Rugby...

[Maximis]

Damien de Allende is so kuk... y do we keep picking him ???? he is simply not springbok quality. He does fine at franchise level but not good enough for boks. Hope he proves me wrong this season

[Frosty]

Bok Team for Saturday:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sbu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane/Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Wilco Louw/Thomas du Toit, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Elton Jantjies, 23 Warrick Gelant

Personally would have started with Akker but i guess Bongi is a "safer" or "tighter" option. No x-factor in the front means Rassie is going to play the typical Vrystaat game. Bully up front and free up the super fast wingers. Not one fetcher in the team apart from our outside center.

I’ve seen comments on “the heavyweight bench, which is not a bad thing.” Saturday will see if the comments are justified.

 

 

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[Vetseun]

Bokke. Fantastic

['Dale]

So much emotion as Siya leads the Bokkies to a remarkable victory against the Roses

 

If they reinforce their defensive capabilities and retain the experienced hands alongside the hungry fresh talent, it'll be quite a renaissance for the Springboks

 

????????????????????

[Benjamin]

Go Bokke . That was fantastic. Don’t ever say we not passionate about our rugby

Edited June 9, 2018 by Benjamin

['Dale]

#worldseries7s

 

When the Blitzies make me smile on a Sunday evening

What a magical V

Again, the best in the world ????????⭐️????????⭐️

[Stretch]

interesting article - I agree

 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2018-06-11-a-fork-in-the-road-is-coming-for-south-african-school-rugby/#.Wx5Ieo5EqUk

[Ed-Zulu]

interesting article - I agree

 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2018-06-11-a-fork-in-the-road-is-coming-for-south-african-school-rugby/#.Wx5Ieo5EqUk

Me too, a complex issue it is indeed!

[Escapee..]

interesting article - I agree

 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2018-06-11-a-fork-in-the-road-is-coming-for-south-african-school-rugby/#.Wx5Ieo5EqUk

 

Why do you agree Stretch?

[Shebeen]

What say you, Blou Bulle fans?

 

The Super Rugby jersey - for away games, I think..

bulls rugby jersey!!!

 

the gift that keeps on giving

[Stretch]

Why do you agree Stretch?

 

Schoolboy rugby is becoming too professional. This win at all costs is detracting from the enjoyment of watching it. Poaching of players with better prospects is rife and this dark undertow of performance enhancing drugs is very real. Whil I am all for the televising of scholboy rugby games there needs to be much stricter laws in place around player recruitment, drug testing and coaching staff.

 

Off the top of my head, a scholar offered a sporting scolarship should be required to achieve a DOE defined result for exams to be eligible to play for the top tier team in the grade

 

Teachers appointed as head coaches should have a maximum salary scale

 

there should be much more frequent and stringent drug testing. Drug testing in schoolboy rugby is almost non existent. If caught, the scholar should face a career threatening ban. Ten years or something similar.

[Shebeen]

interesting article - I agree

 

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2018-06-11-a-fork-in-the-road-is-coming-for-south-african-school-rugby/#.Wx5Ieo5EqUk

school sports...all about having fun.

 

allow me to introduce the norwegian approach

 

The Norwegians refuse to plough millions into sports that ordinary folk simply do not play in exchange for a brief medal-winning serotonin hit. They stress the importance of the umbilical link between grassroots and elite sport. And, unusually to British ears, they say local sports clubs are a core part of their success.

“Our vision is sport for all,” Tvedt says. “Before you are 12 you should have fun with sport. So we don’t focus on who the winner is before then. Instead we are very focused on getting children into our 11,000 local sports clubs. And we have 93% of children and young people regularly playing sport in these organisations.”

Norse code: what’s the secret of the Norwegians’ Winter Olympics success?

 

Read more

As Tvedt explains, this benefits everyone, because the more that people enjoy sport as kids, the broader the talent pool their elite teams will have later. “All our medals have come from athletes who have started in local clubs. If an athlete is good, we will then bring them to the Olympiatoppen, our elite sports centre, where the top sport science comes into the picture.”

To say it is working is a thundering understatement. With three days remaining of these Olympics, Norway, a country of 5.2 million people, has won 35 medals. Germany is next on 25, with Canada one further behind in third.

There is an additional kicker. Norway’s sports federation has an annual budget of £13.7m for summer and winter sports. To put that into context, UK Sport has a budget of £137.5m a year to fund elite Olympic sport, of which £8m is ploughed into winter sports.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/22/norway-winter-olympics-success

 

But what Norway’s athletes lack in finances they make up for in camaraderie – which is reinforced by a strict “no idiots” rule. As the skier Kjetil Jansrud, who has won silver and bronze in Pyeongchang, explains: “We believe there is no good explanation for why you have to be a jerk to be a good athlete. We just won’t have that kind of thing on our team.”

[Napalm]

There are some school first team coaches that are on 2 mill a year salary!

[Skubarra]

Schoolboy rugby is becoming too professional. This win at all costs is detracting from the enjoyment of watching it. Poaching of players with better prospects is rife and this dark undertow of performance enhancing drugs is very real. Whil I am all for the televising of scholboy rugby games there needs to be much stricter laws in place around player recruitment, drug testing and coaching staff.

 

Off the top of my head, a scholar offered a sporting scolarship should be required to achieve a DOE defined result for exams to be eligible to play for the top tier team in the grade

 

Teachers appointed as head coaches should have a maximum salary scale

 

there should be much more frequent and stringent drug testing. Drug testing in schoolboy rugby is almost non existent. If caught, the scholar should face a career threatening ban. Ten years or something similar.

 

My 2c - easy to blame the schools (and they are also guilty) but I see part of a bigger issue in our society. These changes are driven as much by parents as by the schools. My son is Gr 3 and the pressure on his school buddies to perform in rugby from parents are immense. Most of the kids that are half good will probably go to Paarl schools if not via bursaries then by parents wanting to give their kids the best possible "opportunities" in a school that take their sport "serious enough". These kids train almost every day of the week throughout the year - and when they don't the parents find extra coaching clinics to partake in.

 

Also factor in all the school rugby exposure on tv & radio, national rankings etc - that is driven by us the consumers, can't blame the schools or parents for that.

 

I'm honestly relieved my son is showing no interest whatsoever in rugby.

[Stretch]

Reflections from Ireland. Schooling here is not achievement driven at all. It's all about life experience. Not much school sport.. No prefects... No major academic awards. There's none of this.. Look what my child achieved.. My child is better than your child.. Etc etc. coming from patents

 

With the exception of the few private schools all sport (and other activities) happens at club level. Our local boys school has no rugby team but the local rugby club is active. Despite their poor loss on Saturday.. Irish rugby is doing something right... So I can't see this as been negative for the sport.

[Skubarra]

Reflections from Ireland. Schooling here is not achievement driven at all. It's all about life experience. Not much school sport.. No prefects... No major academic awards. There's none of this.. Look what my child achieved.. My child is better than your child.. Etc etc. coming from patents

 

Interesting, maybe that is also too extreme? Think learning to cope with pressure is also part of growing up.  But I do feel there is too much pressure on kids in SA schools nowadays.