The Stormers URC super-Saturday clash against the Bulls is shaping up to be the match of the tournament. Mark Keohane and  SA Rugby Mag editor Zelim Nel rave abut the qualities of South Africa’s two best sides.

We looked at both teams’ strengths, weaknesses and individual stars, but more so what the occasion means to South African rugby, and our hope that upwards of twenty thousand rugby lovers are in the stands on Saturday.

While both Zels and I were in agreement that just to watch Elrigh Louw and Evan Roos is worth the R50 entrance fee alone, we stressed that Saturday will not be a case of player vs player, but rather the individual impact they have for their team.

Also read: What it meant to be back in the stands

The Bulls are on a five-match winning streak while the Stormers are unbeaten in their last four games. Both teams are running hot, both teams are in form, and the Bulls in their last ten matches have secured the most league points – 37– while the Stormers, Sharks and Irish champions Leinster have 36 points each within the same time period.

Zels and myself have not forgotten that there is another game in Durban, where we believe the Sharks will win comfortably, but more importantly – in the context of the South African tournament challenge – they simply have to win.

However, it is in Cape Town where the primary focus will be, and the Bulls and Stormers have the opportunity to showcase the quality of domestic rugby in South Africa to the rest of the world.

With a 2pm kickoff, weather predictions of 25 degrees and sunshine, and tickets starting as low as R50, it would be criminal not to have a (Covid-enforced) 25000-strong capacity at the Cape Town Stadium.

Watch our full discussion below:

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

SA Rugby Editor Zelim Nel and I spoke with legendary Welsh and British & Irish Lions centre Scott Gibbs about the United Rugby Championship, the state of the South African franchises and how the tournament has begun to take shape and where it will go in the future, writes Mark Keohane.

Reflecting on the South African teams’ recent hot run in the URC, Gibbs spoke of being amazed by the wonderful generation of South African player coming through the ranks. We were all in agreement that the four South African franchises would again dominate with results this coming weekend, as has been the trend since the northern sides began coming down south a month ago.

Only now has the tournament begun to really take shape and Gibbs, impressed by the quality of rugby being played, believes that come next year the URC, with the return of crowds a much more settled calendar, will emerge as one of the best domestic tournaments in world rugby.

Gibbs, who in many respects led the charge of the 1997 British & Irish Lions team that beat the Springboks, said he believes that touring South Africa will become one of the biggest experiences for the teams from the Celtic nations, as it is the greatest country in the world to play rugby and one of the most enjoyable to experience as a tourist.

For our full conversations, as well as our predictions for the four South African URC fixtures this weekend, watch below:

Expect something special from Lions flyhalf Jordan Henrikse in the United Rugby Championships this weekend. (more…)

Frans Steyn was 19 years old when he won Man of the Match in his Springbok debut against Ireland in 2006, and he was 34 when he was again named Man of the Match against Wales last weekend. Watch both of his performances, 15 years apart.

Steyn’s 54 meter monster penalty, composure under the high ball and elusive and powerful ball carries from fullback allowed the Springboks to break an eight-year curse that had characterised their travels to Cardiff. The Boks won 23-18 on the night and while it was a relief to most of the Springbok squad who have only known defeat at the Principality, Steyn made it 5/5 against Wales, in Wales, and 8/8 against Wales over his whole career.

Following the victory, Keo.co.za reported:

Steyn’s boot is the stuff of rugby legend but the way he attacked with ball in hand, brushed off Welsh defenders and smashed his way through tackles took me back to his debut Test against Ireland in Dublin in 2006.

Steyn, a teenager, played on the wing and scored a wonderful try and made some big tackles. Steyn the fresh-faced kid was spectacular and the veteran Steyn, 15 years on in Cardiff, was as potent.

Decide whether the statement rings true for you after watching his two Man of the Match performances, 15 years apart.

Frans Steyn Man of the Match – Ireland, 2006 (Via RugbyDebuts)

Frans Steyn Man of the Match – Wales, 2021 (Via TASanalytics)

ALSO ON KEO:

‘Frans Steyn is the modern day Craven’

“Be grateful, be vulnerable, but have mad work ethic – you’ll be a success in whatever you want to do” says Sonny Bill Williams as he openly speaks about the contents of his autobiography Can’t Stop the Sun from Shining.

Williams delivered a warm, thoughtful and incredibly insightful interview on New Zealand’s rugby show The Breakdown. During the interview Williams is questioned on the book, but holistically speaks about topics that pertain to rugby and sport, yet so transcend them.

A devout Islam, Williams speaks of the values intrinsic in his household growing up, which he identified within the religion too, referring to the treatment of others, gratitude and equality among humans. He speaks of the way in which the religion allowed for a system within which to rediscover those values in a tumultuous time in his early rugby career.

Head over to @QBDBooks facebook
tomorrow at 5pm AEST to join me on a live chat to talk all things about my book & I’ll be answering your questions! 🤲🏽😊 pic.twitter.com/WhObkwHxSW

— Sonny Bill Williams (@SonnyBWilliams) October 19, 2021

Williams also speaks openly about the environment in which he was raised, and the effect it had on both his revolutionary style of rugby but also his navigation of a professional environment.

There is such power in Williams’ message, but such humility in his delivery of it. A simple description doesn’t do justice to what is an interview worth watching. Catch it on Rugby Pass’ Youtube Channel (link below).

DID YOU KNOW?

I am backing the Boks to claim a narrow win over the All Blacks on Saturday… Here’s why: (more…)

Backing a Bulls and Sharks win in the United Rugby Championship will score you big cash. Be responsible but if you have some spare cash, throw it at the Bulls and Sharks, writes Mark Keohane. You won’t ever again get such charitable odds.

SA Rugby Magazine’s Zelim Nel and Ollie Keohane joined me for our first Vodacom United Rugby Championship show previewing the fortunes of the South African quartet, who will bring something different to a tournament being marketed and sold as something very different to every South African rugby supporter.

It certainly is different because for the first time in South African rugby’s history, through the amateur era and since the game turned professional in 1996, rugby will no longer be considered a winter sport. It is now an all-year sport but the regional focus will be on a tournament where the greater part plays out between December and March, in the heart of the South African summer.

It is a tournament that will sizzle under the African skies, especially those afternoon fixtures and the heat will be on once the South African participants, the Bulls, the Lions, the Sharks and the Stormers get back their Test players.

There may be short-term pain in the opening month when all four South African teams are on tour up north and playing without their current Springboks, but the scales will balance when the Celtic and Italian teams have to come to South Africa and face full-strength South African teams.

This tournament is played over 18 rounds and is a marathon and not a sprint.

The Betway odds are generous for the opening round in which there is no form gage as the northern teams are starting their season and the South African teams are transitioning to the second half of what has already been a lengthy season that included the Currie Cup, which was won for a second successive season (in the same year) by the Bulls.

These are extraordinary times because of Covid, and this competition has the potential to provide some extraordinary rivalries, especially with the two Irish giants Leinster and Munster.

Leinster are Europe’s equivalent of New Zealand’s Crusaders and will be the team to beat, while Johann van Graan’s Munster were rebuilt by Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber in 2016 and 2017 before Van Graan continued to restore the big boys to their former standing.

It is very unknown territory for the South African teams, whose only experience of what to expect was the Bulls taking a 35-8 beating in the final of the Rainbow Cup earlier in the year.

The SA teams will also play in front of crowds for the first time in nearly two years and 38 500 spectators will be allowed into the Aviva Stadium to watch Leinster play the Bulls.

Zel has picked two SA wins in four, Ollie has just one SA team to win and I have two.

Have a watch and a listen of who and why.

Opening round of Vodacom United Rugby Championship

Zebre v Emirates Lions (Parma, Friday 18.35)

Cardiff Blues v Connacht (Cardiff, Friday 20.35)

Ulster v Glasgow Warriors (Belfast, Friday 20.35)

Benetton v DHL Stormers (Treviso, Saturday 14.00)

Leinster v Vodacom Bulls (Dublin, Saturday 18.15)

Edinburgh v Scarlets (Edinburgh, Saturday 18.15)

Munster v Cell C Sharks (Limerick, Saturday 20.35)

Here is your ultimate guide to our 4️⃣ new South African sides 👇 https://t.co/8wOLmlMXtC#URC

— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) September 20, 2021

Join Mark Keohane in the War Room to share in the electric anticipation of the milestone 100th Test between the Springboks and All Blacks. (more…)

Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane is to the Wallabies what Ellis Park is to the Springboks. It will take the world champion Springboks to be at their best to break the Brisbane bogie and beat the Wallabies, writes Mark Keohane.

I’ve seen some pretty average Springbok teams beat some mighty All Blacks and Wallabies teams at Ellis Park.

I’ve also seen some average Wallabies teams turn over some mighty All Blacks and Springboks teams at the SunCorp Stadium in Brisbane.

This is the ground where the Wallabies feel most at home. Everything about the playing surface suits the Wallabies style of play. It is one of the fastest playing surfaces on the global circuit and the stadium structure ensures crowd engagement because the supporters are so close to the action.

Suncorp is a modern version of Newlands when it comes to how close the crowd sits to the field.

Visiting players are intimidated and Australian players get a lift.

I’ve been fortunate to be at Suncorp Stadium many times in my rugby-writing career, both to report on Tests against Australia and Super Rugby matches against the Queensland Reds. It is a spectacular venue, a special place to watch a game and the Brisbane crowd adds to the home town feel of the occasion.

Teams struggle to win at the SunCorp Stadium and Heyneke Meyer’s Springboks are the last Bok team to have won there when the Boks sizzled in a 38-12 victory in 2013. Since then it has been heartbreak for the Boks and even for the All Blacks.

The men in black have lost the last two Tests in Brisbane and the one before that they needed an 80th minute penalty from Colin Slade to win 29-28.

Rassie Erasmus’s Springboks lost 23-18 in 2018 and a week later beat the All Blacks 36-34 in Wellington, New Zealand.

John Smit’s all-conquering Lion tamers and 3-0 series winners against the All Blacks in 2009 (two Tests in South Africa and one in New Zealand) lost 21-6 to the Wallabies at the Suncorp Stadium. A week later they would beat the All Blacks 32-29 in Hamilton, New Zealand and win the Tri Nations.

The Boks, in the 28-26 Rugby Championship defeat against the Wallabies a week ago, did not respect the occasion or the opposition. Neither did I. I called the Wallabies wimps and chumps based on their three successive Tests capitulation to the All Blacks. I took my beating for it on social media and the Boks took their beating on the field in losing a Test in which they gave Quade Cooper seven penalties to convert into 21 points and spent 20 minutes of the Test playing with 14 because of yellow cards to Siya Kolisi and Willie le Roux. The Boks also missed 10 points through two missed penalties and two missed conversions.

For the Boks to win on Saturday, they have to be in the zone mentally, respect the occasion, play to their potential and know that the Wallabies always find something extra when playing at Suncorp Stadium.

The Wallabies, in the past decade have lost just four times in 18 Tests, with the All Blacks, Springboks, England and British & Irish Lions victorious in those four Tests. Equally, the Boks and All Blacks have been knocked over a few times each since 2010.

SA Rugby Magazine’s Zelim Nel and Keo.co.za’s Ollie Keohane joined me in the War Room to discuss Saturday’s Test, the All Blacks Test against the Pumas and the Bulls Currie Cup title win.

Have a listen and have a watch because despite the historical struggles at SunCorp Stadium, the consensus is Siya’s Boks will shine.

There are also great prizes to be won, including 2019 RWC Springbok jerseys, a year’s subscription to SA Rugby Magazine, a copy of The First Lady of Springbok Rugby and also a copy of The Chosen 23. Watch the video below to find out how!

Mark Keohane has the Springboks to win the first Test against the British & Irish Lions – and the series 3-0. Legendary Lions centre Scott Gibbs is picking the Lions to win comfortably in Cape Town. SA Rugby Magazine’s Zelim Nel also has a Lions first Test win. WTF Zel!

Keohane said: ‘I always love chatting rugby to Scott Gibbs and Zelim Nel. Gibbs is an icon of Welsh and Lions rugby and St Helens, Wales and Great Britain rugby league. He was the player of the series in the 1997 Lions win against the Springboks. He bounced Os du Randt on the run, speared Andre Snyman into the Newlands turf in the first Test win and was the most inspirational player in the Lions winning the first two Tests. He is, to quote many a South African afrikaner, a ”MENEER’.

‘Nel, an astute analyst of the game, is also among SA Rugby Magazine’s executive leadership and very sought after in the world of rugby when it comes to analysis. We got down to business on SA Rugby Magazine’s Betway Lions Tour Special in dissecting the Lions tour so far, assessing the the Lions and Springboks match day 23 squads and previewing the outcome of the first Test and the significance to the series result.’

Watch: Springboks legend Os du Randt on being bounced by Scott Gibbs.

Keohane was emphatic that the Boks’ toughest Test would be the first one, given one Test in 21 months and a build-up characterised by Covid-enforced isolation and a lack of game time preparation. But it was a Test he still felt the world champions would win, even if marginally.

Gibbs felt differently, saying that the Lions were good enough to score three tries and that the Boks ill-discipline was worth five penalties (15 points) for Dan Biggar and the Lions.

‘Do the maths,’ said Gibbs. ‘I think it will be more comfortable than many are thinking.’

Keohane countered that with his belief in the quality of the Boks, crowd/no crowd, Test match preparation/no Test match preparation.

Nel, typically unemotional, was not convinced with the Springboks’ starting XV and said that if the Boks won, given the make up of their 23, the Lions would get smashed in the rest of the series. But his disclaimer: They would not win.

Gibbs felt the series could be decided by halftime, such was the significance of the first 40 minutes and Keohane felt that the Boks would only get stronger for playing and could still come back from losing the first Test to win both, but that the Lions wouldn’t be able to.

This said, Keohane, added that the Boks would not have to come back from a Test down and that they would win all three Tests at the Cape Town Stadium.

He applauded the quality of the Lions squad but said he based his prediction on the quality of the Springboks and his belief in this squad.

Nel wasn’t as convinced and neither was Gibbs.

Take a listen, have a watch and be the judge of what each one has to say. It is 54 minutes, but it is a cool 54 minutes.

Kick-off is 18.00 Saturday (SA time).

Keohane picks Boks; Gibbs and Nel pick Lions. 

Sir Clive Woodward is expecting Cheslin Kolbe to slay Duhan van der Merwe, much like David slayed Goliath. And I agree with him, writes Mark Keohane.

I love Woodward’s weekly Daily Mail column, and on the eve of the first Test against world champions South Africa and the British & Irish Lions, Woodward has not disappointed in zoning in on an outside back battle and picking a winner.

Van der Merwe, South African-born and raised, has had a sensational start to his international career with Scotland and he has been huge for the Lions on tour.

Kolbe, in the past three years, has been the best rugby player on the planet.

Van der Merwe is a physical giant, but it’s Kolbe’s dazzling feet and all-round skill on attack that could leave Van der Merwe lumbering defensively.

Sir Clive Woodward’s Daily Mail column

Woodward, who won the World Cup with England in 2003 and played for and coached the Lions, also has no issues with Kolbe’s defensive abilities.

‘The only selection that really surprises me is the omission of try machine Josh Adams, with Duhan van der Merwe being preferred. To a certain extent I get it — Van der Merwe is a big, fast unit and difficult to stop.

‘But for me he is not a deadly, natural try scorer like Adams and he is not as strong defensively. He will be up against Cheslin Kolbe and some pundits suggest that Kolbe might not enjoy tackling Van der Merwe.

‘They clearly haven’t seen the pocket rocket Boks wing pile into opponents twice his size. He loves the physical challenge and in attack his dazzling feet could expose the Scotland wing badly.’

SA Rugby Magazine on Duhan van der Merwe’s rise to the Lions

Kolbe started for the SA ‘A’ team against the Lions at the Cape Town Stadium last Wednesday and set up a try for Lukhanyo Am with dazzling footwork that skinned midfielder Chris Harris.

He was also sensational playing for Toulouse this season, winning the Heineken Cup and the French domestic Top 14.\

Watch this and you’ll see Kolbe make tackles and make breaks

This British & Irish Lions three-Test series against the Springboks must be determined by the superiority of one team over the other and not a referee horror show, as was the case with the Lions series against the All Blacks in 2017, writes Mark Keohane.

Frenchman Romain Poite admitted four years after the fact that he got the biggest decision of the Test series wrong, and that he knew immediately he had got it wrong and nearly destroyed his change room afterwards because of the anger that he had buckled under the pressure of the occasion.

Poite’s reward was to get the whistle for the next big Test match.

When will there ever be accountability for referees getting the big calls wrong? It seems in rugby the answer is never, and too often a professional sporting outcome is defended on the basis of human error.

But the same referees who produce these howlers that influence matches and determine series and World Cup outcomes, are rewarded with applause and continued sheltered employment.

It is the dishonesty around refereeing howlers that irks me. If the mistakes were owned on the day or the day after, then the issue is dealt with and the consequence is the referee is stood down from the next big game and if the pattern is consistent, then he is stood down from international rugby.

To borrow from former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen, any referee can make a mistake and referees do make mistakes. To again borrow from Hansen he felt the All Blacks, in the third Test at Eden Park in 2017, should have done enough not to have to rely on an 80^th minute penalty opportunity to win the game.

Hansen has also reiterated that the kick still had to be goaled, so he has never suggested French referee Romain Poite cost the All Blacks the series; rather his bizarre decision to overturn a penalty to the All Blacks cost the home team the chance to win the series.

Hansen, reacting to Poite’s concession that he got it wrong in the biggest call of his career, said it was more disturbing that the referee admitted he was told by World Rugby that he got it wrong, but it was justice for the series and justified his call.

Amen, Hansen.

It is scandalous but it was also scandalous in 2011 when Bryce Lawrence blew the Springboks out of the World Cup and in 2007 when Wayne Barnes did the same to the All Blacks. The 2007 and 2011  quarter-final referee performances were biased and obviously skewed in interpretation.

The 2017 last minute call from Poite was a once-off call, but it was the biggest of the series.

Poite, in an interview on RugbyPass, is reported as saying he was so angry with himself that he nearly destroyed his referee change room at Eden Park.

This is what Poite said:

‘Many people called me after the game and told me, ‘That was a mistake, but it was justice, the right decision to make. Even the World Rugby staff management gave me this call. But I said that I am paid to make a big decision at the end of the game. That was my concern.

‘I can promise you when I went back to the changing room, I destroyed everything, because I was angry at myself.’

The Frenchman said it’s a shame the tour will be remembered for the final call.

‘I felt the refereeing in this tour, 2017, was great. And what will we remember? Just the last decision of the tour.

‘I was angry about myself, because I destroyed the feelings of everyone about the refereeing overall. It’s a group, it’s a team, it’s a family. In my view, I did wrong for the others. I support my mistake; I am happy to say I made a mistake because I am human.’

Hansen told Stuff.co.nz

‘The disturbing thing for me is the phone call he gets from World Rugby saying ‘you made a mistake, but it’s justified. The problem with the game at the moment is that we are trying to justify too many things.

‘If we want the game to be a proper game, and one that is fair, then you can’t have people from World Rugby making those comments.’

Hansen added: ‘World Rugby needed the Lions to be successful because there’s a lot of talk about the Lions not touring again. And when you get comments like that, from the horse’s mouth, it justifies those thoughts.’

What a sour taste it would leave if the Lions series in 2021 is decided by the same sort of slack approach to upholding the laws that we saw in 2017, and had confirmed four years later by Poite’s admission.

WATCH: The controversial decision

New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe just this past weekend controversially red carded in a decision that was overturned by an independent World Rugby committee. O’Keefe faced no sanction and will be in charge of the second Test in the Lions series in South Africa.

Lions Test series on red alert after O’Keeffe’s send-off shocker

The good news is the British & Irish Lions will play the Sharks at Emirates Airline Park on Wednesday evening. The bad news for South Africans is that a Sharks team, without their current Test Springboks, will take a beating, writes Mark Keohane.

The Moneyman, British & Irish Lions legend Scott Gibbs and myself unpacked the Lions starting XV for their second tour match, chatted about the significance of the line-ups and we all agreed on one thing … the Lions will win by 35 points.

It’s a conservative estimate because Gibbs believes that the match could lose intensity and shape once the substitutes bench comes into play, and he expects that to happen early in the second half.

South Africans will get a first taste of Duhan van der Merwe, who plays for the Lions for the second time and in South Africa for the first time since moving overseas five years ago.

Van der Merwe made his Test debut for Scotland in the past 12 months and was impressive on debut for the Lions against Japan.

Gibbs didn’t see too many of Wednesday evening’s starting line-up being the Test starters, and was surprised that Welsh flyhalf Dan Biggar was given a second start in three matches, as he feels Biggar will be the Test starting flyhalf and perhaps needs to be managed more cautiously in the build-up to the Test series.

The Lions traditionally have thrashed the Sharks, but the matches have always been entertaining and he feels the Sharks will want to contribute to the occasion with an expansion approach.

He said the match was a wonderful opportunity for local players to experience the quality of some of the best Test players in the northern hemisphere, but he accepted the probability of a mismatch, given how many of the Sharks first-choice regulars are in the Springboks camp and unavailable for the match.

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sharks-games-against-bi-lions-have-always-been-high-quality-1/

Watch Scott Gibbs, myself and the Moneyman talks Lions and Sharks

Sam Simmonds on wanting to prove a point for the Lions

Also on www.keo.co.za

Damn the South African Duhan haters. Show our boy some love

Rugby analyst and SA Rugby Magazine’s Zelim Nel’s ‘forward pass’ video has been labelled irresponsible by South African referee Stuart Berry. Nel’s insistence is that the need for more tries means the acceptance of more forward passes. Which is it? asks Mark Keohane.

I’ve known Zelim Nel for a long time and the two things that trigger an immediate response with him. The first is when someone disputes the value or the role of kicking in rugby. The second is the forward pass and how every game has several forward passes that go undetected or excused in the name of science.

The irritation on forward passes and seeing at least three a match rewarded with tries in the Trans-Tasman rugby version of exhibition basketball, prompted Nel to illustrate, by way of a video, how many balls go forward in a rugby match and how few passes ever get called forward and then how some get called forward that were the equal of those that weren’t called forward by another referee and TMO in another match.

Nel headlined his video: The truth behind forward passes. He asked the question: ‘Are passes forced forward by irresistible inertia? Or is that just the excuse given to pump up the average number of tries?’

UCT scrum coach Tank Lanning, on his Twitter handle Front Row Grunt agreed with Nel: ‘Why so many forward passes these days? Why over complicate something that is so simple? More to do with marketing than science perhaps? Great clip …’

Berry didn’t agree: ‘This really doesn’t do any good. If anything, this video is based on marketing and ignore science. It’s a very poor and, to be honest, irresponsible video. p=mv is science.

The Twitter discussion showed there wasn’t any middle ground. Many agree that Nel has nailed the issue of forward passes and others are aligned with Berry.

Nel, in a recent screenshot, highlighted Siya Kolisi’s try for the Sharks against the Bulls last weekend. This was referred to the TMO by the referee. The TMO was Berry who said there was no evidence of the ball going forward.

Nel disagrees. In his screenshot he highlights by way of a red dot where Kolisi was positioned when the ball was offloaded and a yellow dot where Kolisi was when he received the ball.

Your thoughts?

The truth behind the forward pass video – take a look and make your call 

Handre Pollard has always been the player for the big occasion, be it for Paarl Gym, Western Province Schools, SA Schools, the junior Springboks, the Bulls, Montpellier or the Springboks in a winning  the 2019 World Cup final. And that makes him the perfect player to deliver the perfect performance against the British & Irish Lions, writes Oliver Keohane.

Handre Pollard was born for the big moments, and outside of the Rugby World Cup final – where he undoubtedly delivered on this assertion – it doesn’t get much bigger than a British & Irish Lions tour. Pollard scored 22 of the Springboks 32 points in their 32-12 thumping of England in the World Cup Final, and there is no reason to doubt that he will deliver similar performances against all of the UK’s best come July.

Pollard also has a history of these big moments, that stretch beyond just the World Cup final. Until this day, the only ever schoolboy to have been selected for the SA under 20s, Pollard kicked four penalties and a drop goal to guide South Africa to their first ever win IRB Junior World Championship win, over New Zealand at Newlands in 2012. He went on to represent the Baby Boks in 2013 and 2014 too, and though the they lost 21-20 to England in the 2014 final (where Pollard scored 10 points), he scored a try, kicked three penalties and two conversions to beat New Zealand in the semis and secure a finals position. He was also named the best junior player in the world.

Pollard made his international debut against Scotland straight off the back of the IRB Junior World Championship in 2014, and went on to score 13 points on debut. He then started five of the six Rugby Championship matches for the Boks that year and scored two tries and kicked nine points to beat the All Blacks (before being pulled off by Heyneke Meyer at 60 minutes) and end their nearly two-year unbeaten run at the time, as the Boks won 27-25. I repeat, Pollard was born for the big moments.

So outside of his BMT, what makes Pollard so special? For starters, just the fact that he’s recovered in time from a terrible knee injury is special in itself, but my view is that Pollard’s game is perfectly suited to facing a team like the British & Irish Lions.

At 6ft2 and 101kg, Pollard holds a physical presence that not many flyhalves in world rugby can claim. On defence he can’t and won’t be bullied by Northern Hemisphere heavies, and his strength and size allows him to be very direct in his running off of Faf De Klerk. In Pollard the Springboks have the build of an inside centre with the boot and brains of one of the world’s best flyhalves. His kicking statistics speak for themselves, in drop goals, penalties and conversions, and his last-second grubbers at the gain line have added a threatening dynamic to every team he’s played in, especially against sides employing a rush defence – as the Lions will most likely try to do.

Morne Steyn will be a huge asset to the Springbok squad throughout the series, but a primed Pollard will be the man steering the ship if everything goes accordingly. If one ever needs on-paper-proof of why he’s the man, go and read through a long list of accolades and records on Wikipedia. If you’d prefer to just be reminded by viewing some of his best moments, have a look below.

Why we go to war with Eben Etzebeth

Jonah Lomu’s four-try demolition of England at my beloved Newlands in Cape Town remains one of the highlights of my rugby writing career. I was privileged to be in the press box, with the perfect view of Jonah in full flight on this day, 18th June, 26 years ago. It was electrifying, writes Mark Keohane. I will never forget it.

The England camp were talking a big game. ‘Jonah Lomu?’ they asked. ‘What about Tony Underwood?’

Poor Tony Underwood, the England right winger and brother of the more celebrated left winger Rory, had a target on his back long before big Jonah brushed him aside in the 1995 World Cup semi-final at Newlands.

Jonah’s four-try demolition of England will always be remembered for the try when he ran over South African-born fullback Mike Catt. It happened on the grand stand side of Newlands and my press box seat was between the 10 and 22 metres line. It was breathtaking.

There is no way to do justice to the live moment when Jonah stream rolled Catt, stumbled and kept on going for 15 metres to score arguably the most famous – and celebrated – of his 37 Test tries.

I was at Twickenham four years later when Jonah again destroyed England in the World Cup, but Sunday, June 18, at Newlands will forever be among my most cherished rugby memories.

A sports writing colleague of mine, Gary Lemke, was at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing when Usain Bolt ran the world’s fastest time of 9.69 seconds. Bolt would run a 9.58 at the World Championships in Berlin the next year.

Lemke said to me that watching Bolt run on YouTube was spectacular. ‘Now imagine watching him run live.’

That is how I felt about watching Lomu live against England at Newlands.

YouTube videos of his four tries just don’t measure up. It was so much more powerful, in real time, when watching from Newlands’s Grand Stand.

The England camp had obviously decided the best way of defence was to attack. The England players and coaching staff, pre-match, made a point of talking about Jonah Lomu. They were insistent that Jonah hadn’t faced the quality of England wingers, like Tony and Rory Underwood.

They were outspoken in saying that Jonah hadn’t played a team with England’s all-round quality.

The English, pre-match, were brash, bold and full of bravado.

‘We have a plan’ boasted England captain Will Carling on the eve of the World Cup semi-final.

The first question put to Carling in the aftermath of Lomu’s destruction of England went something like this: ‘Will, you said you had a plan for Jonah … could you talk us through the plan.’

England coach Jack Rowell interjected, admonished the English journalist and said that instead of trying to mock England’s captain, why could he not focus on the most extraordinary individual performance, possibly in the history of the game.

Jannie de Beer, four years later at the Stade de France in Paris in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final, kicked five drop goals in the space of 30 minutes to beat England. I got to see that from the press box and it was special.

Lomu’s four tries were in a different class because it was a combination of brutal and beautiful.

England’s players, pre-game, may have been bullish and arrogant, but after the whipping they were magnanimous in their praise for Jonah and for what the world had just witnessed.

The All Blacks won 45-29, which would suggest England were competitive. But they weren’t. The All Blacks led 35-3 in the second half, emptied their bench and basically stopped playing. They knew they were in the final.

All Blacks No 8 Zinzan Brooke kicked the most outrageous of drop goals from 45 metres. He caught the ball on the run and, from the Railway Stand side and on the angle, hammered home the sweetest of kicks. The ball cleared the posts by another 10 metres. It was indicative of the day the All Blacks were having. In the opening hour, everything they touched translated into a score.

The brilliant England centre Jeremy Guscott, having played against Jonah at Newlands in 1995 and at Twickenham in 1999, marveled at Jonah the Giant.

Guscott, in a tribute to Lomu, wrote: ‘In addition to his huge power, Jonah had superb acceleration, fantastic balance and that beautiful style of running. When he needed to smash people, he lent into them and crumpled them, when he feinted, he could lean in and then step past them and his out-and-out pace was the equal of South African flyer Bryan Habana in his prime.’

Guscott, in recalling the semi-final, wrote: ‘We discussed how we had to get to him immediately, because once he had taken three strides, he would be up to top pace and would have covered 10-15 metres, but he just blew our plans out of the water. We knew what was coming but we just couldn’t deal with it. We thought we could, but we couldn’t. It was a shock; when you are close to him you cannot believe how such a big man can run so quickly.

‘In that game I made a break and when things closed down, I passed to 6ft 5 inches, 18 stone England loose-forward ‘Big Ben’ Clarke. Unfortunately for him, he was near Lomu and to this day whenever he sees me Ben still gives me grief, because he said when Jonah tackled him the lights went out.’

Catt, buried into the Newlands turf, would joke many years later that he couldn’t actually remember the moment Jonah ran over him, but he did remember All Blacks lock Robin Brooke screaming in his ear that ‘it was only the start and that there was more to come’.

Indeed, there was: Jonah would finish with four tries, swatting aside Tony Underwood and then gliding for 50 metres for his final score.

I wasn’t in Beijing in 2008 to see Usain Bolt run 9.69 and I wasn’t in Berlin in 2009 to see his world record 9.58. I also wasn’t in London in 2012 when Bolt ran 9.63 in the Olympic final.

But I was at Newlands on Sunday, June 18, 1995 when Jonah scored those four tries against England.

Any adjective would be inadequate. You simply had to be there.

Mark Keohane, writing for IOL Sport, in a series reflecting on the 1995 Rugby World Cup

Also on www.keo.co.za

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