Something to Cheer about ?

Its almost Super14 time. Hectic how much rugby the players are playing these days. Oh well we'll worry about that argument at the end of year tour when half the guys are dead.

This weekend the Stormers kick off against the Sharks, is this going to be the season when everything clicks for us. Could we see a return to the glory years of the late 80's. The Stormers certainly have the players, the coach and the support to make a serious challenge. My only negative and this probably goes for most teams but I am looking at us now is our depth in the backs. If we lose any of our flyhalf or centres we could be looking at a serious headache. Back up has always been hard to hold onto granted and when quality like Dollie gets snapped up by the Brumbies academy B squad what can you do. What will the poor little ball Ashfak Mohammed write about now. Anyway hope are indeed high and rightly so, I came across this penned in Rugbyheaven and its nice to see others have taken note of what we achieved last year.

STORMERS:

In Rassie Erasmus the Stormers have one of the finest coaches in the Super 14 and the squad he has assembled for this year's competition is a pretty fine one.

Last year the Stormers missed out on a place in the semifinals to the Hurricanes on points difference. They should, if things go to plan, be able to make the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

The Stormers have a sprinkling of world-class players in their ranks, including Schalk Burger, Bolla Conradie, Conrad Jantjes, Jean de Villiers, AJ Venter and the ever-youthful Percy Montgomery.

With that kind of line-up it's no surprise they're being tipped in the Republic as the South African team with the best chance of taking the title.

The Stormers all seem to have overcome the perennial problem of being unable to win matches in Australasia, picking up three victories in this part of the world last season.

The team to watch this year.

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Nick Koster had an impressive Currie Cup and the No 8 was called into the Barbarians side for the game against Australia last year. While he's an exceptional backrower he's spent time playing on the wing during pre-season.

IN

Wicus Blaauw, Willem de Waal (Narbonne, France), Dewaldt Duvenage (Boland), Nick Koster, JC Kritzinger, Hilton Lobberts (Bulls), Percy Montgomery (Perpignan, France), AJ Venter (Sharks), Duane Vermeulen (Cheetahs).

OUT

Tony Brown (Sanyo, Japan), Isma-eel Dollie (Brumbies), Tiaan Liebenberg (Toulon, France), Ross Skeate (Toulon, France).

TAB odds: $14

Predicted finish: runners-up.

Thats right folks runners up, what ? Ya well lets not get over board yet, its a long Super14 but its nice to see. I will be in the stands come Saturday. 

The other classic I came across on my browsing was this pearler out of France, God they do things well. The cheerleaders for our teams are pretty good. The Sharks lead the way and the Bulls are'nt bad. The Stormers girls look like the just got out of a Bellville nightclub, aggg sies man !!! Seriously take a peek at these, you wont be let down. Its truly amazing.

 http://multimedia.stuff.co.nz/rugby/Slideshows/latestphotos/index.html

What did I tell you, no wonder Carter did his Achilles... get it ?

45 DAYS and Counting

Well its almost that time of year again, while the rest of you have been having a summer holiday and hopefully relaxing on some beautiful beach somewhere remote I have been training for another Epic. Which is now 45 days away.

This year has started rather oddly for me, I have been hammering myself constantly with some long hard rides,  swimming, surfing along with the odd morning run and circuit. Eventually my body said stop, sickness set in and I have had to take a two week enforced break to recover. We live and we learn. In other words I have over trained quite badly and just need to step back, relax and let the Epic come to me. No use chasing it down like a rabid dog.

This weekend I will start a program where I slowly fine tune my system for the rigours of the Epic, allowing plenty of recovery time and allowing the body to grab all the goodness it needs. Its like going hungry for weeks and then allowing yourself to eat and eat well. The body is just appreciating the goodness and loving the rest. I can feel the strength flowing back into my system. 

So I am very excited for kick off on March 20 on the slopes of Table Mountain. Its going to be a small adrenalin rush racing in my backyard with family and friends spurring us on. I am really sad about the race not starting in Knysna but hopefully it will be back there soon. But from now on its Gordons Bay or bust.

Climb every Mountain---

Rugby Fever

Morning All,

Well can you feel it ?  Rugby season has almost started again. In fact it has well it does. Tonight up at the Green Mile of UCT its a repeat of last years Varsity Cup Finals. Could be a cracker, here's hoping the Tigers can slip one past the Dutchmen. 

Along with the Varsity cup we see the arrival of the Cape Town Tens. It seems like its going to be a hit with some big names rolling into town to watch, play and be Ambassadors ( Dan Carter )

Fleckie and Bob have gone all out and hopefully Cape town come to the party too. The Nadoes have got a crack team in the Beer League and are looking like hot favourites to take the title. Lets get down there and support the lads. All the best okes.

Last but never least is the Super 14 which kicks off next weekend, there is the small matter of the Sharks coming to Newlands to play the Stormers who are looking better every year. I am still concerned about backline cover in certain positions with the nature of this tournament who knows how it will go. I will delve into more detail about things nearer the time. 

For anyone who hasn't heard about Dan Carter and his injury over in France here is a little article about the costs of his sabbatical on his club Perpignan. Shame, its an unlucky investment in a horrible financial time http://www.rugbyheaven.co.nz/4835767a22363.html

Read it and you can throw some numbers at DC when he is here this weekend.

Go IKEYS...

Shark in Breede River

I have taken this article from SEALINE.co.za 

Dear all,

I write to give you the details of our research expedition to the Breede River during the week January 19-25.

The purpose of the expedition was to determine whether reports of Zambezi (bull) sharks in the Breede River could be confirmed.  Scientifically, confirmed reports would be extremely relevant on a global scale as this would represent the most south-westerly distribution of bull sharks in Africa.

Joining us on the expedition was Dr. Steve Lamberth and his team from MCM, Hennie Papenfuss from Big Fish Safari and a team of four from SASC.  We fished for 3 days with no luck & were rewarded on the 4th day when Hennie caught a bull shark on his line.  After an hour and a half struggle with the fish (during which it towed him 2.5km further upstream), Hennie managed to tire her enough to bring her close to shore for landing.  Our team then brought her carefully to the shore, where we were able to collect all the required data.  

We measured her, tagged her with two acoustic continuous tags and one spaghetti tag, and gathered genetic samples in order to determine whether bull sharks in the Breede River represent a distinct population from those found elsewhere in South Africa.  

She is a world-record breaking shark measuring 4 metres total length, weighing in the vicinity of 550-600kg.  This is the largest bull shark known to science - the previous maximum size was thought to be 3.5 metres TL.  We also suspect she was heavily pregnant and may very well be using the Breede as a pupping ground.  Scientifically speaking, this discovery is huge and groundbreaking.

Following the tagging, we proceeded to track her for 43 continuous hours.  She spent the majority of the time in the estuary, with only a few hours in the surf zone just outside the river mouth.

To speak quite frankly, it was the most incredible experience of my life and I am so excited about the research we will continue to do.  One of the major problems is acquiring the funding to continue the research, as it is vitally important we return to the Breede within the next 2 weeks to continue tracking her.

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS WILL BE AN IMMEDIATE BAN ON SHARK FISHING IN THE BREEDE RIVER IN ORDER TO ENSURE THE CONSERVATION OF THIS MAGNIFICENT ANIMAL!!!  I BEG YOU TO ADHERE TO THIS BAN & BE PART OF AN AMAZING SCIENTIFIC AND CONSERVATION INITIATIVE.

My most sincere apologies: in my very exhausted and excited state I neglected to mention that Stiaan Conradie and Nick Scholtz from the Lower Breede River Conservancy (LBRC) were a crucial part of our sampling and tracking teams.  The LBRC donated all their time to us during the course of the expedition & were unwavering in their support.

Many thanks to all those who truly made the expedtition possible!
-- 

The Swee...test Thing !!!

Its been a hell of a long time, I have, along with alot of people and friends here have suffered bleary eyes and hangovers watching cricket in Australia at the ungodly hours it is shown. Its been pure pain for years and years. Our first tour was back in 1993-94. Fresh from finishing Std.8 we could'nt wait to have a chance. Realistically we should have lost that series 2-0 but thank god Vinnige Fanie bowled his ass off on the final day at Sydney and we won the final test by 18 runs or so. Very memorable times.

I dont know what it is about our Aussie mates but we f'ing hate them. Its basically cause they very good and usually beat us. Fair and square. But its not just the teams it's the place, who could forget losing the 1992 World Cup Semi final. Watching the team on the balcony in tears as they realised the dream was over, maybe it was also the dream was over for the whole country, remember the referendum just after that or was it during the World Cup. Who cares, this place was sitting on a knife edge and us usual sport was our escape from the realities of life. Thank heavens I was probably too young to appreciate the full pressures of life, mine were far worse. Teenage years were a living hell, dont tell me they were the best years ever. Crap.

Anyway back to my old friend sport and that B E A U...TIFUL tour of Australia. Lets put it down in history, put up a monument to Smithers, with the words " Drive Smithers , Drive ! "

Who cares lets celebrate it, its a massive achievement. Right alongside winning a series in New Zealand ( rugby you plonkers )

The Australian series started just before my holidays and now that the one dayers are finished too, I can finally go back and focus on work. For me and every over eager purist out there who will tell you in the members at Newlands ( I'll never call it what they call it now ) Test Cricket is the shit, the series was truly amazing. I have watched a few days of the old game in my life but this was different. Every time we seemed to wobble and look to hit the floor like an old boxer we somehow managed to find our legs again and come out fighting. The 1st Test, I can honestly say that I thought we were out of it, not a chance in hell. Dont even bother getting your hopes up ( I was'nt the only one ) but the 2nd with that deficit and the batting we had left. I was almost crying in my pillow saying how could they do this to us again. I never set my alarm the next morning and when Jamie phoned me screaming something along the lines of..." Duminy, that little mutha f@%&* is still batting, we cleaning them !!! " I was down the stairs and had the TV on in seconds my mind or my eyes could not comprehend what was happening. After years, again I'll say it, I mean years of them doing this stuff to us we finally were doing it to them. The Sweetest thing I ever did see, well until now that is. Watching the stress build on every Aussie player, fan and most definitely their beloved Commentators has been true bliss. I could go on and on but I wont.

For those of you out of the loop and not quite getting it here dont worry its just something has been bothering a few of us for a while. Its over for awhile now we can sit back relax enjoy it and look forward to the return tour in a months time.

First team to win a series in AUS for 16 years.

First SA team ever to win a Series.

2nd Highest run chase in 1st Test ever. 414 Highest 418 but who cares this was so sic.

I could go on, please send me stats if you have them.

Well talk about that another time.

Attakwaaskloof MTB

For anyone out there thinking about doing a tough race, pencil this one in. Its one of the hardest days I have had on the saddle. I like to compare myself to a cowboy riding over terrain on some mission, not sure why maybe its the kid thing or it just helps the mind whittle away them miles, but this way definitely some cowboy terrain. 126 km from Oudsthoorn to Groot Brak which took me 7 hrs and 21 minutes landing me in 62 posi overall. I wanted to get a silver under seven hours and was on track but sometimes we write cheques our body just cant cash. It's a very painful and harrowing reminder that we are all human and no matter how much you do we all have a point where the body says, no sir !

The last 50 kms are a massive ball ache of constant rolling hills as we wound our way to the coast. Down a valley then back up again was enough to send me very close to suicide. Seriously, when someone says save some energy for the last 40kms you should listen, but hey whats life without a lesson learnt. Overall I would say the first three quarters were rad but they could find some tracks to help ease the boredom of rolling hills. My mind by that stage was thinking of the Spur burger I had passed up at water point 3 or 4. 

But riding through the Attakwaaskloof was awesome, tough jeep track with some rocky descents and stunning scenery to make it a proper ride. The miles are now under the belt and its not far from Epic time for me and my partner Anton. Its serious now, you dont want to go through that day after day. 

Until next year and my quest for the Sub Seven Silver...

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN

Hello there,

Sorry for going AWOL for awhile there, no excuses needed so welcome to our first New year.

I heard this quote over the holidays and think it will fit very nicely into my life.

So get yourself out there ---CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN---

All the best for your New Years, I hope I can bring you some joy and perhaps add something to your day or life via my ramblings.

Take care out there