KeoTV: Boks are going home
7 Oct 2011
MARK KEOHANE says the Wallabies will end the Springboks’ four-year reign as world champions in Wellington on Sunday.
Keo.co.za
19 Jun 2013
Jean de Villiers will be given the rest of the week to recover in time to face Samoa in Pretoria. Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer wants his captain to lead the side in the Boks final international of the month. If De Villiers does not recover from the chest injury, Jan Serfontein will start at inside centre. Morne Steyn again starts ahead of Pat Lambie. Willem Alberts will also be given the next 48 hours to prove his fitness. Adriaan Strauss retains the run on No 2 jersey while Bismarck du Plessis is nursed back after nine months out of the game. Boks - 15. Willie le Roux, 14. Bryan ... Read Article1 Jun 2013
The Bulls are South Africa's best team and they proved it in Bloemfontein. The Cheetahs have been outstanding all season and they were as good on Saturday night as they have been at any stage. Still it wasn't good enough to beat the Bulls, who won 30-25 after leading 30-13 with 10 minutes to play. The Cheetahs finished brilliantly and deserved the bonus point, but the Bulls consolidated their top two league placing thanks to an imposing first hour. Pierre Spies was impressive as team and pack leader, Arno Botha was ever present and the No 9, 10, 12 Bulls axis of Francois Hougaard, Morne ... Read Article11 Jun 2013
Brendan Venter's appointment as Sharks Director of Rugby is a good one. But the decision to end John Plumtree's Sharks coaching tenure is not. Former Springbok and Italy coach Nick Mallett turned down an invitation for the role of Sharks Director of Rugby and Venter, formerly the head coach and Director of Rugby at Saracens, will start his job at the outset of the Currie Cup season. Plumtree remains the Super Rugby head coach until the end of this season's tournament but his contract has not been renewed. Plumtree is highly rated in Europe and will in all likelihood link up with a European ... Read Article8 Jun 2013
Rene Ranger was among the few highlights in New Zealand's 23-13 win against France in Auckland. The All Blacks led 17-10 at half time but France dominated field position for most of the match and enjoyed the greater quality in possession. However they couldn't translate the advantage in the set phase and at the breakdown into points. New Zealand defended well in a match of poor quality. France lead early through Wesley Fofana's try and it took Ben Smith's break to start up New Zealand's international season. Smith has been the form New Zealand back in Super Rugby and he looked a class ... Read Article27 May 2013
Kiwi Vern Cotter is Scotland's new head coach. Cotter will only take up the position in a year's time. He will see out his contact with French club Clermont. Cotter's appointment means that New Zealanders will coach Scotland, Ireland (Joe Schmidt) and Wales (Warren Gatland). New Zealander Robbie Deans has been at the helm of Australia for the last five years and current Blues coach John Kirwan coached Italy and Japan. Kiwi coaches have also been at the helm of Samoa and Fiji in recent years. Read Article5 Mar 2013
MARK KEOHANE writes the Varsity Cup in its first year rocked. Since then it's just another professional tournament. The Varsity Cup may have the innovation of doing a few things differently, but what was supposed to be a celebration of student rugby somehow just seems like another tournament, in which the traditional power houses remain the traditional strengths in the tournament. Much has been made of the Port Elizabeth-based Nelson Mandela University display this season and equally there has been bewilderment at how poor Shimlas have been. But it seems the old one two of Stellenbosch University ... Read Article12 May 2013
Marcus Watson scored in extra time to beat the Blitzbokke in the London World Series Sevens Cup quarter-finals. The teams were level 14-all at full time. Watson's try came four minutes into extra time. England won 19-14. England had the chance to win the match with the last play of the game in normal time. They were awarded a penalty and opted to take a drop kick for goal. It missed. Watson then rounded off a move after England had retained possession for two minutes. South Africa suffered further embarrassment when they lost for a second time in the tournament to the USA and were eliminated ... Read Article8 Jan 2013
Limpopo will play in the Vodacom Cup as a separate side for the first time this year. The region, which is a sub-union of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, has been granted a place in the tournament in its own rights to help foster rugby in South Africa’s far north. They join the 14 provincial unions as well as the returning Pampas XV from Argentina in the tournament, which kicks off in the second week of March and concludes in mid-May. The Polokwane-based Limpopo team will play in the North Section of the competition, along with the Blue Bulls, Golden Lions, Griffons, Leopards, Pumas, Valke ... Read Article7 Oct 2011
MARK KEOHANE says the Wallabies will end the Springboks’ four-year reign as world champions in Wellington on Sunday.
backpagemedia has written 16 articles.
21 Oct 2011
20 Oct 2011
Francois Louw believes the best way to take the referee out of the equation is to dominate the collisions, reports...Read More
Flip van der Merwe will start in the second row for the Springboks in the quadrangular series decider at Loftus...Read More
The decision to give Flip van der Merwe the No 5 jersey is yet another ploy by Heyneke Meyer to...Read More
Heyneke Meyer's decision to back a host of youngsters in this quadrangular Test series will have long-term benefits for the...Read More
Francois Louw, the man who changed Heyneke Meyer’s mind, has undergone a life-changing experience of his own. Louw admits he's...Read More
The Bulls are South Africa’s best team and they proved it in Bloemfontein. Read More
Jean de Villiers will be given the rest of the week to recover in time to face Samoa in Pretoria. Read More
The Rugby Football Union has turned down a proposal from their Welsh counterparts to stage the 2015 World Cup pool match between England and Wales in Cardiff. Read More
Marcus Watson scored in extra time to beat the Blitzbokke in the London World Series Sevens Cup quarter-finals. Read More
Kiwi Vern Cotter is Scotland’s new head coach. Read More
Rene Ranger was among the few highlights in New Zealand’s 23-13 win against France in Auckland. Read More

599 Comments
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7 Oct 2011, 19:57 pm
go Bokkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeee
7 Oct 2011, 19:58 pm
go boys!!!!
Moer hulle pap !
7 Oct 2011, 20:03 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-414:
you mean, just like in 2007 ?
7 Oct 2011, 20:04 pm
@grant10(grant10)-551:
viva Bokke viva
viva John Smit viva
long live long live
7 Oct 2011, 20:48 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-550: And to think you believe anyone actually gives a fark…
7 Oct 2011, 20:53 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-469:
It was complete and utter BS. As if. ‘Great post-match conversations with the locals of all time’. Only in Chip Nation.
7 Oct 2011, 20:57 pm
@Boksarenumber3(Boksarenumber1)-541: Bias is a noun, you chop.
(Chop can be either verb or noun).
7 Oct 2011, 20:58 pm
@grant10(grant10)-552: Now thats the spirit mate.
Whoopa, hey mesa, hooba huffa, hey meshy goosh goosh.
Looking at the world through the sunset in your eyes,
Traveling the train through clear Moroccan skies
Ducks and pigs and chickens call,
animal carpet wall to wall
American ladies five-foot tall in blue.
Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind,
Had to get away to see what we could find.
Hope the days that lie ahead
bring us back to where they’ve led
listen not to what’s been said to you.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express,
they’re taking me to Marrakesh.
All aboard the train.
All aboard the train.
I’ve been saving all my money just to take you there.
I smell the garden in your hair.
Take the train from Casablanca going south,
blowing smoke rings from the corners of my m m m m mouth.
Colored cottons hang in the air,
charming cobras in the square.
Striped djellebas we can wear at home.
Well, let me hear ya now.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express,
they’re taking me to Marrakesh.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express.
Wouldn’t you know we’re riding on the Marrakesh Express,
they’re taking me to Marrakesh.
All on board the train,
All on board the train,
All on board!
7 Oct 2011, 21:03 pm
@Atreides(Atreides)-490:
your take on that huh ?!
so 1 minute Im apparently painting ‘NZ as Nirvana’ and the next minute a country of ‘over-reactive thugs’.
How very confusing life must be for the Pigeonholers.
As for “obvious relish”. WTF are you to interpret your own sick little Moral Code on others, I found the whole episode appalling. Au contraire, I find your obvious embellishment sickening.
(btw – they werent Maoris, but Polynesians. It wasnt merely ‘lippy’, it was racist abuse of strangers by ‘foreigners’. The first acts of violence were started by the ‘foreigners’).
7 Oct 2011, 21:03 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-557:
Big game tom at 5.
Dis ek en jy.
And i’m at coldplay.
7 Oct 2011, 21:11 pm
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-560: Pull a Malema and fake a man cold. Tell the missus she can take a friend.
Lions by more than 10, by the way.
Let’s call it 30-18.
7 Oct 2011, 21:15 pm
So, I have listened to Keo..
Inwardly digested….
and only have one thing to say…..
GO BOKKE
Prove Keo wrong !!
7 Oct 2011, 21:16 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-561:
How did your Lions suddenley get so good?
It is spooky….
7 Oct 2011, 21:21 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-561:
Thank goodness for pvr. I’ll watch it on Sunday morning at my leisure.
But wait a minute, that means I’ll have to watch it at 5 in the morning on a Sunday. Cos it’s the missus’s birthday that day.
Otherwise she’ll remove my ballas with a blunt spoon.
I’ll take a peek at the result and trust that I won’t have to push the delete button.
Province by 1 point will suit me fine.
7 Oct 2011, 21:27 pm
@carol(carol)-563: They had me over for a pre-season pep talk. I gave them the Al Pacino “inches” speech, with a bit of a local flavour. And the rest is history.
7 Oct 2011, 21:29 pm
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-564:
Sounds nasty, she is some woman that Mrs. Stormer.!!
7 Oct 2011, 21:29 pm
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-564: So how do the 2 Sunday QF’s fit in with her birthday? This is a tricky one indeed.
7 Oct 2011, 21:46 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-567:
She’ll have the car started at the final whistle of the NZ v Argies game. And I’ll be lifting my kneees as we make our way out to lunch. A woman deserves quality time after all.
7 Oct 2011, 21:50 pm
Bryce will be in favour of the boks this weekend. He does not want his team to face the wallabies…he knows they are on the rise!
He knows the ABs will easily account for the boks!
7 Oct 2011, 21:53 pm
speak in 5 weeks time…you boys will hear from me soones if the wallabies win the whole thing!
No team has lost a game and gone on to win the Cup…thats what they said about the soccer world cup and Spain won…hopefully that is a good omen.
Ireland and Wallabies in the Final!
7 Oct 2011, 21:55 pm
@carol(carol)-566:
Just a bit of a balancing act. Everything’s well planned.
7 Oct 2011, 22:01 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-555:
Go discuss that with yourself in the 3rd-person, Boy George. You must be streets ahead in the AllTime Tally of Posts here on Keo, even Transie has been left behind in your self-absorbed wake.
7 Oct 2011, 22:08 pm
The weather has unexpectedly improved here in Welly… there is some sun about, and not much wind. Will it hold for Sunday’s game? Not sure, still plenty of cloud about. Either way, the pitch will be very heavy after all the rain we’ve had, not favouring the Wallaby running game.
7 Oct 2011, 22:09 pm
Just as I typed that, a shower started! So overall, my pick is the conditions are gonna favour the boks.
8 Oct 2011, 01:00 am
Keo that’s not a coherent analysis at all.
Some teams raise their games for the big showdowns, and the boks are top of that list. Whether or not that is a laudable characteristic it is the case that the Boks turn up for the big ones. And when they do they are formidable for any side.
There is a lot of stuff you can say about the Boks pressure game, not all of it positive, but it is worth noting that a style based on in-your-face intensity can be stepped up a couple of notches based on the fire-in-the-belly passion of a big occasion. Correspondingly a game based on creativity and panache is much harder to improve upon when that is what is called for.
Unless there is major upset (eg red card, key injury) the game will be decided on inches: A missed tackle, the bounce of the ball, a marginal TMO decision or a missed penalty. Going into a game like that you would want a team that can up their game by an inch here and an inch there.
I do not buy the idea that pretty rugby wins anything other than try of the day competitions. Nor do I buy the idea that any recent history between the teams is as important as the development of the teams through the RWC pool stages.
The Boks approach is to apply pressure: In defence, in attack, by playing in their opponents half, in set pieces, by turning the forwards with up-and-under kick-chases, with drop goals and with long range penalties. The game plan is pressure, pressure, pressure. And then ruthless capitalization on errors. This game plan has the downside that it requires sustained intensity and accuracy, and that is hard to deliver in every game of eg a 3N campaign. But the good news about the game plan is that when the chips are down and the passion is flowing the team can up the pressure.
What we have seen from the Boks has been very encouraging in this dimension. It is clear that as they have negotiated the RWC pool stages they have applied energy to the area of defensive structure and execution with fantastic results. Their goal kicking has been peerless and their positional play has been very good. The Bok set pieces have also started clicking. They have a plan and they have some battle-hardened practice in implementing it. What will happen this weekend is that they will fire up the afterburners and implement that plan with unprecedented intensity.
I believe that additionally there is a pattern in the PDV bench management that treats the bench players as key game breakers rather than reserves that couldn’t make the starting 15. In the Bok game plan the starting 15 are tasked with applying intense pressure for 60 minutes with a goal of breaking the spirit and the endurance of the opposition. Keeping the scoreboard ticking is part of that. But the game is won and lost in the last 20; the first hour is a foundation for the real game. Smittie has the role of keeping the Boks in the game and helping orchestrate that hour of disruptive, intensive battle.
And then the tired Wallabies have to face Bismarck, Hougaard, Aplon, James and co. They’re then facing a Bok 15 that is arguably better than the Bok starting 15, and they don’t have the depth of bench to match it. Who would want to play 60 minutes of brutal rugby against the Boks and then face a fresh Bismarck du Plessis, let alone game breaking open space players like FH and GA?
To say that the Boks are evidently on the way home requires you to cite the evidence, and if the only evidence is that the Wallabies have won certain games in the past then my advice is to hedge any bets you have placed on the Wallabies.
8 Oct 2011, 01:31 am
@Hondo(Hondo)-467:
467.Hondo: Reply to this comment
7 Oct 2011, 15:23 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-420:
“Not an easy Test to bet on
The forwards are strong enough to beat the wallabies, they have no passangers among them now.
But not having a 5th forward is a gamble: Brussow, Matfield and JC are all injury prone.
The weather and the referee will account for a 70% effect of the result!
Styen’s place kicking isn’t that effective in the windy, wet conditions, Cooper usually disappears in the heavy underfoot
Aplon on the bench is a one up for the Aussies
Boks by 8″
You never disappoint.
“they have no passangers among them now.”
You forget that Gurthro is in the pack. HE’LL be the reason that we’re lose the game.
… of cause, when Aplon comes on to replace JP, it doubles the reason why we are going to lose. Fukking kallids, playing the game of the “white man”.
@Boksarenumber3(Boksarenumber1)-540:
Next time, try and remember your log on name, dronk donner.
You started as Boksarenumber1, then Boksarenumber2, now you are Boksarenumber3. Alles as gevolg van drank en die feit dat jy nie kan onthou wat jou “log on” naam iWAS/IS nie.
Dink jy nie dat jy miskien ‘n drank probleem het nie?
8 Oct 2011, 02:08 am
@funkyzoo(funkyzoo)-575:
“Some teams raise their games for the big showdowns, and the boks are top of that list.”
The Boks lost the semi’s in ’99, and the 1/4′s in ’03 with a possibility to lose in the 1/4 in ’11. How does that record tell us that they know how to raise their game for the big showdowns?
What we DO know is that…….. if they reach the final, they are more than likely to win it….but that is……IF they reach it.
Jahh boet. Moenie te vroeg praat nie.
Now compare their performances to that of France or Aus who played two more world cups.
@I am a stormer(I am a stormer)-568:
There is more than one way to give your woman quality time.
… of course, you know your woman the best.
8 Oct 2011, 02:36 am
KEO YOU ARE OFFICIALLY A PR.ICK! I would call you a BIG PR.ICK but you’re too much of a MIDGET to be called that! How can you be so fcking negative against your own country.
You don’t deserve to be called South African. Do us a favour and renounce your citizenship now and FARK OFF!! You are a disgrace to this country.
8 Oct 2011, 03:01 am
Perfect conditions in Host City, Auckalofa. Bit of a breeze, but warm and sunny.
Bring it.
8 Oct 2011, 03:02 am
@Samba Bok(JayDaFiveOh)-578:
are journalists supposed to be patriotic ?!
only if youre a numbskull with a chip complex, I suppose.
8 Oct 2011, 03:14 am
@Samba Bok(JayDaFiveOh)-578:
The positive about his prediction is… whenever he predicts that team-X is going to win, you can be sure that team-Y WILL win.
Give him that,…. at least.
8 Oct 2011, 03:21 am
1,683secs left
8 Oct 2011, 03:31 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-579:
Who must bring it? The Argies?
We all know you are going to win that battle. By 15-20, I reckon.
8 Oct 2011, 05:56 am
Fark the weather in hobbitville is blardy awful today! Fine now, but we had a southerly change at lunchtime, just as I was setting out on a 2 hour mountain bike ride. My nuts nearly froze off! I pity those poor welsh and Irish fans at the cake tin tonight….
8 Oct 2011, 06:00 am
Can’t believe it, mrs punishment has scheduled a dinner party at chez punishment tonite! Guests arrivin at 6!!!! And some of them don’t want to watch he rugby!!!!!!!!!!
Having a sulk at the moment while I work out tactics to get to see the game live…. Might be best to buddy up to a couple of the men who like rugby and get them to propose they retire to the man cave to catch the game….
Wonder if mrs punishment will bring our dinner to the man cave?
8 Oct 2011, 06:03 am
…. No one in the keo cave…. All alone….
….. the precious, we wants it, oh how we wants it, come to us precious, we wants the precious…..
8 Oct 2011, 06:08 am
… Those nasty saffas don’t love the precious as much as us, come to us precious, we will take care of you here, yessssss we will, live with us in hobbitville, for ever! No tricksey sneakinesses live here, they don’t love the precious like we do….
We wants the precious!!!!!!!
8 Oct 2011, 06:12 am
…. That keo looks a a bit hobbitsey, he does precious! Don’t trust the keo pretend hobbitsey tho, he pretend to love us in hobbitville but he is tricksey, he wants the precious, he does he wants to steal the precious! Nasty keossey he is probably a dwarf not a honbitses! Nasty nasty keosses wants the precious, but the precious is ours, ours, ours!
8 Oct 2011, 06:19 am
…. Nasty keo pretend hobbitsey, we know you plan, spying on us hobbitses in your campervan, trying to chat up our hobbitsey women, all the while planning to steal the precious…. Nasty keo…. It’s our precious!
8 Oct 2011, 06:21 am
@stor.e..boy(stor.e..boy)-210:
” We used to have onje of the highest education standards in the world (yes i know for some) but you wouldn’t know it reading this blog….”
One definite reason is that since mid-Aug., due to increased responsibility I have written less and less and not at all in your morning.
Another explanation is that your scum buddies Gunt(replace the ‘G’ with a ‘C’), Kakman and Transfornication have written a lot more in the mornings in my marked absence.
Just today they as seeming dyslexic ‘academics’ wrote such garbage on ‘education’ and qualification.
Yet they are gloriously unqualified to comment on either.
U.C.T. science and medical faculties was the place to be from 1980 to 1991 or before for a real good education.
PS. Note your “onje” in your sentence. Your aphasic agraphia is flaring up again. Stop bashing that soft head like that.
8 Oct 2011, 06:34 am
I must say this edition of the world cup is probably the best ever because of the kind of rugby played so far, even the minnows have come to the party. Rugby like any sport , its primary goal is to entertain and play beautifully and attractively. That is how you get bums to fill up the stadiums.
As for the boks, I am not really sure what to make of them. They have basically played “skop and jag” rugby for years and has not really made them dominant in the world. Winning ratio is in the 60s. Now all of a sudden we are playing some bit of expansive rugby which I must add was mostly against the minnows. We are probably gonna revert to boring rugby tomorrow ,and obviously depending on the weather, I am afraid that it will not win us the game. The Samoans and the Welsh during this world cup and the tri Nations team were breaking our defence line with ease and only covering defence came to our rescue. Will the older and experienced players take us through against the Aussies? Will sentimental selection issues come back to haunt us? When the Boks were really challenged by Wales and Samoa, they looked vulnerable? These tW countries lacked a killer punch and Aussies and All Blacks would have put us away easily with that kind of space in thos two games.
So in conclusion, keo has hit it on the nail. I am not convinced that our playing strategy will get us through. The Aussies have got too much speed and brains and their combinations in general will shadow our guys. I am not convinced that we will outscrum them. It did not happen in the Tri nations. Hope I am wrong. That is take on tomorrows game through my coloured glasses.
8 Oct 2011, 09:10 am
@keo(keo)-6: Great site, can’t belief the guy running this show is such a d**che!
8 Oct 2011, 09:18 am
keo you still have time to change your mind here – or wont your sponsors let you!
Boks will take these wannabies. The whole Aussie attitude – we have sen it all before over confident and undercooked. They will meet the battlehardned powerful boks with the best bench in world rugby.
8 Oct 2011, 11:36 am
Peter
sssshhh, don’t tell Transie.
8 Oct 2011, 13:55 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-544: i’m not really sure what your point is? Bakkies Botha is not related to this issue in anyway…
8 Oct 2011, 14:51 pm
How predictable, Keo nailed his colours to the mast when he wrote that self indulgent bollocks about PDV before the Boks had even left SA shores. He obviously had an axe to grind and would not be able to grind it if the Boks came back victorious and has said nothing positive about their chances since. This is a group of legends (who seem to have far more respect overseas then they do in SA), they deserve their chance at defending the title and there is not exactly a raft of players sitting back home who would have done better. They also deserve the respect and support of the country instead of being abused by a small bunch of mindless idiots who have never put themselves out there and achieved anything. Even if they lose, the oldies deserve to be carried shoulder high through the airport for putting their bodies and reputations on the line for so many years for the Bokke instead of taking the easier option which is what we have all done and settled down into the armchair!
8 Oct 2011, 21:30 pm
@fantasticbarnsmell(fantasticbarnsmell)-595:
perhaps not
but giving the big
F U
to the IRB most certainly is.
8 Oct 2011, 23:53 pm
Keo is forgetting two things:
1) Heinrich Brussouw was not present in the last couple of years.
2) The Aussies have not played the Boks with the Nienaber defensive system in place fully.
3) Rassie was no coordinating strategy against the Aussies before.
Boks by 15.
9 Oct 2011, 01:35 am
Well I picked the frogs and picked the boks, a tight game but the control, discipline and front up muscle will hopefully get the job done
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