Nallet up for Botha battle
Lionel Nallet is ready to exact revenge on Bakkies Botha for an incident between the two in 2005.
The last time the sides met in France – four years ago in Paris – the Tricolores beat the Boks 26-20, but one memory sticks out for the French lock. Nallet took a blow to the sternum from Botha, an incident which has left him ‘delighted’ to meet the Bok enforcer again.
‘My one memory of our battles is when Botha split my breastbone with his knee,’ said Nallet. ‘I do not know if it was intentional. Just before half-time, I dragged a bit out of play in a group, and I was punished.
‘That’s part of rugby. Even today, sometimes I still have some pain coming back. At least it allows me to think of him…’
The French are no angels themselves, and the Boks can expect a physical barrage in front of a hostile Toulouse crowd. Nallet continued the theme set earlier by team-mate Imanol Harinordoquy – who labeled the Boks ‘nasty’ – and Nallet added the Boks’ physicality compared favourably to Australia and New Zealand’s.
‘Let’s say that the fact of wanting to hurt the opponent is a part of their game we know. It’s their game, this is not new. I remember one tour there [in 2005], where we drew the first game. The second, it was something.
‘Be prepared to suffer. It is sometimes brutal, but above all they are very good players.’
Turning his focus to the all-important lineout battle against Botha, Victor Matfield, Ryan Kankowski and Schalk Burger, the former France captain believes the Boks have the greatest lineout in the world, but says they have a plan to counter it.
‘If we make stats on the number of times they bite an opponent at the lineout, it must be the best. And on their throws, they are almost never at fault. It’s a good challenge for us.
‘We know that they rely heavily on Matfield. Considering the configuration of our team, we will put Imanol [Harinordoquy] in front to try to disrupt them. He will try to anticipate, be smart. It will work, to see what they do and also how they counteract us because Matfield will already contest our own balls.’
This will be the first Test under the Marc Lievremont tenure that Nallet has not been made captain when available for selection. Nallet added he wasn’t ‘bitter’ Thierry Dusautoir would lead the side out.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:53 am
bliksem dragon !
November 10th, 2009 at 11:58 am
France are out to kill. Can’t wait for this.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
This could be the most brutal test of the year. Although the lions tests were pretty brutal.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Who is the ref?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
There’ll be a few citings after this one.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
so they claim the boks r biters
November 10th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
This guy and the rest of the french should not be to concerned about Botha but more about The Schalk, he has not played a lot of rugby as the rest of the boks and his hungry for it, you could see it when he came on in the second half of the CC semi final when he nearly broke Fourie du Preez in two!
Also Jaque Fourie is going to make things tough for them in the back, he looks huge did you see him at the sa players award? In the interview after he was saying he was trying to bulk up and it looks like it!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
i was at that test in paris in 2005, drove 10 hours from holland through a blizzard to get there, it was great except that we lost.
french are great though, had beers afterwards, they love their rugby.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Bloody Frogs got big mouths it seems…full of hot air…
Dont back off an inch Boks….stuff them…they want a war, bring it on!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Gonna be a cracker.
Bakkies split Nallet’s sternum.
Didn’t Smit (unintentionally) elbow one of their players in the throat?
A real pity the Caveman will only probably come on when Bakkies goes off.
France have had the better of SA for a while noe.
I agree – the match-up of the year!
I hope the Boks aren’t too tired.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
If we get parity at scrum time we in with a 50….50.
If we dont ….oooooh dorner!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
LMAO – this from the dirtiest team in union.
the propaganda war is massive.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
These French are using fighting words. I hope Nallet realizes that Botha is now going to find out what his number is and hunt him down the whole match. Oh and he will get his man, Nallet – you leave one limb hanging awkwardly even for a split second and it will be broken, ask Adam Jones.
I don’t see how the Boks can lose this, even with Adi Jacobs and maybe even Zane.
Schalk will be defending the Adi Jacobs channel.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
#5 Jozi:
the problem is the ref will send bismarck, bakkies and burger off if they do anything, and then we poked.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Nallet better prepare for more pain.
WATCH these Frenchies, they are as Cab suggests dirtier than most teams out there.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
#12 cab: I’m not sure that’s true anymore, certainly it was in the past but I haven’t seen any of those antics for some time now.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Remember what the Caveman did to “hard man Maori warrior” Chris Masoe?
He ended his international career.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
#4 bunce:
Barnes. You remember him?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
#11 grant10:
The scrum will not decide the outcome of the match, the bulls where out scrum’d by both wp and fs and they beat both…
I think it is going to come down to players like F. Du Preez and M. Steyn being at the top of their game, I am sure they will be, plus they know it is only 2 more games before they have a long break and they will not want to end a great season by losing, the springboks “with the help of the bulls pairing” will beat the frogs!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Springbok Team (Test caps in brackets):
15 Zane Kirchner (1)
14 JP Pietersen (30)
13 Jaque Fourie (51)
12 Adi Jacobs (28)
11 Bryan Habana (54)
10 Morné Steyn (9)
9 Fourie du Preez (52)
8 Ryan Kankowski (9)
7 Schalk Burger (53)
6 Heinrich Brüssow (10)
5 Victor Matfield (89)
4 Bakkies Botha (63)
3 John Smit – Captain (90)
2 Bismarck du Plessis (30)
1 Tendai Mtawarira (19)
Reserves:
16 Adriaan Strauss (5)
17 Wian du Preez (0)
18 CJ van der Linde (56)
19 Andries Bekker (18)
20 Danie Rossouw (43)
21 Ruan Pienaar (34)
22 Wynand Olivier (24)
November 10th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
#13 Kobus Kitty:
haha for sure!
Bakkies will now be out to hurt this guy and with that “smile” on his face!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
“Caveman” is not what he is made out to be, he is like a Danie at best. In fact I do believe he does a lot of MALE MODELING.
Take away his beard and long hair and you will see that he is very average and doesn’t stand out at all.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
NAMA is that the real team?
November 10th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Never mind I see
November 10th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Holy moses – it’s been years since I’ve posted something on this site…
Hope Schalk can contain himself…
Personally, I’m fairly concernced about the talk from the camp, especially the Bulls players, about feeling a bit jaded. Anything less than 100%, and we’re going to be in for a long afternoon…
But my biggest concern is them leaving it so late before flying out… Having said that though – it appeared to work on the last 3N tour, albeit with us being very flat for the 2nd test against the Aussies – only now we’ll have the Italians… Hopefully we can then get up for the Greens, just like we did against the Blacks!
Cannot wait!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
#22 Kobus Kitty:
Bold words.
The man is tough as nails on a rugby field.
Have you not watched him play?
He may be guilty of being too much of an individual, but he is an effective force.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
#22 Kobus Kitty: Write off Chabal at your peril. Just ask Ali Williams about that. Chabal is quite easily the best impact player in the NH and probably the world also. He could sit Bakkies, Spies or anyone else down if he feels like it.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
#27 rugbygenius:
No, he couldn’t. His claim to fame is exactly that… giving Ali Williams (who is a basket ball player) a broken jaw and also knocking fat MASOE out, while playing in a B grade french side.
Botha has done far more, as have the others.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
#28 Kobus Kitty: You and I both have a right to our own opinions. So i respect your point of view. However I disagree totally. Botha is not nearly as recognised or indeed feared as Chabal. Chabal owns his opisition.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
#16 Big Hit:
yeah i know, but they a fine one to talk in general.
the bokke have also cleaned up their act, apart from burger’s madness and bismarck’s niggling. not sure you can really control the latter cos he’s so worked up by the time he gets onto the field.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
#28 Kobus Kitty:
lol kobus, i too think chabal just needs to get a good one, but Nallet and some of their props are tough customers, good that CJ is there.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
#30 cab: as far as I’m aware the French harbour a grudge about the second test in 2005 where they felt they took received a lot of cheap shots, Nallet alludes to it above.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
#29 rugbygenius: bakkies owns everyone he plays against.
he is an inglorious basterd.
the bear bok.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
#33 rangerman: Yes Bakkies is a tough man. Yes. But Even Kahui dominated him a year or so ago. I think he is tough to a point . But there are much bigger and tougher players . Flavell and Lauaki make Bakkies look like a cute little teddy bear.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
#32 Big Hit: poor little frogs.
let them eat cake i say.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
#32 Big Hit:
i think the main problem here was when john smit fended their one lock (thion i think) with a straight arm to the throat…smit is not a dirty player at all – but the french got into their revolutionary gallic cockerill roots.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
What happened to Nick Williams who played for the Blues.
He was a hard player.
I remember him thumping back Cobus Varkhond Grobler as if the mop top was stuffed full of feathers.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
#28 Kobus Kitty:
You should do some research on Chabal (there is a lot of information available about him on the net) before you make ridiculous statements.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
#34 rugbygenius: kahui dominated bakkies??????????
are you winding me up or just ignorant mate.
bakkies is the boogeyman in the dreams of all other “enforcers” worldwide.
troy flavell kuks his broeks when he thinks of bakkies, thats why he went to japan.
the caveman is awesome. against everyone else.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
#34 rugbygenius:
Those two are your best options to pick from? Both are lazy and don’t have that aggressive nature.
PUFF, Nick Williams is playing for Munster now, I think.
#38 Robzim:
Whats wrong with the statements I made? Oh did I forget to add his try he scored against Namibia in the rwc? How silly of me.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
#39 rangerman:
Not against everyone else… you still have guys like Bismarck, Burger, Juan Smith… the list goes on.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
#14 cab: I doubt, that trio is very experienced when it comes to shall we say executing the “code red”. Occasionally they get caught but for the most part you just see an opponent limping away after a ruck and you wonder WTF!
All 3 of them will be watched very closely no doubt, they need to behave especially Bakkies and Bismarck….hot heads of note they are.
#13 Kobus Kitty: “Nallet – you leave one limb hanging awkwardly even for a split second and it will be broken, ask Adam Jones”
LMFAO!!!!
November 10th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
#41 Kobus Kitty: i meant all the other teams in world rugby
November 10th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Dirty this, dirty that… from a country that boasts the lowest bath per capita in the world (excluding Brakpan and Springs, of course).
November 10th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
lol nice one katman and the whole of australia
November 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
i want to know why j.botes from natal isnt in the bok squad or at least mid week team or is he?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
#46 klippies101: because he is 39 yrs old and past his best.
botes is a sharkie stalwart but he was always a journeyman.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
#44 katman:
bath is a four letter word for the french….
November 10th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Just HOPE that the ‘real’ France turn up and not the weak-at-the-knees cheese-eating surrender-****** version. Stade Toulouse should be like entering the colosseum, spitting venom from every pew, high on the pungent fumes of home-brewed calvados.
I hope les Tricolors bring their nasty side too and I will only be comforted by the sight of the front row emerging from the changing rooms with bloodied noses and blackened eyes and skin dangling loosely from their knuckles. THEN we will know we’re in for a treat.
Viva la France, Ama Bokke Bokke !
November 10th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
#34 rugbygenius:
lets be honest. Your futile attempts to antagonise the locals has a better chance of success if based on a passing familiarity with the truth.