Bok coach Meyer revels in a season of goodwill
But once the honeymoon is over, fans can expect clashes about the selections and sweeping changes to the Springbok rugby team.
But once the honeymoon is over, fans can expect clashes about the selections and sweeping changes to the Springbok rugby team.
Veteran Springbok flyhalf Butch James, a member of the 2007 Rugby World Cup winning team, has retired from Test rugby with immediate effect.
Lions flyhalf Elton Jantjies has been included in the upcoming warm-up match against the Super Kings after missing a game due to injury.
A painful Tri-Nations campaign for South Africa continued at Kings Park in Durban as they surrendered a six point half-time lead to Australia.
Flyhalf Butch James is set to get his first start for the Lions in Saturday's Super Rugby clash against the Waratahs.
Joining the Lions from Bath is part of Butch James's plan to impress the Bok selectors ahead of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand later this year.
World Cup-winning flyhalf Butch James will be joining the Lions in May, it was announced on Tuesday when he arrived at Lanseria Airport.
Flyhalf Butch James has been included in the Springbok squad for the one-off Test against France in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Springbok selectors are spoilt for choice, writes Andy Capostagno.
South African World Cup winner Butch James has admitted that his international days may be numbered.
South Africans Heyneke Meyer and Butch James grabbed the headlines in the English Premiership on Sunday as Leicester and Bath made winning starts.
Butch James is back in the Springbok green and gold and relishing the chance to add a second chapter to a glorious 2007.
Six Nations champions Wales will be looking to match everything the Springboks throw at them in the next fortnight when the teams meet in a two-Test series. But coach Warren Gatland said he was expecting no miracles from his injury-depleted squad that arrived in South Africa on Friday morning.
The nature of Test rugby is that it tends to run in four-year cycles, centred on the mammoth spectacle of the World Cup. The Springboks face the next three-and-a-half years as World Cup defending champions, a lofty pedestal that has proven very difficult to defend in the past.
JP Pietersen's lack of form in the Super 14 season has cost him a place in the Springbok squad that was named in Somerset West on Wednesday. The Sharks' World Cup-winning wing failed to score a try in the 2008 series after he finished the 2007 Super 14 season as the leading try scorer.
Springbok captain John Smit joined the Springbok training session in Stellenbosch on Monday morning just hours after stepping off the plane from France, where he had been playing for Top 14 club Clermont. The arrival of Smit was greeted with great relief by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers. "We could not do our planning fully without him," De Villiers explained.
The South African Rugby Union (Saru) announced on Friday it had lifted its restriction on the number of overseas-based players eligible to play for the Springboks. In a statement, Saru said that new Springboks coach Peter de Villiers coach would now be able to pick as many foreign-based players as he liked.
Peter de Villiers said on Wednesday that South African rugby players who ply their trade abroad must be made to realise that it remains a privilege to play for the Springboks. The Springbok coach was airing his views on the controversial issue of calling up overseas-based players for Springbok duty.
Springbok captain John Smit will be released from national duty to fulfil his commitments to French club Clermont, SA Rugby announced on Wednesday. Smit would return to Clermont on June 15 to play in the French Top 14 semifinals on June 21 and the final on June 28 if necessary, SA Rugby said in a statement.
Isma-eel Dollie as one of a few lesser surprises in the Springbok training squad of 42 members that was named on Saturday night. The new Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has included a number of players who are not regulars for their Super 14 franchises or who had limited opportunities because of injury this season.