The Rugby World Cup

[Insidious Von]

Rugby is the national sport of (white) Afrikaners and the Springboks used to be composed mostly of ultra strong Afrikaner boys bred on maize-raised cattle and porridge. The highest honor for an Afrikaner boy was to play for the Springboks.
Soccer is the national sport of blacks and Bafana Bafana, the nickname of the national team, means The Boys The Boys. Club matches between popular Soweto teams Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates come with heavy police presence.
And cricket is the national sport of (white) English South Africans and the national team is nicknamed the Proteas.

I lived in South Africa for a couple of years in the late nineties.

Well now we can say that apartheid is dead and buried. Bafana Bafana Captain Matthew Booth has a black wife. Remember during the 2010 World Cup, whenever he touched the ball you would hear chant of what sounded like boos but were in fact the fans chanting Booth, Booth.

That's part of the success of Nelson Mandela and by extension the ANC. While the whites are mainly of Dutch and English stock, there are many different tribes of blacks. The country could have easily collapsed into Civil War. All the country International Clubs could use an infusion of fresh blood.

And we do need a clip.

 

[Insidious Von]

He was good enough to play two seasons with Sampdoria in Serie A.

 

[Insidious Von]

And SA didn't even need their secret weapon.

 

[derrick76]

And cricket is the national sport of (white) English South Africans and the national team is nicknamed the Proteas.

This has been changing ever since the emergence and accomplishments of Makaya Ntini, Ashwell Prince and others...and of course the quota system. The national team no longer has one black guy and/or one Cape Coloured.

In some recent times, half the team has been White with Pakistani, Indians, Mixed Race, Cape Coloureds, and of course Black Africans filling the teams. A few of the White South Africans have been leaving to go play for England instead, disgruntled with the much needed quota system. I'm sure there have been many times when Amla, Tahir, Rabada, Philander, Phehlukwayo and Bavuma have been on the team (of 11) at the same time.

Many of England's top players and captains of recent vintage have been South African (and Zimbabwe for that matter) born and bred.

 

[basketcase]

You criticized England’s style of play while extolling that of New Zealand. But you know England dominated New Zealand 19-7 in one of the semifinals?

Yep. Guess it's personal preference. Even though I played as a loose forward, I still prefer watching the open play I had trouble keeping up with. Love to watch Fiji when they are firing on all cylinders. They aren't well rounded enough to compete with the big boys but it's fun as hell to watch.

And there is a reason why NZ has been rankled #1 for most of the last decade. England's gameplan in the semi was effective but I know where I'll spend my spectator dollars.