Wales v South Africa

[TRF_stormer2010]

North played an amazing game and that has nothing to do with the absense of Habana (was he even on the field?)

Very impressed with the North kid. Looks the business. As for not noticing Habana!? He was the guy who gifted Wales a try and butchered one for Aplon. He just is greedy and overeager and puts his team under immense pressure. Should not have toured at all and needs to come home, have a good long think and work on getting his head right during the S15.

JdV made no attempt to go for North, not that he'd have caught him anyway so thats not crossing. Don't think he was offside for his second one either.

JdV made no attempt to go for North; he was goign for the passer who fed North, Jones I think but made contact with the dummy runner who interfered and thus created teh obstruction.

Spies was man of the match, that is why he was chosen. He has had a dip in form but he is still a machine!

Spies has been for a long while and was yesterday again a showpony. MotM should have gone to North. Best man on the field for SA is a toss-up between Matfield and du Plessis. Hougaard and Alberts also added a lot when they came on. But why PdV feels like making wholesale changes I wouldn't know. Hit and miss. Ralepelle overthrew 2 line-out at the end which meant we had to defend our tryline for the whole last 10min!! My nerves couldn't take it. We have much better than Spies.

The defining aspect of the agme for me was that it was the Steve Walsh show again. This guy really knows how to ruin a game of rugby. Wasn't helped by his touch judges at all but he has cost SA enough games, God knows so it is good to get one this time round. We had lisence to maul illegally just as Wales got away with murder at times as well. Some crucial misses though (and an unacceptable amount of them) which leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Lots of knocks, forward passes, offsides and such. I am thankful SA got the read of him better in the 2nd half and carried the ball rather than hand Wales the ball on a golden platter. I think though that both teams can take a couple of positives out of the game and there is much to learn from (not that I have faith in our coach's capacity for learning). See you guys in pool... can't remember now. D, was it?

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Spies was man of the match, that is why he was chosen. He has had a dip in form but he is still a machine!

Why he was MOTM I really don't know. The number of balls he lost was MOTM-unworthy.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Why he was MOTM I really don't know. The number of balls he lost was MOTM-unworthy.

Agreed. Back it up. These 'awards' often don't reflect reality. PdV won coach of the year in 2009 FFS. That doesn't mean he is the best coach or was the best coach in that particular year.

 

[Jer1cho]

Wow. Good game. Can't believe we won after playing as badly as we did. Steve Walsh was shocking. Bad calls all around, against both teams. A big one for me was in the lead up to our first try. Should have pinged Habana, as he did wrap the man up before he hit the ground. Not malicious at all, but still illegal. Another one for me was when Lee Byrne killed the ball at their own goal line, by not allowing it to be placed, and being off his feet. That was one of the most blatant professional fouls I have ever seen, and he should have been binned immediately, as we had a massive overlap to the left.

Otherwise, well done to Wales. They were better than us for the majority of the game, but unfortunately, they couldn't finish us.

Only positive for me was Spies. He really has shown now that he can be physical, and he was the only forward who actually went forward for us.

Pienaar needs to go. Hougaard is MUCH faster than him, and doesn't kick the ball away for no reason. Also glad Basson is out, because he is just not physical enough. He looks like he is scared. Good learning curve for him, but he is not what we need at this level. Habana, well I have said enough about him this year, but obviously PdV knows better than the rest of the world. Morne Steyn was good in my opinion. The most potent of our backs by far.

Also, STOP F*CKING USING JDV AS A CRASH BALL PLAYER EVERY DAMN TIME! It's ridiculously predictable. If Jamie Roberts was playing, we would have lost this game. Of that, I am certain.

Beating the Irish was a step forward for us. But this test against Wales, was two steps back. If we play like that against England, we could see another 53-3 happening.

 

[SavageLez]

Agreed. Back it up. These 'awards' often don't reflect reality. PdV won coach of the year in 2009 FFS. That doesn't mean he is the best coach or was the best coach in that particular year.

I stand to be corrected but I don't think PDV got coach of the year. SA got team of the year but I think the Irish coach, Declan Kidney got coach of the year? I think your facts are a little out to make such a statement.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

With Basson out I think Aplon will move to the wing and Francois Steyn will be full-back. Knowing PdV he will still put Habana at 11 and put Mvovo on the bench.

 

[Tank94]

Hopefully Habana will be able finally score that try hes been wanting sooooo bad.
He really just needs to get it over with and start playing proper rugby again. he cost us in the wales game more than once.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

It won't happen anytime soon. Habana is out for the rest of the Tour