Top South African band Just Jinjer‘s frontman Ard Matthews is a real Springbok supporter.

Forget about Player 23‘s Elton and Jan.  Those okes get paid to show their support.

Matthews, on the other hand, put his dreds where his mouth is.

Ard Mathews is a man of his word.

To show his belief in the Bokke, the rocker bet his buddy that, should the Springboks lose the game against Australia… he would cut his 10-year old dread-locks.

To his and girlfriend Landi Swanepoel’s horror, the Wallabies’ Kurtly Beale did the unthinkable and converted THAT penalty.

The Springboks lost and Ard had to show that he is a man of his word.

He did.

This is how it transpired:

(footage by Landi Swanepoel)

Just Jinjer’s latest hit:

(Cheers Rugby15 for the heads up and sorrie Landi & Ard for the errors in the original post)

In marketing parlance, one of the ways of getting brand exposure is to attach it to a well-known personality.

In sport we are well aware of the use of endorsements because most of the top sportspeople are endorsing some of the biggest brands out there.

It was therefore quite exciting to notice our very own Springbok as well as the official team apparel supplier Canterbury SA feature in a US R&B video.

Bobby Valentino, a US R&B singer also known in the industry as Bobby V, features in a music video to promote his song “Let’s get it” wearing a Springbok-emblazoned green and gold jacket.

We are not implying that this was a sponsored video or that Valentino is, in fact, endorsing these two brands.  (Goodness knows, none of our representative rugby teams are even “getting it” these days!)

It may just be that the appearance of the Springbok and Canterbury SA logos in the video is quite coincidental.  BlitzBokke.com has not been inside a Canterbury store for a while so we cannot say whether the jacket the singer is wearing is even part of the official Springbok supporters clothing range.  Nevertheless, it is heartening to see the Bok feature in the video.

(Continues below)

Have a look at the YouTube video:

(Cheers Katarina Knowles for the heads up)

If there is ever one piece of advice I can volunteer about what not to do in the heat of the moment or when having a dop (or 10) while watching a rugby game, it is not to post on FaceBook nor Tweet.  If you’re in the public eye or in this case, an international sportsperson, that responsibility is probably doubled.

Needless to say nobody had this piece of advice for Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice who (as Sport24 reports): is in hot water after posting a homophobic slur on her Twitter page, according to a report in Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph.

Rice, a triple Olympic gold medalist, posted a bit of trash talk after the Wallabies defeated South Africa on Saturday in Bloemfontein in their Tri-Nations clash, tweeting:

“Suck on that faggots. Probs the best game I’ve ever seen!! Well done boys.”

According to the Telegraph, Rice removed the comment from her Twitter page and emailed an apology to the newspaper.

“I made a comment on Twitter last night in the excitement of the moment.  “I did not mean to cause offence and I apologise. I have deleted it from the site.”

(Source Sport24.co.za)

Shame on you Stephanie Rice.

Last week we reported on Springbok Sevens mentor Paul Treu‘s regular article on www.irb.com

In it the BlitzBokke coach wrote of his annual professional development trip further south (in fact on the other side of the globe) to, Melbourne, Australia.

“Every year I go on at least one professional development trip and, even as I write this column, I’m sitting waiting for a flight to Australia where I’m going to be shadowing some of the country’s best sports coaches in Melbourne.” Paul wrote in his article for the International Rugby Board (IRB).

He continued: “The city is an unbelievable place to visit but it’s also a stronghold of AFL (Australian Rules Football) and I’m going to be visiting three clubs, Collingwood, North Melbourne and the Melbourne Demons, to share the knowledge and experience of their coaches.”

The coach then expanded on his decision to visit the Melbourne Storm Rugby League club.

“There is so much that Rugby Union and Sevens in particular can learn from other sports like these. Whether you’re coaching rugby, AFL, Touch or hockey the same underlying principles come into play: you have to make your first-up tackles, you have to defend well, you have to work hard, you have to be organised and you have to make sure that everyone knows their own role in the team or the squad.”

He added: “More specifically I’ll be looking at the aerial prowess of the AFL players and see how I can relay that back to my Sevens team for restarts. We’ve seen how Samoa and Australia have really grabbed the ascendancy in that area on the Sevens World Series so I’ll be interested there.”

Here at BlitzBokke.com HQ, what we like about Paul is that he is a coach who (1) is able to learn from anybody and any code of sport in order to improve himself as a coach and (2) apply this knowledge to the benefit of his team and his charges.  He has been doing this for a number of years since taking charge of the BlitzBokke and we salute him for it.

In his article Treu concludes:

“More than anything, though, it’s an opportunity to learn, to grow as a coach and to expand on the skill set that I can then impart onto some of the most exciting, young and talented players South African rugby has to offer.  I will try anything once, if it helps us in our quest for Commonwealth gold. Against all the odds…”

We’re right behind you Paul.

Coach Paul Treu with his extended family in Melbourne, flanked by wife Jody and daughter Skyler (Pic: Katarina Knowles)

It’s not that I wanted to plagiarise Francois Pienaar when he called Joel Stransky “a beaut” after THAT 1995 drop-kick, nor did I want to be seen as calling a woman rugby player that. However, after seeing this tackle, you too will call Australia’s Nicole Beck a beaut (or something similar).

About 19 minutes into the Womens’ Rugby World Cup game between Australia and England, with England leading the Aussies 7-0, England’s winger Fiona Pocock was making a bee-line for a clear try after a neat hand-off of the opposition.  With a clear line beckoning, out of nowhere came her opposite number, Australia’s Nicole Beck and just flattened the poor Englishwoman .

You can say what you want about women’s rugby but there is no lack of commitment and intensity when it gets to this level.

Cheers to RugbyDump.com for capturing and sharing this.

(This story originally appeared on Howzit-HongKong)

Back home we have the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Fund who looks after the needs of rugby players who suffered serious injuries playing the game.

The Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund pays homage to two young rugby players who died playing the game they loved.

In 1980, Western Province fullback Chris Burger broke his neck and died in a Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein. This led to the founding of the Chris Burger Fund by then WP captain Morné du Plessis and his teammates. Petro Jackson, a young player from Kylemore in Stellenbosch, died during a match in 1989, prompting (the pre-unity body) SARU to establish a similar fund in his honour. In 1992, the two Funds were united to form the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund, as it is still known today in its 30th anniversary year. For more information on the Fund, click here

Locally, as far as we know, there is no such support for players who suffer serious injuries playing the game we all love.

Recently a local player called Ben Kende suffered serious spinal injuries while representing HK in U.20′s World Cup qualifiers.

This is when RugbyAsia Channel (RAC) stepped up. The online channel, who provides the latest television rugby action, news, games, interviews from grassroots to club and international teams from around Hong Kong and the wider Asia region, came up with a novel idea to produce Hong Kong’s very first Rugby Calendar. They roped in some of the Territory’s finest players, brought in a professional photographer and put together what promises to be a hit amongst rugby supporters and local lasses alike. Part of the proceeds from the sale of the calendar will be donated to Kende.

The Hong Kong Rugby Calendar will be available in October 2010.

Here’s a preview of how they did it:

Click here to visit RugbyAsia Channel

Three weeks ago we reported that BlitzBokke.com was rated as the 11th Most Popular Sport Blog on the Amatomu rating system.

Today, Monday 30 August 2010 we checked again and we’re happy to announce that BlitzBokke.com is rated as the:

7th most popular Sports Blog in South Africa!

Needless to say the South African Blog Awards system has had a lot to do to add to this increase, but on the local front we have also helped by increasing our daily offering to a DAILY post… even in the Sevens off-season.  Seeing that so much is happening in the Sevens off-season, we have added news and stories from the South African domestic season as well as the international Tri-Nations and even the current Womens’ World Cup… and more.

To all of you out there in Internet-land who have been logging on to BlitzBokke.com for our daily posts…. a very BIG thank you!

Bam! There we are @  Number 7 on the Amatomu ratings!

We have just re-ignited our Twitter account (@BlitzBokke) so we’re hoping that this will just add to the overall internet ratings.

Cheers all and let’s keep our online support network for theSpringbok Sevens Team GROW to greater heights.

You’re THE BOMB!  Bokke Bo!

Mike Jansen

(Hong Kong)

Yes we’re even friends with the Poms. United for Sevens Rugby! (Pic: www.bbc.co.uk)

BlitzBokke.com has been on Twitter for a while now, though we haven’t really been using the social network to it’s full extent. (It’s bloody hard work too!)

With the 2010/2011 season a few months away, we felt we should start to build this network and integrate it into our current social network offering so that it is up-and-running come the 2010 Dubai Sevens (and even earlier for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in October).

Please help us to extend our online support effort for the Springbok Sevens Team by adding @BlitzBokke to your Twitter network.

You can also share our daily posts on your own Twitter network by simply clicking on the Tweet This button to be found at the bottom of every post.

Cheers.

The media invite that arrived in our Inbox read:

SARU Media Invitation – Toks van der Linde – anthem singer

I’m sure quite a few scribes did a second take upon opening that e-mail.  “But Toks is a former rugby player” or “Is this the same Toks who always get’s bullied by his Springbok roommate Kobus Wiese in Oor die Kole?” some may have asked.

Albert (Toks) Van Der Linde is set to become the first former Springbok to sing his country’s national anthem during the Tri-Nations rugby test between South Africa and Australia tomorrow. Van der Linde, who played prop for the Springboks between 1995 and 2001, will sing the anthem alongside local professional singer Karen Ferreira when the Springboks host Australia at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday.

Toks Van der Linde will sing the national anthem Pretoria tomorrow

Those of us who have been following “Rooma” (as Kobus Wiese calls his Springbok roommate) especially his television exploits as part of the duo on KykNet’s Oor die Kole will know that the big man can sing.  He showed that he can hold a tune or two when he sang the anthem, about 2minutes into the clip, on Over to Hugh.  Have a look and listen:

Clearly lyrics are not Tokka’s forte and I hope he will have learned the words to Nkosi sikelel’ i Afrika by tomorrow.

Tokka is a former front-rower so the jury is out on that.

This time around I think it’s safe to say:

Break a leg Tokka!

Last weekend’s rugby test between South Africa and New Zealand will be remembered for many reasons.

The biggest one will probably be John Smit playing his 100th test for the Springboks.  The Springbok skipper became only the second ever player to achieve this after Percy Montgomery.

The test was also historic because it was the first rugby international to be played at the main 2010 Football World Cup stadium in the Johannesburg township of Soweto. Bums-on-seats on that day were in excess of 94,000.

There were also two Guinness World Record attempts. One for the most flags flown at a single event and one for the most Elvis impersonators.

Some may also remember the Soweto clash because they were captured on the Vodacom Fan Cam. If you were at the test and in your seat before the game as well as during half-time, chances are that you will have been captured.

The Vodacom Fan Cam took a 360 degree high definition image of the entire stadium and of every spectator in it. In roughly four minutes, 800 000 images are captured and placed together to provide a flawless image of the entire stadium and every fan in it.

The interactive page allows you to scroll around the entire (360 degrees) stadium as well as zoom in and out.

The Fan Cam page on the Player23 website even allows you to FaceBook tag yourself and your friends.

Click here to visit the Vodacom Fan Cam site