“South African rugby is characterised by reinvention. Whereas New Zealand will always be dominant, Scotland will always be luckless, Georgia will always be giant, England will always be despised, France will always be so French and Australia will Volume 19, Number 22 always be pricks...” - Squidge Rugby on YouTube (see page two) 20 June 2019

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Baby Boks Crash Out of U20 Championship

On Monday, the Baby Boks faced the reigning The Baby Boks were utterly out-played, couldn’t champions, France, in a semifinal for the World restrain the French attacking flair and simply had no Rugby U20 Championship. ’s under-20 consistent way to challenge and breach the French side reached that stage of the tournament by dumping defence. The final result was a thoroughly New Zealand out in their last pool match. disappointing but not surprising thrashing: 20-7.

However, the spectre of ill-discipline hung over the From the moment this U20 squad was announced we Baby Boks going into Monday’s semifinal: in their have been waiting for the disappointment that was three previous matches they had been given six inevitable. It cannot be otherwise when a majority yellow cards. For context, before the knock-out (11 of the 28 players) hails from the toilet of SA rounds commenced on Monday, a total of 19 yellow rugby: . That our traditional rugby nurseries cards had been dished out across the 12 teams in the (Bulls (5), (2), Lions (4) and Western tournament. You do the math. Province (5)), are so under-represented suggests skulduggery afoot with the selection of this team. As it turned out, giving away penalties and getting And the results speak for themselves. yellow cards were the least of their worries in the semifinal. They tried to use exactly the same game The ignominy of being dumped out of the plan that worked against Scotland, Georgia and New tournament by France suggests that another loss is Zealand but the French video analysts had obviously waiting for them on Saturday in the third-place play- been busy. off against the hosts (Argentina thrashed the French 47-26 when the two sides met earlier in the tournament).

All of that said, this newsroom is firmly behind France in the U20 final because the last thing we ever want to see is a bunch of juvenile convicts lifting more stolen silverware.

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Super Rugby Down to the Sharp End Stunning Rugby at U18 Girls Week Could the Boks Win Their 3rd World Cup? More Expats Doing South Africa Proud on Track to Defend SRC Title The Choice: Europe or

Page 1 Down to the Sharp End

Following the last round of the regular season of A little later that morning, in the first two dead Super Rugby 2019 this past weekend, we now know rubbers (and first of four derbies), the who the eight teams are to have made it to the knock- welcomed the Blues to Wellington where the first out phase. However, it is worth looking back at how half was all Blues but the home side fought back the bottom four got there, especially considering that from 5-24 down at the break to win 29-24. it went right down to the wire. After that, the Reds travelled to Canberra to take on Friday was a bad day for Australian teams, beginning the Australian conference winning Brumbies in the with the Highlanders hosting the Waratahs. The other dead rubber. The Queenslanders came out UltimateRugby.com analysis that we cited last week firing but they didn’t have an answer for the referee, omitted the team from Invercargill but we didn’t Paul Williams, who sucked the life out of the visiting because we expected a result along the lines of what team with his many inconsistent and incorrect was delivered: a bonus-point (49-12) win for the decisions. Final score: (40-27). home team, allowing them to leapfrog the Lions into sixth on the combined ladder. The final two matches saw lose to what our editor still insists is the worst team in the competition The other Friday match involved the Chiefs – also while the Lions were hammered by a rampant Bulls still in with a shot at a play-off spot – away from team. Both results were aided and abetted by yet home against the Rebels in Melbourne. And more poor refereeing. the visitors hammered their hosts (8-59), ending any chance of a second band of convicts making it into the last eight. It also allowed Chiefs to leapfrog the Lions and Highlanders into sixth spot on the ladder.

Saturday’s fixtures began in the wee hours with Jaguares consolidating their conference win in Buenos Aires (52-10). But the Sunwolves were in the game until a penalty try was awarded against them before half-time, after which the wheels really fell off. Could the Boks Win Their 3rd World Cup?

South African supporters are nothing if not partisan and most of us sincerely do believe the Springboks can do it. But how realistic are those beliefs?

Squidge Rugby offered a completely unbiased opinion on his YouTube channel this week in which he suggests there isn’t a team in the competition that the Springboks can’t beat. But he seems to think that having on the field for the full 80 of every crucial encounter is a prerequisite.

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Page 3 Pumas on Track to Defend Their SRC Title Stunning Rugby at U18 Girls Week

As we reported last week, this past weekend saw the We’re borrowing from an effusive report from SA semifinals of the SuperSport Rugby Challenge (SRC) Rugby in the headline above and in the content take place at the KaNyamazane Stadium, which is below, and we hope, sincerely, that there is substance about 25km east of Nelspruit. It was a continuation to the copy we’re quoting. Unfortunately, given that of the sponsor’s mandate to take the competition to we all have day jobs, none of us has been free to go as many diverse communities as possible and, if the down to Jeppe High School for Boys to verify the crowd turn-out is anything to go on, it has been claims. successful. So, for now at least, we’ll take them at face value: In the early match, faced Western Province “Thrilling rugby action was again at the order of the and, despite having fifteen players and some of the day in . The SA Rugby Under-18 Girls management team battling flu in the week before the Week kicked off today, following a successful start match, the Kimberley outfit were simply to good. to the Under-16’s on Monday at Jeppe...” The 50-21 victory sets up the Griquas’ third final appearance in a tournament that is only in its third At the time of writing, the first day of the U16 Girls year. Week (Monday) had been played and the second (Wednesday) was underway. And the first day of the The second game featured the defending champion U18 Week (Tuesday) was the subject of the Pumas against the surprise package, Boland enthusiastic piece linked to above. Cavaliers. It was another dominant performance by the men from Nelspruit, who won 57-32 in the end. The results from the first day of the U18 Girls Week are as follows: Those semifinal results set up an SRC final that is at the Saldanha Sports Club in the Western Cape. This Border 38-12 Limpopo is a little bizarre given that both teams make their Free State 27-17 Pumas homes up-country. Blue Bulls 27-5 Griquas 43-0 Griffons On Sunday at 14h30, live on SuperSport channel SWD Eagles 24-0 Border Country Districts SS10 and in a repeat of last year’s final, the Pumas Boland 15-12 from Mpumalanga take on the Griquas out of Western Province 17-0 Eastern Province Kimberley. With the defending champions on a 19- Zimbabwe 26-12 KwaZulu-Natal game winning streak in the competition, they’ll be the favourites. The day one results for the U16 Girls Week were as follows: But it won’t be an easy match. When the two sides met earlier in the season in Nelspruit, the home side Pumas 39-0 Leopards emerged 37-28 victors. This match will be on neutral Limpopo Blue Bulls 36-12 Griquas ground and that could make all the difference. Golden Lions 53-0 Griffons 29-10 Valke Blue Bulls 41-7 Boland Border 41-22 SWD Western Province 40-0 Border CD Eastern Province 22-14 KwaZulu-Natal

Page 4 Page 5 More Expats Doing South Africa Proud Toulouse Captures 20th French Championship

The second season of America’s Major League The South African influence was undeniable in last Rugby wrapped up this past weekend with a final. week’s final between Toulouse and Clermont The match between Seattle Seawolves and San Diego Auvergne. The former boasted three players with Legion was interesting to us because it featured no origins on these shores while the latter had none, not fewer than six players of South African origin. one. And it showed.

As Andre Geel Tweeted on the weekend under the hashtag #SaffasAbroad, San Diego had in it’s ranks Joe Pietersen, JP du Plessis and Dean Muir while the opponents from Seattle were boosted by Riekert Hattingh, Stephen Coetzee and JP Smith.

The Times of San Diego reports: “The defending champion Seattle Seawolves made a dramatic comeback after San Diego’s Joe Pietersen kicked a 3- pointer to pace the multinational Legion to a 23-19 lead after trailing 14-6 at half-time... As we mentioned last week, , Rynhardt “After trailing at the half, the Legion inched their Elstadt and Maks van Dyk all turned out for way back, finally taking the lead 20-14, only for the Toulouse. And all three had monumental games, SeaWolves to climb back close at 20-19. The flurry even though van Dyk came off the bench and played of action continued as the Legion added a cushion, only 26 minutes, he made four crucial tackles. extending their lead to 23-19 with two minutes to play. A Legion penalty (a high tackle around the Elstadt, meanwhile made several dominant tackles neck against Seattle’s Brock Staller) led to the scrum, that altered the flow of the match while Kolbe timed after the 80th minute, that produced the final score.” his two assists to perfection for to gallop over for a brace of tries. In the end, only Greig Nowhere, however did they mention the final score, Laidlaw’s boot kept Clermont in touch because his which was: SD Legion 23-26 Seattle Seawolves. team were simply unable to breach the Toulouse Clearly, rugby reporting is also in its infancy in the defence. Final score: 24-18. USA. But we digress. Which brings us to another subject: there has been a Two Most Valuable Players (MVPs) were named, great deal of criticism of ’ decision to one of which was the aforementioned JP Smith. On include Elstadt and Kolbe in his initial squad for the top of that, the tournament’s first XV featured World Cup. That criticism is unwarranted, we think. five players of South African extraction. As Jared Wright Tweeted on Saturday:

“If anyone doubts Kolbe or Elstadt’s inclusion in the Springboks’ squad, go watch the #Top14 Final.”

We’ll add our two cents: until you do, STFU. But if you just want to see the highlights – and don’t mind French commentary – check out this YouTube clip.

Page 6 The Choice: Europe or Craven Week

With the 2019 edition of the various SA Rugby facilitated youth rugby weeks currently underway, it’s an opportune moment to look at the latest threat to grass roots rugby in South Africa. Where previously, players were first given a chance to shine in local youth weeks and lower level provincial teams, these days the European talent scouts are targeting schools.

This is evidenced by the choice mentioned in the headline above, and opined on by Tauriq Ebrahim “It was recently revealed that two Western Province in a column on Rugby365.com. He writes: Craven Week players are heading to France in 2020 and while this may not be earth-shattering news, the “The news of schoolboy players being signed by timing of it hits a nerve. I would have had no issue European clubs has become the norm during and with them heading to Europe if the scouts spotted them post-Craven Week. However, when players sign at the 2019 Craven Week and they signed a deal there. those deals before the prestigious festival, they should forfeit their right to participate. “However, due to them having put pen to paper before the week-long festival starts, they are now denying others the opportunity to display their talents.”

There’s more and you can read about it all here. Or alternatively, you can listen to a podcast (also hosted on Rugby365.com) in which Ebrahim chats to former player and talent manager Andries Strauss about signing young schoolboys for European clubs. They tackle the vexed issue of players signing to head abroad on the eve of the Craven Week and then being lost to South Africa.

Page 7 For your weekend viewing pleasure

As Super Rugby winds down – it’s quarter-final time this weekend (see schedule alongside) – so too have many other tournaments. On Super Rugby, there are two teams from these shores left in the competition and we don’t expect either to progress to the semifinals. We haven’t decided yet if we’re going to watch or wash our hair but our trusty Ultimate Rugby app reveals that there’s not a lot of rugby action to satisfy the craving this weekend so we may have no choice.

The 2019 edition of the World Rugby U20 Championships enters the final round on Saturday but since the baby Boks are relegated to contesting the bronze medal that may not appeal very much. The SA Rugby U21 Championship also begins this weekend and there may be a fixture near you. That may be the only way to see a game as DStv doesn’t appear to be televising any of it.

Other than that, there’s the SuperSport Rugby Challenge final that takes place on Sunday between Pumas and Griquas in a repeat of last year’s final, which was won by the team from Mpumalanga. It’s taking place in Saldanha but will be broadcast on DStv.

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