Alternative Title: “How to piss off most of the Rugbyheads members”
;DGame 1: Chiefs v Highlanders; at Hamilton
Chiefs: 15. Glen Jackson, 14. Roger Randle, 13. Keith Lowen, 12. Mark Ranby, 11. Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10. David Hill, 9.Rhys Duggan, 8. Paul Miller/Steven Bates, 7. Marty Holah, 6. Jono Gibbes (capt), 5. Keith Robinson, 4. Glenn Taylor, 3. Tevita Taumoepeau, 2. Greg Smith, 1. Michael Collins. Reserves: David Briggs, Aleki Lutui, Reece Robinson, Scott Couch, Isaac Boss, Regan King, Shayne Austin.
Highlanders: 15 Paul Williams, 14 Aisea Tuilevu, 13 Ryan Nicholas, 12 Paul Steinmetz, 11 Brad Fleming, 10 Willie Walker, 9 Danny Lee, 8 Taine Randell (captain), 7 Josh Blackie, 6 Kelvin Middleton, 5 Simon Maling, 4 Daniel Quate, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Carl Hoeft.
Replacements: 16 Tom Willis, 17 Joe McDonnell, 18 Filipo Levi, 19 Sam Harding, 20 Byron Kelleher, 21 James Arlidge, 22 Seru Rabeni
::)Comments: Well hell the chiefs have lost a certain number of key players (see Nathan’s article) and it looks as though the Highlanders have recruited well since last year (damn plagiarism). It looks as though this recruitment policy will be rubbed into Chiefs face with Danny Lee getting the nod in front of Kelleher. This sort of spells out the Highlanders intentions against the Chiefs! It’s going to be in your face rugby.
:oBalls to the wall time: Despite it being played in Hamilton I recon that the Highlanders would like to make up for last years loss in Antarctica and should run home in the end with a win.
;DGame 2: Waratahs v Blues; Sydney
Waratahs: 15 Mat Rogers, 14 Lote Tuqiri, 13 Matthew Burke (captain), 12 Nathan Grey, 11 Ryan McGoldrick, 10 Duncan McRae, 9 Chris Whitaker, 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Omar Hassanein, 5 Van Humphries, 4 Tom Bowman, 3 Patricio Noriega, 2 Adam Freier, 1 Matt Dunning.
Replacements: 16 Brendan Cannon, 17 Alastair Baxter, 18 Jono West, 19 Rocky Elsom, 20 Paul Sheedy, 21 Morgan Turinui, 22 Milton Thaiday.
Blues: 15 Doug Howlett, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Malili Muliaina, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Rupeni Caucaunibuca, 10 Carlos Spencer, 9 Steve Devine, 8 Xavier Rush (captain), 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Justin Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Troy Flavell, 3 Kees Meeuws, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Derren Witcombe, 17 Deacon Manu, 18 Bradley Mika, 19 Ron Cribb, 20 David Gibson, 21 Orene Ai'i, 22 Rico Gear.
::)Comments: The Tahs are full of league rejects/converts as the number of league sides struggling financially are still haemorrhaging players to union continues. While former union players are getting the shits with NSWRU and going over to the dark side (Harris and Inman in particular) as they find that they are now expendable. I personal think that the greatest liability in the backline is their captain. If I was god, Burke would be on the bench and Tuqiri would move to 13 and while either Blacklock or Stainiforth would be on the wing. Then leave the kicking duties up to Rogers as this would be a faster and more attacking line-up.
NSW has also beefed up its forwards but the question remains can they catch a ball during the lineout?
The Blues won last years NPC and had some good wins in the preseason but I don’t think they will win in Sydney. I mean all the T’ahs have to do is put a bottle on the side of the pitch and then the Blues have lost half their forward pack (well at least Rush). At least they got rid of Parkinson who was a hindrance.
However the Blues have a very explosive backline especially in the back three. That could be very deadly if the NSW defence with all the league boys in it falters.
:oBalls to the wall time: This is almost the match of the round. Tuqiri will be on fire and hopefully will be running on the inside channels and will show why he and not Sailor will be in the Wallabies during the RWC. It is going to be an exciting game (especially if it stays dry) but I think the home ground advantage will put NSW over the line.
;DGame 3: Cats v Bulls at Bloemfontein
Cats: 15 Jaque Fourie, 14 Friedrich Lombard, 13 Gcobani Bobo, 12 Jorrie Muller, 11 Dean Hall/Ashwin Willemse, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Norman Jordaan, 8 Bob Skinstad (captain), 7 Joe van Niekerk, 6 Hendro Scholtz, 5 Willem Stoltz, 4 Kleinjan Tromp, 3 Pat Barnard, 2 James Dalton, 1 Lawrence Sephaka/Pietman van Niekerk.
Replacements: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 Pietman van Niekerk/Baksteen Nell, 18 Jaun Smith, 19 Russel Winter, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Kennedy Tsimba, 22 Adrian Jacobs.
Bulls: 15 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 14 John Daniels, 13 Anton Pitout, 12 Dries Scholtz, 11 Fabian Juries, 10 Louis Koen, 9 Joost van der Westhuizen (captain), 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Piet Krause, 5 Victor Matfield (vice-captain), 4 Geo Cronjé, 3 Richard Bands, 2 Danie Coetzee, 1 Wessel Roux.
Replacements: 16 Dale Santon, 17 Christo Bezuidenhout, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Dewey Swartbooi, 22 Riaan van den Berg.
::)Comments: Look it’s the Bulls. The only question is can the Bulls actually win a game this year?
It is going to be nice to see if Bobo can play a whole year as he looked a real find last year with some blistering form until he did his knee. The cats have also got themselves the pinup boy of SA rugby Bobby Skinstad for this year. I wonder if can piss of as many refs as Gregan this year?
:oBalls to the wall time:
Look if the Cats don’t win this game I expect Tim Lane to be strung up by the heals and his contract with SA rugby to be terminated.
;DGame 4: Stormers v Sharks at Cape Town
The Stormers team: 15 Werner Greeff, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Robbie Fleck, 12 Gus Theron, 11 Pieter Rossouw (vice-captain), 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Adri Badenhorst, 7 Hendrik Gerber, 6 Corné Krige (captain), 5 Selborne Boome, 4 Quinton Davids, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 Tjoepie van den Heever, 1 Daan Human.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Cobus Visagie, 18 Hottie Louw, 19 Pierre Uys, 20 Johannes Conradie, 21 Gaffie du Toit, 22 Egon Seconds.
The Sharks team: 15 Ricardo Loubscher, 14 André Snyman, 13 Deon Kayser, 12 Trevor Halstead, 11 Stefan Terblanché, 10 Butch James, 9 Craig Davidson, 8 Shaun Sowerby, 7 Luke Watson, 6 Charl van Rensburg, 5 Albert van den Berg, 4 AJ Venter (captain), 3 Deon Carstens, 2 Lukas van Biljon, 1 Eduard Coetzee.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Ollie le Roux/BJ Botha, 18 Philip Smit, 19 Wayne van Heerden, 20 Ryan Walker, 21 Brent Russell, 22 Wylie Human.
::)Comments: Butch James is back. Wow I wonder if he has learnt to tackle yet or will be spending a whole lot of time watching the game from the sideline. This should be an interesting game as it should tell us how well the SA sides should actually do this year.
:oBalls to the wall time: The stormers get the nod just because of home ground and they are far more consistant in their performance than the Sharks
;DGame 5: Crusaders v Hurricanes at Christchurch
Team lists currently not available at the time writing dribble occurred
::)Comments: Can anyone beat the Crusaders this year ? Well yes! Especially if Merts isn’t on the paddock. They should have a strong side and should be able to control the R&M
The Hurricanes are a bloody enigma. Which team is going to turn up? The one that is going to kick your arse or the one that will throw the game away by knocking-ons once they have crossed your line (NSW v Hurricanes and just how many tries did they butcher again). Bastardising the nursery rhyme when they are good they are ###ing good when they are bad you turn off the TV.
:oBalls to the wall time:
Crusaders should win as they provide a more stable and consistent approach to the game
;DGame 6: QLD v Brumbies at Brisbane
QLD: 15 Chris Latham, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Steve Kefu, 12 Gene Fairbanks, 11 Ben Tune, 10 Elton Flatley (vice-captain), 9 Josh Valentine, 8 Toutai Kefu (captain), 7 David Croft, 6 John Roe, 5 Matt Cockbain, 4 Nathan Sharpe, 3 Fletcher Dyson, 2 Sean Hardman, 1 Nick Stiles.
Replacements: 16 Tai McIsaac, 17 Glenn Panoho, 18 Luke Doherty, 19 Rudi Vedelago, 20 Tim Atkinson, 21 Julian Huxley, 22 Michael Tabrett.
Brumbies: 15 Joe Roff, 14 Andrew Walker, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Pat Howard, 11 Mark Bartholomeusz, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain), 8 Scott Fava, 7 George Smith, 6 Tamaiti Horua, 5 Daniel Vickerman, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Ben Darwin, 2 Jeremy Paul, 1 Bill Young.
Replacements: 16 Digby Beaumont, 17 David Fitter, 18 David Giffin, 19 Radike Samo, 20 Travis Hall, 21 Matt Giteau, 22 Mark Gerrard.
::)Comments: My comments re: the QLD are already known but the major points are still do we really have a halfback and hooker. Qld also have a number of injuries at the moment in the centres, hooking and locking departments that have tested their depth.
ACT have the people choice back (Roff) but they still have the old “everyone’s out to get me approach” I saw Nucifora talking last night and he is starting to look and sound like Eddie Jones. Now there can be nothing as scary as this. Well okay the RWC heading to the NH would be scarier.
The Reds season will be riding on this game as their draw is rough and they will need to win all their home games to stay in the hunt for the finals at least this year they will be playing the Highlanders at home in the last round.
:oBalls to the wall time: This is the match of the round.
The Reds should finally start improving their win loss ratio against the Brumbies this year as they should have the dominance in the R&M were the brumbies look weak this year. It is highly likely that it will be a wet game and that the goal kicking may decide the final score and in that case the Reds win by a mile as Special Agent Mortlock is a disability.
