Springboks do well to get touch of Teichmann

THERE was a superb touch by the Springboks in the lead-up to yesterday’s second test against France in Durban. They asked former skipper Gary Teichmann to hand out the match jerseys at the team hotel which would not have been lost on those who have noted the similarities between his and Warren Whiteley’s captaincy and playing style.

SPEAKING of the team hotel, the Boks may have moved up the ridge in Umhlanga but they are down a few stars from where they used to rest their heads in Durban. The team base used to be the wellappointed Beverley Hills near the seafront where many a Bok coach would have had sleepless nights amid the intermittent illumination from the adjacent lighthouse.

THE All Blacks’ 12-try blitz of Samoa was a show of force ahead of next week’s first test against the British and Irish Lions. The scariest of all, a colleague noted, was that some of these All Blacks are unknowns.

SO mesmerising were some of the tries in the 78-0 rout that former England centre Will Greenwood gushed on Twitter: “Three of the Tries the @AllBlacks have scored tonight could make the all time top 10... Off the charts good.” But some locals remarked that the referee should have been far more alert in spotting forward passes.

WHAT is it about schoolboy rugby that gets adults descending into the red mist? Stuff.co.nz reported something went ”seriously wrong” this week in an under-16 schools match between St Bede’s College and Shirley Boys High. Amid punches being thrown, the referee was allegedly slapped in the face by one of the spectators.

“I’M just not built to sit here and have coffees,” British and Irish Lions replacement flanker James Haskell told a reporter this week. “I want to push myself as hard as I can. If I’m not good enough, or I don’t reach that level, that’s one thing — but I will always fight to be the best I can and keep going.” Haskell has had several brushes with authority including copping a fine for inappropriate behaviour in a hotel room while on tour with England in New Zealand in 2011, and being expelled from school.