Let’s not talk about Soccer too much, hey okes. As I write this today, Bafana’s future in the 2010 World Cup is in the balance as they gear up to face France. It seems only a miracle will save us.

But luckily this is a rugby blog, and since the start of this year’s test season there much good news for Jan to talk about – the bokke have started this year’s campaign in impressive style.

First their was Wales, and I already wrote about that on the blog. You can read it here.

Next came France at Newlands, and we met them with a far better team than the one that managed a not altogether convincing victory against Wales. We celebrated our new improved line-up and our home advantage by burying the froggies completely. 42 – 17 to be exact. We managed a whopping five tries, 2 of which came from Gio Aplon – definitely my man of the match, especially when you consider that the game was his first as winger number 12 for the bokke. We came out fighting from the start and were in control of the game from the very start. If only we could always play like this.

And then there was Italy. Despite looking a lot less dangerous against those blue boys than the week before against the froggies, we still managed to hold them to a 29 – 13 victory. It was thanks to the first half that we achieved this score – 22 of the 29 points were scored before the half time whistle blew. The second half started in perfect fashion with a try from Zane Kirchner. It was created by Chiliboy Ralepelle, offering a good reminder of where he gets his nickname from – the oke is truly sizzling at the moment. As hooker, replacing John Smit, he has so far completely justified the faith the selectors have shown in him. We basically fell asleep after that – but luckily the Italians were napping too. They only managed a single try, scored by Sergio Parisse after Tito Tebaldi stormed through the defence to pass it to him, and it just wasn’t enough for them to come back.

This Saturday our bokke meet the Italians once again, for a clash that will be the last one before what we’re all waiting for - the upcoming tri-nations series. In our current form I am fully convinced we have what it takes to win the tour. Go boys!

Meanwhile some more good news is the fact that our Baby Bokke have won a hat trick of bronze medals at the IRB Junior World Championship after beating England 27 – 22. These are our future bokke, so here’s hoping they’ll go from bronze to gold!