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/ 13 November 2007
Forwards Danie Rossouw, Wickus van Heerden and Gurthro Steenkamp withdrew injured on Monday from South Africa’s short rugby tour of Britain. Star scrumhalf Fourie du Preez also looks like staying home and missing the Test against Wales at Cardiff and the celebration match with the Barbarians at Twickenham on December 1.
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/ 8 November 2007
Springbok wing Bryan Habana was crowned the 2007 Absa South African rugby player of the year at the SA Rugby awards banquet in Sandton on Wednesday
night. The other nominees in this prestigious category were fellow Springboks Victor Matfield, Percy Montgomery, Fourie du Preez and Juan Smith.
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/ 7 November 2007
Three new signings at fullback and the return of Springboks Chiliboy Ralepelle and Pierre Spies after a layoff are the outstanding features of the Bulls’ Super 14 training squad that was announced on Wednesday. The Bulls have also named six locks in their search to fill the huge boots of this year’s captain, Victor Matfield.
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/ 4 November 2007
SA Rugby has confirmed the names of the finalists in the main categories of the 2007 Absa SA rugby player of the year awards. The awards banquet, which will be attended by the Springbok squad, takes place on November 7 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
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/ 29 October 2007
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Capetonians turned out in their tens of thousands on Monday to salute the victorious Springboks on the final leg of their national victory tour. There were scenes of near-hysteria as the Boks made their way through the city centre in an open-top bus. Businesses shut down, and young and old lined the streets, crammed on to balconies.
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/ 27 October 2007
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South Africa’s nationwide Rugby World Cup tour continued on Saturday with a visit to Soweto followed by an audience with former president Nelson Mandela. The Nobel Peace Prize winner greeted the team wearing the Boks’ gold and green shirt that he had famously worn to mark their first World Cup win in 1995.
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/ 26 October 2007
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For the first time in its 20-year history, the third place play-off game was better than the Rugby World Cup final. A joyous Argentinian side swept aside host nation France at the Parc des Princes 24 hours before South Africa finally quenched the English flame and put the light out on that team’s four-year reign as champions.
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/ 23 October 2007
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”Awesome”, ”unbelievable” and ”like a fairy tale” is how the Springboks described their homecoming at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Showing cool nerves during interviews that at times resembled a scrum, flanker Schalk Burger said he was still getting used to the idea of being a world champion.
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/ 22 October 2007
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South Africa may have reclaimed the World Cup for the southern hemisphere after a one-off win by England in 2003, but that is not to say that the debate over who is in the ascendancy has been resolved. For many, the Springboks’ tactics in the 15-6 win over England in the final were decidedly of northern values.
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/ 22 October 2007
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They may be the world champions, but the Springboks have few illusions that their new status will stave off a new push by the government to overhaul the team’s racial composition. Meanwhile, Springbok wing Bryan Habana was on Sunday named the International Rugby Board player of the year.
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/ 21 October 2007
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Pride and politics mixed on Sunday as South Africans celebrated their Rugby World Cup final win over England. Festivities continued through the night as South Africans packed fan parks and restaurants and filled the streets with honking cars draped with the national flag.
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/ 20 October 2007
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A ruthless South Africa punished England’s ill-discipline with a 15-6 win over the defending champions in the Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France north of Paris on Saturday. Fullback Percy Montgomery took his points total for the tournament past the century mark by converting each of his four penalty attempts.
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/ 20 October 2007
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South Africa defeated defending champions England 15-6 in a tense World Cup final at the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday. South Africa, the 1995 champions, struck first after seven minutes when England centre Mathew Tait was penalised for holding on to the ball and Percy Montgomery slotted over a comfortable penalty in front of the posts.
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/ 20 October 2007
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In this most weird and wonderful Rugby World Cup, England is making it seem like anything is possible. That includes winning the final against South Africa on Saturday at Stade de France, a prospect that was utterly absurd little more than a month ago.
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/ 19 October 2007
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As a wax model of English rugby star Jonny Wilkinson joined the statue of national hero Horatio Nelson in London’s Trafalgar Square, attention in both England and South Africa was on Friday focused on the looming Rugby World Cup final between the two nations.
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/ 19 October 2007
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South Africa’s politicians are not immune to Rugby World Cup fever, with a fair number already in or on their way to Paris for Saturday’s final against England at the Stade de France. Leading the way, President Thabo Mbeki left for France on Friday morning, sporting his Springbok jersey and cap.
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/ 19 October 2007
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”Go Bokke, go!” is the message from President Thabo Mbeki on the eve of the Rugby World Cup final between South Africa and England. In his weekly newsletter, published on Friday on the ANC Today website, Mbeki said the government was confident the Springboks would repeat what they did at Ellis Park in 1995, and walk away as rugby world champions.
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/ 19 October 2007
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In many senses, win or lose come Saturday, the Springboks can never quite match that monumental 1995 World Cup victory. Twelve years later, with all the complexities of the professionalism that ensued after that day, the meaning of winning the Cup is entirely different.
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/ 19 October 2007
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‘I’ve believed for a long time now that South Africa are going to win the World Cup,” Jake White says with quiet but utter certainty in his hotel room in Paris. Days away from the final, against an England team that White’s Springboks beat 36-0 last month, it might be presumed that arrogance or complacency underpins the South African coach’s unusually bold honesty.
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/ 18 October 2007
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The youngsters assembled at Soweto’s Jabulani soccer grounds for an after-school training session are united in their reply when asked to name their hero: ”Habana. He’s the man!” As the Springboks prepare for Saturday’s World Cup final, a sport that was traditionally seen as a ”white man’s game” is slowly but surely gaining interest among South Africa’s black majority.
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/ 18 October 2007
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Unbeaten South Africa face defending champions England in a mouth-watering Rugby World Cup final at the Stade de France on Saturday, a re-match of the pool match the Springboks won with consummate ease. But both sides have been quick to play down the significance of that record 36-0 rout, achieved when England were without talismanic flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson.
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/ 17 October 2007
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Mark Cueto was given a dream England recall on Wednesday when coach Brian Ashton named him as the replacement for injured winger Josh Lewsey for Saturday’s World Cup final. Lewsey misses the game with a hamstring strain and Cueto, injured and then out of favour since the pool stage, was put straight in.
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/ 17 October 2007
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Springbok coach Jake White is on the verge of emulating compatriot Kitch Christie in winning the Rugby World Cup, but he admits victory will have been against the odds in what he believes is the toughest job in rugby. Just under a year ago, the 43-year-old was in danger of the sack after being recalled during the Springboks’ northern hemisphere tour.
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/ 16 October 2007
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Bryan Habana was named after a former England soccer captain and could have been a top-class international sprinter but, thanks to the Springboks’ 1995 World Cup success, he turned to rugby. The 24-year-old winger could clinch a memorable double on Saturday in the World Cup final against England.
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/ 15 October 2007
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Winger Josh Lewsey has been ruled out of the Rugby World Cup final with a hamstring tear, England officials said on Monday. Lewsey, who played in the 2003 final victory over Australia, was forced off with the injury near the end of the first half of Saturday’s 14-9 semifinal win over France.
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/ 14 October 2007
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Bryan Habana scored two breathtaking tries as South Africa ended Argentina’s glorious Rugby World Cup adventure with a 37-13 semifinal win at the Stade de France in Paris on Sunday. The Springboks will now face England, whom they beat 36-0 last month at this ground in a pool game, when they return for Saturday’s final.
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/ 13 October 2007
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How much do Argentina have left in the tank? The answer should be clear in the second half of a ferocious forwards clash between the Pumas and South Africa on Sunday. Cracks appeared among the Pumas last Sunday when they let slip a 19-6 lead around the hour mark to give Scotland a sniff at victory. The Springboks are too dangerous for anybody to afford easing off at any time.
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/ 12 October 2007
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South Africa prop CJ van der Linde will start against Argentina in the World Cup semifinal at the Stade France in Paris on Sunday after recovering from a knee injury. The 27-year-old tighthead prop is the only change to the starting XV that beat Fiji in last Sunday’s quarterfinal — Jannie du Plessis drops to the bench as the Springboks attempt to reach their second final.
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/ 10 October 2007
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Bryan Habana’s year just keeps getting better and better but the South Africa wing is hoping the best is yet to come. The 24-year-old already had an inkling that this was going to be a special season when he helped the Bulls become the first South African team to win the Super 14.
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South Africa progressed to the Rugby World Cup semifinals on Sunday by eking out a hard-fought 37-20 victory over Fiji in a brutal but enthralling game in which no quarter was given. Some monumental hits were exchanged between two immensely physical sides.
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There’s no disguising this one. South Africa against Fiji should be a mismatch of a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal. Fiji would have to produce the perfect game to upset South Africa and advance to the semifinals. So that’s what coach Ilie Tabua is asking his squad to do. Fiji qualified for their first World Cup quarterfinal since the inaugural edition in 1987 with a 38-34 upset over Wales.
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South Africa play Fiji in the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals in Marseilles on Sunday with a game plan based around a return to basics in a bid to nullify the Pacific Islanders’ flair and raw talent. The Springboks are sure to dominate the set-piece, Fiji having suffered in the scrum throughout their pool games against Japan (35-31), Canada (29-16), Australia (lost 55-12) and Wales (38-34).