SA Rocks

To the 15 men who carried the hopes and dreams of 48 million people on their shoulders last Saturday night and did not drop them, all I can say is THANK YOU – and you deserve it.

You had me on the edge of my seat all through the match and you had me in tears when you received the trophy and hugged President Mbeki one by one as you filed past, victorious.

On Friday (according to my English colleagues!), we were “overconfident”.

On Saturday, we were the world champions.

I walk around with a new spring in my step, alternately humming Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and that completely silly and completely addictive Bryan Habana song, smiling benignly at all the Poms crying in their coffee. My favourite moment early last Saturday night was when I was rushing home on the Tube to see the game, naturally wearing my Bok T-shirt and surrounded by red and white shirts. Leaning laconically against the platform doors at Waterloo was a tall black guy sipping his beer, waiting for the train and wearing a Bok jersey. We fleetingly made eye contact, then recognised each other’s shirts. I gave him a quick grin and a thumbs up; he winked and raised his beer to me. It was like being in a secret society. And being surrounded by all these red and white jerseys everywhere gave a whole new perspective to Bok van Blerk’s line “‘n handjie van ons teen ‘n hele groot mag”…

And still, we won.

To celebrate this historic victory there can be no more appropriate drink than a springbokkie. It’s green, it’s gold, and it’s delicious. But be warned – it’s also addictive!

You will need:
Amarula Cream (or substitute Cape Velvet Cream or Bailey’s)
Creme de Menthe (or any similar mint liqueur)
shot glasses
a teaspon

The ratio of the 2 ingredients to each other is up to you. I have seen recipes that call for half-half, while others suggest more of one or the other. Personally I would not go much further than half half – too much Creme de Menthe and it tastes like Listerine!

Fill half of each glass with Creme de Menthe. Then carefully top up by pouring the Amarula over the back of the teaspoon so that it floats. Down in one gulp if you must… but I much prefer to sip it

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Ofcourse he is. No doubt.

This is why:

The man is pure brilliance. He equalled Jona Lomu’s RWC record for tries scored (8) and definitely made his mark as one of South Africa’s all time great wingers and rugby players. His potent running rugby, brilliant balance and surprising tackling ability has helped him to become one of rugby’s great stars in the modern game.

He is a wonderful SA hero who deserves all that he receives.

image courtesay of Yahoo!

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Today I have never been so happy and proud to see the deep green and stunning gold colours of the Bokke. I have seen them everywhere and felt the nation pulling tighter towards one another.

In tragedy comes unity and Lucky Dube’s untimely departure can do just that. Bring us together. Combined with the stunning vibe around the nation thanks to the South African rugby players I think that our nation is more together on a day like today than it has been ever, even since the ’95 world cup win.

I personally hope that there is some mention of the late Lucky Dube at the world cup final, a tribute song, a chant from the fans, something, anything. But if there isn’t I am sure it will be a silent protest, a quiet disdain for the incident and the situation. I hope that we stand up and shout. I hope that we sit and contemplate our fate as a nation, on the field, off the field and anywhere else that we find ourselves.

But more than anything I hope that we have had enough. I hope that as a nation we have had enough of incredible highs like the RWC final being dampened by unbelievable lows. I hope that we are fed up with our apathy, fed up with our situation and ready to pull together and win the RWC and defeat our internal enemies (whomever they may be). Enough is enough.

Those three words – Enough is Enough – will become a recurring theme here. Not a negative theme, a positive theme that will turn us in to something that we want to be as a nation. Let the world cup galvanize us in to a nation of fighters, a nation of prosperous, contented and thriving individuals.

I am proud of the Springboks, I am proud of Jake White, I am proud of both for overcoming doubt, adversity and conflict within government, politics, economics and other factors to have gotten this far in a tournament of this calibre. Win or lose, I am one proud South African.

Now let’s go out on to that field and whip the English.

COME ON THE BOKKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is my prediction at least! I have no doubt in my mind that this will be the outcome.

I think that we have the determination to do it and the humble, focused attitude for the win to be possible. It might not happen, there is always, always that chance but so be it, that is sport. It is not the be all and end all if we don’t win. But we will!

An interesting discussion that I was part of the other day centred around what it would be like in Wimbledon, Putney, Essex and other areas in England that have a high SA population. I think that either way there is going to be upheaval in those areas. British pubs with losers (either way you look at it) inside pissed of and pissed in general

The combination of Saffas, Pommes, beer and win/loss outcome is potent and deadly. I sincerely hope for the sake of every Saffa over there that the Bokke destroy England on Saturday. If they don’t life is going to be considerably more uncomfortable at work, at pubs and at play for any South African living abroad.

All in all I think that the world cup this year was a success and the nation building that took place has been welcome.

Congratulations to the Bokke and England for making it to the final. May the best team win!

Tracey McGregor agrees with me… keep your eyes up lads, listen to the audio.

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Wow. I can’t wait for this RWC to be over. I really can’t take this stress anymore!

It is a pleasure to see Jake White smiling though, I must admit.

The Springboks are through to the final of the RWC and I am over the moon, as I am sure the rest of the country is. Like Darren Scott said, if you just tuned in, this is the RWC and where have you been?

The one thing that I found particularly interesting was the differing reactions between SA and England when they got through to the final. England was overjoyed while the South Africans didn’t even crack a smile after the game. Interesting if you ask me. Very interesting.

I think congratulations are in order for Argentina too. They played out of their boots for the entire World Cup and proved to the world that they are now a force to be reckoned with. They did their continent proud.

I would really, really, really, really… really like SA to whip the English in the final on Saturday. If you haven’t booked to watch the game anywhere, sorry for you because I am sure everywhere is packed out.

Enjoy the game on Saturday. Bokke, you have done us proud, now bring home the cup.

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I am interested to know how everyone feels about New Zealand and Australia going out of the Rugby World Cup?

Personally, I feel a bit saddened that they went out. I am of the mind that it would have been incredible to have four teams from the Southern Hemisphere in the semi-finals.

It can also be argued that if we don’t beat Aus or NZ that we don’t really play the best teams. I am not sure about this logic. I firmly believe that when SA wins this final it will be by beating the best team simply by the fact that they are in the final.

NZ are renowned chokers and Aus simply lost their heads. So they went out to better teams on the day and thus deserved to leave the tournament. At least now we still have Argentina and SA in the final. It is a pity that the SA semi-final wont be the final, would be a cracker.

What do you think?

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Wow, what a Sunday. I can’t bare to blog for long on this topic as it has already sapped enough energy from me.

We won, we are through. The game today proved that complacency equals loss. So say Australia and New Zealand. Let’s hope we have our heads on firmly in the right direction for Argentina.

It was a great game to watch, with lots of action and great scoring. Fiji played a phenomenal game and were well deserved adversaries for a quarter final. They deserved to be there and put on a great performance. Well done to them too.

GO THE BOKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEE!!!

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