Boks Beat Wales Easy As 1234

Rugby World Champions, the South African Springboks, took a while to get warmed up at Cardiff, in chilly Wales, but once they had their rhythm they did the job. There were some nice touches, good support play and deft set pieces from the boys in green and gold.

The Boks were almost not the same team as the world cup squad; absent were the likes and legends of lineout man Victor Matfield, Mr Reliable Os du Rand, Danie Rossouw and the golden boot of Percy Montgomery. Montgomery's absence in particular was noticeable as Ruan Pienaar was not nearly as solid in defence; one of his fumbles led to a lucky try by Welshman Charvis at the close of the first half.

Going into the second half at 22-5, Wales seemed to gain momentum in the slippery and cold conditions.

Just 60-seconds after the Springbok Albert Van Den Berg came on the field (for Bakkies Botha) he was off again, sin-binned. Wales scored soon after. A resurgent Wales then came back to even up the scores; at one point they had closed the gap to 12-29. But Wales was haphazard, lacking direction and weak in defence.

The young South African Shark player, Kankowski, went through a hole in the Wales line easy-as-you please to extend the Boks lead, brining the final score to 34-12. The 77th minute sin-binning of nonplussed substitute prop Bismark du Plessis didn't help the Boks send their point home, but they nevertheless maintained their lead.

At the end of the game Bok captain John Smit, holding his infant son in his arms, and sporting a nasty bloodied eye, dedicated the win to coach Jake White, but conceded that the Boks had not played their best; using the word 'ugly' to describe aspects of it.

Highlights of the game included some brilliant flourishes by the likes of Bryan Habana, Schalk Burger and Francois Steyn.

The next game against the lions is a bit of a misnomer. It seems that increasingly, in both rugby and football, there is a tendency for local leagues to compete and distract from international games. Perhaps more money needs to be thrown into the international leagues.

RUGBY: Stofile Regains Sanity on Quotas

Mr. Stofile has calmed nerves by assuring the SA public - who were threatening to mutiny - that transformation will not be a clean sweep at Bok level, but be implemented (sensibly) at school level.

"Quotas are out," Stofile told a parliamentary sports committee. "Let us put our resources into the development of talent."

A R200 million investment is apparently on the cards in order to bring about this transformation process. This represent quite a turnaround from his previous position (see the links below). Sigh with relif, for sanity has (somehow) prevailed.

Stofile unhappy with Springbok squad
Stofile rules out race quotas for national sport teams

Meanwhile the SA Award sponsored by ABSA for the Player of the Year is tonight in the ABSA convention centre. Who else could win it but Bryan Habana? Percy perhaps. Jake White, speaking at Standard Bank on Friday said Percy was the most professional of the Boks. Training hard, always practicing his kicks, and very focussed and quiet on the bus, listening to musics.

Remember Jake White personally went to fetch Monty who had ditched SA then for England (or had SA ditched him), and that investment and trust paid dividends.

White says despite the golden locks and shiny boots, Monty is actually a very humble, hard working guy.

Springboks Interviewed at Newlands Stadium (VIDEO)

Bryan Habana Gets Tackled By Fan! (VIDEO)

What was this oke thinking? That he was gonna melt the cup down and pawn it somewhere? Hope Bryan at least got his elbow in this moron's eye.

Gee Die Bal vir Bryan Habana (MUSIC)

Click here to listen.

LOW FLYER (1995 and NOW)

RWC Joke

The Springboks were playing England, and after the half-time whistle blew they found themselves ahead 56-0, Brian Habana getting eight tries. The rest of the team decided to head for the pub instead of playing the second half, leaving Habana to go out on his own. “No worries,” Habana told them, “I’ll join you later and tell you what
happened.” After the game Habana headed for the pub where he told his team-mates the final score: 95-3. “What!!!!” said a furious John Smit, “How did you let them get three points??!” Habana replied apologetically, “I was sent off with 20 minutes to go.”

NVDL: Interesting fact: tomorrow is 2010 (20 October). A World Cup game in lieu - datewise - of another World Cup Game.

Habana Vs Australia (VIDEO)

Bryan Habana Against Australia - Click here for more amazing videos

NVDL Cracks Top 100 (SA Blogs)

A lot can happen in 10 minutes on the internet, and in the broiling sky above our offices. In about that space of time this blog has rocketed from around 120-something to around 90th place (SA Top Blog's, by reads).

This is not only a factor of being relevant to South Africans. Right now Google Analytics puts the total number of visitors from the UK just edging out SA surfers, with the USA in 3rd.

The top stories right now on this site:

1) Alert: Storm Warning in Gauteng at 17H00
2) Chaval - The Caveman Cometh (PICTURES)
3) Ngwenya vs Habana

Meanwhile, outside the clouds are gathering, and there are reports of police being dispatched in Pretoria in lieu of the approaching storm. If it gets any darker I think I'm also going to get out of here in the next 20 minutes, but something tells me, so is everyone else.

It also occurs to me that the internet is an incredibly vital and useful tool for the dessimnation of extreme weather warnings, at least, while the power is up and running in those HYPER-local areas. It's likely to become a trend as climate change intensifies around us.

Habana Neutralised in Fiji Game

Did Bryan Habana play yesterday? You'd swear he didn't. He was completely neutralized by the big lugs from Fiji. And you got the feeling if he got the ball more than he did, he would have limped off the field, trailing bloody rags.

On Keo.co.za it's reported that Habana has, what - been nominated for the prestigious IRB Player of the Year award. Re-he-he-heallly? Any chance we can hold off on these awards until AFTER the world cup? Why? Because it seems to me that at least 3 crucial games still need to be played to establish who are some of the best players.

For others on the shortlist, click here.

I'd like to see Habana make up for the Ngwenya defeat. In my book he hasn't, and I'd like to see him do his thing. Handing out awards at this stage of the game seems - to me - to be premature. And anyway, I think there are two or three other Springboks that are impressing me a lot in the last few games: Schalk Burger, Jaque Fourie and Juan Smith. So let's hold up on these nominations...