Archive for the ‘Rugby’ Category

Invictus, the movie starring Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar  and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela was released on 11 December 2009, however it was only released on this date in the US and South Africa…

Since then the film has been receiving rave reviews in the US and especially South Africa which is no surprise really. However, the film is only scheduled for release in Australia on 21 January 2010 leaving the UK more or less last in line, due for release only on 5 February 2010.

Now my point is this, did whoever decides on these release dates not quite do their homework correctly, because had they done so properly, they may have just noticed that the UK aswell as Australia are massive havens for expat South African's who would quite honestly go to great lengths in the height of anticipation, wanting to see such a largely spoken about film about such a historic event in South African history, which each and every South African inside or outside of South Africa can relate to. If this was some kind of marketing idea to increase the hype, then a maximum of two weeks would have been more than sufficient between release dates to build momentum for the film. The reason being, is that we don't live in the dark ages anymore without the internet, email, blogs or even the telephone for that matter, news travels fast these days. While the film was still being edited its popularity amongst South African's was already sky rocketing.

In my opinion, the gap between release dates is far too long, the longer the wait the more open it becomes to pirate copies leaking out onto the net in the form of, probably the most hated word in the film industry… Torrents…  I highly doubt that I'd be able to find many, if any anxious South Africans in the UK just itching to see the movie that they've been hearing so much about from all their mates back home, who would wait until February to watch the movie at a cinema than watch a good quality torrent download given the oppitunity. Rumour has it that there are already near DVD quality copies available for download bouncing around the net. As soon as one person gets their hands on a copy or a link since over here you can download a 1GB file in about 20mins, I reckon its gonna spread through the Saffa community at a pace twice the speed of swine flu, which is a bit of a shame really, but what can you do, people are hungry for it at the end of the day.

I cannot wait to see it on the big screen and if you notice a sudden drop in Saffa population in London bars during the evening of the 5th Feb, there's only one place you'll find them… at your local Odeon

It is an unbelievably awesome movie that really strikes a chord in your heart and serves up a nice dosage of the emotions that every South African felt on that day… when The Springboks won the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final.

If you aren't fully aware of how much went on behind the scenes of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, then the following video should bring you up to speed, make sure you have a tissue ready as this video alone can strike the same chords as mentioned earlier

Check out the Invictus Trailer below

- Marky Mark

In the heat of Ras Dumisani's unbelievably shocking rendition of the South African National Anthem at the start of the Springbok vs France game in Toulouse on Friday night, I've had a bit of time to have a few thoughts on the matter.

Now I know I may be starting a shit storm of controversy here, and I accept the fact that some narrow mindedness and follow the crowdness will want to have its sharp quick comments, but please bare in mind, I totally agree 100% that Ras Dumisani did butcher the national anthem in our eyes and should have without a doubt NEVER been on that field, yet there is a bigger picture here.

Now I must admit, the previous article was written straight after seeing a video of the shocking outrage that took place and hence without a doubt you can see that disgust within the writing. In the heat of the moment we can say the darndest things… any person in a relationship will agree However I do wish to take some of my derogatory comments about Ras Dumisani back, because after some further investigation, he is within his own rite and in my opinion, not such a bad reggae artist, but "REGGAE" being the operative word here. He is without a doubt and proved bigtime the other night, NOT a national anthem singer as we all now know. I did some looking around for some Ras Dumisani material on YouTube and to my amazement there is actually quite a bit there. So I thought I'd take a look and this is just one of them, have a listen.

Now I can't say I'm much of a reggae reggae fan to be honest, well at least not since my days of being a bit of a zolbol at school, where all our CD collections had at least one Bob Marley album (don't deny it, you know what I mean haha ), so I know most people will still think it is a load of shit, but look passed it for a second and you will probably realise that he isn't actually that bad…. AS A REGGAE ARTIST…  That is the style in which they make music and that is how they sing songs to their reggae style and beat.  You aren't gonna hire a reggae reggae band and not expect to hear reggae reggae music being the the main influence in any song that they play, only a moron wouldn't expect it. I'm actually quite astonishingly surprised that nobody saw this coming from a mile off.

Now another point is this, some people "believe" they can sing, just take a look every week at the X-Factor or Idols auditions, some of those people truely believe they can sing the song that they are singing. In their heads it sounds awesome and how it should be done, but for pretty much everyone besides them, its really just not the case. This is why they have a panel of judges that decide who goes through passed the audition stage, but they show the ones on TV that can't sing for blatant humorous purposes.

Take a look at this… get what I'm saying?…

And this oke is convinced he is an excellent rapper…just like Eminem

Maybe in Ras Dumisani's mind it actually sounded good, he proved this when he did it again on a Cape radio station yesterday, where he did actually think it was good, but  for everyone besides him, it wasn't good at all. Now I'm not saying that we should hold an X-Factor contest everytime we have a rugby match, but there should seriously be some sort of audition process in place to see that the artist is singing such an important song in a manner which is potentially acceptable to the majority. Trust me, you wouldn't have needed to be a Simon Cowell to decide whether it would be good or not, any person could have made that assumption beforehand.

What I am getting to here is, Ras Dumisani is as much a victim of this catastophe as everyone who was watching it was, and he is being made out to be the scapegoat in this saga which has now been labelled "Anthemgate". He truely believed just like all those X-Factor auditions that he could do it, but nobody stopped him and said, "hold on a sec my china, thats really not how that song should sound". He was just the poor bugger who was put out there believing that he could do it. There are alot of guys out there who believe they are Springbok quality rugby players and believe they have what it takes to represent their country, I'm sure you'll agree. If they were given half the chance they would take up the oppitunity without a second thought just like Ras Dumisani probably did, but there is a strict Springbok selection process in place which seperates the believers from the guys who have what it takes to be a Springbok, and to stop them from getting annihilated on the field just like Ras Dumisani.

As I said, it seems that Ras Dumisani is being made out to be the scapegoat here, everything about who he is has been trampled into the ground, whereas the real person or people responsible at the South African Embassy in Paris are hiding behind a curtain, too shit scared to come out and show their faces. I'm sure you will agree that it should be the person who is responsible for giving Ras Dumisani the go ahead, who put their signature on whatever piece of paper to say that Ras Dumisani would sing the anthem before the game, that is the person who's face and name should be plastered all over the internet receiving all the bad comments that we all keep seeing all over the place.
I think that person should publically apologise firstly to Ras Dumisani for giving him hope and letting him fail in front of a world stage along with the negativity that is now surrounding the poor dude, and secondly to South Africa as a nation, for single handedly embarassing the living daylights out of our country in front of the world.

That is the person who I think should be labelled the disgrace of South Africa, Public Enemy Number One!

Who is this person? What is their name? and more so, show us a photo of what this bloody poes looks like!

What do you think?

Over to you

- Marky Mark

The South African National Anthem sung at the start of the Springboks vs France game in Toulouse yesterday was an absolute disgrace to the nation

As many of you may have seen yesterday and witnessed in absolute shock, the South African National Anthem was "sung" by some absolute tone deaf idiot who proved to everyone at the stadium aswell as everyone viewing on TV that he cannot sing to save his life, by constantly going off key and going to his own beat which wasn't even to the beat of the rest of the music. I can honestly say that even my cat Pringles could have meowed the anthem better through the microphone. It was an absolute disgrace and complete mockery of our anthem and our nation.

You could see the look on the players faces that all that was going through their minds was WTF! Schalk Burger's face was priceless right at the end because you could see the disgust written all over his face. If I were The Legend That Is John Smit, I would have led the boys straight off the field into the change rooms and demanded that they find someone to do the anthem properly before they even think of stepping foot back onto that field.

Fortunately enough I actually missed the anthems and the kick off having no idea of the extent of what everyone was talking about with the anthems, until today when I found a video on YouTube showing it. I watched and I must admit, I was left completely lost for words, jaw dropped and eyes wide open. I could not believe that this was actually real and that it wasn't some kind of joke.

Bob Skinstad tweeted last night saying that the first thing South African Coach Peter de Villiers expressed at the start of the press conference after the game, was his disgust at the way the anthem was sung.

This is what The Legend That Is John Smit tweeted tonight

I bet every player thought the same thing at the time, that this was some kind of joke or that they were being punk'd, because it was absolutely ridiculous.

Where on earth did they find the dude in the first place? It's blatantly obvious that they didn't even audition the idiot beforehand because they would have very quickly realised that the guy cannot sing a line of the anthem without going off key. Whoever hired him and his two stooges should be made to make a formal public apology on TV and immediately fired thereafter because this was un-fuckin-believable!.. and I will not pardon my French

But howz this, its since come to light that the dude was hired by our own South African Embassy in Paris…  The way the process works is that when a foreign team visits, the French make a request to that country's embassy to ask if there is anyone who they would like to nominate to do the anthem, before finding someone themselves… so in other words some bunch of idiots who work in a small outpost of South Africa have completely embarrased our entire nation on a world stage.

EISH! I think someone is in a bit of kak

Just incase you missed it and want to experience this jaw dropping experience, see the footage for yourself below.

Shocked and Disgusted? I thought so…

Feel free not to hold back in your comments

- Marky Mark

As advertised, "The Saracens and their guests, the Springboks, meet and greet party with the players" but there were no Springboks… well at least any current ones…

You may recall that an article was posted with a flyer last week for a meet and greet with The Saracens and The Springboks in Wimbledon (View article here). We were all led to believe that The Springboks themselves would be there as stated on the flyer… Well my friends, I'm afraid this certainly wasn't the case. Infact, nothing could be further from it.

This evening I excitedly rushed back to Wimbledon in order to get there early so that I could at least get to say Howzit and have a chat with some of the players before it got too busy. When we got down there, we noticed a couple of the South African Saracens players, but no sign of a single player from our victorious XV anywhere in sight. As the evening panned out, it seemed the only "Springboks" that were there and with no disrespect to them, were Cobus Visagie and Wikus Van Heerden who "used" to play for the boks some time ago, but nowadays play for The Saracens, so all in all, it seemed to be a few Saracens players "and none of their guests". Ex-Sharks player now playing for the Saracens, Brad Barritt was there and The Jen got to chat with him for a bit.  During the evening an announcement was called where since I hadn't seen any of the Boks, I expected someone to announce that due unforeseen circumstances something had come up and the guys couldn't make it or were running late, but to my surprise, they thanked everyone for coming along; announced that there were a couple Saracens players in the venue and hoped we have a good evening… nothing whatsoever of the elusive Springboks. Eventually we left at around 10pm, quite disappointed to say the least amidst many people asking that one question… where are The Springboks?

So I think you probably get the picture, there were no Springboks, only two EX-Springboks who now fall in the category of Saracens players, and nothing said about The Springboks that were clearly advertised on the flyer. To be quite honest, I know it usually costs big tom for the guys to do public appearances, however due to the circumstances of them playing a few friendly's over here you may have thought otherwise, or at least had a couple of the okes there which I'm sure most people would have been happy with. Its not uncommon for them to make an appearance since they did rock up at Clapham Grand last time, with the legend that is John Smit even busting the decks during the night. I know most of the main guys were on a plane to France this evening, but to blatantly advertise that The Springboks are going to make an appearance and not follow through is rather disappointing, even knowing for certain that you are no doubt going to disappoint people is a bit beyond me, wasn't it as clear as day that this is what would happen? Its quite obvious that there were no plans for any of the current Boks to make an appearance to the extent that it is doubtful that the Boks even knew anything about it, because if there were concrete plans for it then we would have certainly got an apology from the organisers this evening. Seems a bit of a sneaky one to pull a crowd in my books.

Although this may not entirely be the venue's fault, as it may have been organised from outside of the venue, however at the end of the day, we have got some questions that need answering.

These are my views of disappointment based on fact of what appears to have been blatant false and mis-leading advertising.
Have a look at the advert via the link above and you be the judge.

Big Thanks to the Saracens players that came down, it was good to be able to meet you guys however sadly for some people this was overshadowed by the let down of expecting to see a few Boks but didn't.

Comments please

- Marky Mark

The Springbok and Saracens players are coming to jol at House Bar in Wimbledon

No jokes, this is pretty wicked news.The Springboks and the Saracens are doing a meet and greet down at House Bar on Wimbledon Broadway next Tuesday 10th November, ahead of their match at Wembley Stadium the following week. Entry is Free at House Bar for the evening and it kicks off at 7pm, sounds like its gonna be one busy evening… EISH!

Hope you got your tickets for the game! Gonna be wicked!  If you haven't got tickets yet, then get them here, they are only a tenner!

Check the flyer below (click image for full size)

- Marky Mark

The Blue Bulls defeat the Cheetahs 36-24 to take the 2009 Currie Cup at Loftus Versfeld

And so the Blue Bulls beat the Free State Cheetahs 36-24 in the Currie Cup Final yesterday at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Anyway, moving swiftly on to more exciting news……..hahaha

Just kidding, I can't be acting like a sore Sharks Supporter now can I

Although saying that, please can all Bulls and Cheetahs supporters, click here

A 21-point blitz in the opening quarter from the home side meant the Cheetahs were forced to play catch-up for the rest of the game.

And in his last game for the Bulls before leaving for Western Province, Habana used his pace to dot down twice to give the Loftus faithful the perfect going-away gift.

The Cheetahs fought valiantly but in the end it was their discipline, which has been their strength this season, that let them down when it mattered most.

Four penalties and a drop from home fly-half Morné Steyn made sure the Cheetahs were punished for the slightest mistake.

Unfortunately a brilliant atmosphere was ruined at the final whistle as fisticuffs broke out.

The Bulls got off to a flier as Francois Hougaard crossed the whitewash after just four minutes thanks to a pin-point cross field kick from Fourie du Preez.

The lead was doubled by the quarter-hour mark as Du Preez and Habana linked up down the left touchline to break clear and put the Cape Town-bound man in for five points. There was more than of hint of a forward pass as Du Preez fed Habana, but it wouldn't have made much difference. Of course metronome Steyn added the extras.

The Loftus faithful didn't have to wait long for Habana to score again as he picked up Du Preez's kick ahead and dived into the corner. Steyn slotted a brilliant conversion and the Bulls led 21-0 after just 20 minutes.

Steyn added a penalty five minutes later and the Cheetahs looked down and out.

But you should never, ever, write the Cheetahs off and most of the rest of the half would belong to the visitors. With the Cheetahs camped on the opposition tryline for extended periods it was matter of time before the pressure turned to points.

First flank Frans Viljoen crashed over from close range and then Corne Uys did the same in the corner with half time looming. After missing an easy penalty earlier on, Jacques-Louis Potgieter found his kicking boots to convert both tries and the Cheetahs were back in the game at 24-14.

The home side would have the last laugh of the half however as sharpshooter Steyn slotted an opportunistic drop-goal as the hooter sounded.

Steyn was on song after the break with another penalty but the momentum had swung the Cheetahs way. Nico Breedt found his way into the corner before Potgieter slotted a drop to make the score 30-24.

With chants of "Cheetahs -Cheetahs" ringing out in the crowd, and the visitors providing most of the positive rugby, the Bulls knew they had a game on their hands.

Another Steyn penalty gave the Bulls a bit of breathing space.

When Cheetahs replacement hooker Richardt Strauss tried to give Francois Hougaard a 'wedgie' off the ball, Steyn could increase the lead to twelve points with his fourth penalty.

The Cheetahs plied the pressure in the closing minutes but a well organised Bulls defence stood firm.

With tempers boiling over, Strauss was given his marching orders for giving ref Jonathan Kaplan too much lip. A man down at the death, the Cheetahs still kept the pressure on, but ran out of time to close the gap.

For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Hougaard, Habana 2
Cons: Steyn 3
Pens: Steyn 4
Drop: Steyn

For the Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Viljoen, Uys, Breedt
Cons: Potgieter 3
Drop: Potgieter

Yellow card: R. Strauss (Cheetahs – 75th min – dissent)

Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Corne Uys, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Danwel Demas, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Frans Viljoen, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 Fabian Juries.

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Pro Legoete, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

If you didn't see the game and you've got the time, check out the minute by minute gameplay here

[source: planetrugby.com]

- Marky Mark

'Invictus' trailer has been released starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar

A couple days ago an article was posted regarding Clint Eastwood's new movie 'Invictus' due to hit cinemas on 11th December.

The official trailer has now been released and its looking very promising with a huge buzz on the net at the moment.. Oscar material are two words that keep coming up. Check out the trailor for yourself now.

- Marky Mark

Directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, Invictus showing in cinemas in December

Clint Eastwood has directed a movie which tells the tale of how Nelson Mandela and former Springbok captain, Francois Pienaar joined forces in 1995 to bring the nation together during the Rugby World Cup. Apparently it is set to become the biggest South African based film of all time. It was filmed in South Africa around March this year and stars Morgan Freeman as the great man himself, Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar. I'm really looking forward to seeing this, especially to check how well Matt Damon does with a Saffa accent, Leo di Caprio did pretty well in Blood Diamond in my opinion. The film is due to hit cinemas on 11th December which is just over a month away and a promo poster for it was released last week. Matt Damon spent alot of time in South Africa training to be a rugby player coached by none other than former Springbok wing, Chester Williams who you'll remember played in the 95 World Cup. Morgan Freeman was cast from the very start for obvious reasons, because without even seeing the movie yet, you just know that he will portray Madiba perfectly. The film was originally going to be called 'The Human Factor' but has since been changed to 'Invictus'. It is based on the book "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation" by John Carlin. The plot summary from the IMDB is as follows:

The film tells the inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's rugby team as they make their historic run to the 1995 Rugby World Cup Championship match.

Alot of us will remember that day like it was yesterday, for some it was as memorable as the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, it was the day that South Africa became the World Cup champions of Rugby for the first time, although thinking about it, its actually already 14 years ago, can you believe it, time has flown, there's been three Rugby World Cups since then, and just to remind all non-saffa's incase you've forgotten, we won it again around this time two years ago The Rugby World Cup 1995 became a significant part of South African history, not just for South African rugby, but also as a vehicle that brought the entire nation together standing united as one. It was a time where the entire nation became completely colourblind and fully supported our boys to that very final whistle being blown at the end of that unforgettable final. There is no doubt in my mind that the main man Mr. Eastwood has managed to encapsulate all that into this story. I've been amazed at how many people have never really known what went on behind the scenes with Madiba and the Boks at the time, and this is going to be a sure way of exposing all that. Below is a Youtube video of a short documentary for ESPN, funny enough narrated by Morgan Freeman, which should give you an idea of what went on, its a definate watch and very interesting view which brings back alot of memories. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4vlFQA-t9w

- Marky Mark

Yes that is an entire case of Green Ambulances!

Creme Soda to a Saffa in London is what cat food is to a prawn in District 9… I doubt anyone would disagree

Now being an avid Natal Sharks fan, I thought I would show a bit of good sportsmanship to the “other” supporters and give them a bit of a pat on the shoulder.. particulary to our main traditional rivals, Western Province; the Gauteng Lions and the Blue Bulls since we are nearing the end of this years Currie Cup Tournament… cause at the end of the day, its all just “a game” isn’t it?

Click the image below to check if you get a case of thirst quenching; hangover curing; delicious Creme Soda…

(Sorry my fellow Sharks Supporters, you’ll have to sit this one out but I’ve got a little something up my sleeve for you, don’t you worry )

Click to see if you get a case of Creme Soda

- Marky Mark

Currie Cup Results for this last weekend:

Saturday, Sept 26:
Lions 88-15 Boland
WP 43-3 Griquas
Bulls 30-27 Cheetahs

Friday, Sept 25:
Sharks 34-20 Leopards

Teams		P	W	L	D	BP	PF	PA	PD	LP
	Sharks	12	10	2	0	5	360	184	176	45
	Western Province	12	9	3	0	8	370	92	178	44
	Griquas	12	8	4	0	6	351	347	6	38
	Bulls	12	7	5	0	8	353	248	105	36
	Lions	12	6	6	0	8	347	248	99	32
	Cheetahs	12	6	6	0	6	361	250	117	30
	Leopards	12	1	11	0	2	217	461	-244	6
	Boland	12	1	11	0	1	163	599	-437	5

Again…I don’t mean to sound biased but…… GO SHARKS!!!!! hahaha

[source]

- Marky Mark

This weekend saw the All Blacks pummel the Aussies to take second place, you see that, second place in the Tri Nations Championship, final score was NZ 33-6 Aus… EISH!

Currie Cup Results for this last weekend:

Saturday, September 19:
Boland 16-72 Bulls
Griquas 36-31 Lions
Sharks 24-13 Cheetahs

Friday, Sept 18:
Leopards 3-37 WP

Current Currie Cup Log:

I don’t mean to sound biased but…… GO SHARKS!!!!! hahaha

[source]

- Marky Mark