The starting 15 to take on New Zealand on Saturday has been named today by Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers. The biggest surprise comes at number 8, where the coach has opted to start with Joe Van Niekerk ahead of Pierre Spies and Ryan Kankowski. Butch James comes back into the fly-half position in place of Frans Steyn. Some may say that the biggest ‘weakness’ in the Springbok backline will be centre Adi Jacobs. But looking at his opposite number from New Zealand, Conrad Smith, I do not think Jacobs will have many problems against Smith. Maybe against Australia when Jacobs will be up against Sterling Mortlock may we see some problems. Read the rest of this entry »

“I would be quite negligent as president if I did not have a Plan B tucked away at the back of a drawer,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a press conference before yesterdays EURO 2008 final. Blatter was making reference to South Africa’s ability to host the world cup in 2010. If something was to seriously go wrong and South Africa are not able to host the world cup, FIFA will have a plan ‘B’ in place. It is understandable that they have a plan ‘B’ as no one knows what will happen. I am sure it is pretty standard when organising a tournament of such magnitude that plans are put in place. We may not know exactly what the plan ‘B’ is with many thinking that plan ‘B’ will result in Australia hosting the world cup in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

The Springbok squad for the away leg of the Tri-Nations was named today. The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Shark winger, JP Pietersen ahead of Tonderai Chavhanga. Chavhanga did not have the best of times in the two matches he played against Wales this month but one may have thought that he would be selected based on the good form he showed in the Super 14. Pietersen himself has not been in the best of form since last years World Cup but seems to have been selected ahead of Chavhanga. Odwa Ndungane seems to have leaped frogged both Pietersen and Chavhanga in the pecking order. Odwa Ndungane started his first test for South Africa on the weekend against Italy and did not have a bad game and is deserving of his place in the team. Whether Ndungane or Pietersen started on the wing together with Habana, waits to be seen. Read the rest of this entry »

The Springbok team to start against Italy in Saturday’s once off test in Cape Town has been named. It is no surprise that the team has a lot of changes following on from the two victories against Wales. The major change in the team for Saturday’s game is seeing Francois Steyn starting at flyhalf. Regular Springbok flyhalf, Butch James, has been rested for this game. Many had expected Stormers flyhalf, Peter Grant, to start in the number 10 jursey but coach Peter de Villiers has opted to give young Steyn the start. Read the rest of this entry »

The starting line-up for the Springbok team to face Wales on Saturday has been named by coach Peter De Villiers. There were a couple of surprises which may shock many but it is clear that coach De Villiers is ready to do things his way and not carry on from the team that Jake White led to winning the Word Cup last year. What many have highlighted when seeing the starting 15 for the game on Saturday is that, the team includes seven players of colour which apparently is a new record. Read the rest of this entry »

The 30 man squad for the South Africa national rugby team was announced today and included in that list of 30 were three Zimbabwean born players: Tonderai Chavhanga, Brian Mujati and Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawirira. These three young men are highly talented rugby players and they deserve their chance to play at the highest level. With all the talk currently being about xenophobia in South Africa, it is refreshing to see that there is no xenophobia in selecting the national rugby team. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Bafana Bafana seem to be jinxed? Nothing seems to ever go right for the South Africa National soccer team. It is no secret that the team has not been performing well over the last couple of years. Many players and coaches have come but the team has failed to deliver the goods on an international scale as compared to their fellow countrymen on the rugby field, cricket pitch, swimming pool and golf course. With South Africa having won the right to host the Soccer World Cup in 2010 it was only right for the country to go all out and try deliver a winning team for the tournament. The first task was to appoint a word class coach to help the team, up step the Brazilian Carlos Alberta Perreria. After a long time of negotiating to secure the services of the coach and after offering a multi million Rand salary, SAFA got their man and everyone was excited. Read the rest of this entry »

It first started with the word that South Africa would not be able to host the World Cup in 2010 because their stadiums would not be built in time, or because there is just too much crime in South Africa. The list was endless with reasons for South Africa failing to deliver and that Australia were on standby to host the World Cup. All that was quashed and people got on with what they had to do to make 2010 a success. Now it seems like those entrusted with making 2010 work are now fighting amongst themselves! A report in the Sunday Times yesterday headlined ‘2010 Turmoil‘ left me stunned. When I saw this, I thought to myself, “Here we go again, what now?” Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like there is no getting rid of the ‘politics’ in sport in South Africa. Not too long ago all the talk was about Jake White and the Springboks, now over the last couple of days the focus has been on the South Africa national cricket team. To sum it up, the national cricket selectors picked the team they wanted to tour Bangladesh but the president of Cricket SA, Norman Arendse, had other ideas and picked his own team that he thought should go on the tour. As expected in such a situation, trouble flared. Read the rest of this entry »

We recently received this letter from a concerned reader and would like to share it with you. When I first saw this advert being aired on TV, I was also in shock and could not believe that they asked the players to promote beer. I believe someone got this all wrong and this advert should never have been aired.

Dear Sir

I do not know whether you are the right person to address this e-mail to, but I hope you will be able to assist that the message get passed on to the correct addressee.

It is out of concern that I bring to your attention my utter disappointment in the Castle Lager advert screened on television  during half -time when Bafana - Bafana played against Tunisia. Read the rest of this entry »