The final insult
29 Aug 2008
The Springboks are expecting gracious favour from Lady Luck, God and the Highveld hoodoo but none of these intangibles will be enough to prevent another historic Australian win.
Slim chances of re-entering the Tri-Nations race evaporated with the capitulation at Kings Park, and there’s been subsequent talk about how this Ellis Park fixture is an opportunity to regain some pride. But what if the Boks fall to Australia on the Highveld for the first time since 1963? That would be the final insult. It would complete the plummet from champs to chumps in less than 10 months.
Keo.co.za looks at several reasons why Robbie Deans’s tourists will head back Down Under on a high.
BATTERY TAKES IT’S TOLL
Another week, another casualty. It’s a phrase that be will used to describe the Boks’ 2008 Tri-Nations campaign in years to come (as well as a few less-than-kind adjectives). The disaster in Durban cost South Africa another first-choice winger in JP Pietersen, a loss that comes just a week after Bryan Habana bowed out with a hamstring tear. CJ van der Linde has been banned for four weeks and will also be missed in a tight clash. For a side that’s already struggling, it’s almost unfair to expect the reserves to gel with the incumbents, let alone provide gamewinning touches.
The Aussies’ appeal of Rocky Elsom’s ban proved successful allowing the blindsider to hold onto his starting position. The Wallabies midfield looks no less formidable with Timana Tahu replacing the injured Berrick Barnes. The tourists may have lost lock Dan Vickerman but it is the hosts who are the more depleted and deflated outfit.
KICKING CHAOS
While it’s tempting to get stuck into those less-than-kind adjectives and phrases, it’s best to look at Peter de Villiers’s own errant slurs when it comes to tactical kicking. De Villiers assumed the Aussies had an inferior tactical kicking game ahead of that Kings Park Test, but Matt Giteau went on to break the Boks with his well-weighted chips behind the defence. Aside from Tahu, every member of the visiting backline has a healthy boot and the back three is strengthened in this area by the return of Adam Ashley-Cooper.
De Villiers has ignored last week’s result and picked two wingers not known for their kicking prowess, ditto the centres. Conrad Jantjes has the goods, but has failed to deliver in this vein in 2008, and the same goes for Butch James and Fourie du Preez. Why wasn’t Percy Montgomery selected for a match that is bound to see plenty of tactical kicking? A back three of Montgomery, Jantjes and Jongi Nokwe provides more balance in this regard.
BREAKDOWN WAUGH
Rumour has it he’s been locked in a dark cellar for seven days and fed on nothing but small scraps of meat, but Deans has finally decided to unleash the rabid force that is Phil Waugh. George Smith earns a break ahead of the Wallabies’ more important fixture in Brisbane, and so Waugh gets an opportunity to show the new coach what he can do with a start.
The problem with the South African back row is their failure to fire as a unit, and the persistence with Pierre Spies and the axing of Joe van Niekerk could prove costly. Elsom’s beat the law and you’d expect him to produce another big performance at the tackle point, and watch out for another prominent breakdown beast in Tatafu Polota-Nau.
SET-PIECE SCRAP
The scrumming was a positive for the Boks last week, but the problems at lineout time cannot be ignored. There was talk about the Aussie jumpers encroaching on the Boks’ side, but you’d expect experienced players like Victor Matfield and Juan Smith to rise above this sort of pressure. Hugh McMeniman and Elsom will look to spoil South African ball and James Horwill is one of the most underrated players in the Aussie side. They’ll miss Vickerman, but another bumbling Bok showing in this area will make their jobs a whole lot easier.
Prediction: It’ll be a sad end to a disappointing tournament for the world champions. Although they’ve been hit by numerous injuries, they will lament their own mistakes and perhaps finally admit that the current approach is flawed. Australia by 5.
Springboks – 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Andries Bekker, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Percy Montgomery.
Australia - 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14. Peter Hynes, 13. Stirling Mortlock (c), 12. Timana Tahu, 11. Lote Tuqiri, 10. Matt Giteau, 9. Sam Cordingley, 8. Wycliff Palu, 7. Phil Waugh, 6. Rocky Elsom, 5. Hugh McMeniman, 4. James Horwill, 3. Matt Dunning, 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1. Benn Robinson
Subs: 16. Stephen Moore, 17. Al Baxter, 18. Dean Mumm, 19. George Smith, 20. Brett Sheehan, 21. Ryan Cross, 22. Drew Mitchell.
By Jon Cardinelli
1,238 Comments
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29 Aug 2008, 04:53 am
#100 Koos: Yes. Think about it this way: If PdV can avoid having his forwards (and loosies in particular) chasing across the field to every single breakdown then he might reduce their running in the first 60 minutes by (say) 30%. Guess what that means in the last 20 minutes. Deans knows this and has been able to play Smith/Waugh as an alternative approach.
29 Aug 2008, 04:56 am
#101 funkyzoo: Anyway funky, your tip for tomorrow?
29 Aug 2008, 05:02 am
“Why wasn’t Percy Montgomery selected for a match that is bound to see plenty of tactical kicking? A back three of Montgomery, Jantjes and Jongi Nokwe provides more balance in this regard.”
He’s easily achieved his ‘mandate’ of 7 POC’s in the 22 and 5 in the starting line-up with CJ out… he could have afforded Percy in and Jantjes onto the wing…
Coupled with his persistence with the winger Luke in for flank… PDV clearly has a screw loose…
29 Aug 2008, 05:05 am
#99 Koos:
Elsom has had his ban upturned too… so Deans has included him…
Ironic Sanzar failed to send CJ’s appeal off in time, yet Elsom’s was right on time…
29 Aug 2008, 05:07 am
From planet-rugby:
Argentina steps towards professionalism
Argentina’s Rugby Union has agreed to establish a sub-commission of professional rugby, after an historic council meeting of the union on August 27.
The sub-commission will be chaired by Ricardo García Fernández, with Alejandro Cubelli, Ricardo Paganini and Pablo Gabellieri as members, and the players will be spoken for by former Puma legend and captain, scrum-half Agustin Pichot.
The sub-commission will seek to establish a professional league within the country, which has long been a staunch resistor of any professionalism in the game. It will also seek out a spot for Argentina in one of either the Six Nations or Tri-Nations, with the latter the preferred option.
29 Aug 2008, 05:11 am
#104 bryce_in_oz:
Firstly, Elsom should never have been cited or banned in the first place. So the overturning of his ban was expected. I can’t believe SA even appealed after the thuggery of CJ, and I hope it doesn’t get overturned either. After the initial incident last Saturday PDV should have been looking mfor a new prop already.
Can’t understand what the big hooo haaa is all about
29 Aug 2008, 05:19 am
#104 bryce_in_oz: I saw that Bryce, I thought the original citing and ban was stupid, overturning it is just as stupid. What it does point to though is the inept operations of what is called the SANZAR citing committee, one freaken bumble after the other and this after 10+ years. Someone should be shot…
29 Aug 2008, 05:19 am
#106 Richie_7:
CJ was rightly banned IMO… the ‘hoo-haa’ as you put it is, is due to both appeals going out on the same day to SANZAR… yet only Elsom’s went out ‘on time’ according to the IRB… what’s good for the goose eh?
For the record it was CJ’s club in the UK pushing for the appeal as he’s off after this game…
29 Aug 2008, 05:20 am
#107 Koos:
LOL Koos, can we arm you?
29 Aug 2008, 05:22 am
#106 Richie_7: Refer to my post 107…
As for CJ, I hope it gets overturned….to be replaced by a 6 or 8 week ban! We are very quickly falling back to the thuggery under RS, something JW worked very hard on to get rid off…
29 Aug 2008, 05:22 am
#108 bryce_in_oz: Its in the Rep. of Ireland actually, he’s going to be C.J. Van Der Leinster
29 Aug 2008, 05:22 am
#108 bryce_in_oz:
Fair enough, we can complain about the appeals not going out on time and once again feel done in by the IRB, or feel that the world of rugby is against SA. Fact still remains that appeal or no appeal, this guy was never going to play on Saturday.
And I bet CJ’s new club is hoping he doesn’t bring that to their season
29 Aug 2008, 05:23 am
#109 Richie_7: If you want to…I was prepared to use my hands…!!!
29 Aug 2008, 05:26 am
#112 Richie_7: Ironically, CJ and Rocky Elsom are going to the same club, Brian O’Driscoll’s team, coached by Michael Chieka the Australian.
29 Aug 2008, 05:27 am
#110 Koos:
Guys, I watched last week game again last night. I know a lot has been said about the new “expansive” gameplan and that being the reason SA did so poorly. But to be honest, the 3 Aussie tries were simply bad defence. Robinson scored close to the line with not sufficent fringe tackling, Tuquri scored from a slipped tackle by Fourie du Preez, and everybdy seemed to miss Mortlock on his way to the tryline.
Wasn’t defense one of JW’s main objectives? The reason SA did so well? By defending solidly and feeding off mistakes SA won a WC! SO forget all the offensive mishaps, the defense let SA down.
As you so right said, a lot of what JW instilled in this team seems to be missing
29 Aug 2008, 05:28 am
#114 Big Hit:
Sjoe! That team is in for a rough season!
29 Aug 2008, 05:30 am
#113 Koos:
Love your passion nd commitment koos!
29 Aug 2008, 05:33 am
#115 Richie_7: I agree, there is a lot more to it than just a more expansive game. The handling errors, where did they suddenly come from, defence like you mentioned. Our lineouts suddenly looks ordinary…
The only reason I can come up with is that there is a distrust in the coach…I have seen it many times before. Recent examples include the Brumbies under Nucifora, the Wobblies under Ed the Lip….impossible to fix I think.
29 Aug 2008, 05:36 am
#118 Koos:
“if you believe in nothing, you fight for nothing”
Sadly these Boks don’t ruth this coach, or don’t see his vision
29 Aug 2008, 05:38 am
#119 Richie_7:
don’t trust this coach*
29 Aug 2008, 05:42 am
#119 Richie_7: Correct and not only is it breaking down the Bok but also some players…
Suppose on the positive side it can turn around quickly, refer to the current mob under Deans. But 2 years is a long time if we have to wait THAT long.
29 Aug 2008, 05:43 am
#121 Koos:
Short term solution is to keep PDV is place and just get suitable advisors (JW?) Unfortunately I don’t know if anybody would want to risk their reputation doing so
29 Aug 2008, 05:45 am
#120 Richie_7:
Thats not even dyslexic!!!!
29 Aug 2008, 05:48 am
#123 Koos:
Too early for this, but I was up doing some graft
29 Aug 2008, 05:48 am
#123 Koos: More ou maat, at least the Boks will take this one, that is if the Keo predictions are not to be believed. They got every single game wrong so far.
29 Aug 2008, 05:49 am
#114 Big Hit:
That’s right… ta…
29 Aug 2008, 05:50 am
#125 AB:
LOL Yeah, they kinda just go on what happened the previous game and hope fro no upsets
29 Aug 2008, 05:50 am
#121 Koos:
Eddie the Lip said he could turn it around in a flash if he ‘learnt’ his lessons from each game… although that might have been before last week…
29 Aug 2008, 05:57 am
what is Kankowski doing with himself at the moment? is he injured? He isnt in the Sharks team?? Maybe he is settled in France already??
29 Aug 2008, 05:58 am
#128 bryce_in_oz: Its funny how Eddie got that nickname when Woodward was just as bad if not worse than him at public accusations.
29 Aug 2008, 05:58 am
#129 Bolski: injured
29 Aug 2008, 06:00 am
#125 AB: Ja was happy to see their pick, gives some credence to mine!!!
#128 bryce_in_oz: That is just Ed the Lip for you…
29 Aug 2008, 06:02 am
cheers!
Pity, i would like to see him play more games for the Boks against NZ and Oz. I think he has the goods to make a great no 8.
Eddie might not be the most liked personality in rugby, but i think he knows what he is talking about. Imagine Jake White as Director of Rugby, with Eddie the Eyebrow as coach!!!!
Surely that could ONLY work??
29 Aug 2008, 06:04 am
#130 Big Hit: I coined that phrase and it was because he was just better at it…
29 Aug 2008, 06:07 am
#118 Koos: Totally impossible. They not only don’t respect him but they think he’s a fool.
29 Aug 2008, 06:12 am
#135 ansie: Yip, lekker kukspul!
29 Aug 2008, 06:13 am
#118 Koos: Thats what I also said in recent post.How do you face the Wallas with confidence if you know your coach reads “rugby for dummies” secretly at night?
29 Aug 2008, 06:15 am
#137 Die Dier: but like a true supporter I still predicted a springbok win on superbru…..
29 Aug 2008, 06:15 am
nag manne,die bed roep!
29 Aug 2008, 06:17 am
#139 Die Dier: Hello and koebaai Dier!
That email travelled the world at the speed of light!
29 Aug 2008, 06:18 am
#140 Koos: my broer het hom vir my gestuur.En snaaks genoeg,mens kan dit nogals glo…..!die vrou bad,so ek het nog tyd op keo
29 Aug 2008, 06:19 am
#141 Die Dier: Moet jy nie gaan rug was of iets nie!
29 Aug 2008, 06:20 am
#141 Die Dier: Wel dis nie van glo nie, dis van sien op die veld die laaste paar weke!
29 Aug 2008, 06:20 am
one quick question:Why doesnt PDV play Janjies wing and Percy fullback? Odwa is kakker than meisiekind
29 Aug 2008, 06:21 am
#142 Koos: moet seker…
29 Aug 2008, 06:22 am
#144 Die Dier: Well maybe because a lot of rugby pundits suggested that…Asterix just knows better!
29 Aug 2008, 06:25 am
#144 Die Dier: Come to think of it, we have a number of weak spots this weekend. Front row looks dodgy with Mujati, locks struggling, loosie…well all has been said, #9 looks undercooked, #10 looks overcooked and a dodgy back 3…
29 Aug 2008, 06:26 am
We do have the skill.Problem is: If your coach is a tool, you start to doubt your own abillities,even though there is nothing wrong with it.These days,and this is only my opinion,a coach more or less is a manager….and old snor ,well enough said.
29 Aug 2008, 06:28 am
koos,its been a blast,but got to go now.Weet nou nie of jy brits of afrikaans is nie,so ek se maar totsiens en cheers!
29 Aug 2008, 06:34 am
PdV to collect his first trophy tomorrow!!!!!!! [wooden spoon]
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