As we go into the final Super 14 season, Saru breaks from tradition and announces its list of Boks early, writes Andy Capostagno.
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/ 26 November 2009
The Springboks have made six changes for their tour-endind showdown against Ireland at Croke Park on Saturday.
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/ 11 November 2009
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has defended a decision to take his jaded stars on a three-Test tour of Europe that starts on Friday against France
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/ 12 September 2009
South Africa were still improving and can only get better heading into the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, said captain John Smit.
The Springboks are on the cusp of greatness, but they will need to demonstrate strength of character in their away games.
John Smit hopes Bakkies Botha was being victimised when he was hit by a two-week ban. Otherwise the game of rugby could be changing, he said.
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/ 27 February 2009
Andy Capostagno is optimistic about the South African sides’ chances in the Super 14, but he’s cautious about speaking too soon.
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/ 13 February 2009
Although the Super 14 begins for most teams this year on Valentine’s Day, it can be assumed that there will be a minimum of love lost.
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/ 3 December 2008
All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw is relishing the prospect of playing alongside John Smit and Bryan Habana in his Barbarians debut on Wednesday.
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/ 28 November 2008
It would be easy see the Springboks’ demolition of England as the yardstick of their first year as world champions. Easy, but wrong.
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/ 5 November 2008
Bakkies Botha has been included in the Springbok starting line-up for the world champions’ Test against Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
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/ 30 October 2008
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is leaving no stone unturned to ensure his team is literally fighting fit ahead of their European tour.
Adriaan Strauss was summoned to replace the suspended Bismarck du Plessis on Sunday as SA announced John Smit was sidelined for the Tri-Nations.
Injured Springbok captain John Smit returned home to SA on Wednesday angered over the one-match suspension handed to All Black lock Brad Thorn.
Springbok captain John Smit will not play in the remaining away Tri-Nations Tests against New Zealand and Australia because of a groin strain.
Two of rugby’s most passionate rivals, the All Blacks and Springboks, launch the Tri-Nations series in Wellington, New Zealand on Saturday.
Former SA captain Corne Krige has been publicly rebuked by current skipper John Smit for questioning the credentials of All Black Rodney So’oialo.
Joe van Niekerk was the surprise selection in the South African team for the Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
The Sharks have announced that Springbok captain John Smit has signed a contract with the franchise for 2008 and 2009.
SA selectors pick only two hookers among the 28-man squad announced for next month’s Tri-Nations matches against New Zealand and Australia.
The Springboks kick off the beginning of a new era on Saturday by hosting Wales in a Test match at Bloemfontein’s Vodacom Park.
Springbok captain John Smit achieves a remarkable feat on Saturday against Wales in Bloemfontein. He will lead his side into a Test match for the 50th time, the first time a Bok captain has ever reached the half-century mark. Springbok coach Peter de Villiers confirmed Smit’s selection on Monday.
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.
It looks like the closely fought endgame of the Super 14 might turn Saturday’s announcement of the 45-man Springbok squad into something of a damp squib. Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will want to avoid disrupting the semifinal preparations of the Sharks and Stormers and will postpone naming players from those squads.
New Springbok coach Peter de Villiers is spoilt for choice ahead of the Springboks’ first Test of the year, against Six Nations champions Wales on June 7 in Bloemfontein. De Villiers, who took over from World Cup-winning coach Jake White at the beginning of the year, names his first South Africa squad on Saturday.