French obsession with Bok Speedos
French sports daily L'Équipe went a little left field, if not below the belt, when they significantly altered the line of interrogation of Springbok players last week. The paper was interested in some Bok fans’ obsession with wearing Speedos in the colours of the national flag made famous by Faf de Klerk at the previous Rugby World Cup in Japan.
They have been particularly intrigued by the new phenomenon of minimalist attire when attending a rugby match. Rugby after all used to be a winter sport. Many of the Bok fans who arrive at matches wearing only Speedos have made themselves heard and seen. In fact, they’ve grabbed the headlines by getting Bok players, most notably captain Siya Kolisi, to leave their autographs on their body and frocks followed by a playful slap on the bottom. L'Équipe’s man following the Boks was keen to get to the bottom of this. Unable to provide definitive answers most players tried to sidestep the question.
“I just know Faf likes to wear that. People love Faf because he has the nice blond hair. You can’t miss him,” fullback Willie le Roux tried to explain.
Asked if he owns one of those Speedos Le Roux said: “I don’t own one of those. I don’t wear that, I’m an old man.”
A spot of Pol Pot
When travelling France, food occupies a higher spot on the daily menu than say, if you were in Austria, or South Sudan.
The south of France caters for just about every culinary taste imaginable and if your first choice on any particular day is out of reach the second and third will do.
Restaurants also tend to close after lunch service, which limits options. It led a pod of South African journalists to a small Cambodian establishment in Toulon. One writer who is endowed with a sense of adventure but in similar measure, is also afflicted by a stomach that turns for the worse, tucked in more than he perhaps should have. Not everything he ate agreed with him but to be fair even if he had a dry cracker it would have set off alarm bells. His troubles in the aftermath of the visit to the Cambodian restaurant invited the moniker Pol Pot.
Divine wind to blow at Argentina?
Sure Ireland’s clash with Scotland to determine the pecking order in pool B will be a showstopper next weekend as the group stages wrap, but Japan’s matchup with Argentina could be the blockbuster of the weekend.
If Japan’s last pool match at the RWC they hosted is anything to go by, Argentina may get blown away by a divine wind.
That clash four years ago was arguably the most emotionally-charged and exhilarating encounter in World Cup history on a day where Typhoon Hagibis blew through Japan, the Brave Blossoms breezed past Scotland to secure a place in the quarterfinals leaving the host nation in a state of nirvana.
Japan are also likely to get the crowd on their side in Nantes against opponents who left themselves a lot to do after their poor showing on the opening weekend against England.
So little time ...
Whether it is team policy or just the whims of their communications department, the Boks have done their best to keep time to a minimum in the presence of the media, even in scheduled events.
“We have little time so ...”, the tune would routinely go before green and gold-clad men took their seats at the top table. Even the players who are interviewed with small pods of journalists are given an escape clause. Writers would get the hurry-up with “Kwagga hasn’t eaten, can we make this the last one?” or “Willie still has to go for a massage, can we ...”
Money may find its way into a kitty for the journo who can predict the next excuse.
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