Much like Bender (full name Bender Bending Rodríguez), the fictional robot character in the animated television series Futurama, the Springboks are being treated like "alcoholic, whore-mongering, chain-smoking gamblers" who possess very little charm or talent. 

And, exactly like Bender, the Boks are being made to feel like round pegs in a square hole by the International Rugby Board, especially after the announcement of the 2008 Rugby Union Player of the Year.

Not a single Springbok made the IRB Player of the Year cut - not one! No Jean de Villiers, no Beast, just a walk in the park for Danny Boy Carter.  I don't know what to say ...

Just like Bender, the Springboks have been battered and abused!  

Scanning the recent media, I'm convinced the Queen of England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand (QEII) nailed it on the head when she described a shocking year as an 'annus horribilis'. Well, the IRB is a festering boil on the Springboks' annus horribilis.

Around every corner the Boks have been ambushed by these Union Jack sporting foes. 

Paddy O'Brien, head of the IRB referee panel, flew into South Africa to tongue-lash the SARU management because they publicly aired their unhappiness over shocking Super Rugby/Tri Nations referees.

The Boks have been ripped to shreds by the Aussies and Kiwis (the dreaded Trans-Tasmanian Twins) as they've scripted the Tri-Nations - and face further fallout because we're are not prepared to continue with ELVs handing fixture after fixture to the South Sea islanders.

The British Lions have snubbed South African referees and their management are holding a gun to the heads of SARU demanding a tailor-made schedule.

Up the annus horribilis again and even Bender would wince at the huge shafting the Springboks are getting within international rugby in 2008.

Any hope that South Africa's French connection could help with the IRB Council under the chairmanship of Bernard Lapasset has vanished and even Italian connections via Nick Mallett haven't panned out.

While a shipload of conspiracy theories do the rounds in South Africa, the Aussies and Kiwis are making hay with huge global links in contrast to the Boks who are watching their 2015 RWC hosting bid sail into the sunset.  (How did the Kiwis clinch their 2011 RWC bid so swift and silently?).

And as stolen African slaves once cried, on arrival in the New World, SARU can only cower and plead: 'Don't whip me, Master!'

Or, as Bender would say, 'Bite my shiny, metal ass!'