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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After the disaster of the All Blacks loosing to the Springboks on Saturday, there is some good news for All Black fans, Dan Carter is back! Carter has been out of action for six months after being sidelined with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Carter made his comeback on the weekend and completed 80 minutes in a club game for Southbridge.

“The Achilles and rest of my body felt good, even though obviously I was playing within myself a little bit,” Carter said. Carter now hopes to play for Canterbury this coming weekend in the New Zealand NPC. This would be more competitive and a tougher challenge for DC but he needs such games under his belt to complete his comeback.

There are also suggestions that Carter could even be considered for the All Blacks by the time they face Australia in Sydney on August 22. I am not too sure how fit DC would be by then but if he is fit and Donald is not firing on all cylinders then I would be more than happy to see DC back in the All Black kit.

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Dan Carter will be out of action for the next 6 months after he limped off the pitch on Saturday in the last minute of Perpignan’s 13-13 draw with Stade Francais. Dan has a partial rupture of his Achilles tendon and will undergo surgery tomorrow (Thursday) in France. This comes as a huge blow to the French side as they have lost arguably the best player in the world after he had only played five games for the team. Not to mention the loss of Carter on the field but they are also going to take a financial knock as Carter had signed a 6 month contract worth 700 000 euro. I am sure they still have to pay him even if he is injured.

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