TN #6 - ABs vs Boks - Soweto

[Teach]

NEW ZEALAND: Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Josevata Rokocoko, Daniel Carter, Jimmy Cowan, Kieran Read, Richie Mccaw, Jerome Kaino, Tom Donnelly, Brad Thorn, Ben Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Corey Flynn, John Afoa, Sam Whitelock, Victor Vito, Piri Weepu, Aaron Cruden, Israel Dagg.

Owen Franks out - looking to reduce the ruck penalties?
Cowan starts 

I'm not enthusiastic about Flynn and Afoa in internationals

Vito also is yet to impress me in a test - but I don't mind him there - at least there is the potential to be special.

[Teach]

SOUTH AFRICA: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 JP Pietersen, 13, Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (capt), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp. Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Danie Rossouw , Francois Louw, Ricky Januarie, Butch James, Wynard Olivier.

A few changes here. I don't know much about Francois Hougaard at halfback or Juan de Jongh at 13.

I'm pretty sure Smit is a weakness?


I'm picking ABs by 8

Forget the crowd and the altitude. The refs have to let us win - it's been well documented 

[BallBoy]

well Gio weighs just over 70 kg. de Jong touches 80 - both punches seriously above their weight and can be quite exciting to watch. Hougard has the pace of a wing & will irritate the shit out of Cowan, Carter. I can not see the boks playing the game we are accustomed to see from the boks. Pack is just too light. expect a whole lotta runnin'. Should be a feast. especially considering the weak defense from the Boks in 2010
Glad Juan Smith and JP Pietersen is back & that Jean is back at 12 (big mistake trying him on wing in NZ)

Really good chance for the Kiwi's to get one over the Boks at altitude.

[Hamish]

What a finish.........!!

That was a real test match.....Boks defensive line was outstanding and we were continually getting knocked over.
But as the match wore on, we kept applying the pressure and the opportunities became more frequent and better defined until we were able to snatch it at the end.

Really tough for the Boks....that one will linger.

[DH]

What a finish.........!!

That was a real test match.....Boks defensive line was outstanding and we were continually getting knocked over.
But as the match wore on, we kept applying the pressure and the opportunities became more frequent and better defined until we were able to snatch it at the end.

Really tough for the Boks....that one will linger.

I caught the last 8 minutes on Sky last night. Ground & crowd looked totally amazing!!!! They went very quiet didn't they!!??? Gotta feel for them, its a gutting way to lose.

Thats an amazing win for the AB's. Beating Boks at home at altitude in front of 94,000 fans with all the emotion that they'd attached to it (must win, Smit's 100th, feelings of being hard done by be refs etc, revenge etc etc). To win is incredible. Will go down in history as one of the great wins i think.

cheers
DH

[Geeves]

What a finish.........!!

That was a real test match.....Boks defensive line was outstanding and we were continually getting knocked over.
But as the match wore on, we kept applying the pressure and the opportunities became more frequent and better defined until we were able to snatch it at the end.

Really tough for the Boks....that one will linger.

My concern is that the wallabies might be in for one hell of a backlash.  I'm just hoping the loss gutted the team for about 2 weeks.

[Scott_E_Boy]

well the ABs did a lovely job of softening the Saffers up for us earlier in the 3N. Hopefully they will be the same.

Cooper back this week anyway. He should provide a little more creativity in the middle rather than the one out up the middle stuff the wallabies have been resorting to of late.

[BallBoy]

Yup, now that was a test match. Great performance from both teams that exposed a couple of things for both teams I guess...
Clearly the Boks are just not fit this year. dunno if you guys could see it on Tele (I had privi of attending the match) but quite a few Boks were hand on knees around 65th mark.
for most of the match the boks managed to make the kiwi's look ordinary. Great to see tackling the players backwards again. Juan Smith is back - yeah. Richie got blown up at the rucks early on. Ref took a dive  to make up for his predecessors 
No Cards?? whats that all about !!!!

Guess AB's will take a lotta good from this match as it is really the first that they trailed & had to come from behind, managed to cope with significant pressure & to apply their own.
Boks at least showed what they are capable of - just need to remember to play full 80 - can't blame them since the full team has not played for 80 before Sat 

really felt for John as he slipped the tackle on Nonu to hand the match to AB's. Must be said though that JP Pietersen on 70th clearly had a problem with his hammy and started to trot. P Divvy in his infinite wisdom took Hougard of & left Pietersen on instead of moving Hougard to wing, leaving Dagg with an easy canter since JP just could not get to him...

Well guess the Boks now know how AB's felt last year - remarkably similar (recall January's chip kick to win it in last minute) .

Lastly, was impressed with the youngsters - Flip van der Merwe (lock), Francois Hougard (scrummy), Gio Aplon (Fullback) and Juan de Jong (OC) but still looking forward to the return of Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Frans Steyn (he's playing this weekend though) and the enforcer, Bakkies (Hopefully some head doctors will attend to him during his 9 week suspension)

[DH]

Yup, now that was a test match. Great performance from both teams that exposed a couple of things for both teams I guess...
Clearly the Boks are just not fit this year. dunno if you guys could see it on Tele (I had privi of attending the match) but quite a few Boks were hand on knees around 65th mark.
for most of the match the boks managed to make the kiwi's look ordinary. Great to see tackling the players backwards again. Juan Smith is back - yeah. Richie got blown up at the rucks early on. Ref took a dive  to make up for his predecessors 
No Cards?? whats that all about !!!!

Guess AB's will take a lotta good from this match as it is really the first that they trailed & had to come from behind, managed to cope with significant pressure & to apply their own.
Boks at least showed what they are capable of - just need to remember to play full 80 - can't blame them since the full team has not played for 80 before Sat 

really felt for John as he slipped the tackle on Nonu to hand the match to AB's. Must be said though that JP Pietersen on 70th clearly had a problem with his hammy and started to trot. P Divvy in his infinite wisdom took Hougard of & left Pietersen on instead of moving Hougard to wing, leaving Dagg with an easy canter since JP just could not get to him...

Well guess the Boks now know how AB's felt last year - remarkably similar (recall January's chip kick to win it in last minute) .

Lastly, was impressed with the youngsters - Flip van der Merwe (lock), Francois Hougard (scrummy), Gio Aplon (Fullback) and Juan de Jong (OC) but still looking forward to the return of Fourie du Preez, Jaque Fourie, Frans Steyn (he's playing this weekend though) and the enforcer, Bakkies (Hopefully some head doctors will attend to him during his 9 week suspension)

Yeah I think the Boks can take something away from that match for sure.

I still think they've gotta widen their horizons more though. That gameplan relies almost solely on passion & being able to defend for 80 min. They really are not offering anything on attack, apart from an up and under & chasing it. That gameplan is a good idea for a RWC finals series as its proven to be a winner for at least the last 2-3 world cups, but in between RWC!? The Boks will continue to have marginal results like they are at the mo. If you take last year out of the equation where the gameplan (mainly because of the rules then being applied at the breakdown) worked, they can't possibly consistently win because they are offering nothing on attack. Passion is awesome, but they need more than that. Maybe they are happy with the results, as long as they win the RWC. I would have thought thou winning consistently was equally if not more important.

Have a read of Mark Keohane's article, what do you think BallBoy?

Don't talk up Bok performance

cheers
DH

[BallBoy]

yup, your remarks are spot on DH and I think they (the senior players) tend to dictate play to what their "experience" allows them to be comfortable with...

The test of the past weekend with the Wallabies was like an exhibition match. I summise that the team had to drop the "incumbant" style of play due to trailing by 14 after 5 mins & then have 21 against them in 1st quarter. (Habana would need to get his sh*t together soon). personally not a fan of "lets just throw the ball and see what happens" i.e cooper and a number of boks this past weekend.  Don't think either team had too many structure or strategy in majority of tries scored. I see this as a key differentiator at the moment that Kiwi's display

[Geeves]

yup, your remarks are spot on DH and I think they (the senior players) tend to dictate play to what their "experience" allows them to be comfortable with...

The test of the past weekend with the Wallabies was like an exhibition match. I summise that the team had to drop the "incumbant" style of play due to trailing by 14 after 5 mins & then have 21 against them in 1st quarter. (Habana would need to get his sh*t together soon). personally not a fan of "lets just throw the ball and see what happens" i.e cooper and a number of boks this past weekend.  Don't think either team had too many structure or strategy in majority of tries scored. I see this as a key differentiator at the moment that Kiwi's display

I have to agree with BallBoy here the wallabies are completely without structure and strategy.  I know a lot of the regulars are injured but WTF these players have had 6-7 games so far this season, they know the injuries are long term so either they are thick as shit, plain lazy, running around trying to decipher crazy coaching directions or lets face it simply not good enough.  You expect to see improvement throughout the year but when the pressure is on these blokes choke and simply melt.

What's causing this and who needs to be taken out and given a bullet has conspiracy nuts assuming its a giant kiwi plot.  Deans reluctance to drop some players (Brown and Muppet the prop), tactically use the bench and collapse in defence has the tongues wagging.  It all can not all be due to the injuries, where have the brains gone?