So the Boks got their Vodacom Tri-nations campaign off to a not-so-flying start on Saturday morning with a match up against the old enemy – The All Blacks – and boy I hope we caught a wake up. A 32 – 12 defeat is never acceptable for our okes in green & gold.

We were outplayed from the first whistle and all us South Africans can do now is try and understand why this was such an uncharacteristic performance from our manne. We were missing tackles galore and at some points seemed like we didn’t really know what we wanted to do with the ball. I can’t think of an excuse for the missed tackles except maybe, and I don’t ever like to say this about the boys, a lack of commitment.

The second point I think was not because of the guys on the field, but the player missing from it. I think this performance really showed how much the Boks miss ol’ Fourie Du Preez when he isn’t playing. That man is a genius with the ball and any team would miss his influence.

And the of course there was the Bakkies head butting incident, I must admit when I saw what he had done I was gobsmacked. That sort of ill discipline can’t be accepted on a sports field and now he has landed himself a 9 week ban. I guess it’s time for Mr. Bekker to step up and show us the form he had in the Super 14.

Let’s hope the boys keep their chins up and put on a much better show in their next game of the Vodacom Tri-Nations.