NH Chances This Summer

[dan the man nz]

i reckon south africa and new zealand will dominate all of 2012, time will tell

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

so much change at once in the Bok team

will they be vulnerable to to a hard beating by the All Blacks?

by the way Stormer 2010, do you know whether Meyer will pick players based abroad?

will Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bakkies Botha, Ruan Pienaar, Johann Muller, Francois Steyn or Gurthro Steenkamp have any chance of being selected?

He said he will in December/January shortly after being named, if I recall correctly.

To answer the last question first - Meyer has stated that he would be picking overseas based players if they were the players he wanted. He has allready made arrangements with F Steyn. No news on others. F du Preez has stated in local papers that he'd be open to a return but no news from Meyer's side on that fornt (a good sign IMO).

I'm not so sure there will be too many changes to the Bok team to be honest. In some of the places we get definate upgrades in quality (Smit -> Bismarck, JdV -> F Steyn, off form FdP -> Hougaard etc) without losing test experience. There is a lot of players who we can use as a core who have test experience and I for one feel 3 or 4 form youngsters can only add to the explosiveness/unpredictability of the team. So, for my money, I think we'll struggle to beat Nz in NZ (what else is new?) but no big blow-outs and I do feel we should eb able to beat them in SA. Only time will tell though. Meyer could give us a nasty surprise ITO selection. Who knows who his 'Earl Rose' might be?

 

[TRF_heineken]

so much change at once in the Bok team

will they be vulnerable to to a hard beating by the All Blacks?

by the way Stormer 2010, do you know whether Meyer will pick players based abroad?

will Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Bakkies Botha, Ruan Pienaar, Johann Muller, Francois Steyn or Gurthro Steenkamp have any chance of being selected?

Not all of these abroad players will be in contention - Fourie Du Preez, Jaque Fourie and Francois Steyn = Definitely
Bakkies Botha & Gurthro Steenkamp = Maybe
Ruan Pienaar & Johann Muller = Doubtful

News Reports suggest that Francois Steyn is the only abroad player to be a definite player to be in contention, and there were some other reports about Fourie Du Preez, but that has died a bit the last few weeks.

Heyneke Meyer said from the beginning that guys playing abroad will always be part of his plans and he will only pick guys in form and on merit.

As for the physicality, I think psychic duck, you are underestimating our younger breed in that department, IMO one of the hardest guys now playing super rugby is Jacques Potgieter. Also Eben Etzebeth hasn't stood back against anyone, so i think we'll be okay in that department...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Fourie Du Preez, Jaque Fourie and Francois Steyn = Definitely
Bakkies Botha & Gurthro Steenkamp = Maybe
Ruan Pienaar & Johann Muller = Doubtful

Steyn is a must and I hope he brings Fourie back. We have other options at 13 but JdJ needs to learn how to distributte and others need more time to sort out as well; Sadie and Ebersohn the most likely.

I don't know anything about the form of the other players but Steenkamp will always be welcome. I'd have liked to see more of Gerhard Mostert. I think he made a mistake in moving abroad in the time that Bakkies and Daniesaurus did as he is/was in with a serious chance of making the 4 jersey his IMO.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Steyn is a must and I hope he brings Fourie back. We have other options at 13 but JdJ needs to learn how to distributte and others need more time to sort out as well; Sadie and Ebersohn the most likely.

I don't know anything about the form of the other players but Steenkamp will always be welcome. I'd have liked to see more of Gerhard Mostert. I think he made a mistake in moving abroad in the time that Bakkies and Daniesaurus did as he is/was in with a serious chance of making the 4 jersey his IMO.

In all fairness, we have enough great talent locally in the lock department, Juandre Kruger, Flip van Der Merwe, Andries Bekker, Eben Etzebeth, Franco van der Merwe... but Mossie could also be a great choice, did he play well abroad??

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

In all fairness, we have enough great talent locally in the lock department, Juandre Kruger, Flip van Der Merwe, Andries Bekker, Eben Etzebeth, Franco van der Merwe... but Mossie could also be a great choice, did he play well abroad??

Don't forget Rynhardt Elstadt! Yeah, I'm not worried at all about our lock stocks. I trust Meyer won't go the PdV/Plumtree route and pick players out of position (Alberts/Deysel et al). Quinn Roux is also a lock for the future (and also at WP!!) though I wouldn't be surprised to see him run out for the Cheetahs or Sharks before long.

I've heard that both Mossie and Vuurhoutjie were key/stand-out players for their respective teams. How much weight that carries in Japan I wouldn't know. Still better than them playing badly in Japan of course LOL. I'd prefer to be able to compare apples with apples though.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

I think Ireland will surprise people in their performances, if not the results. My opinion is that they will be competitive, with Heaslip and SOB back in a little more form. Incidentally, I think Heaslip should be tried at 7 and SOB at 8. To be fair to Ireland, the England game aside, they were only small margins away from a successfull tournament.

Wales Australia will be 2-1, but in whose favour I can't say for sure. Wales will have a dominant scrum and they now have the backs to take reasonable advantage of this. Wales defend well but I can still see an in-form wallaby backline scoring tries, less than usual however if they are consistently on the back-foot.

England South Africa is really hard to call. I just have a feeling it may be a year too soon for us to be winning these sorts of games away from home. This said, we won away in Australia with a very new team(baggage-free).

 

[martinspoonboy1]

I think england and wales will both go down 2-1 and ireland wont come close. i reckon the games between eng-s.a and wal-aus will be pretty close. 10 points max ! I think there is reason for optimism in NH rugby, especially in eng and wales and although scotland are taking criticism for not finishing off games, if they gain a bit of confidence they could be a force. I hope we see the progression seen in the last few months continue! I have to be honest, i havent really been following SA rugby, whats the southern hemisphere reaction to this years six nations?

 

[TRF_heineken]

I think england and wales will both go down 2-1 and ireland wont come close. i reckon the games between eng-s.a and wal-aus will be pretty close. 10 points max ! I think there is reason for optimism in NH rugby, especially in eng and wales and although scotland are taking criticism for not finishing off games, if they gain a bit of confidence they could be a force. I hope we see the progression seen in the last few months continue! I have to be honest, i havent really been following SA rugby, whats the southern hemisphere reaction to this years six nations?

TBH I only watched a few games, but from what I hear and read from the knowledgable people in SA, is that it was a pretty average tournament. They said it was very much the same as previous years and they are of the opinion, that the NH teams haven't shown some new innovations in play and that they sort of played exactly like they all did in the World Cup. With that being said, some stand-out performances might be just what those teams need to pip the SH teams.

Interesting enough, the pundits are focusing more on the Refs who would handle the match as their interpretations will once again be a focal point. To me, Wales shows the most threats than any other NH team. And as for England, They haven't impressed me at all.

 

[Teh Mite]

The SH public and media being instantly dismissive of any northern rugby? Well I never...

 

[martinspoonboy1]

TBH I only watched a few games, but from what I hear and read from the knowledgable people in SA, is that it was a pretty average tournament. They said it was very much the same as previous years and they are of the opinion, that the NH teams haven't shown some new innovations in play and that they sort of played exactly like they all did in the World Cup. With that being said, some stand-out performances might be just what those teams need to pip the SH teams.

Interesting enough, the pundits are focusing more on the Refs who would handle the match as their interpretations will once again be a focal point. To me, Wales shows the most threats than any other NH team. And as for England, They haven't impressed me at all.

Fair enough. For me i thought this years six nations was one of the best for a long while with each game being won by small margins. Englands improvement throughout the tournament was also relatively impressive and surprising. But then again , i don't get anywhere near excited about the tri-nations (four-nations) as i do for the six nations being from England, so how much you value each tournament is possibly based on which one youre generally more interested in. As for this summer, im excited to see if the stigma of NH rugby being less energetic can be removed. This years six nations gives me atleast a bit of hope of this happening.

 

[big ginger 8]

Ireland will win every match and Tomas O'Leary will be player of the tour. Obvo.

 

[TRF_heineken]

The SH public and media being instantly dismissive of any northern rugby? Well I never...

Yeah well, that's just opinions, and a lot of biasedness... I think they are dismissive in one way to try and keep some talent locally and not get them to go north for the big bucks.

The only thing that will matter is the result on the field...

 

[big ginger 8]

Am I mad if I say Ireland can actually win a test?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Yes please report to your local Psychologist.

 

[big ginger 8]

Yes please report to your local Psychologist.

Good thing I want to be one that counts as one doesn't it?

I hope we do win with Heaslip MotM and Marshall nearly ****ing it up for us.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Well Heaslip certainly can't do worse than he did last time you went to NZ

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I think the gap between NH and SH rugby certainly has gotten smaller. A lot of the NH chances in my mind rests on the selections of players in the SH teams; do we go for form or experienced players. Even England should have a more settled squad than SA and Wales look a polished outfit although I suppose Aus will be the most unchanged of the SH teams seeing as they were a pretty young team in the RWC in NZ so it's a bit of an equalizing factor. As for Ireland's chances in NZ I think it comes down to belief and intensity; if they can keep up a hardnosed effort for 80m I can see them winning one game as some of the NZ stars seem to be suffering from some sort of post-RWC-winning-so-I-couldn't-care-less-syndrome though I suppose that won't last up to the tests matches.

 

[SomeOke]

As someone who did watch most of the six-nations, I definitely don't think this year will be that easy for the SH, however with that said wins will still not come easily if at all.

Wales have (in my opinion) a side of a generation and the best part about it is that a lot of their players are young and have many years left in them, however they are playing the Giant of rugby union in New Zealand, if some of New Zealand's key players are fit they are always going to be nearly unbeatable especially in New Zealand, Wales definitely have the chance to pull off at least one win however, even in the world cup I would have loved to see them in the finals (where quite frankly they deserved to be, were it not for some ill-discipline from young Warburton).

So in short Wales - best side in NH at the moment, were they touring the Aussies and maybe even SA I would give them a strong chance of a tour win, however considering it's NZ away it's always going to be an uphill battle.

England have also impressed, with their relatively young side, however call me crazy but they seem to have an almost South African style to their playing and I'm not sure you can come to South Africa with that style and be all that competitive, it's like beating us at our own game, the one advantage England does have is that their younglings have already been blooded, where as our team will probably include a few (albeit very talented youngsters) with no experience at this level.
England could very well take a game or two.

Ireland, the Aussies seem weak this year, if any team is gonna get beaten it's gonna be them, however the Irish are probably the fourth best team in NH at the moment so I doubt they have the raw talent. A wobbly Aussie side is still a Wallaby side and won't go down to any team that isn't pure class.


Anyway I'll be at least 2/3 tests here in SA with some of my English relatives coming down to watch so I am super excited for these games!


Edit: Didn't realize Wales were playing Aus and NZ are playing Ireland, in that case NZ will crush Ireland and I definitely see Wales coming away with a tour win!

 

[lucky number 7]

Jamie Kneeslip.


Do not want