This is the epic story of South Africa’s amazing quests for the Rugby World Cup, which resulted in triumph at Ellis Park in 1995 and in Paris in 2007, while there was heartbreak in 1999 and shame in 2003. The Springboks and the Holy Grail is no mere narration of matches and scores. The author was closely involved in all four RWC campaigns while working for the Sunday Times and SuperSport, and he provides behind-the-scenes reportage on the great cast and incredible incidents that made for such riveting drama. This is a story of human heroism and frailty, of great dignity and patent jealousy that transcends the mere realm of sport. The book contains numerous interviews with key players and administrators, as well as well-known figures who were touched by these campaigns, and provides a fascinating insight into an event which is now one of the biggest in the world of sport. This is a candid glimpse behind the scenes that often reads like pure fiction.

Was coach Heyneke Meyer the reason why the Springboks failed at the 2015 Rugby World Cup? And what does the future have in store for the incumbent coach, Allister Coetzee? Find these answers, and many others, in The Springbok Coaches. In this new, updated edition of The Poisoned Chalice, rugby writer Gavin Rich takes us past the disappointment of the 2015 Rugby World Cup right up to the appointment of Allister Coetzee in April 2016, and dissects not only the successes and failures of these two Springbok coaches, but of all the post-isolation coaches who preceded them. If all of them agree on one thing, it is that the job goes hand in hand with tremendous pressure and that, at some point, they all buckled under the strain. This book reveals why André Markgraaff and Rudolf Straeuli came up with some of their weird and controversial decisions, why Nick Mallett dropped Gary Teichmann and how he regrets it now, why Harry Viljoen really quit, and why the pressures on Heyneke Meyer made it so much more difficult for the Springboks to win the 2015 Rugby World Cup. This book chronicles all the post-isolation coaches’ experiences via interviews, articles and stats. From the triumphs to the controversies, the boardroom to the rugby field, The Springbok Coaches will reveal exactly what it takes to be the Bok coach, and why each and every one of them had, at some time or another in the toughest job in South African sport, lost it. A riveting, often revelatory and definitely controversial read!

In 1995 rugby union became the last significant international sport to sanction professionalism. To some this represented an undesirable challenge to the traditions of the game. To others the change was inevitable and overdue – an acknowledgment of both the realty of modern sport and the extent to which money had already permeated the game. While there are some commonalities in the response to professional rugby, the contributions to this book, representing almost all of the significant rugby playing countries, reveal much more that was shaped by particular local contexts both within rugby and in terms of its place within the economic, political, class and social structures of the surrounding society. The authors assess the contrasting ways in which rugby administrators at local, regional and national level grappled with the changes that were required and the demands of the corporate backers who funded the transition to professionalism. But the more contentious relationships considered are those involving the many amateur rugby players and committed fans who found that significant community and historical reference points were subtly altered or simply obliterated in the face of new commercial imperatives – and especially new competitions that separated elite players from the grassroots of the game. Some have adapted to the replacement ‘product’ with relish, others have not. Some have genuine and well articulated grievances against the processes of changes. Others have fallen victim to a nostalgia which appropriates very selective memories of the amateur past to highlight apparent problems with the professional present. Above all, these contributions provide a range of perspectives that enable the reader to take stock at a particular point in what is still a rapidly evolving game. Read in ten or twenty years, this book may confirm that many of the right paths have been taken – or it may provide pointers to crisis as yet unimagined.

Forty years ago, a South African rugby tour in the United States became a crucial turning point for the nation’s burgeoning protests against apartheid and a test of American foreign policy. In Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America's Anti-Apartheid Movement, Derek Charles Catsam tells the fascinating story of the Springbok’s 1981 US tour and its impact on the country’s anti-apartheid struggle. The US lagged well behind the rest of the Western world when it came to addressing the vexing question of South Africa’s racial policies, but the rugby tour changed all that. Those who had been a part of the country’s tiny anti-apartheid struggle for decades used the visit from one of white South Africa’s most cherished institutions to mobilize against both apartheid sport and the South African regime more broadly. Protestors met the South African team at airports, chanted outside their hotels, and courted arrests at matches, which ranged from the bizarre to the laughable, with organizers going to incredible lengths to keep their locations secret. In telling the story of how a sport little appreciated in the United States nonetheless became ground zero for the nation’s growing anti-apartheid movement, Flashpoint serves as a poignant reminder that sports and politics have always been closely intertwined.

A celebration of this fascinating and unique world city

Rugby Revealed is the definitive guide to rugby in terms of the roles and responsibilities of each individual position and how they combine to create a tactically astute rugby team. This engaging guide to rugby union will help coaches and players understand the modern game, giving practical advice to achieve maximum results with optimum technique. With its mix of contributions from leading names, practical coaching advice and player statistics, Rugby Revealed includes: · the roles and responsibilities of each position in 15-a-side rugby · correct technique for core skills · the mechanics of the set piece · the elements for a successful attack and defence Professional players such as Jamie Roberts, Aaron Smith, Johnny Sexton, George Ford, Cian Healy, Manu Tuilagi, Keven Mealamu and Marcos Ayerza, and leading coaches, including Stuart Lancaster, Mike Cron, Dr Dave Alred, Mike Ford, Brendan Venter and Sir John Kirwan, are some of the 101 top names who share their insights into the game. This highly accessible guide will help new, emerging and developing players and coaches reach their rugby potential.

Carte Blanche burst onto the scene in 1988 as a genre never before seen on South African television: a trail-blazer, a blend of sociological awareness, sophistication and audacity. When pay channel M-Net came up with this different and daring weekly eye-opener that pushed the envelope, it brought promise of freedom and creativity and ended a period in South Africa's history in which television news and current affairs were limited to the state broadcaster. Twenty-five years on, the familiar Carte Blanche melody has become an institution, announcing the end of the weekend and the start of an hour that resists the mundane and stimulates debate. What's become a Sunday night ritual began in a make-shift studio with a small team of firebrands, led by an arrogant, fearless talent, a showman with scant respect for the conventions of the time: Bill Faure was the most dynamic director of his day, a visionary who shared his passionate love of television with the world. He set the stage for what has become South Africa's longest running investigative current affairs show and the most valuable real estate in broadcasting. Faure passed the baton on to an extraordinary generation of journalists that created a vault of diverse memories, brought into homes across the country and into Africa, stories of delight and daring, cheek and chutzpah, heartbreak and heroism, of the weird and whacky. It's said that his spirit still guides Carte Blanche into shaking complacency and bringing to the screen a social and ecological conscience, be it the cruelty meted out to the Tuli elephants, the selfless courage of Sally Trench, or blast off with Mark Shuttleworth. It's enabled us all to chase car thieves across our borders, catch out rogue mechanics and find out what security guards and plumbers do and don't do in our homes. It's brought to our screens a host of unforgettable characters from the transsexuals of Beaufort West to the shady directors of Aurora. Carte Blanche - The Stories behind the Stories dips into an era of quality journalism through the eyes of the producers and presenters who have so effectively measured the national mood and recognised defining moments. It's a show that has become part of our landscape and promises to survive another quarter of a century.

More than 84 per cent of professional rugby players in South Africa are going to find it difficult to survive financially once they stop playing rugby. How will they find success in their new careers once their rugby jerseys have been washed for the last time? From Locker Room to Boardroom explores how former South African rugby players culled certain traits from their playing days and applied them to their enterprises in order to make a successful transition from the rugby field (the locker room) to the business world (the boardroom). Naas Botha, Gary Teichmann, Joel Stransky, François Pienaar, Kevin de Klerk, Breyton Paulse and Kobus Wiese, to name but a few, share the many challenges they faced and the different strategies they employed on the road to establishing the single factor that, more than any other, lies at the root of their business success. Filled with entertaining anecdotes, sound practical advice and pioneering business models, From Locker Room to Boardroom provides a unique and fascinating approach to achieving success in the commercial world.

The Springboks have had several post-isolation coaches, and if they agree on nothing else, they will concur that everyone in the job suffers enormous pressure. Unlike coaches from other rugby-playing countries, they also face many obstacles outside of the game, such as South Africa’s complicated politics and the often unrealistic expectations of both the public and the media. It has been called a poisoned chalice, and everyone, from the first post-isolation coach, John Williams, to the incumbent, Heyneke Meyer, can attest to its veracity. Now, for the first time, their journeys are recorded in one book, and as part of one story. The Poisoned Chalice takes an in-depth look at each of the coaches in the post-apartheid years, and at the same time examines how the role has evolved over the past two decades. From the triumphs to the controversies, the boardroom to the rugby field, this book reveals exactly what it takes to be the Bok coach, and why each and every one of them, at some time or another in the toughest job in South African sport, lost it. A riveting, often revelatory and definitely controversial read!

History was made on November 22 2003 - England was crowned the World Champion. Everything was ready for rugby to explode in England, for the national team to kick-on, for the level of the domestic game to continue growing and for the sport to truly become prominent nationwide. It did not eventuate. England lost far too many matches and the Aviva Premiership does not match the French Top 14. The result for Rugby World Cup 2015 is a match schedule allocating more games to Wales than to the north of England. Understanding how this came about and also how and why Wales secured matches is an important part of the puzzle and carries substantial implications for future Rugby World Cups. Local and global issues including decision making, rival sports and nationalized players are all tackled in an analysis that seeks to offer realistic and viable solutions for the benefit of English and global rugby.