Tag: Port Elizabeth

Boks v Jocks

Big day here tomorrow.

Scotland are in town.

For my fellow enthusiasts I’m reprinting the report from today’s daily read. It  will / should give you …

a) An insight in our approach to the game, and

b) Perhaps a different perspective from whatever sports reporters are scribbling in your neck of the woods or

C) For those with no rugby reporting in their local press whatsoever a reminder that there’s a game on!

Continue reading “Boks v Jocks”

Sa v Oz – The T20 series

And for a change it is a series!

Three games, the first here today (12.30 gmt), followed by games in …

Durban on Wednesday (16.00gmt)

… and up in Pretoria on Friday (16.00 gmt)

The T20 world cup starts next week (March 16) in Bangladesh, so the importance of this series is not to be underestimated. Form players have to be found, combinations (bowling & batting) established, team tactics planned and executed but more on that closer to the time.

This week is all about what is described as “The Fierce Rivalry”

For those enthralled by the recent Proteas / Aussie test series the Proteas side will look distinctly familiar. Of the selected 16 man squad 9 players represented South Africa in the recent 3 tests.

However, familiar faces are few and far between in the Aussie camp, of the 16 names I see on the squad published for this week I only recognise 3 from the test squad! Horses for courses I suppose?

I mentioned on the Newlands test post that I wasn’t sure if I would be going to watch this one, guess what? Continue reading “Sa v Oz – The T20 series”

Nelson Mandela Bay 7’s – 2013

My programme

What a day! What a weekend! What an event! What a crowd! What an atmosphere!

On an emotionally charged weekend, how fitting was it for the very first International sporting event to be held on South African soil after the death of Nelson Mandela to be held in the stadium that bears his name?

16 teams, 45 games, an extravaganza of rugby if ever there was one!

It’s fair to say that we probably spent more time in the bar / lounge during the day on Saturday then in the stand (except of course when the Blitzbokke were playing) it is after all a day of preliminary group stages where the minnows get the chance to play against the big guns but today (Sunday) was the main event, and what an event it was.

The beauty of this format is that it splits into 4 competitions during the course of the final day (Shield, Bowl, Plate and Cup) with all teams having a chance of gaining a medal and silverware as late as the mid-afternoon!

We got the dream final we wanted. The Blitzbokke cruised through their quarter and semi finals as did the All (cough) (splutter) Blacks.

I’ve written elsewhere that I thought that the Ref had a couple of ‘Mandela moments’ during the final but who cares? Final score Blitzbokke 17 – AB’s 14 (3 tries to 2)

A win, a glorious end to a brilliant weekend Continue reading “Nelson Mandela Bay 7’s – 2013”

Kings v Highlanders

My programme

What a difference a week makes!

After last week’s humiliation at the hands of those Aussie Warratahs my Kings hosted the Highlanders this weekend, a team packed with All Blacks and boosted with the confidence of a victory just last week against the Sharks,  but more about that later.

Remember my “Super season tickets” post back in February? The one where I explained that a local bar had 2 ‘royalty package’ season tickets to hand out as prizes for all home game? Guess who won them this week? Ha ha I can hear you all laughing, of course it was me!

Now as you know,  I go to the games anyway, we always have great seats but these? These are special, plus the facilities which were still being constructed during my first visit (bar, restaurant, lounge, flat screen tv’s, big screen etc.) are now all in place. It really is a magnificent (royal (?)) way to watch rugby, or any sport for that matter.

So how did my Kings do this week?

Most here aren’t going to believe me but I assure you that I’m telling the truth we WON!

Not just any old win but a win with a bonus point for four tries. Continue reading “Kings v Highlanders”

Kings v Waratahs

My programme

Have I mentioned how much I’m enjoying this year’s Super Rugby season?

As mentioned elsewhere, it was the turn of the New South Wales Waratahs to visit our shores. Our Kings have had a good record against Australian teams this year, in fact all 15 of our log points have come against Aussie opposition. (Wins against the Perth based Western Force and Melbourne Rebels and of course that last gasp draw against The ACT Brumbies)

Hopes were high, well mine were, for all of 30 seconds that is, for that is just how long it took for this Aussie outfit to score their first try!

After that? Believe it or not it got worse, they ran in try after try and for all of the first half consistently had more points on the board than minutes passed! Men against boys I kept thinking, it was really really difficult to watch. As a life long Eastern Province supporter (a team who’ve never won any top flight competition) I’m sort of used to losing, this wasn’t just ‘losing’ this was ‘annihilation!’

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, our new darling of E.P.rugby Sergeal Petersen got us out of our seats with a brilliant try just before half time, but I’m afraid that was all my Kings had to offer.

Continue reading “Kings v Waratahs”