Happy Happy … – Front Row Grunt

The time has come for the Grunt to shut up shop for 2011 … And what a year it has been! Not all of it pretty on the rugby front, sadly, with the Boks bowing out of the Rugby World Cup in a quarter final loss to the Aussies, and propping up the Tri-Nations log in the build up to the New Zealand extravaganza. The Stormers flew the Super 15 flag for South Africa but were taken to the cleaners by the homeless Crusaders in the semi final at Newlands. The Lions provided a fairytale finish to the season by taking the Currie Cup, but even that has been tainted by news of their off-loading of players due to financial difficulties …

The good news though, is that the first news of 2012 should be the announcement of Gert Smal as the new Bok coach on January the 27^th … Good news in that it will not be Peter de Villiers, a man at the helm during what can only be deemed a truly dire period in Springbok rugby. People may question Smal’s ability as a head coach, but having taken WP to two Currie Cup titles and served in a fantastically innovative Irish coaching quartet for the last few years, I think this straight talking man of very few words is just the tonic for the wilting Green and Gold. New brush, new era … Bring it on …

Up front in 2012 is the Cape Town Tens on the weekend of February 3^rd and 4^that Hamiltons rugby ground, and on Monday 6^th of February the Varsity Cup gets going with the following fixtures: Tuks vs UJ, UCT vs Shimlas, Maties vs TUT, and NMMU vs Pukke. Prior to the Bok coach announcement the Saracens B side, known as the Storm, in utilizing the plane tickets bought for what would have been a legendary Sarries vs Biaritz Heineken Cup fixture at the CT stadium until the WPRU got all selfish and snotty, will be playing the Maties in Stellenbosch on January 11 …

Below a few rugby books that might make for good Xmas pressies this year, and being able to buy them online at Kalahari will mean no traipsing through the malls in the December chaos … My pick would be “My Journey” by Victor Matfield and De Jongh Borchardt … A few people had told me it was a bit dull, but there are definitely a few stories in the book that I have never heard before, like Dale Santon and Ashwin Willemse being made to fight until they bled in front of the entire team by Rudolph Streauli in 2003 … And the extent of the dislike between Matfield and Jake White is made very apparent in an open and honest tale by the Bok lineout giant …

So in closing, I wish you all the most legendary festive season … May it be very festive, may it be food and drink filled, and may it bring joy to you and your family … Detoxing is for January, and in order to detox you need to be filled with tox … And that is what December is all about …

To add to your list for Santa …