Author: Toby Shapshak

The Springboks won all three of their inaugural Nations Championships Tests, while blooding a number of promising youngsters. Now Rassie Erasmus is turning his attention to the All Blacks with a 43-man squad named ahead of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff…

South Africans will be able to get the Amazon Leo satellite broadband service from next year through a new partnership with local ISP Herotel. Formerly known as Project Kuiper, Amazon Leo already has some 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit and is expected to begin its service this year. Amazon hasn’t released pricing and switch-on date globally yet, but “aims to connect tens of millions of customers around the world”. It will offer up to 300Mbps download. Herotel, which is owned by Maziv, is starting a new service called evry, which will sell Leo as an authorised distributor – which is…

Of course Meta’s version of an AI image generator pushes the boundaries of privacy, as always. Unless a public Instagram account opts out, all of its images can be used by Muse Images to generate AI images. Muse Image is available on Instagram and WhatsApp, while Muse Video is forthcoming. Sigh. I haven’t used Instagram for years, but now I have to go into its settings and opt out of this new default setting so that its AI doesn’t use my images. Sigh. Not that wholesale copyright theft isn’t the default setting for the artificial intelligence industry, which built its…

Despite losing Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth on the morning of the inaugural Nations Championship Test against England, the Springboks still beat the old foe, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Coach Rassie Erasmus wasted no time in naming a team with 10 changes to the starting line-up for the second Test against Scotland. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome…

Rassie Erasmus has named his strongest team for the opening England game of the new Nations Championship; Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. With an eye to the future, there is plenty of youth in the Bomb Squad. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts

The Barbarians, coached by Scott Robertson in his first game since being fired as All Black coach, gave the Springboks a good run for their money, while U20 stars Riley Norton and Vusi Moyo have been elevated directly into the Boks squad, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify…

Lions fullback Quan Horn has been picked at fly-half in the first Springbok team of the year – against the Barbarians. It’s classic Rassie Erasmus, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Meanwhile, the South Africa A against Zimbabwe blends a mix of youth and experience. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff Rugby on…

With two matches to play on June 20th (Springboks against the Barbarians and SA A against Zimbabwe), Rassie Erasmus has named a 53-player squad for both games, Andy Capostagno tells Toby Shapshak. Andy Capostagno has been talking and writing about South African rugby for more than three decades. He’s been my emotional support person for rugby since I was lucky enough to meet him when I was unexpectedly made the sports editor of the Mail & Guardian newspaper many moons ago. Welcome to Stuff Rugby. Stuff Rugby on Spotify Stuff Rugby on Apple Podcasts

The Economist headline says it all: “Wall Street’s undignified SpaceX mania”. While Space Exploration Technologies Corporation has launched mankind to the stars, investors are hoping their bet in the initial public offering (IPO) this week will be similarly stratospheric. “Ahead of SpaceX’s gigantic initial public offering, you can see more rockets on Wall Street than at Cape Canaveral,” writes The Economist. “It’s a sign of investment banks’ abasement before the likes of Elon Musk and the bosses of the AI companies who plan to follow him onto the market.” It adds: “Is that a rocket in your lobby, or are…

Sagrada Família, arguably the most gloriously designed church in the world, is being turned into a Lego set. What took you so long, say the architecture aficionados? The Lego Architecture Sagrada Família set is being released to honour its equally glorious architect, Antoni Gaudí, who died 100 years ago in June 1926. Sagrada Família is an epic construction that Gaudí conceived before the building technology was invented to complete this amazing building. It began construction in 1882, and Gaudí took over as architect the following year. By the time he died, 100 years ago this month, his most iconic construction…