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Rugby Championship: New Zealand - South Africa (15/09/2012)

i heard somewhere is only four tries in the last six games, anyone know how many tries are we averaging over the same peroid?





20 tries to 4 in the last 6 games, but the 9 tries against Ireland in the 60-0 match skews the averages a bit
 
why do i get a feeling the Boks are going to win this one...

Oddly enough I know a lot of people here that would agree with you and while I am not one of them I do believe it will be close.

I think a lot of people are buying the Australian line that we playing on a different level to everyone else (god only knows why the Australians have suddenly become the All Blacks PR machine) when I think you will find that the last two matches have been particularly poor All Black performances against teams that are not up to speed, so far the Australians have been devoid of an attack and the Argentinians are just a South American Ireland with the standard slow game.
 
Oddly enough I know a lot of people here that would agree with you and while I am not one of them I do believe it will be close.

I think a lot of people are buying the Australian line that we playing on a different level to everyone else (god only knows why the Australians have suddenly become the All Blacks PR machine) when I think you will find that the last two matches have been particularly poor All Black performances against teams that are not up to speed, so far the Australians have been devoid of an attack and the Argentinians are just a South American Ireland with the standard slow game.

I too agree that we will win but wont be surprised if we did lose. Hopefully everything clicks for the ABs this week and they get rid of all those handling errors. There is still a lot of room for improvement in this ABs side.
 
Yep - I haven't missed an AB's test in Dunedin for 10 or so years. Cost me a small fortune though - it was twice as much for this single match as it was for my Otago season ticket (which includes 5 matches), therefore I'm expecting this to be ten times as good as the average Otago match ;)

Aren't you setting the bar a bit low ... ur, I mean high there Darwin :p ... no, I guess Otago's form has been pretty good this year, so I guess I can't really say that.

... I'll be interested to see how many mistakes are made by the All Blacks ... they can't blame rustiness or bad weather this time
 
Aren't you setting the bar a bit low ... ur, I mean high there Darwin :p ... no, I guess Otago's form has been pretty good this year, so I guess I can't really say that.

... I'll be interested to see how many mistakes are made by the All Blacks ... they can't blame rustiness or bad weather this time

this, dont really buy into the whole "rustiness" thing, these guys live rugby for 8 or 9 months a year and get paid alot to do itball skills are kind of a given
 
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Aren't you setting the bar a bit low ... ur, I mean high there Darwin :p ... no, I guess Otago's form has been pretty good this year, so I guess I can't really say that.

... I'll be interested to see how many mistakes are made by the All Blacks ... they can't blame rustiness or bad weather this time

Based on the last few seasons I probably am setting the bar a bit low! However the last game I saw at the stadium (Otago vs Northland) was probably the best live match I've seen in 5 years, so I'm hoping for something 10 times as good as that ;)

Anyways..... Big Stormers TH prop Frans Malherbe has been called up to cover for du Plessis and Cilliers who are both in doubt. There is a question mark over whether Bakkies Botha will be coming over too - according to this report Toulon have refused to release Botha. I'm not sure whether this is actually the case (as I'm not sue they can refuse to release players?), or whether something has been lost in translation somewhere....

I'm hoping for not too many changes in the AB's side. I would stick with the same tight-five as last weekend, though there is the option of starting Andrew Hore at his home ground. Messam should come back in to replace Vito (who should hopefully be retained on the bench, though I wouldn't complain too much if Cane was on the bench). I'm a bit worried about reports suggesting that Weepu is in line for a start - I certainly wouldn't have minded Weepu starting last weekend given the weather conditions, but it would be stupid to start him this week when the weather conditions will favour an expansive game of rugby (as Smith is far better at this style of game).
 
There is a question mark over whether Bakkies Botha will be coming over too - according to this report Toulon have refused to release Botha. I'm not sure whether this is actually the case (as I'm not sue they can refuse to release players?), or whether something has been lost in translation somewhere....

Toulon are really being possessive this year, first with the Lions, now this. If they don't win the Top 14 this year, I'm going to laugh. Also, why Botha? What about Anton Bresler? If he still has that mullet, he will just frighten the ABs away from the breakdown.
 
South Africa: Zane Kirchner, Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers (c), Frans Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Morné Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Juandre Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Beast Mtawarira.
Reserves:
Tiaan Liebenberg, Dean Greyling, Andries Bekker, Marcell Coetzee, Johan Goosen, Juan de Johngh, Patrick Lambie.

Morne Steyn at 10 again :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Sorry, that was uncalled for. I am actually starting to feel sorry for the average Boks fan! van der Merwe comes in for Etzebeth, with Bekker on the bench - looks like Toulon coach Bernard Laporte got his wish with Bakkies Botha. I think it is the right decision to start Louw, though I would have started him ahead of Alberts rather than Coetzee. Interesting to see Greyling on the bench, as I thought he was basically a specialist LH prop (like Mtawarira) - I would have thought given there are question marks over Jannie du Plessis's fitness they would be better off with TH prop cover on the bench....
 
South Africa: Zane Kirchner, Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers (c), Frans Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Morné Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Juandre Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Beast Mtawarira.
Reserves:
Tiaan Liebenberg, Dean Greyling, Andries Bekker, Marcell Coetzee, Johan Goosen, Juan de Johngh, Patrick Lambie.

Morne Steyn at 10 again :lol::lol::lol::lol:

Sorry, that was uncalled for. I am actually starting to feel sorry for the average Boks fan! van der Merwe comes in for Etzebeth, with Bekker on the bench - looks like Toulon coach Bernard Laporte got his wish with Bakkies Botha. I think it is the right decision to start Louw, though I would have started him ahead of Alberts rather than Coetzee. Interesting to see Greyling on the bench, as I thought he was basically a specialist LH prop (like Mtawarira) - I would have thought given there are question marks over Jannie du Plessis's fitness they would be better off with TH prop cover on the bench....

Well, **** a duck, what a boring side. Alberts must be one of the most overrated players currently playing. He has essentially done nothing of note during the S15.
 
That starting line-up seems to me to be more of a damage-control setup than a team looking to develop its game plan and its players. I was concerned that Meyer's appointment came 4 years late and that we'd see rugby from SA thats a bit dated and sadly that seems to be the case.

I would be surprised if we were truly in this match at the 70 minute mark. Not so much because of the players (well, some of them) but because of a lack of enterprise and- if you ask me- true belief in the game plan.

I just hope Meyer can make tough decisions and reallly develop and invest in our game for next year when we get back home.
 
How can Morne actually be in the team? He has done nothing for a such a long time, expect miss his kicks.
 
Man oh man, the negativity!! Geez! You guys are a depressing lot!

Damage Control, yes... Improvement from last week's team, maybe...

I'm going to look at the positives, as I for one, have not yet lost hope on my Bokke!

Positives:
1. Continuity is growing - By not many changes many, and one due to a citing, Our team builds in continuity, it's a simple fact that the more you play together, the better you play together.
2. We have a fetcher! - Hopefully Flouw can give Richie a hard time at the rucks.
3. Redemption - No changes in the backline, time for the backs to show us their true worth.
4. Better bench - well, apart from Greyling... But that's purely due to Pat Cilliers being unavailable and Frans Malherbe still on his way... Bekker (IMO a much better player when coming off the bench, when playing for the Boks), Goosen, De Jongh & Lambie. That's some game breakers we have there!! Although we all would have liked Goosen to start.
5. If this game comes down to a kicking fest, we would have the upper hand, both in distance and in accuracy...

I still have high hopes for the boks. We all new the transition phase won't be easy, so learning and adapting is a key issue.

By the way when was the last time SA scored a try in every Tri-nations game before this year?
 
"By the way when was the last time SA scored a try in every Tri-nations game before this year?"
Have the boks ever not scored a try against Argentina? or in Perth? If so I'm glad I missed that particular game!!

As far as Styen v Goosen goes, maybe its a case of keeping the powder dry before the next world cup - choosing Meyer, knowing he'd persist with the old guard and 1960s game plan, before launching a new coach and undeniably brilliant new generation of players (then 22-25) on an unsuspecting world c. 2015. Struggling to see the logic otherwise.
 
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I'm going to look at the positives, as I for one, have not yet lost hope on my Bokke!

Positives:
1. Continuity is growing - By not many changes many, and one due to a citing, Our team builds in continuity, it's a simple fact that the more you play together, the better you play together.

The reason why I feel the AB are going to lose this one becaue they have been doing this...

my question is, if the boks do manage to win the weekend, all the boks supporters will be happy again and HM will be safe :) i

its funny, when a SA team doesn't do well, the fans usually calls for the coach's head, if he wins the very next day, all is cool again... regardless of how the team actaully play... they just want a win, i wanne be a coach, very low standards, you just need to produce a win... Hanson has got it the worst, AB needs to win and with good rugby ;) i love it
 
Our team might be building continuity but it's being built by the wrong players... If I was Lambie I'd toss off to France and make buckets of money, poor guy.
 
Well, you can judge all you want and blame a lot on HM, but he is consistent. Not consistent on a high level, but still consistent.
 
Lambie-McAlister at Toulouse, imagine that!
Clermont could do with a standoff, considering Brock James is incapable of stringing two consecutive quality performances together.

Rumours are that Plum is looking at Jantjies. I genuinely hope not.
 

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