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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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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After a long debate about where/if Argentina should join one of the top 2 competitions in the world outside of the RWC, they have been invited to participate in a proposed 4 nations tournament along with the current SANZAR teams, SA, NZ and Aus from 2012, the year after the RWC in NZ.

There are conditions set for the Pumas though, and the main one being that their players are to play in the super rugby tournament before the start of the 4 nations. While this isn’t a bad idea, it will flood the SANZAR teams with foreign players, not too disimilar to the English, French and Italian teams at the moment. Something that SANZAR teams seem to pride themselves against such invasion of foreign players.

Given that most of the Puma players already play in the Northern Hemisphere, is it such a good idea to completely change that and get them to all pack up and move south bound and play for SANZAR teams? Would it not be better to make a 2-tiered 7 Nations tournament in the North, and rather introduce Fiji/Tonga/mixed islands team to join the SANZAR teams in a 4 nations tournament? I agree that rugby should be opened up to all teams, not just the Pumas, what are your thoughts/comments on this potential addition to world rugby?

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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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The Wallabies ended the Springboks’ winning run in the Tri-nations with a well deserved 21 - 6 victory in Brisbane over the World Champions. A try each by Ashley Cooper and O’Connor proved sufficient to separate the two sides. But what an entertaining game! Despite only two tries being scored in the match both teams looked very keen to get over the opposition white wash! On no less than three occasions the Wallabies were denied a try by some last ditch defending and Brussow was denied a try due to duPreez uncharacteristically passing the ball forward to the Bok fetcher.

But was this a case of the Wallabies playing well or the Boks playing badly? I think John Smit said it best in the post match interview when he said that excuses are for losers. The Boks just met up with a team that out played them on the day.

What was once Australia’s Achilles heel actually proved to be a strong point as the Boks failed to match up to the Wallabies at scrum time. Yes, it was an improvement from last week from a Bok perspective but all in all the Wallaby front row proved too strong for the Boks, which must be a worrying aspect for PdV. The Wallabies were also able to match the Boks at the lineouts and very importantly the Australians were also very physical and competitive at the break-down; the presence of “Bam Bam” Pocock having an impact in this department of the game. These three facets, the scrum, line out and breakdown all combined to give Australia the platform that they needed to unleash their dangerous backline; and with Berrick Barnes back at inside centre all these things combined to give Australia the upper hand on the day. Giteau also benefited immensely from the snappier service he received from Will Genia who seems set to retain that number 9 jumper while Burgess may now end up the Whitaker of his generation.

What may have hurt the Boks, especially in the second half, was the absence of Bryan Habana on the wing who pulled out in the late stages of the first half with what looked like a hamstring strain. Combined with the absence of Pietersen on the right wing and the booming boot of Frans Steyn at the back, this meant the Boks were fielding a completely different back three than they have been fielding for the majority of the season. This seemed to seriously hamper the effectiveness of the Bok kick and chase game. It also helped that the Wallabies played it smart by retaining huge chunks of possession and playing in the Bok half.

With a trip to Hamilton next week PdV must be concerned by the comprehensive nature in which his side was beaten on Saturday. By contrast Robbie Deans and Graham Henry must at last have something to smile about as the chinks in the Bok armory have been exposed and a team that looked almost invincible seven days ago all of a sudden looks decidedly ordinary.

My man of the match award goes to Berrick Barnes, the man looks very accomplished and complete for a player so young.

So off to Hamilton on Saturday with the Boks still trying to get the two points they need to win the Tri-nations. If the Boks put in another performance like the one they gave in Brisbane I have no doubts that the Carter inspired All Blacks are going to defeat the Boks.

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The Springboks and the Wallabies have named their teams for this weekends Tri-Nations match in Brisbane. We will start with the Boks: They have made one change to their starting XV which sees winger Odwa Ndungane coming in for the injured JP Pietersen. I would have thought that PdV would have drafted Frans Steyn onto the wing as he has played there before but I guess this just goes to show that PdV does not want to integrate Frans Steyn into the starting lineup as he is off to play in Europe.

It will be very interesting to see how Ndugane does especially under the high ball as I have no confidence in him in that aspect of the game. And especially now that the Wallabies have another great kicking option back in the side with Barnes.

The other changes for the Boks is on the bench as Danie Rossouw retrurns to the side as a replacement for lock Andries Bekker, who has been rule out for a month with a shoulder injury.

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

As for the Wallabies they have rung the changes and the biggest one for me is that scrumhlaf Will Genia FINALLY gets to start for the Wallabies. It has taken Robbie Deans long enough to realise that Genia is a better scrummy than Luke Burgess.

Center Berrick Barnes returns to the lineup after missing last weekends game due to injury. His return will bring another kicking option for Australia and a more solid looking center pairing with Adam Ashley-Cooper. Drew Mitchell comes in on the wing for the Wallabies too.

In the forward pack, Zimbabwean born flanker, David Pocock will start which sees captain George Smith moving to number8. In the front row, Tatafu Polota-Nau takes over from Stephen Moore at hooker.

I am impressed with this Wallaby team especially the changes in the backline and seeing Pocock starting with George Smith. Those two should really give Brussow a good test.

The Wallaby team in full is: 5 James O’Connor 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 George Smith (c), 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Subs: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 Wycliff Palu, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Peter Hynes.

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This test started off on a very familiar note, the Boks firing with all cylinders and the opposition struggling to soak it up. From the start of the game, the Boks made their intentions very clear that they would not stray too much from their game plan. But, what they did not prepare us for was their intention to spread the ball wide in the opposition half. Last week, in the preview of this game, I made yet another bold statement but suggesting that the Boks would out score the Aus by 3 tries to 1. Little did I know that the Peter De Villiers led charges wanted 4 tries. My thinking before the game was that PDV is getting his mix right and the boys would be ready to spread the ball as I anticipated more space in the Aus defence. However, I was very shocked by the inability of the Aus team to carry out some basic tasks, catching, passing and kicking.

The Aus front row really came to the fore and both Smit and Beast at some point were found wanting as the Aus front row applied immense pressure. I was really impressed by Robinson who in my books has been the best Aus forward from S14 all the way to this last test vs. the Boks. However, this is where the Aus domination starts and ends. The Bok locks and loosies outplayed their counterparts by a mile. The stats reflect this fact because of the number of line outs and turnovers that the Aus gave away. I was impressed by Juan Smith as usual as he did all the dirty work and carried the ball very well. Pierre Spies also came to the party and his burst from the base of the scrum gave the Boks much needed momentum. Fourie Du Preez had an easy day thanks to Robbie Deans. I still do not understand what Will Genia must do to get the nod ahead of Luke Burgess. Robbie Deans must be blamed fully for either being biased or just plain dumb. He must be the only man in the world who still thinks Luke is a better scrummy than Will.

The Boks backline has finally silenced each and every critic that has been lambasting the Bok strategy. With a try count of 4, 2 for Habana, 1 for Jacques Fourie and 1 for Du Preez, I would like to hear what Graham Henry has to say about the Bok strategy. The backline scored off 1st phase, 3rd phase and off a penalty. What more must this team prove? The Boks used the rolling maul to great effect and at the same time spread the ball out wide. This team displayed the most complete rugby I have seen from any team in the world today. On the other hand, Richard Brown, Rocky Elsom and Matt Giteau had a shocker of a day. These players played out of character and I can only think of the pressure applied by the Boks as the only reasons why players of Matt’s caliber could not catch or kick the rugby ball. The Australian backline was misfiring and with such terrible service from Burgess, they struggled to string together any form of cohesion.

In the 65th minute, the Boks coach rang some interesting changes with Bekker coming on for Botha, Schalk coming on for Smith and Steyn coming on for Pienaar at the back. This gave the Aussies a ray of hope as they seemed to find more space and scored 2 tries as a result. This still begs questions on the Boks ability to maintain their intensity with players coming off the bench. However, it must be mentioned that the last try scored by Australia came from one of their players running past an injured Bekker who could not put in the tackle as he had injured his ac joint.

All in all, this performance by the Boks will certainly silence many a critic, including some of our regular I Love Rugby bloggers. It will be interesting to hear what all the Bok haters have to say after such a stirling performance. Personally, I cannot see any team being able to beat the Boks unless the Boks win the next match in Brisbane and claim the Tri-nations and then have to go to NZ with nothing to play for. Other than that, we are seeing the best rugby team in the world doing what they do best, completely dominate and force their opponents into submission.

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The Springboks have named Ruan Pienaar at fullback in place of Frans Steyn for this weekends test match against Australia. When I saw this change I must say I was a bit shocked! What is PdV thinking? I am not the biggest Frans Steyn fan but the boy is playing well especially with this kicking game the Boks have adopted. I can not recall the last time I saw Ruan Pienaar play at fullback so it will be interesting to see how he handles it.

PdV has come out and said that the reason he has picked Ruan at the back is in the hope that he will spark the Boks attack. In all fairness, the Boks backline has not sparked for a while now but why reshuffle things when it is working for you? As they say, “If it ain’t broken then don’t fix it.”

But then looking a bit more closely to this Ruan selection at the back; chances are high that Frans is going to leave SA Rugby and go play in Europe so thus PdV has to come up with a solution at the back if Frans does end up leaving. So could Ruan be the long term replacement fullback for the Boks? We all know that PdV loves Ruan and he will do anything to find a place in the team for him but I have my doubts with Ruan at the back.

The second change in the Bok lineup sees Shalk Burger return to the bench after his ban. PdV may have been tempted to bring him straight into the starting lineup if Juan Smith was injured but Smith has been declared fit. I would have been shocked if PdV had replaced Burger with Brussow.

What do you make of Ruan starting at fullback?

The Bok Team in full is: 15 Ruan Pienaar, 14 JP Pietersen, 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 Andries Bekker, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Frans Steyn.

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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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