All talk of SAFFA franchises abandoning.....

SANZAAR is a cop-out, truth be told we're a poor show, as a rugby nation we've brought nothing to the table.  Our teams simply don't measure up to Kiwi sides and after 20 years it is still unclear when they'll be competitive. Throw as many excuses as you want the facts are plain to see, we don't have the cattle, we delude ourselves that we have the talent...we don't. It's only recently we discovered that to run the ball allows for a better game than happily kicking the leather off it, that it's a good thing to pass the ball and it's another good thing to offload in the tackle. Although it seems they've buried the kick at all costs game, all our teams still struggle with the latter two, hopefully when one day they overcome those two flaws they would have discovered the secret to scoring tries. 

Question is why would anyone pay to see a one sided foregone conclusion game? If SAFFA teams had been competitive enough to make fans salivate at the prospect of an exciting game between two highly skilled professional sides, one a Kiwi and the other a SAFFA then I daresay there'd be more bums on seats. Fans have voted , they are registering their feelings both home and away, I'm afraid the damage has been done. 

Denny, I think this is true, but it is only a part of the problem with rugby in SA. For me there are three main issues.

1. As you have mentioned, our competitiveness against NZ opposition is a problem. I do believe we have closed the gap quite a lot, and there have been very few run away victories. That is in the competition in general, not just SA sides.

2. The lure of the stronger currencies up North. It is a simple matter of numbers when it comes down to it, and we are losing more and more of our top players to the Club with fat wallets in Europe. And that brings me to our last point...

3. South Africans, especially white South Africans, have become disillusioned about the quotas forced onto rugby. It is a doubles edged sword because not only are supporters and players becoming less patriotic because of the political situation, but it plays "perfectly" into my second point. Players feel unwanted or undervalued, so they simply leave the republic and chase the big money deals in European rugby. Many of them doing so early enough in their careers to still be able to play international rugby for those countries.   

Its a sad state of affairs really. 

It would be nice to compete in a competition were the odds on favorites aren't assisted by the officials ... thus guaranteeing them the win.

At times it's so damn obvious it's sickening.

I'm looking for a fair shake and with the kiwis in the mix that'll never happen.

Time to dump them and go up north. The sooner the better.

@CC

Here, you'll need this...

<hands CC spoon with extended grip for extra stirring>

Den I think we're slowly seeing the light.

There is talent in SA though it is slightly hyped.

We need to remember that we had 6 years in a row of poor coaching at national level.

We've got an ex player cutting his teeth in the job at the Stormers, had Nollis at the Bulls and Gold at the Sharks. Could it be worse?

After one season in charge Mithch has the Bulls looking very competitive. The Sharks are slowly getting there. I emphasise slowly. The Lions have been beating the Kiwis more often than not and have held a light up to the path of winning.

Over the last two years we have started to see a lot of offloading in tackles and the old always kick from the red and orange zones seems dead and buried. Albeit not always a successful mindset.

We've come a long way since the 2015 WC where Vermulen is quoted as saying "I wasn't sure if should offload because the coach always tells us not to offload."

We finally have a seemingly quality coach in the Bok job, two or maybe three decent coaches at provincial level and despite the Lions recent setbacks, things are looking better. 

I know i might be slated for this. Having worked in a good few different countries but I can honestly say that SA has a lower standard of workplace professionalism and skill than anywhere else I've been. 

Unfortunately our top bosses are all too often incompetent or just completely useless. And I think this affects our team sports severely.

It's why I believe cricket hasn't suffered so much. It's more of an individual game played in a group. Requires less strategy and is less reliant on the boss.

We forget how important the coach is. 

Jose Mourinho is a perfect testament as to just how drastic a change managers makes to a team.

For me, aside finally from the quota problem which is obviously a massive hindrance there is another big, possibly bigger problem.

The fact that toddlers(autocorrect changed tossers to toddlers...still apt :) ) in suites, some who have never played the sport at any decent level get to decide the future of the team IE who the coach should be.

Seriously Mark Alexander of former baseball admin gets a top job in rugby?

Why are former successful manager's and coaches not making these decisions?

Having run a similar organisation does not give you the knowledge you require to understand how to best strengthen a team in a sport you know not a thing about. It just means you'll be good at making sure the team is well fed and arrives on time.

Where are the rugby brains at SARU?

Jurie Roux? Mark Alexander? FFS why was Hoskins ever there? How did that turn out?

Where are the guys who have proven track records at building/maintaining professional unions and dictating terms to achieve successful outcomes?

For me, it's time the ACTUAL PLAYERS AND COACHES take the sport back from the suite wearing swines that hide behind hyperbole and rhetoric.

I am not in favour of withdrawal of SA from Sanzaar - since it would not benefit  SH rugby.as iit would deprive Australia and New Zealand from money they desperately need for local rugby.and the payment of their players.  

So lets keep the discussion on a positive basis.   There are serious reservations about  some p roblems - especially to refereeing of matches in NZ and by Jackson which negatively affect the public feeling locally about NZ rugby.   Those decisions all favouring NZ teams and was regarded by many as cheating,   You must appreciate that the negative feelings are widespread  - not only among members of this site but in the general public.,

There were in fact at least 3 games this year where the refereeing became problematic - those included the Hurricanes-Sharks  game, the Chiefs-Bulls game and the Bulls-Highlanders games.   It could have been avoided - but the feeling of NZ and Aussie cheating against SA teams started yeas ago and is still widespread.   It was in fact embarrassing when e-mail from NZ rugby surfaced instructing NZ and Aussie referees to deal with the SA teams in such a way that they cannot win matches.   So SA supporters .have a widespread distrust of refs and that was strengthened by what happened in the three matches mentioned..

However, one as to keep a cool head and hope the problems can be solved and the nastiness do not wreck an interesting competition by irresponsibility.     .       

"However, one as to keep a cool head and hope the problems can be solved and the nastiness do not wreck an interesting competition by irresponsibility."

Still wondering where Basque vanished to with his edited video "proving"that Jackson didn't mess up in favor of his countrymen.

I see we have been nicknamed Yarpies for some time now. 

Odd how we never developed a piss take derogatory nickname for the Kiwis.

Cool. My new name for Kiwis is Kuntis. 

Good for the goose...

Wi ll be seeing you on the on the round...my Kunti friends.

Lolz

Sorry, should have said the missing "n".

Plum, I've been calling my SA mates "Japies" for 40 years, ever since I first met a heap of them on the failure trail in Europe.

They didn't find it offensive then and in fact referred to themselves by that very name.

40 years on and now you are back up on that high horse you have been riding lately?

Moolaa

Allow me to explain the situation,   The word “plaasjapie” was a demeaning and insulting  word developed by English speaking city dwellers to describe youngsters of Afrikaaans background moving into the cities at a time when relationships between Afrikaans and English-speaking South Africans were at an all-time low – ie in the decade after the Anglo-Boer War.

However, since about 80% if the Afrikaans speakers moved into the cities by the 1950’s and Afrikaans is the language of 75% of the Coloured community in SA, the insulting word disappeared from usage many years ago - ie after World War II and it is never used in SA anymore.

How it got in distorted form used by NZ members and even officials of NZ rugby is really questionable and  distasteful – given the background attached to the word itself.  The usage of the word is an insult in itself  

Japie is a South African male first name, of Afrikaans origin, often found as a familiar or shortened form of the names Johannes and Jacobus.

The name may be occasionally used as a mildly derogative ethnic slur or nickname for (particularly white, rural) South Africans, in which instance it is also spelt as it is pronounced: yarpie. This comes from the Afrikaans term plaasjapie, meaning "farm boy".[1] It has socio-economic connotations similar to the NZ/Australian term bogan or the American hillbilly. It may or may not be an offensive term depending upon intent and context of use.

It may or may not be an offensive term depending upon intent and context of use.

Moolaa, I can't recall you ever being offensive. 

It's not that bad Clouds, depends on the attitude of the user. The Poms arent too fond of that term either but we still call the Poms regardless. Jesting is fine and there is nothing wrong with a bit of banter. I've seen worse than "mildly deroga tive "

I'll stop "complaining " about it too, because it would be sad to see the end of it's use on this site.

Ja, it's not offensive.

As an English speaking Saffa I know for a fact that if I walk into an Afrikaans bar from JHB to CT and start throwing the word Jaapie around I'm gonna have to get ready for a scrap. 

Similarly if an Afrikaans guy calls me a "soutie" he has shortened my fuse by a factor of at least half.

Anyway my kunti friends, you don't have to thank me for the lesson. 

Just get ready for the next one 

:) :) :)

"Yarpie" is about as offensive to us as "Coconut" is to you Coconuts.

It's a silly little word that will get your teeth knocked down your throat. 

Don't believe me? Come to South Africa and test it out on a Afrikaaner sitting at the local pub ... see what he thinks of your "yarpie".

And to show us just how bold you are, pick the biggest motherfckur in the pub to say it to.

LOL!!

CC

You just beat Mike's duplicate record.

BTW we have a girl Dane that is reaching maturity now and has gotten best of show a couple of times already.

The pics I posted before were of her brother. 

Will see if I can post some of her.

Goes to show, Plum ... anything Mike can do, I can do better.

lol!!

Awesome ... congrats. Yes please do. Would love to see your champion woof doing her thing.

"Its a sad state of affairs really."

Too true, Blou.

Pity though this blog has gone south, so little room for debate on here these days. 

I agree with everything you say and I'd hate to be a white person living in South Africa right now, the resentment for want of a lighter word is palpable.

But back to my point, and look I understand the reasons, everyone and I mean everyone has a had a go at hacking Bok rugby, from the ANC and SARU to the Coaches. Introducing the Kings was another nail in SANZAAR'S coffin. They paid the price of buying into South Africa's racial policy.

My point is South Africa is still and will always be regarded as a rugby powerhouse but in 20 years plus since re-admission we've brought sweet nothing to the table. Our rugby is crap and we're being schooled by the Kiwis. And still now there's no light at the end of the tunnel. 

So now the cop -out is to head north....to transfer the rubbish we play somewhere else....for what intent and purpose? How about admitting to ourselves that our rugby is sick and that it needs to be repaired? How about not blaming our woes on the supposedly "cheating Kiwis"? 

Here's another cop out....It's funny how Glen Jackson is being called a cheat......did we call Joubert a cheat when he stuffed two teams in two RWC games.....first the French and then the Scots? It was that bad that he ran off the field in one of them....he couldn't depart the field any quicker.....embarrassing!!!

I  don't buy this Kiwi cheating rubbish.....we've been losing to them for the last 20 some odd years, funny it's only now been discovered they've been cheating us......there's a laugh that's it's taken that long to evolve this new wisdom. Have a go at Jackson as being inept, an incompetent, another Bryce Lawrence, but a cheat....no tx.

Ou dense denise just doesnt get it. Jackson is a highly competent ref when he wants to be. Unfortunately his competence goes out the window when nz teams are involved.

As for Craig Joubert, he was the one who handed to RWC to an undeserving wee ab side outplayed by the frogs! Beeno has been critical of Joubert many times dense! Wouldn't surprise me ou brycy lawrence (worst ref i hitory of the game) isn't a great ref according to dense. Bwahahahahhahahaha hilarious stuff !!!

Good riddance Clean Cut (with a silent “n”). You’ll fit in well in the NH with your constant grizzling and bitching....

The NH is not a junkyard. The SH keeps their garbage.

Can't wait to see the Yarpies puffing around the rugby fields in the sweltering heat of a summers day in mid December.

Might well happen. Pro 14 clubs focus on the european cups, this is where they make the money. They give high priority to it.

They will not like having to travel down to play in heat, this will affect their performances in EC and possibly 6Ns.

Expect SA sides to play each other during SH summers.

Whoosh !!!!

Se ek ook Draad..... WHOOSH

Common okes , sorry oaks, Japie is not derogatory. I can't remember all the lines, but we had a song with the words "Japie my skaapie, ek verlang na jou" ....

EDIT ..... I got it:

Woorde: Tradisioneel
Musiek: S.A. Volkswysie; verwerk: DIRKIE DE VILLIERS

Japie, my skapie, ek verlang na jou.
Japie, my skapie, ek verlang na jou.
Kalkoentjies trap al-so, al-so, al-so.
Kalkoentjies trap al-so, al-so, al-so.
In die w?reld is nie ene nie, ene nie, ene nie,
in die w?reld is nie ene nie, so als jy.

Wie het vir Sarie in die doringbos gegooi?
Wie het vir Sarie in die doringbos gegooi?
Daar's vuur in die bos, gooi sand op, gooi sand op.
Daar's vuur in die bos, gooi sand op: Een, twee, drie!
In die w?reld is nie ene nie, ene nie, ene nie,
in die w?reld is nie ene nie, so als jy.  

"Yarpie" sounds very much like "pakeha" which used to be a derogatory team for white settlers but now is in general usage as anyone white sans the derogatory connotations.

Let me guess is cleam clunt whining about refs like a teenage girl cut from the cheer leading squad?