Old and new a sign of good times
4 Feb 2013
MARK KEOHANE, in his Business Day column, writes that veteran Juan Smith’s performance was a reminder of a good Bok past and Jan Serfontein’s qualities are about a good future. Both are an asset to our rugby.
There is no such thing as a pre-season friendly in South African rugby. What was a supposed first hit out for the Stormers could easily have been a Super Rugby match played at the most critical juncture of the season. It was full on.
It was unrelenting and both teams were playing to win. Both teams kicked for goal at vital times and neither bought into the 10-try feasts usually associated with warm-up matches. Tries were at a minimum and both sides tackled.
The quality of the math was remarkable given it was the first week of February. The Cheetahs won with an injury-time penalty but the biggest winner was surely the sight of Juan Smith back on a rugby field and as imposing as ever.
Smith is one of the great loose forwards of the last decade. He is also one of the least spoken and written about, but every South African supporter would have kept an eye on his comeback in Bloemfontein.
Schalk Burger’s return is a week or two away and if Smith and Burger can make it to July with knees, hands, feet and head intact the Bok pack will again be the envy of the rugby world.
Smith was darn good given he has been out for 18 months with an Achilles injury that threatened closure on his career. What a wonderful view to see him rampant and playing as fearlessly as is his norm.
In Smith South Africa has a legend but watch centre Jan Serfontein of the Bulls. He will play for the Boks before the year is over. He was the world U20 player in the Baby Boks tournament-winning effort in Cape Town last year and he has been nurtured into senior rugby without haste and with plenty conviction.
Some players simply make the transition from juniors to seniors and Serfontein is one of those. He is a also a beast, physically the most imposing centre in South Africa and one of the biggest in the game. He’s just 20 years old but it’s his skill and natural feel for the game that is even more impressive than his physical presence.
Not since Danie Gerber weaved destruction has a player looked as capable of doing as he pleases from broken player. If Bok coach Heyneke Meyer battled with some positions in 2012 it won’t be the case this season.
There is so much new talent in the South African game and there is also massive changes to what paraded as Super Rugby in New Zealand and Australia.
It is heartening to see how the Lions have embraced their year out of Super Rugby. Johann Ackermann is bringing through another generation of player and the Lions have been committed in everything they have done on the field this year.
The year regrouping could be the best thing that has ever happened.. The core of the Super Rugby team is on loan to other South African franchises and there’s a very promising group being played in the season’s first month of matches.
Rugby in South Africa is strong and globally it is healthy.
The sevens in New Zealand was the best tournament I’ve watched and Kenya were 10 seconds away from a miracle win. The Africans had beaten the Boks, beaten hosts New Zealand and were leading England 19-12 with 10 seconds to go. They turned over the ball, England scored and in the sudden death scored again to win the tournament.
But what a display from the Keyans who have benefited from the structure and intelligence of English coach Mike Friday. Kenya now play the game like they understand it and not just on natural feel. They understand defence, thrive on it and they were the most physical of teams at the tournament. A coach does make a difference.
The Boks have opted for more agility and players blessed with a step but not with size. There is no substitute for physicality in rugby. When the Bok Sevens have had more bulk than balanced runners they have been effective.
Paul Treu is currently trading on goodwill as coach as the Sevens has been in free fall for some time now. It can’t be a fait accompli that he is the best there is. Result don’t make a convincing argument.
Finally the Six Nations delivered on the promise with Wales diabolical against Ireland and England ruthless against Scotland.
The global game needs seven to 10 teams to be a factor in between World Cups and England and France most definitely are the equal of South Africa and Australia with New Zealand still out in front, but not by a lot.
The rugby season will run until December but the break over the last two months has been too long. Just like Juan Smith’s performance on Saturday it is full on from hereon in and be confident that South Africa’s Super Rugby challenge can deliver a winner this year.
1,605 Comments
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6 Feb 2013, 12:41 pm
@Atlas-1393: Nope!
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1394: Ditto!
6 Feb 2013, 12:43 pm
@gunther-1397:
I thought Keo was a coke man.
6 Feb 2013, 12:43 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1396:
Seems like Capetown is a dangerous city to live in.
6 Feb 2013, 12:44 pm
@BrumbiesBoy-1401: The whole bok team?
6 Feb 2013, 12:46 pm
@Atlas-1399: No, ’twas Chester who took the honours!
“The waiting’s over” splashed across the cover.
But now please nobody ask me who was on the second issue’s cover b’cos I can’t remember!
6 Feb 2013, 12:58 pm
Stormers team to take on Boland has been announced. You can get the details here:
http://www.rugby-talk.com/2013/02/super-rugby-stormers-team-against-boland-announced/
6 Feb 2013, 12:58 pm
Check rugby15 se website
The DHL Stormers team to take on the Regent Boland Cavaliers is as follows:
15. Jaco Taute
14. Gio Aplon
13. Jean de Villiers (Captain)
12. Damian de Allende
11. Bryan Habana
10. Kurt Coleman
9. Dewaldt Duvenage
8. Duane Vermeulen
7. Rynhardt Elstadt
6. Siya Kolisi
5. Andries Bekker
4. Eben Etzebeth
3. Pat Cilliers
2. Deon Fourie
1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements:
16. Martin Bezuidenhout
17. Frans Malherbe
18. Brok Harris
19. De Kock Steenkamp
20. Don Armand
21. Nizaam Carr
22. Nic Groom
23. Louis Schreuder
24. Pat Howard
25. Gerhard van den Heever
26. Joe Pietersen
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
via http://www.iamastormer.co.za
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6 Feb 2013, 12:59 pm
@BrumbiesBoy-1379:
@gonzo-1381:
well, for starters i, and probably a great many others, would start to enjoy rugby again (they wont tell you this because they are too nice).
you people are ruining the game by constantly forcing us to introduce new laws to deal with your behaviour.
i’m telling you this because i respect our historical rivalry enough.
6 Feb 2013, 12:59 pm
Bulls team versus Cheetahs per rugby15.co.za
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has named a very strong Bulls side to play in the SuperRugby warm-up match against the Toyota Cheetahs in Polokwane on Saturday.
The team is:
15. Jurgen Visser
14. Akona Ndungane
13. JJ Engelbrecht
12. Francois Venter
11. Bjorn Basson
10. Morne Steyn
9. Francois Hougaard
8. Pierre Spies (c)
7. Jacques Potgieter
6. Dewald Potgieter
5. Juandre Kryger
4. Flip vd Merwe
3. Werner Kruger
2. Chiliboy Ralepelle
1. Morne Mellett.
Replacements: 16. Callie Visagie, 17. Frik Kirsten, 18. Grant Hattingh, 19. Arno Botha, 20. Jano Vermaak, 21. Ulrich Beyers, 22. Lionel Mapoe,23. Wynand Olivier
6 Feb 2013, 13:00 pm
Cheetah team
1. Trevor Nyakane
2. Adriaan Strauss (Captain)
3. Lourens Adriaanse
4. Lood de Jager
5. Francois Uys
6. Frans Viljoen
7. Lappies Labuschagne
8. Phillip van der Walt
9. Piet van Zyl
10. Elgar Watts
11. Raymond Rhule
12. Robert Ebersohn
13. Johann Sadie
14. Rayno Benjamin
15. Willie le Roux
Reserves:
16. Ryno Barnes
17. Rossouw de Klerk
18. Ligtoring Landman
19. Juan Smith
20. Sarel Pretorius
21. Francois Brummer
22. Hennie Daniller
23. Hansie Graaff
6 Feb 2013, 13:03 pm
@BrumbiesBoy-1401: Tell us plz
@Mr Black-1403: The world is a dangerous place to live Mr Black……
6 Feb 2013, 13:03 pm
@ufo-1383:
well ok, but just in case we’re wrong about this i realy think we should start with the Kiwis, as a test case.
@NZINCHINA-1386:
@NZINCHINA-1387:
you’re right, China
i need help like you need professional honesty in your rugby, badly… very badly…
6 Feb 2013, 13:06 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1411: KZN has it’s share…
http://www.news24.com/Multimedia/South-Africa/Passed-out-Pinetown-driver-20130206-2
6 Feb 2013, 13:08 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1413:
Thanks Poppa
#returningserve
6 Feb 2013, 13:10 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-1412:
the kiwis supporters are good guys and their team an excellent one…
how boring would life be without them…?
just like it gets boring with too many stormer supporters…
diversity bakks… that’s the key…
6 Feb 2013, 13:15 pm
@Mr Black-1414:
An HG after a ‘morning brunch’ look that Pinetown fella is wearing.
Although, to be fair, HG did admit to using ‘performance enhancing susbtances’ during his rugby playing days…. so at least I now know WHY it is the way it is. I used Ozzie Osbourne as my reference when coming to this conclusion.
6 Feb 2013, 13:18 pm
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Dad-killed-while-family-buys-ice-cream-20130206
Ok folk, a Cluedo challenge in the absence of any rugby news….
Read the above, and tell me what ‘bugs’ you about the chain of events…..
6 Feb 2013, 13:18 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1417: Oooops, meant to be a
face. Apologies.
But there is still a mystery to be solved.
6 Feb 2013, 13:19 pm
It’s great to see the Bulls persisting with Dewald at 6. I reckon that could be his best position. He’s bit too small for 7 or 8 and has great linking and distribution skills together with a high work rate.
6 Feb 2013, 13:20 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-1412:
Hoston you deride all things NZ 18 hours a day seven days a week, 364 days a year, clearly you have some issues that need addressing but you know this.
6 Feb 2013, 13:30 pm
@Jonck-1409: Seeing Arno Botha’s name on the bench time and time again this coming season, is going to be the death of me…… He is not a bench player.
6 Feb 2013, 13:31 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1418:
Two hours is a long time be buying ice cream.
6 Feb 2013, 13:32 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1421:
Lets hope they send potgeiter back to the kings.
6 Feb 2013, 13:40 pm
@ufo-1415:
you’re problem is you’re too nice, Ufo.
yes, they are a good team and yes their supporters are understandably blindly one-eyed, and marginally obtuse at times, but… i know that you too know that they play a dirty game.
they are outright cheats and undeniably the most dishonest national rugby team in history. this galls me to an extent but its the all too occasional dirty stuff and light petting and fondling by the IRB and its referees and judiciary lackeys which sends me over the acceptable edge.
where will the line ever be drawn? will we start referring to it as WWER (world wrestling entertainment rugby) ? how is this farcicality good for the game?
boy, how i long for the days when they could at least try to beat the Boks fairly!
this isn’t a sport anymore, Ufo
and it isn’t even remotely competitive, someone needs to tell them that.
i’m all for diversity and good competition but lets not dress this up for what it isn’t.
it may not be as extreme as i make it out to be, but it certainly isn’t all pretty and pure. please, bore me with real competition.
6 Feb 2013, 13:43 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-1424:
* patent pending on WWER
theres a profit opportunity here
(opium for the masses)
6 Feb 2013, 13:45 pm
@NZINCHINA-1420:
its cause and effect, China
you cheat, i react
you cheat, i react
you cheat, i react
i too wish it was’t so
6 Feb 2013, 13:45 pm
@gunther-1422:
And at that time of night…… The 29 year old step son’s comment about his mom and half sister being ‘distraught’ is also fishier than a gathering of guppies.
I see the victim had several businesses as well… and so we can go on and on…..
If it smells…it’s usually rotten.
All terribly convenient, as per usual in these family episodes.
@gunther-1423: The Kings don’t deserve him. No-one does, bar the guppies.
6 Feb 2013, 13:48 pm
@gunther-1397:
“Taken” it back or did he buy it back?
Did he not sell the site awa some of his magazine titles to them a few years ago? Right after he took up a position at SASCOC with his mate, Gideon Sam. I thought the provision back then was just to keep the name of the site since it was well established.
@Jonck-1407:
Taute again ahead of Joe?
Duvenhage? Why not start with Groom since he should start in our 1st game?
Is Schreuder suppose to be back up FH?
Who is Pat Howard?
Probably the starting pack against the Bulls if Schalk is not ready by then.
6 Feb 2013, 13:49 pm
@NZINCHINA-1420:
and for the record i do not deride all things NZ, China
i b.itch about your rugby and Poppa for the most, in no particualr order, and thats it.
6 Feb 2013, 13:52 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-1424:
i know many on keo who’d disagree with you on that…
anyway…
“lets not dress this up for what it isn’t”
exactly…!!
6 Feb 2013, 13:54 pm
@David-1419:
I agree.
For some reason, I also see him as a tear away 6. In a Rob Louw/JPR kind of way.
No, it’s not just because he is also blond. We’ve been over this one before, haven’t we?
6 Feb 2013, 13:55 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1427:
the ice-cream chillers…!
yip… it’s always the one’s who ‘find’ the body… who upon simply seeing an open door/gate immediately assumes it’s so bad inside you must wait for the police…?
perhaps dad strolled out to water the flowers while the girls were out…
6 Feb 2013, 14:00 pm
nama, Pat Howard is a center that played in Bok under 20 team last year wing
Shark pedigree, I’m with you on Arno Botha. Bulls will lose him to, as with CJ Stander as the senior guys choose the team – Spies and Dewald will not be benched. Replace Potgieter with him then I will say.
Stormers has a much stronger and more imposing loosies than Bulls.
Should be interested whom Sharks will choose. Either Albers or Deysel should be there, otherwise they will be “te lig in die broek” I’ll choose Alberts as lock, as he is getting slower and give Deysel the no 7 jersey. Keegan at 6 and Kankowski at 8. Poor Coetzee will have to warm the bench(although I prefer him to Keegan, but Keegan is captain).
6 Feb 2013, 14:03 pm
Johannesburg – White beggars make on average about R172 per day when begging on the streets of South Africa.
This was revealed in research done in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal by Solidarity’s Helping Hand at the end of last year, reported Beeld.
Danie Brink, executive head of Helping Hand said the study came after two employees pretended to be beggars in Plettenberg Bay in a fundraising attempt and were given R1 200 within two hours.
Their questionnaire was completed by 61 beggars.
About 16% of the beggars said they got less than R50 a day while 7% said they got more than R500 a day*. About a quarter said they managed to make between R51 and R100 a day and another 25% said they got between R151 and R250 a day. Close to 10% said they made between R300 and R400 a day and 3% made between R401 and R500 a day.
Brink said he was quite sure that this information was correct. He conceded however, that the beggars’ claim that they spent 80% on food was probably not accurate.
About 18% of the beggars indicated that they bought alcohol and 7% admitted to using drugs.
About 78% of the beggars indicated that they wanted to work but said they didn’t want to do “inferior work”. Nearly 60% of the beggars had not passed matric.
The study also found that black beggars tried to sell things on the streets but not white beggars.** Some white beggars also rejected work offers.
* That’s equal to about R15 000 a month – tax free.
** Why would they? They will be working then and earning much less money.
6 Feb 2013, 14:12 pm
@Jonck-1433:
If I were Plum, I’d play Deysel and Alberts at 7. Alternate between them to keep them both fresh.
Play Coetzee at 8 where he can alternate with Kanko.
Keegan at 6 with Botes relieving him every 4th game or so with Bissie taking over the captaincy.
They have good depth in their back row. It is in the tight five where they lack quality in the lock department while they also lack depth in the front row. If any two of the Dup brothers and Beast are out at the same time, they are in real trouble there.
6 Feb 2013, 14:12 pm
@nama1-1434: I don’t give the lazyfuckers a cent. Not a dime. Tygervalley is a hot place of ‘employment’, as is the area around Cape Gate, and I have a personal fave, I drive past once in a while on Old Paarl road…..
I might sound like I’m generalising, but fuckemforwhattheyareNOTpreparedtodo: WORK…. In any way shape or form. Oh, I have tested them…. mention work and you hear about a ‘disability – usually a bad back…..’
I give the folk who guard my vehicle at Glengarry, or Cobble Walk everything those lazyrobotfuckers DON’T get. And it’s a tidy sum.
6 Feb 2013, 14:18 pm
@nama1-1434:
The things that the beggars sell on street is mostly stolen.
White beggars dont steel it seems……….
6 Feb 2013, 14:19 pm
@ufo-1432: It’s just such a harsh indictment on our country…. Crime is so high, and home invasions coupled with murder so rife, that every tosspot in SA reckons he/she will be able to ‘remove’ a famiy member with violence, and then blame it on ‘the crime rate’.
6 Feb 2013, 14:22 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1438:
And the police is mostly so useless that the chance of getting away with this is quite good.
6 Feb 2013, 14:22 pm
@nama1-1431:
Yes we have.
6 Feb 2013, 14:24 pm
White beggars?
Interesting.
Wait until Cosatu hears about this.
6 Feb 2013, 14:25 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1438:
yeah…
we even get foreigners coming here for murder tourism…
come to south africa… see the big five and get rid of those unwanted problems in your life…
6 Feb 2013, 14:29 pm
@gunther-1441: And they’re earning wayyyyyyyyyyy more than their counterparts.
@Mr Black-1439: Correct, people honestly seem to think they can get away with this. Fortunately though, our cops do seem to find justice for quite a few, in the ‘family murder’ business…..
@ufo-1442: Jup. I just find it horrific, and I feel terrible saying this, but each and every ‘report/article’ on such a ‘murder’, already has me thinking in the “wife/husband/son/daughter” did it………..or ‘paid someone to do it’ direction.
6 Feb 2013, 14:38 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1443:
I feel a lekgotla coming on.
6 Feb 2013, 14:38 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1436:
Me too.
Since my bakkie was stolen in Cape Town under the watch of a car guard about 6 years ago, I don’t even give them anything.
@Mr Black-1437:
Now, you know that is not true.
@David-1440:
Seems we’re the only people who see something in him. Even some Bulls supporters don’t rate him.
@gunther-1441:
You think they should unionize?
6 Feb 2013, 14:41 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-1443:
yeah…. but that’s true all over the world… in so many cases the killer turns out to be the closest person to the victim…
even csi says so…
don’t know why they use the who’s “who are you” cause we all already know…
6 Feb 2013, 14:43 pm
@nama1-1445:
Solidarity will already on the phone.
It won’t be long before the first land claims on their choice intersections start rolling in.
6 Feb 2013, 14:44 pm
I like the look of that Stormers team….
6 Feb 2013, 14:45 pm
@ufo-1446:
If CSI says so then it must be true.
6 Feb 2013, 14:46 pm
I have a bit of a problem here.
My aunt (fathers sister) died last night and will be buried next week Saturday.
On the other hand, my niece in Cape Town turns 21 years old on Valentine’s Day and will be having her party on the Saturday, same day as the funeral.
Question: Do I stay for the funeral or do I go to the party and maybe sommer take in some cricket at Newlands?
What do you guys think?
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