Latest update 30/08

Hello everyone!
Just a quick update on the latest news from palmy, NZ. I am on the bench again for this w-end's game against wellington lions. It's kind of disappointing, cause i really wanted to test myself against the wellington loosies, but i guess everything happens for a reason and i just have to keep on going and be ready for when i get my chance again. Went to ten pin bowling tonight for the first time in ages as a cell-group (from church) and really enjoyed it. Not a long post, just a quick update!
I spent all of my free time on my "new thing" i started last week and it's going better than i expected!
Have a blessed week!

Snow...Yeah!!!

Once upon a time, an Argentinean, a kiwi and a japie went to look for snow. Only the japie has never seen snow before, so this journey was especially exciting for him. They were away for days and when they finally returned, no one believe them that they actually reached the snow covered mountains. This pictures are their evidence!!
haha, i went to see snow for the first time in my entire life yesterday and it was an absolute fantastic experience!! it was freezing cold, but the scenery was very beautiful!
This past thursday also marked a "new something" in my life, but i wont be telling what it is, only that it's been something i've wanted to do for a long time now, and i finally started! I'm loving every moment of it!
have a blessed week and remember that in today's circumstances, it requires us to sometimes stand back from everything that's going on around us, and just give praise to the Holy One who created us and let us not forget Him!

Japanese Tourist

Hello everyone!
Sorry for this late posting of the w-end's update, but the last few days have been really busy and fun!! we left last friday morning for our game against Bay of Plenty. It was an 5 hour bus trip, with a stoppage to have a captain's run and lunch for about an hour. I cant describe the beautiful scenery i have seen on our way up to Rotorua, so i'll post some pics.
We drove past the snow covered mountains, the beautiful lake taupo and Rotorua itself, is a beautiful place to visit. We arrived early at our final destination, the
Rydges Hotel, and a few of us decided to go do some sightseeing. We ended up "go carting" at a place, close to the hotel. Friday nights are always "gambling" nights. There's a group of players that started to play a card game called "stop the bus" and you have to put down a predetermined "deposit" to be able to play and the winner takes all. In one of the pics you can see the boys in their robes getting ready to play some cards. Saturday was game day. I'm very disappointed in our loss. At the end what cost us the game, was 7min before half time when they scored 3 quick tries. At this level you cant afford to loose concentration for 1 min, otherwise you will get punished! Saturday night, after the game, we had a bit of team building, some sing along songs with the guitar and some "fines" for some players. Very good for team spirit and just having a laugh. Sunday morning we had recovery in the hotel's swimming pool and afterwards we headed back to Palmy. Apart from the game on saturday, a very enjoyable w-end, one of my best here in NZ! Have a good week all of you!!
PS. If you wondered about the title for this post, well, that is my nickname in the team, cause everywhere i go now, i take my camera with.

36 - 48 hours.....

That's the time span after a rugby game before it starts feeling like you've been in an accident and a train ran over your body. When you cant turn your neck to the sides, you cant lift your arms, when getting out of bed is too painfully and breathing normally is impossible. It is then that you wish you have your own jacuzzi and a full time masseuses!!
We lost our game this w-end 18-12 and we really could've pulled this one through at the end, but we didn't. I was so disappointed cause we are starting to play better rugby, its just at crucial times we turn over the ball where we should've scored. Personally I'm happy bout certain aspects of my game, but there's more things I'm unhappy about. I cant wait for the game when I bring the whole "artillery to battle" and using everything i've learnt up until now.
This week is very busy because we driving up to Roturua on friday morning for our game on saturday against Bay of Plenty and only coming back on sunday.
Not much other news. This is life at it's best and i'm loving every moment of it. (meaning top class rugby week in and week out.)
Hope you all having a good time!
God Bless

The one and only!! haha

Hello everyone!
so we have an official photographer for the Turbo's team!! Joggie's wife, Simone, will be taking photo's from all our home games and i will be getting some pics from her to post on the website!
this is some photo's against tasman last w-end. enjoy
and remember....a camera always make you look fatter than you actually are!! right?! :)

Nice.......!!!!!!

Yesterday was the best day, weather wise, that i've had in Palmy since coming here beginning of May. It was such a nice warm, sunny, windless day and it was a blessing to be out there training!! For those who dont know, we are based at IRANZ (International Rugby Academy of New Zealand) out at Massey University and we train twice a day, so you there from like 9am in the morning till like 5pm the afternoon. It's the best training facilities i've ever seen and it's a privileged to be able to train there. So yesterday we had a gym session from 8-10am and after that we had our 1-on-1's with the coaches (where you look at yr game and what needs improving and that kinda stuff) then depending on your time of meeting you have like 2 hours for individual skills. Now this is the part that i actually want to tell, but i had to explain the other stuff, sorry! After our 1-on-1's we had lunch and there was like 90min before our next session, so we did some skills (like receiving kick off's, quick hands, catching high balls, tackling technique) but the best part was.............................it was such a lovely day we took our shirts off for a tan!!!!!! Now that is something i never would've imagined doing in the middle of a NZ winter!!
I've managed to retain my position in the starting lineup for our game this Saturday against taranaki. The loosies i'll be playing against will also be my competition for a place in the Hurricanes wider training group for next year, so it's gonna be a hard one, but a fight i'm definitely looking forward to!
Hope everyone reading this blog is well and are having a good time!
Like i said before, life is good and God is great!!
It's a blessing to be alive!!
cheers

.........?

For the first time in the history of this blogsite of me, i dont know how to start a post or even a title for it. I am at a lost for words people. I'm angry and embarrassed at myself, disappointed, hurt, sad......to play like we played yesterday against tasman, hurts very deep and for me personally, i'm disappointed cause i know the potential of our team is far better than yesterday. After our gutsy performance against auckland 2 weeks ago, we looked like a team that didnt wanne play any rugby. the mood in the changeroom afterwards was somber and the plane trip back was even longer. but as they say, its water under the bridge and we can only look forward. One thing we learnt from this w-end is that at this level you have to bring your best game every w-end otherwise you'll get thumped!
As you can see on the previous post, Nelson is on the top op the south island and Blenheim is very close to it. The tasman area is wine country and there were rows and rows of vineyard as we drove from the airport to blenheim. It's the part of NZ that gets the most sun. On every road trip we have a special "tour guide" that collects info from the place we touring and this w-end's guide was kempy, our reserve hooker (he's in the 2nd pic with mic) so any info bout blenheim/tasman thats wrong, all his fault, not mine!! :)
The first pic is the "baggage collection" at the blenheim airport. It's very small and we just took our bags of the truck that collected it from the plane directly.
3rd pic is the guys relaxing in the team room before the game. we had to check out od our roms at 11am and had to wait/relax/sleep in the team room till 1:15pm. it wasnt the ideal preparation for the game, but our performance cannot be blamed on that.
Well, i was up early on this beautifull sunday morning in palmy, off to recovery now (swimming and stuff) and i dont know after that. Am so looking forward to church tonite, it's like the highlight of my week. have a good w-end you all!!!

long road trip!!

hello everyone!!
here is a map of NZ en the town we play in is called blenheim, it's on the top of the south island, close to Nelson on the map.
Our B-team also plays down there this w-end, but they have to drive all the way down to wellington, get on the ferry to go over the Cook Strait, and drive further to blenheim. We are very lucky to be flying down there and not doing a road trip!
not much news, will post again after the game! have a good w-end you all!!

Latest update!

Hello!
just a quick update on the latest news! i retained my position in the starting lineup for this coming saturday's game against Tasman down in Blenheim on the South Island. I am really gratefull for this blessing and know it will go well on saturday!
this morning we had a mini unit training session. it means that you train in your mini units, working together on defence, attack and just working on playing together as a unit. the tight five, loosies, inside backs and outside backs are all seperate mini units. the loosies today worked with graham mourie, a former All Black legend of the late 70's and early 80's. he was the captain of the first all black side to win a 'grand slam' at the end of 1978. what a legend! he is heading the wellington academy at present. like i've mentioned in previous post's, at this stage i'm like a sponge, soaking up everything i can learn all the time from anyone! i cant even describe how much i've learnt since coming here and it's been really fun!
life is good and God is great!
will post again after tasman! have a good w-end!

Pride

This post is dedicated to the 3 people who convinced me to continue with the blog namely jaco, chantel and Bob. Thanks for the words of encouragement and from now on, whenever i feel like i'm wasting my time with this blog, your 3 names will pop up and i'll do it, even only for you 3!

So this is something i've been wanting to write about for awhile now but never got to doing it. I wanne share my thoughts and experience on the word "pride". That characteristic is something i saw the first day i arrive here in Palmy. The saturday afternoon i got here, i went to my club's game and met a few of them afterwards and the thing that stood out for me was "prideness". now i dont know if there's a word like that in the dictionary and if there aint, then i just made it up, anyway, you might be thinking.....now how did he see prideness? well the way the players wore their club attire afterwards, that's it. You see, back in SA i've only wore a tie after a game once and that was when i played for the Natal U/19's, no blazers. Now some might call me old school but in NZ that is still very much part of the game here. The club officially hands over your club-tie to you at the aftermatch function and when you play a certain amount of games, you get your club blazer. Same with playing rep rugby. ("rep" is the term they use for representational rugby for your province, like playing for the turbo's) With the Turbo's there's only like 5 players wearing blazers after the game, the rest of us wear our tie and a pull-over. You have to earn the right to wear a blazer, it's not something that you just get given, and for me that is what is missing in SA rugby i think. Like i said, call me old fashioned, but i wanne play every game now so that I too can recieve my green blazer and wear it with pride! It will take me like 2 years to earn it, but it's worth every minute of the wait and hard work! Now i dont want people to think that i'm sour grapes for not getting the chance to play top rugby in SA, but you have to experience it to know what i'm talking bout. In NZ they have a saying: " I play rugby first and it's my job second". Now i've interpreted in this way: You're never bigger than the game, doesnt matter who you are or where you play, you play cause you love it and not for the side shows going on. Good example: this past w-end all the All Blacks, bar a few, were told they can play NPC, jerry collins started for the wellington lions and played the whole game, mind you though, the next day he turned up at his club and plays another full game. now just think bout this, it's in the middle of an international season and it's not like he needs match fitness, he pitches up and plays another 80min of footy for his club. Now tell me, when have a top international player from SA ever done something similar like that? again, you play rugby first, then it's your job! and no, i'm not sour, i'm just old fashioned! little things make a huge difference at the end of the day!
well, not much news otherwise, just biting nails till the next team announcement. i have a feeling the next blog might be bout "standards and rules" but more bout that later!
Hope you all having a jolly good time! It's not been fun training in the rain again, but hey, make the best of what you've got!
Verse for the day: 2 Chr 7:14 " If My people, who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face then will I hear from heaven....forgive their sin and heal their land."

And down comes the rain!

Hello everyone!
So let me be honest. I dont see this blog as a blog anymore, cause it feels like i'm doing this all just for myself. i dont get anyone to write comments, no one emails me and ask me bout stuff in the blog or regarding me and its starting to feel like an online diary, rather than a webpage i use to reach family and friends!
So until further notice, this blog page will contain no more post's, photo's or information. I will keep it all to myself and if you wanne know anything, ask and you shall be given!
hope all is well!
and no, i didnt take a hard knock against my head this past saturday, it's just how things are gonna be from now on!
i'm still the same old same!
cherio!