Aussies poke fun at Boks before Test

A YouTube video, dubbed "Beat The Boks - Office Jannie", features a South African named Jannie being ridiculed by his Australian office colleagues.

A YouTube video, dubbed "Beat The Boks - Office Jannie", features a South African named Jannie being ridiculed by his Australian office colleagues.

Published Sep 4, 2013

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Johannesburg - Oh ja, we South Africans like to braai at the office and we have accents just like that oke Matt Damon in the movie Invictus.

It is stereotyping at its worst and smacks of desperation.

On Saturday, the Boks will take on the Wallabies in Brisbane. It’s a rugby ground that has jinxed the South Africans for 42 years. But this time the hoodoo might just be broken, and it appears the Aussies are feeling it.

The people at Fox Sports in Australia have come up with a movie clip to advertise the programme Rugby HQ and they have decided to take the mickey out of us South Africans. It is on the eve of the Brisbane Test, and it is to also rally support for a rugby team past its best.

The clip stars South African Jannie, or Jaaaneee to his Australian work colleagues. Now Jannie is a braai-mad grunting oaf of a man whose punchline is “It’s braai time”.

Jannie is so stereotyped that he probably takes his Klippies with Coke, and drives a bakkie with plastic testicles hanging from the tow hitch.

Two-toned shirts at home, and as for music... Well, you can add to the stereotype.

The short shows two fed-up Australian co-workers getting the better of Jannie.

They are tired of his antics in the office. He braais his steak on the snackwich machine, just when they want to toast their sandwiches. “It’s braai time,” he says.

When they come to use the office TV, the pair of Australians find that Jannie is watching yet again his favourite parts from Invictus.

So they hatch a plan. They tape up the snackwich machine - with Springbok-green tape, nogal. “No braai time,” Jannie laments.

Then when Jannie is watching Invictus, the tape suddenly cuts to Aussie Kurtley Beale’s penalty in Bloemfontein three years ago that sunk the Boks.

When asked if this was his doing, the one Aussie says to the other in his best South African brawl: “One hundred percent, my friend.”

Fox may make fun, but the Boks look good for Saturday. The last time they won at Brisbane was in 1971, in a match that is remembered more for the rioting than the 14-6 win. There have been eight painful defeats since.

This time the Springboks arrive having won four away games on the trot.

The Australians, however, have lost their first two matches of the Rugby Championship.

Strange Jannie’s accent comes across as a little put on, and it’s nearly as bad as Damon’s.

Could it be they couldn’t find a South African to act as Jannie?

Perhaps none could be found as they’re all on their way to Brisbane, in anticipation of victory.

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The Star

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