Tony McKeever

This has been the annual siren call of Professor Willie Basson, the Saru transformation and development consultant, to Saru for eight years. And still Saru persists with an archaic approach to developing and growing rugby in SA. With the Springboks having won two, drawn two and lost two (and our coach Heyneke Meyer, regaling us […]

It is agonising to watch the South African Rugby Union (Saru) wrestle with what might appear a most complex solution to including the Eastern Cape in Super Rugby. Yet the solution to this is extraordinarily simple, delivering a non-conflict remedy that would otherwise decimate South African rugby to the benefit and advantage of the Kiwis, […]

As you read this, Bakkies Botha is probably back in Pretoria leaving behind him New Zealand and the next three games of the Rugby World Cup, which ends October 23. Cause: “Achilles tendon injury”. Bakkies is a South African patriot and consummate rugby professional, but you have to wonder, or just be a little bit […]

By the time you read this, the Springboks would probably have landed in Johannesburg and would be holding a press conference at the OR Tambo Intercontinental Hotel. A press conference where they will face a baying media contingent on what went wrong and what might have been. These are of course the defending Rugby World […]

Dan Carter was to have captained the All Blacks for the first time on Sunday. An honour bestowed on him as a Kiwi legend akin to that of teammate Richie McCaw who had to withdraw because of his injury. “Twang” went Carter’s groin muscle during kicking practice yesterday and now he is out and gone […]

So now that we know Richie McCaw plays the bagpipes, and has Scottish heritage, the Rugby World Cup organisers are being put under pressure from all quarters to lift the ban on bagpipes. The Scottish media, traditionalists and rugby aficionados want their instrument in the stadiums. This involves Scottish MPs, a Facebook plea, letters to […]

The Rugby World Cup commences tomorrow September 9 with the All Blacks vs Tonga match. The flood gates will open for all the 20 team games with 600 players in four pools of five teams each playing to win the final on October 23 at Eden Park. This means that of the 600 RWC players […]

And now, from Auckland New Zealand — head quarters of the Rugby World Cup due to start on September 9 and end on the October 23 — here are the 10 essentials the International Rugby Board says teams must aim to get right if they want to lift the Webb Ellis Cup at the Rugby […]

It is a very distinct possibility that the next time the Springboks meet the All Blacks, following the August 20 game at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will be at the 60 000-seater Eden Park in Auckland on October 23 at 9pm. The Rugby World Cup starts in two weeks and all the national sides […]

1. John Mitchell: “I won’t let this deter my commitment or passion for the team. But I need to make sure that I am totally secure where I live. It is not at all nice waking up and having to defend your life.” 2. Peter de Villiers: “The guys have come back refreshed and hungry […]

National rugby coaches are like lightning conductors for raw emotions and there is no such place on earth like the seat of the South African rugby coach, he gets struck multiple times with the intensity of heaven and hell colliding. When it’s good — the coach can do no wrong and when the Springbok team […]

You have to feel for the Boks on tour. It has been brutal. They have been pounded in New Zealand over the past two weeks, by a fired up, never-say-die All Blacks side that was waiting to peak against the Springboks. Now they face a Robbie Deans-inspired Wallabies side in SunCorp stadium Brisbane — a […]