Hello! Thanks for taking time to read! This is my first posting, so here we go...Since the Jake White era there have been many ups and downs for Springbok rugby. In the last 2 years we have witnessed the first black Springbok coach, retiring legends and some record breaking games against England, Australia and most notably the All Blacks (in New Zealand!).
There has been a lot of contrversy surrounding our head coach, Peter de Villiers. I will be the first to admit that I was one of the voices calling for his axing on more than one occassion. However, I have changed my view and no longer believe he is a bad coach, I believe de Villiers possesses the coaching ability but lacks the skills of a press spokesman. Unfortunately for de Villiers his first language is afrikaans, and as many South Africans will tell you some things are best said in afrikaans and kept that way.
While there are still some reservations about our colourful coach, the facts remain that under his tutorship the Springboks have recorded record wins over England at Twickenham and Australia in South Africa, and became the first side in many years to topple the All Blacks on their home turf.
Some people may argue that de Villiers inherited Jake White's team, but on the flip side it was all there to be messed up, with new coaches often changing things around to make their mark. Surely de Villiers has done something right to keep the same captain and core Springbok players together who won the World Cup in 2007? It must've been so tempting to bring in new players, choose a new captain and coach a completely different style of rugby to put his own mark on Springbok rugby. Instead he decided to go with his head and not his heart and chose to build on the foundations already set by White. The result, a Lions Series WIN!
Currently we are 2 games into the Tri Nations with the Australians narrowly losing to the All Blacks in the first and the Springboks dominating the All Blacks in the second to come out deserved victors. The third test match is gearing up to be a colossal battle between the two old foes (South Africa and New Zealand) - a rivalry that dates back to almost being as old as rugby itself! Yes the Springboks recorded a good win in Bloemfontein and the margin should've been much more if not for the off day with the boot for Ruan Pienaar, but you write the All Blacks off at your own peril!
Surely both teams will look for major improvements and Saturday's test match should prove to be highly nerve wrenching. I am not going to be roped into a prediction, but will watch as all Springbok fans and supprters do...with the belief that we can beat any team in the world and the hope that we don't mess it up!
Enjoy the game - GO BOKKE!
p.s. Please feel free to leave comments.
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