Etzebeth banned, Botha to join Boks
10 Sep 2012
Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth has received a two-week suspension for his headbutt on Wallabies No 5 Nathan Sharpe.
The transgression was not punished by the referee in last Saturday’s Test, but Etzebeth has been subsequently suspended following a disciplinary hearing on Monday. Etzebeth will miss the Boks’ match against the All Blacks in Dunedin.
Nigel Hampton QC stated that this was not an attempt just to push the opposing player away by using his head without contact being made. ‘The player brought his forehead forward and downward with a degree of speed and force into the nose area of the opposing player making contact with that player,’ he said. ‘This was a deliberate act done as a part of an episode of escalating “tit for tat” pushing and shoving between the two players. As to sanction, intentional striking with the head into the face of another is not to be countenanced under any circumstances.’
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer has confirmed that veteran lock Bakkies Botha, who is currently playing for Toulon in France, will join the squad. Meyer clarified that Botha will not be considered to start against the All Blacks. Flip van der Merwe and Andries Bekker are existing locking options that didn’t start in Perth.
The Boks picked up three injuries in last Saturday’s match. Jannie du Plessis tweaked his hamstring, Pat Cilliers strained a ligament in his elbow and Bryan Habana sustained an ankle injury.
Team doctor Craig Roberts said that Habana should be fit for the Test against the All Blacks in Dunedin, but Du Plessis and Cilliers are in doubt and front-row replacements are likely to be summoned from South Africa.
550 Comments
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10 Sep 2012, 16:14 pm
@poppa69-300: post 295? Bakkies?
10 Sep 2012, 16:14 pm
@poppa69-295:
the boks had nothing on the ozzies for filthy tackles and breakdown infringments.
or jumping onto and stomping players.
you wouldnt last a game with us if we played you dirty pops.
back to the subject, do you have anything to say in these kiwis scumbag judicials defense?
10 Sep 2012, 16:15 pm
He’s getting very boring now even Saffas have had a guts full
10 Sep 2012, 16:16 pm
if it was a room full and they jumped me i’d probably end up shooting china.
lawyers are costly but they can get you out of a tight spot.
10 Sep 2012, 16:18 pm
dont suffer china
just phukkoff
10 Sep 2012, 16:19 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-302: yep, Im glad they got the filthy Japie basta@rds, they deserve it
should have gotten longer really, but I dont mind, he will now carry the same type of scummy thug label Bakkies, Schalk and Bismarck do..
it seems to be one thing your rugby players are good at, off the ball cheap shots because they arent good enough to win by playing rugby..
.
10 Sep 2012, 16:19 pm
Bakkies you are getting too carried away now probably best if you took a break from KEO its clearly affecting you, night Pops only 5 more sleeps.
10 Sep 2012, 16:20 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-304: and theres SA justice in a nutshell, buying your way out like Bees Roux did..
thats shocking that he got away with murder isnt it Bakkies, showing who holds the mortgage on filthy scum..
10 Sep 2012, 16:21 pm
@poppa69-300:
haha
dont make me larf
beast got binned for obstructing the runner and etzebeth got suspended for faking a headbutt.
the ozzies, like you scummy kiwis, got away with much, much worse cos thats how you roll.
i see even the ozzie players are making coconut tackles now.
10 Sep 2012, 16:22 pm
@NZINCHINA-307: later China, Im done too…seems HG the coward has disappeared, leaving his lil mate to fight the battle
how very HG..
meh, SA;s play rugby like they have just been introduced to the game, they are and will always be mediocre..
12 wins in 20 years vs the ABs.
10 Sep 2012, 16:23 pm
@poppa69-306:
oh please
you wouldn’t know how to play rugby if i stuck an official irb rulebook up your arse.
10 Sep 2012, 16:27 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-309: thought not, continue with your rants, they show how baseless your claims are when you only notice one team doing it..
10 Sep 2012, 16:27 pm
Bakkies manhandling china and Popgun in one go. classic
10 Sep 2012, 16:36 pm
FFS this is just another step backward! Why not bring in a guy like Mostert?!
10 Sep 2012, 16:39 pm
@NZINCHINA-307:
you still here..?..
i thought i told you to phukkoff
@poppa69-306:
there we go, that the poopa i know.
scum to the bone
welcome back buddy
@poppa69-312:
it doesnt make it less true you doos
10 Sep 2012, 16:42 pm
Hak Hak Hak, Bakkies is k@k!
10 Sep 2012, 16:42 pm
@shooter-313:
they’re a bunch of dooses and they know it.
petty move they pulled with etzebeth
pathetically petty
10 Sep 2012, 16:43 pm
@TooMuchRugby-316:
alweer jy..?..
10 Sep 2012, 16:45 pm
@TooMuchRugby-316:
Ja.
You make him look like a brain surgeon.
Too much rugby indeed.
Without headgear.
10 Sep 2012, 16:46 pm
Capebull………..stop talking bull! Flo was on the park for how long? Are you for friggin real? You still miffed at the exodus of Bulls players from the Bok team it seems!
10 Sep 2012, 16:46 pm
I must be the only one who didn’t think this was worthy of anything. Wasn’t a “missed” headbutt, just got up close and personal to threaten him, silly sure, but worth 2 weeks suspension?
Meh, maybe I’m horribly biased, but I don’t see it as a failed headbutt attempt, if he really wanted to do it Eben would’ve knocked him out.
10 Sep 2012, 16:51 pm
@silent_shadow-321: it was an intended headbutt. like intended right hooks missed before in rugby games -that didn’t connect. So. in a way, he was unlucky.
Don’t know what would have happened if he ended Sharpe’s career prematurely if standing 10cm closer.
I think they banned him for intimidation in the end. you know.
10 Sep 2012, 16:52 pm
Maybe Matfield will make a comeback now… or maybe he is waiting another two years, before the next WC.
10 Sep 2012, 16:54 pm
@gunther-319: He also thinks he’s one. He tried to perform it on various scrumhalves without aenaesthetics.
10 Sep 2012, 16:55 pm
@Jeez-314: kom jy nou met Mostert na die maal.
10 Sep 2012, 16:55 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-318:
Say it! Don’t spray it!
10 Sep 2012, 16:56 pm
@TooMuchRugby-324: what is worse, blue collar or white collar crime?
10 Sep 2012, 16:57 pm
@gunther-319:
Those were the days.
10 Sep 2012, 17:00 pm
If Flintoff and Sonny can box, so can Bakkies.. I would pay good money to see a Bakkies and Sonny-Bill match.
10 Sep 2012, 17:01 pm
@silent_shadow-321:
it was a nothing event
and they know it
we’ve let these ***** off so often before with indiscretions of theirs because we know its rugby and things happen. this however was nothing but these dooses will be dooses.
pathetic scum
i hope bakkies farks this up for them
10 Sep 2012, 17:01 pm
@silent_shadow-321:
Ja, he messed it up. He was too far away from the intended target when he started, and Sharp saw it coming and had time to move his head just that vital inch to escape the full brunt of he strike . A headbutt should always be unexpected and delivered from a very close range. He would have learnt from th experience though. The next opponent might get hurt.
10 Sep 2012, 17:05 pm
@Robzim-331: Lmao. I think Sharp has a career in soccer next.
10 Sep 2012, 17:05 pm
In all fairness. Eben’s headbutt was twice as dangerous as Kevin M’s. Very fair punishment.(from a NZ officer)
10 Sep 2012, 17:05 pm
Speaking of which, when is Sunni Bin taking on the white rhino? That’s going to be worth some megabytes on the PVR.
10 Sep 2012, 17:08 pm
@optiplay-333:
Kevvie got off because “it wasn’t in character”…
10 Sep 2012, 17:08 pm
Please play bakkies on Saturday. While you’re at it, you may as well chuck on matfield & smit.
10 Sep 2012, 17:09 pm
@gunther-335: While Eben was paying for Cliffie and Skattie’s collective reputations.
10 Sep 2012, 17:10 pm
@Robzim-331:
that was not an intended headbutt by a long shot. it was a nothing attempted head touch thats all.
a headbutt would have required a lot more force and his velocity didn’t suggest that.
also you need to arch your back and pull your head back with it while stepping forward to effect an effective headbutt. by this i mean a headbutt that will either hurt the kunnt or knock him down.
bullshitt suspension
10 Sep 2012, 17:10 pm
@katman-334: Don’t know… I just hope square pants can actually bring the game. He’s chowed a few steaks, not too mobile, but in the same sentence also unmovable. Thought Simba was going to take him down, but he is becoming like a buffalo now, the more you shoot it, the more alive it gets.
10 Sep 2012, 17:13 pm
@shooter-339: He may not moisten the ladies’ onnerbroeke like Sunni Bin, but when he lands one it stays landed. Unlike the other wobbly dole scum and furniture movers Williams has fought till now.
10 Sep 2012, 17:14 pm
@katman-334:
Firstly the MJC is trying to get the White Rhino declared Halaal.
Secondly he has to promise not to hit Sunni with any hurty punches.
Then we’re good to go.
10 Sep 2012, 17:14 pm
‘if kevvie says he didn’t do it’…
scum
10 Sep 2012, 17:18 pm
@katman-340: Ja, he might just off-load one on his way to the canvass.
10 Sep 2012, 17:21 pm
Reminds me a one of the verses of Jeremy Taylor’s “Ag pleez Deddy”:
Ag pleez Deddy won’t you take us to the wrestling
We wanna see an ou called Sky High Lee
When he fights Willie Liebenberg
There’s gonna be a murder
‘Cos Willie’s gonna donner that blerrie yankee
10 Sep 2012, 17:23 pm
@katman-340:
SBW is either crazy, stupid or very brave….or the fight will be fixed.
10 Sep 2012, 17:30 pm
@Robzim-345:
SBW is either agile, lucky or both… or the fight won’t go the distance.
10 Sep 2012, 17:35 pm
Pops gone to bed?
10 Sep 2012, 17:37 pm
@katman-346:
Maybe they fly Bryce in to ref the fight in order to even the odds a bit.
10 Sep 2012, 17:39 pm
Lol Aussies.
ban the frying pan and you get the fire instead.
10 Sep 2012, 17:47 pm
Heyneke just needs to be braver
——————————————————————————–
by Gavin Rich 10/09/2012, 09:51
An advert run on SuperSport just before the kick-off to Saturday’s big match in Perth should have been enough to nudge anyone who might have debated the extent to which the Springbok team has changed since last year.
First up we saw Gurthro Steenkamp. He’s no longer there because he’s playing overseas. Then in quick succession we saw Heinrich Brussow (not selected and then injured), Schalk Burger (injured), Bismarck du Plessis (injured) and JP Pietersen (injured). Add to those names the players who have retired or gone overseas such as Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw, Jaque Fourie and Fourie du Preez, not to mention John Smit, and suddenly the list starts to become quite an extensive one.
I haven’t done a study of the other teams, but it is unlikely that any other nation has lost as many players as that since last year’s World Cup.
The low on confidence Wallabies are missing several players, but not as many as the Springboks, and the core of their unit is still playing, as is the All Black team that won last year’s World Cup.
So let’s say this straight up, Springbok skipper Jean de Villiers was right when he said after the Perth defeat that we can’t expect a new team to just suddenly click and play fantastic rugby. It’s because we accept this fact that many of us went easy on new Bok coach Heyneke Meyer in the build-up to and during his first series against England.
In 2008, at the start of the Peter de Villiers’s tenure, the Boks still had most of the players who had won the World Cup a few months earlier available. That’s all changed now, and if Meyer thought he faced a shortage of experience at the start of his stint it’s hard to imagine what he might have said when he was appointed if he had been told that by the time the Rugby Championship arrived he would also be without Du Plessis, Pietersen and Burger, and that Matfield’s heir apparent, Andries Bekker, would be having his effectiveness limited by a recurring injury.
Remember that back then he was still hoping that Matfield might decide to stick around for one more year, and it was also reasonable for him to anticipate that while they were both playing in Japan, Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie, would still be available to play for him at international level.
That is not to say though that Meyer would have been justified in sticking with the old guard. There is a time when you have to move on, and I remember saying as much when I was interviewed by a SuperSport television reporter in the build-up to the announcement of Meyer as the new coach.
The question, if I remember correctly, went something along the lines of “Will Heyneke call back Victor Matfield and rely too heavily on the players who had done well for him at the Bulls?” and I responded that I thought he was way too intelligent for that and would realise that he would need to embrace and inspire a different culture at the Boks.
And that is the problem. While there is sympathy for Meyer at this time when he is under so much flak, for to my mind the coach who took over this year was always going to struggle regardless of who he was, I also can’t help feeling that he has made the noose for his own neck by being too scared to step out of his own comfort zone.
His initial preferred choices for captain and his appointments to his management team all spoke of an unwillingness to work with people who may challenge him. When I asked someone connected to the camp in those early days why Jacques Nienaber, who did wonders for the Boks last year as defence coach and is so clearly the best in his field, was not re-engaged, I was told that Nienaber’s genius can intimidate those who don’t know him.
Was the fear of being challenged behind Meyer’s decision to fill his management team with people who all hailed from the same region and were effectively his disciples? If it was, then there are problems for the Boks going forward for the more successful Bok coaches, and his record ranked De Villiers in that group, were all people who were prepared to change their thinking when it was necessary.
There is no need to completely reinvent the Bok game, and if the impression created by the clamour for the Boks to become more inventive and innovative is that we want the Boks to start playing like Australia, then that is the wrong impression.
One of the problems with South African rugby is that there is too much of a polarisation of views and philosophies. You’re either for a kicking game or against it, and there is no in between, no grey area. But for goodness sake, what is wrong with just bringing a bit of balance? The quest for balance has become a catch-phrase for Allister Coetzee at the Stormers, and it needs to become so at the Boks too.
The game that Meyer wants his team to play is not necessarily boring if perfected, and we saw that in the first half of the second test against England. But Meyer does not help himself when every time he is presented with a choice between a player who is a footballer with a bit of X-factor and one who is a safety first option he goes for the latter. And for that read Kirchner/Lambie.
Unfortunately too often his selections suggest fear of the unknown and a reluctance to go out of his comfort zone and embrace and consider ideas that might make him a better coach and the Boks a better team. No-one should be expecting a new team to always win, but if they are going to lose at least let it be while showing signs of growing their game rather than just doing the same old thing
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