During the Springboks training camp in May, head coach Heyneke Meyer said that picking the loose forwards for the Rugby World Cup was his biggest worry. Given the limitations of…
Super Rugby
Five things we learnt in May
Beautiful rugby is back Rugby has become a rather routine affair over the past five years, with hyper-organised defences creating largely risk-averse attacking strategies led by tactical kicking. But thankfully,…
A letter from South Africa – May
NAKA STEPS DOWN Beleaguered Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske announced in early May that he would retire from coaching at the conclusion of the 2015 Super Rugby season. The Cheetahs have…
Letter from South Africa – April
Apologies for Shark’s third red card Sharks chief executive John Smit took to social media to apologise to fans this month after a third franchise player was red-carded and suspended…
Super 15 analysis: Beauden Barrett’s wonder-try for Hurricanes
If a tumultuous finale to the Six Nations taught us one thing, it is that running rugby and high-scoring clashes are very enjoyable. Razor-witted South African sportswriter Sean Wilson highlighted…
Letter from South Africa – March
Springboks to be 50 per cent black by 2019 The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has set a target of 50 per cent black player representivity in the Springbok team by 2019. SARU…
Super 15 analysis: Handre Pollard to turn 21 in some style
Reaching the coveted milestone of 50 Tests in Paris just over a week ago, George North underlined a trend of modern rugby. Barring the odd anomaly such as Keven Mealamu…
Can Karmichael Hunt be the next Israel Folau?
Forget Israel Folau, Sam Burgess and Sonny Bill Williams. The latest rugby league convert to catch the eye is Karmichael Hunt, better known as ‘K’. On Friday Hunt will attempt…
Rugby statistics: Can we predict the 2015 Super Rugby winner?
The 20th season of Super Rugby begins in February and with the tournament expanding to 18 teams in 2016, this will be the fifth and final time that the 15…
Rugby statistics: Are yellow cards really that bad for you?
There is a common belief that a team receiving a yellow card will be punished by an average of seven points during the following sin-bin, but is that actually true?…