Boks gagged and possibly nameless

This morning Mhambi woke with a song in his heart. A heavy hearted song -

Wen'uyang'ibambezela
You're pulling me back

Yes, it ain't a nice song.

umshini wami, khawuleth'umshini wami
My machine, Please bring my machine (gun)

But a rather angry one.



News has it that the African National Congress (ANC) want's to abolish the national rugby team's Springbok emblem. On top of that the South African team has been gagged from speaking to the foreign press.

The official reason given is that the symbol represents a racially divided past. Mhambi thinks otherwise. It's potential as a sybol of reconciliation is well established. What's more its embebed in the sense of identity of Afrikaners. Mhambi - it has to be said - sees control freakery and shortsighted spitefulness.

Strange that Mhambi frequently sees black (presumably) South Africans (but not exclusively so) wearing the Bok rugby jersey in London. I have not seen anybody wear Bafana bafana, the national football teams' colours.

This is a report from the New Zealand Yahoo Xtra rugby site.

Yeye has taken on a high profile in the team, fronting the media with an injury update every Monday. Relations between the team and local media are frosty.

Scribes were reduced to pleading for a player to interview on Monday, and after several refusals Schalk Burger was eventually enlisted when he was spotted drinking coffee nearby in the hotel lobby.

At Tuesday's training in Durban, media were escorted from the training venue 15 minutes after it started, the same time as the gates were flung open to the general public.

At the team announcement, newly-confirmed captain Victor Matfield was nowhere to be seen. Only hooker Gary Botha and replacement Bismarck du Plessis were available.

NZPA's one-on-one interview with White, promised for two days, never happened as Yeye urged him from the room.

"We don't want people cornering the coach," Yeye explained.

A group of journalists did manage to "corner" White, albeit briefly.

He was courteous and engaging, but media minders ended it before he was asked how he had coped with the past few months.

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