(or the resumption of the Four Nations, to unbelievers)
And so it comes to pass, the northern interlopers have loped (and mostly staggered, bruised, battered, but peskily unbowed) back to the dark and dank recesses of their tiny lands (and France) to watch in awe as the might* of the sun-kissed lands** of the south gird themselves for battle! A rich feast awaits, and none richer than the WWE***-clutching Boks, previewed below.
*Clearly not Australia, bear with me
**Not New Zealand obviously
***William Webb-Ellis, for clarity. Sod all to do with the spray-tan, roid-boy, tights-wearing Prima donnas of that other sport. No, not NFL or League – the wrestling one.
The World Champs enter the usual twilight zone of post-World Cup glory in a slightly worrying position. About half of the squad won’t make the next edition, with others barely clinging on, whilst notable retirements include Duane ‘Thor’ Vermeulen and 38-year-old Deon Fourie, who played almost all 80 minutes of the Final after Shannon Frizzel’s leg drop on Bongi Mbonambi. Injuries have meant no Lood de Jager, Jean Kleyn or Franco Mostert in the second row, Steven Kitshoff from the front row, and Faf de Klerk and Canaan Moodie from the backs, giving both the starting pack and the bomb squad an unfamiliar look. As such, some interesting choices (and omissions) in what is both a settled squad, but at the same time a slightly unbalanced one. The next Bok World Cup squad will definitely be far less experienced than this one, so Rassie Erasmus and his brains trust (they’re mostly foreigners, you sniggering git) need to start bringing through the next generation. But first, there is the matter of a tour to Australia coming up, and back to back Tests against the All Blacks at home, so there won’t be wholesale changes – much as we saw against Ireland.
Front row is no problem, with Marx recovered and the Bulls Johan Grobbelaar now firmly in the mix as the third hooker. Marx should start given his current form, but the coaches prefer him as an impact player. I’d like him to start given his ability over the ball in the loose. Plenty of propping power to keep the Aussies honest (?) too. Ox Nche is in a class of his own at loosehead, whilst any of Malherbe, Koch or Thomas du Toit can start (thanks Bath!).
Second row is creaking slightly, with the injuries, meaning we’re a bit callow after Etzebeth and Snyman, with Moerat (not many people like him here) and Ruan Nortje from the Bulls (up and coming, but still raw) in the wings. Might result in a 5-3 bench split, with Snyman playing all 80 – or intriguingly, a 6-2 split with PS du Toit moving into lock to allow Dixon and van Staden to come off the bench.
The loose trio is where we lost the 2nd Test against Ireland – Kwagga Smith is simply not a number 8, never mind a starting one, and with Vermeulen (retired) and Wiese (suspended), out, nobody else has grabbed the jersey. Elrich Louw from the Bulls is an option after his heroics against Leinster in the URC semi, but he got bullied by Glasgow a week later; the Stormers Evan Roos, touted as the natural successor to Vermeulen a couple of years ago, hasn’t quite made the step up and isn’t even in the squad, whilst other options in South Africa are raw, and those in the UK (including the Du Preez boys and Juarno Augustus) aren’t on the radar. Some are suggesting PS du Toit switching to 8, with Ben-Jason Dixon – a fantastic prospect – taking over at 7. It’ll probably be Kwagga in Brisbane, but he just lacks the grunt you need from an 8. That said, he’s probably better suited to disrupting the Aussies’ continuity game as a fetcher and turnover specialist than Louw or others.
In the backs, Faf is injured, so it’s a toss-up between Cobus Reinach and Grant Williams for the starting berth, with the other probably on the bench and Lions 9 Morne van der Bergh carrying drinks. Both are far quicker to distribute than Faf, are good at breaking around the fringes, so more in line with Tony Brown’s attacking philosophy, but are less adept at the kicking game favoured by a Faf-Pollard axis. Pollard will almost certainly start, despite him having a lousy record in Australia (the Boks in general struggle there), with the possibility of the hugely exciting Sasha Feinberg-Mngomezulu coming off the bench. He’s used mainly at 12 at the Stormers but should be the starting 10 and can also play 15. Probably one of the brightest prospects in Bok rugby at the moment.
I think we’ll see de Allende and Kriel start again in the centres, which will be rock solid on defence, but less so on attack. Andre Esterhuizen got a four week ban for his head on head tackle against Portugal so is out for the majority of the 4N, but seems to be a bit of busted flush at 12 in any case. Not too many down here banging his drum (a few would like to bang his head, but that’s for another day). Sasha F-M can cover 12 (and possibly 13 at a push) so will likely be the bench option there. Lukanyo Am is knocking on the door for the 13 jersey again, after a very composed display against Portugal. He basically marshalled both centre berths on defence for 78 minutes, and looked very good ball in hand again – I really hope so as he was superb before getting injured last year.
The back three will almost certainly see Arendse and Kolbe on the wings, with le Roux at 15. Willie is approaching the end of his stellar career, but offers the Boks great attacking vision when he leads the attack and Pollard looks on bewildered. He has a natural reading of the game and space and is sorely missed when not available – as against Ireland.
The ‘Bomb Squad’? I’m going a 5-3 split, so I’d imagine Bongi/Marx, Koch, Steenkamp as the front row, with Moerat as lock cover, and Ben-Jason Dixon covering the loose trio. Back should be Williams (9), Sasha F-M and possibly Sharks speedster, Aphelele Fassi as 15 and wing cover.
The Squad
Props: Vincent Koch (Sharks), Frans Malherbe (Stormers), Ox Nche (Sharks), Gerhard Steenekamp (Bulls), Thomas du Toit (Bath), Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Bulls)
Hookers: Malcolm Marx (Spears), Bongi Mbonambi (Sharks), Johan Grobbelaar (Bulls)
Locks: Eben Etzebeth (Sharks), Salmaan Moerat (Stormers), Ruan Nortje (Bulls), RG Snyman (Leinster)
Back Row: Ben-Jason Dixon (Stormers), Pieter-Steph du Toit (Verblitz), Siya Kolisi (captain – Racing 92), Elrigh Louw (Bulls), Kwagga Smith (Blue Revs), Marco van Staden (Bulls)
Gods amongst Men: Cobus Reinach (Montpellier), Morne van den Berg (Lions), Grant Williams (Sharks)
Pivots: Manie Libbok (Stormers), Handre Pollard (Leicester Tigers), Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (Stormers)
Centres: Lukhanyo Am (Sharks), Damian de Allende (Wild Knights), Jesse Kriel (Eagles) Back 3: Kurt-Lee Arendse (Bulls), Aphelele Fassi (Sharks), Cheslin Kolbe (Sungoliath), Willie le Roux (Bulls), Makazole Mapimpi (Sharks)
Needless to say, the Quest of Sir Deebee7
Ovally Balls 
Looking at the links above, it seems as though its almost exactly five years since Ovally Balls appeared out of the wreckage of AoD. Having had a quick look at the comments, it looks as though quite a number of the ‘Old Guard’ (and ‘Pro) moved over to begin with. Shame so many seem to have dropped away over the years.
So thanks again Thaum for creating this little haven of sanity amidst the wider interwebs.
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Hear, hear, BB!
That’s not a double comment, by the way.
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Boks double kill the blog.
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Double Bokking kills it further.
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It’s not dead. It’s just sleeping!
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Everybody must be glued to their TVs for the games.
Am one of those who couldn’t care less, besides 7 rugby of course. That was fun.
Waiting for the 4 nations to finally get started. It used to be my favourite competition, at least in terms of quality. Not sure it’s still true.
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There have been some fun moments from the Olympics (away from the shit-storm of the last 24hrs)
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Why exactly is he swanning around Paris like he owns it?
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Is Paris the horse? Maybe he does own it?
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Springboks to face the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday! Injuries aside, this is probably the best AND most exciting side we could put on the paddock. Some interesting selections and combinations. 15 to 11 selects itself, without Damian Willemse and Canaan Moodie contesting for 15 and 14/11 respectively and is a strong combination. Possibly only Lukanyo Am at 13 could feel aggrieved, but Kriel is the man in possession. The 9-10 axis is what has everyone (well, most, other than the terminally miserable) here excited – Reinach is a far more attacking nine than Faf (injured) and will hopefully give superb, quick service to Sasha FM at 10, who looks, at this early stage in his Bok career, to be absolutely electric. Pollard on the bench as backstop if we need a kicker to close things out, but SFM is pretty decent there too. I really hope this is the evolution that Tony Brown is bringing and not just an experiment before reverting to the Faf-Pollard safety-first approach against the All Blacks.
Up front, Elrich Louw starting at 8 in place of Kwagga is great news too – Kwagga off the bench with 25 or 30 to go is brilliant, but he’s not a starting 8. I may have mentioned this before. Rest of the starting pack pretty much as expected. Where it does get interesting is the bench. 6-2 split again, with Marx to terrorise the Aussies in the second half, and Steenekamp and Koch to carry on in the scrums. Dixon has been picked as a replacement lock, despite playing most of his rugby at blindside flank (being touted as the next PS du Toit here), with van Staden and Smith also there, so effectively three loosies on the bench. I fancy we could see du Toit shifting into the second row when Etzebeth goes off (usually around the 60 minute mark), which would give the Boks possibly the most mobile pack they’ve had in years in the closing stages, with turnover specialists in Marx, Kwagga, Dixon and to a lesser degree, van Staden. May well need that against the Wobblies.
On the down side, we’ve only won once in Brisbane in about 20 years; it’s our real hoodoo ground in Australia, so I really hope the boys gel well and give it everything!
Backs: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach,
Forwards: 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Handré Pollard.
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One slight concern in the Bok side, is the lack of a fetcher in the starting team. We suffered for so many years with the like of Hooper, Pocock, George Smith and Phil Waugh disrupting our attacks, I hope it doesn’t come back to bite us again.
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Allianz Stadium ? Wankers.
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Quite right Tim! Those fans that go to Scottish Gas Murrayfield, The Principality Stadium and the Aviva Stadium would hate to see their beloved home grounds succumb to naming rights deals like Twickenham has!
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Quite BB! SBT is still right to call them wankers though. Just because.
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A… stadium ? Branleurs!
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1:35am here in Dubai. Still two hours until my flight to Hanoi. I dislike airports intensely. They really suck the joy out of travel by trying to squeeze every last buck out of you for basically crap. On the plus side, I get to spend 10 days in Vietnam with my son, so worth every bit of the pain!*
*Also my choice to be drinking overpriced beer so shouldn’t really moan.
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Controversy alert!!! Colonialism was barbaric and not to be celebrated in any form. But my, Flair, the French did leave a stunning culinary legacy here, one the Vietnamese have completely embraced into their own cuisine.*
*Not trying to get Flair to support the Boks tomorrow, Silky Sasha will do that on his own.
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Congrats Deebee, your lads squished Aus.
There are some truly terrible mullets, on both sides, for NZ/Arg.
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5 mins to play and Arg are 5 points up on NZ. 30-35
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3 mins on the clock. ABs cock up a lineout on half way, then concede a penalty 35m out. Carreras slips as he kicks it, but it goes over. 30-38.
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Argentina are doing to the MOST cynical time wasting, after the restart. The players are receiving the ball, then just standing there as the ABs tackle them. They then recycle it back and the next pod does exactly the same. It’s GLORIOUS!
ABs infringe. It’s an ARG pen, they tap it and boot it into touch. Argentina win!
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Just managed to watch brief highlights of both games on YouTube. Brilliant stuff!
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Deebee, your boys – albeit against embarassingly weak opponents – were brilliant. Not just tedious one pass tries as too often in the past, but great invention, quick thinking and great execution and cohesion. Best team at the moment by some margin ( yes, I know, Ireland blah blah blah, but that was early season). Very enjoyable to watch, and I don’t remember saying that about SA.
As for Vietnam, colonialism is an horror and a shame. Wish we could’ve have shared the cuisine without the killings. BTW, it works both ways, the Vietnamese have contributed a lot to the food here.
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Ha, well done Poomas, they really are a good side. Cracking game. Thought Angus Gardener on the whistle was a touch harsh on the Argies on numerous occasions at the breakdown, and conversely, a touch lenient on the ABs. Really could have gone either way, some great defence from both sides, particularly scrambling to close down line breaks and prevent almost certain tries, Matera fantastic, but they all stood up. Chocobarres and Cinti might be the best centre pairing at the world at the moment.
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SA had to turn into a League team, before Aus could score. (Le Roux needs a slap for missing that overlap)
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With respect to stadium naming – here most of in Ireland kind of accepted it as it was a brand new stadium – not a rebrand of an existing facility. Plus we get to call it the “Palindrome” – yuk, yuk
Might be different if Aviva dropped off and some other group came in.
There’s been suggestions for a while about selling the naming rights for Thomond Park – Acme Thomond Park might be accepted, but I couldn’t see Acme Park getting wide acceptance
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It’s still Lansdowne Road (and Ravenhill) to me!
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Joking aside, (and Ticht will probably know more about this than me), but the SRU selling the naming rights for Murrayfield (think it was to BT originally?) basically saved Scottish Rugby from going bust. It helped to get things back on a better financial level, which I think meant more investment could be made into the professional teams. As I say, Ticht will probably know more than I do, so this might be wrong.
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BB, at least it is Scottish Gas Murrayfield. Would have been happy for it to be the Pepsi Cola Twickenham Stadium. just not the Pepsi Cola Stadium.
Assume Ticht was in on the Gillian Welch lovefest on the Mothership.
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Naming is always fraught – Aviva worked in Ireland becuase it was a brand new stadium.
Same I think with Arsenal – The Emirates was a new stadium on a new site. Even if only on the other side of the railway line – and anyway “Highbury” was the postal district – N5 – of the old ground which was officially “Arsenal Stadium”, and still exists in part.
Harder to rename an existing ground or to be second one in….
Mackeson were one of the first sponsors of a national hunt race – Mackeson Gold Cup was run at Cheltenham in November/autumn anyway. Google it and you’ll come to Paddy Power Gold Cup but old school probably stil refer to the “Mackeson meeting” to mean that pre-Xmas Cheltenham meeting.
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Allianz are currently involved in 7 stadiums, I knew of the Bayern and Juventus ones. Trying to get past all the guff about how wonderful the buildings are is hard, but I think they are all reasonably new or completely refurbished stadiums. So Twickenham might be the first stadium they’re involved with that isn’t new. Looking forward to all the fancy panels being put around the stadium to make it glow in different colours though.
https://www.allianz.com/en/about-us/brand/partnerships/stadiums.html
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Quick check in, Vietnam remains one the best places I’ve visited, from the spectacular scenery and pagodas and palaces, to the food and people to match. Just magnificent. Currently in DA Nang after a 7 hour motorbike ride from Hue over the breathtaking Hai Van pass. Should’ve taken a bit less, but I managed to have an accident, and spent an hour in a local clinic whilst they bandaged it and cleaned the wound. Finished the trip (slowly) and headed to a hospital in DA Nang for x-rays and stitches. Nothing broken, 30-odd stitches to the forearm, badly bruised ego. But you can’t let it stop you in a place like this. Just magnificent!
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Jesus, Deebee, motorbikes are for maniacs!
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It’s Deebee’s tribute to the Top Gear Vietnam Special.
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BB, I think they were mollycoddled on that trip.
I suppose they were used to it, with plenty of driving in Europe and the States and elsewhere.
It’s pretty wild, especially if you um, haven’t ridden a bike before, and you’re riding on the wrong side of the road! And nobody really gives a rat’s arse about actual rules, apparently you just watch out for what’s in front of you and those behind you have to watch out for you, in turn. Did pretty well until I thought a truck driver was way too close to me in a tunnel and ended up using my forearm to stop against the barrier.
Anyway, no (major) harm done, so a good yarn going forward (no, I wouldn’t possibly embellish it) and now back in HCM for the last couple of days before flying out. Will miss the rugby again, but hope Rassie’s confidence in the squad isn’t misplaced.
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When I say used to it, I’m talking about being petrolheads driving in unfamiliar circumstances, not that Europe’s roads are a free for all. Except in Paris.
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Well Deebs, me old chum, All the gear, all the time. Glad its only a bit nasty, and hope you heal well. Get back on one as soon as you can :) Road a bike tour up north of Hanoi a few years back, remarkably scary at times, saw three bodies on the road over a week. Not much traffic, but those big Russian logging trucks, oh my, and when someone decided to pass them , they went for it. Watching out for those in front of you, and letting those behind you deal with whats in front of them used to be referred to by us everyday riders in town as London Rules, cos if you take the time to do a quick rear check, or lifesaver, you end up firmly embedded in the side of a black cab.
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My mate who worked for the police referred to bikers as ‘organ donors’. And he had previously been an avid one himself. After scraping a few off the road, he became less keen.
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London Rules
I always make this point to my wife – in London a signal means “I’m moving out – take whatever actions you deem necessary” – whereas here signalling to move lanes tends to mean “I’d like to move into the other lane….if it’s alright with you…..please it give some consideration….”
If you signal and move lots of drivers get a fright – they’re not expecting it
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Trisk, you’re not suggesting between the lines that Mrs Trisk may be slightly at variance with your interpretation of driving etiquette, are you?
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Rumours of the AB’s demise seem to have been a tad premature. Leading 35-3 at half time. Can the Poomas mount a Scotland-At-Twickenham style comeback in the second half?
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No. Final score 42-10.
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Seems to be a bit wet in Perth (Oz Version). A gey dirty wet night, as my Dad would probably have said.
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Job done, bonus point win in the wet with a very changed side. If the All Backs bounce back isn’t a flash in the pan, the series in South Africa should be a cracker. Where to for the Wobblies, they don’t have much in reserve and still have the Pumas and ABs to come.
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Back in SA after an amazing 10 days in Vietnam. What a wonderful country and people! The whole place deserves 10/10 for hospitality, warmth, charm – and affordability. At the other end of the scale, Dubai Airport (whatever the abomination is actually called) deserves a barely-deserved 1/10 for being a collection of highway robbers masquerading as service and hospitality operators. Now, I know the SA Rand is a fairly puny currency, but when you’re paying $27 for a coffee, bottle of water and a (turkey) ham and cheese croissant, you’re being ripped off, in anybody’s currency. Miserable sods.
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Watched Aus vs SA 1st test on catch up on Friday night, and then watched the 2nd test live.
I read a few articles saying Australia improved – and I kind of understand it – there were far fewer stupid errors than in 1st test – but 12-30 flattered them (certainly 9-11 at ht was flattering notwithstanding the Lolesio miss at the ht whistle)
You imagine Schmidt will improve them – but then you think what’s he got to work with? How much can you improve that group?
Still haven’t seen either NZ/Arg game. Suspected that (a) there’d be an NZ bounce back and (b) Argentina probably wouldn’t string 2 good performances back-to-back.
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Trisk, it’s difficult to know where Aus are (other than in a bad space!), because a lot was made of the shuffling of the side by Rassie for the 2nd Test and the fact that we had some pretty raw players in the side with numbers 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 15 all on fewer than 10 caps (a couple of them fewer than 5), but you’ve still got 14 WC winners in the 23. By contrast, Australia had nobody who’s won anything major, certainly not outside of Aus. It doesn’t look pretty either, because the stalwarts in the side are not really leading from the front either. Need some serious investment at all levels of the sport, you think.
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@deebee
Once again – thanks for the traveller’s tales. Glad your injury wasn’t too bad. Vietnam sounds great – most “travellers tales” that mention the place seem to agree.
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@deebee
Erasmus seems to be getting SA into an enviable place – where you can match-and-mix new faces around a very experienced structure.
On Aus, i was reading BTL on the match report and our old friend dermott posted – his diagnosis was that the emphasis on “SupeRugby” after 2003 meant they ignored the grassroots.
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Trisk, Rassie and SA Rugby have really stolen a march on other nations with this approach, and I think having a large pool of players in URC, the Euro cups, the English, French and Japanese leagues, means we’ve got a much bigger pool of potential internationals to pick from, who’re all playing at top sides. Very good structures from there down, including the Currie Cup (on at the moment), club rugby (which has suffered quite a bit in the pecking order, but still strong), down to shcools rugby and competitions, all feeding nicely into the top franchises and ultimately the Boks. It seems Aus rugby has cut itself off at the knees from what you’re saying.
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