Maverick journo Mark Keohane has had a colourful relationship with the game, highlighted by his spell as Harry Viljoen’s valet, which ended in a high-profile resignation in the subsequent Straeuli era; now head honcho at Highbury Safika, he oversees SA Rugby magazine, the phenomenally successful www.keo.co.za, and - for the duration of the World Cup - rugby coverage for the Independent Newspapers group. Which leads to the coffee table publication in question…

‘Champions of the World: Seven Magnificent Weeks’ promises to be a gushing account of the World Cup triumph, photographs laden with pathos running alongside adoring copy. And why not - sentiment ran riot after Paris, and capturing it as such makes perfect sense. The foreward from Jake White adds to the authenticity of the publication, and sets up Keohane’s Christmas target as a colourful rival for White’s own autobiography. Feverpitcher will be buying both - and will doubtless get several more copies come December 25.

Commando Boot Camp is the evil creation of Huenu Solsona, the gorgeous but terrifying South African who started the Adventure Boot Camp for Women phenomenon a couple of years ago. Having terrorised women across the Cape for long enough (people who’ve done the camp all rave about it, and claim it’s wonderful; Feverpitcher suspects mass hypnosis), Solsona has gone co-ed - and we’ve been foolish enough to accept an invitation.

Which means we’ll all be sporting shaved heads at six in the morning while some drill sergeant-type barks orders at us, directs completely unnatural exercise routines, and reduces us to tears within the first 15 minutes. A careful diet of red meat and Heineken doesn’t lend itself to Commando Boot Camp readiness, so the Feverpitcher obituary is imminent. We’re not sure when we’ll be doing it - we’re putting it off for as long as we can - but we’re scared witless. Keep us in your thoughts.

• If you’re mad enough to consider it, drop in at www.commandobootcamp.co.za for more info; for the women only camp - available in Johannesburg and Stellenbosch from 2008 - visit www.adventurebootcamp.co.za. Don’t say we didn’t warn you…

The mauling of New Zealand (and it really was a brutal submission) may have seen Dale Steyn get man of the match, ten wickets confirming that South Africa’s genuinely quick fast bowler has an awful lot to offer the South African attack. But it was Kallis’s second-innings masterpiece that really caught the eye; and in particular, the acceleration after the hundred which hasn’t always been a Kallis trademark.

For so long, Kallis has had to drop anchor amidst a floundering top order; with Hashim Amla offering a similarly solid platform, Kallis has invested a little faith in both his fellow batsmen, and his own attacking fluency. We saw the results in the latter half of that second innings - and Feverpitcher suspects more of the same awaits in coming Tests, starting with game two at Centurion. Kallis not getting a hundred is a surprise these days; Daniel Vettori will be a very nervous man when Jacques Kallis saunters out to the crease at Centurion. And with very good reason.

Sadly, it’s golf we won’t be seeing in 2007, for Garcia has decided to take a four-month break from the game effective immediately - which means no visit to the Nedbank Golf Challenge, an event he was set to headline. No exact reason for the break, although it’s hard not to think the ghosts of the Open play-off defeat aren’t lingering in there somewhere; Sergio’s promised to return, however, and hopefully 2008 will see him back at Sun City.

And the same hope applies to defending champion Jim Furyk, who’s opted out on medical advice. The man with the most unique swing in the game is very much a Sun City favourite; together, the loss of Furyk and Garcia represents a big blow. Tournament director Alastair Roper has put on a brave face, and replacement Trevor Immelman (along with Swede Niclas Fasth) does mean a fifth South African in the field; there’ll be a lot of disappointed Sergio fans out there, however, Feverpitcher firmly amongst them.

John Smit has managed to get time off from his new nine-to-five in France to skipper the team in the Wales game, but there changes aplenty elsewhere. Os du Randt and Bob Skinstad have retired, Gurthro Steenkamp has injured his hand, Fourie du Preez is set to have an operation/go on honeymoon, Butch James is playing for Bath (and scored a try in his first game out last weekend), and Ashwin Willemse and Percy Montgomery have club commitments in France.

And now Victor Matfield has added his name to the list of unavailables, preferring to spend time with his family; it all takes some of the grandeur out of White’s swansong. And if the Wales game features a somewhat lesser squad, the Barbarians game will see more of the regulars (led by Smit) absent, the side that takes to Twickenham a shadow of the World Champion Springboks. Out with a deserved bang? Well no, not quite - but then Feverpitcher can’t pretend to be terribly suprised. Pulling on the boots for a trip to Wales after the euphoria of the World Cup as understandably qualified appeal; we’ll pay measured attention to Cardiff, then, and dwell upon a magical night in Paris a little longer instead.

And so leaving after winning the World Cup was always on the cards - there is nothing more to prove, and dealing with the multiple pleasures of a job that holds much of the appeal of being a cash-in-transit driver, has been White’s cross for long enough. But what does have you shaking your head - in wonder, in shock, in sheer disbelief - is the bloody-minded arrogance of a crew of administrators somehow immune to the magnitude of White’s achievement.

There is almost a suggestion in the ludicrous insistence that White re-apply for his job, that th coach was somehow peripheral to the World Cup victory; that the administrators clamouring to the coat-tails of the team upon its return, were somehow convinced that they played a role in the tournament being won. No meaningful effort from SARU to keep Jake White is breathtaking - and another illustration of exactly why the man the rest of the rugby world is courting furiously, is bidding us farewell. And who can blame him; Jake White, no one can argue, really does deserve better.

Instead, however, Graeme Smith’s side returned with a Jacques Kallis-inspired Test series victory, and a come-from-behind one-day triumph that spoke volumes for the temperament of a side not always the strongest in pressure situations. Granted, Pakistan are in turmoil, but then that’s standard operating procedure for Pakistan, dangerously unpredictable opponents whatever soap opera is bedevilling the side.

As such, leading the team to the Test/one-day double stands out as one of Smith’s finest achievements, even without security distractions. The emphatic return of Jacques Kallis, the confirmation of Paul Harris’s credentials, as well as those of Dale Steyn, the reminder of Shaun Pollock’s all-round class, and a glimpse of the talent of JP Duminy, are amongst a long list of positives to emerge from cricket’s toughest tour. Six weeks in Pakistan? For once, the South Africans will look back without quite the usual shiver.

That they looked set for an upset made it all the memorable - Loffie Eloff’s young Lions nearly pulled off a quite remarkable victory that would have had Bloemfontein a very quiet place indeed on Saturday night. A couple of yellow cards, some desperate Lions defending, and a Cheetahs side who couldn’t quite pull the trigger in the first half, meant that at one stage a Lions win looked a distinct possibility.

But with Willem de Waal pulling off one of the three kicks of the year (Frans Steyn’s World Cup final penalty, and Ruan Pienaar’s effort from the touchline against the Crusaders the other two contenders), and Os du Randt leading the local roar, Naka Drotske got to celebrate his ascension to the Free State helm with a famous victory, and ensure that despite the World Cup hovering over the event, the Absa Currie Cup got the finale it deserved.

While the rest of his team-mates were parading the World Cup round Vodacom Park, Du Plessis - who’d been part of the triumphant squad in Paris after a late call-up to replace the injured BJ Botha - was back in the thick of things, representing the Cheetahs in the most absorbing final local rugby’s seen for a while (we’d have to back to this year’s Super 14 at least).

And when the Cheetahs snuck home at the death, it meant that Du Plessis had chalked up a rare double: World Cup and Absa Currie Cup in the space of eight days. The World Cup, one suspects, will sneak pride of place on the Du Plessis mantlepiece, but having played much the season, and given the fervous for the Currie Cup that pulses through Bloemfontein, the 2007 win over the Lions won’t be too far behind.

And from a packed airport - highlighted by police and security staff tasked with controlling the crowds, instead jostling with each other to get photos of the rugby heroes - the wave of celebration has unfurled across the country, as the open-topped bus tour of South Africa gets underway. From a rainy Pretoria to ecstatic Soweto, the response has been the same: delirious South Africans celebrating a team that did for national unity in 80 minutes which few others could manage in a year.

The celebrations will continue until Monday, culminating in Cape Town, and a trophy presentation at Newlands; then, officially, the players will get a break, before gearing up for the end of season tour, and what could prove to be Jake White’s last hurrah as coach. A number of players could also be embarking upon their final Springbok assignments, and you sense an urgency amongst the victorious squad to cherish every moment of the World Cup celebration.

It’s added a certain intensity to the team’s return, and while in the long term that might not be a great sign for South African rugby, for now it’s sent an ecstatic nation into even greater delight. Cape Town on Monday’s your last chance; Feverpitcher would highly recommend you do your level best to be there. It might be a while before a sports team lights up the nation in quite the same way.