my pockets, they searched the inside of my jeans, all that stuff,” said Ngobeni.
Dunbier said the search was handled “properly and professionally”, but Ngobeni told the Herald the police were heavy-handed and unreasonable and the incident had soured his trip to New Zealand.
Although the police said it was no doubt “an unpleasant experience” and apologised for any inconvenience, they say the search was handled “properly and professionally”.
Other South African journalists here for the Rugby World Cup have called the police actions racist.
South African journalist Michael Mentz, who was in the bar with Ngobeni, took to Twitter to allege the police were racially motivated.
“Thoughts with my travelling comrade @Vata-Ngobeni who was detained in Taupo, New Zealand, for being Black. Racism alive in this place!” Mentz wrote.
Brenden Nel, another South African journalist, tweeted that the police action was “racial profiling at its worst”.
“To stop and search and haul an SA journo to a police station because of the way he looks without any evidence is ridiculous,” Nel wrote.
Mr Ngobeni told the Herald he didn’t know if the police actions were racist, but “I felt a little bit out of place after the incident”.
27 Sep 2011, 10:07 am
@Atreides(Atreides)-169:
An officer responded by saying Ngobeni fitted the profile of a drug dealer, and that a search had to be conducted at a local police station. Police officers on the scene said they were following “standard procedure”.
Taupo residents who witnessed the scene expressed sympathy for Ngobeni.
“There are some idiots in the pig factory (police station) in this town,” said an elderly man.
Another commented “you will find that the police pick up all the… old cars with black drivers”.
Ngobeni later received an apology from police, but said: “I won’t be visiting Taupo again, that is for sure.”
27 Sep 2011, 10:07 am
I’ve gotta go chaps. Enjoy your day.
27 Sep 2011, 10:09 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-175: Lying? Hmmm, it wasn’t just one “joke”, it was a couple of times and not just about Saffas and mon.keys either… Whoosa liar? Not me…
27 Sep 2011, 10:10 am
@Helen(Helen)-172: So funny they make me want to toss another Maori…
And tossing Maoris is never over ’til the fat Maori sings…. Or stops singing
27 Sep 2011, 10:10 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-174:
Ross, I am not sure that you are right about that.
Poop has a definte agenda of spreading racist intolerance.
I have tried to like him and see the good in him even to make peace, but that has clearly failed.
Some of the stuff he’s said can get him banned from keo, others could get him locked up.
27 Sep 2011, 10:12 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-165: i know you rip Xhosa for “looting” and you call it “speed shopping”, i don’t mind… but can you please refrain from this “maori tossing” business.
please.
27 Sep 2011, 10:12 am
shame guys give poppa a break.
27 Sep 2011, 10:14 am
@Sasuke(Sasuke)-184:
Only when he gives us a break.
27 Sep 2011, 10:15 am
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-163:
it pretty much seems to me that he wasn’t targeted because ‘he’ fitted the profile of a drug dealer they were after but that he fitted a profile of what ‘they’ decided likely drug dealers looked like.
also, who called the cops with ‘their’ suspicions of ‘a black guy probably selling drugs’? must have been management.
27 Sep 2011, 10:15 am
@Ratel Brussow(Morne Steyn is under-rated)-178: Like the cops here stop taxis all the time?
I think if the cops received a call from a person saying someone attempted to sell them drugs, then they’d have to respond. Who knows. And beat cops the world over are generally not always the smartest guys around, lets face it. Just tired of how everything gets ‘racialised.’
I got pulled over at a roadblock yesterday. Got a fine. Hmm. Didn’t run to the papers because the cop was black, did I? And if he’d arrested me for something, it would probably be a( a mistake or b) my own damn fault. Not a race thing.
27 Sep 2011, 10:16 am
For farkssteaks
Stop with the updates already
He ain’t the first person to be wrongfully arrested and he won’t be the last.
Mount fecking Taranaki out of a small molehill.
Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez
27 Sep 2011, 10:16 am
@Helen(Helen)-182: He wasn’t always like this. That is my point.
27 Sep 2011, 10:16 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-183: Ja, if you stop calling me a “Rhodesian”…
27 Sep 2011, 10:16 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-189:
I don’t think we can solely take the blame for him “turning”
27 Sep 2011, 10:17 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-181: You’re going too far! It’s like saying tossing K—s! That is not on!
27 Sep 2011, 10:19 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-183: I have never, ever called it “speed” shopping… Rather, “Free” shopping… To my mind Xhosa’s aint that fast…. As in Ndungane is technically very good, but he isn’t very rapid.
27 Sep 2011, 10:19 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-190:
No way! He did that??? He actually called you a Rh*desian????
Even I know that you are from Northern Rh*desia!
27 Sep 2011, 10:19 am
@Dawn(Dawn)-188: ed-farken-zachary!
27 Sep 2011, 10:19 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-193:
Just stop it now.
27 Sep 2011, 10:20 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-181: The comment is out of order HG. Come on, you’re better than this.
@Dawn(Dawn)-191: Agreed. He loves feeding a matrydom complex.
27 Sep 2011, 10:20 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-189:
No excuse. I wasn’t always a sl ut, that can’t be my defense now.
27 Sep 2011, 10:20 am
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-192: Cra.p you silly bird… Its only you that makes that association… Maybe “toss a Rhodesian” is more acceptable?
27 Sep 2011, 10:20 am
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-193: Ndungane is a good winger, just not a speedster.
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