The All Blacks beat the Springboks in a hard fought match on Saterday, 5 July 2008. The match took place in the typical cold and wet weather conditions of Wellington, New Zealand. South Africa had not won a match against the All Blacks in New Zealand since 1998.

This was the first game of the 2008 Tri-Nations competition. It was unique in that it would be the first time that an entirely unique combination of ELV laws i.e. the S14 ELVs plus allowing the collapse of mauls and no line-out numbers, were to be played in an international game. It would also be the first time that the player’s who were used to the S14 ELVs would play the new maul and line-out number laws.

The problems with the Bok scrum which was evident in the previous matches continued and Butch James had a very poor game with the boot. A Brilliant try from Brain Habana near the end of the first half was the sole highlight of the Bok effort. Another supreme display from Dan Carter as his boot dominated the territory and the scoreline.

The match was marred by an ugly off the ball and after the whistle incident when the Bok hooker and captain, John Smit, was spear-tackled by New Zealand lock Brad Thorn which forced John Smit to leave the pitch injured just before half time due to a groin muscle injury. As result of the injury Smit will not play again in the Tri-Nations competition. Although the offense should have been punished by a sending off referee Steward Dickinson didn’t show a card. The post match disciplinary committee handed Thorn a one match ban for unsportsmanlike conduct.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery.

Link : All Blacks prevail in Wellington

Playing in wet conditions the Boks convincingly beat a second rate Italian team on 21 June 2008 at Newlands, South Africa. Due to commitments to the French club team Clermont, captain John Smith was not available for this match while Butch James and Pierre Spies were given a rest.

Frans Steyn got a chance starting at flyhalf with mixed success. At times he played the conditions very well with some long line kicks winning territory for the Boks. Two of his kicks got charged down though and he was guilty of not kicking the ball out on quite a few occasions.

The Boks would we worried about their scrum and  poor handling with their backs spilling the wet ball on various occasions  and wasting quite a few  try scoring opportunities.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jean De Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Francois Steyn, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ Van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawaria.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Joe Van Niekerk, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

link : Boks win Newlands borefest

Game was played on 14 June 2008 in Pretoria, South Africa. Wales gave a much improved performance and at times lived up to their reputation as Six nation champs.

The Boks attacking game lacked structure and the back line never got going against the Wales rush defense. The Bok’s scrum, featuring a new front row, performed better than in the previous match. The Bok’s lapses on defense is still a cause of concern.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Tonderai Chavanga, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery.

Changes in the team from the previous week indicated in green.

link : Wales fall short in Pretoria

Game was played on 7 June 2008 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Wales played poorly making too many mistakes and being outplayed comprehensively at the breakdown.

The Boks looked good on the attack but there is a big question mark over the scrums and the defense.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Tonderai Chavanga, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Luke Watson, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 CJ van der Linde, 17 Bismarck du Plessis, 18 Victor Matfield, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Peter Grant, 22 Percy Montgomery.

link : South Africa make light work of Wales

The thirty man Springbok squad, destined to form the basis of South Africa’s 2011 RWC challenge, was announced on 28 May 2008.

Bok squad:
Bekker, Andries (lock) [new]
Bobo, Gcobani (outside centre)
Botha, Bakkies (lock) [RWC 2007]
Botha, BJ (tighthead prop) [RWC 2007]
Conradie, Bolla (scrum half)
Chavhanga, Tonderai (wing)
De Villiers, Jean (inside centre) [RWC 2007]
Du Plessis, Bismarck (hooker) [RWC 2007]
Grant, Peter (fly half)
Habana, Bryan (wing) [RWC 2007]
Jacobs, Adrian (outside centre)
James, Butch (fly half) [RWC 2007]
Jantjes, Conrad (fullback)
Januarie, Ricky (scrum half) [RWC 2007]
Kankowski, Ryan (eightman)
Mtawarira, Tendai (loosehead prop) [new]
Matfield, Victor (lock) [RWC 2007]
Montgomery, Percy (fullback) [RWC 2007]
Mujati, Brian (tighthead prop) [new]
Ndungane, Odwa (wing) [new]
Pienaar, Ruan (scrum half, utility back) [RWC 2007]
Rossouw, Danie ( eightman, utility forward) [RWC 2007]
Smit, John (c) (hooker) [RWC 2007]
Smith, Juan (blindside flanker) [RWC 2007]
Spies, Pierre (eightman)
Steenkamp, Gurthro (loosehead prop) [RWC 2007]
Steyn, Frans (inside centre, utility back) [RWC 2007]
Van der Linde, CJ (tighthead prop) [RWC 2007]
Van Niekerk, Joe (eightman)
Watson, Luke (openside flank)

The 2008 squad includes 16 players from the 2007 RWC winning Bok squad and 4 players who have never played for the Boks before.

South African Super 14 teams have done reasonably well in this 2008 post RWC season, despite far reaching changes to the laws of the game which do not favor the South African style of play.

The Springbok team that won the 2007 Rugby World Cup looked like this :

15 Percy Montgomery
14 JP Pietersen
13 Jaque Fourie
12 Francois Steyn
11 Bryan Habana
10 Butch James
9 Fourie du Preez
8 Danie Rossouw
7 Juan Smith
6 Schalk Burger
5 Victor Matfield
4 Bakkies Botha
3 CJ van der Linde
2 John Smit (c)
1 Os du Randt

16 Bismarck du Plessis (hooker)
17 Jannie du Plessis (prop)
18 Johannes Muller (lock)
19 Wickus van Heerden (flanker)
20 Ruan Pienaar (scrumhalf)
21 Andre Pretorius (flyhalf)
22 Wynand Olivier (center)

Pieter De Villiers has been appointed as new Bok coach. He takes the reigns from Jake White who built his world cup winning squad over a period of four years, opting to select “class over form” and reaping the benefits of consistency in squad selection to field the most experienced Bok team ever.

Pieter would be well advised to follow in Jake’s footsteps. I believe he should retain the core of the 2007 team and introduce new blood to build towards the 2011 RWC. A Bok team selected on S14 performance in 2008 and sticking with form players of the 2007 squad may look like this:

15 Conrad Jantjes
14 Tonderai Chavanga
13 Jean De Villiers (c)
12 Francois Steyn
11 Bryan Habana
10 Butch James / Peter Grant
9 Enrico Januarie
8 Ryan Kankowski
7 Juan Smith
6 Schalk Burger
5 Victor Matfield / Andries Bekker
4 Bakkies Botha
3 Brian Mujati
2 Schalk Brits
1 Gurthro Steenkamp

16 Bismarck du Plessis (hooker)
17 Jannie du Plessis (prop)
18 Johannes Muller (lock)
19 Luke Watson (eightman/flank)
20 Pierre Spies (eightman/flank)
21 Ruan Pienaar (utility covering scrum half and fly half)
22 JP Pietersen (utility covering wing and fullback)

Newcomers to the Bok jersey are indicated in red. Players like John Smit, Butch James and Victor Matfield have left South Africa for club rugby in Europe and may not be available for selection in the upcoming tests to be played against Wales, the current Six Nations champions.