The Lions’ unlikely hero
5 Dec 2011
Josh Strauss has become a cult figure in Joburg but he very nearly fell into rugby obscurity.
Had it not been for Alan Zondagh, Sharks fans might have been spared the frustration inflicted on them by Strauss in the Currie Cup final, and he might instead have been attending to our furry friends in their hours of need. Before he was spotted playing club rugby by the former Western Province coach, the Strauss life plan was directed towards saving animal lives as a vet.
In the latest SA Rugby magazine, on sale this week, we reveal how Zondagh helped Strauss to play for Boland, and how his impressive performances for Maties in the Varsity Cup resulted in a trial at the Lions.
Strauss also reflects on the Lions’ triumphant Currie Cup campaign and looks ahead to next year’s Super Rugby tournament.
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Also in the new issue:
– SA Rugby magazine reveals how the Lions went from Super Rugby chumps in 2010 to Currie Cup champs in 2011
– John Mitchell on transforming the Lions, living in South Africa, preparing for Super Rugby, and the Springbok coaching job
– The Sharks started to develop a new team dynamic during the 2011 Currie Cup
– Heyneke Meyer’s wants the Bulls to become the world’s best domestic side again. We reveal his master plan
– Boland Kavaliers coach Eugene Eloff on winning the Currie Cup First Division, losing half of his side afterwards, and Saru’s decision to have six teams in the Premier Division
– SA Rugby magazine assesses the candidates who will be vying for the Springbok flyhalf jersey next year
– In an extract from his new autobiography, Butch James reveals how he was promised the Springbok No 10 jersey at the World Cup only to fall behind Morne Steyn in the pecking order
– Graham Henry finally has his inner peace – and his World Cup. Now he can get on with the rest of his life
– From zero to hero, jeers to cheers, agony to ecstasy, no one has a better handle on the fickle world of international rugby than World Cup winner Stephen Donald
– Thierry Dusautoir is an inspirational leader and officially the best rugby player on the planet
– The inaugural Rugby Championship will kick off on 18 August next year, two weeks after the Super Rugby final
– Francois Louw speaks to SA Rugby magazine about his new life in Bath, the recent World Cup campaign and why he hasn’t given up on playing for the Boks
– The Springbok Sevens went into the 2011-12 World Series with a settled squad
398 Comments
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5 Dec 2011, 16:49 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-347: And I’ve said that very thing.
5 Dec 2011, 16:50 pm
“Backbone of successful Bok teams”.
Ag no man.
That is half the problem. Players are favored because their captains had too much of an input, while better players from other provinces were missing out. ESPECIALLY Bulls players were preferred to much better players from elsewhere.
Didn’t Doc Craven say something along the lines of, when WP is strong, the Boks are strong?
Hopefully we can find a balance now that Big Vic and the Blue Bulls era is coming to an end.
The same guys who told Francois Steyn to p155-off because they wanted their buddy Johan Roets ahead of him.
5 Dec 2011, 16:53 pm
@Roar my Lions …. Currie Cup Champions 2011(RL)-336: ::mrgreen: I can be very persuasive if I put my mind to it.
5 Dec 2011, 17:02 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-352: doc craven said a lot of things, the blaady racist.
5 Dec 2011, 17:06 pm
SAPA
Johannesburg – Former Springbok and Bulls legend Victor Matfield will join the Bulls on a consultancy basis for the 2012 Super Rugby season.
Matfield will be used as a specialist coach, concentrating on line-outs and general forward play on a weekly basis.
The most capped lock in Springbok rugby starts a new career in sports broadcasting but has been given permission to assist the Bulls as a consultant.
“This is great news for us,” the Bulls’ head of rugby, Heyneke Meyer said.
“Victor has been the backbone of the Bulls for many seasons and to have his continued presence in the team, although unfortunately not as a player anymore, is a real bonus for us.
“He is generally rated as the finest line-out analyst in the game and we are proud and honoured to have him around.”
Matfield was also very excited about the opportunity.
“I am very keen to get stuck in [on television] and will give it a full go, but it is no secret that I want to become involved in coaching too. This will afford me the opportunity to do both, something that I am very pleased about.”
5 Dec 2011, 17:08 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-354:
I don’t believe it. From what I’ve read he was the opposite.
And I’ve heard that him and Rob Louw were about the only friends poor Errol Tobias had when he became a Bok.
Even if he were, that was the way things were back then. Don’t break down a legend because of issues with SA society at the time.
5 Dec 2011, 17:08 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-352: Doc Craven said that at a time when he was poaching Natal kids and others from all over the country, using stellenbosch as a recruitment academy for wp (who benefitted from having stellies included in wp instead of boland).
those days are over mate.
its natal and the bulls these days.
5 Dec 2011, 17:11 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-354:
Also, in America they don’t label every president or historical figure pre-1970′s as a blaady racist.
To be honest, I’m sick of hearing about it whenever it’s an Afrikaner.
Playing victim by calling others racist is becoming tiresome… really.
And SA is never going to get ahead with that attitude.
5 Dec 2011, 17:12 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-354: ag lets not shall we?
did you see me old mucker jackie selebi is finish and klaar?
5 Dec 2011, 17:14 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-357:
Meh. Go check who has produced the most Springboks, even since 1992.
You’ll find the vast majority of the top 10 schools are based in Western Province.
The tide has only recently, very recently changed.
But it’s turning again.
I’ll just be happy when the best 22 players are selected. Forget about what Province they play for!
And might be time for a salary cap as well to prevent that sort of thing.
5 Dec 2011, 17:14 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-351:
there’s lots of proving to be done then…love it…
5 Dec 2011, 17:17 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-356: yesses, blaady bigot he was…there are things happening today in SA and if one falls goes along with them they are indeed complicit in perpetuating whatever injustice is at play. a lot of people of integrity stood up against the tyranny of the past, he was it’s posterboy…can’t runaway from it dude.
5 Dec 2011, 17:20 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-358: who is “playing voctim”? i’m recalling part of the legacy of the man you’re talking about but you’d rather i sugarcoated it..not a chance
you can get gatvol all you want, it’s all historical fact.
5 Dec 2011, 17:22 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-359: “if the scorpions have a warrant out for me i will stand on top of Sandton City and they can arrest me”
“who do you think i am, bribed with on R50 000″ – jackie selebi
5 Dec 2011, 17:23 pm
one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter…
5 Dec 2011, 17:23 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-363:
How was he its poster boy? Help me get a better understanding of where you’re coming from…
5 Dec 2011, 17:25 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-366: go do your own research. i’m off to the gym.
5 Dec 2011, 17:26 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-359:
@Transformation(Transformation)-364:
shame, the old boys had a bit of heart trouble since the appeal was lost.
its never easy when one is innocently guilty… just ask gerald…
5 Dec 2011, 17:31 pm
I still like the cover.
5 Dec 2011, 17:42 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-369:
i know… i know…
it has grown on me as the day has progressed but still i must admit that my feelings for him will never come close to the feelings i have for bakkies.
bakkies was my first and only love…
i hope i will find love again…
5 Dec 2011, 17:53 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-364: haha, jackie did a schabir but no one cares cause he was thabos mate.
****** fat fraud.
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-368: haha, “i’m too sick to go to jail”.
its pathetic. they should just hang him for high treason and for the hundreds of thousands that died whilst he was police chief.
fukim.
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-360: no no no man. the “vast majority” of successful schools are not in the cape.
the ec, freestate and even natal have many fine rugby schools buddy.
check it.
5 Dec 2011, 17:54 pm
in the same way that,
zeus loved ganymede
apollo loved hyacinthus
and,
achilles loved patroclus…
just straight manly man love….its a thing….
5 Dec 2011, 17:59 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-371:
i think his point is that historically the vast majority of springboks have come from wp. but that may come down to saru headquarter bias, imo.
wp 234
lions 138
bull 89
cheetahs 69
sharks 67
5 Dec 2011, 17:59 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-371:
Since 1992 only 2 schools have hit double figures for Springboks.
Grey College with 19. And Paarl Gymnasium with 10.
In third was Bishops with 6, and Paul Roos (with 5) is tied for 3rd with Affies and Monument.
That’s 3 of the top 6 right there.
If I went back all the way… only 8 schools have hit double figures, and 6 of them are WP schools.
So you were saying?
5 Dec 2011, 18:02 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-373:
Bias or not, that’s how it stands.
Can’t say Sharks & Bulls have produced the most, when clearly they haven’t.
WP & Free State are the Springbok nurseries. FACT.
5 Dec 2011, 18:03 pm
@au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-373:
i dont think ‘vast majority’ is quite the correct words there.
but i do mean a large majority of players have come from wp.
5 Dec 2011, 18:05 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-375:
Grey College to be more precise.
Where would the Sharks even be without being able to draw on the most talented players from Grey College!
Even the Bulls are getting in on the act after years of poaching talented players from WP schools. Let’s not forget that Morne Steyn went to Sand du Plessis in Bloemfontein… not Affies or one of those. And Derick Hougaard went to Boland Landbou.
5 Dec 2011, 18:08 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-377:
Come to think of it…
Flip van der Merwe – Grey College
Juandre Kruger – Paul Roos
Deon Stegmann – Grey College
Francois Hougaard – Paul Roos
Morne Steyn – Sand du Plessis
Francois Venter – Grey College
Johann Sadie – Paarl Gymnasium
And that’s only the ones who’re probably starters.
5 Dec 2011, 18:14 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-378:
More like a combined Cheetahs & WP 2nd-XV…
Their positions on the CC & Super 15 logs in 2011 reflect that!
5 Dec 2011, 18:15 pm
Who else of you guys has manly love for bakkies botha???
5 Dec 2011, 18:18 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-378:
Whoops I forgot about Wilhelm Steenkamp & Rossouw de Klerk. Jurgen Visser also.
Damn those Bulls really do love poaching WP players don’t they. Must not be very good at rugby up there.
5 Dec 2011, 18:54 pm
Thought not!
5 Dec 2011, 19:48 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-377: i did not talk about nurseries herndrik.
i said strong bulls and sharks teams were the backbone of the boks.
where the laddies went to school does not come into it especially since grey bloem poaches more talent than all the superrugby franchises combined.
its simple really, bulls and sharks. leaders.
wp.pretenders.
dont shoot the messenger eh?
5 Dec 2011, 19:49 pm
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-381:
The Bulls poached Lobert too once upon a time
But they sent him back with compliments,,,
Someone wrote here few months ago that WP/Stormers let go Sadie, JJ @ Cronje with a sigh of relief, I thought he went overboard but the speed with which AC pounced to snap Jacobs made it a certainty that there is a future for only one kind of players in WP.
Departure of Whitefield and JF might support that notion
5 Dec 2011, 19:59 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-384: who is whitefield?
so you think JF is leaving because AC only hires cullarts but you think that AC is defo the next bok coach but you think that nevertheless white players are jumping ship because AC only hires cullarts?
your time to you is clearly not worth saving.
5 Dec 2011, 20:10 pm
@rangerman(rangerman)-371:clint eastwood & morgan freeman have teamed up again and are set to release another EPIC blockbuster, this time on the life of jackie selebi aptly titled ‘Convictus’
5 Dec 2011, 20:12 pm
Ranger do you love baKkies botha?
5 Dec 2011, 20:17 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-386:
who will play Agliotti??
I was thinking Jennifer Aniston’s dad. (Google it)
5 Dec 2011, 20:19 pm
Anyway off to Gym.
Weekend’s pennance.
5 Dec 2011, 20:20 pm
That guy from the soaps?
5 Dec 2011, 20:36 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-386:
haha!
5 Dec 2011, 20:39 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-387: i do Dawn.
not as passionately as our frenchie friend though.
its hard to explain i suppose but there has to be a certain acknowleged beauty in the sight of bakkies smashing a pom out of a ruck or making a kiwi want to cry.
the eye of the beholder i guess.
5 Dec 2011, 20:40 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-388: @stormersboy(stormersboy)-388: i know who he is..viktor kiriakoas from days of our lives… good pick
5 Dec 2011, 21:27 pm
Good grief!
5 Dec 2011, 21:32 pm
All this manly love is completely confusing me
6 Dec 2011, 08:27 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-393: viktor kiriakoas?
Dude, Less with the soapies OK?
I don’t want to have to talk to you about this again.
6 Dec 2011, 09:16 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-396: lol
7 Dec 2011, 19:16 pm
Good issue. Thank guys.
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