Tightheads & Loose Balls

● All Blacks flank Sam Cane, who fractured a bone in his neck at Loftus last week says he’s thankful that part of his body is thick.

“A few things to be thankful for,” he posted on Twitter. “Firstly, the circumference and strength of my neck, I may not be standing without it. Secondly, the world class medical and surgical team I’ve had here in Pretoria,” said Cane.

● The pay channel who may or may not have had a cosy relationship with the Guptas through an exiled Middle Eastbased executive, is aflutter.

The reason for SuperSport’s flapping of wings is Springbok captain Siya Kolisi’s role as brand ambassador for Open View, the country’s first free satellite HD TV service. SuperSport, through their ownership of local broadcast rights, have always been under the impression they “own” the Boks, but apparently they don’t.

● Given all this talk of excessive travel by southern hemisphere teams the Rugby Championships threw up one interesting statistic. Exactly half the matches played in this year’s instalment were won by the away team. Not too shabby for the travel- weary.

● “Ivan’s experience, with this young team, is what I think we needed and then Embrose will make a huge impact coming off the bench,” Bulls coach Pote Human explained his decision to go with Ivan van Zyl ahead of Embrose Papier for yesterday’s clash against WP. “Luckily for me, Rassie (Erasmus) hasn’t called me, so I made my own call for this one and it’s just experience-wise that I decided to go with Ivan.”

Where Papier will get the necessary experience heaven knows. He also spent an inordinate amount of time on the bench at the Boks and now runs the risk of being called “splinters”. Some suggested he is only a Bok on paper.