“There is no doubt that is the Boks number one tighthead at the moment and those who wrote Beast off are way wrong. Nyakane's transformation this season has been exceptional and his performance in was one of the best ever by a Bok tighthead.” - Brendan Nel waxing lyrical on Twitter Volume 19, Number 30 15 August 2019 Register to receive your own free weekly newsletter at www.rugbyrsa.co.za

Boks Claim First Rugby Championship Title

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or visiting The win sets the Boks up nicely for this weekend’s one of the few places on the planet without a working friendly return match at Loftus, allowing the coach telecommunications infrastructure, you’ll know by to experiment a little. And that’s exactly what he has now that the Springboks won The Rugby done, along with bringing back after Championship on Saturday night. The feat was injury and giving the captaincy: achieved by comprehensively thrashing (13-46) in their own backyard (Salta). You can catch 15. highlights of the match on YouTube. 14. 13. Perhaps the most impressive thing about the victory is 12. André Esterhuizen that the Boks wanted a bonus point win and that’s 11. exactly what they achieved. The fantastic result left 10. them well clear at the top of the table on 12 points 9. ahead of Australia (8), New Zealand (6) and 8. Argentina (2) 7. 6. Siya Kolisi But for us, the most interesting aspect of the match 5. was the scrum. As Herman Mostert wrote in Sport24, 4. RG Snyman Argentina was massacred at scrum time. Well, until 3. Trevor Nyakane was replaced by Frans “well past his 2. Schalk Brits sell-by date” Malherbe. 1.

Replacements:

16. 17. Lizo Gqoboka 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Frans Steyn

KEY TOPICS IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Lions Crash to First Defeat SA Rugby U20 & U21 Champs Come to a Head Jaguares Slaughter Valke and Other News The Ongoing Ascendancy of Trevor Nyakane SA Schools Lead U18 International Series Why the Boks Shook the Rugby World

Page 1 Lions Crash to First Currie Cup Defeat Jaguares Slaughter Valke and Other News

It was a terrible weekend to be a Over in Currie Cup First Division, the result of the supporter as they lost their first match of this year’s weekend was undoubtedly the utter hammering competition at home against a resurgent Blue Valke suffered at home in Brakpan against the outfit on Saturday. To make matters worse, the visiting Jaguares (19-122). The Argentines dotted visitors were down to 14 men for about 50 minutes of down ten times in the first half and another eight the match and down to 13 players for a further ten times in the second stanza, keeping their unbeaten minutes. record in the competition in the process.

In the words of captain Ross Cronjé in the press conference after the game, the Lions just didn’t turn up. As a fan, our editor was gutted and was only able to console himself by saying they’d bounce back hard against what he considers the worst team in the competition this weekend. We’ll see.

But that was the last match of the weekend. The first one was last Friday night when Western Province took full advantage of some of the worst refereeing A match that was played at the same time but down decisions ever seen on a rugby field to chalk up up in Pochefstroom, saw hosting Boland a win over (45-14). Cavaliers in another relatively close match that For context, not one of the three suspect tries scored eventually saw the home team get one in the win by the hosts was checked by the officials but every column (33-24). one of the Pumas suspect tries was checked and That was on Saturday. On Friday night, SWD Eagles every attempt made to overturn them. And the only went down to the visiting EP Elephants (21-27) in forward passes blown were from Puma hands while what seems to have been a rather tight encounter. those from WP hands were overlooked. You do the And in , had no trouble seeing off math. (47-15). The other match of the weekend was the early game With only one round left before the knock-out phase, on Saturday, which was the upset of the tournament Jaguares (on 30 points) are untouchable at the top of so far when, unbelievably, lost in the log while Griffons (22) and Valke (20) are (27-20). With the competition heading to the reasonably secure in second and third respectively. sharp end, the four teams to contest the semifinals are EP Elephants and Leopards, both on 16 points, are in still uncertain – although and Lions have the a winner takes all race for the last semifinal spot. edge at present. Apparently. But Leopards are behind on points difference and they have to play the high-flying Jaguares on Friday night. It’s a tough assignment. EP Elephants, on the other hand, host Valke on Saturday while Border Bulldogs entertain SWD Eagles and host Griffons.

There are a lot of permutations for that last semifinal spot because if both EP Elephants and Leopards lose, as looks likely, either of Boland Cavaliers or SWD Eagles could leapfrog them for the position. It’s going to be a fascinating weekend.

Page 2 Page 3 SA Schools Lead U18 International Series SA Rugby U20 Champs Down to Last Four

Something that we missed last week was SA Rugby’s Meanwhile the SA Rugby U20 Championship is U18 International Series involving SA Schools, SA building to a crescendo for some while other can only Schools A and U18 teams from Argentina, , watch as the semifinals are decided this weekend. France and Wales. Two rounds have been played so Last week, Valke edged (35-31) far with one to come this Saturday. while Boland Cavaliers travelled to George to deliver a rugby lesson to SWD Eagles (22-55) and Griffons The tournament got off to an inauspicious start at did a similar job for Griquas in Welkom (64-27). in Stellenbosch last Friday when SA Schools A went down to France U18 (19- 43). That was followed by England losing to Argentina (19-29) and the match we stumbled upon while channel-surfing: SA Schools versus Wales (23- 13). You can watch the highlights of that last match here.

The second round took place on Tuesday at Paarl Gymnasium. SA Schools A was up first against Wales in a match that ended even (31-all). That was As a result of that and the previous four rounds, followed by the SA Schools first team despatching Griffons top the table on a full house of 15 points Argentina (48-14) and England snatching defeat from with EP Elephants (14) and Pumas (14) in second France (29-25). Highlights of the SA Schools match and third respectively, separated only by points are here. difference. Boland Cavaliers (11) and Leopards (11) As it stands right now, SA Schools (on 9 points) are fourth and fifth but the latter has a game in hand – leads the table with two wins from two matches. albeit against table-topping Griffons. France (7) is second with a win and a narrow loss, Essentially, this means that all this weekend’s followed by England (5) and Argentina (5) also with fixtures can do is decide the final semifinal slot and a win and a loss. SA Schools A (3) and Wales (3) shuffle the order of the top four. As mentioned prop up the log, each with a loss and a draw. above, Griffons travel to Welkom to take on This weekend the tournament wraps up with the final Leopards. It’ll be a tough match as the home team round at Hugenote High in Wellington: SA Schools has lost only one match this season and need only a A confronts Argentina; France faces off against losing bonus point to lift themselves above Boland Wales; and SA Schools plays England. All three Cavaliers (who have played all four of their fixtures). matches appear to be scheduled for broadcast on And Pumas welcome Valke to Nelspruit in a match SuperSport (channel 207) from 11am. that will only have an impact on where the home team finishes on the log. A bonus point win will give them a shot at a home semifinal. Similarly, when EP Elephants entertain SWD Eagles in Despatch, they’ll be playing for the bonus point to stay ahead of Pumas on the table while their opponents are already well out of it with no points to show from what has been a tough season.

Interesting as all of this may be, the only way you’ll see any of it as far as we can see, is by going down to the ground. These matches don’t appear to be televised anywhere.

Page 4 Page 5 SA Rugby U21 Champs Coming to a Head The Ongoing Ascendancy of Trevor Nyakane

Following this past weekend’s fixtures, the For students of the game, probably the most critical SA Rugby U21 Championship is also looking pretty and least understood position on the field is the settled with three teams reasonably certain of a tighthead prop, who, basically, anchors the scrum. If semifinal spot and two battling for the fourth place. your tighthead is dominated by the opposition But first, a look back at last weekend’s results. loosehead prop and hooker (one on either side, hence the name, tighthead), your scrum is going into Friday saw two matches. In the first, Western reverse, usually rather rapidly. The converse is Province continued their fightback by hammering obviously also true. (35-13) at Newlands, and thereby strengthening their grip on a semifinal berth. The second match saw beat Leopards (52-40) in to go top on the log.

Saturday was a bit of a disappointment in when Golden Lions lost to Blue Bulls (33-41), allowing the latter to leapfrog Free State to the top of the log by virtue of a superior points difference.

How that shakes out on the table is that Blue Bulls and Free State are top on 32 points each. Western Both scenarios were illustrated by the Springboks last Province (26) are third while Sharks (18) and Golden weekend in The Rugby Championship match against Lions (17) are fighting for the fourth semifinal slot. Argentina in Salta. In the first 50 minutes, Trevor Nyakane dominated the opponents, putting the Boks Only two rounds of the home-and-away format are on the front foot. After he was replaced by Frans left. The Joburgers have two away matches: against Malherbe, the Springbok scrum began to be Leopards in Welkom this weekend and down in Cape dominated. Town against Western Province next weekend. While the Durbanites play table-topping Blue Bulls at home But back to Trevor. One of our favoured local rugby this weekend and travel to Bloemfontein to face Free pundits, Brenden Nel, waxed lyrical on Twitter after State next Saturday. the game: “There is no doubt that Trevor Nyakane is the Boks number one tighthead at the moment and It too is building to a decent crescendo although, those who wrote Beast off are way wrong. Nyakane's once again, it appears that none of the action can be transformation this season has been exceptional and seen on television. If you want to see any of it, you’ll his performance in Salta was one of the best ever by have to go down to the stadium. a Bok tighthead.”

Quite. But what’s most remarkable about this story is that Nyakane is a former loosehead who successfully switched to the other side of the scrum. Many have tried, and failed, but his success – and at the highest level – is truly inspiring. Former front-ranker, FrontRowGrunt, also chipped in:

“I remain no fan of it happening at the highest level - instead earn your stripes at club and provincial level, but massive kudos to Trever Nyakane for successfully making the switch to tighthead. Providing good payback on a big investment.”

Page 6 Why the Boks Shook the Rugby World

There’s an interesting piece running on Times Live Until then, 2019 looked like a two- this week by Craig Ray, in which he asserts that the horse race between the All Blacks and the Springboks. Springbok’s emphatic win in Salta this past weekend has shaken the rugby world. Despite all of that, bookmakers still have New Zealand as overwhelming favourites with and He writes: “So then. The stage is set. Seemingly England installed a little lower in the pecking order. from nowhere the Springboks are now the most feared team on the planet going into the World Cup But getting back to Ray’s musings, he writes: “Rugby after a dominant Rugby Championship campaign. World Cup 2019 is suddenly the most open tournament in history with a resurgent Boks adding to the list of “In 18 months coach has taken the realistic challengers. Boks from a laughing stock [losing to - Ed] to genuine World Cup contenders. Their rapid “It feels like the embarrassing days of losing to Italy or turnaround has shaken the rugby world and added being thrashed 57-0 by the All Blacks happened in a another enticing subplot to the Japan showpiece sepia toned era decades ago‚ and not a mere two years starting in a little over five weeks from now.” ago. That is testament to Erasmus’s brilliance in turning the Boks around with the speed of Aphiwe Of course, that Australia managed to upset the Dyantyi scorching down the wing. mighty All Blacks on Saturday put the cat amongst the pigeons. “Key to Erasmus’s success‚ which was affirmed by winning the country’s fourth-ever Rugby Championship title with a 46-13 win over Argentina in Salta on Saturday‚ has been a clear strategy. He set out to achieve several small goals that would be steps to building a winning culture. There is a big picture but with micro attention to detail.”

There’s more and it’s well worth the read. But, of course, on 2 November when the World Cup 2019 champions are crowned, these words could be see as either very optimistic or strangely prescient. We’re hoping for the latter.

Page 7 For your weekend viewing pleasure

On the international front it’s a very friendly rugby weekend as the teams make the last few tweaks to their strategies and ask a questions of some fringe players. The full schedule can be found on Ultimate Rugby (they have a nice app as well) but the big ones for us are South Africa vs Argentina at Loftus and New Zealand vs Australia at Eden Park in Auckland. Expect the All Blacks to come out guns blazing after the debacle last week.

In youth rugby, SA Rugby’s U18 International Series concludes this weekend (see page four) and that will also be televised on SuperSport channel 207 from 11am on Saturday. And in the Currie Cup, both divisions are moving into the final stages. In the Premier Division, and the three matches scheduled (alongside) for this weekend could have a significant effect on who makes it to the semifinals and, importantly, who secures a home venue for the knock-out Similarly, the SA Rugby U20 & U21 matches. Championships both continue this weekend, also not televised anywhere as far as we could Across in the First Division, while the top spot has been establish. You can find more details on pages secured by Jaguares, the rest of the table could still go four and six in this issue. through a bit of upheaval before the other three semifinalists are, well, finalised.

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