This, I am hoping and somewhat confidently, will be a year in which the Sports Axis stops spinning in reverse and goes back to normal and The All Blacks dominate every aspect of the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Union Football game. I have some reason to be hopeful as the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team has destroyed its opponents in the first two rounds of play in the Seven series.

Super Rugby: The defending champs from Tswane (Pretoria to the Boer
Nationalists) are struggling with some high profile injuries to Botha and Dewald Portgeiter. Some may argue the return of Gary Botha may not help an aging scrum. With this in mind I boldly state the following rankings for the end of the Super 14 round robin stage and the overall victors in no specific order: Crusaders, Brumbies, Hurricanes and Bulls. The Crusaders will win the tournament for the 7th time reestablishing their dominance in Super Rugby and swing the balance of rugby power back to its righful home New Zealand. What will be interesting is the return of the best and only serious Australian team in Super Rugby-The Brumbies. They will be a fierce team with a youthful pack and Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley Copper running their offense.

What will not be suprising is the poor form of the South African teams like The Cheetahs and The Lions. Not even a great All Black Fly-half like Carlos Spencer (who used to be King Carlos until he joined the Lions is now a lowly Earl of Gauteng) can save The Lions. The Stormers and Sharks will threaten but nothing much will come of it. Australian teams will show little promise with The Force doing nothing and The Reds remaining useless. The ‘Tahs will be interesting especially with Barrick Barnes running the offense. New Zealand under achievers will be Otago and Auckland but I must note that The Blues have made some good changes and thus are my dark house team.

Tri-Nations: All Blacks will win back the trophy for the record 8/9th time. After a woeful tour of the North the Springboks in late ‘09 showed that they struggle with depth at certain key positions and thus are one or two injuries away from disaster. Australia will improve and may thus finish second.

These are the impassioned predictions of an All Black fan but as a fan of Rugby Union Football I would like to see less defensive rugby and more free flowing attractive football. Bok Ball is boring and the whole Rugby world seems to be playing defensive 10man rugby.

Finally I will not be synmpothic to the Bok Nation.
Last year was a great year for the Bok Nation and your fanatical fan base but this year the wrongs of the past to the All Blacks will be righted by The All Blacks and this great team and its franchises will restore itself to the top as the winniest team across all professional sports over the last decade with a winning percentage over 75%.

To All ALL Black fans, I hope good things are ahead.

Simbarashe

P.S. I am aware of the easy retort of our RWC performances and yes fair point but engage us on how we have put the Rugby Union Football brand on the map, how time and time again we redefine the way the game is played and how we play the best rugby on the world. We are aware and yes you (those who love to say this will sing it all day long) but not matter what The All Blacks set the tone in Rugby Union Football.

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Everyone in the rugby world says that the All Blacks are the biggest chokers in the game when it comes to World Cup Rugby time. It is a fact that the All Blacks have failed to win the World Cup every since they won the first one. They somehow always seem to disappoint when it comes to the World Cup. They play so well in non World Cup years and they are usually always the favourites going into a Wolrd Cup to win it.

I believe that if the All Blacks can not win the World Cup in 2011 on the own home patch, they may not win it again in a very long time.

Now let us look at the other great chokers in sport today: The South Africa cricket team otherwise known as The Proteas. Now just like the All Blacks, the Proteas can not seem to win these major cricket tournaments be it the recent ICC Champions Trophy that they got dumped out from, or a T20 World Cup or the main Cricket World Cup. What is it about the Proteas and these tournaments. Right now the Proteas are ranked Number 1 in both forms of the game thus many expected them to win the ICC Champions Trophy and even more so that it was being played on their own home turf.

What is it about the All Blacks and the Proteas when it comes to the big stage?

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Two years ago, the All Blacks were a dominant force, once again the smart money was on them to take the RWC until France, once again, trounced their hopes in the quarters, leaving the Boks the last team standing with the golden cup. 2 years down the line, the tide has changed. After a rocky 2008 for the Boks in general, wooden spoon for the Bulls in the S14 and for the Boks in the Trinations, they’ve followed that up with a commanding performance in 2009, taking every piece of silverware available to them, bar possibley the ‘home nations’ title, which surely they’d have taken had it been for the offering on the end of year tour.

Looking ahead to 2011 after the current Trinations tournament where the currently ranked top 3 teams do battle, it seems more than likely that the Boks are in the driving seat and, on current form, look like the All Blacks during non-RWC years. The Boks will be hoping that they can continue to improve and this form doesnt dip. PDV will be the architect of their own demise as i feel they have the players to take the golden cup once again, even in the All Blacks back garden.

While reading a New Zealand website i came across some analysis of the All Blacks and their current choices for players in 2011, which i thought would be good if we could do an analysis of all Trinations teams and see where we end up. we’ll start with what they’ve gone with, and then having to make our own way with the Bok and Aussie teams respectively following a similar format as below:

http://www.nzrugbyworld.co.nz/Article.aspx?id=423
Read the rest of this entry »

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Many had called this a dead rubber and a battle for the wooden spoon but weren’t we treated to a good game of rugby, especially for New Zealand supporters. For those who thought that the All Blacks would roll over and play dead, they were pleasantly surprised.

For me, I could see a difference in the All Black team straight from the Haka. It had a bit more intensity on Saturday and I believe the main reason for that is because Hosea Gear was leading it. He seems to have more passion when leading the Haka than Richie McCaw.

Looking back at the game, one now just has to wonder what a difference Cory Jane would have made to the All Blacks team against the Springboks. Jane looks superb under the high ball and that was largely seen in the first try the All Blacks scored when Jane made young James O’Connor really look like a school boy playing test rugby. Jane would have been able to handle the Springboks kicking game much better than Joey and Sivivatu. But I guess that is a lesson learnt now by the All Blacks…Jane has to play against the Boks.

I have been a huge fan of James O’Connor ever since I saw him play at the end of last year. He is not a bad player at all and will certainly have a bright future ahead of him BUT he should not be afraid of the All Blacks. Every game he has played against the All Blacks he has had a shocker. I am sure it is just a physcological thing with him but he has to get over it now!

For the first time in a while, the All Blacks lineout worked on Saturday and I like the look of Donnelly at lock. He was solid in the lineouts and held his own at scrum time. I just wonder what kind of a future he has for the All Blacks considering that there are the likes of Ali Williams, Anthony Boric and Bryn Evans who still have to return from injury and not forgetting Isaac Ross who has played for most of the Tri-Nations this year.

Looking at a key change for the All Blacks, the introduction of Isaia Toeava in the number 13 jumper was key for the All Blacks. Toeava probably had his best game ever in an All Black jursey even if he got a yellow card. If Toeava can display form like that week in and week out in an All Black jersey, New Zealand may have found a long term solution to number 13. But most of us know that Toeava delivers at Super 14 level but seems to choke at Test level.

For the Wallabies, they really need to get sorted out. They can not afford another Tri-Nations like this next year where they only win one game. People say the Wallabies are young and rebuilding so they will chalk this Tri-Nations down as being their teething season so we should expect to see them deliver next year..only time will tell if they will be able to deliver.

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Messeurs Henry, Smith and Hansen delayed the announcement of the team to face the Aussies in the last of the Tri-nations matches, which, in all essence is a dead-rubber and only competing for wooden spoon, which I guess, if you’re not a Bok is a big thing. But have they made the decisions in keeping Rockoko, Hore, Thorne and to an extent, Nonu? are the replacements in the form of Donnelly, Thomson, Toeava and Jane the correct ones?

If your lineouts are going pear shaped, do you fire the lock calling them or the hooker who can’t find his jumpers? personally, i think Hore should’ve got the boot, ROss has played all the ABs matches this year and i rate him above Thorne.

Joe must have a photo of the 3 ‘wise’ men with a sheep or something, how is he still being selected above the likes of masanga, david smith, hosea gear and co?

Nonu is lucky to have survived the axe from what i’ve heard about his display last weekend. his hands are not consistent and he doesn’t offer that much around the park outside of a wrecking ball, which again lacks consistency.

is this the right team? should this be a trial match for those fringe or new players? personally, i dont think the changes will change the mental strength that is lacking in this team, the determination and fierceness that we’ve become accustomed to over the last 2 decades or so. let me know your thoughts/comments!

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Well, well, well, well……..what can we say about this great Bok Side? Have they silenced their critics or have they silenced their critics? The display on Saturday was nothing short of sublime.

The game started off with the ref calling 2 penalties against the Boks that are still baffling me. Never in my short rugby career have I seen a ref calling for obstruction against a player who is supporting a jumper on a kick off. But on Saturday the All Blacks had this penalty given to them within the first 15 seconds. Later on in the 15^th minute, the very first scrum of the game, John Smit slipped upon making the hit and instead of resetting the scrum, the ref decided to award the All Blacks a second penalty. That’s already 6 points that were erroneously awarded to the All Blacks.

However, at this point in time I would like to commend the Boks for a few areas where they dominated and made sure they would do just enough to win the game. The selection of Frans Steyn proved to be monumental as the youngster slotted a 60m kick and two 50m kicks respectively for infringements made by the All Blacks at the ruck. In the preview of this game I had warned that the All Blacks might be caught out in trying to get away with what the Aus got away with a week earlier and it proved just how much a ref’s interpretation can affect a game.

The Bok scrum was much better and as I had intimated, Tony Woodcock is not the same as Benn Robinson. John Smit annihilated the veteran and late in the second half, a boks killed the All Black scrum under their own posts. The breakdown was dominated by the boks as Heinrich and Schalk proved just how deadly a combination they could become if given the time. My man of the match though was Fourie Du Preez who yet again, showed just how much a class player he is. His sniping runs, box kicks and efficient passing made all the world of difference, capped off with yet another try for the world’s best scrum half. The bok lineout caused problems as usual and Brad Thorne and Isaac Ross had no answers for Big Vic who stole quite a few of the Black lineouts at crucial times. Steven Donald was exposed in the middle as Jean De Villiers and Jacque Fourie ran wild all night long. I must say that when Isaia Toeava came on, his presence was immediately felt and I do not understand why Henry did not start with Toeava. The game had an exciting end to it as the All Blacks came back in the last 20minutes. The boks were exposed for their inability to play for 80min and that is something Peter De Villiers will need to address.

My preview was criticised by a few of our regulars on this site and one particular All Black supporter had this to say about my post:

Ø “Du Preez is the best in the world but Cowen is no slouch thus Im not concerned with the matchup”,

Ø “I also disagree that the W have a better scrum than ABs. If I remember correctly, the W scrum struggled a lot against us. I believe we can give smit and beast problems. Woodcock is afterall one of the best looseheads in the world”

I did not respond to these statements simply because I knew that the boks would do the talking for me. Firstly, Du Preez was head and shoulders better than Cowen and Du Preez single handedly scored the first try. Secondly, The All Blacks showed that they have the worst scrum out of the 3 Tri Nations teams by a mile so I rest my case there.

Finally, just a few moments in the game that I really enjoyed, Beast reeling down Kieren Read from behind and tackled him while John Smit revenged for Brad Thorne’s silly illegal tackle on him last year by putting in the tackle of the tournament on the so called “big Brad” and forcing him to spill the ball in the process.

To all the Springbok supporters, congratulations for the team’s fine performance and on their Tri Nations Victory. To all the All Black supporters, I hope you have learnt not to speak too soon and allow your disillusioned thoughts to cloud the facts. The All Blacks have been beaten 3-0 by the boks this year and they are not in the same class.

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The teams have been announced and here they are :-

Springboks – 15 Frans Steyn, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

Frans Steyn has obviously been brought back into the fold to counter the Carter/Donald threat at the back. The rest of the team picks itself and credit must go to the Bok coaching team for their consistency so far. I am concerned about Spies as I have heard that he is not 100% fit. I would have liked to see Kankowski brought onto the bench to counter the possibility of a recurring injury ruling out the Bulls number 8 early in the game.

I believe the bok scrum will be much better as they would have worked on their weaknesses. Another point to consider would be that the Australian forwards bettered the New Zealanders and the Aus scrum has been the most consistent in the competition so far.

The bok side has no excuses as they have the better settled combinations and should be expected to put up a much better fight away from home, compared to their weak performance in Brisbane last week.

New Zealand - 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Ma’a Nonu, 12 Stephen Donald, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Subs: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Adam Thomson, 19 Rodney So’oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Isaia Toeava 22 Cory Jane.

With the All Blacks coming off a 3 week layoff and also under pressure to deliver against a firing bok side, I expect nothing less than fireworks from the men in black. Looking at the team selected by Graham Henry, positions 1-11 are very much as expected and Henry must be commended for maintaining consistency, even with players that have mis-fired during the tournament like Kaino and Cowan, he has stuck to his guns and shown faith in his players.

At number 12 however, is where I believe Henry has taken a big gamble. Steven Donald is not a bad player at all and against any other team; I would not be as surprised to see him wearing the 12 jumper. However, when facing the world’s best inside centre in the form of Jean de Villiers, Donald might just be exposed. Furthermore, the All Black centre pairing has not played together before and they come up against De Villiers and Fourie who have been improving since being reunited just over a month ago. It is also about time that Rokocoko and Muliaina step up to the plate and it will be interesting to see how they fare. However, with ball in hand, Donald gives the All Blacks an extra kicking option and this should provide Frans Steyn with his sternest test yet at full back. The All Blacks will not have too much pressure on them in this regard and having both Donald and Carter on the field at the same time might just be a preview of Henry’s intended tactics to kick for territory and force the boks into making mistakes. It also provides the All Blacks options because with Carter being mainly a left footed kicker, it gives the All Blacks the left-right axis when kicking for territory.

Watch out for New Zealand’s counter rucking as I am sure Henry would have learnt from the Aussies that there are opportunities around the rucks and mauls when facing the boks. I am not sure though if the ref will allow as much freedom as Bryce Lawrence allowed in Brisbane because if not, then the All Blacks might just find themselves giving away a few penalties.

This game will be extremely physical in the tight five and expect the boks to bring their A game as they look to seal their Tri Nations victory. For key match ups, look at positions 9, 12 and 13 where I believe the bok superiority will be enough to edge this one. I expect Daniel Carter to be as his usual best and I would not be surprised if either Bakkies or Juan is assigned to put in a few late hits on the Maestro just to rattle him a bit.

This should be a tough and exciting encounter given the pre-match banter both in the respective teams’ camps and on this site. Here’s to yet another cracking rugby match that will lead to some interesting debate come Monday morning.  Enjoy it.

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There is no doubting that the Tri-Nations is the best international rugby competition there is. We were treated to a thriller on Saturday in Sydney as the All Blacks ran out winners over the Wallabies. Going into the game, the smart money was on Australia as they were playing at home but the Wallabies lacked BMT (Big Match Temperament) as they failed to close down the game after leading for the bulk of the game.

Wallaby fans will blame this loss on a couple of factors:
1) They just do not have the experience to close down games but I guess this will come with time as their team is fairly young and they will mature;
2) The injuries the Wallabies suffered during the game did not help. The loss of Barnes and O’Connor were key as that just disrupted their already disrupted backline which did not have Sterling Mortlock.

Wallaby fans may also blame the loss to the poor refereeing of Jonathan Kaplan but Kaplan had a very poor game and made bad calls for both sides. You can not say Kaplan ‘favoured’ one of the teams more than the other, he was just consistently poor through out the match.

Before I forget, whilst we are talking about Kaplan, why was Jimmy Cowan’s try disallowed?

Looking at the All Blacks; they will take the win and with it they retain the Bledisloe Cup which is a big deal in Australasia Rugby. As much as the All Blacks will enjoy this win, I am sure they will look back at the game and see that they still have a lot of work to do. The execution of the All Blacks during the game was piss poor! Too many knock ons, forward passes and dropped balls. The All Blacks used to be so clinical with their finishing but that seems to have let them down this year.

Their lineout was slightly better on Saturday but it still needs a great deal of work. As I mentioned earlier, the Wallabies may say that the reshuffling in their backline may have cost them the game, but the All Blacks also had problems of their own with the losses of McAllister and Smith during the game. Credit though must go to Stephen Donald who came on and kicked the up and unders well as he went to flyhalf.

You can not review this match without a special mention to Dan Carter. Many had thought that he would not be ready for this game after his injury and that the All Blacks were silly to bring him back so soon. But the guys quality just showed on Saturday as he steered the All Blacks to the finish line. His kicking for goal was accurate as was shown with his winning penalty goal with just two minutes left on the clock. Dan Carter has the ability to single handily turn a game and that should be a concern to the Springboks when they take on the All Blacks. Morne Steyn will really have a test up against Carter.

What will I take away from this game? - It is great to see Dan Carter back in the All Black, the Bledisloe stays in New Zealand and Kaplan should not ref anymore!

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The All Blacks have made a big call! Graham Henry has decided to throw Dan Carter straight into the firing line as he named him in his All Black starting XV that takes on Australia this Saturday in Sydney. Carter comes in at number 10 in place of Stephen Donald who is relegated to the bench. In fairness, Donald has not done much wrong in the Tri-Nations tests so far this term but I guess Henry has decided that Carter may just provide the extra spark the All Blacks need after loosing back to back tests against the Springboks.

Carter has looked good since his return from injury and he has been in great form for Canterbury so I guess there really is no question about his fitness as I am sure he would not have been selected to play if he were not fully fit.

Graham Henry continued to ring the changes to his starting XV for Saturday. Luke McAllister comes in at 12 in place of Ma’a Nonu. I was a bit surprised about this move but I guess Henry has decided that he may need another kicking option at 12 which he will have with McAllister. But reports this morning suggest that McAllister has picked up an injury in training today (Tuesday) and may not be able to start on Saturday which would mean that Nonu would start at 12.

Another big call is the relegation of Rodney So’oialo to the bench as he is replaced by Kieran Read. I would have thought that Rodney would start the test and then have Read come on as an impact player. This is the first time So’oialo has not been the first choice selection since 2005. Could his All Black days be numbered? I do not think so. An inform So’oialo is a great weapon to have for the All Blacks.

I had thought that Henry would drop Joe Rokocoko after his poor display in South Africa but he has stuck with him. My thinking was that Cory Jane may have been drafted in to replace Joey but Jane does not even find a place on the bench.

The team in full is: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Reserves: 16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Rodney So’oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ma’a Nonu.

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Dan Carter is now back! There have been many players in the game today who have come back from horrific injuries and never been the same when they returned. This is not the first time Dan Carter has made a come back from a serious injury. In 2005, Carter broke his leg but made a successful return from that. Now this time around he is coming back from a ruptured Achilles tendon that sidelined him for six months.

Dan Carter has since played two games for Canterbury in the Air New Zealand Cup and has now been recalled to the All Black squad. Now many people will have different opinions about Carter returning to the All Blacks so soon. Some believe that the All Black selectors are panicking after their disappoitment in South Africa and they are hoping Carter’s return will help them win their remaining games in the Tri-Nations. Whilst some believe that Carter’s return is just what the All Blacks need.

I guess the biggest question is if Dan Carter is ready to be playing test rugby again. There is a huge gulf between the Air New Zealand Cup he has been playing in and Tri-Nations rugby. There is no doubting that Carter has the quality to be playing for the All Blacks but are they not rushing him back into the deep end too soon? I am sure his injury is 100% healed now or else he would not be playing but how is his match fitness and his match sharpness? He certainly can not be at the top of his game right now. But is a 70% ready Dan Carter better than a 100% Stephen Donald?

Could just the sheer presence of having Dan Carter on the field be enough to spur the All Blacks on? Maybe that is just what they need to reignite their Tri-Nations.

Personally, I feel that if Dan Carter himself feels that he is ready to wear the All Black kit again and the selectors believe he is ready, then he should be given a run and maybe not start against the Wallabies in Sydney on 22 August, but come off the bench and see how he does from there.

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