Scrumping

For those of you who enjoy watching or playing rugby I thought I'd better introduce you to the latest set piece. It's called scrumping. You'd better practice this one, because it's going to become a crucial part of all games in the near future.

The scrump is a lot like the traditional scrum, with a few crucial differences. Firstly, the weights on each side should not be equal. In fact, the more unequal you can get them, the better. It works best when you have one heavy person (between 80-100kg) on one side and two very small people (each around 12 kg) on the other. The second major difference is that in order to scrump you have to be giggling. The giggling ensures that the scrump collapses on the side of the heavy person. In scrumping, collapsing the scrump is legal. In fact, collapsing the scrump is the desired outcome, since it immediately confers 2 points on the part of the non-collapsing scrump.

If only the Boks had put the scrump into action I'm sure they would have won both of the games they've just lost and guaranteed that they would have remained the top team in the world.

Proudly Bok

The good 'ol Bok stays! Yes, SARU and the government have reached agreement that the Springbok can stay - as long as it moves over to make way for the Protea. So from some undetermined time in the future, SA rugby shirts will have two equally sized emblems on them - on the breast pocket the official protea emblem, and on the other side the Bok.

I have to say that I am really pleased at how the two sides managed to reach agreement. I do understand that for tha majority of South Africans the Bok is an apartheid emblem, and thus is a symbol of hatred, oppression and racism. However, the Bok has been the rugby emblem since the year dot, and to lose it now would seem to me to be a tragedy. I know my brother-in-law will vehemently disagree with me, but I must be true to what I love. And I love the Bok. Proudly.