TN #3 Wallabies v. Boks in Brizzy

[EREHWON WARRIORS]

From OZ's Rugby heaven this afo...  


    * 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies).
    * 12. James O'Connor (Western Force).
    * 13. Rob Horne (NSW Waratahs).
    * 12. Matt Giteau (ACT Brumbies).
    * 11. Drew Mitchell (NSW Waratahs).
    * 10. Quade Cooper (Queensland Reds).
    * No.9 Will Genia (Queensland Reds).
    * 8. Richard Brown (Western Force).
    * 7. David Pocock (Western Force).
    * 6. Rocky Elsom (captain, ACT Brumbies).
    * 5. Nathan Sharpe (Western Force).
    * 4. Dean Mumm (NSW Waratahs).
    * 3. Salesi Ma'Afu (ACT Brumbies).
    * 2. Saia Faingaa (Queensland Reds).
    * 1. Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs).
    * Reserve hooker: Stephen Moore (ACT Brumbies).
    * Reserve prop: James Slipper (Queensland Reds).
    * Reserve second-row: Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds).
    * Reserve backrow: Matt Hodgson (Western Force).
    * Reserve halfback: Luke Burgess (NSW Waratahs).
    * Reserve back: Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs).
    * Reserve back: Kurtley Beale (NSW Waratahs).

Adam Ashley-Cooper has reclaimed the fullback role for the Wallabies in their opening Tri Nations rugby Test against South Africa on Saturday.

Ashley-Cooper, the first-choice custodian last year, swaps positions with youngster James O'Connor who will play on the wing for the first time in his 18 Tests in the Suncorp Stadium clash.

Coach Robbie Deans on Tuesday recalled three key players from injury to his starting team - prop Benn Robinson (broken arm), lock Nathan Sharpe (back strain) and halfback Will Genia (hand fracture) - in changes from the team that beat Ireland 22-15 in its last Test in June.

However young hooker Saia Fainga retained his spot, leaving Stephen Moore to make his comeback from the bench after he missed the June Tests with a broken jaw.

Four players - centre Rob Horne, flyhalf Quade Cooper, prop Salesi Maafu and Faingaa - will be starting in a Tri Nations match for the first time.

A further four on the bench - utility back Kurtley Beale, loose forward Matt Hodgson, debutant second rower Rob Simmons and prop James Slipper - could also make their first starts in the tournament with Simmons also poised for his Test debut.

The Wallabies take on a Springbok team who are defending the title but hard hit by consecutive losses to the All Blacks in New Zealand in the opening two matches of the series.

"We've obviously been able to have a good look at both South Africa and New Zealand through their matches over the last two weekends," said Deans.

"The imagery from those games has left our players in no doubt as to the magnitude of the task ahead.

"This competition features the top three sides in the world on the IRB rankings, and we are chasing the other two."

While Australia boasts a strong historical dominance over South Africa from past matches in Brisbane, Deans doubted that would count for anything.

"It will be about the here and now, as it always is," Deans said.

"Our team is significantly different even from that which played (and beat the Boks) in Brisbane last year, as is theirs."

Looks like they could cause Boks more heartache still especially at FORT BRIZZY!

Cheers,
Baz 

[EREHWON WARRIORS]

And from AAP also this afo......

 Boks make four changes to team to play Wallabies


South Africa have made four changes to their starting XV for the Tri Nations rugby clash with the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday night.

After dropping their opening two games of the series to New Zealand, the Springboks have injected Stormers winger Gio Aplon, Sharks halfback Ruan Pienaar and Sharks openside flanker Ryan Kankowski.

In the other change, interchange prop BJ Botha swaps places with CJ van der Linde in the starting side.

Aplon replaces Jean de Villiers, Piennar slots in for Ricky Januarie while Kankowski displaces Francois Louw following the Springboks’ second straight loss -- last weekend’s 31-17 defeat in Wellington.

The All Blacks picked up where they left off from after the 32-12 thrashing in the Tri Nations opener at Eden Park.

Kiwi critics have panned the 2007 World Cup winners as being off the pace and tired following their opening losses.

The words seemed to be ringing in Springboks coach Peter de Villiers’ ears when quizzed on his changes on today.

‘‘We have to bring some speed into our team,’’ he said.

But captain John Smit added: ‘‘Tri Nations is probably the quickest of all the tournaments we play -- I wouldn’t say it is catching us by surprise."

The Springboks also have injury dramas with lock Andries Bekker ruled out of the Brisbane clash with a back injury suffered in the 31-17 defeat.

South Africa are already without first choice secondrower Bakkies Botha, who was banned for nine weeks after headbutting New Zealand halfback Jimmy Cowan in the opening round defeat.

South Africa: Zane Kirchner, Gio Aplon, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Oliver, Bryan Habana, Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Pierre Spies, Ryan Kankowski, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Danie Rossouw, BJ Botha, John Smit (capt), Gurthro Steenkamp. Res: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Flip van der Merwe, Dewald Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Butch James, Juan de Jongh.

Not sure that loose forward trio is any better, as I thought Louw was a tireless worker for the cause last week!

Cheers,
Baz           

PS Is another loss on the cards! Remember this is Brisbane and the 3rd Test in 15 days!

[BallBoy]

heard of a journo piece out of Kiwiland that talks about the good things that can come from a disasterous 3N for the Boks as it will finally highlight the muppet that Pieter de villiers is - calls him a train driver - and secondly, remind the boks of what work lies ahead for WC. If one of you can paste a link to the article here I woudl appreciate it

[EREHWON WARRIORS]

        Wonder if this is the one you are refferring to BB??

Time to boot Div!

  Lets know if it's not!

Cheers,
Baz 

[Teach]

mmm interesting. Train driver - good one.

It almost makes me hope SA can "engineer"    a win in our third TN match.
That might delay the train wreck until 2011

I love reading the reader comments on overseas sites too - it helps me to remember that it is not only NZ that is crawling with rabid pillocks. Every team has them, look at this beauty..

    Ahhhhh - finally - an honest article from a New Zealand scribe... Most important note - the Boks were consciously CHEATED by the bias of the referee... Whether it's a 1 point loss - or 25 points - when faced with such bias - and the consequent effect it has on the team's moral out on the pitch - it becomes nigh impossible to win the Test... Boks are cheated out of a possible Test victory again... Thing is - what will the limp-wristed nerds at SARU do... Lodge a formal objection against Rolland?? Nope - they will do nothing.........and the consequence of such inaction in the face of cheating - is spectator/player frustration - and fans tackling the ref... Remember the "Let's get those japies..." e-mail in 1999??? Same again now folks - the ogre of bias against SA has risen again... I can take a defeat - no problem - it's a part of sport - but NOT by being cheated... Again and again (just like through the 90's and early 2000's) - the Boks are cheated... Yes - it is a jealousy thing. We - SA/Mzansi - is the greatest rugby nation on Earth - despite the cheating vermin. The Boks must break Richie McCaw's neck at the bottom of a ruck at Soccer City... Revenge! The officials won't penalise him - so take the vermin out!

Gotta love the logic.
Even if you are beaten by 25 points, you can still blame it on cheating players/refs. 
He can handle losing if not cheated, but implies that every loss was due to cheating 
This happens because the world is against SA - jealous because SA are the greatest nation ever
Spectators going out to tackle the ref is a reasonable respose to this frustration 
And intentionally breaking another players neck is apparently not cheating 

[DH]

mmm interesting. Train driver - good one.

It almost makes me hope SA can "engineer"    a win in our third TN match.
That might delay the train wreck until 2011

I love reading the reader comments on overseas sites too - it helps me to remember that it is not only NZ that is crawling with rabid pillocks. Every team has them, look at this beauty..

    Ahhhhh - finally - an honest article from a New Zealand scribe... Most important note - the Boks were consciously CHEATED by the bias of the referee... Whether it's a 1 point loss - or 25 points - when faced with such bias - and the consequent effect it has on the team's moral out on the pitch - it becomes nigh impossible to win the Test... Boks are cheated out of a possible Test victory again... Thing is - what will the limp-wristed nerds at SARU do... Lodge a formal objection against Rolland?? Nope - they will do nothing.........and the consequence of such inaction in the face of cheating - is spectator/player frustration - and fans tackling the ref... Remember the "Let's get those japies..." e-mail in 1999??? Same again now folks - the ogre of bias against SA has risen again... I can take a defeat - no problem - it's a part of sport - but NOT by being cheated... Again and again (just like through the 90's and early 2000's) - the Boks are cheated... Yes - it is a jealousy thing. We - SA/Mzansi - is the greatest rugby nation on Earth - despite the cheating vermin. The Boks must break Richie McCaw's neck at the bottom of a ruck at Soccer City... Revenge! The officials won't penalise him - so take the vermin out!

Gotta love the logic.
Even if you are beaten by 25 points, you can still blame it on cheating players/refs. 
He can handle losing if not cheated, but implies that every loss was due to cheating 
This happens because the world is against SA - jealous because SA are the greatest nation ever
Spectators going out to tackle the ref is a reasonable respose to this frustration 
And intentionally breaking another players neck is apparently not cheating 

That seems to be a common thread amongst alot of Bok supporters. They really do seem to think that somehow all refs are biased against them. Is that the old boer "siege" mentality coming thru!? It seems kinda bizarre & irrational. Sure, sometimes games go bad & supporters end up blaming the ref (Wayne Barnes), but to think there is a systematic process of cheating Boks out of games .... thats men in white coats taking you away kinda thinking!

Grant Fox was excellent on Reunion last night. He thinks the Boks are "looking out the window" looking for external excuses for what happned in these 2 tests, instead of looking at some fundamental issues that have crept into their game.

If you took a step back, last year the Boks where excellent at breaking down the style of game the AB's where trying to play. The ABs ended up moving away from the basics & trying to run it from everywhere, which played into the more conservative orientated the game the Boks play with the kicking game & swarming defense. This was helped by the breakdown interpretions which encouraged more competition.

This season, the breakdown is policed so the attacking team has more leeway. I think that the crux of the whole thing. Teams are rewarded for showing enterprise on attack by maintaining possession. Grinding out a win just won't suffice.

cheers
DH

[Gwynn]

I suspect that the Boks are going to get up and stomp all over this Wallabies outfit.  Their forward pack shouldn't even face a contest from the Australian's, though Richard Brown might trouble Spies a bit.  And establishing complete dominance up front should negate the dual threat of Genia and Cooper.

[Hamish]

That seems to be a common thread amongst alot of Bok supporters. They really do seem to think that somehow all refs are biased against them. Is that the old boer "siege" mentality coming thru!? It seems kinda bizarre & irrational. Sure, sometimes games go bad & supporters end up blaming the ref (Wayne Barnes), but to think there is a systematic process of cheating Boks out of games .... thats men in white coats taking you away kinda thinking!

They are dead right DH....I don't think they should change anything.......    we won't stand a chance at the WC if they continue with their heads in the sand

[BallBoy]

but what they forget is just a year prior to us winning the wordl cup in 2007, the bulk of the players that won the world cup, lost 49-0 to the Aussies and then 35-17 the following week against the AB's. That year we only managed to win 2 of our six games, but a year later we won the world cup. So stop crying like babies and just face the fact the the All Blacks just played brilliant rugby, two weeks in a row.

I've stopped crying ? but sincerely hope we don't get "klapped" 49-0 ever again

Don't know if any of you read jake White's book but he came seriously close to getting the boot in 2006. one administrator, John Smit and a hefty early contract settlement saved his bacon.
Sport is about winning & losing & the best can always be beaten.

[Geeves]

Well we have a half-baked wallaby side ready to take on an injury and suspended ridden Boks side.

A number of the wallabies (read Mitchell) are very lucky that injuries have allowed them to keep their spots.  Despite the desire to bring in the mongeral most of those anointed players, especially Higgenbotham and little Faingaa are still in the squad as after 1 or 1/2 a club game (Sheppard) after returning from injury they are not being rushed into the side. Robinson and Genia the noticeable exception to that rule.  This will not be the same wallaby side that will be used by the end of the Tri-Nations once players get back from injury (Ioane, Hynes, Alexander?, Palu?).

I'm still debating on rocking up to see the game live (highlights ticket sales) to see if Rob Simmons can repeat what he was doing at the start of the Super 14 until the cheek injury if he gets on.  Deans has been hesitant to use the bench either lack of faith, not wanting to disrupt the flow (one who wonder why not against England), or unfortunate tactical decision making.

I'm seeing a tactical advantage in the set peices to the boks who will want to reclaim some lost pride.  But the Wallaby backs (now litigation free) just have something that the Boks don't.  Attack.

Wallabies by 10-15.

[Geeves]

The good the bad the indifferent. 

The good:
1. the margin was even better than I predicted
2. Genia was magnificent (sniping runs)
3. So was Pocock (his manhandling of Burger was fantastic)

The bad
1. The linking in the attack.  The wallabies failed to finish at least three solid try opportunities that illustrates how far they still have to go
2. The yellows  (Cooper gone for the next 2 tri-na
3. no bonus point

The indifferent
1. the ref (could have handled the touchies better)
2. the babble between a retired hooker and a national coach
3. The AB brains trust at the game

[Teach]

Funny. I had no bonus points in the "good" category.    That was my first priority for Saturday night.

My 2nd priority was no away points for the Boks - good stuff.

3rd - I wanted Aus to play well enough to ensure our boys don't take them lightly.  So the match gets 3/3 from me.

The Aussie fans getting their own consipiracy theory to moan about is the icing the cake - although I note that you were very restrained about it Geeves.
However, the reality is that most NZers would prefer to see Quade available to play next week, after all we don't like to give the opposition any excuses...

[DH]

Worth looking at Mark Keohane's site for some reasoned Bok viewpoints of the game/referrees etc. Especially the comments section. Nothing unhinged at all about them....

*cough*

 

cheers
DH

[Geeves]

Funny. I had no bonus points in the "good" category.    That was my first priority for Saturday night.

My 2nd priority was no away points for the Boks - good stuff.

3rd - I wanted Aus to play well enough to ensure our boys don't take them lightly.  So the match gets 3/3 from me.

The Aussie fans getting their own consipiracy theory to moan about is the icing the cake - although I note that you were very restrained about it Geeves.
However, the reality is that most NZers would prefer to see Quade available to play next week, after all we don't like to give the opposition any excuses...

Understandable about the bonus points.

Well from my point of view he gets 2 weeks instead of 6 months (B&E) I know which one I prefer.

Nope lets keep Quade away from the kiwi's and leave him lurking there as a big ace up the sleeve come RWC time.

This Saturday should be good. I think it's at the new stadium.  I hoping to check that out live in Feb.

[ho hum]

I reckon it is hilarious that the Wallabies are appealing to keep a Kiwi playing .....