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/ 20 February 2008
Springbok rugby captain John Smit will remain at the helm of the side until the end of the year, coach Peter de Villiers announced on Wednesday, as political mudslinging continued with the Freedom Front Plus condemning the reaction of African National Congress MPs to former Springbok captains calling for an end to political interference in the sport.
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/ 15 February 2008
South African rugby will enjoy an auspicious season this year. We begin the year as the envy of the rugby-playing nations, champions of both the world and the Super 14. Even the internecine wrangling for power in the South African Rugby Union (Saru) has failed to dim that envy.
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/ 14 February 2008
The new Super 14 season, which begins on Friday, could help determine whether South Africa’s dominance of world rugby was a one-year wonder. South Africa provided both teams in last year’s Super 14 final — the Bulls beat the Sharks — and the Springboks went on to win the sixth World Cup in France.
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/ 13 February 2008
South Africa’s five Super 14 teams will have to produce some of their best rugby yet if they are to retain the title they so famously won, for the first time, last year. After years of being denied the title by the Australian and New Zealand teams, South Africa’s Northern Bulls finally went all the way in 2007.
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/ 11 January 2008
”I want to be honest with South Africa and say that the appointment was not entirely made for rugby reasons. We as an organisation have made the appointment and taken into account the issue of transformation very, very seriously when we made it. I don’t think that tarnishes Peter — I’m just being honest with our country.”
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/ 29 December 2007
The early stages of the 2008 Super 14 competition could be especially challenging for the five South African franchises — three of the teams have new coaches, and the training of all five has been affected to various degrees by the resting of their Springboks after the United Kingdom tour.
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/ 25 December 2007
Springbok winger Akona Ndungane wants the display of the old South African flag — seen as a symbol of the apartheid regime — banned at all rugby games. Some fans, said Ndungane, still lived in the past. ”The national anthem is no longer just Die Stem, it is a combination of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem”.
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/ 29 November 2007
South Africa have made three changes for Saturday’s non-cap international against the Barbarians at Twickenham — Jake White’s last match as coach of the world champions. Bismarck du Plesis takes the place of World Cup-winning captain John Smit after the hooker’s French club, Clermont Auvergne, refused to release him for this fixture.
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/ 28 November 2007
Makhaya Ntini remains the undisputed champion of the people after he was voted South Africa’s most popular sportsman for 2007. In a poll undertaken by BMI Sport Info, Ntini emerged at the top of the list, ahead of Bafana Bafana and Blackburn Rovers striker Benni McCarthy and world Cup-winning Springbok wing Bryan Habana.
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/ 24 November 2007
Jake White’s final Test as South Africa coach ended with a win as the world champions beat Wales 34-12 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday. JP Pietersen was in superb form, the wing scoring one of South Africa’s five tries and setting up two for centre Jaque Fourie.
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/ 23 November 2007
Springbok captain John Smit believes his international career is far from finished. This Saturday, just over a month after leading the Springboks to World Cup glory, the 29-year-old hooker captains his country in a one-off international against Wales at the Millennium Stadium.
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/ 23 November 2007
South Africa’s captain, John Smit, has urged his team to give their World Cup-winning coach, Jake White, a rousing send-off at the Millennium Stadium this weekend as the Springboks prepare to say goodbye to the man who masterminded their triumphant campaign in France.
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/ 22 November 2007
Springbok World Cup hero Bryan Habana believes South Africa have been given a great inheritance by departing coach Jake White. This Saturday sees White, barely a month after masterminding the Springboks’ march to the World Cup title in France, coach South Africa in a full international for the final time when his side face Wales.
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/ 21 November 2007
South Africa captain John Smit and star wing Bryan Habana are among nine members of the Springboks’ victorious World Cup final starting XV named to face Wales in Saturday’s one-off rugby union international at the Millennium Stadium. Although several players are missing from the two-match tour, the side still contains plenty of experienced campaigners.
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/ 14 November 2007
Lock Victor Matfield has withdrawn from South Africa’s squad for the one-off Test with Wales on November 24, becoming the 12th member of the World Cup-winning squad to miss the tour. The South African Rugby Union (Saru) announced he had been released due to personal commitments.
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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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/ 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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/ 2 November 2007
A chapter in Sharks rugby closed on Thursday evening as the team bid farewell to two players who have served with distinction. John Smit and Butch James are taking up contracts to play in France and England respectively, and on Thursday evening were honoured for their contributions to rugby in KwaZulu-Natal.
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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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/ 28 October 2007
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Thousands of people turned out to see the Rugby World Cup champions hold their victorious ticker-tape parade in Durban on Sunday morning. Bok jerseys, South African flags and banners proclaiming the Boks’ World Cup triumph were seen along the entire route.
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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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/ 27 October 2007
The Free State may have lost the ”Orange” part of its name in the new South Africa, but Bloemfontein was a sea of orange as the city prepared for the Currie Cup final between the Cheetahs and the Lions on Saturday afternoon. Almost every vehicle in the city streets sported an orange Cheetahs flag, and orange was the colour to wear.
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/ 27 October 2007
World champions South Africa will be almost at full strength for next month’s Test match against Wales in Cardiff, the Welsh Rugby Union said on Friday. Springbok captain John Smit will lead South Africa, who won the World Cup last Saturday when they beat England in the final in Paris, in the Test at the Millennium Stadium on November 24.
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/ 26 October 2007
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Young and old braved the cold and rainy weather in Johannesburg on Friday to gather singing and screaming outside Sasol’s head office in Rosebank to cheer the World Cup-winning Springboks on their victory parade. Hundreds of fans waited patiently in the rain for a glimpse of the Webb Ellis trophy.
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/ 26 October 2007
The World Cup last week then the EDF Energy Cup this? Not quite, but Butch James will barely have time for the Springboks’ victory tour of South Africa before he is back on a plane heading for Europe. After signing a two-year contract with Bath this summer, the flyhalf is expected to be in the squad when the Heineken and European Challenge cups start on November 9.
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/ 24 October 2007
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SA Rugby has confirmed details of the Springboks’ victory tour, starting on Friday, to honour the team’s World Cup-winning performance in France. South African Rugby Union president Oregan Hoskins has appealed to the public to join in the celebrations by wearing green and gold.
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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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/ 23 October 2007
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Springbok captain John Smit said he was ”overwhelmed” by the reception the national team received at the OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday. ”What we walked into was far beyond what we ever imagined,” Smit said. The Boks struggled to wade through the throngs of exuberant supporters, many of whom were singing Shosholoza.
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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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/ 21 October 2007
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South Africa exploded on Saturday night, the final whistle in the World Cup bringing the rainbow nation on to the streets in the time it takes to lift the Webb Ellis trophy. ”The country needs this,” shouted fan Evan Rice. ”Last time, in 1995, we were on the crest of the wave. Now, though, this is better.”