Never underestimate the scrum

To say that rugby is purely based on the scrum would be hugely ignorant, but it is a massive part of the game that can decide who wins and loses.

The team I play for, Nomads, played their first league game of the season against league newcomers Grasshoppers who were promoted from the league below. Although the 'hoppers had some big men in their forward pack, a feature of the Nomads has been the ability to dominate opposition at scrum time. Over the past two seasons the Nomads have generally enjoyed a solid platform from which to unleash their silky smooth backs. This past Saturday was no different with the Nomads forwards making scrumming look like child's play. Consequently, the backs were running in tries from all angles and with no clean ball to work from, the Grasshoppers were dead in attack.

This near total domination was only the story of the first half, as the 'hoppers (cunningly) had a frontrow injury during half time - yes half time! With no replacement frontrow the scrums became uncontested for the entire second half. While the Nomads still dominated the game in the second half, there was a real difference in the 'hoppers attack as they now had clean ball to work with.

Although this seemingly put a spring into the 'hoppers jump, the Nomads stepped up a gear to make up for the loss of the advantage of their scrum by increasing intensity in other areas of the game.

Everyone that was present on Saturday clearly realised the impact scrums have on the game, so remember to appreciate a scrum everytime you witness one!

P.s. Nomads 62 - Grasshoppers 5...well played boys!

English rugby...

The Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup are great rugby competitions that England clubs take part in. There is history, tradition and the standard of play (although differing in style) creates equal excitement for fans as their southern hemisphere equivalents.

Club rugby in England has made news headlines for the wrong reasons lately. We saw Bath Rugby club in the spotlight when star England prop Matt Stevens tested positive for recreational drugs and was banned from all rugby for 2 years. Consequently other high profile members quit the west country club because of the drug-related scandal.

Bath's limelight was hugely overshadowed by the "bloodgate" scandal at Harlequins Rugby where Director Dean Richards was seemingly the mastermind behind the use of fake blood capsules.

The only way to get an already substituted player back onto the pitch is to make a blood substitution. Richards, on more than one occasion, instructed the club physio to pass a blood capsule to a player in order to fake a blood injury by biting into it. Everyone found guilty were handed suspensions, some longer than others.

News of this finding shocked rugby circles and put Quins rugby in huge disrepute. However, it is always said that the best way to rectify any mistake in rugby is to show it on the pitch. Start winning and all will be forgiven, well almost all.

England rugby on the National scene are re-building. New manager Martin Johnson is still finding his feet but in my opinion will prove to be a quick learner. All head coaches and heads of teams will have their critics and Johnson has a fair share, but if he starts winning things will change. There is definitely rugby talent in England and it's all about harnessing the talent and producing the results.

As a Springbok rugby fan, I know how frustrating it can be when your team doesn't perform the way they can or should be. My final word for the England rugby fan...patience.

Introducing the Nomads

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to bring you the first installment covering the famous Nomads of Rosslyn Park Football Club. I'll begin by quoting a statement taken from the Nomads web page that encompasses the essence of Nomad rugby...

"The Nomads play their particular style of social rugby in Middlesex Merit Table 3 and are always on the lookout for talented players who have no interest in training."

Being part of such a big club both historically and in stature has a slight downfall. The past 2 seasons have seen the Nomads win the Middlesex Merit Table 3 league and playoffs. However, promotion could not take place as Rosslyn Park has a team in the league above. So, twice we have seen our runners up promoted to a higher league.

This situation does not dishearten us in the slightest as we play rugby mainly for the social aspect that the sport offers. Having good chat and being able to handle a pint are key elements of being a Nomad. In fact rugby skill is not a huge factor at all, as we are basically a drinking team with a rugby problem.

Our first game of the season was a friendly match against a well drilled team from Esher Rugby Club in which we won 60 -22. An extract from the match report tells the story of this match.

"...our captain found himself in the unlikely situation of having only 20 metres of vacant space between himself and the try line. Having, only moments before, spoken about the need to pass before the tackle in order to prevent hitting the hard ground, Lapin decided not to take heed of his own advice and in trying to fend off a chasing opponent, fell and dislocated his elbow. Cracking stuff."

To fully understand the spirit in which we play rugby, you must know that our captain returned from hospital morphine induced and arm in sling to celebrate our first game of the season with the team. After being spotted by the club physio, he was reprimanded and told to go home which he duly did.

A good first game of the season boys, here's to a fantastic season ahead!
...may the pints flow.

4 Nations?

SANZAR have extended an invite to Argentina's national rugby side, the Pumas, to take part in the annual southern hemisphere competition currently known as the Tri Nations.

This is a fantastic move and just reward for the Argentines who finished 3rd at Rugby World Cup 2007. Argentina have great players but lack the financial capacity to keep their players in Argentina. Almost all their international stars ply their trade in Europe where the money is better and level of play is higher.

Including the Pumas in the southern hemisphere competition will both bolster their financial constraints and expose their players to arguably the the best international competition in the world.

The proposed format will see every nation play each other twice, once at home and once away, making it a total of six matches per team for the competition. So instead of 1 match per weekend, we will be treated to two!

Great move, let's hope it all materialises!

What next for Springboks?

After winning everything they could in recent times one would ask where to next for these Springboks?

They have set the standard exceptionally high and anything less than a win in the future will be disappointing for their followers. They do however have room for improvement and this is good news as questions have been raised over whether or not they have peaked to soon before the World Cup.

A major area that needs work is the scrum. Although good enough it is not outstanding and just imagine if the Boks had "the best scrum in the world" added to their arsenal. John Smit and co. need to do some work in this department to make sure that their technique is spot on!

Two other exciting challenges is to find able replacements for Jean de Villiers and Frans Steyn as the pair head off overseas. At inside centre, de Villiers is in a class of his own and to replace him in the Bok side will take some doing. Jacobs and Olivier are great Super 14 players but haven't been in the same class as de Villiers on the international stage. They have lots of work to do if they want to gain the same repertoire as de Villiers. This might sound like a long shot, but I'd keep an eye out for Bradley Barrit. He may yet return to South Africa and make a big claim for the No.12 Bok jumper.

Frans Steyn has matured into the fullback position this season and is the best candidate for the role. As he is still young and full of talent, he would be my bet for the No.15 jersey in 2011. In the interim however we need someone to come in and keep the momentum going. Allowing Pienaar to settle in a position might be an answer but when Steyn returns what do you do with Ruan? Zane Kirchner is also knocking on the door but has to add a lot more to his game to make any real statement.

With the trophies safely in the cabinet, PdV still has his work cut out. It will be an interesting end of year tour as we might unearth another Frans Steyn or Bryan Habana when blooding some new personnel.

The days are now here when it's exciting being a Springbok supporter, savour them!

The "X-Pat"

The world has truly become a global village with worldwide travel easier than it has ever been! There are numbers of foreigners living in almost every single country in the world.

While a few have chosen to change their allegiance to their adopted country, many have kept to their roots and support their country in it's endeavours. In sport we see a lot of support for touring teams and not everyone is a travelling spectator. In fact many are living in the home country but still support their country of origin.

Living in London, in Rugby there is plenty of support for the All Blacks, Wallabies and Springboks even though they have travelled hemispheres. Personally, second to actually being at the game, I watched the Rugby World Cup 2007 Final in England (on telly of course). The pride and emotion you get as you proudly parade in your team's colours is unexplainable. I am not the only 'X-Pat' to have experienced this, many others from other countries have experienced the same.

I recently received an email with a picture from a close friend now living in Australia who watched the Tri Nations game between Australia and South Africa in Brisbane. It was a game in which the Boks played terrible rugby and deservedly lost. Here's what he said...

'Hey buddy wow that game was sh1t! but entertaining at the least, i got soo much shit from the "wannabies" after that game haha but i just mentioned the ashes and they shut it.Otherwise working hard and staying out of trouble, I'm going to visit Sydney at the end of the month so should be good.cheers cheers'

Being an ex-pat has it's advantages and disadvantages, but as you can tell from the excitement in his email it has more advantages. To all the 'X-Pats' out there, have fun!

then ThinKayak!

A bit off the rugby track, in this post ThinkRugby brings you ThinKayak!

Kayaking or competitive paddling is a relatively small sport but is increasingly growing in numbers! On the global scale growth is evident by the number of entries into competitions each year and on the South African scene we have our very own Louw brothers, Ryan & Greg, increasing the interest in the sport with big international competition wins. Their latest accomplishment was when they recently defended the Liffey Decent - a world famous event!

The following extracts will give you a better idea of what they've achieved...

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Entries for Liffey Descent reach 1,000

Extract: "ENTRIES FOR the 50th Liffey Descent this Saturday have been closed for safety reasons. They had reached 1,000 competitors by Tuesday. The race has had an uninterrupted annual staging since 1960, when it ran from Butt Bridge to O’Connell Bridge in the city centre.The event was switched in the 1970s to its current course, a 28-kilometre stretch from The K Club in Straffan to Islandbridge. The eight weirs – the first very close to the start – can make it a tricky and thrilling course.South Africans Greg and Ryan Louw set the record for the fastest time for the race when they won last year in a K2 racing kayak in one hour 48 minutes and 59 seconds."

Monday, September 7, 2009

Revenge sweet for Louws

Extract: " LOCAL RIVALRY is local rivalry, even if the parties go head-to-head thousands of kilometres from home. Ryan and Greg Louw won the 50th Liffey Descent on Saturday in one hour 46 minutes and 53 seconds.It was their second consecutive victory and they bettered the record time they set last year – but sweetest of all was they beat compatriots Gavin White and Graeme Solomon into second.White and Solomon edged out the Louw brothers by .81 of a second for third place in the South African flatwater marathon championships earlier this year. Ryan Louw said that this time they had a plan to deal with their rivals’ strengths as sprinters.“We knew we had to get ahead at the start and we did that.” Solomon had earlier attested to the success of the plan. “We didn’t make any mistakes but we were under pressure from the start when they opened up a gap.”

Well done Ryan and Greg! Liffey Champions 2009!

Barnes conrtibutes to deserved Oz win over lacklustre Boks

Referee Wayne Barnes had a bad night with some inconsistent refereeing, which now sees him add critics from South Africa to his New Zealand critics' "fan" base.

Above the poor officiating, the Boks were their own worst enemies and turned in their worst performance this year! Credit to the Wallabies as they deserved their win with a far more superior performance with the only tries being scored by Adam Ashley-Cooper and the young O'Connor.

The Boks made school boy errors and did not prize the ball as they should have. They were outplayed by the Wallaby forwards and need to up the intensity to the usual level that we are used to. There were a few moments of magic by the Boks with some try saving tackles, and also de Villiers and Fourie once again combining well in the midfield.

The Wallabies simply never allowed South Africa to play and the young Aussie outfit showed that they have real talent in their ranks. Robbie Deans will surely be delighted at the result and knows that he can build a formidable team with his young squad.

I always said that I don't mind if the Springboks lose playing well against a good side, but lose like this often enough and the Boks will have some fans turn to critics.

Let's just hope yesterday's performance was just a brain freeze and that it was a learning lesson for the World Champions. We all know that it is difficult to win away from home in the Tri Nations, but with this Bok side it has now become expected.

It's times like these when management need to step in to eradicate, vindicate and motivate!

Back to the future...

If you stop to think about all the achievements that the Springboks have had and then think about the ages of the players, it's startling to think how young they really are! Everyone knows and speaks about how the current crop can all play through to the world cup, but if you actually think of the amount of experience they will have it becomes scary!

I looked at the ages of the current Bok squad and a few possibles for the next few years. Have a look at the table and you'll see how young they'll still be at the next world cup! The first column is their current age and the second column their age by October 2011.

		2009	2011
1	Mtawarira	24	26
2	B. du Plessis	25	27
3	Smit	31	33
4	Botha	30	32
5	Matfield	32	34
6	Brussow	23	25
7	Smith	28	30
8	Spies	24	26
9	du Preez	27	29
10	M. Steyn	25	27
11	Habana	26	28
12	de Villiers	28	30
13	Fourie	26	28
14	Ndungane	28	30
15	Pienaar	25	27
16	J. du Plessis	27	29
17	Ralepelle	23	25
18	Russouw	31	33
19	Burger	26	28
20	Januarie	27	29
21	F.Steyn	22	24
22	Jacobs	29	31
	Squad
	Pietersen	23	25
	Bekker	26	28
	Kankowski	24	26
	Olivier	26	28
	Possibles
	Steenkamp	28	30
	vd Linde	29	31
	BJ Botha	29	31
	Muller	29	31
	Sykes	25	27
	Potgieter	22	24
	Kirchner	25	27
	James	30	32
	Nokwe	28	30
	Chavhanga	26	28
	Deysel	24	26

I have left out some players that might make their mark in the next 2 years. Obviously, there are also those Heinrich Brussow's that will bounce onto the scene.

Take a look at their ages, think about your age in comparison and how young this side is and how much they can still achieve!

Bring on Saturday! Go Bokke!

Weilding the axe and covering the wounds

Jaque Fourie will make his 50th appearance for the Springboks when he runs out for them on Saturday!

Fourie is one of the most talented midfield players in the world. He runs excellent lines, is strong on his feet, has great pace and is solid on defence. His partnership with Jean de Villiers is globally feared and I believe Fourie is the greatest outside centre South Africa has produced. People may argue that there are other legends that were better than Fourie, I disagree.

The teams for Saturday's test have been announced and we have no real surprises. Robbie Deans has wielded the axe by making 5 changes to his side and is seemingly still looking to find the answers to winning rugby matches for Australia.

Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, has merely tried to bring in cover for the wounded Boks that have returned home.

Ndungane gets a rare start in place of JP Pietersen and Danie Russouw comes in for Bekker on the bench. Johan Muller has also been flown in in case Bakkies Botha's mild injury flares up. Ndungane will not disappoint and is sure to be solid for South Africa. Danie Russouw would start for any other international team.

Stopping the Springbok machine is not impossible but highly unlikely given the number of changes and the contrasting tempos. Yes, the Boks only won by 7 points, but the scoreline flattered the hosts and John Smit would be disappointed that his team conceded those late tries.

The Boks will be looking for a much more polished performance, especially in the last 20 minutes of the game. The mathematics remain simple, win this test match and the Tri Nations is in the bag.

Go Bokke!

Links to the teams for Saturday on SARugby.com:

Springboks

Wallabies