Quick Update

I have been pretty quiet this week due to work demands and high stress levels! Being in this frame of mind certainly does not bring out the comedian in me, so instead of boring everybody with my "woe is me" routine I decided to keep a low profile.

The major sporting news is The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The weather is pretty horrendous and scoring is very difficult at present. Par looks a very good score on the first day. Goose had a very good round and ended on +1 (71). Ernie on the other hand was +9 with 1 hole to play. What a disaster. Fact of the matter is that he is not out of it at all and that just puts the difficulty of the course and the conditions into perspective. The Open can sometimes be a lottery with the weather. The morning field seems to have gotten the worst of it today. Weather report looks better for the weekend. But, it is Britain after all, so who knows what`ll happen.

Other big news is the Man Utd game at Newlands on Saturday. Hayley organised Box Tickets for us, so I will be cheering my guts out for my Red Devils. This will probably be my one and only chance to get to see Ryan Giggs play and I will cherish every second of it.

The Christiano Ronaldo story still hasn`t come to a conclusion but I am sick to death of it. Please let the man go. United is much bigger than him. He has shown complete disrespect to the club that MADE him the player he is today. Take your boots and bugger off.

To the Boks, good luck on Saturday. No matter what is said, the Aussies will be favourites under the coaching of Robbie Deans and home ground advantage. That said, I think the Boks can spring a surprise. here`s hoping Hayley has that "funny feeling" again come Saturday.

Oh and lastly, I am doing my 2nd Half Marathon on Saturday. The Worcester Voorsieners / Hospice Half Marathon, which is a matter very close to my heart. Here`s hoping I`ll do it justice.

That`s all from me today.

Hamster Stare

This is one of the funniest clips I have ever seen.

http://www.noob.us/humor/hamster-with-the-dramatic-look/

Very much the look I get from my wife when I have done something wrong.

The Comeback Kings

Well, I have to eat humble pie. I was completely and utterly wrong with my prediction of 0/3 during the away leg of the Trinations. But, I hasten to add, I have never been happier being wrong!

Well done to the Springboks, what a wonderful and well deserved win in Dunedin. They were absolutely awesome and showed tremendous strength of character to come back with 14 men and seize an incredible win. You might say they played like true World Champions...

Ricky January was Man of the Match even before his quite unbelievable solo effort with 5 minutes to go. He played the game of his life. Harrassing around the fringes, putting pressure on his opposite number and Dan Carter, tackling his heart out, winning ball at the breakdown etc etc etc. What an awesome effort! One mistake during the whole game and that was a quick tap gone wrong. I think we can forgive him that.

I thought we had a chance when Ali Williams went off in the 28th minute. Let that be a lesson young man, you bump into the Incredible Schalk at your own peril. That collission probably caused a mini Tsunami! Schalk, got up, dusted himself off and got on with it. Ali though kept looking for the freight train that hit him. I think he is still looking... I digress! With 2 rookie locks on, I thought we could pressurise the AB`s into making mistakes and target the lineout. This we did with great aplomb. It must be said that the scrums were also much better and I believe we had parity in that department.

The test match was really an awesome example of what can be achieved with the ELV`s. Let the Northern Hemisphere clubs watch this game if they have any doubts about the new laws.

A few players stood up today. Schalk Burger, Juan Smith and Big Joe were outstanding as a combination. The frontrow was terrific and Percy brought a calmness that rubbed off on his teammates.

The one blight on the whole day was the yellow card dished out the Victor Matfield. Please explain to me what the difference was between that tackle and the one by Leon Macdonald barely 10 minutes earlier. Matt Goddard could have decided the game there and then if the Boks didn`t have other ideas. It`s time these bloody Aussie refs stop their nonsense and give SA teams a break.

Once again well done to the Bokke! You guys showed tremendous grit and made a country proud. Peter De Villiers, you silenced a lot of doubters today, keep it up!

The 11 o' clock Thrust

So I`m working from home today and I have gotten quite a bit done. The weather is waaayyyy to cold and rainy to even set foot outside the house, especially if you can get work done from your own study.

I took a break and went onto my wife`s blog (read it here http://hayleymal.blogspot.com/ ). She bemoaned the fact that the house is very quiet with our family having left yesterday. Trust me it is very quiet and we miss the family already. There is however one thing breaking the silence at the moment....

Elvis is trying to hump Phoebe. The poor boy unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) does not have an idea where what goes. At the moment it is the side entrance. If one uses the watch analogy, he is coming in (excuse the pun) from 3 o'clock. He sometimes tries other times / zones / techniques like the "11 o'clock thrust" or the "4 o'clock parry". None of them are very successful but he is trying to refine his technique and a big up to him.

Now all the above takes place with a fair amount of noise. Imagine a Massey Ferguson at three quarter throttle? That is roughly the sound eminating from the lounge area at present. Phoebe, bless her soul, takes it like a true soldier. Ok, she tries to fend the perpetrator (Elvis) off 80% of the time but to no avail. The "perp" has at least 10kg`s on her (and she ain`t a petite lady).
So, it`s like watching a ballet of fur and fat. A dance of love, lust, heavy breathing and the occassional bite.

Why don`t I stop them for doing their little ballet? I can`t. Elvis prefers the ballet to food at this stage. And in any case, you try telling a 40kg bulldog that he cannot have what he so obviously wants....

A crumbling empire?

I have a bad feeling, a very bad feeling. The Springbok display on Saturday was one of the most disjointed performances I have seen from the Boks in a pretty long time. Stuart Dickinson was terrible but that is no surprise. It never is when Stu is on the whistle.
What is of more concern is the terrible display. Saturday must be the worst kicking display I have ever seen from a Springbok side. Butch James was particularly bad. If your looking for the difference between the 2 teams, look no further than Butch and Dan Carter. Granted, Carter got excellent go-forward ball from his forwards but Butch was terrible.
I think the AB`s were MUCH better than us. Had the disallowed try stood, it would have been a better reflection of the game.
There was no cohesion between forwards and backs, no cohesion between the back 3, no cohesion between the loosetrio and no cohesion within the frontrow. All in all, a blueprint for disaster.

Delving deeper, we have to ask where the problems lie? Is it the new philosophy that Peter De Villiers is trying to instill? Is it the gameplan or lack thereof? Could it be the selections?

My view? It`s a combination of all the above. The players are still getting used to "playing the situation" and inevitably mistakes will creep in. I back the notion completely and do think it is the way forward but can our players adapt in the space of 3 tests? Well, Saturday proved the point.

I do hope Peter De Villiers gets it right. We really need him to. If he doesn`t, it might have serious repercussions for rugby in this country. Unfortunately politics play a major part in our sport and for the first black coach to be a failure will be a massive blow.

What can he do? Well firstly, stop talking to the media and start doing. The media has cost a lot of Bok Coaches their jobs. PDV is making silly comments at present and the media is having a field day.

Secondly, get the selections right. Bring back BJ at tighthead and consider Beast or Heinke Van Der Merwe at loosehead. Bring Monty in at 15, move Jantjes to the wing and bring in Frans Steyn at centre to partner Jean De Villiers.

Having said all of this though, I must be honest that I don`t see us coming back from our tour down under with a win. I predict a 0/3 record. The knives will be out for PDV and things are going to get really hairy.

I pray I`m wrong but I cannot see the Boks coming back with even one win.

So why the bad feeling? I have seen all of this before. 1995 we were crowned World Champions and it should have been the start of a wonderful period for Bok rugby. What transpired in 1996 was our first series loss on home soil to the All Blacks and a loss to the British Lions the year after.

Hence the bad feeling, I fear it may just be 1996 all over again.

Roger Federer

Well, I am devastated. Roger is probably my favourite sportsman and after an epic Wimbledon final he has lost his crown to Rafael Nadal.
The final will probably go down as the best of all time. It ebbed and flowed between two of the best players to ever play the game. Unfortunately it didn`t go Roger`s way but that is sport. There will always be a winner and there will always be a loser. My favourite didn`t win this time but surely there will be more grandslam titles. He will beat Pete Sampras`s record of 14 grandslam titles, of that I have no doubt.
What is however a fact is that Roger is the best player to have ever played the game. The elusive French Open title will no doubt come his way soon and that will be the final piece of the jigzaw.
I have a feeling that the loss today will be a catalyst in his career. This year has been his worst for 5 years. There is talk that he suffered glandular fever in January, which would explain quite a lot. He will however sit down, take stock and come back better than ever. He has walked the courts for the last few years knowing that he is the best. Rafa has been his only competition. On clay Rafa has no equal, the best to ever have played the game on that surface without a doubt. Until today, Rafa had not won a Grandslam on any other surface. That however all changed about 25 minutes ago. Rafa beat Roger on his favourite surface and that will hurt. Roger will go back to the drawing board and come back better. The topspin backhand will be refined and that will make him unbeatable.

I also want to add that he may have lost today but the fight he showed was that of a true champion. He wasn`t close to being at his best but he fought with everything he had. That makes him an even bigger hero is my eyes.

So, although my heart is very sore I know that you sometimes have to take a step back to go 3 steps forward.

This will be the case with Roger.

2009 will see him equal Pete Sampras`s record and hopefully overtake it and in doing so, become the greatest of all time.
I will be there for every second of the ride...

First Half marathon

Please allow me to indulge myself!

Here are some photos of my first half marathon in Napier which is situated in the Overberg about 100km`s from Somerset West.

My Prized Possessions - 1

I have decided to do a regular post of my prized possessions, the things that really mean the world to me.



First off, my wedding ring. I have been married for 7 years now and I`m very much in love with my wife. We have been through a lot during this time but we have always been each others best friend.

So, my first "prized possession" is my wedding ring.

Trinations

Ok, so here we are at the start of yet another Trinations. So far, the Boks have won 2, Australia 2 and the All Blacks the rest.

Although it is always exciting, I have to ask myself if it still holds the public interest like it used to? Don`t get me wrong, I won`t miss a game and wouldn`t for the world but still, there is something missing.

Remember the good old days, when your Mom or Dad woke you up at 03:00 in the middle of winter to go watch the Boks play the All Blacks? Freezing cold you jumped out of bed and sat infront the tv until the final whistle. Then, I always wanted to go kick my "Bokkie" rugby ball outside. Mom of course wouldn`t let me cos it was 06:00 and picth dark, not to mention freezing cold!

But for me, that will always be better than the Trinations. Tours of old, where the Boks played midweek games (the perfect place to blood youngsters and see if they can take the step up) and test matches on Saturdays. Where the first side to beat the Boks (outside of the tests) got the coveted Springbok Head as a prize to honour their achievement. That to me is still the ultimate.
In 1981, the Boks slept in squash courts within the stadium in NZ due to animosity towards them by the public at large. That same team came within a whisker (no pun intended on the very large snorre back in the day!) of winning the series. An as yet unexplained penalty at the end gifted the win for the All Blacks.

The only problem is tv now rules the world. TV rights make rugby unions profitable and ultimately, tours have been banished because the suits need money. A very sad state of affairs.

What of the Trinations this year? Australia are my picks, if for nothing else then for the fact that they nicked the best coach in the world from under the noses of the Kiwis. The AB`s will be a force as always and the Boks will definitely have the added incentive of proving their worth as World Champions.

I reckon this Trinations might just be the closest for a long long time but I would give anything for a Bok tour to NZ....