Rugby Championship: South Africa - Australia (29/09/2012)

[Sker]

Don't tell Sker, he was so pleased to give me my honorary SA ***les (granted I do have tenuous ones already).
What I'd give for Lambie to have a Welsh grandparent (and others have agreed with me, after they saw him a few times).

Never expected to see Steyn out of the 22. I am just glad it wasn't: 20 Jantjies, 21 Steyn, 22 Lambie. Stand offs, stand offs everywhere! Le Roux has some time at first five, have him on the wing, Pienaar at SH, Lambie 12, Steyn 13, Janjties 10, Goosen 15 and find one more wing/1st 5.

Once you've said kak, you can never go back

 

[Draggs]

Once you've said kak, you can never go back

A poet, the Bard of Boland!

 

[Sker]

I like that, the Bard of Boland. I like that very much.

Watch out ladies, the Bard of Boland is on the loose...

 

[Draggs]

I like that, the Bard of Boland. I like that very much.

Watch out ladies, the Bard of Boland is on the loose...

A Springbok, a Springbok, my kingdom for a Springbok.

 

[Darwin]

Wow. Just Wow. As an outsider I'm shocked to see Morne Steyn dropped out of the 22!

Overall I think it is a pretty good looking Boks side. Personally I would have opted for Kruger over Bekker at lock, but I'm sure Bekker will be under a lot of pressure to pull out a big game after the shocker he had in his last test. As with many others I would have preferred Coetzee at 7, as I think he is a far more complete players than Alberts, while Alberts is a better impact player. I can't wait to see Goosen starting at 10 - hopefully Pienaar gets the ball to him quickly (as he is capable of), as if he continues to deliver slow ball Goosen's skills at 10 will be wasted. Looking forward to seeing Taute involved too.

Just as a slight aside I think the direction Meyer is taking the Boks in is a positive one. While change is taking a lot longer than many people would like it to, it is happening. When Meyer took over he seemed to favour the tried and tested (even if they weren't that great), and has slowly gone about changing the team to include form players. While I'm sure many Boks supporters would prefer it if more wholesale changes would happen, but Meyer's slow and steady approach may turn out to be effective too. Hopefully (from South Africa's perspective) he gives the new (form) players a chance to establish themselves, and doesn't panic and throw them away if they have one bad game!

 

[Shaggy]

http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/RugbyChampionship/Meyer-picks-Goosen-at-No-10-20120926


GOOSEN AT 10!!

South Africa:

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Francois Steyn/Jaco Taute, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Andries Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Jaco Taute/Juan de Jongh, 22 Patrick Lambie

That's great news for the Boks and their supporters ... mind you, even blind Freddy could see that Meyer was going to start Goosen at 10 eventually. He just needed to find the right time to do it, and why not against the Wallabies, at home, after blooding him by bring him of the bench in a few matches, to give him a taste of test rugby/give him some experience.

No disrespect to the Wallabies, but they, as a team, have their own issues at the moment, and it's probably not the strongest Wallabies side we've seen, compared to the last few years ... so, it's probably a good time to start Goosen, as this should be the easiest game of the two remaining.

Hopefully he'll be retained as the starting 10 for the next game too, regardless of the result of this one.

 

[Sker]

A Springbok, a Springbok, my kingdom for a Springbok.

What ball through yonder poles come? Tis not one of the Steyn, nay, for tis coming from between 'er poles.

With a fie fie fiddle dee dum.

 

[Darwin]

Just a question for our South African members (or anyone who has seen a bit of Goosen): what is he like on defense?

I can't remember him having any major issues in this area (in the little I saw of him) during the Super Rugby season, but did look very shaky on defense during the AB's (scrum.com has him making 1/3 tackles, rugbystats.com.au 1/4). Was this poor defensive performance an anomaly, or is defense a weakness for Goosen?

 

[Draggs]

What ball through yonder poles come? Tis not one of the Steyn, nay, for tis coming from between 'er poles.

With a fie fie fiddle dee dum.

I am in awe. Wonderful, my friend.

Darwin, he isn't great, but better than Steyn.
Lambie is one of the best standoffs for defence in SA. He handled the AB's well last year.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

@ stormer2010: It's Ludik, not Ludick. Please, get the name right. It's hard enough hearing about Keegan Daniels, Heinrich Brussouw, Jacques Fourie, Jean Deyzel and Robert Ebehrson....

Also I like how you quote Icemn so heineken can see his post after all


On the squad... Yes, a good call on Goosen but what does Lambie have to do to start for the Boks???

Speaking of controversial tackles... Everyone was raving about the double-tackle by Adam Ashley-Cooper on Jean de Villiers and Lwazi Mvovo but apparently nobody noticed that both tackles were high (above the shoulder).

Stuff like that happens far too often. We need referees who will pay more attention to high tackles.

My apologies. I had a teacher called Ludick so I guess it stuck. At least I've never written Kankofski..

On the high tackles, have another look at our game against Aus in the RWC, you can't count the number of unpenalized high tackles from the Aus backs on your fingers. Very frustrating.

Just a question for our South African members (or anyone who has seen a bit of Goosen): what is he like on defense?

I can't remember him having any major issues in this area (in the little I saw of him) during the Super Rugby season, but did look very shaky on defense during the AB's (scrum.com has him making 1/3 tackles, rugbystats.com.au 1/4). Was this poor defensive performance an anomaly, or is defense a weakness for Goosen?

Defense was actually a strength of his in the junior ranks and while he didn't seem to struggle overly much in SR he did have a pretty poor game defensively off the bench last game, yeah. Hopefully we can put that down to nerves.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Guys, I'm so excited about this game. for once in our backline just look dangerous, and this by just changing 1 or maybe 2 players. We definitely have an edge with the halfback pairing. I don't rate Phipps at all, and Beale has been more of a liability for the aussies in recent times, which in all indication looks like they are going to be the half back pair for the weekend.

If Jaco Taute gets playing time, he'll be HM's 12th debutant this season, and if Elton comes on, he'll be the 13th one. That speaks volumes.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Debutants:

Coetzee
Etzebeth
Juandre Kruger
Cilliers
Goosen
Vemeulen
Jacques Potgieter
Engelbrecht
Liebenberg

I am missing 2 debutants. Help me out here please!

For the record: Jantjies already represented the Springboks against the Barbarians in 2010 but that doesn't count as an official cap.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Coenie Oosthuizen. Hmm.. I'll have to think about who the other one might be.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Debutants:

Coetzee
Etzebeth
Juandre Kruger
Cilliers
Goosen
Vemeulen
Jacques Potgieter
Engelbrecht
Liebenberg

I am missing 2 debutants. Help me out here please!

For the record: Jantjies already represented the Springboks against the Barbarians in 2010 but that doesn't count as an official cap.

Coenie Oosthuizen
Keegan Daniel

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Coenie Oosthuizen
Keegan Daniel

I almost can't believe that Daniels is a debutant. I was sure he had a cap previously.

Sorry, Eze, I couldn't help myself.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Is the Aus team named yet? It seems like this thread is just all SA; lets hope its the same on the field Saturday.

I just hope Goosen takes it easy and doesn't try too hard. It's like the hopes and dreams of an entire nation is on the young man's shoulders.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

@ Hein: Daniel made his debut in 2010 against Ireland (The opening of the new Aviva Stadium)

 

[TRF_heineken]

@ Hein: Daniel made his debut in 2010 against Ireland (The opening of the new Aviva Stadium)

Really? How long was he on for? if it's less than 10 minutes, it doesn't count in my books...

Lol.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

He replaced Deon Stegmann after 65 minutes, therefor he has played 15 minutes of Springbok rugby in 2010

 

[madflyhalf]

Wallabies XV

15 Berrick Barnes
14 Dom Shipperley
13 Adam Ashley-Cooper
12 Pat McCabe
11 Digby Ioane
10 Kurtley Beale
9 Nick Phipps
8 Radike Samo
7 Michael Hooper
6 Dave Dennis
5 Nathan Sharpe (c)
4 Kane Douglas
3 Ben Alexander
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
1 Benn Robinson

Replacements:
16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Scott Higginbotham, 20 Liam Gill, 21 Brett Sheehan, 22 Anthony Fainga'a