Bob Skinstad, one of the most recognisable faces in world rugby, has joined the SuperSport.com team and will be informing and entertaining readers with his views, video clips, pictures and live chats.
Bob played 42 times for the Springboks, and played Super 10, 12 and 14 rugby for three franchise teams - the Stormers, Cats and Sharks. He played Currie Cup for Western Province, who won the title three times on his watch.
After a stint in the UK that involved more work than play, Bob capped off a successful comeback to rugby in South Africa with victory at the 2007 RWC, and although he wasn’t a starting XV player, it was still an incredible experience for him.
Bob is an entrepreneur with various interests and a part of the broadcast team at SuperSport. He likes innovative business, which is why he is a perfect fit for new media, and likes to relax by fishing, surfing and raising his family.s
I have been swept up in the World cup magic, and having role at the soccer means less time to watch the boys prepare but I was happy with their gutsy performance against Wales – great test debut for Gio,Francois and Juan, along with a nice resurgence from Ricky.
Their is a huge match looming and I am hoping Les Bleu spend too much time watching their national football team, here at the expense of Ireland and too little preparing, because if you look at the records, they have been a bogey side for us of late. In fact according to one scribe, we can’t say we are the complete side till we beat them regularly – I for one like the rivalry and I love the way they play.
I am going to give away two of my season tickets for the match in a a quick competition – follow me on twitter for the details !
The recent form of the South African, read best South African franchises, does a lot to help the positive fans, especially when drooling over a possible RWC defended on the shores of the arch enemy , New Zealand.
The fact that we have so many players overseas, who watched the Sarries game ? Is also a positive, as long as the best ones can get picked and end up playing for SA at the most needed times. I am convinced the Bulls should have played their full team, as I think a lot of those players will get the rest back when they ; either miss out on having to go to Wales because there are overseas players picked; or miss out on the Currie Cup due to an overload of games being dealt with ( already negotiated ? ).
I like the momentum factor of the Bulls play, and the way they have beeing playing, they have managed to rescue games, tries and points when they have needed them the most- but it is a fact that they played badly after their rest earlier in the year… and the one team that has a history of travelling well, as well as delivering against the odds – is the Crusaders, and they all felt like they were hard done by at Loftus two weeks ago.
What will happen this time ? Your thoughts ? I hope it goes well both ways and I can have a trip up to the Soweto ground to watch the two best teams belt each other as mates, opposition and Springboks !
The Stormers were magnificent this weekend, and blew the Chiefs away on their home patch, the Bulls not so much as they seemed tired and lethargic against a very fiesty and energetic Reds team. The Sharks have it all on the line still as they can still technically make it – the Lions and the Cheetahs can’t, although the former displayed true character in the derby match at Coca Cola Park – and created more excitement than these guys !
Now for the semi final run , in the last two years – the last placed team has squeaked in with 41 points, so technically the Stormers and the Bulls ( with 34 and 33 respectively), should make it – but they play each other, which always tightens the screws a bit. Their are teams all the way down to tenth place that can still make it.
I filmed some prediction videos from the commentators, and those are posted on the video page, you can have a look at what Blades thinks already today.
Stormers, Bulls, Crusaders and Waratahs/Reds – there I said it, what do you think ?
John Smit has already announced his awake state and readiness for the the huge game today – the whole sharks season will depend on what happens at Coca Cola Prk today – I am going to be there and sending a video about the season.
follow him and I on Twitter for more updates – @bobskinstad or @johnsmit123
Like a golfer who sits at the halfway house, eating his pie and gravy, thinking about his performance on the front-nine and how he’s going to go about playing the back-nine, I am sitting here reflecting on the first half of this year’s Vodacom Super 14 and also making my own predictions as to what will happen for the rest of the competition.
We have seen a few upsets, or should I say surprises, in this first half and you can bet your bottom dollar we will see a few more. The Reds have definitely been the surprise package of 2010. Sure they have a few very talented young players and sure they have a successful new coach, but no one, including myself, could have predicted them knocking over a few of the favorites, like the Crusaders and the Chiefs in the earlier rounds. Players like Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Peter Hines have stepped up and made this Queensland outfit big contenders for a possible play-off spot.
A change to the rules at the breakdown this season has resulted in a few players being noticed more often than usual. The Reds’ Daniel Braid and the Sharks’ Jacques Botes come to mind. They have always been exceptional players but they have taken to the new rules like a fish to water. Also in the Stormers camp Schalk Burger, who started off his career as a fetcher flank, is now playing a more “traditional 7-flank” role, hereby allowing the young Francois Louw to do most of the fetching.
I also have to take my hat off to SANZAR for clamping down on poor performances by referees. Paul Marks and Pro Legoete have both been taken off refereeing duties for the rest of the season due to performance issues. In this way SANZAR will help improve the quality of rugby being played in the Super 14. If players get sacked after a poor game or two, why shouldn’t referees suffer the same fate?
With 8 weeks to go we are sure to expect some brilliant rugby from the world’s best provincial/club rugby competition. (Yes, in my mind the Super 14 is better than the Heineken Cup!) My predictions for the 4 semi finals will be Bulls vs Waratahs and Crusaders vs Stormers. A bold choice some might say but my decisions are based on the form these teams have shown thus far. Let’s hope that the rest of this year’s Vodacom Super 14 will keep on providing us with reasons to get up at 6am on a Saturday morning or to stand outside having a braai in the rain and cold so that you can have something to eat while drinking your beer and watching rugby on a Friday night!
The post above was written by Nico Roux a regular reader and commenter – tell me what you think…
The best bit about the games and pastimes that we all enjoy – is their diversity, and the fact that they are played and enjoyed by other people, and fans, just like us, all over the world.
The worst bit is that those people don’t seem to share our point of view ! The results, and reaction to those results that pour across the web and traditional media every rugby loving weekend is a huge maelstrom of emotion and position on teams, players events and final scores. Has there ever been as much discussion about the form of one flyhalf, the poor tactical kicking of a utility back turned scrumhalf again, or the effects of the ‘new’ interpretations of the law on the openside flanks in world rugby ?
I don’t think so, new blogs, sites, scribes and fans are all logging on and logging in – making sure we know who their team is in this years competition, and how they are impressing (or not) early on, whichever it may be.
With the next big event in our country being a World Cup, I see a huge question pressing to the fore, let’s ask it early though, and make it one we use to see the whole of these tournaments in perspective – next year is a realistic opportunity for the Springboks to defend a Rugby World Cup. ( If for no other reason than they all are !)
Who should we be picking now and adding to the mix that will be a part of that campaign ?
RYAN wrote:
Patience, belief and experience are important, but discipline helps avoid having penalties awarded against you. As I type this, the Highlanders get awarded a penalty try. Game over. It was looking so promising for the boys from Jhb.
Go Stormers
ARDU wrote:
I think the biggest factor is the captain – coach combination. Most of the time you have to work with what’s available to you, but if you look at SA Rugby, most of the teams that was successful in the past had great harmony between captain and coach. Pienaar/Kristy, Teichman/Mallet (at least the first stint), Smit/White, Smit/de Villiers. The provincial sides in their glory years also had good captain – coach combinations. Consistency would by the 2nd important thing. If you have these 2 suggestions right, the rest will into place automatically
DEON wrote:
Lions has had something like 5 coaches in the last year ? No team can perform consistency in that sort of environment, especially if your pool of players are not up to standard.
How long did the Bulls take before they became the best team in the super14. That was all thanks to sticking it out with Meyer and building a solid platform.
They need a good coach, who isn’t just a coach, but also a team building specialist like Meyer was.
ARTHUR wrote:
1st thing you start by picking a team… YOU START BY PICKING A GOAL KICKER! Carlos was and never will be a Goal Kicker and to even have a guy like Rose with you the tournament as a goal kicker must be a insult to JHB or SOUTH AFRICA.
You also need Experience in a team. But yes without J Fourie they do not have that in there team.
Nothing wrong with their Coaches if you ask me. Muir did wonders with the Sharks.
SANJAY DEVA wrote:
I wrote an article earlier this week detailing what I felt made the Bulls so good.
Check it out at http://rugby.sanjaydeva.com/news/why-the-bulls-are-already-champions and see what you think. Lions could learn a lesson or two?
LH wrote:
International (Boks) players as the nucleus of a team in key decion making places.
The non international players can then play around them.
A flyhalf/inside centre combination of quality to control the pattern of play.
Friday, Marc
Lots of passion and enthusiasm, but not as many different answers as I though there would be, I know I haven’t left the post up for long – so I will wait a little – but experience and patience certainly showed through in the Bulls v Force game !!
