Innehållsförteckning för May 2022 från SA RUGBY

If all goes according to plan, Damian de Allende will this season overtake Breyton Paulse and Morne Steyn on the list of South Africa’s most-capped players. The Springbok No 12 jersey comes with a guarantee that less-discerning supporters will lambast the wearer for ‘not passing enough’ and ‘running into faces and not spaces’, an unfortunate reality that Pieter Muller, De Wet Barry and, most recently, Jean de Villiers would attest to. As was the case with his predecessors. De Allende is much more than a medieval battering ram; he is an excellent distributor and displays deft footwork for a 100kg midfielder. But it is the ability of the 30-year-old to go forward with almost every carry that makes him truly exceptional and vitally important to a Bok blueprint that requires…

FORWARDS 1. OS DU RANDT The best loosehead prop of all time. A huge man with an unbelievable work rate, his all-round game was exceptional. 2. JOHN SMIT The captain of my team, he was a ‘man among men’. The ultimate leader, he added so much at scrum time and was accurate at the lineout. Honourable mention: Keith Woods was dynamic, skilful and a genie with ball in hand. 3. CARL HAYMAN Biggest engine I have seen on a man. He was a beast in training and on the park. The ultimate 80-minute go-to man and he also had a never-say-die attitude. He gave the scrum good go-forward every time. 4. BAKKIES BOTHA The best of all time for me – in his position and overall. I played with him…

SA RUGBY MAGAZINE HAS OVER 430 000 FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS. HERE’S HOW THEY RESPONDED TO SIX OF OUR BIGGEST POSTS LAST MONTH SA Rugby magazine Cheetahs assistant coach Charl Strydom says referee Morne Ferreira and his assistants made a mistake in not stopping the game when Rosko Specman was concussed against Western Province. Eduard Lubbe Rubbish! He would have been crucified by Province had he stopped play at that stage. The current laws and protocol are impossible to referee. The Cheetahs’ medical team should rather have rushed on to the field immediately. Kober McBreezy Before blaming the ref for not stopping the game, think about all the other things he has to be thinking about during a game. There’s supposed to be a partnership between the ref and the medics. The…

Composure is extolled by Rudyard Kipling in the poem, If: A Father’s Advice to His Son, If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs …’ Boeta Chamberlain is striving for the starting flyhalf position at the Sharks, and staying calm in the face of adversity is indeed heeding his father’s advice. ‘From a young age, my dad always told me to be calm as long as possible in a difficult situation, because a calm person will always come first, ’ says Chamberlain. Curwin Bosch is the man many consider to be the premier No 10 at the Sharks, but the Springbok-capped pivot has blown hot and cold for the Durban-based side in 2022. And even a highly rated player like Bosch may be less certain…

The draw for the 2023 Rugby World Cup was done on 14 December 2020 in Paris, exactly 1000 days before the opening match of the tournament between hosts France and the All Blacks on 8 September 2023. The 12 automatic qualifiers were seeded based on their World Rugby ranking from 1 January 2020, which saw South Africa, New Zealand, England and Wales grouped in band one; Ireland, Australia, France and Japan in band two; and Scotland, Argentina, Fiji and Italy in band three. The folly of having the draw almost three years before the event – based on rankings from 11 months earlier – was glaringly exposed after the draw and the 2022 Six Nations. On 1 January 2020, the top-four ranked teams were South Africa, New Zealand, England and…

Supplied by Q Can we still score tries out wide if we have slower wings than the opposition? A Even if you don’t have speedsters, you can still score tries on the flanks by working on ‘holding your feet’, stressing defences and using good core skills to exploit spaces. When you don’t possess quicker wings or centres, it seems logical to concentrate on scoring through forwards. However, you can still score tries out wide by using simple tactics and executing basic skills well. CREATE OVERLAPS To score wide, create and execute overlaps. That means having more attackers on their feet in front of fewer defenders. With the best will in the world, few sides can finish off 5 vs 4s, so you want to be forcing situations where there are…

Damian Willemse, the Paul Roos schoolboy flyhalf sensation, made for one of the most pleasurable and exciting rugby viewing experiences. I got to see a lot of Willemse as a high school player. He was on another level and he transferred that incredible talent into his debut senior season at Western Province. A PLAYER AS RIDICULOUSLY TALENTED AS WILLEMSE COULD FEEL HE WAS MORE CURSED THAN BLESSED BECAUSE DF HIS NATURAL BALL SKILL AND ABILITY TO PLAY RUBBY He did everything and in that first year there were few second-guessing his ability to tackle, step, read a game, control a game and kick for posts. He was the package deal. Then something started happening. He missed a few kicks and the talk was that he could not be trusted to…

It took just 30 minutes for Damian de Allende to remind us why he is considered to be one of the best inside centres in the world. Coming off the bench for Munster in the URC clash against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, De Allende inspired the Irish side in a second-half comeback that came close to snatching victory. It was his first appearance since suffering an abdominal muscle injury on New Year’s Day and he looked head and shoulders above the rest, owning the collisions and scoring a try. It is telling that the main things for which fans criticised De Allende when he made his Springbok debut in 2014 – his tendency to carry the ball into contact and get involved at the breakdowns – are now the…

It’s the Thursday before the Lions take on Munster, having just beaten Cardiff comfortably at Ellis Park, and I’m on the phone with Jordan Hendrikse. The Lions flyhalf took the time to talk me through his season so far as well as what’s to come, having returned to consistent game time after a tough injury towards the end of last year. What came a couple of days after the interview was Hendrikse delivering the calmest and cleanest kicking display to pull the Lions from 21-10 down after 65 minutes to a 23-21 home victory over the Irish side. It is clear that the flyhalf, just 20 years old, has something special, and further affirmation has been his signing to Roc Nation Sports, of whose ethos and approach he spoke enthusiastically.…

THE WARM-UP THIS FUN BODYWEIGHT WORKOUT IS A REVERSE LADDER: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 To start, do 10 reps of the first exercise (squats), then 10 reps of the second exercise (push-ups), and so on. Once you’ve done 10 reps of all four exercises, go back to the squats and do nine reps. Continue like this until you’re doing one rep of each exercise. THE MOVES 1 SQUATS ○ Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips (your toes should be pointed slightly outwards). ○ Bend your knees and lower your hips, pushing them backwards so that your knees don’t go past your toes. Squat down until your hips are lower than your knees. ○ Always drive your knees outwards. 2 PUSH-UPS ○ On the ground, set your hands slightly wider than…

In a game dominated by behemoths, few are more imposing than Paul Willemse. Standing over two metres tall and tipping the scales at nearly 130kg, it is difficult to fathom the effort it takes to stop the Les Bleus lock on a rugby field. His physical prowess was a catalyst for France to steamroll their way to a first Six Nations Grand Slam in over a decade. However, as physically domineering as Willemse is on the pitch, his success can be attributed to his mental fortitude off it. In 2012, Willemse was part of a golden generation of Junior Boks to win the U20 Championship. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Pieter-Steph du Toit, Handre Pollard and Jan Serfontein, it was almost an expectation that Willemse would soon don the green…

MAKAZOLE MAPIMPI ‘Extremely honoured to have received this award, thank you very much South Africa.’ – The Springbok and Sharks wing after being named Sportsman of the Year at the South African Sports Awards. BOETA CHAMBERLAIN ‘Great win last night with the boys, can’t wait for the next one.’ – The Sharks flyhalf celebrated with teammate Curwin Bosch after their victory over Zebre Parma in the URC. JP SMITH ‘Great to get my first win in a Lions jersey.’ – The journeyman prop celebrated with fellow front-row forwards Ruan Dreyer and PJ Botha after their victory over Cardiff at Ellis Park. STEFAN TERBLANCHE ‘What a day seeing all these young gentlemen again in Durban.’ – The former Springbok wing enjoyed a get-together with ex-Sharks teammates Justin Swart, Brent Russell, Butch…

The Bulls are back after a decade-long slump as their president, Willem Strauss, charted a road to redemption and then rolled up his sleeves to pave the way, restoring the reputation of the Highveld heavyweights as a traditional powerhouse on the South African scene. It’s really a collective effort, ’ the self-deprecating Strauss tells SA Rugby magazine. ‘We have a strong board and executive council from the union side, working together with CEO Edgar Rathbone, director of rugby Jake White and Eugene Hare, CEO on the amateur side/ White is less reticent, though, about apportioning credit for the turnaround. ‘People talk about “the people’s president” and that’s what Willem is/ says White, who was lured by Strauss to Pretoria in 2020 from Japan League One contenders Toyota Verblitz. ‘Union presidents…

Which team is the greatest in the history of Super Rugby? The 2009 Bulls powered by Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez, the all-star Stormers side that contested the 2010 final, the Sharks outfit that coasted into the 2007 decider or the 2017 Lions who tripped at the final hurdle? Or how about Joeli Vidiri’s Auckland Blues of the mid-1990s, Sam Whitelock’s 2018 Crusaders or the masterful 2011 Reds steered by halfbacks Will Genia and Quade Cooper? The envy of northern hemsiphere rugby for the better part of two decades after the game turned professional, Super Rugby produced most of the talent that went on to win a World Cup between 1996 and 2019. SARugbymag.co.za readers have tackled the opportunity to participate in a unique 32-team knockout tournament that will…

Though officially formed only in 2003, the Scarlets’ roots are far deeper than their modern genesis would suggest. The team that now represents the region of Carmarthenshire as well as swathes of the north of Wales traces its lineage back to 1875 with the birth of Llanelli RFC. The original rugby club, named after the quiet market town in which it was founded, was the brainchild of a group of gentlemen meeting at the Athenaeum – a Georgian mansion popular with the great and good of society. By 1884 the club played their first match against a touring Irish side, sparking a long-standing Celtic rivalry. FACT FILE Location: Llanelli, Wales Stadium: Parc y Scarlets Captain: Jonathan Davies Coach: Dwayne Peel It was for this match that the club chose their…