Red Springbok rugby jersey?

So South African rugby kit sponsor Asics have unveiled the new jersey design for the coming season. What’s got most tongues wagging is the ‘away’ kit, modelled by the dashing Eben Etzebeth in the picture below.

Yes. It is red.

RED?

The Springboks will likely don the jerseys (and matching red shorts) when they take on Ireland on 11th November. They will officially be known as the Rooibokke that weekend.

As Ryan Reynolds’ says in Deadpool: “You may be wondering, why the red suit? Well, that’s so bad guys can’t see me bleed.”

It reminds me a bit of the worst ever Proteas ODI cricket kit – also inexplicably red…

King Kallis’ expression says it all. “What team am I playing for again?”

Rudderless Boks pick up a win

What a rubbish game of rugby.

Allister Coetzee will no doubt have a sense of satisfaction in picking up a win against Australia yesterday. He’ll feel justified in his selection of Morne Steyn at 10, after he kicked all the Springbok’s points on his old familiar stomping ground at Loftus. Coetzee will talk up his side’s ability to keep the Wallabies out despite the visitors’ surfeit of possession, and the fact that South Africa gave away fewer penalties.

But the wallabies were poor and if this this performance is what signals a step forward for the coaching staff then the Boks are heading seriously in the wrong direction.

Coetzee has found himself a victim of circumstance as well has his own stubbornness. Injuries have robbed him of some of his more likely starters, but he has continued to back players who have been hopelessly short of form on the international stage. On top of that, he’s trying to have them play a style better-suited to experienced test players.

He’d pinned his hopes on Elton Jantjies carrying his Super Rugby form into the test side but the flyhalf has been flaky and lacking the confidence and clear thinking needed at this level. He has not been helped by poor service from the erratic Faf de Klerk, who’s lack of a kicking game is simply not acceptable for a test 9. Has this been as a result of trying to implement Coetzee’s game plan? Who knows. We’ve not seen enough of one to judge him on.

That Coetzee remains set on playing guys out of position is baffling. You can get away with one, but the starting backline had four players starting in positions that they don’t usually play.

There have been some noteworthy individual performances and some of the set piece play has been solid. The forwards have made some small gains. But most of the Springbok game has lacked any direction or clear decision making and there is not really an indication of what they’re trying to do. There is much to be said by the fact that the current captain, Adrian Strauss, has had his two best games for a long time in the weeks after he announced his retirement. He knows he is getting out of the madhouse and is doing his best to go out on a high.

There are a lot of areas that need work, but the basic axis of 8, 9 and 10 is the root of the current malaise. Until that is resolved South Africa will continue to struggle.

I don’t know what we are hoping for against the All Blacks this weekend. It could be scary.

Springboks’ enterprising approach encouraging

It was great to see the South African rugby team show attacking intent in their first full international of the season. When the Boks add pace and offloads to their customary physical approach they become very difficult to play against and Wales found that out the hard way.

The Springbok performance was a long way from faultless. While the men in green and gold dominated the loose ruck and tackle situation when they were there, Wales still managed to win a number of turnovers. The Boks weren’t consistent in the way that they hit the rucks and runners found themselves a little isolated at times. The lineout was a little shaky at times and there were a few aimless kicks.

But when the Springboks are ‘on’ you get the feeling that they’re not too concerned about the errors because they’re confident that they can score when they need to.

The Bok pack has plenty of experience and I have no issue with older players running out, as long as they deserve their place based on current form. It’s that kind of experience that wins World Cups and with the improvements that can still be made Bok supporters can be quietly confident of a strong showing in England in 2015.

Jan Serfontein got through his debut after a Frans Steyn’s actions in the week put a lot of focus on him. With Morne Steyn at 10, free flowing backline moves will not be too common, but Serfontein based his performance around direct running and solid defence and will be proud of his efforts.

JP Pietersen on the other hand looked a bit wasted and doesn’t seem a natural centre. Cornal Hendricks had a solid performance and deserves his place in the squad, but I would prefer to see JP back in 14 when Jean de Villiers is fit again.

Enough has been written about Willie le Roux’s performance – creeping up to near the top of the list of the world’s top current fullbacks.

Hopefully Wales will be a better team next week and their pack front up to at least make a good contest of it. If the Springboks get the same kind of go-forward ball in the first 20 minutes in Nelspruit next week the tourists won’t challenge them.

Lawrence Dallaglio’s Lions Fifteen

This morning’s edition of Sport includes an article by former England eighthman Lawrence Dallaglio, where he has selected his Lions XV a year ahead of the tour to Australia.

1. Gethin Jenkins (WAL) 2. Matthew Rees (WAL) 3. Dan Cole (ENG) 4. Paul O’Connell (IRE) 5. Richie Gray (SCO) 6. Stephen Ferris (IRE) 7. Sam Warburton (WAL) 8. Toby Faletau (WAL) 9. Mike Phillips (WAL) 10. Rhys Priestland (WAL) 11. George North (WAL) 12. Jamie Roberts (WAL) 13. Manu Tuilagi (ENG) 14. Tommy Bowe (IRE) 15. Rob Kearney.

It’s not surprising that the side features 8 Welshmen considering their Grand Slam winning performance in the Six Nations. It’s a typical loose forward’s backline, going for power over creativity. But there can be no argument with the potential strength of a team looking something along these lines.

With England heading south to face the Springboks in June it is telling that there are only two English players in the usually partisan Dallaglio’s selection.

What do you think of this team?

Did Craig Joubert decide the winner of the Rugby World Cup?

It always sounds like a whinge when you complain or criticize a referee. Who’d want that job? But this little video summarizes some of the points that were pretty clear to see during the match. Craig Joubert was the outstanding referee at the tournament up until the final. But there were plenty of occasions when it seemed that McCaw and Kaino were invisible…

French fined for advancing on the Haka

The World Cup final was a tense affair all around. It was an armwrestle and the testosterone was on display from before the first whistle. The French took what I thought was a pretty cool and respectable approach at the Haka, accepting and challenging the All Blacks. It seemed appropriate at such a big rugby occasion.

But of course the IRB don’t agree. They’ll be happy when the game is sanitized to pieces and players are penalized for running too fast, or being too powerful.

The French have copped a £10 000 fine for their actions. Crazy. What do you think?

IRB Rugby Player of the Year

The nominees for the 2011 IRB Player of the Year have been announced.

There are six players nominated, four of whom are involved in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup final in Auckland.

The nominees are:

Thierry Dusautoir (France)

Will Genia (Australia)

Jerome Kaino (New Zealand)

Ma’a Nono (New Zealand)

David Pocock (Australia)

Piri Weepu (New Zealand)

I reckon David Pocock will get the award, which will be announced at an event on Monday. I’d give it to Kaino, but he operates a little more ‘under the radar’ than Pocock, who has been a standout among a pretty average Wallaby pack.

The recent IRB Players of the Year are:
2010 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2009 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2008 – Shane Williams (Wales)
2007 – Bryan Habana (South Africa)
2006 – Richie McCaw (New Zealand)
2005 – Dan Carter (New Zealand)
2004 – Schalk Burger (South Africa)
2003 – Jonny Wilkinson (England)
2002 – Fabien Galthié (France)
2001 – Keith Wood (Ireland)

Barnes’torming performance by Berrick

I was backing Wales all the way this morning, and would have been really chuffed to see the Wallabies heading home with nothing to show for all their brash talk coming into the tournament.

But it was the Australians who coped better with their semi-final defeat and they were able to raise their performance and collect the bronze medal. The Aussies were inspired by an all-round performance from World Cup bench warmer Berrick Barnes.

The game highlighted one thing very clearly to me. Robbie Deans’ persistence with a clearly out of form Quade Cooper was a big part of the Aussies relative failure in the tournament. On paper, losing to the All Blacks in the semis is nothing to be embarrassed about. But it was the nature of the Wallabies’ performances against Ireland, the Springboks and then New Zealand that will disappoint their fans.

They rightly lost to Ireland (although some of those calls at the scrum were a bit rough) and should have lost to the Springboks, who butchered their opportunities.

In rugby, you can’t put defeat down to one player, but watching the impact that Berrick Barnes had on the Aussies today enforces the case of those who were calling for him to replace Cooper earlier in the Rugby World Cup. Cooper never got anywhere near his SupeRugby or Tri-Nations form and was naively sucked into the circus that developed around him. The fact that Deans and the Australians were willing to adjust their defensive strategy and in-play structure in order to accommodate Cooper’s unwillingness or inability to defend says more about the planning than the player.

The Wallabies will be left asking “What if Barnes has started?” I’d say that they would have been a lot more convincing in their victory over the Springboks and would have at least had a chance against the hosts.

It will be interesting to see the way that Deans approaches the next few months with the Wallabies. With an eye on the Lions tour in 2013, the Australians need to decide who their go-to man is going to be.

Mehrtens, Larkham, Carter, Honiball, O’Gara, Wilkinson… These names roll off the tongue when supporters talk of excellent flyhalves. They based their game around doing the basics well to start with and then taking it from there. That approach is not in Cooper’s makeup and his role within the Wallaby set up needs to very carefully considered. Cooper is easily young enough to be there in four years time, but is he willing to be a responsible part of a team? His attitude says no.

They need to get Barnes more involved in the side before he takes another knock to the noggin and is forced to retire. If that’s at the expense of Cooper that would be just fine.

Peter de Villiers summed up…

Does anyone really believe that the French can win?

I feel a bit sorry for professional rugby writers this week. They’ll need to somehow find a way to present this Sunday’s Rugby World Cup final as something other than the mismatch that it is.

Four years of build-up and the All Blacks are rightfully standing on the verge of their second trophy. And who do they have opposing the Haka in Auckland on Sunday? A disorganised bunch talented Frenchmen who seem hell-bent on defying what anybody says about them, from their coach to the media.

Yes, the All Blacks were shocked by the French in 2007 and 1999, but to call them the New Zealanders bogey team is a bit much.

The All Blacks were highly efficient against the Wallabies in the semi-final, but the Australians didn’t really look like they were in the game. Robbie Deans’ persistence with an out-of-form Quade Cooper and the Aussie pack’s inability to front up meant that the Kiwis were not really pushed. The performance of referee Craig Joubert meant a fair contest at the break down, where Richie McCaw showed David Pocock that he still has a few things to learn if he wants the fetcher’s crown. We haven’t seen the All Blacks at their best against a top nation in this tournament so far. They have just one match to go, and I think that we’re about to.

Enough with the articles about the unpredictability of the French. Enough with claims of the pressure of the favourites tag. Enough with the cliché that ‘anything can happen in a final’.

It’s not going to happen. Simple. The All Blacks will cruise to the cup. I only hope that we’ll have the opportunity to really see them fire on the way there.