Cape Town begs for All Blacks

...Rugby officials in Cape Town are pleading with their South African bosses to end the All Blacks' controversial absence from the city.

The Western Province Rugby Union wants to stage next year's Rugby Championship clash between the two southern hemisphere heavyweights on July 25.

When the official draw for the 2015 championship was revealed yesterday the match between the Springboks and All Blacks in South Africa hadn't been assigned to a city.

The All Blacks haven't played in Cape Town since 2008.

That has never been explained though there have been suggestions of concerns over the high level of support the All Blacks receive amongst the coloured and black communities in Cape Town, a throwback to the dark days of apartheid.

That extends to Super Rugby where the Crusaders enjoy fanatical support in the city by a group who call themselves the Cape Crusaders.

Western Province president Thelo Wakefield played down that aspect when he confirmed to the Die Burger newspaper that his union would approach SARU president Oregan Hoskins to consider handing the All Black Test to Newlands.

Wakefield said they will ask SARU's executive council to give the matter some serious thought because the "Cape's people deserve it".

"The support for the Boks here is overwhelming. We saw recently how the crowd backed the Boks in their game against the Wallabies. It will be the same against the All Blacks," Wakefield told the newspaper.

The All Blacks won their last test against the Boks in Cape Town 19-0.

There has also been a feeling among South African officials that the Springboks have a better chance of beating the All Blacks at their altitude strongholds in Pretoria and Johannesburg.

They won their last clash at Ellis Park 27-25, ending a drought dating back to 2011 when they won in Port Elizabeth on the country's eastern seaboard.

Durban has been tipped as a likely host of next year's match that will be the only test between the two sides before September's World Cup.

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 ...Moz ,brave of the yanks wanting to play without all their padding and helmets...hope we don't get sued for hurting yogi, booboo and co... am looking forward to the halftime entertainment as well...

..I bet the NFL scouts will be out in force ready to offer the Kiwis muti million dollar contracts to switch codes...gotta watch these yankee doodles ...might have to send our B team. ..

The fact that an American football team can consist of something like 90 players tells a story of its own. One whole team for defence and one whole team for attack. I have watched the game and find it boring. The actual plays are interesting enough, but it is constant stop, start, stop start, coaches calling time out to talk about this and that, swapping your defence team for an attack team, stop start stop start again. Nope, I get it, but I don't like it.

Beeno: best you don't look in the rear view mirror because the English are coming.

The Boks number two ranking is at risk again. We have grown accustomed to the Boks being 2nd (even if it is a distant second after loses to teams such as the wee wobblies). We will miss you guys but hopefully you will bounce back eventually.

The way to think about these things Daddy is....they are all sports played by human beings. As such they tend to get pushed to the limits of human capacity in their particular format. Tennis tests coordination, speed, endurance and quick reflex muscles for example.

Rugby and American football tend to test the same things. The brilliant 120 yard sprint by Hester in the Super Bowl went from corner flag to opposite corner flag. It was the greatest single run with a ball I have seen....and totally applicable to rugby.

These football stars wear padding....but they still get pushed to the limits of the human body, not in stamina perhaps, but in speed, strength and durability. I prefer the rugby format by far, but football has its own charms and it's a viscious game in the physical sense.