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Tri Nations: Springboks - Wallabies @ Kings Park, Durban (13-08-2011, 16:00 GMT)

Oh, how depressed was I over the weekend (well, at least 2 hours after the match still LOL)! Oh, congrats to Aus, they didn't panick (mainly because we couldn't put points on the scoreboard) and stuck to their guns.

Some good and some bad;
- had a slight upper hand in the scrums... until PdV did what he learned (or at least what everyone else learned last year) he shouldn't do and moved Smit over to tight head. Hopefully that's the last we'll see of that.
- while Smit hada decent game, BdP was immense when he came on, was world class in ecery department except for throughs into the line-out where he through one badly. I'm sure with time he'll get that right again but the question is whether he'll get that time. Personally I hope we go with Smit on the bench.
- Brussow and Du Preez came through the game without injury but have some while to go before they recpture their form and while it can be said of most of the squad they weren't good for more than 30 minutes.
- Danie Rossouw was horrible at 7 like most people felt he would be but at least the incumbents in Smith and Burger and bench option in Alberts will be available soon.
- Pierre Spies looked a bit more dangerous and didn't get gangtackled like he usually does. Maybe that is more Aus' fault but still good to see. He needs someone to run off of him though.
- There weren't any support runners to build on some of the good work done
- we were terrible near the goal line. Seriously there were many opportunities gone begging but at least there was something if only chance. Hopefully the guys get the accuracy right with more gametime and match fitness. If it isn't too late already.
- too many forwards handling the ball when it's on for the backs
- we still don't have a 15; I stay by my point that Steyn is too 1 dimensional at the back and Aplon doesn't have a dependable enough boot and presence at the back for it.
- no cohesion, hopefully thats just the rustiness but we've seen it from SA for a while now...

Team I'd like to see against NZ;

1 Tendai Mtawarira - had a good game
2 Bismarck du Plessis - just too much better than Smit
3 Jannie du Plessis - at this stage our ONLY reliable tighthead
4 Bakkies Botha - needs gametime
5 Victor Matfield - needs to lead with Smit on the bench
6 Heinrich Brussow - showed he still has it but needs match fitness
7 Juan Smith/Schalk Burger/Willem Alberts - anyone other than Rossouw if at least 1 is fit
8 Pierre Spies - had a good game and would like to see more though I think NZ are goint to be more clever countering him
9 Fourie du Preez - needs gametime to get his edge and confidence back
10 Butch James - would like to see him get familiar with the SA environment
11 Bryan Habana - looks to be slowly but surely getting back
12 Juan de Jongh - JdV too similar to Fourie and not what he used to be
13 Jaque Fourie - our leader in the backs
14 JP Pietersen - solid
15 Patrick Lambie - I'd have liked him to play at 10 from the bench for SA with Riaan Viljoen at 15 but that ship has sailed but at least Lambie is somewhere in the Bok frame

- at least the defense was up there even if it did slide with a very visible lack of match fitness
 
Will be interested to see the All Blacks lineup, just read the article about them keeping 9 players at home. will this be the same squad that ends up in brisbane on the return leg, will it depend on the result in port elizabeth, or will the likes of carter and mccaw be already sunning themselves in queensland now?

I can't see them sending anything but their best to brisbane

The current AB squad is only for the match versus South Africa; I'd expect McCaw, Carter etc will be back vs Australia in Brisbne. I'd imagine most of the rested players will be currently with their families (mainly in Christchurch) under inches of snow, wishing they were sunning themselves in Queensland...
 
I mean he didn't play poorly but I in particular had high expectations going into this game. The scrum looked a lot more solid when Samo came on, Higgers detaches too early and didn't have the same impact that he usually does with ball in hand.

That was more because
- John Smit went to play tighthead- CJ vand er Linde came on (he's been horrible in the scrum all season and WP hasn't resigned him; how he makes the Bok 22 is beyond me)

Missed the game live, but just watched it on MySky, and there goes 80 minutes of my life I would like back.

Poor skills and inept execution in a boring match. I don't think I have see that many fumbles, bumbles and knock-ons in one game before. (oh yes, sorry I forgot, I have seen that many... watching the U7's down at Broads Playing Fields last Saturday morning).

The weather is no excuse either. These are professional rugby players using the best technology in rugby balls. They ought to be able to do better than that.

Agreed, though a lot of it came from pressure I felt very frustrated at the amount of balls SA players knocked on without any pressure from the opposition. Jaque Fourie knocked a couple, Aplon had the one at the back but the main offenders were the forwards. When that pass went to Rossouw at the death I yelled out; 'nee, nie Danie nie!' and when he dropped it everyone in the bar turned at looked at me like it was my fault LOL.

Hey we've gone from horrible to merely bad, small steps ;)

On a happier note, BdP was awesome and surprisingly Spies too. Brussouw as well, I think if we can get out backline clicking perhaps a FdP/Lambie combination? What do you guys think, after this game, who should our first choice flyhalf be? and scrumhalf?

I think Butch did alryt,clearly lived up to the hype about his defence! I think our problem lies on the centres particularly JDV,75% he wanted to run str8 into contact and thus the ball couldn't get to the wings...That said I'd have the same half-back combo and start Lambie at fullback or on the bench at least.

FdP is class and one of our few gamebreakers; I'd rather bet on a FdP coming back and still very rusty than anyone else in world rugby. Butch had a good enough enough game to be no1 IMO as we need Lambie at 15 because there is no actual fullback in our squad otherwise. For us to be more effective on attack I think JdV should make way for JdJ and we should play with just a tad more depth.
 
yeah, after this game we drank a lot quicker at that bachelors party!

But to be honest there were a lot of positives...

1. Pierre Spies - Glad to see him running again!! looks like he lost a bit of weight and gained some speed...
2. Fourie Du Preez - once again showed what class he had, he also bothered Genia a bit behind the scrum.
3. BEAST - his running and scrummaging was amazing, hope he can do the same to the AB's
4. Butch James - Didn't get a yellow card
5. Frans Steyn - was in position 90% of the time... but needs a haircut, he's making Chabal and the hair-bear bunch from wales look bad.

my opinion of Jaque Fourie's try - if we look at the positioning of the players to the ball in the in-goal area, and maybe the cameras made it look a bit more skew than it really was, but to me JF was in the same lateral line as Cooper. even if JF touched the ball, and then touched Cooper it wouldn't have been a forward motion by the ball but more a lateral motion, and only after it hit cooper's head went forward.

that was what my opinion was towards that incident.

once again Bryce Lawrence had a shitty game! why is he still a Sanzar ref?? he should be fired and sent to the box like George Ayoub!

missed a lot of knock-ons and forward passes by both sides. he doesn't know the advantage rules!! when Fourie Du Preez took a quick tap and advanced about 4 meters, he didn't give the boks advantage for Aus not being 10 meters back, in fact he didn't give any advantage.

the boks were very rusty and it was a pity Brussouw went off in the 60th minute, they should've took danie off and sent him back to the bulls...

hopefully we'll reach an upward curve from here on forward.
 
IMO
FDP were tackled by a player positioned 8-10m away from the spot, and Wallabies runners beside FDP were quite far, though FDP seemed well sure to where to attack and never changed direction or even looked around him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5pFQ0vL-YY#t=9m53s

Also: most of you said Cooper didn't play well.
I don't agree.

I found his match consistent and steady, he created space sometimes, but some guys dropped too many balls. Quade played good and mentally solid, he kicked well for territory (as someone said in previous thread: he can kick well for territory, he only lacks up&under - my 1-leg 90yo neighbour did it better, but now he passed away :) and goal kicking), he managed the ball well and create game.
And he committed 2 or 3 tackles!

I'm a bit disappointed in AAC, if against ABs I didn't charge him of anything, because problems were (IMO) before him, right in Cooper's management and Pat McCabe who's not a passer, against Bokke AAC were quite poor.
I hate to say that, because he's my favourite player in that team, I really love him and he's been outstanding all during 2010 internationals, but now I would like to see against the All Blacks a new centre pairing:

after a good match by QC and with Ant Fainga'a raising up his hand in those 30 minutes... I'd like to see Berrick Barnes back, to know if he's ready again.

So 10 Cooper, 12 Barnes, 13 Fainga'a (which is pretty much the same configuration of Reds backline, with Tapuai a good distributor)... but then who to bring in the 22?
Maybe McCabe and Ashley-Cooper as cover for 14 and 15 spot, but I don't rate him there, and I think Deans firmly wants him at 13 (and he's right).
So, if that would be the baclkine configuration, maybe AAC as cover for inside back spot, and Drew Mitchell back in action...

I was skeptic in McCabe at 12, but I admit now: he surprised me a while.
Just not sure whether him or Fainga'a would make the RWC Squad, but I think the race is between them.
 
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McCabe and Fainga'a to play together in the next match? AAC just isn't doing it for me lately.
 
Benn Robinson definitely out of the WC for Australia, big loss.
 
I'm a bit nerdy when it comes to sports... said Johnny 2 months ago :D

Back in 1998 at the age of 13, I was playing my last season of basketball (the year later I fell in love with rugby) in the Italian city ocne called "Basket City" (Bologna), and I was of course a big fan of NBA.


When on saturday I saw that great JOC movement that led to McCabe try, I assure you my memories immediatly brought me back in june of that year...


(sorry for Italian comment)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQma_2Nb3-Y

In that moment, my heart were ripped out, as I've always been a big fan of the Utah Jazz and John Stockton and Karl Malone...

Maybe JOC won't do to rugby what MJ did to basketball, but... as a Wallaby fan I feel a little, strange aftertaste of revenge!
 
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I'm a bit nerdy when it comes to sports... said Johnny 2 months ago :D

Back in 1998 at the age of 13, I was playing my last season of basketball (the year later I fell in love with rugby) in the Italian city ocne called "Basket City" (Bologna), and I was of course a big fan of NBA.


When on saturday I saw that great JOC movement that led to McCabe try, I assure you my memories immediatly lead back in june of that year...


(sorry for Italian comment)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQma_2Nb3-Y

In that moment, my heart were ripped off, as I've always been a big fan of the Utah Jazz and John Stockton and Karl Malone...

Maybe JOC won't do to rugby what MJ did to basketball, but... as a Wallaby fan I feel a little, strange aftertaste of revenge!

Are you still living in Bologna man? I agree with you about your AAC comment. Had an amazing 2010 but he has been out of sorts all season, first with the Brumbies and now with the Wallabies. It's time to pick on form and give Faingaa a crack.
 
That was more because
- John Smit went to play tighthead- CJ vand er Linde came on (he's been horrible in the scrum all season and WP hasn't resigned him; how he makes the Bok 22 is beyond me).

Ehm... If I am correct, it was Gürthro Steenkamp coming on, not CJ
 
Just watched the highlights, what a dull game. Looking forward to this weekend.
 
On the BBC:

1143: RUGBY UNION: South Africa has dropped veteran captain John Smit to the bench as one of five changes to its starting lineup for Saturday's Tri-Nations test against defending champion New Zealand.Smit was replaced by Bismarck du Plessis, while lock Victor Matfield will captain the team. Fullback Patrick Lambie, flyhalf Morne Steyn, flanker Willem Alberts and prop Gurthro Steenkamp were also called into the 15 for the Springboks' final game before the start of their World Cup defense next month.
 
http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/TriNations/Five-changes-to-Bok-line-up-20110816

South Africa:
15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp

Substitutes: 16 John Smit, Tendai Mtawarira, CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw, Ashley Johnson, Francois Hougaard, Butch James

Lambie, Alberts and Du Plessis in for Steyn, Rossouw and Smit is good. Somehow I can't help thinking that injury has helped PdV again (remember 2009 when Brussow and a few others only got their chances due to injury?) as these 3 got injuries in the Aus game. Beast had a good game but its well Steenkamp is on as he desperately needs the gametime. Other changes I would have liked tos ee would have been Aplon in for Habana and De Jongh in for De Villiers but meh.

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/TriNations/NZ-to-let-SBW-loose-on-Boks-20110815

NZ confirm SBW will start against the boks.
 
good side, i like Lambie at fullback. good to see Morne and FDP joining up again. like PDV said in that bulletin, it's his last chance to experiment on some combinations.

Pierre Spies, Heinrich Brussouw and Willem Alberts... what a combination indeed!!
 
What a moron! If this is the last chance to experiment (as PdV says), why does he waste it on pairing Morne Steyn and Fourie du Preez? Why not have Lambie and Hougaard to see what they can do? Or have Lambie pair up with du Preez? Why not call up Keegan Daniel to experiment? Why stick with off-form Habana when this is the last chance to experiment?
 
What a moron! If this is the last chance to experiment (as PdV says), why does he waste it on pairing Morne Steyn and Fourie du Preez? Why not have Lambie and Hougaard to see what they can do? Or have Lambie pair up with du Preez? Why not call up Keegan Daniel to experiment? Why stick with off-form Habana when this is the last chance to experiment?

to be fair though, Fourie du Preez needs the game time
 
That might be true, but what about Lambie? Why not try him at fly-half for the full 80 minutes? Why does PdV have to be so ignorant and stick with Morne Steyn when it's obvious he won't win games for us. Even Butch James did better!
 
That might be true, but what about Lambie? Why not try him at fly-half for the full 80 minutes? Why does PdV have to be so ignorant and stick with Morne Steyn when it's obvious he won't win games for us. Even Butch James did better!

They could swap Lambie and Steyn around during the game ... mind you, that didn't go so well last time :D
 
That might be true, but what about Lambie? Why not try him at fly-half for the full 80 minutes? Why does PdV have to be so ignorant and stick with Morne Steyn when it's obvious he won't win games for us. Even Butch James did better!

Lambie is our only real option at 15 in the squad. Personally I'm glad he will be there and hope he nails it though i do feel post RWC he will move inside to 10 with guys like Taute, Ludik and my crush Riaan Viljoen to compete for the 15 jersey.

FdP needs the time (as do plenty of others) and I feel the time to experiment was over after the tour; now our guys need to play together and get the combinations going and get the rust off and who better to pay than Aus and NZ? Only guys still to come in are Smith (who'll play Currie cup this weekend) and Burger.

TBF to Morne Steyn, it's been a while since he has played alongside FdP in a Bok jersey and its probably good that they find each other (hopefully) again.
 

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