The All Blacks come to South Africa as the Tri-Nations champions, with their last visit to Loftus Versfeld in 2003 seeing them annihilate the Springboks 52-16. Add to that the fact that the All Blacks are unbeaten so far this year. The Springboks, on the other hand, are struggling and trying to shake off their four-match losing run.
Smiles have been rare in the Bok camp recently, but Springbok coach Jake White managed to produce a few after his team’s practice session at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Tuesday. There seems to be some enthusiasm back in the Bok camp with White at his tactical best — board and all — out on the training field.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry on Tuesday made eleven changes to his team to take on the Springboks in their Tri-Nations Test in Pretoria on Saturday. There is a total overhaul of the reigning Tri-Nations champions team, with 10 new faces making it into the starting line-up and one positional change from the team that beat Australia last week.
The Lions continued to upset the apple cart as they carved out a memorable 22-21 victory over the Sharks in their Currie Cup encounter at Ellis Park on Saturday evening. For the better part of this encounter the Sharks had looked like the stronger side and seemed to deserve victory more.
Springbok coach Jake White has sent Enrico Januarie, JP Pietersen, Pierre Spies and Lawrence Sephaka back to their respective unions to get some much needed mileage in their legs and shred off a few kilograms. Meanwhile, former Western Province and Eastern Province coach Alan Zondagh is helping the team train.
Money may be said to be the root of all evil but it only brings joy to the players, management and supporters of reigning Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Sundowns made their intentions of retaining the championship and winning some cup silverware along the way very clear when they beat Santos 4-1 in their SAA Supa8 encounter.
Western Province overturned a 22-7 deficit to run out 30-28 winners over the Lions in a scrappy Currie Cup match at Newlands on Saturday. The teams were deadlocked 25-all after an eventful first half that featured seven tries. Mistakes were made and there was some awful defence, but also some good rugby.
Reigning Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns resumed their winning ways when they beat visiting Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers 2-0 in a preseason friendly played at the Wanderers Cricket Stadium on Sunday. Sundowns revelled in the traditional cricket venue with its smooth and well-manicured turf as they spread the ball around with great ease controlling much of the possession throughout the encounter.
Western Province played an impressive and near clinical game of rugby to record a morale boosting 15-10 victory over a lifeless Blue Bulls team at Loftus Versveld on Saturday. Last week the Bulls looked like possible Currie Cup champions when they convincingly beat the Lions at Ellis Park, but this Saturday they were a completely different outfit.
The Springboks are nowhere near to being down and out, despite an unsatisfactory start to the international season that saw them beat Scotland 2-0, lose to France and relinquish their number two world ranking. Springbok coach Jake White remains optimistic that his squad will perform well, against expectation, in their overseas leg of the Tri-Nations competition.