Jake White called a press conference for Wednesday(today) at lunch-time where he will probably announce that he will step down as Bok coach. It is unclear if this will be with immediate effect or if White will still travel to Wales with the Springboks.

This development follows confirmation by the Australian Rugby Union that White has expressed interest in the vacant position to coach Australia. Jake’s agent, Craig Livingstone, contacted Pat Howard, the ARU high performance manager to express interest. White has till Friday to apply for the Australian post.

It now seems likely that White will be persuing other international coaching opportunities when his tenure runs out out the 31st December.

The Cheetahs retained the ABSA Currie Cup when they overcame a valiant Lions side in Bloemfontein. After all the euphoria of the RWC these two teams had to come up with something special and this they did. Both sides were keen to play rugby and there were plenty of action in the game.

The Cheetahs started like a house on fire, dominating the early exchanges, and they dually took the lead through a Willem de Waal penalty. The Lions drew level almost immediately when Louis Strydom slotted a penalty. Fantastic defence by both teams saw no tries in the first half, with the Cheetahs going into the break 6-3 in the lead after another de Waal penalty.

The second half provided loads of action. Darron Nell, Cheetah 8thman, received a yellow card, and the 10 minutes he spent in the sin bin saw the Lions take control of the game. Two tries, a conversion and a penalty saw the Lions take a 18-6 lead with only 20 minutes left on the clock. The Cheetahs refused to stop trying and the last 15 minutes saw them display the talents that have won them the previous two Currie Cup competitions. They stayed calm and managed to score two converted tries, the last conversion slotted by Willem de Waal right from the touchline to give his team a 2 point lead with only 3 minutes to play. The Cheetahs held on to this slender lead with determination and they celebrated in style when the final whistle went. Final score: Cheetahs 20 Lions 18

In the under 19 and under 21 finals WP were victorius over the Bulls in both games. The under 19 result was 29-27 to WP and in the under 21 clash WP beat the Bulls by 31-17.

Just two days after receiving a surprise call up to the SA squad, Jannie du Plessis is set to start the quarterfinal game against Fiji. Du Plessis will join his team mates on Wednesday and he will pretty much step of the plane and onto the training field. This is all due to CJ van der Linde picking up a knee injury during practise that force him to the sidelines for this weekend’s action. CJ is expected to fully recover and be available for a possible semi-final and final. Gurthro Steenkamp will move onto the bench and John Smit will provide cover for the tight head side of the scrum.

The Lions kept their semi-final hopes alive with a fantastic defensive display against the Bulls at Ellispark.

Both teams created chances to score but promising moves broke down due to fantastic defence. The Lions took their chances better, scoring one try in each half. Both flyhalves a had great time with the boot, contributing 17 points each to their teams cause. Final score: Lions 27 Bulls 22.

The Cheetahs maintained their unbeaten record with a hard fought victory over Griquas in Kimberley.

The men from Bloemfontein started the game well and were leading by 14-3 at half time. Griquas came back well in the second half scoring 2 well worked tries. The Cheetahs struggled to breech the Griquas defence and only managed 2 tries. The reliable boot of Willem de Waal proved the deciding factor. Final score: Cheetahs 21 Griquas 17

The Springboks started their World Cup campaign with a hard fought victory against Samoa. The game was very physical and threatened to boil over at times, but the class of the SA side was too much in the end for the Samoans.

SA dominated the lineouts and the scrums but for the first 30 minutes failed to impress. Samoa scored the first try of the half after good play by their backs. The SA back line never really got going in the first half and it was only thanks to individual brilliance from Bryan Habana that the Bokke scored their first try. A second try for the Bokke by Percy Montgomery gave SA a 21-7 half time lead, but all was not well in the SA camp.

The second half saw the SA back line gain more confidence, but it was only after Jean de Villiers left the field with an injury, replaced by Francois Steyn, that the back line started to look dangerous. The great possession provided by the forwards was used with better judgement and SA scored a further 6 tries in the second half. Final score: SA 59 Samoa 7.

Samoa can take heart out of their performance,they can certainly be a difficult opponent for England. (more…)

Jake White picked his strongest possible squad to take on Samoa this coming Sunday.

John Smit makes his return to the side and will captain a side that has played in a combined total of 609 test matches (that is just the starting XV). Jean de Villiers slots back into the inside centre position after recovering from a rib injury. JP Pietersen gets the nod for the number 14 jersey and hopefully he will silence his critics and grab this opportunity with both hands.

SA side to face Samoa: 15. Percy Montgomery, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jaque Fourie, 12. jean de Villiers, 11. Btyan 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(captain), 1. Os du Randt

Reserves: 16. Bismarck du Plessis, 17. BJ Botha, 18. Johann Muller, 19. Wikus van Heerden, 20. Ricky Januarie, 21. Andre Pretorius, 22. Francois Steyn

The Bokke should expect a hard, physical encounter against the Samoans but the experience and size of the SA side should see them to a comfortable victory.

SARB would like to wish the Springboks all the best for their World Cup campaign.