All guts, no glory
21 Aug 2010
JON CARDINELLI reports on the 29-22 victory that boosted the All Blacks to the Tri-Nations title and a clean sweep over the Springboks in 2010.
What an anticlimax. You would have expected the Boks to finish this game with a lap of the field; their record-breaking captain riding high on their shoulders. Instead, John Smit’s team-mates had to lift him from the deck at the final whistle. Smit’s devastation said it all. Four losses from four matches, the last defeat coming on the Highveld.
In the final analysis, the result confirmed why guts and passion are simply insufficient in the big Tests. The game was there for the taking, but the Boks were beaten by a better team.
Smit’s initial entrance set the tone for an improved Bok effort. The camera tracked Smit’s progress down the tunnel and as he emerged, 94 000 fans rose in rapturous recognition of a decade of contributions in green and gold. Riding on that wave of euphoria, South Africa’s biggest crowd belted out a deafening rendition of the national anthem and drowned out New Zealand’s haka with a cacophonous ‘Ole, ole, ole’.
Many felt this energy would give the Boks the edge they lacked Down Under, and in the opening stages it certainly made a difference. Inspired by the gritty Juan Smith, the Bok pack turned in an aggressive showing, and from that platform, halfbacks Francois Hougaard and Morne Steyn proceeded to implement the kick-chase strategy.
The accuracy of these high bombs troubled the All Blacks’ back three, but the hosts struggled to take advantage of these mistakes. Their lineout continued to disappoint, Smit conceding possession in the first two set-pieces, and Victor Matfield battling to contest effectively on opposition ball.
Sensing the weight of occasion and how it may evoke a robust showing by South Africa’s forwards, the All Blacks avoided extensive confrontation. They often exposed the Bok defence in the wide channels, and showed a willingness to run back the less accurate kicks, keeping the ball alive even if it meant surrendering as many as 10 metres.
Some patient phase play led to a clinical try by Schalk Burger, but the Boks conceded a breakdown penalty that was goaled by Dan Carter almost immediately after. The defence lapsed in that crucial period before half-time when Brad Thorn broke the line and set up a wide-sweeping move which culminated in a simple run-in for Tony Woodcock.
The visitors bossed territory in the second half and were helped by the Boks’ misguided intentions. The home team would defend like demons, but a counter-surge so often resulted in a loss of possession.
A three-pointer by Steyn in the 64th minute established a comfortable 22-14 gap, an advantage the Boks seemed unlikely to relinquish. But an instant of indiscipline gave the All Blacks a sniff, a breakdown transgression by CJ van der Linde allowing Carter a simple penalty.
Carter missed a subsequent shot, but the All Blacks continued to apply the pressure. Another quick shift to the wing caught the Boks napping, and a great finish by Richie McCaw leveled the scores.
Carter missed the touchline conversion, but it didn’t matter, as a Ma’a Nonu linebreak sparked the clinching try for Israel Dagg. It seemed fitting that the move was birthed from a breakdown turnover, although on this occasion the All Blacks counter-ruck menace provided the forward momentum.
The result gives the All Blacks a clean sweep over the Boks in 2010, a record that will give them psychological points going into a World Cup year. It also wraps up the title for McCaw’s men and leaves the Boks on one solitary log point after four matches.
573 Comments
21 Aug 2010, 19:18 pm
Dragons!!!
21 Aug 2010, 19:19 pm
John Smit the non-dragon – he is definitely the 8th wonder of the world – slap k@k wat regop staan…
21 Aug 2010, 19:21 pm
what a game! well done ab’s. must say im proud of the boks even though they lost
21 Aug 2010, 19:26 pm
@mamma_lou(mamma_lou)-3: Jip, the AB’s thoroughly deserved the win – they are a classy side. Not the best individuals players they’ve ever had, but boy, are they good as a team…
21 Aug 2010, 19:30 pm
I feel nothing for the BOKS
I feel so sorry for the Bok supporters, what a tragedy.
The last 10 minutes was a f@cking disgrace.
Hogard was a hero, Juan was fantastic, Burger had a great game.
John Smit let us down, that last missed tackle was a joke.
The Boks in the 2nd half defended most of the time.
We need a new fly half, Steyn is a d.o.o.s
Flip had a good game. Matfield was woeful, the best lock in the world? my arse
Jannie had a good game, after the replacements came on we
were a beaten side.
Spies should be dropped forever.
I am no longer a BOK supporter under that f@ckup PDV.
Without Brussow and Du preez we are nothing.
I hope The Aussies beat us in the last 2 tests.
I refuse to support this stupid BOK side.
The Bok management should be lynched.
21 Aug 2010, 19:30 pm
Congrats to Smit on the 100 games
Congrats to the ABs for a very convincing tri-nations and early securing of the Tri-Nations Trophy
Congrats to the Boks for a much improved performance and getting on the Tri-Nations points table
21 Aug 2010, 19:36 pm
Great game! But Smit has to go now….you’ve given him the 100 but he is no where near good enough at international level now.
21 Aug 2010, 19:38 pm
I definitely don’t feel for the coaching staff. Time to stop messing around and weed out the rotting wood. Yes, that means our legendary captain. For all his qualities, even a football fan will tell you that he aint the answer.
21 Aug 2010, 19:40 pm
Well done AB’s. A proper contest due to good refereeing of the breakdown. Pity that forward pass was not picked up.
I feel sorry for John for slipping that tackle but JP Peterson should have done better to stop the try scorer.
Schalk played well but missed a crucial tackle on Thorne in the lead-up to the AB’s 1st try and critically lost the ball on a few occasions. Juan Smith was my man of the match for the Boks.
So much for the ‘steppers’ in our midfield. They didn’t create anything of note while looking more brittle on defence than WO and J Fourie.
21 Aug 2010, 19:44 pm
Look on the bright side, the Boks have one competition point.
Bonus one for losing by fewer than 8 points.
21 Aug 2010, 19:44 pm
Well played All Blacks. Heartbreak for us Saffas, but that’s the way it goes.
21 Aug 2010, 19:46 pm
@diewareouboet(diewareouboet)-9:
Oh no they weren’t, they were decisively better.
21 Aug 2010, 19:48 pm
Commiserations to the Springbok supporters – a heartbreaking loss. A hugely improved performance from Downunder, though. Tackling was mostly accurate and very aggressive. ABs spent a lot of the game going sideways because of your defence. ‘Bok breakdown work was much more effective too. Juan Smith was very good (why was he subbed off?). Still think you boys kick too much of your ball away. Your kick-and-chase was better, but still I wonder what would have happened had you kept the ball in hand a bit more and moved it wide a few more times.
There wasn’t much between the sides today. With Brussow and du Preez back (and maybe Juan Smith instead of Spies!) you boys will be at full strength again. Those two players probably add an extra 5% to your team on the day.
Very satisfying win for an AB supporter. Winning in Jo’burg is a very big deal for us as it comes so rarely. Now we have a 3-0 series we have wiped the slate clean from last year’s embarrassment. Great game.
21 Aug 2010, 19:50 pm
@diewareouboet(diewareouboet)-9:
Huh?
We probably looked better on attack than all the other matches
Midfielders were solid in defense
JdJ was immense, something like 15 tackles and constesting for the ball
We have 3 test quality midfielders, WO is not one of them
21 Aug 2010, 19:52 pm
Francois Hougaard seemed to enjoy facing the Haka. I like his enthusiasm. Always good to have players who actually enjoy playing the game.
21 Aug 2010, 19:53 pm
just look at the stats- possession- territory- tackles made-
turn overs
we dont commit enough to the breakdowns and they still have a laugh with overlaps all over.
horrible to watch
21 Aug 2010, 19:54 pm
Pieter de Villiers is rubbish. He must f@#k off, he must f@#$ off, he is rubbish.
He must take his stuff and f@#k off.
21 Aug 2010, 19:55 pm
@diewareouboet(diewareouboet)-9: More brittle on defence? What game were you watching?
21 Aug 2010, 19:55 pm
heluim de villiers and his incompetent cronies must be go!!!
21 Aug 2010, 19:55 pm
@Heita(heita)-14: We never looked like scoring a try in the second half.
21 Aug 2010, 19:59 pm
ok so if the fat needs to be cut from this team the following need to stand aside
1. smit
2. matfield
3. spies
4. habs?????????? not much to work with so cant say
burger was great- shud be at 8
JS really good
FHoug good
backs are impotent- midfield in trouble… wings no ball, only chasing kicks
ball was slow and scrappy
we are in di kaak
21 Aug 2010, 20:01 pm
how did burger get MOM,youse lost,should have been McCaw.
21 Aug 2010, 20:02 pm
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-5:
Many of us feel this way buddy.
Keep the faith, we cannot stay **** for long(hopefully). Something has to give.
Gee, I thought Juan smith was immense, and Joe Dirt did very well at no 9. Once again Schalkie gave his all. Who am I not mentioning in the loosies? Oh Pierre the Spear…. ummmm, the bench is the place for you beefcake.
Smit played ‘ok’. Tackled well, but what else? Set pieces were good and young Flippie did well I thought.
JPP looked good on defence, thankfully, and I had my reservations before the game.
Well done AB’s though, they should plenty of endeavour, and were the better team that took their chances.
Another game I blame the coaching staff for cocking up. Why oh why take our 2 best players off the field???
Victor, at least played tighter, but please do more at ruck time!
21 Aug 2010, 20:03 pm
@Jafaboy(Jafaboy)-13: aplon was blocking how many kicks did he really contest?
21 Aug 2010, 20:03 pm
we have been out coached. Time to let go of sentimentality and make changes. We never deserved to win this game….. and the stats prove it.
21 Aug 2010, 20:10 pm
@TaffyIX(TaffyIX)-23: time to look carefully at vic ruck stats- i fear him not hitting enough is giving us poor scrappy ball…
21 Aug 2010, 20:12 pm
how about the ref… not a bad game but my goodness how many times was the guy in the way of play???
21 Aug 2010, 20:14 pm
Riding on that wave of euphoria, South Africa’s biggest crowd belted out a deafening rendition of the national anthem and drowned out New Zealand’s haka with a cacophonous ‘Ole, ole, ole’
Yep JC, great rendition of the anthem but why praise the drowning out of the haka? All it shows is ignorance of the whole aura around a maori tradition and the way the challenge is supposed to be given and accepted. Poor taste really and all the crowd does is motivate the AB’s to a higher level. Why must we be the only nation to disrespect the haka? Time for you to educate the masses on what it is all about rather than praise the denegration of a fine tradition.
BY the way, greatturnaround in the Boks defence in this game (but for the last 10 mins when our lack of fitness found us out).
21 Aug 2010, 20:15 pm
I was surprised by the ABs decision to contest the Test, albeit at only 3 gear
21 Aug 2010, 20:16 pm
The 2nd Half looked like as if the Bafanas were taking over at ‘Socca Siti’,
21 Aug 2010, 20:16 pm
Burger should never have won man-of-the-match. McCaw, de Jongh and Hougaardt were all better.
21 Aug 2010, 20:16 pm
I would have given McCaw Man-of-the-Match today. He was immense.
21 Aug 2010, 20:18 pm
@out wide(out wide)-28: SA not the only nation to try and drown out the Haka. I sort of understand why, but do they really want to lose one of the long traditions of rugby? As a Kiwi I love it when the Pac Island nations play and perform their ‘war dances’ prior to the game. It is a great way to get the goose bumps going just before the real action starts.
21 Aug 2010, 20:20 pm
@out wide(out wide)-28:
There is an interesting correlation between an incorrect response to the Haka and getting beaten.
The most extreme example would have been the changing room Haka in Cardiff and then the game being all over in the first 18 minutes. Don’t think the Welsh will do that again.
21 Aug 2010, 20:20 pm
@out wide(out wide)-28: kidding me with this comment bout the hakka?????
if u come on foreign soil and do a war dance ur are asking for it.
and
the British have been calling for the hakka to be stopped- so we are certainly not the only nation to give them a go.
think of it— when the hakka is done elsewhere- what do crowds do? sit in silence and clap when its over? please. get off ur horse buddy
21 Aug 2010, 20:21 pm
I don’t really care what the crowd do when the haka is performed. It’s not a challenge to them anyway, it’s a challenge made to the players. If the crowd want to make a lot of noise and drown it out, that’s fine with me. We respect it in NZ because it means more to us. You can’t expect the same kind of respect from rival supporters, it’s not their tradition.
21 Aug 2010, 20:21 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-30: lame
21 Aug 2010, 20:23 pm
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-5: Are you having PMS? If you were a real man, you would take things in your stride and support your team EVEN when they lose 3 in a row to the ABs.
21 Aug 2010, 20:23 pm
Habana’s out of position play caused 2 tries. Drop the bugger.
21 Aug 2010, 20:24 pm
@aliboy(aliboy)-33:
and just to remember that we are one of four or five rugby nations who perform the equivalent of the Haka before a game.
PnG also perform one before their rugby league games.
I am thinking that one day SA may do something similar.
21 Aug 2010, 20:29 pm
Boks showing lovely upward curve.
All they need to do is to maintain this momentum and 2011 is a done deal.
Vital players missing, all coming back slowly but surely.
Boks will do the right things at the right time, you heard it hear first.
Well done to Nigel Owens for missing the vital forward pass right in front of him.
Ironically the moment where he got smashed – Rolland prolly deserves it more – was one of the key moments in the game.
They have stolen the 3N 2010 this year, which is sad, from a big picture pure rugby perspective.
21 Aug 2010, 20:29 pm
@chch(chch)-40: To be honest I don’t have a big issue with the crowd ‘challenging’ the Haka. I just wish they would get the on field sound equipment positioned better so I can enjoy the Haka more.
21 Aug 2010, 20:30 pm
All sorts or out of sorts? We will miss next year, du plessis good game, Smit feeble, Guthro ok, m
matfield utterly uninspiring and slow, van der merwe ggod game, burger masterful, smith very solid, spies useless, hougaard inspiring with heart, steyn ok, jdv good upper but average, de jongh with heart, habana worst player of the day, jp was ok especialky in first half, aplon ok
21 Aug 2010, 20:30 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-41: The thing that is really sad is your post.
21 Aug 2010, 20:31 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-41:
If you can miss players in front of the kicker on 10 occasions then you can easily miss a forward pass
Yes the forward pass was pretty obvious
21 Aug 2010, 20:31 pm
Ref was fairky good for a change
21 Aug 2010, 20:31 pm
Oh ffffs… Are we now arguing the merits of the Haka?
My we are lame.
Get over it, we lost, and we are ****, but there is still a glimmer of light at the end.
21 Aug 2010, 20:32 pm
Sheriff no 41 i heard it here last.
21 Aug 2010, 20:33 pm
@aliboy(aliboy)-42:
Yep, the TV network pays for the rights to show the game and then fails to properly cover something that adds to its value for them. Pretty stupid on their part
21 Aug 2010, 20:34 pm
ABs are roughly 1.075% better than the Boks this year.
That is fact.
I expressed the desire early on that we should not have a successful 3N campaign this year.
And I got my wish.
This year has been an eye-opener, thats for sure.
Boks showed why they are so highly regarded when they have their backs against the wall.
21 Aug 2010, 20:35 pm
Well done for the SA TMO for not ruling against the ABs.
i had a good look at that one myself, and I felt the benefit of the doubt should go to the cheater.
He had great vision to score that try.
21 Aug 2010, 20:36 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-50: 1.075% pony up mounty
21 Aug 2010, 20:39 pm
And so the mighty fall again, the question that nobody can answer is what went wrong in a season and after a great super 14 this year?
21 Aug 2010, 20:39 pm
sharks province score anyone?
21 Aug 2010, 20:40 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-53:
Piet Helium and HIS croneys?
21 Aug 2010, 20:41 pm
@mainland(mainland)-54: 18-9 for the Sardines 60 mins played
21 Aug 2010, 20:41 pm
Boks the main threat to ABs deepest desire to take the RWC 2011 at home.
From here on the pressure will begin to build every day, inch by inch and come the right moment the bounce of the ball will inexplicably just not go their way anymore.
Boks can now truly experiment and do the necessary self-reflection.
As we speak, Boks can be proud of the 2010 harvest. Francois Louw, Flip, Hougaard to name but a few.
A few others, sitting in the crowd today, also getting closer and closer.
Understand this: this is the pain the Boks need to go to that next level.
21 Aug 2010, 20:43 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-53:
Good question COUCH-BOK. I think the difference has to be in the coaching staff. The Springboks went backwards in quality from their S14 sides. The All Blacks went forwards in quality from their S14 sides. The difference …. coaching.
21 Aug 2010, 20:45 pm
@panniepeet(panniepeet)-56: thanks… but becoming a horrible day results wise
21 Aug 2010, 20:45 pm
58 Jafaboy, but is exactly the same coaching staff for the past 3 seasons? surely there is something we are missing?
21 Aug 2010, 20:47 pm
As a Bulls’ fan, I’d be quite happy for Steyn, Meisiekind, Spies and Kirchner to return to the Bulls. They’re no use to the Bulls whilst they’re with the Bokke, and at the moment they’re pretty useless with the Bokke too, so it’s a lose-lose situation. As far as Spies goes, Bakkies needs to take him aside and have a quiet ‘word’ with him. Help him to harden the f*** up. Somebody (I think Catleya) mentioned that you never see Spies bleed on a rugby field, which is pretty shocking for a forward – it’s virtually impossible to not get your face smashed at some point, no matter how hard you avoid contact, so contact avoidance is clearly his greatest skill. Good CC and Super 14 player, though.
21 Aug 2010, 20:49 pm
When Marius Joubert ,Jaco Van Der Westhuyzen and De WEt Barry , 2004 Tri-Nations Winners did not perform the next year in 2005 we replaced them with Andre Pretorius , Jean Div and Jaque Fourie , and we got an improved showing.
Spies ,John Smit , Habana , Steyn ? Your loyalty has to end somewhere….
How can we have 2 sides in the Super 14 final and still be so K*K? Thats the bottom f*cking line right there , how can we have two sides in the Super 14 and then be so k*k…..
I really dont know,but the coaches should take a lot of blame here if our Super 14 sides did that well then it proves we have the players.
**** Muir couldnt even win one game with the Lions this year. GATVOL
21 Aug 2010, 20:49 pm
If we were to blame the coaching side, it can only be that efter PdV’s disastrous expanisive rugby, and a call in from the senior players, it went well for 2 seasons, and now that the same senior players are nearing pre-historic ages in rugby terms, we are seeing the barn door sized crack in coacinh efficiency.
21 Aug 2010, 20:50 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-57: Good posting!!Now we should
get some of the peripheral players in the game.
We were “klapped” by better rugby and far superior management.Don’t expect changes in management however.
Can someone please explain the rationale behind the subs today.FH and JS two of the best players on the field .Why were they substituted ?
21 Aug 2010, 20:50 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-60:
COUCH-BOK
You’re right. So what is different this year? The only thing really different this year is the rule change around the breakdown. The SA S14 sides (Bulls and Stormers) had coaches that adapted well to that rule change but maybe the Springbok coaches didn’t do such a good job.
21 Aug 2010, 20:51 pm
sheriff, `i like your optimism, but has the Lions not used the same arguments for the past 5 years….?
21 Aug 2010, 20:53 pm
65 Jafa, you are also right, we once again underestimate the power of a world class fetcher, as McCaw proves.
21 Aug 2010, 20:54 pm
Here is the definition of relief (for ol’ Ted): Dagg’s try in the 79m53s.
Ted must be finished.
He will have a beer and a wry grin to himself, but deep down the analyst of the game will know that the difference between the sides, again almost negligible.
That with ABs a settled side and very kind refs.
Boks building again and in a more fair contest, they were leading for > 90% of the game.
21 Aug 2010, 20:58 pm
Further to this, I know we are plagued by injuries, but the Messiah, Du Preez, has been quite well replaced by Hougaardt. We miss our little fetcher, though. And Steyn would have provided some more punch to the backline, and cannon balls. But more often than not, we miss the x-factor, a plan maker in the backline. Bonjour Messieur.
21 Aug 2010, 21:00 pm
In short: Bryan Habana lost us this match
We’ve been warning for 3 years now that his bullshit amature intercept is goignt o cost the team hugely one day.
- Mr. Nigel the ref should’ve had his neck broken by Smith. Conveniently missing Richie and Connelly coming in from the side, forward pass to Mils, holding on by Mils, falling over the ball thrice or more, Rocokoco DID take out Hougaard off the ball. And there were quite a few others that I forget now.
-can we stop speaking of altitude as an extra weapon in our arsenal already? In the final quarter the Blacks put on 15 points, Boks 0. Altitude is only helps us with kicking distance, period.
-Ricky Januarie comes on and we get 12 points scored aganst us. Of course one would say that 5 minutes in unfair to judge him on. Right? Did anyone else see him jog back we the Jon Smit slipped the tackle on Nonu? The time was up and he still couldn’t give a **** to break a sweat.
-The Boks can’t maintain possession as the have no structure. This is poor coaching adnd its effect will become more pronounced as time wears on under this regime and as we move away from everything that Jake helped establish.
They simply don’t know when to commit players to the ruck and when to counter, and the defensive lne is absolutely static. then the bloody All BLacks flanker can take his sweet time strolling to the wing, since Habana has never been corrected by the coaches it seems for his glaring error.
Cheers Habana. You served out your best years under the Bulls. I will always remember you in the light blue.
-Burger had an awesome first half. He’s had an awesome season. But should vie with Smith for a spot.
-Guys, I know Aplon punches above his weight etc. and knows how to counterattack, but he missed close to 10 tackles, unforgivable. He simply isn’t over the threshold.
-Jannie du Plessis seemed unfit.
-John Smit, congrats, so apt that you’re the one to slip the tackle that sinks us.
THANKS A TON SMITTY!
21 Aug 2010, 21:00 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-66:
Unlike some of the amateur bloggers here, some of us have been around for a while.
We understand the finer nuances of the game.
It was always unlikely that we will win John’s 100th game.
The current environment reposition us now firmly as underdog against the islanders who went to quite an extent to cheat their way through this year’s 3N- it was not like that in 2008 for instance.
I think there is collective panic on the island, which measure at best roughly 400km in width.
They will tick the 3N’s off and then the anal discussions will start and anxiety will build towards RWC 2011.
21 Aug 2010, 21:03 pm
Well the game was closer than the final score line suggests.
2 kicks cost us the game really – one was unlucky – when Steyn saw vacant space and kicked it in to the dead ball zone and Dagg had the presence of mind to use the 1 foot in, 1 foot out law to take it directly in to touch. The missed touch on th epenalty kick at the end was criminal.
But front row were decent in first half and ran out of as in last 15 minutes.
Frankie, De Jongh, Aplon, Vd Merwe – all were great.
Spies was not bad, but Vermulen might be a better option. IMHO.
Smith & Burger were ferocious.
But overall the All Blacks are very composed and balanced in every position and combination.
We could have won it, but didn’t. That’s the game.
21 Aug 2010, 21:04 pm
Oh Sheriff, I bow down to your experience in putting more words down that some others, well done! 100% school attendance. But I enjoy your pearls of wisdom.
21 Aug 2010, 21:07 pm
Sheriff, yes they atr famous for their choking abilities, but they have turned around in leaps and bounds, and we have gone down the chimney. I just hope there is enough time to feflect, rectify and grow for 2011, after a turnaround.
21 Aug 2010, 21:09 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-71:
I know you are hurting right now but take note of the classy responses of the other Springbok supporters on this site. It was a great game and the result could have gone either way. At least take your loss like a man and not a whiny little girl.
21 Aug 2010, 21:13 pm
Paddy O’ Brien is a true patriot.
He will do everything and anything for his beloved country.
See Paddy has a chip on the shoulder and like so many others from those parts, carry within them the sense of underdog, the one that is unfairly overlooked. Victim.
Sir Paddy O’Brien – we salute you.
For a while it will look like they’re getting away it, but suddenly, like a thief in the night- the unrighteousness will overtake them.
21 Aug 2010, 21:13 pm
There might be just a re-adjustment needed in the technical aspects of the game. There are guys out there like Tim Noakes, expand the coaching team and assist them in the modern era.
21 Aug 2010, 21:15 pm
You guys can go and find comfort in a loss and a lesson learnt or a great game or whatever. I dont see it that way , after what was achieved last year by this same side and Super 14 sides this year as well , this is not how things should be.
21 Aug 2010, 21:16 pm
76, I believe the answer is in the referee examination / performance appraisal. I sincerely believe that we should fly Piet van Zyl as a permanent Quality assurer with the Boks, however Owens was better today than the last lot who just wasted breath on their knowledge.
21 Aug 2010, 21:19 pm
@Jafaboy(Jafaboy)-75:
I think what few of us understand here in the Republic is just how much pressure there is on this AB team to make right, what the inhabitants there feel was so wrong in 2007.
Images of Smit smiling with the yellow trophy still echo in the minds and hearts of those down under.
So the expectations are clear, and I must say at times today, I saw raw panic on some AB faces.
On a practical note, I hope they have seen what constitutes proper lighting at a stadium. They would also do well to schedule matches in the afternoon for the sake of the game.
Both Eden Park and Cake Tin’s lighting is not up to standard.
21 Aug 2010, 21:22 pm
@Jafaboy(Jafaboy)-75: You missing the point here. Sherriff isn’t complaining.He has moved on .Like many of us we want to forget the whole 2010 TN as quickly as possible and look at our bright future.(quite frankly , we would be stupid to reminisce on the 2010 year.That is the job of the coaching staff). And anybody knowing the game will know that we will be competitive again.
However , I envy you.You have a whole year to bask in your winnings.Enjoy it .Your guys played much better rugby than us this year.
21 Aug 2010, 21:24 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-76: @optiplay(optiplay)-81: Sorry Sherriff just proved me wrong!
21 Aug 2010, 21:24 pm
If Ricky Januarie had a good head for rugby on his shoulders and a fit body, he would have immediately realized where the missed tackle on Nonu was headed and could have made it back in time to help apply pressure on Dagg (or even tackle Dagg) and limit their space.
Januarie didn’t even bother breaking into a sprint- he was only on the field for 5 minutes!!!
Watch the replay again.
21 Aug 2010, 21:26 pm
82 OPTIPLAY Lol, converted try.
21 Aug 2010, 21:27 pm
…And a another thing. Shaun Veldzman saw exactly what we saw. How could you award Richie’s try for that?
21 Aug 2010, 21:27 pm
@optiplay(optiplay)-81:
Totally agree. This year was great for us but it means nothing for 2011. Look at how you guys dominated us last year. In a year it could all be turned around again.
21 Aug 2010, 21:29 pm
I saw a video clip of the ABs at a swimming pool earlier this week, must have been somewhere in Jhb.
Piri Weepu in particular, ably supported by Ma’a Nonu had a whale of a time.
Lets not revisit the knitting video, a patronising visit by Carter and co to some old ladies who spoke fondly of their times as children on the faaaaaaaaarm, knitting away.
Carter remarked that he likes knitting since he was at school.
2010 3N was always going to be the marketing tool for NZ rugby.
JK, Fitzy and even Steve Tew are in SA to come and lure us that way; apparently they want us also to invest in their country.
Unknown to them, we have been doing so for a while now; our involvement in 3N generates the revenue and we have been commissioning some Cullert folk from CT to go and assist there.
21 Aug 2010, 21:30 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-85: We got the JF try against the British Lions.Same thing.The decision should go with the attacking team.SF got it correct.
21 Aug 2010, 21:30 pm
85 AGILE. The one frame the foot and the ball were in the air, the next frame they both were down. A couple of times we saw this, it was one of those 50/50 calls.
21 Aug 2010, 21:33 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-89:
I saw it and felt the benefit of the doubt should go to the cheater in that instance.
He has scored several tries in the 14 channel over the last year or so, particularly late in the 2nd half.
Its sort of a go to move when in trouble.
21 Aug 2010, 21:35 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-87: Come on Sherriff !! You are losing it now.I do think you know the game, and i like some of your ideas . But snap out of it . You are embarrassing yourself now.
21 Aug 2010, 21:35 pm
90 SHERIFF I agree if the Boks had that try, I would have felt the same. The benefit shoudl go to the attacking side. The AB’s were more subdued at the breakdown this game due to better refereeing, so the cheater could not cheat… as much.
21 Aug 2010, 21:40 pm
@optiplay(optiplay)-91:
Don Clarke said something very wise immediately after Joel Stransky landed that collosal drop goal in 1995.
He said: ” At least rugby was the winner at the end of the day”
In other words, having considered all, he felt that the winner could have gone either. The contest was fair and although a loser on the day, he could hold his head high.
That is old fashioned Kiwi rugby values, the ones I like.
2010 was a shock to me, I would for instance not have been shocked if the Aussies were pulling these stunts.
Those big mouths have no honour.
21 Aug 2010, 21:40 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-89:
It’s not a 50/50 call. The ball has to be grounded bfore a foot in touch. Simultaneously is out. Downwards pressure anyone?
21 Aug 2010, 21:44 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-94:
No it was simultaneous to the naked eye, but in super slomo you could see cheater first grounded the ball.
Then hald a sec later his foot touched the touch line.
Downwards pressure ok.
But you forget the FORWARD PASS that resulted in this try.
Both Owens and his asst ref was in line and SHOULD have awarded the Boks a scrum.
21 Aug 2010, 21:45 pm
94 AGILE, the wonders of technology did not produce the one more frame needed to be 100% sure. Perhaps they need to have high speed cameras covering the goal lines, but normally the advantage, as in cricket, goes to the scoring team.
21 Aug 2010, 21:46 pm
I am really sick and tired of the incompetent refs, Juan Smith should have strangled that *** ref, I mean how many indiscretions, knock ons can he miss
But the wheel turns…….
21 Aug 2010, 21:47 pm
95 SHERIFF, yes that is of course the argument, it was forward substantially, perhaps we need Chuck Norris to blow, or was that Chick Norris?
21 Aug 2010, 21:49 pm
Very good move to involve Fourie du Preez on the side.
Despite the negative results the guys are trying.
Juan de Jongh must have tackled Nonu at least 20 times today.
Hougaard was class; Flip is becoming the new Bakkies as predicted by me in 2008 (check the archives)
Steyn had an unusual off day today, but I think he is mentally fatigued and needs more rest.
Ricky should be out of the pic after Hougaards performance today. And he should be.
21 Aug 2010, 21:49 pm
Even the die hard Smit fans must be devastated by their hero’s showing today. Skew throw-ins, not throwing in at all, walking to the breakdown, falling off tackles and missing the final one that cost us the match.
Sure, Morne Steyn was equally pathetic, but really guys, put Smit out of his misery. You could see the despair on Smit’s face at the end. He continues to let himself down.
21 Aug 2010, 21:50 pm
I was particularly bemused with Read and McSoares entering from the sides and knock ons are now judged as going backwards
The best was actually the forward passes not called by the ARs
I mean WTF!!!
21 Aug 2010, 21:51 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-95:
No, I didn’t forget the forward pass. Commented on it above.
I got tremendous satisfaction from seeing that Welshman getting his head plowed into the ground, compliments from Bok hardman, Smith.
They should really teach these refs how to fall gracefully
Anyway, that @rsehole got in the way 3 times throughout this match.
21 Aug 2010, 21:52 pm
Bob Skinstad could not help himself and said about the ref getting smashed: That’s how it feels my friend when you mix it up with the forwards
Bob too, in private conservation, will admit that this year we reached new heights in anomalies, inconsistencies, wrong calls and the like
ABs get a yellow card in every 43 penalties
Boks every 6 and Aussies every 7; something is diabolically wrong
21 Aug 2010, 21:53 pm
Falling over the ball is also now allowed, Rugby as we know it has changed
21 Aug 2010, 21:53 pm
@JL1(JL1)-101:
Connelly came from the side blatantly.
And I see not many people mentioning Bryan Habana. He tried his schoolboy trick 3 times during this match and it ultimately cost us the match.
The blame is to be set squarely at the feet of the coaches. But then comes Habana, and then good ole Smitty.
21 Aug 2010, 21:54 pm
@JL1(JL1)-101:
Also the ref not giving us advantage after McCheats infringement. Bloody joke of a ref.
21 Aug 2010, 21:55 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-102:
Notice that he only got in our way; that in itself was something to reflect on.
NZ rugby disgraced themselves this year and now want to lumpt it all together so we can forget what really happened
Yes, they were a lot better this year, but the ball cannot realistically bounce in your favour every single time
21 Aug 2010, 21:55 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-93: You see !! You have a good rugby head .And I agree on the point of old Kiwi values.(.But let us stick to Rugby.)
Ever since Sean Fitzpatrick came into the mould NZ rugby drifted into what can be called UNGENTLEMANLY play.HE started the rot with unfair play,loitering (until it was illegal ),pulling jerseys ,holding on etc.And then crying like a baby if someone retaliated.A Troy Flavell on this blog pointed out how he hated this sissy rugby.(you would expect that from the Aussies).So IMO this started long ago.
21 Aug 2010, 21:56 pm
Seems that the laws of rugby have no more meaning
If this is the case, who needs a ref, it seems again like a free for all
21 Aug 2010, 21:56 pm
i know its not nice to lose, but get some perspective people. we lost to the all blacks! and only with the last move of the game. yes there were mistakes, and yes we had chances to seal the deal and didnt, but some of the stuff written here are just crazy. someone reading these posts without knowing the score might be forgiven for thinking the bos lost by 50 points
21 Aug 2010, 21:56 pm
99 SHERIFF, Young Juan de Jongh has a bright future ahead of him. I have not seen Nonu as contained in a long while. Hougaardt definitely had way more patats than January, and he passes flat and fast, where January does the two step, and takes out a satellite in the process.
21 Aug 2010, 21:57 pm
@JL1(JL1)-104:
Nigels blew the first one on the All Blacks and I thought they cleaned up their act and pulled their heads out the New Zealander’s @sses. But that was just a smokescreen.
21 Aug 2010, 21:58 pm
… Ag die BOERE is in hulle m***e gespeel. . . Wat de f**k maak die onderskep konings in die span?… hulle kannie têkkel nie en los groot gapings vir die agterlyn. . . Vergelyk Spies Vleispaleis met Gio . . . Jis man!!!
21 Aug 2010, 21:59 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-107:
Oh ja, that’s also true. Hmph.
21 Aug 2010, 21:59 pm
@mamma_lou(mamma_lou)-110: bos = boks
21 Aug 2010, 21:59 pm
@optiplay(optiplay)-108:
My friend dont try to patronise me.
In keo terms, I am your superior; you wont understand.
I’ve read what you said, and Im not convinced that you have a good rugby head.
Remember keo is primarily a learning platform
I’m proud of the Kiwis but also embarrassed for their part.
Its not looking good from a leadership perspective there on the island.
21 Aug 2010, 22:00 pm
@pouliepoulsen(pouliepoulsen)-113:
21 Aug 2010, 22:01 pm
Look I will take this hiding, but oh my word, no advantage, ref not keeping up with the game and players off their feet, entering from the side, playing gypuys without the ball, it is a joke
Richie eye gouging, he should surely be cited
21 Aug 2010, 22:02 pm
Have to sign off here guys.
Congrats to the C & C ( Cheaters and Chokers)
You won this battle but you will lose the war, thats for sure.
21 Aug 2010, 22:02 pm
Love the professional foul by McCaw not even getting a yellow card, nevermind the advantage. B@stard ref, just proving what everyone’s been pointing out the past couple of weeks.
21 Aug 2010, 22:03 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-120:
I’m convinced Juan Smith’s push on the ref was mostly intentional. Juan’s is the world’s best flank.
21 Aug 2010, 22:04 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-119:
Gudnight.
21 Aug 2010, 22:04 pm
105 AGILE. I feel that Habana cost us 2 tries being out of position. The prop try in the 36th minute of the first half, and the McCaw try. He was both times way out of posistion, and has cost us 4/5 tries this Tri-Nations with his lack of common sense.
21 Aug 2010, 22:04 pm
@JL1(JL1)-109: Agree!To many rules . To much left for ref interpretation.Many side entries not blown today . It is chaos.Get two refs on the field or make the rules more clear.OR, bring back rucking!!!Nobody on the wrong side or slowing down then.
21 Aug 2010, 22:06 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-116: ouch!. Do you feel better now.
21 Aug 2010, 22:06 pm
116 Nee man
21 Aug 2010, 22:07 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-121: i really hate to say this, but that title belongs to richie imo
21 Aug 2010, 22:08 pm
Paddy will probably get Juan cited for that push.
Small things again: John took long with his 2nd throw but ABs did the same and it was ok.
But the forward pass he missed, should be seen as GROSS NEGLIGENCE.
It would seem that it would take a SA ref to give us a fair game.
How Rolland can be allowed asst ref after his shocker is also quite telling.
Paddy is on a mission.
21 Aug 2010, 22:09 pm
@mamma_lou(mamma_lou)-127:
I hate to say this, but I believe you are correct Ma’am.
21 Aug 2010, 22:13 pm
121, 127, 129. Perhaps Paddy should be replaced by Freek Burger, or Andre Watson?
21 Aug 2010, 22:13 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-123:
Yep.
But the coaches should enforce this aspect of Habana’s play.
but they seem to just say:
“Go for it. Play what’s in front of you.”
The team lack structure. Forget the “fetcher” for now that everones been callinig for. Pierre Spies can’t hold 5 All Blacks back by himself. Our players simplty don’t know when and where to commit player, the defense is too static, and one player calls to another, but the other feels he is within the position on the field shown to him by staff.
I also got angered seeing Jeam de Villiers screaming at habana and pointing vigorously to McCaw that he should cover wide, but Habana though he could intercept Smith’s pass and be a gloryboy in front of 92000 people.
21 Aug 2010, 22:14 pm
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-129: what an athlete plus inteligence plus a great leader
21 Aug 2010, 22:15 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-128: The only superiority you have is proving me wrong on this blog yet again.Just read 128.And you know rugby???For a moment today I thought you had it .( Yet some good rugby ideas.) Just work on it . It will come.You will get better.
21 Aug 2010, 22:17 pm
Tony Woodcock is pathetic in the way that he never rolls away or releases
21 Aug 2010, 22:19 pm
131 AGILE, gloryboy means exactly that, glory days. It worked for Habana, when he still had the speed and golden touch, and was unexpected. However, a one dimensional method of play, makes it predictable, and the opposing team know the gap is semi permanently of the lieft outside.
Is it a question of coaching, probably, but as a team sport where the so called senior players carry weight, it does not compute.
21 Aug 2010, 22:19 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-41: “They have stolen the 3N 2010 this year”
Without any doubt 1-2 and 0-4 are more worthy winners than 4-0.
21 Aug 2010, 22:20 pm
@mamma_lou(mamma_lou)-132:
Imagine if he had Pierre Spies’ body.
21 Aug 2010, 22:20 pm
134 JL1, taking his surname, can he?
21 Aug 2010, 22:21 pm
people got skewed expectations, well some lessons are more bitter to learn than others. 2010 was always going to be the year where the fairy tale ended. Those willing to recognise where the cookie crumbles then face facts square in the face. Blame Habana, Aplon, Frans Louw, Ricky Januarie any one else on the roundabout, but the one place Boks came unstuck this year and nowhere else is this foolhardy sentimental codswallop of sticking with a legendary captain who simply don’t cut it in international competition no longer. John Smit is rhe beginning and the end of Bok demise in 2010, keep hanging onto his legendary coat tails and go clutching at abysmal overweight out of condition straws. We going to keep getting thumped till we make that one switch, get Smit out of there, Pierre
Spies as well, or continue beating your head and gnashing your teeth in disbelief at the dying dismal embers of what Bok rugby is supposed to represent.
21 Aug 2010, 22:21 pm
137 MADAM, do I detect a sigh there?
21 Aug 2010, 22:21 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-135:
The coaches should have warned him about that.
If they didn’t, then they’re **** coaches.
If they did, then they’re **** coaches.
Because Habana is whiping his *** off on them.
21 Aug 2010, 22:23 pm
Goodbye cruel world.
21 Aug 2010, 22:24 pm
before game i said our problems were at 2
6
8
10
Schal;k gave his all…..
but the other three cost us…..big time.
Sad reality is next week we will see changes……but i bet the same 2 …..8 and 10 will be there….
we are farken retar ded man!
21 Aug 2010, 22:24 pm
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-138: lol
21 Aug 2010, 22:25 pm
141. AGILE that is beginning to make some sense. If the senior players do not have the respect for the coaches, and use them as @sswipes, then a little mess will occur. The only place where we would have won today was Loftus, unfortunately.
21 Aug 2010, 22:27 pm
@skopskiet(yliad)-139: Agree.If JS and for that matter PS want to be in the national squad then they have to play themselves back in. Love JS . But I also like Frik Du Preez,Morne Dup and a lot of others .Not in the national team however.
21 Aug 2010, 22:27 pm
@grant10(grant10)-143:
Actually, you said many things before the game. Seems like you’re now cherry picking the ones you are willing to own up to.
21 Aug 2010, 22:29 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-128: “But the forward pass he missed, should be seen as GROSS NEGLIGENCE.”
Yes, I agree, that looked indeed forward. It happens. What is usually said here in such cases when opposition supporters mention it? “Get over it”. Right.
I think penalty distribution was fair today, ref did ok overall, Boks were much improved and impressive, nevertheless, the better team won. Just like in Durban 2007, Boks did all huff and puff, while the smarter ones counted the money.
21 Aug 2010, 22:31 pm
So Smit has the hinger but not the ability, ok so good bye Smit, you are the weakest link now
Spies you can also go
Ricky is really no good at all
21 Aug 2010, 22:31 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-147: ja
okay
but seems i am right a lot more than not right…
but actually…..go screw yourself you pompous arse.
21 Aug 2010, 22:31 pm
146 Optiplay
What about Paul Roos?
21 Aug 2010, 22:31 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-147: good one
21 Aug 2010, 22:33 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus)-147: Hy is ‘n vrou
Changes his story or gets melodramatic
21 Aug 2010, 22:33 pm
My IPAD causes spastic fingers in refreshing and “wheeing” the screen down.
21 Aug 2010, 22:34 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-119: “You won this battle but you will lose the war, thats for sure.”
Pray for the Aussies and Frogs, maybe they will do the job for you.
Definitely any ABs failure you see as a personal victory, no matter who does it.
I do not want to unnecessarily stir the hornets nest while respecting Boks supporters but in your case I’ll do an exception.
THREE TO ZERO. Reflect on that. Just like you patronizingly told us last year.
21 Aug 2010, 22:34 pm
@JL1(JL1)-149:
The only good thing i can say about pdV is that he is at least making sure that Ricky is not available for WP.
21 Aug 2010, 22:37 pm
@Nils(Nils)-155: Watch out NILS.He is very superior.
21 Aug 2010, 22:37 pm
156 LOL. They should give Ricky an hnourary title, and let him coach an under 10 side.
21 Aug 2010, 22:38 pm
And so the Pietman manouvre does the trick again.
The moment you say you’re leaving, the cowards come out.
Nils, mate. Congrats.
That said, I also want to take it back because despite some good things, all considered, it was not a good year for the ABs.
I have never seen the ABs as vulnerable as this year.
They’ve won (at all cost, NZ $) because the fear the nation’s wrath
21 Aug 2010, 22:38 pm
pdv
keep on with the ld guard
keep on with plod
keep on with a skop en soek game plan
and keep on getting the same results.
90 thousand bok fans
altitude
and a 3 trys to 1 loss….
and this will win us a wc in kiwiland in 2011 ?????
Fark me …..best we smell the coffee….and bite the bullet.
outta here
21 Aug 2010, 22:38 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-156: love it!!
21 Aug 2010, 22:38 pm
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-5:
We’ll miss your support.
I mean, it was YOUR support that made us successful last year. Hope your “new” team stays unbeaten for the rest of your life.
@diewareouboet(diewareouboet)-9:
“So much for the ’steppers’ in our midfield. They didn’t create anything of note while looking more brittle on defence than WO and J Fourie.”
With MS at 10, no centre in the world will create anything unless his forwards have total dominance. In an international match, he won’t get that.
How many tackles did the midfield “slipped”?
@dermie(dermie)-22:
Agree.
@Hondo(Hondo)-29:
I am surprised that you are surprised.
They always play to win.
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-39:
When you are 1 against 3 as a wing, what do you do? What would you do?
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-70:
“Ricky Januarie comes on and we get 12 points scored aganst us.”
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-83:
“If Ricky Januarie had a good head for rugby on his shoulders and a fit body, he would have immediately realized where the missed tackle on Nonu was headed and could have made it back in time to help apply pressure on Dagg (or even tackle Dagg) and limit their space.
Januarie didn’t even bother breaking into a sprint- he was only on the field for 5 minutes!!!
Watch the replay again.”
No surprise here. It has to be RJ who is to blame.
Freakin hell. Nothing to do with the AB’s playing for 80 minutes. It was Ricky. Drop die vetgat bliksem!
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-94:
It says nothing about “downward pressure” in the laws for a try to be legal. It talks about PLACING the ball behind the goal line of the opposing team.
You’re grasping at straws here. Stop it!
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-99:
“Steyn had an unusual off day today,…”
Hou op stront praat.
Steyn has been “off” since the EOY tour last year. Point me to one game, since the 3Nations last year, where Steyn had a good game for the Boks.
21 Aug 2010, 22:38 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-156: Common ground, I agree
Taking Juan Smith off and Hougaardt must be the most bizarre decision of the day
21 Aug 2010, 22:41 pm
The silver fern and haka have lost its meaning.
You would be forgiven for referring to Piri Weepu as Chico the clown
The way he pulls his face is not dissimilar to that of a clown
21 Aug 2010, 22:42 pm
@nama1(nama1)-162: Ricky was pathetic and Smit was Aldo not good
See 1 white, 1 player of colour, now get the chip of your coloured shoulder
21 Aug 2010, 22:43 pm
162 NAMA1. Sjoe, long welcome, Do you have any breath left? Via number 39, play the man opposite you. That you do.
21 Aug 2010, 22:44 pm
@JL1(JL1)-163:
Mind boggling, to say the least.
Whether he is the bloke whom is making the decisions I dont know, but, as head coach, he has to accept the responsibility.
At least he cannot blame the ref.
21 Aug 2010, 22:44 pm
sentimentality and pathetic ignorant hero worshiping is South African mentality at is abysmal worst.
Some players stood tall today to get let down by their team mates who can’t carry the can no more.
Make Juan Smit captain and get another 2, 8, 10 on the field and we would have won today no two questions about it.
Smit, Spies and Steyn cost us that game, not Habana or Louw or Januarie or Aplon or anyone else.
Smit ran out of puff and couldn’t contribute in the loose, sentimentality created the result same as Percy’s 100 in Cape Town in 08. Spies nowhere to be seen all 80 min long while Smith and Burger carry his share of the work load, and Steyn froze and choked on his line kicking handing possession back every time. Had that penalty kick at 75 min not gone over dead ball line and we’d gotten line out in their 22 was game over there n then. Scrum back in our territory and 1 min later McCaw’s over in the corner where Spies again nowhere to be seen and Habana got to cover both Jane and McCaw.
The other pathetic malady is sticking to a game plan that simply don’t work. Had we held ball in hand ans run it not hoofed it AB’s would have had way less possession and first Woodcock try plus all our other defensive lapses wouldn’t have been the result. Even Hougard kicking way too much good ball away for Bok’s to have to defend and tackle yet again and again and again.
21 Aug 2010, 22:45 pm
No reason to face the Haka, if laws change so do customs
They can take the Haka and do it in the toilets
21 Aug 2010, 22:46 pm
@JL1(JL1)-163: I actually think the coach had a plan taking them off………….WHAT was it again??.
21 Aug 2010, 22:47 pm
Smit; Matfield; Spies; Steyn are not worth their positions in the Boks line up. If decisive action need to be taken, it must be now or forget the defence of the world cup next year.
The Boks problem lies at 10 and 8. You need smart and creative players in those positions. I am afraid the incumbents are not up to scratch especially with the way the All Blacks are playing. What an embarrasment to see Steyn trying to kick a penalty to touch and failing to get touch because it is not on his preferred foot. As flyhalf, he is more like a crab to me. As for Spies the less said the better.
The All Blacks were patient and never panicked. You could sense that it was just a matter of time because they camped in the Boks territory especially in the second half.You can not shut out the All Blacks for the whole game, something has to give.
It was sad to see some Boks supporters crying at the end of the game. That try was a real killer.
21 Aug 2010, 22:49 pm
@optiplay(optiplay)-170:
To make sure that Ricky gets 50 caps perhaps?
21 Aug 2010, 22:50 pm
169 SKOPSKIET. It takes a team to fail, but I feel that Habans has outdone himself with his out of place at alll times, helped by Ricky with his 3 step pass technique which put the whole backline out of place.
Smit’s lack of is a vital ingredient in our demise, but also included is Spies, and Matfield.
We’ve got a coouple of good lads at the local high school…
21 Aug 2010, 22:50 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-167: Someone has to take responsibility for this
I am surely not putting my hand up, damn, I am the pig in Snow White, I have nothing to do with this fairy tale
21 Aug 2010, 22:52 pm
@Peter Mkata(Peter Mkata)-171: Why do you think the ABs were better in the last 15 minutes.Were they perhaps fitter than us?If that is the case the coaching staff should join the ranks of JS and PS.
21 Aug 2010, 22:53 pm
Nearly forgot. That stadium is beautiful and really magnificent. Logistics to and fro the stadium is world class. They must now sort out those electronics ticket readers at the gates.
21 Aug 2010, 22:56 pm
@optiplay(optiplay)-175:
Not sure really, suspect the replacement did not work for us especially Juan Smith. Should have never been replaced. Was really magnificent.
21 Aug 2010, 22:56 pm
I told you so
21 Aug 2010, 22:56 pm
Imagine Robbie Deans and Eddie Jones coaching the Boks, just imagine
21 Aug 2010, 22:56 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-159: Hey, if that was not a good year for the ABs I can hardly imagine how bad it was for anybody else. Really.
Meanwhile, of course, ABs are beatable – they are bloody far from being invincible. Just a small problem of finding the ones who’ll do that job.
As for “nations wrath” I do not recall anybody calling for lynching the ABs after 0-3 vs the clearly superior Boks last year. Oh, they partly vincidated themselves by COMPREHENSIVELY beating anybody else thereafter, Australia, France, England, Ireland, Wales – you name it.
In a nutshell, last year was South Africa’s year. This is New Zealand’s. Next year remains to be seen. While nobody (certainly, not me) in the right mind will write off South Africa along with Australia, France, England and probaby Ireland nex year they all will have to improve HUGELY.
And hope that somebody do the job instead of themselves.
21 Aug 2010, 22:56 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-57: Boks are easybeats who’ll probably crash out in the pool stages. Wallabies are far more of a worry. They’re young, a bit raw but are building nicely under a real coach. The Boks are over-the-hillbillies “coached” by a squeaky-voiced clown.
21 Aug 2010, 22:59 pm
And I should add – the stadium looked awesome. Thrilling exprience even while watching via PC on the other side of the globe.
South Africa are blessed with fabulous stadiums.
21 Aug 2010, 23:02 pm
Every single post by Sheriff, and there are very many, obsess about 1 team and 1 team only.
Cheers AB fan, Sheriff !
21 Aug 2010, 23:03 pm
@Nils(Nils)-182:
Yeah I watched the game here on 50 inch High Def
So I can see things better than most
Can you take care of 2 aspects there in NZ for me:
a. The lighting at your stadiums (1 yr to go, hurry up)
b. The Reunion studio (surely thats not too much to ask)
21 Aug 2010, 23:05 pm
@JL1(JL1)-174:
I am also only an innocent amateur blogger and has nothing to do with this approaching catastrophe. Pe(i)ter is getting paid big bucks and he must just face the music on his own.
21 Aug 2010, 23:06 pm
@Nils(Nils)-182:
Sure, that includes the one in Green Point Cape Town – world class white elephant.
21 Aug 2010, 23:07 pm
Another nice thing – very few drunk people who make an arse of themselves like at Loftus.
21 Aug 2010, 23:08 pm
@JL1(JL1)-163:
Juan was tired. Replacing him with Flo at that stage was the right thing to do. The name of the game at that stage was trying to get possession and hold on to it. Slow the game down and run down the clock. Give JS a victory in his 100th test. It did not work out that way. It sometimes happens.
Hougaard should have gone to the right wing in place of JPP (Agree with Ashwin here). JPP was cramping up and too tired by then. Just have a look after he dotted down the ball in our in goal area after a grubber by the AB’s. That was acyually his final play in the match. After that he was a passenger.
Wrong move by PdV and FdP there, I think.
@JL1(JL1)-165:
And you can say that although he was on the field for only 5 minutes. Nice.
You’re the one making it about colour, not me.
@couch-bok(couch-bok)-166:
That leaves 2 man on your outside to score the try anyway. So you on a lose-lose situation in any case.
Still have enough breath left for another double KWV.
Moenie worrie nie. “lol”
21 Aug 2010, 23:09 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-183:
I thought the camera work (not the angle only, but the quality of the camera used) for Ian Jones (Kamo?) and Justin Marshall’s field report was poor.
A hyped up Justin referred to Johannesburg as the centre of SA rugby.
They spoke about mid 20 degrees temperatures in winter like only islanders will- why are they so obsessed with everything South African, most notably our ladies?
21 Aug 2010, 23:09 pm
T*tman @ 70
When Gouger threw the ball away to prevent the ABs from a quick thrown-in, when they were hot on attack, what is the local parlance ?
In NZ we call that a ‘professionl foul’ that usually gets a YC, but I’m sure I’ve been reading a repeated reference here to what Safas call it. Any suggestions ?
21 Aug 2010, 23:13 pm
I think I should enter those competitions on Reunions, maybe I can win that Deep Heat pack
21 Aug 2010, 23:14 pm
@nama1(nama1)-188:
Fark Nama, he looked so lively at that stage, in fact, much more lively than any other bok forward (except Schalk) on the field.
I wonder if they have not decided before the game that Juan was only good for 60 minutes and to replace him at that time not taking into consideration what happened during the match.
21 Aug 2010, 23:15 pm
Great Game! The right result, have no doubt that in 2011 boks will be back and in good shape to defend WC! As we know here in NZ, nothing more dangerous than a wounded Springbok!!…unless it’s a a Wallaby!!!
21 Aug 2010, 23:16 pm
Sheriff
you’re right, there DOES seem to be a problem with camera angles in SA. Like the one that strangely disappeared in the Lions 2nd Test, the only one that would have given conclusive evidence and also was the most common angle. How odd.
As for Marshall and the SA ladies, well they’re hard to distinguish at the best of times.
21 Aug 2010, 23:17 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-189:
It is a well known fact that Justin is very popular amongst the SA ladies – just ask Bobby Skinstad.
21 Aug 2010, 23:17 pm
one thing i don’t get, if you’re going to try a kick and chase gameplan, why was it that all chasers ran in and ignored the ball, but were happy just to disrupt the AB catcher? why not take a jump and try to grab the damn thing? could have been dangerous, but turned out to be pretty useless! go the AB’s!
21 Aug 2010, 23:18 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-189: They’re “obsessed” with things South African because they’re in South Africa and they’re describing it to people who are not. Duhhhh!
Overdosed on your Stupid Pills again, or is it the Dubbel Klip-en-Kouk?
21 Aug 2010, 23:18 pm
when I Saw John Smit waddle down the tunnel with this overstaged ovation and premature adulation I knew we in for a rough afternoon. Then I saw Ab’s looking mean lean and hungry and I looked at our lot and I knew right there that they had the edge both in condition and maybe mentallity over the full duration of the 80. Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Frik vd Merwe, j
Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon with some able support by JdV, Hougaard and JPP held the team together for so long, was them that did the lions share of the work and put all the pressure on Ab’s both in attack and defence. Habana was ok apart from getting caught out position time to time he didn’t shirk no work and put in some hefty defensive challenges himself.
The others were simply carried apart from Gurthro and Jannie surprisingly who both stood up well in the tight till CJ came on and we disintegrated.
The subbing of Smith was the turning point. Smith should be captain no one else. Smit is klaar gelag get him gone or keep crying spilt milk stories of what might have been. Get a mobile hooker who can contribute in loose, get a proper 8th man who isn’t a kak bang showpony and a fly half who can stomach the big occasions without his gabba in crime FdP sheltering him from the storm. Steyn’s two long range kicks that went into dead ball area plus the one that Aplon booted down Janes thoat first half all directly resulted in AB’s tries.
If Bok’s want to start winning again ditch the box kick or kick n chase rugby plan and that means ditching John Smit because its precisely the only game he knows. Its Smit calling for this strategy of that I am sure, when PdV took over in 08 it was furthest strategy from his own style but he relinquished control of the game plan over to senior players and this is precisely the culminating result.
21 Aug 2010, 23:21 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-194:
Nonu’s try in the Cake Tin, for example was no try.
He only grounded the ball after the ref awarded the try.
Instead of showing different angles, they showed him running back (as if to say, he’s done it again)
21 Aug 2010, 23:26 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-197:
Its because they fear us, and in some (sick) way regard us as superior.
Thats why they let you in there, but Im sure by now they’ve caught on to you at least
There is 200 man Kiwi delegation here in SA to “promote the RWC”
They’re here to learn from us, thats why they’re here
SA Rugby the envy of the universe…
Boks will be even stronger by the time you read this post
21 Aug 2010, 23:28 pm
Sheriff
or James Daltons in ’98 that was only 8 bodies away from terra ferma, the match-winning ‘try’ as the final whistle blew
21 Aug 2010, 23:32 pm
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-200: You’ve taken the wrong meds, pilgrim. They’re making your delusions even worse.
The Boks are easybeats.
They’ve lost every single 3N test so far this year. They’ve won absolutely sweet blow-all nothing. Zilch.
Looks at the scoreboard, as Boy Louw would say.
21 Aug 2010, 23:39 pm
@Robzim(Robzim)-192:
He did play 66 minutes if I remember correctly. I get your point re coaches deciding beforehand when they’re going to sub a player. Drives me mad.
I just though at that stage, it was the right thing to bring on Flo.
Can imagine people blaming PdV if he left Juan on the field for the full 80 minutes and we still lost. Asking why didn’t he bring on Flo for the last 15 to secure possession and run the clock down because Juan had such a long lay-off from international rugby.
As I said, sometimes it works , sometimes it doesn’t. (your substitutions, that is.)
@skopskiet(yliad)-198:
“…till CJ came on and we disintegrated.”
Funny that you’re the 1st one who mentioned that substitution as a problem. I would still like to know how much value he and BJ added to the Boks this year.
I felt the same way. JdP really upped his game at international level this year.
Still wonder how much it has to do with the fact that his brother isn’t there.
21 Aug 2010, 23:43 pm
Reading post-match posts from JL1 and Sheriff and T*tman and Tactitus is almost as good as watching repeated slo mos of Richies try.
Or Boy Georges’ briefest of appearances. As Budda Handy might say……
OOOOOOO VAAAAAAAA !
21 Aug 2010, 23:52 pm
@nama1(nama1)-203:
Point taken
21 Aug 2010, 23:58 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-190: Retaliation
22 Aug 2010, 00:02 am
Transformation…
I await you to be on here re-posting a lot of the Sheriffs comments, seems its not endemic to one “ungrateful piece of maori sh*t” huh?”
truly a great spectacle of rugby, ABs were lucky to be awarded the McCaw try, dont think many would have complained if it went the other way…
22 Aug 2010, 00:02 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-198: Both CJ and BJ were Grant10 love children, now that they both have flopped he has gone all quiet
22 Aug 2010, 00:03 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-204: France is apparently quite nice this time of year
22 Aug 2010, 00:04 am
From Paul Ackford in the UK Telegraph:
Facing Wales back at the start of the summer, in that ludicrous money-grabbing match hosted by the Welsh Rugby Union in Cardiff, Smit appeared vulnerable, and his performances in the Tri-Nations have merely confirmed that frailty.
Yesterday Smit was as good as he has been in ages. There is no sense he has lost his players. He did as much as anyone to smash the Blacks back in the tackle and, if the lineout wobbled occasionally, he also had a good day in the scrummage. But that’s the sadness of it all, the reason why he and this great Bok side, world champions and Lion-tamers both, need to move on.
Rugby is no longer about bash and bosh. The All Blacks have proved that. France have proved that. For over an hour South Africa tried to subdue New Zealand with brute force to prove to themselves as much as anyone else that the old ways are the right ways. But in the end they came up short.
22 Aug 2010, 00:05 am
Owens will soon retire from rugby refereeing, you will see
22 Aug 2010, 00:13 am
No problem if they lose like that playing their guts out- where the fk was that the rest of the tour?
Put Bismarck, beast, bakkies and brussow back on and we got them upfront – I like flippie alot
22 Aug 2010, 00:15 am
I think poor old nigel didn’t know where the fk he was after juan smith gave him the poor bigger a nose plant – oh **** how I laughed – poor old juan felt do bad. Thing is nigel kept getting in the bloody way, did it about 4 times
22 Aug 2010, 00:19 am
@nama1(nama1)-203: CJ had one good try against England(albeit that he shouln’t have been in that position)After that he has been pretty mediocre.Not a strong scrummer and definitely not doing his work in the rucks and loose.Overrated. When he came on our scrum battled. Or maybe it is the fact that we are gym fit but not fit enough to play 80 min.
22 Aug 2010, 00:21 am
Point of order not just any try a great try, cj’s a LH, only decent TH we got us Bj and he ain’t mr mobile
22 Aug 2010, 00:23 am
Nigel was Ab’s player 23, somebody from NZRU should give him a nokia phone for his contribution.
22 Aug 2010, 00:27 am
Ja u not wrong there, couple of decisions in the 1st half looked like mccaw had promised him a farm in auckland like his countrymen Clive norling
22 Aug 2010, 00:29 am
@cab(cab)-215: I concede. A great try . But to often in the backline and not doing what he should be doing as a tight forwardA passenger most of the times.Time to give someone else a go.Some good TH coming through in the CC.
22 Aug 2010, 00:31 am
And as good as mccaw is he is still a bladdy pilfering crook who gets away with murder
22 Aug 2010, 00:31 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-216: cmon Skop, Cab, were you guys watching both sides? lots of Bok forwards lying in the ruck and coming in from the side too….
22 Aug 2010, 00:33 am
@cab(cab)-217:
I wonder what Richie offered the “gifted one” to make those stupid substitutions
22 Aug 2010, 00:34 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-216: Three tries to one, pilgrim. Not even close.
22 Aug 2010, 00:35 am
Yeah Opti he’s gone off the boil a bit, dunno what happened to the player of the rwc final, like a human cannonball in the tightloose, and I’m sorry but it is a joy to watch a bigboy move like that in full flight, brings tears to my eyes
houggardt very good today, but WTF they got to do these boxkicjs us beyond me.
22 Aug 2010, 00:35 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-214:
I’ve been saying it over and over.
When you have Matfield, Spies and CJ in your team, you effectively have 5 forwards to compete for the ball at rucks and mauls. With a not to fit JS, you only have 4.
No wonder things went pear shaped after Jannie went off and CJ came on.
Now some fools want to blame Ricky while others say it was the replacement of Juan.
How many Boks did you see at that ruck where the AB’s turned the ball over over before Richie’s try? 3 against about 6! How do you ever wish to keep possession when there are no forwards to contest the rucks.?
22 Aug 2010, 00:40 am
Nige is not great but the blacks deserved their win, too good in 2nd half, unbelievable accurate rugby from their forwards at times
robbiez, yip the great one’s subs are a bit beyond me at times, but he breeder to try get some fresh legs on, AB forwards to fit and blasted us off feet in 2nd half which is what we did to them last year in first 60
22 Aug 2010, 00:45 am
Actually ab pack is playing bok rugby of 2009, franks is like beastly and mealamu, woodock and thorne are just tough lean mean mofos. They going to be tough to beat diwnunder, but I think we got there measure still
22 Aug 2010, 00:46 am
@cab(cab)-225:
It just beats me how they dominated us during the second half playing at altitude – during previous years we used that to our advantage but the times seem to be changin.
22 Aug 2010, 00:52 am
Rob yeah I think abs have taken it to different intensity, smit and matfield got to be 30min players off bench – and they must rest and condition – smit can drop 15 kgs too
they played well today but reckon they need to play half games at full intensity
22 Aug 2010, 00:56 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-207: hehehe
hey sheriff stop it! You bitter sore loser!
22 Aug 2010, 00:58 am
@Robzim(Robzim)-227:
They’ve beaten us at Loftus regularly. The last three times we played there against them, according to Keo in his newsletter.
What’s the difference in altitude between Pretoria and Johburg?
Actually, I think we should blame this loss on Keo. He predicted a Bok win and we know when Keo predicts a win for any team, it’s usually the other team that’s going to win.
Bloody agent!!!
22 Aug 2010, 01:01 am
@cab(cab)-228:
I hope the great one uses the next two tests to give a few new players a go – Maybe they will bring some new intensity to the team like Hougaardt did today.
Anyway Cab, this armchair critic must catch some sleep.
It was nice to chat again, see you around.
22 Aug 2010, 01:01 am
Pretty gut-wrenching to lose at the death like that for them.
22 Aug 2010, 01:05 am
@nama1(nama1)-230:
Come to think of it, the name “Mark Keohane” sounds a bit like someone who could be a Kiwi scrumhalf.
22 Aug 2010, 01:05 am
Yes maybe you right, give some younger guys a go for the rest of the year, but juan smith and schalk were immense today
night Rob
22 Aug 2010, 01:14 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-229: hehehe
was a great game and the McCaw try was lucky to be given…
22 Aug 2010, 01:20 am
Good game, with 5minutes to go the SA had implemented the plan they did so well last year, good chasers, some very aggressive defense and pressure around the ruck areas… Then 5 minutes where SA forgot the plan, found themselves out of fitness and looked like Auckland again.
The AB’s needed a hard physical match and certainly looked like they had met their match, line breaks were hard to find and getting over the advantage line almost impossible.
Instead of lowering their heads in defeat, they continued to run, attack the rucks at pace and hoped for a lucky break. They got it.
SA cefrtainly has the players, wether the same team runs onto the pitch or a couple of extras from CC compitition, to take the World Cup, even the kick/chase will work with current laws, a bit more commitment in the last 10 minutes is needed or further heart break will happen.
AB’s showed character, certainly has the players and those on the bench for next year. I only hope the players and coach don’t get their heads up their own arse as in 2007.
22 Aug 2010, 01:20 am
@cab(cab)-225: Yes CAB. I really think our guys are pumping heavy iron in the gym ,but cannot play 80 min of rugby.
As a coach your main responsibilities are to keep your match fit and to make sure discipline is maintained at all times. Neither of the two were visible in our team this year.SORRY ,the coach must go!!
22 Aug 2010, 01:24 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-207: POPPA every now and then you come up with a pearl.Good to see the mood change.
22 Aug 2010, 01:30 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-238: a game like that doesnt deserve the associated rubbish, which I have been more than guilty of, I can freely admit that
neither team deserved to lose… the draw would have been a much fairer result IMO..
22 Aug 2010, 01:36 am
seems like my 3-zip has come back to bite me in the ***, oh well it was fun while it lasted
22 Aug 2010, 01:44 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-237:
Most players in the Bok team played a minimum of 10-15 games so far this year (Matfield already more than 20), including S14, some CC and test matches. How can they not be match fit?
Just asking.
Would like to know how many games/minutes Mealamu, Kaino, Conrad Smith, Nonu, Muliaina, Carter, Dowd played this year.
22 Aug 2010, 01:47 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-239: Hopefully the loss will be used for good purposes.You had our number this year . Well done.
22 Aug 2010, 01:54 am
Dowd hasn’t spent much time on the field for several years, as far as I know.
22 Aug 2010, 01:56 am
@nama1(nama1)-241: How many games did the old Northern Transvaal win where they were in actual fact not the better team.For 60-70 min they were outplayed only to win the game in the last ten minutes.That is match fitness.The fitter you are the better your concentration and discipline.Both characteristics lacking in our team.You miss tackles if you don’t concentrate. You don’t concentrate when you are not fit.
Ask the old NT s under Buurman van ZYl what happened when they played a poor game .They took to THE HILL., and came back humble and tired.
22 Aug 2010, 02:06 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-242: cheers, we had to regroup after last year, so its definitely do-able…
For those who like to claim the WC as the be all and end all, I’d prefer EVERY test match was played with the same ferocity as last nights game…
22 Aug 2010, 02:12 am
I don’t usually praise PdV but his comments after the game today were classy and appropriate. He congratulated the ABs and refused to blame Smit for the loss. Refreshing to see him talk like a normal human being instead of the usual comic diatribes about conspiracies and referees.
22 Aug 2010, 02:13 am
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-41:
“They have stolen the 3N 2010 this year, which is sad, from a big picture pure rugby perspective.”
22 Aug 2010, 02:19 am
Pretty hard to decipher what Sheriff was actually saying. (I don’t think english is his first language.) I did get the vague impression though, that he wasn’t very happy about something … maybe his life.
22 Aug 2010, 02:20 am
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-80: I think you’ll find that we would love to have afternoon matches in NZ but night games are forced upon us by TV deals. Please do some research next time, and FFS stop blubbing!
22 Aug 2010, 02:21 am
@Muttonbird(Muttonbird)-247: Muttonbird don’t take him serious . He is very superior.He actually reads the future using Rugby.We are lucky to have him on the blog though.
22 Aug 2010, 02:24 am
Sheriff reminds me of the smelly old man who stands at the end of our street and yells at the cars that drive past. He hasn’t had a shower since about 1997 and he’s damn mad about something too. He and Sheriff should get together for a chat, I suspect they would have a lot in common.
22 Aug 2010, 02:29 am
@Auntie Mavis(Auntie Mavis)-243:
Oh ****. My bad. Was talking about Woodcock.
That was stupid!!! :blush:
@optiplay(optiplay)-244:
From what I understand, you get match fit playing actual matches. not by running up and down or by training in a gym. dealing with real match situations lead to becoming match fit. Why then is it that our boys are still not match fit after playing 15-20 top class matches. they sure as hell were match fit when they played against the same players in the S14.
really just trying to understand here.
22 Aug 2010, 02:37 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-250: Okay… if you call ‘that’ lucky. Wouldn’t want to see unlucky though.
He’s competing very strongly with HG for the ‘worst loser in SA’ title which is really saying something. HG’s nose is in front at the mo’ because he disappears the instant things go wrong.
22 Aug 2010, 02:39 am
@nama1(nama1)-252: It comes in the different style of coaching.Certain coaches (and I dont know if this is the case)will emphasize more on strategy,moves ,scrum ,lineout etc . You easily and very quickly find yourself packing that extra kilo or two and pay for it in the last ten minutes.It would be like Bolt stop doing strength exercises 2 weeks before the olympics
You need to be sharp every week as you are playing the best teams ,and for that matter the best individuals in the world . You are not playing against the blind.
How else do you explain the ABs polishing us in the last 10 min?must be different approaches of the coaches.
22 Aug 2010, 02:40 am
@Muttonbird(Muttonbird)-253: That was as much tongue in cheek as it can be.You know what I mean
22 Aug 2010, 02:52 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-254:
Maybe because they realise that after playing 15-20 games already, they need to concentrate more on things like visualisation, strategy, team work, the psychological aspects of the game etc.
You ought to be match fit after playing 15-20 games of rugby, surely. The difference between us and the AB’s in the last 10 minutes lie in the top three inches, not match fitness.
That’s just my view.
22 Aug 2010, 02:58 am
Both teams shaped to choke in the last ten minutes, lucky the All Blacks never gave up – poor Jon Smit actually feel sorry for him.
A great win for us but a brilliant performance from the boks – brought out our error game again under the high ball, were in it until the last second, put us under pressure and led pretty much all the way like they did last year.
Why you lost is because your guys ran out of legs – four minutes to go you had it in the bag then you capitulated.
The sentimental game has now passed, the reality is you need some fresh legs for the World cup – Jon Smit will retire by the end of the year – he is that sort of guy. In fact a true champion who didnt deserve such a cruel end to his 100th test.
Good Game Springboks, but the challenge is to play like that outside the republic
22 Aug 2010, 02:59 am
@nama1(nama1)-256: That would not explain our success at S14 and failure at TN.Like you I am also trying to make sense out of this. Just my opinion.Nice talking to you.
22 Aug 2010, 03:00 am
@nama1(nama1)-256: I think that the Boks also suffered from the amount of tackling they did and their own much improved commitment to the breakdown increasing the workloads.
In many AB matches you see the opposition muscle up against the AB’s and out-commit them for 1/2 – 2/3rds of the game. As long as the AB’s don’t let it get to them they will then come home over the last 1/4r or so. I think when they have the confidence right they stick to their plan and structures, meaning they don’t empty the tank too early. There are a few Boks that might be a little off the pace in fitness, but I don’t think the difference in absolute fitness is as great as some people are indictaing.
22 Aug 2010, 03:02 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-255: Yep. Understood.
22 Aug 2010, 03:05 am
@NZMaori(NZMaori)-257: Well said NZMAORI!!!.Love the game.I thought it was a brilliant display of guts and every facet that you would expect from two great opponents , It is a pity we were so outclassed in the early part of the competition but that is just how it goes.SA/AB will always be on the top of the menu when it comes to test rugby.Well done to you guys
22 Aug 2010, 03:10 am
@aliboy(aliboy)-259: Exactly my point!When playing the ABs you need 15 fit players . Not 13 100% and two
%.For heavens sake man. your are plaiyng the best in the world. NO place for passengers. Not even one!
22 Aug 2010, 03:10 am
@nama1(nama1)-162:
No, I think you misunderstood me. From the angles we saw, the ball and boot hit the ground simultaneously. But what about PRESSURE? I think the boot hits ground first.
See, from the front angle we see McCaw almost knocked on.
Then from the back angle you can see the distance between the green and the ball diminish. This means when we correlate with the boot, McCaw took a few split seconds longer to really ground the ball- not just simultaneous.
It should not have been a try. From the front angle we see it, and even though the boot isn’t in this frame, we can correlate with the back angle and conclude that it wasn’t grounded yet, IMO.
22 Aug 2010, 03:13 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-190:
“T*tman @ 70
When Gouger threw the ball away to prevent the ABs from a quick thrown-in, when they were hot on attack, what is the local parlance ?
In NZ we call that a ‘professionl foul’ that usually gets a YC, but I’m sure I’ve been reading a repeated reference here to what Safas call it. Any suggestions ?”
Yeah, I’ve got a suggestion: Cite and ban Richie McCaw for striking a player in the face!
You’re not allowed to take the law into your own hands.
22 Aug 2010, 03:16 am
@NZMaori(NZMaori)-257: Yeah I really feel for Smit as well, this maybe his last( or close to) game against the AB’s and a win on his 100th over us would have been befitting for a man of his stature and character and would have been a great way to wind up his career.
On the other side of the coin I still do not believe that this team has reached its peak yet or its full capabilities as a team. The EYOT will see new and pieces and players being added. The last games against the Wallabies will probably see key players like McCaw and Carter rested and whether others have big enough boots to fill theirs…interesting and exciting times ahead.
22 Aug 2010, 03:19 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-263: “The referee is the sole judge of fact.” (Law 6a.4a)
22 Aug 2010, 03:20 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-263: think you will find not many AB fans would have complained if the try wasnt given…
Id love to hear what you thought of Owens not going to the TMO when SA scored their try? because it seemed a little inconclusive as to who scored, but I guess they also applied the “benefit of the doubt” to the attacking team on that play also?
22 Aug 2010, 03:22 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-258:
In the S14 the players are together for something like 6 months. Preparation starts in December already.
The national sides have about 3 weeks before they play their first test.
I think therein lie the difference.
@aliboy(aliboy)-259:
Agree afa yesterdays match is concerned. Also agree on your point re the difference in absolute fitness.
My question is this.
How do you explain CJ giving away a penalty in a kickable position only a few minutes after he came on?
How do you explain Bakkies’ action in the first 5 minutes of a test? Can’t be because he is tired.
Danie’s “kick” on Richie in the first few minutes of the match?
Scalk’s “eye gouging” against the Lions in the first minute of that match?
Is it because they are not match fit and therefore don’t think straight or is it something else?
22 Aug 2010, 03:23 am
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-265:
Yeah. Shame. It might very well be Smit’s last game against a great All Blacks side.
RE the EOTY squad, perhaps we can look forward to another rediculous AA squad, and another speech the following year from Peter de Villiers lamenting the decision to not give a fair selection to this or that player.
Player I believe should definitely get some time in the Bok training squad ASAP:
Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Pat Lambie, Deon Stegmann, Gary Botha, and perhaps Jaco Taute, Gerhard van den Heever, Lwazi Mvovo, Pieter Louw, Sarel Pretorius.
22 Aug 2010, 03:24 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-266: We had ours with JF against the British Lions . Now the ABs have it against us . The attacking team should get the benefit . The call was correct IMO.Strange in both instances it made a difference who won the game.Sucks when it happens to us . We will get over it.
22 Aug 2010, 03:25 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-267:
He asked the touchie,no?
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-266:
**** I should have become a ref. I’m having problems formulating the grand unifying theory.
22 Aug 2010, 03:25 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-263: Suck it up sour man, you got beat. the try was awarded and no amount of whinging or crying from you will change that. You guys had it all at your finger tips, three weeks to prepare, at altitude and home ground advantage. the wonder boot of Steyn, yet again, nearly carried you to victory. Some fresh blood in the team,a nation driving behind you, good reffing, the desire and need to win, 79,000 people in the stands sending you energy. So much time to work on your pieces, mental and physical conditioning and motivation…and yet at the end of the day some little cry baby has to come out, after being comprehensively beaten and cry…’but his foot touched line, I could see it therefore it should not have been awarded and oh boo hoo
How about saying, what a great game we were just privileged to watch and how much grit and determination and composure did they show under phenomenal pressure!!
22 Aug 2010, 03:26 am
@nama1(nama1)-241: Craig Dowd’s last test was 11 years ago, and his last Super rugby game was 10 years ago. His last game was for Wasps (London) in 2005. He turns 41 in October.
So he’s extremely well rested.
22 Aug 2010, 03:27 am
Brilliant game from the 2 best teams over the last century. My heart was in my mouth for 80 pu;sating minutes.
I guess there will be some very pi ssed off Bok fans today, but, for 78 minutes, your team played like true champions and I thought the ABs were dead and buried.
Congratulations for hosting a wonderful event, ABs V Boks…….no greater games.
22 Aug 2010, 03:28 am
@nama1(nama1)-268:
JA, I agree. But we really should be seeing less experimnatation and more direction from the staff. We can in most cases quite easily decide who’s best and second best (or favourite and not-so-favourite in PdV’s case).
So I’d like to see more initiative in giving these secondstring players a chance away from top internationals.
22 Aug 2010, 03:31 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-271: do you believe the touchy had an un-impeded view? even with the camera right on the play it seemed like there were 3 or 4 sets of hands on the ball… I have no probs with the try being given in any case..
he also asked the touchy for McCaws try, which occurred right in front of the TJ…
I believe both fall under the benefit to the attacking team rule, and both could have been declined IMO.
22 Aug 2010, 03:31 am
@nama1(nama1)-268: Your answer to Aliboy can possibly be explained by poor coaching again.If there was zero tolerance to dirty and sloppy play from coaching staff this will not happenThe players should know that the coach will not tolerate illegal play.We should not let citing officers discipline our players .The coach should do that
But your point that has nothing to do with fitness is absolutely valid
22 Aug 2010, 03:32 am
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-272:
Yeah, but you forgot to mention **** management and synergy.
22 Aug 2010, 03:33 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-271: Grand unifying theory works like this: A and B hate each other and won’t ever unite unless C comes along and both A and B get to hate him more than their loathing of each other.
Unity out of loathing.
Q.E.D.
(Boks and ABs hate each other. Along comes Ref C. If he makes himself equally detested by BOTH teams, they will become the very best of mates. Ergo, seek unity by finding someone you both hate.)
22 Aug 2010, 03:35 am
Some of you guys are just plain pathetic.
JL1 and Sheriff,both you are very childish.Still complaining about the ref. Whats the bet upto 75mins he was the best ref you had seen since 2009,when all the refs were good as well. Take the loss on the chin,stop calling for McCaw to be cited for a eye gouge,thats just stupid. Grow up you little bit.ches
22 Aug 2010, 03:38 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-263:
You’re talking about 100th of a second here, Tittie. Can’t blame Veldsman for calling it as he saw it. As he said, he had no reason to believe that Richie was into touch before he scored the try. Benefit of the doubt going to the attacking Richie. Don’t think you would have wanted it any other way if it was Habana scoring that try.
Still don’t get your point about pressure. The law says the following about scoring a try:
22.3 BALL GROUNDED BY AN ATTACKING PLAYER
(a) Try. When an attacking player who is onside is first to ground the ball in the opponents’ in-goal, the player scores a try. This applies whether an attacking or a defending player is responsible for the ball being in the in-goal.
Nothing about pressure as you can see.
22 Aug 2010, 03:41 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-276:
I don’t think Burger’s try could have been declined.
And I still think McCaw was in touch before legally grounding the ball.
A couple of things though:
Habana left such a gaping hole there for McCaw. Now, the centres and Spies got back to McCaw, what does this say about Habana?
We’ve been warning about Habana’s tricks a long time now.
He scored a try agains the Bulls in the S14 final- but it was in their half. Now it seems he still hasn’t decended from cloud 9 and is still pulling this ****.
Like I said earlier, either the coaches are ****, because they don’t help him out. Or they are **** because they do, yet he continues in this way.
I remember Bakkies saving a try in the first macth against the BIL last year when he dove on a player head first and knocked his wrist so that the ball was dislodged.
Why didn’t Spies do that? Sure, we’ve harsh and all, but Spies could’ve dived in like Johnty, even if it was late.
Look at the last match that Stegmann played in (a full macth- the Sharks in the CC), when Mvovo went over for one of his two tries try that Waco Jaco should’ve stopped, Stegmann dove in, bodily climbed into- and smashed Mvovo over the deadline. That’s how it should be, a good and desparate player put’s his body on the line- every time.
22 Aug 2010, 03:42 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-279:
No….of physics.
22 Aug 2010, 03:43 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-278: I hear what you are saying, but misdirecting your anger/frustration towards a team that just played in one of the toughest environment’s against one of the toughest teams and managed to come up trumps is not becoming of a supporter for the WC’s.
We could have just as easily have lost if that try hadn’t been awarded and we would have had more to complain about considering the conditions. The important thing is to get behind your team and help create as much positivity as you can, it can only benefit and elevate this game we all love.
22 Aug 2010, 03:45 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-280: I dont think RM eye gouged SB.That sounds like an aussie statement.For crying out aloud .This is Rugby.The incident does not warrant mentioning.It was handbags. And that is all it was.I bet if you were to ask both players afterwards they would not even remember the incident.Every big hit nowadays is dirty play.Every little interaction between players gets scrutinized . IMO the players should be the only ones to cite an opponent.( however think what the Aussies would do with that . scrap the idea)
22 Aug 2010, 03:49 am
@nama1(nama1)-281:
NO Nama. It was about 34/100ths of a second.
Look, there needs to be downwards pressure by the player. From the front angle, McCaw hadn’t yet grounded it properly, int he Super14 semi final against the Crusaders I believe, Danie wasn;t awarded a try because he had his finger tips to the ball and then dotted it. the scrum was given because he had “lost it”. Really, his fingers never left the ball, he never lost contact. But there was no pressure initially.
Anyway, from the front angle you crealy see this. then from the back angle you can see that the little area between grass, ball and boot really disappears pretty much simultameously with the rigid framerate we are forced to work with. But if you consider what went on in front, it should not have been a try and I think the deliberation should’ve continued a bit longer, no harm in that. But, perhaps Veldzman doesn’t have the necessary perception for it anyway.
22 Aug 2010, 03:49 am
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-93: you talk of honour Sheriff?
bwahahahaha
what a laugh… look back on your posts on this very thread and tell me YOU have been nothing but honourable?
making cracks about stadium lighting WTF has that to do with last nights game? cracks about pressure building on the ABs? the ABs are always under pressure to win EVERY game, its how you get to an almost 80% all time win record..
and yes, we’ve had the refs in our pockets since the invincibles toured, P O’Brien is just lucky that he looks so much younger then the average 100 year old…
eish…
22 Aug 2010, 03:51 am
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-284:
I love that post.
You’re right.
But I cannot look past the shortcomings of this regime.
…And “WC’s”- toilets?
22 Aug 2010, 03:51 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-273:
No need to rub it in, oupa.
I meant Woodcock as you might have gathered by now if you read on.
@poppa69(poppa69)-276:
In Richie’s case the touchy might have been sure about the grounding but not so much about his foot being in touch. Therefore the call for the TV ref.
In Schalk’s case he asked the touchy twice. “Are you sure… you 100% sure?”
Obviously the touchy was sure and therefore he awarded the try.
22 Aug 2010, 03:51 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-285:
Hi Opti
The eye gouge has come from this thread. If JL1 is an aussie then you are correct,but i think he is a South African with a huge chip on his shoulder
22 Aug 2010, 03:52 am
Please, NO BS about cheats or biased refs, for gods sake.
If you think the pass was forward, take that unconverted try off the score and you still lost!
I can understand any bok fans pain, but please don’t degenerate a fantastic, pulsating, titanic struggle that was this game.
Credit to the boks, they played sensationally but were pipped at the post.
Huge game, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen for 80 minutes, it was another epic battle between the worlds 2 best sides, and a century of pride and passion was displayed from both teams. But someone had to win and someone had to loose, and it could easily have gone either way.
It was a huge step up for the boks and next year will feature more close and hard battles like this.
Enjoy the great rugby on display, but don’t disrespect both teams by making BS claims of cheating. Both sides were guilty of indiscretions, and always will be!
22 Aug 2010, 03:53 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-280:
Actually, even Juan Smith thought Nigel was doing a bad job.
22 Aug 2010, 03:55 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-282: why not.. one could argue that Nonu had successfully stolen the ball while on his feet and the Bok players had only come down on top of the ball while still in Nonu’s hands?
its amazing how Rolland missed a forward pass right in front of him yet he seen the Boks scoring with so many bodies at a ruck that was further away then the forward pass?
22 Aug 2010, 03:56 am
@nama1(nama1)-289:
Oh ja, also what I was saying about Habana being hopelessly out of position and JdV screaming for him to get back- Habana should have jumped on McCaw legs. His momentumn would’ve kept MCaws legs low and in touch before the grounding. Habana tried, I think, but simply too concerned for his own safety to truly gather it.
22 Aug 2010, 03:58 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-293:
The Boks still had contact, so they stil had possession.
(Just BTW, once the ball is in-goal the rule of supporting your own weight goes out the window).
22 Aug 2010, 03:59 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-293: look, as stated, Im happy for the Bok try to have been awarded, I still have no problems with it…
I still think the benefit of the doubt SHOULD be for the attacking team, but can understand that if the Bok had scored like Ritchie that it would have been a bitter pill to swallow…
like a pill I had one time in 2007
22 Aug 2010, 03:59 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-292:
So in 2009 when the Boks were winning,were the refs better then?
I cant get over the amount of whinging i am seeing. The last game was the a huge battle and if you ask me SA were lucky not to have another 2-3 tries put against them. Only 1 team was attacking and looking like scoring tries but hats off to the Boks and their brilliant defense.
22 Aug 2010, 04:02 am
@Black Magic(Black Magic)-291: You have to understand that we are indeed hurting. To lose a match in the last 5 minutes breaks your heart. We have to be angry at someone .Unfortunately this was the only match in the competition so far where we were competitive.Unfortunately this means 4/4 losses. Where you would have had a new coach we have no such luxury coming our way.So understand our frustrations.I am not a sore loser,but dammit it sucks to lose.
22 Aug 2010, 04:04 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-282:
“…a good and desparate player put’s his body on the line- every time.”
Prove then that Spies is neither good nor desperate. What is he still doing in the team.
Probably PdV’s love child.
The laws disagree with you re pressure on the ball. I’ve seen many a try being awarded after a player just “placed” the ball behind the try line. No pressure whatsoever put on it.
22 Aug 2010, 04:06 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-298: I know that hurt, I was reminded of it from end of 3Ns 2009 until the start of 3Ns 2010… 4-0 was a common theme (including the baabaas game of course because to some that counts WTF?)
so excuse me my human foibles for wanting to return serve a few times the last month or so
22 Aug 2010, 04:07 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-298:
Fully understand mate, as an AB fan, we have been dealt the same pain b4.
Just please, no BS about cheating, it drives me nuts. There was IMO countless occasions when the Boks transgressed, but it’s rugby, things will happen, but there was no cheating.
It could have easily gone the other way, and the boks can at least be proud of an immense lift in play. You have the makings of a quality side there, just need to ditch a couple more players and the tide will turn.
22 Aug 2010, 04:07 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-297:
Owens convenietly looked the other way when Connely came in from the side.
Richie in from the side.
The forward pass taht lead to a try.
Mils holding on when Aplon was contesting and all the Boks (about 4 of them present threw their hands up in the air and the cameras show it clearly).
Gurthro blow for not attempting to roll away?!?!?! He made an immediate and clear attempt. Bullshit! He got given no time at all, yet Mils gets all the time in the world?
Roco deliberately under the guise of a charge down jump in Hougaards way. You are allowed to stand your ground but that was rediculous. Where’s the card?
The ABs got blown in the first couple of miutes for falling over the ball as they are wont. I thought “YAY< we've got a good one!!!" But no, shame ****, different day. the next three weren't given.
So, all in all a very entertaining game. I enjoyed it much more than any other test this year. But the ref was just plain NH.
22 Aug 2010, 04:09 am
@nama1(nama1)-299:
There has to be downwards pressure, Nama. It’s stated in the rules.
And I said good AND desparate. Spies is good, maybe not desparate. Or not so good when desparate.
22 Aug 2010, 04:12 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-302:
Understand but if you are looking for a perfectly refed game,you will be waiting for a long time. These guys have to call on the spot. Unlike me or you that can have multiple views and cracks at making the right decision.
Remember the ABs were not the only team making a nusiance of themselves. The Boks as well found themselves on the wrong side,slowing and killing the ball and again i know what you are talking about but you wont find a ref that picks everything up or gets the correct decision every game
22 Aug 2010, 04:16 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-294:
I was actually thinking the same thing when they showed the slomo. Why didn’t Habs dive on his legs to make sure that they are in touch.
Hindsight is always 20/20, isn’t it.
Don’t think any coach will tell you to take somebody’s legs into touch if he dives for the try line. They’ll coach you to go for the ball.
@optiplay(optiplay)-298:
They didn’t fire Henry last year after losing 3-0 against us.
I think you’re unfair here.
22 Aug 2010, 04:16 am
Mc Caw’s try was no try because of the earlier forward pass
And that was the game Should have been Scrum to boks no try end of game
22 Aug 2010, 04:17 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-304:
Yeah, true. But I mean if the ref is standing right there, and McCaw comes in at a 90 degree angle, can it get any more obvious?
The duration of the infringement was about 4 seconds, that’s a lifetime. Now if it’s on the tryline and the ref was on that very same side of the ruck a mere three paces away, what would you call it?
22 Aug 2010, 04:17 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-302: Come now.The ref wasn’t the reason we lost this one.We had ample chances but did not take them.We must have given the ABs at least ten chances to counter attack with our incredibly stupid idea of kicking the ball away all the time. Everyone is burning Habs. He is in the team to attack .When last did he get a ball to attack with???No,we lost this one ourselves, aided by some excellent rugby from the ABs in the last ten minutes when we ran out of steam for what reason only the coach can explain.
Don’t pin this on the ref.
22 Aug 2010, 04:19 am
Boks should have put them away in last 15 min but made too many kicking handling and turnover mistakes
And can any one tell me why Juan was taken off the field Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeez
22 Aug 2010, 04:19 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-303:
Where?
Show me the law.
22 Aug 2010, 04:19 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-302: can you tell me honestly with the many garry owens, that the Bok players all played for the ball? there were instances I thought they didnt even go for the ball just tried to impede the defender getting to the ball by jumping long before the ball arrived… or thats my perception from memory anyways..
watch the game again if you can and look at BOTH teams, and you will see Owens made many errors for both sides…
22 Aug 2010, 04:20 am
Yeah and McCaw clearly off sides in front of the ref late in the game in front of posts
22 Aug 2010, 04:21 am
@nama1(nama1)-305:
NO, of course the coach teaches you this. Brussow did it brilliantly last year in the 2nd BIL test we almost lost, I believe (I have a snapshot from memory- on the right wing).
Just like they teach us to apply downward pressure in a try, I suppose they just want to ensure we ground it properly.
OK, I guess McCaw can get away with that one. But when do we start using the high-speed cam in these areas more often? The frame rate is a little rigid.
22 Aug 2010, 04:21 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-308:
Yes i have to agree there we gave away good ball and never took our chances
22 Aug 2010, 04:21 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-312: and every garry owen by the boks the chasers where not behind the kicking player…
all game too..
22 Aug 2010, 04:22 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-311:
Yeah one off Aplons back straight to Nano
22 Aug 2010, 04:22 am
@nama1(nama1)-310:
Is it not so? That’s how we were taught. But as I said in post 313, they probably wanted us to ground it properly and have ingrained this in our minds. McCaw came very close to a knockie though.
22 Aug 2010, 04:23 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-315:
Did not make any difference
22 Aug 2010, 04:24 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-308:
I believe Habana is the main reason we lost. And if he isn’t, should he continue with this trick? If you say he shouldn’t, does that mean it can and does have a drastic effect? He tries it 3 times by my count. All three times ending in pressure, and one of those a try by whch we lost.
I do blame Habana.
22 Aug 2010, 04:26 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-316:
NO, it went to Whitelock, I remember.
22 Aug 2010, 04:27 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-309:
Apparently he was injured. Hougie too.
22 Aug 2010, 04:27 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-319:
I blame the team for making mistakes at key stages of the game especially last 15 min
2 poor kicks by Steyn
Kicking away hard won ball again
Knocks ons
key turnovers
Free kick when on attack in front of the ABs post
22 Aug 2010, 04:29 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-321:
He did not look injured?
22 Aug 2010, 04:29 am
@nama1(nama1)-305: Gee NANA you ere tough on me!Henry’s team did not look out of sorts the way we looked.Can you honestly tell me that you think we have the right coach here?Since theEOYT we have been abysmal to say the least . That makes today’s game even more bitter to swallow. This was the first time we looked vaguely competitive.
Why are trying to defend this coach.His selections are very mysterious,his game plan……oh ,I forgot . He has no game plan.By now he should realize that something is wrong in his corner but has done nothing to rectify it.Maybe he is a good coach , but then someone else in his squad is not performing. He is the only one that can fix that.
Not trying to be condescending , but have you coached before.?(honest question)
22 Aug 2010, 04:30 am
after last nights game, I cant see SA losing either test to the Aussies, who never seem to travel well to SA in any case..
if they can replicate that performance next week it is going to take some stopping from the Aussies… think Boks will win for Matfield’s 100 games..
work to do…
cheers all
22 Aug 2010, 04:32 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-308:
Nothing about MS poor line kicking. How many times did he not find touch? I’m not even going to talk about the penalty that he kicked over the dead ball line.
Nothing about that. Absolutely nothing.
22 Aug 2010, 04:33 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-322:
Ja, that penalty for touch that steyn missed almost ended in a try against us.
And Burger knocked twice. But that quicktap made a try no? The team bought into it, it was ok.
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-323:
Because he is a man.
22 Aug 2010, 04:35 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-327:
Just too many mistakes and kicking away good posession
Yes he made a try I agree I am not blaming MS at all I said team errors
22 Aug 2010, 04:36 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-325:
Especially at Loftus.
Bye.
22 Aug 2010, 04:37 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-325: Congrats Bud…your boys looked good. We have some work to do. See you in 12 months.
22 Aug 2010, 04:38 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-319: I agree fully that he is a defensive liability.So if you do not use him in the attack ,rather play a different player.
The point I am trying to make is:Why is he not utilised on the attack?.That is where his strength lies.It comes back to bad game plan and that comes back to bad coaching . Be it Snor or DM OR BOTH.If Habs comes out of his line one of two things should be done
1. You COACH him not to do that
2. You drop him.
It comes back to coaching!
22 Aug 2010, 04:38 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-328:
We got counterucked off our own ball way too much. It comes down to positioning. It looks as though the players lack communication and are caught out when the All Blacks start to commit numbers and we don’t. A classic example was when Aplon got turned over in the second half with 5 All Blacks simply piling in and forcing us off our own ball and Smit and Jdiv I believe were just standing there when they could’ve anticipated what was coming next.
22 Aug 2010, 04:39 am
@nama1(nama1)-326: Good point. That is not the coach. That is lack of concentration.Very valid point and I concede.
22 Aug 2010, 04:43 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-331:
Ja, for sure. You have to remember that D ick Muir isn’t coaching the Boks at all really. Ask any of them (although they won’t admit it, ask any of the pissedoff Lions players. Mitch is 100 times the coach Muir is. The boys pitch up at practice and Muir hasn’t even given them a schedule for the day, nevermind the week, month or season.)
Spies isn’t utilized as he is at the Bulls either. And I don’t think Spies played bad at all. which one of our guys broke the line or looked that dangerous? I think Grant Ball was a little harsh with his article.
22 Aug 2010, 04:47 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-324:
Don’t think so. You made a statement. Was just reminding you that their coach was in a similar situation last year and that they did not fire him. Maybe not the exact same (4 losses in a row is kak. JW lost 5 in a row in 2006 without being fired, remember?) but for the AB’s to lose 3 in a row against the Boks must have been a bitter pill to swallow.
Little bit. Very low level. Will not be as arrogant to call myself a coach. Still attend some coaching workshops just to keep me up to speed. We had one just about a month ago here in Springbok.
22 Aug 2010, 04:57 am
@nama1(nama1)-335: Again .Point taken about JW.JW however had a plan.And he stuck to it.An excellent move to bring in Eddy Jones.I dunno.Just something missing here.And I am sorry unless their is a huge shift in approach ,there will be more hidings to come .I am not as negative as I may sound, but maybe there isn’t the respect from the senior players that he needs. Then again you earn respect ,you don’t deserve it.
22 Aug 2010, 05:01 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-334:
Spies can’t be used at the Boks in the same way that the Bulls use him for the simple reason that the Boks forwards won’t dominate their opponents like the Bulls usually do.
He therefore has to either adapt his play when playing for the Boks or he should be dropped if he can’t or don’t want to.
Btw, Spies, Burger and Smith have now played 10 matches together for the Bokke as a loose trio. The Bokke have won 6 and lost 4. All 4 losses were in the 3Nations.
Two losses vs Aus and 2 vs the AB. Yesterday was only the 2nd time that they played as a trio against the AB’s. The first time was in that 19-0 defeat in 2008.
22 Aug 2010, 05:02 am
@nama1(nama1)-335: AB standards are so high that even losing one in a row (!) is a bitter pill to swallow.
That’s why they don’t say dumb stuff like “judge us at the world cup” when each and every test matters.
22 Aug 2010, 05:08 am
@optiplay(optiplay)-336:
Last year all the senior players came out and state how much they respect PdV and his knowledge of the game.
Matfield, FdP, Juan, JS. Bakkies apparently can’t sing his praises enough for allowing him to return from Aus to be with his wife when she went through a difficult time. remember that?
What do you think changed in the meantime?
22 Aug 2010, 05:10 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-338:
True, very true.
But they do cry snot and trane when they don’t win the WC.
22 Aug 2010, 05:11 am
@nama1(nama1)-337:
Thanks for the stats. When are you ever going to sleep boet?
Here’s a pack that can dish it out:
1 Gurthro Steenkamp
2 Bismarck du Plessis
3 BJ Botha (IMO)
4 Bakkies Botha
5 Vic Matfield
6 Deon Stegmann
7 Juan Smith
8 Pierre Spies
16 Gary Botha
17 CJ vd Linde
18 Danie Rossouw
19 Schalk Burger
22 Alberts/ Vermeulen
22 Aug 2010, 05:21 am
@nama1(nama1)-340: They’ll cry snot and trane when they lose ANY test. That’s the whole point. And that’s why they so seldom lose.
22 Aug 2010, 05:33 am
Janni Doep has been better than BJ throughout the international season. I’ll go with him.
Stegmann I think is like Spies. Performs well in a dominant Bulls pack but will most probably disappear when his forwards don’t dominate. Seen it in the S14 a few times.
Spies has proven that he can’t do the hard yards.
My trio will be Schalk, Juan, Dewalt Potgieter. (The only Bulls player I like.)
Gary Botha had his chance. liebenberg or the OVS hooker for me.
CJ… a big fat no.
Insomnia is ******* me here. Want to sleep desperately but can’t at the moment. Have an appointment at 11H00. Don’t like pills much.
Bok’s loss probably playing a role here.
22 Aug 2010, 05:40 am
@Agile T*t-Tyrant(Anairetes agilis)-302: Thought you had dropped the whingers tag or are you saying it for the hell of it?
We could micro analyze every act of every second and come up with stuff on both sides, but its done and dusted and you had better start worrying about getting you whining a@@ spanked by the Wally’s rather than trying to change something unchangeable.
22 Aug 2010, 05:42 am
That was another marvelous episode of NZ rugby. For you guys to bang on about cheating refs, cheat McCaw, luck, bounce of ball…. is just plain laughable. I cannot recall any such pathetic excuses from NZ last year. We acknowledged; just not good enough. I have just watched the game again, this time with SA comentary, my god, Skinstad is a tool. I could put together a 10 minute video of SA transgressions, but doubt that this would make popular viewing in the republic. I expect a degree of one-eyed-ness from every sports fan…. but you fellas take this too far.
22 Aug 2010, 05:44 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-342:
I did not see them cry snot en trane last year. I saw disappointment, yes.
In 2007 I saw snot en trane.
22 Aug 2010, 05:56 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-338: Thats it Tackles. It is the now that is important,not a game in 1,2,3,4 years time. The game last nite has proven beyond a doubt that the AB’s are the rightful owners of the Number 1 tag in the World, at the moment. If the Boks or anyone else wants it, it proves also, without a doubt that you have to do more and more often than win a WC once every four years.
NZ, Aust, England and SA have had their moment in the sun with the WC, but only one has risen above all else to maintain the ranking and the record that is befitting of a real championship side and that is NZ…without dispute.
The relationship between SA and Australia, having won two WC’s is strikingly similar…what have they really done in between. Apart from last years win in the 3N’s and a good tour for SA not really alot that would compliment their claiming the title of WC’s.
Does the fact that they have both won two WC’s, make them a better team than NZ?..for SA that is twice in ten years, and OZ nearly the same. Without a doubt if either of these two countries had emulated some of the achievements of the AB’s this conversation wouldn’t even be taking place but the fact of the matter is NZ, in terms of achievement win a WC nearly every 2.5 years with 10/15 3N’s, 8 plus Bledisloes and EOYT’s that generally leave the Nth Hemp: wondering what hit them and teams that have been trying to beat our boys for over fifty years!!
We are proud of what our boys do year in and year out and it would be nice to win another WC or two along the way but at the end of the day, we know who is really the best.
22 Aug 2010, 06:02 am
YEEEEAAAHHH!!! sa prop not sqaure every scrum (wonderful roof cam showed clearly!!!!!);and sa taking out ab reciever every up n under(whos coaching who to cheat!!!..its so clear what they spent the last 3 weeks doing!!) yet we still won!!! ruck and maul infringements on both sides but refereed the same! i was a bit surprised mcaws try was allowed ..clearly benefit of the doubt! Im glad SA lost after the BULL SHT from smit matfield and muppet. I can gaurantee if we lost ritchie and ted wouldve taken it like real men! I get no glory from the forward pass but you guys were totally owned in the last 15min!!! ..if that didnt happen ..if the ref did this ..blah blah blah!! The best team won and brains defeated brawn!! YYEEEEAAAAHHH!!!!!!!
22 Aug 2010, 06:12 am
@nama1(nama1)-346: Last year they were crying but only on the inside.
22 Aug 2010, 06:19 am
Timing is everything. When John Smit sits down this morning and reflects on the last year and the one to come, what will go through his mind. I ‘m sure the team and their fortunes will be paramount. Perhaps then he will consider the time and his role. It is one of leader in the squad. He needs to step aside out of a full playing capacity soon. Let someone else grow into the role of captain. Give up the no2 jersey. Don’t hang around until 2011 as a full time player. Maybe a skinstadesque role at the wc? It must happen now though. As tough as it may be to admit, it may be the time.
22 Aug 2010, 06:29 am
What a wonderful game, awesome venue, awesome rugby.
Well done both teams for such great entertainment, had me on the the edge of
my stroller througout.
The ref was much better but was once again reluctant to show the card, how Mccaw skipped the bullet again is amazing especially making contact with his hand on Schallas eyes. 3 Boks left the field with scratch marks under their eyes!!!
If it came from studs that would be scary!
Thanks Smittie but NOW its time for a break. The game is faster and requires more mobile players. PDiddy made the wrong decision in not subbing the slower playes like Smit which we paid for towards the end.
Lost $10 on him
Flip kept his discipline
Spies needs to be replace by either Alberts, Vermeulen or Potgieter.
Hougaard was great. The JDJ JDV partnership worked well.
That was test rugby a its best.
Thanks ABs and Boks and special thanks to
Soweto for once agian hosting such a great event.
Now for the Aussies
22 Aug 2010, 06:37 am
The problem with ref watching is that you tend to only call the infringements commited from the opposition and not your own side – Bob Skinstad’s first half commentary was a perfect example of this – unbalanced
22 Aug 2010, 06:39 am
Juan Smith; smashing the ref. Dunno how he got away with that. Expected the commissioners to be rubbing their hands with glee over a citing. It was cynical.
22 Aug 2010, 06:57 am
@nama1(nama1)-339: You havn’t answered my question on the coach.Do you really think he is up to it?
As far as the the senior players and respect goes , it is just a hypothesis.The article where it says the players have a lot of respect for him might even have been posted by Keo.( sjoe ,got entangled in the grammar here.Sorry)
22 Aug 2010, 07:09 am
@Sheriff(Sheriff)-200: “Boks will be stronger”
You say this every time, 4 losses on the trot suggests otherwise.
Sure, they played with greater passion, but everyone slipped off tackles, AB’s accuracy wasnt there for much of the match – their own fault too, but they were more threatening with ball in hand, made more line breaks, end result, scored 3 tries to one.
You cant blame Barney for the loss, he made a heap of tackles, but was as exposed as all members of the Bok team were.
AB’s playing at 75% capability, very conservative, more determined, and overall, more skillfull right now than the boks, but a stack of room for improvement.
Even if the Boks bring back injured players – you cant guarantee a turnaround in form, what if Matfield was missing from this years line up, you’d all be on bended knees for his return – same can be said for all players not there, the current team did their best, but it wasnt quite good enough. its the simple truth.
22 Aug 2010, 07:11 am
Hougaard and Steyn continually kicking the ball back to the best attacking side in the world … just doesn’t make sense.
Might have been the gameplan, but you have to play the situation at that level. Steyn, in the middle of the field, with two Bok backs ready to attack in space and he kicks the ball to the AB’s!!!
22 Aug 2010, 07:12 am
@cab(cab)-219: No he doesnt, you dont know the laws of the game. tut tut
22 Aug 2010, 07:17 am
@kitch(kitch)-348:
The forward pass to Dagg did not beat the defender, that’s usually the criterion, the ball sailed FWD due to its high speed component, it was a passed laterally.
Hougaard’s short pass to Flip did break the defence because he was about 2 m behind the ABs line,
In 2007, the ABs scored 2 tries from blatannt forward passes bt McAllister, Carter and Kheller (I think) but that didn’t stop them from making noise.
22 Aug 2010, 07:25 am
@KiaKahaNZ(KiaKahaNZ)-355:
The Boks can’t be stronger than at Home and at altitude, last they were beatten in Joburg by the ABs was in 1992, they lost to the frogs in 1993 and 2001 and that was about it, the Frogs had high proportion of Toulouse players so altitude wasn’t an issue.
The ABs beat the Boks at Loftus too many times to remember.
22 Aug 2010, 07:29 am
@KiaKahaNZ(KiaKahaNZ)-357: Yeah sure mate and you know more than just about every commentator, international coach and international player criticising how much he gets away. When you getting into the rugby hall of fame?
What i find strange is that NZ coaches actually don’t come out with footage proof to show he is not doing anything wrong. They just keep quiet. I’d love Total Rugby or whatever the NZ television programme is to just run a feature and show clips to prove the rest of the world are just whinging. Settle the debate, you know.
22 Aug 2010, 07:29 am
@nama1(nama1)-230:
500 meters, 1,700m to 1,200, I watched the 1996 Tests at BOTH Loftus and Ellis Park over a span of a week, big difference.
22 Aug 2010, 07:35 am
must say, the female trainer or doctor in the springbok camp is easily my player of the tournament
22 Aug 2010, 07:55 am
@kevin w(kevin w)-360: One never has to prove a negative.
22 Aug 2010, 08:24 am
353 boozer. If hadn’t pushed the ref the guy would have taken the gap, he had to show he was in the way
22 Aug 2010, 08:35 am
Skop @ 216
Disappointed and surprised to read that from you.
22 Aug 2010, 08:44 am
T*tman @ 264
and your penalty, if any, for Gouger ?
22 Aug 2010, 08:50 am
What an awesome game of rugby, the crowd the intensity it was amazing.
Juan Smith is freekin superman – so good to have him back.
Well done to the NZ’ers – that must be a win they will remember kindly. I just hope they have used up all their luck for a year now, just like we did in 2009
COme WC we need our luck back and theirs to be run out
22 Aug 2010, 08:52 am
@Mike H(Mike H)-367: DONT WORRY
pLODS LEADERSHIP AND AURA WILL SEE US THROUGH IN 13 MONTHS TIME….KEEP THE FAITH…..WE ONLY LOST 4 ON THE TROT NOW…..
22 Aug 2010, 08:54 am
South African rugby is historically about physical domination and intimidation. Defend and live off the mistakes of you opponents.
Now that requires extremely conditioned players and the question is: can one defend for the whole game successfuly? Very tough ask.
For the Boks to get back to winning rugby, PDV must drop the captain purely because he is not the best player in his position and Nonu’s shoe proved that beyond any doubt. Bismarck is the answer. Tough question need to be asked about Spies. Is he the answer as an eigthma? Or the balance of the loose trio?
If we are to persist with skop and jag then keep Steyn but we need to get a flyhalf who is more versatile. The more I watch the more I am convinced he is not better than a crab. He can walk and playin one direction. Rugby is not only about skop en jag. Towards the end of the game nobody was chasing the kicks because they were simply tired.
22 Aug 2010, 08:57 am
Dropping Smit now is insane – sorry.
Giving him the rest of this year off to condition is a good idea.
Victor was **** – he needs a rest as well.
Can’t take a young inexperienced team to a WC.
The winning coaches of WC’s will tell you that, any other arguement is from couch coaches like 95% of the people in here.
Ask Woodward, JW and Mcqueen etc – they will tell you.
We might struggle next WC to win, but should at least get semi’s if not a final spot, but bring in all our CC favourites and we’ll see a quarterfinal exit.
22 Aug 2010, 08:57 am
@Peter Mkata(Peter Mkata)-369: 100% agree peter
2
8
10
bloody passengers.
22 Aug 2010, 08:58 am
Opti @ 308
I salute you !
Can’t believe anyone, and many here have, want to blame a winger. Habana is a Legend. Has he received a pass from his centre ONCE this Test season ?!
No wonder there are f’wits who want to blame the ref when suddenly wingers are at fault “defensively” – since when is a winger ever chosen for defence ?! I struggle to remember Lomu ever making a decent tackle.
22 Aug 2010, 09:00 am
@Mike H(Mike H)-370: none so blind
as those that will not see
22 Aug 2010, 09:01 am
In 2006 the same people said teh same **** about the boks.
Skopskiet used to claim we’d never win the WC – i told him lets see.
And he still goes on and on and on after being wrong so many times.
Give up mate, let the coaching be done by people that know how to win WC’s. Thanks goodness we have had 7 years of consistancy in selectionrun by coaches that don;t listen to Muppets drivel.
22 Aug 2010, 09:03 am
entitlement culture
fat boys club
no accountability
all equals….4 losses on the trot….and counting
22 Aug 2010, 09:04 am
@Mike H(Mike H)-370:
Are you being sentimental? Sport is about playing your best team. Smit is not the best in his position simple as that!
22 Aug 2010, 09:05 am
@kevin w(kevin w)-360: I guess it is a bit like reading some of the comments that get posted on here (not aiming that comment at your comment by the way). Why on earth would anyone (including the AB coaching team) want to waste their time lending any credibility to the ongoing drivel by responding to it.
The penalty count in that game was 9 vs 10 under the watchful eye of a very pedantic referee, with the AB’s having more ‘kickable’ penalties than the Boks which of course indicates where on the field the penalties were conceded. You can hardly accuse either side of being cheats with the penalty count that close.
22 Aug 2010, 09:07 am
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-5:
Harsh words from you, I bet you are one of those supporters who jump on the bandwagon when things are going well and are quick to show your support when times are good. Reality check here mate, a true supporter sticks with his team through thick and thin through bad times and good.
Saying you feel nothing for the Boks is a disgrace in itself. If that is your stance on things then move to Australia and support the Ozzies because South Africa will be better for it.
Sure every Bok supporter is hurting and not happy about the game but that is exactly the thing, we are Bok SUPPORTERS and supporters always stick with their side. So please do us a favour and get the first flight out of here.
22 Aug 2010, 09:12 am
Our scrum looked good, which is really nice to see, come WC the scrum will be important
22 Aug 2010, 09:33 am
Great article by Fitzy about NZ vs SA rivalry in today’s NZ Herald. Can’t cut’n'paste it off this phone but well worth reading.
KIA kaha.
22 Aug 2010, 09:37 am
Juan de Jongh, Juan Smith and Francois Hougaard were all very, very good. de Jongh on his current form has to start alongside Jaque Fourie. Jean de Villiers is really in need of a break.
Replacing Juan Smith was a massive mistake, PdV should be horse whipped every time he makes retarded substitutions. Smith hasn’t played a better game in his career and we’ve really missed him this year. Francois Hougaard has proven he can handle the big stage, this is a man who has been playing wing for most of the year.
Too bad players like CJ van der Linde had to ruin it for everyone. There are great players in this team… but an equal amount of turds that are dragging us down. Fortunately when our 8 or so missing players return there will be no place in the 22 for these players. Chiliboy for example, won’t be needed anymore because we’ll have talented representation. Habana, Pietersen, Aplon, JdJ and The Beast will be in the starting 15.
22 Aug 2010, 09:50 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-380:
My response to the Springboks pulling out of Sanzar is – don’t do it.
The All Blacks and the Springboks need each other, perhaps more than either would like to admit. In my view, it’s still the best rivalry in world rugby. I have magical memories from my youth of sitting in front of the TV with my family in the dead of night, tingling with excitement at the prospect of watching the All Blacks take on the auld enemy.
My heroes the All Blacks, playing South Africa on the TV in the wee small hours of the morning – pure rugby heaven for a young lad.
Playing the Boks has always been the ultimate challenge for any All Black and that remains the case. Playing them in New Zealand is a tough proposition, but fronting up in South Africa is another level altogether.
It’s probably one of the most intimidating challenges in world rugby. To beat the South Africans, you have to do it off the pitch, as well as on it.
From the moment you step into their country, they’re on your back. Groups of kids, solitary old men, middle-aged women having lunch, gangs of beer-laden Bokkie farmers – wherever you are, everyone you meet has a dislike for you and wants to share it with you.
I have so many memories from my playing days of people coming up to me and saying, “Fitzpatrick, I want to take you outside and scrum you into the ground”, or “Fitzpatrick you’re going to eat some humble pie come Saturday”. It was almost as if it was personal.
I remember wandering out of the ground in Durban after a post-match dinner where we’d won and mixing with fans who were having their own after-match beers. This great big Bokkie started growling at me, a big lad, all hairy and pot-belly, and he looked very capable of doing what he was threatening – to teach me a lesson, to knock my block off. He expended a good deal of energy telling me how much he hated me.
However, despite his fairly agricultural welcome, I stuck around. We traded insults and then I chewed the fat with him and his mates about the game. I left a little later with (I hope) at least his grudging respect that I didn’t scuttle off at the first sign of trouble. Even in the car park, I couldn’t back down against the South Africans. And to his credit, neither could he when he saw a Kiwi.
You ask any All Black who toured South Africa in 1996 and I’m pretty sure they would cite it as their greatest memory as an All Black. Sure, winning the series helped, but there was so much more than that.
The intensity on and off the field was both draining and exhilarating. The single-minded focus and burning desire of the entire group to be the first team to win on South African soil was a joy to be a part of.
When we walked off Loftus Versfeld having won the series, the satisfaction that we’d beaten our greatest rivals in their own back yard was immense. For the dirt-trackers to perform the haka for us as we walked off the field was fantastic.
For the late great Don Clarke to come up to me in the tunnel and hug me and say (crying) “thank you for achieving what so many generations of All Blacks have been trying to do for years” was emotional dynamite.
I count those minutes as among the most rewarding in my entire international career.
Is the Sanzar structure the best for all parties? I am not going to answer that but I do know that one of the game’s greatest traditions was the South Africa-New Zealand tour in either country.
How do we get this to work in the current structure? In the modern rugby world of sleek, highly-managed itineraries and the over-arching commercial imperative of dollar returns, I really don’t know.
As a fan, I would dearly love it. Fans and players love it – a rugby phenomenon that allows the touring team to engage with more people, in more places, and with more depth, than in any other form of the game.
A tour to South Africa? That is the best of the best. They don’t like us, we don’t like them, so let the man blow the whistle and let’s get down to business.
It may sound small-minded to some but these are the things we need to treasure for the sake of our game. Enmities, rivalries are to be valued and cherished.
Enmities that run as deep as the one between South Africa and New Zealand are rare. They are the medium through which both countries’ pride and identity can be expressed to each other and the world, and they are worth preserving.
In the fast moving tides of international rugby, we need to be careful that we don’t end up high and dry, stranded on the sanitised sandbanks of quick-fire, one-off internationals; while we hanker back to the good, old days of All Black-South Africa tours and touring – where folklore is created and legends are born.
Sean Fitzpatrick…
22 Aug 2010, 09:53 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-380: You ask any All Black who toured South Africa in 1996 and I’m pretty sure they would cite it as their greatest memory as an All Black.
You ask any All Black who toured South Africa in 1996 and I’m pretty sure they would cite it as their greatest memory as an All Black.
My response to the Springboks pulling out of Sanzar is – don’t do it.
The All Blacks and the Springboks need each other, perhaps more than either would like to admit. In my view, it’s still the best rivalry in world rugby. I have magical memories from my youth of sitting in front of the TV with my family in the dead of night, tingling with excitement at the prospect of watching the All Blacks take on the auld enemy.
My heroes the All Blacks, playing South Africa on the TV in the wee small hours of the morning – pure rugby heaven for a young lad.
Playing the Boks has always been the ultimate challenge for any All Black and that remains the case. Playing them in New Zealand is a tough proposition, but fronting up in South Africa is another level altogether.
It’s probably one of the most intimidating challenges in world rugby. To beat the South Africans, you have to do it off the pitch, as well as on it.
From the moment you step into their country, they’re on your back. Groups of kids, solitary old men, middle-aged women having lunch, gangs of beer-laden Bokkie farmers – wherever you are, everyone you meet has a dislike for you and wants to share it with you.
I have so many memories from my playing days of people coming up to me and saying, “Fitzpatrick, I want to take you outside and scrum you into the ground”, or “Fitzpatrick you’re going to eat some humble pie come Saturday”. It was almost as if it was personal.
I remember wandering out of the ground in Durban after a post-match dinner where we’d won and mixing with fans who were having their own after-match beers. This great big Bokkie started growling at me, a big lad, all hairy and pot-belly, and he looked very capable of doing what he was threatening – to teach me a lesson, to knock my block off. He expended a good deal of energy telling me how much he hated me.
However, despite his fairly agricultural welcome, I stuck around. We traded insults and then I chewed the fat with him and his mates about the game. I left a little later with (I hope) at least his grudging respect that I didn’t scuttle off at the first sign of trouble. Even in the car park, I couldn’t back down against the South Africans. And to his credit, neither could he when he saw a Kiwi.
You ask any All Black who toured South Africa in 1996 and I’m pretty sure they would cite it as their greatest memory as an All Black. Sure, winning the series helped, but there was so much more than that.
The intensity on and off the field was both draining and exhilarating. The single-minded focus and burning desire of the entire group to be the first team to win on South African soil was a joy to be a part of.
When we walked off Loftus Versfeld having won the series, the satisfaction that we’d beaten our greatest rivals in their own back yard was immense. For the dirt-trackers to perform the haka for us as we walked off the field was fantastic.
For the late great Don Clarke to come up to me in the tunnel and hug me and say (crying) “thank you for achieving what so many generations of All Blacks have been trying to do for years” was emotional dynamite.
I count those minutes as among the most rewarding in my entire international career.
Is the Sanzar structure the best for all parties? I am not going to answer that but I do know that one of the game’s greatest traditions was the South Africa-New Zealand tour in either country.
How do we get this to work in the current structure? In the modern rugby world of sleek, highly-managed itineraries and the over-arching commercial imperative of dollar returns, I really don’t know.
As a fan, I would dearly love it. Fans and players love it – a rugby phenomenon that allows the touring team to engage with more people, in more places, and with more depth, than in any other form of the game.
A tour to South Africa? That is the best of the best. They don’t like us, we don’t like them, so let the man blow the whistle and let’s get down to business.
It may sound small-minded to some but these are the things we need to treasure for the sake of our game. Enmities, rivalries are to be valued and cherished.
Enmities that run as deep as the one between South Africa and New Zealand are rare. They are the medium through which both countries’ pride and identity can be expressed to each other and the world, and they are worth preserving.
In the fast moving tides of international rugby, we need to be careful that we don’t end up high and dry, stranded on the sanitised sandbanks of quick-fire, one-off internationals; while we hanker back to the good, old days of All Black-South Africa tours and touring – where folklore is created and legends are born.
(NZ Herald 22 Aug 2010)
22 Aug 2010, 09:55 am
Bit late getting on to the various threads after the test so this may have been said already.
The quota requirements (this match proved they are there) cost the Boks the match.There were 3 instances of this.
No 1.For 70 minutes they were the winners.John Smit was fine for 60 minutes but that was when he should have been subbed.But he couldn’t be because the man on the bench was not up to it.Imagine the difference if Bismarck had come on for 20 minutes?And don’t tell me that he had not been back from injury long enough.
No 2. JP has only played one game for the Sharks and he was back.And he should not have been,certainly not for 80 minutes!He was clearly nowhere near 100%.Surely he should have been replaced by Hougaard on the wing when January came on.That would probably have saved the last AB try.
No.3 This brings us to the third instance.Hougaard was one of the best players on the field and was subbed by probably the No. 6 scrumhalf in the country.
To beat the AB’s you have to be at 100% for 80 minutes.The Boks were at this level for 65/70 minutes and that’s just not good enough I’m afraid.
The saddest part is that there are plenty of good enough PDI’s to select.Just look at Aplon and de Jongh,who had great games.
In a nutshell,it is clear to see that JP,Chiliboy and January should not have been in the Match 22.That’s 13% of the total and that was the difference between the teams at the end of the day!!
22 Aug 2010, 09:59 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-383: cmon Tackles, got to be quicker then that pilgrim
22 Aug 2010, 10:00 am
Magnificent game, this is how tests between rugby’s greatest rivals should be played and remembered.
Congrats to AB’s
We lost this at 10 and not using subs better.
22 Aug 2010, 10:01 am
@SDT(SDT)-384: the quotas in the team are
smit
spies
m steyn
There are the problems….
22 Aug 2010, 10:01 am
I SAID THIS BEFORE AND ILL SAY IT AGAIN. THERE IS ONLY 1 THING WRONG WITH THE BOKS.THATS THEIR COACH. SA HAS BRED THESE MARVELOUS ATHELETIC SPECIMENS THAT HAVE GREAT PRIDE IN THEIR RUGBY FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY. SA HAS ENOUGH PLAYERS IN THEIR COUNTRY TO PRODUCE THE BEST RUGBY ATHLETES THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
THERE ARE BETTER COACHES IN THE GAME THAT SA CAN DRAW UPON. THE CURRENT SA ADMINISTRATION IS BRINGING THEIR BRILLIANT PLAYERS INTO DISREPUTE AND MAKING A MOCKERY OF SA’S GREAT RUGBY TRADITION. SA PLAYERS YOU ARE NOT TO BLAME. NEITHER WILL YOU BE DOWN FOR VERY LONG. AB’S JUST RETURNED THE RESPECT YOU SHOWED US LAST TRI-NATIONS 2009. BECAUSE THATS WE DO AS NZ’ERS AND SA’S.
I AM EMBARRASSED FOR YOUR BRILLIANT RUGBY ATHLETES THAT THE SA RUGBY ADMNINISTRATION SHOULD USE YOU ALL AS PAWNS TO MAINTAIN THEIR OWN PERSONAL SELF RESPECT AND NOT THAT OF THE GAME AND THEIR PLAYERS. MAY OUR LONG TRADITION OF BELTING ONE ANOTHER CONTINUE IN THE CENTURIES TO COME, AS THE TWO GREATEST RUGBY PLAYING NATIONS OF THE WORLD SHOW THE REST HOW IT IS DONE.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THE BOKS RISE AGAIN. AND YOU WILL, OF THAT WE CAN BE SURE. BOKS YOU ARE A BETTER WORLD TOURNAMENT TEAM THAN OUR BELOVED ALL BLACKS AND DESERVED WORLD CHAMPIONS (AT THE MOMENT). AND THAT IS THE FINAL BASTION THAT OUR ALL BLACKS MUST ACHIEVE TO EQUAL OR BETTER YOURS AND AUSTRALIAS STATUS IN THAT AREA. WE SALIVATE WITH ANTICIPATION OF IT, WE LOOK FORWARD TO IT, WE CRAVE WITH DESIRE TO OBTAIN IT, WE ARE OBSESSED WITH THE NOTION OF IT AND WE SALUTE YOU FOR YOUR RUGBY ACHIEVEMENTS IN ASSISTING TO PUT SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE RUGBY AT THE TOP OF THE RUGBY WORLD.
AND OF COURSE WE WILL HAPPILY TRAMPLE YOU INTO THE TURF IF YOU GIVE US THE CHANCE. BECAUSE THE BOKS WOULD DO THE SAME AND HAVE DONE BEFORE BECAUSE THATS WHAT WE DO AND THE TRADITION WE ALL ENJOY. THANKYOU BOKS FOR BEING GREAT RUGBY TRADITIONALISTS, NEXT YEAR YOU WILL RETURN TO MAKE OUR NOSES BLEED AND OUR BONES BROKEN IN THE FIERCEST OF RUGBY RIVALRY THE WORLD WILL EVER SEE.
22 Aug 2010, 10:04 am
Ok, so two years ago, PDV’s wanted to implement an ‘All Black’ like style of rugby. Everybody said he is crazy and should stick to what our strengths are. Read below:
Peter de Villiers has denied a more structured approach allowed the Springboks to thrash Australia on Saturday.
The Boks scored eight tries in all, but the game was won in the first half thanks to a more structured attack and some fine tactical kicking for territory. As an advocate of a looser style that favours decision-making and very little structure, the Bok coach was asked whether more structure contributed to this victory.
“I think it’s not fair to say that,” he said.
The Bok coach followed this up by maintaining his side are still off the pace. His attitude remained consistent after he told the press earlier in the week he wasn’t concerned with winning or losing, but how the Boks played the game.
“We are only at 60-70% off where we want to be. There are a few technical things we will have to look at like how we could have stood up more in the tackle. I think our kicking and chasing could have been better – we could have put them under more pressure.
“But I’m happy that we took our opportunities. Last week we created a lot of chances but didn’t finish. Credit must go to the guys for believing in themselves and using those opportunities this week.”
There’s been a lot of criticism of the coach and his new style by the media and the public. De Villiers was booed after the loss at Kings Park, but at Ellis Park the crowd responded warmly to what was the biggest thrashing of an Australia side in history.
“Those critics, if they could only be patriotic and get behind their team instead of stomping on the people who gave them hours of joy last year and this year. We didn’t go out there to prove them wrong. We always believed in ourselves.”
As for the differing responses of the crowd, De Villiers referred to another biblical figure who suffered similar persecution.
“The same people who threw sticks and stones at ***** were the same people who changed their attitude when he became known as the son of God. But I’m not saying I’m God.”
By Jon Cardinelli, at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
So now everybody wants him to take the players the whole country insisted on and turn their playing style?
22 Aug 2010, 10:05 am
we want to beat wallabies….we should forget the candy floss sentimentality.
15 F Steyn
11 habana
14 aplon
13 j f
12 JDJ
10 Butch
9 hougaard
8 Kanko
7 J Smith
6 F Louw
5 matfield
4 flippie
3 bj
2 bissy
1 guthro
16 schalk
17 d rossow
18 chilliboy
19 cj
20 M Steyn
21 JDV
22 januarie
22 Aug 2010, 10:08 am
387. GRANT10(GRANT10)
I agree on Spies ,but not on the other 2.Who would you put in the place of Steyn? His place-kicking is a huge plus.
I still say Smit is essential for the team,but not for 80 minutes.
22 Aug 2010, 10:10 am
Mike H is a fool. Continue eulogizing about that fatlard@ss and following your legendary hero to Valhalla and you go out in the quarters next year, you ready for that ignominous exit because thats whats coming if you can’t adjust to the reality starring you in the face. Who missed the tackle on Nonu for the nail in the coffin try, and who was nowhere to be seen all game long and when McCaw broke down the wing leaving Habana to track both wing Jane and the overlap McCaw? Yup the two achilles heels in this team. Legendary Smit and Superman Spies. Continue with these two passengers and somebody, Aussie or France or NZ or somebody bundles us out the quarters next year. We had plenty time to adapt to the process and get up to speed and we’ve regressed into kick n chase safety first mode ala 2007 neanderthal game plan. If we don’t switch it right now and get vetgat slomo out the equation we sunk, don’t come crying when Smitty boy gotta apologize for letting his country down one more time just like him and Spies and some other immortals have done since Nov last year. France, Ireland, Nz, Nz, Aus, Nz again, thats 6 consecutive losses on the trot in big matches reads pathetic. You think you going to get pithy England and Argentina again to get gifted a flukety WC crown, think again.
22 Aug 2010, 10:13 am
@SDT(SDT)-391: we differ compltely
the biggest cancer in our team is the love affiar with a fat captain who is not showing any character by continuing to drag the boks into mediocrity…..ego and selfishness as opposed to any form of self scarifice in the cause of greater good.
I will always remember smit for dragging the boks down an inglorious hole of mediocrity…..
22 Aug 2010, 10:18 am
idiots don’t realize the 2 players bringing this team down is Smitty and Spiesie, both overhyped beyond proportion and not worth their salt when the real chips are on the table. Change those 2 and perhaps move M. Steyn out of FH and we got some progress, stick with these palookas and we continue our stale slide into regression.
22 Aug 2010, 10:33 am
jeez some of you guys sure turn on each other and your team. You should be proud of what they produced yesterday, someone once said you can’t always win but you can always deserve to, yesterday both teams deserved to and it was a credit to both sides. That South African 22 broke themselves for their nation, over and over again, just for a chance to win. They deserve some respect.
22 Aug 2010, 10:34 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-395: talking sense Biggles
and is that a first
lol
22 Aug 2010, 10:39 am
For me, the problem areas in the game were:
Spies: Was just nowhere in this game
Smit: Was decent in the beginning and took the ball up well, then fell apart in the last twenty or so. Lineouts weren’t particularly good either.
Steyn: Last year it seemed like Steyn was the answer to the Bok problems at flyhalf, but yesterday he hugely handicapped the team. How many times did we have an overlap and he either ran back inside or hoofed the ball into the air?
JPP: This might be a bit harsh, but I think he came back into the test side too soon. Didn’t look as quick as he should be and seemed to be cramping towards the end.
Habana: Was very poor in defense for someone of his experience. He should’ve stopped McCaw easily.
Good things to come from this game:
Juan Smith is a colossus and it was madness to sub him rather than Spies. Showed how much we’ve missed his physical presence.
Gio Aplon and Francois Hougaard seem to be the real deal at 15 and 9, respectively.
Schalk Burger played a good, clean game and gave a very measured and gracious post-match interview. I was impressed.
22 Aug 2010, 10:42 am
@kevin w(kevin w)-360:
maybe they are more interested in focusing their attention on their own team and making it the best it can be.
Maybe they don’t actually give a toss what you think.
Personally I think Macaw is the worlds best player, in a black jersey, but a cheating scum in a red jersey!
22 Aug 2010, 10:45 am
@CoachPete(CoachPete)-306:
the game didn’t end then, no matter how much you will it to. There was 90 seconds left for the AB’s to score again and convert to ensure they would have won anyway.
22 Aug 2010, 10:56 am
yup they played with passion and commitment for as long as their weary legs would allow, yet who was at home and who was playing away, who had better part of 90,000 supporters behind them and who didn’t, who was playing at altitude and in familiar conditions and who was playing out of familiar condition? And yet when push came to shove who were the more conditioned team, both physical and mentally?
Anybody watch Smit waddle or roll or wobble down the tunnel to lead an international team in a sport that demands peak condition or fitness as prerequisite no.1? Therein lies our first nemesis and our first disadvantage to demise. How the hell we even dream of beating No.1 rugby nation when our captain cannot lead from front is mindboggling. If your captain is not cut out for the task then how you expect the rest to be?
Can’t deny or detract from Bok’s commitment will and desire but as the caption here aptly reads, ‘all guts and no glory’, they simply were run ragged by 75th minute. AB’s came, they saw and they conquered, and it all happened in the last 5 min of the contest, yet it was us playing at home and at altitude celebrating a glorious century of test caps for a legendary captain, not them.
Sentimentallity rules again, not pragmatic realism, hero worship falls flat on its @ss everytime, don’t anybody realise this once or forever YET? ,
22 Aug 2010, 11:06 am
We can’t always win, sometimes you face a better team and thats what the AB’s are. I was happy with the way the Boks played and can’t fault a single player.
There’s still too much tome before the start of the World Cup and one never knows what may happen. I still think the Boks can get better we’re too good and too rich, in terms of players and coaching, to not be better than whoever we face in NZ.
I’m surprised at some Bok fans, we never had a winning record against the AB’s with Jake White at the helm and we still managed to win the World Cup. PdV doesn’t have a winning record either and the World Cup is is still a year away.
We all need to calm down and stop being so “doom and gloom” about a few Tri-nations losses…………
22 Aug 2010, 11:06 am
@poppa69(poppa69)-382:
That man for me is what epitomises the best in leadership. Probably not the best ever player/hooker of his time but brains/smart, no one touches him.
Support him, bring back the tours. Best thing that can happen to rugby. That is the reason why the Brittish Lions are so good for rugby. Tri-Nations is stale. Want to see the midweek games in rural areas. For me that is the magic of rugby tours where everyone can say I saw the All Blacks virtually in my back door.
22 Aug 2010, 11:08 am
Big mistake even considering or expecting Smit to lead this team to WC 2011 glory, biggest mistake anyone can make least of all him. Most ridiculous expectation of all time, the man is FAT, such condition does not befit an international rugby captain, and if it does then this sport is not about excellence but about sentimental goody guys get favors but they never gonna WIN anything.
Start getting REAL for a change Sa’rugby fraternity, you seriously want to defend WC 2011 crown then start smelling the reality and get down and honest REAL!.
22 Aug 2010, 11:19 am
Smit is better in interviews than Victor mumbling in Snor City Troglodyte dialect interspersed with lots of long “yaaaarrrs”, like the old pop-eyed sea-captain in “The Simpsons”.
22 Aug 2010, 11:34 am
We should be at the town square preparing a lynch mob.
22 Aug 2010, 11:35 am
Juan Smith for captain, only valid candidate there seeing Watson or Van Niekerk are plying their leadership roles elsewhere. If captaincy was all or only about interviews then bring Smit on last 5 minutes off bench, seeing he is the ultimate quota player now then swap his honorary place with Chiliboy he can captain and prepare his interview speeches from the bench.
In fact Smit can take CJ’s place as honoray white boy quota seeing as either is as useless as next, least Smit can still use that 125 kg lardass frame to some good last 5-10 min after he’s done his interview speech prep, by then he should know if it will be a winners or losers speech he has to render at the interview.
22 Aug 2010, 11:39 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-406: don’t be surprised if Juan is banned for his encounter with Nige
22 Aug 2010, 11:45 am
@skopskiet(yliad)-406: Cutting as ever. Where to from here? We are ***** from a tactical view point the fact that prop scored a try on the iwng after teh ball was handled by three forwards of which oen was a lock just shows how ***** our tactics are.
Can anyone explain the logic of replacing Hougard? He played exceptionally well for someone who usually plays on the wing. We need Spies as a no8 impact he is not a groveller Schalk at 8 and Brussow or however else can fetch at no 6. We lack someone fast and strong on his legs
We have two no13s probably mossie will end up on the bench as he is a versatile player and hopefully PdV has taken his ego and put it in his back opocket and F.Steyn will be at no 15. For my money I would pick Lambie as my starting 10 for the next two matches. Morne Steyn has been made into to much of a one dimensional player.
With Bismark back in the frame we shoud get a bit more kick out of our tight forwards if PdV leaves Smit out (which seems the logical choice). Habana at no 11 has been abysmal in cover defence and someone needs to kick his backside or he needs to be left out.
What say ye?
22 Aug 2010, 11:47 am
@Peter Mkata(Peter Mkata)-402: hey Peter, hope your well mate… was a cruel way for the bokke to lose last night…
Yep, the best part of that column from Fitzy for me is when he speaks of Don Clarkes emotion after they won in 96 (still NZs greatest sporting moment for mind)
Agree with the tour sentiment, have missed them terribly. it also is to my mind a much fairer system of comparing teams…
its what has created the tradition and the rivalry we all love..
22 Aug 2010, 11:54 am
@grant10(grant10)-393:
Having read your comments through out the various threads it has become more and more clear to me that you have a very narrow minded opinion and something you should have a look at.
To say and I quote from you “I will always remember Smit for dragging the Boks down an inglorious hole of mediocrity” just proves the point that you have are pretty clueless. What I and I should imagine the rest of South Africa to remember John Smit by is lifting the World Cup, the B&I lions serious and the Tri Nations, the last two just 12 months ago. And wasn’t it the same John Smit that had to come back onto the field in the 1st test against the Lions when things very going tits up to bring calm amongst the guys.
Have read over your starting 15, to drop Burger who has been the form loose forward in the Tri Nations and put Flo in the side proves that you a either seriously hung over from yesterday or you just don’t have a clue.
22 Aug 2010, 12:01 pm
@Cubic(Cubic)-388: Don’t shout. It’s rude.
22 Aug 2010, 12:02 pm
@Stormpipe(Stormpipe)-410: its no use even responding to grants idiotic stupidity when it comes to john smit
see grant is prolly one of those okes that hated blacks as a kid
today he thinks he is this freedom fighter , and like a guy that stops smoking has gone overboard in hate for smokers
grant hates smit because he dare tell the truth of what happened in the bok camp and mentioned that watson was being said to be the cancer in the bok team by the senior players
this tiarde of grant has nothing to do with smits abillity or anything , it has to do with grants obsession
he has actually become sick with it
he shouts smit had in every post he makes,
now grants Gf is a DA member/ worker/ whatever , and he not thinks he is fighting apartheid ( which is dead a buried and rightfully so )
but grant is on the warpath because his beloved watson is this martyre for freedom
GRANT can be a very nice guy , but when it comes to smit , he is a idiot , acts like a 2 year old ,
i seriously dont care if the oke does not want to talk to me here after but i am saying it as it is, and trust me 95% of bloggers in here think of him this way
22 Aug 2010, 12:02 pm
@Cubic(Cubic)-388: What a crock of donkey droppings.
22 Aug 2010, 12:03 pm
@Stormpipe(Stormpipe)-410: oh and the hate for burger is that he also was against watson
22 Aug 2010, 12:06 pm
@Stormpipe(Stormpipe)-410: still believe against Pocock we need to fight fire with fire….choose best fit fetcher we currently have.
As for Smit….your hero, my cancer….thats the way it is….
22 Aug 2010, 12:07 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-414: i actually pity the bloke , as he actually is not a stupid man, and i am sure he is a decent bloke
just very obsessed with hatred
22 Aug 2010, 12:07 pm
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-413: morning (evening?) cpt. fanny, bet your feathers are on display today
well done to your team, they were excellent.
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-414: Flo for Burger certainly makes no rugby sense, Louw just hasn’t cut it whereas Burger was motm
22 Aug 2010, 12:07 pm
@grant10(grant10)-415: god gert imma make you drunk when i get there and wash ur brain out
22 Aug 2010, 12:09 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-417: BH flo is not bok material
and yesterday i felt kanko put paid to the verneulen theory
even in saying that vermeulen did play his heart out
vermeulen would be a far better bet then flo , or alberts
all 3 quite slow but all 3 very hard and good ball carriers that also hit the rucks hard
22 Aug 2010, 12:11 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-412: Leave politics out of it Rambo. Smit is a fat, useless rugby player…..that is the reality, today. Maybe a year or 2 ago he was okay, but not now.
Your saying i hated ‘blacks ‘ is a sad reflection on you…..you sick my man…..that is a very libellous accusation.
And leave my girlfriend and her job out of this…..you very close to getting yourself in some serious trouble.
22 Aug 2010, 12:12 pm
Firstly:
-The Boks were desperately unlucky.
-They played with great heart.
-Improvement beyond measure, compared to the performances in NZ and Oz.
They have should feel proud of their performance.
And YOU LOT………..should be PROUD as well.
That was one hellofa test Match.
Secondly:
Formalities out of the way…………………who wants a fight?
22 Aug 2010, 12:12 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-396: Must be that time of…or maybe BH is mellowing with time
22 Aug 2010, 12:15 pm
@grant10(grant10)-415: i know you will not agree but there is only one fetcher in SA
thats brussow
i gave you a good example vefore where a team without a so called fethcer can beat a team with a fetcher
when the sharks beat the stormers in the super 14 they beat them with agression and power
deysel alberts and kanko hit schalk , flo and vermeulen off the ball in rucks and malls that they were not even a factor
i was told the pieter louw is also a fetcher , well according to the mighty skopskiet he is
well yesterday a none fecthing loose trio AGIAN put paid to the wp trio
in the bok game the MOM was schalk who is not a fetcher
yes i am not saying you dont need a fetcher , i am saying choose the right loose trio combinations that can counter when you do not have a fethcer in the team
juan smith is a 7 , flo is a 7 who would you choose ???? i know who i would
22 Aug 2010, 12:16 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-419: there are certainly better options than Flo at present, I have only been able to watch highlights of most of the CC games so far but Kankowski definitely is more of a grafter than Spies and Willem Alberts is a certain Bok in the future.
22 Aug 2010, 12:16 pm
@grant10(grant10)-420: nope i would speedo , i told you before you brought the politics into it
dont cry about it becasue others are seeing you for the politics in you
22 Aug 2010, 12:18 pm
Ooops,
I see the fighting is already under way.
22 Aug 2010, 12:19 pm
@grant10(grant10)-420: is that a threat??? dude please do ur best
and as for your GF you yoursefl brought her into this site by mentioning her in here and what she did
grow up grant not everyone cheers you for a national heroes insults
and read carefully i said probably hated blacks , never said you did , understand english
but the way you carry one is sick , get control
22 Aug 2010, 12:20 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-424: BH the boks need more of the schalks and alberts and juans that give their all , hard men
22 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-427: sl
tHATS IT MATE…..
LAST POST EVER TO YOU….
YOU CAN GO FARK YOURSELF….
WE DONE.
22 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
ok for the sake of peace ill ignore anything this oke says , just not worth the attention
22 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
@grant10(grant10)-429: np grant
Goodbye
22 Aug 2010, 12:22 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-421: Me I wanna fight.
Mate your ‘blacks were good but they are peaking way too soon, again.
Do not believe your teams self hype just because they beat an average Bok team. Next year there will be 7 changes to the team that lost yesterday. Bismarck, Brussow, Bekker, Bakkies, FDP, Mossie and monster boot Steyn will all be in the staring 11 for the RWC to choke the MIB’s … oh it is true.
22 Aug 2010, 12:23 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-426: I think that this one is more of a ‘domestic’
22 Aug 2010, 12:23 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-432: Gm cane congrats on your teams win
22 Aug 2010, 12:23 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-432: oops clicked on wrong nic
well RL congrats on ur teams win too
22 Aug 2010, 12:24 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-426: congrats cane , 3 min of brilliance and game set and match
22 Aug 2010, 12:24 pm
move Morne Steyn to 15 where he can perform his last line of defense and his place kick rescuing acts from. He’s not too shabby as a tackler but useless as a pivotal play maker.
We lost both Pienaar and Grant through pathetically stupid player resource management. Any Aussie or NZ coach would have reaped the full value out of either or both those two, now the dumb d’cks are considering reverting to last epoch Butchie boy as our last option at 10.
Pat Lambie can step up, I reckon the lads got the mental edge for the bmt requirement though its one mammoth jump from CC to Bok’s. Pienaar should have been persued with in spite of his jittery mind he still possessed way more natural flair than M. Steyn ever will. Peter Grant was the go to decision in 08 but was Smit and Muir that chickened out and played Butch with FdP that year, we all know how that backward ploy panned out, 19-0 and the rest, cause as always saffa mentality is always about 3-4 light years behind the game.
Grant or Pienaar would have brought on a complete different more proactive type response in the team, but its kick n chase garbage that is our 2007 penchant for security first type rugby, and now 6 internationals down the track on the trot as losers and we cling to this deadbeat archaic style yet.
Smit is the proponant and architect of this game plan, they open secretly chucked out the running ball through hands game plan of De Villiers in 08 and open secretly declared we reverting to our ‘known strengths’ ala kick n chase hum drum obliviousness and now we have the proof of the pudding but somehow nobody is hungry for such desert no more.
I’d consider this as the team for Aussie
M. Steyn
Aplon
De Jongh
De Villiers
Habana
Lambie (no one else got hands up – can’t be worse than M. Steyn now that Grant or Pienaar out)
Hougaard
Burger
Smit (c)
Potgieter
Matfield
Flip
J. Dup
Bismark
Garthro
Beast
Smit (can cover 2 and/or 3 – else we need Chili and Kruger)
Roussow
Spies or Louw (though I think I’d prefer Vermeulen or Alberts to step up)
Sarel Potgieter
J. Fourie
JPP
. .
22 Aug 2010, 12:25 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-435: I am indeed pleased with this weekends CC results … congrats on a famous win for your team too.
22 Aug 2010, 12:26 pm
I have been reading this blog. Smit’s time is over extra wegth aside. Bismark is back and he should be chosen. Smit’s tighthead days are non existent. You do tno chose a captain first then have the team carry him. He must be selected on merit like everyone else and quite frankly teh fire haas gone out of Smit and ha been so for a while. Juan is as good a captain adn so is matfiled (as much as he sound dumb when he speaks). Give the number of key players missing from our side and none missing from the AB’s I think they shoudl be more worried than us about next year provided we have a fair ref as well. The fact that the try was not a try adn that there were a couple of unspotted offsides and forward passes does detract from teh fact that teh ABs played better rugby than us.
SA needs ot make a few critical chices ahead of next year if we want to win (and we can) in 2011.
No1 Guthro with Beast on in teh 2nd half when speed counts more
No2 Bismark
No3 We still need to find a prop
No4 Flip seemed a capable sub for Bakkies and if Bakkie shas nto sorted his agression out he cannot be selected
No5 Matfield is also past his prime he loiters in the tight phases at the best of time
No6 Rattle no questions here
No 7 Juan by far the best we have had and his reintorduction mad a huge difference
No 8 Schalk with Spies coming on in second half
No 9 FdP hesis the koning but FH a good sub
No10 Morne has become stereotyped and he either brakes away from these shackles or I would start soemone like Lambie who can break the line
No11 BH but he needs some major spice to bring back the memories of old otherwise there is plentiful supply of left wings BH’s cover defence has become a nightmare
No 12 JdV no questions
No 13 J de Jong and Mossie (I would start JdJ and keep mossie on teh bench for the first half)
No 14 JPP he has shown why he should be there
No 15 FSteyn no questiosn he has the potential for being the best in the world G.Aplon coudl be a good stand in off the bench
No 16 Beast
No 17 Smit? or Chilliboi
No 18 Danie
No 19 Spies
No 20 Mossie
No 21 F Hougard
No 22 G Aplon
22 Aug 2010, 12:26 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-408: Test rugby has always been a contest of fine margins and although the theory that there is no consolation in defeat, I’d suggest there are a number of positives for the Boks and their beleaguered coaching staff, and this from an Aussie. But you Saffas are just so uptight at times – cold-eyed analysis not emotional over-reaction is required.
These are my observations of New Zealand’s remarkable final-minute win: for 60 minutes, the ABs were knocked back in the tackle, rattled in the set piece, surprisingly in the scrum and sorely lacking the cohension and composure we’ve seen throughout the TriNations from this very fine side. SA’s gameplan of offensive defensive and pace and numbers to the breakdown and effective kick chasing was working; the rookies brought in all brought infectious energy and a willingess to keep ball in hand and attack the Kiwis. Hougaard, not withstanding some errors, was exceptional at times and will provide useful support when Mr Rugby returns.
Having recently read Jake White’s “Black and White” book, the similarities between South Africa now and then are uncanny – from five defeats in a row in 2006 (including the 49-0 TriNations drubbing by the Wallabies) to the heavy defeat to New Zealand in Pretoria amid a calatolgue of injuries and calls for White and Smit to be axed. Then came Rustenburg and the rest, is history. No question the Boks are missing Broussouw (spell?), but Bismark Du Plessis, Beast, Jacque Fourie, Kankowski and Steyn will all be in the selection mix for the Tests against us unfortunately on the Highveld where the Wallabies record is awful (two wins is surely non-negotiable and likely for Puff Divvy?) and if you include the other absentees, like Botha and FdP, that is a heck of a roll call and no country, not even the ABs would cope, a point reinforced by Juan Smith’s superb return until he was surprising subbed.
That said, there are issues that need to be resolved, especially at 2,8 and 10. Smit is a legendary skipper, but his body is suggesting he is over the hill. Complete R and R and a proper conditioning programme from now until the Super 15 could turn things around for him. I hope it does, but there’s no way he should play in Pretoria and Bloemfontein. Let Matfield captain in his 100th Test and BDP start at 2. I’m simply not convinced by Morne Steyn: sure he’s a superb goalkicker, but his tactical kicking and use of the ball out of hand cost his team heavily last night. He also poses no running threat himself, making it easier to defend against. Spies is an eccentric – flashes of brilliance that knocked the stuffing out of NZ and serious pace in the first half, so much so that none of his team-mates could keep up, but then he faded significantly in the crucial last quarter. Perhaps Rossouw or Burger should have been moved to 8 with the introduction of Louw, who also hasn’t convince he’s international class. Nevertheless, lots of good things to come out of Soweto and with the returning ammunition, the Boks have the capacity and wherewithal to be a real threat to a near full strength ABs side playing unbelievably well. So chin up. Try losing 8 times (probably 9 in three weeks) in succession to the same opposition – not that’s serious pain!
22 Aug 2010, 12:27 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-417: yes and no..I’m really a bit of a softy and would like to have seen Smit have a good 100, he may not play against nz again and we would more than likely have won the 3n’s anyhow. good game, close, lucky, plucky, courageous and one that will go down in NZ history. the good thing about it was the conspiracy theories are put to rest and NZ showed that they do have the goods. Still it was disappointing to see the Boks play there marbles off and couldnt play the full 80.
22 Aug 2010, 12:28 pm
@skopskiet(yliad)-437: We lost them because they were money grabbing, doodle f..wits only caring about their wallets and pay checks, in your own words
22 Aug 2010, 12:31 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-439: You forgot to mention a decent coach and assistants are also needed
22 Aug 2010, 12:32 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-428:
Your WHOLE TEAM played well Shark Shagger.
But for Fate,
and Fred’s little boy Isreal.
The final score may have been kinder to the Boks.
I see John Smit was blaming himself for the loss.
What a Captain.
I’m almost sorry he lost.
He carries the loss,
on his own shoulders alone,
for one error in the last few seconds of the game.
Fate can indeed be a cruel thing.
22 Aug 2010, 12:34 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-432: Try to wrap your head around the fact that this AB team has not reached its ‘peak’ so to speak. It is still a work in progress and they have alot of work to do before the WC and even
GH and the team still believe that they 25% to go yet. You can talk up the ‘hope’ they have peaked but they havent.
22 Aug 2010, 12:35 pm
@KeyserSoze(KeyserSoze)-440: Not should have read = now, of course, and I forgot about Bekker, who was the standout forward in the Super 14, IMO.
22 Aug 2010, 12:35 pm
@grant10(grant10)-415:
Mccaw is a must better player/fetcher than Pocock and lets be honest he didn’t cause a lot of havoc that warrants the thinking that we need a specialist fetcher in Flo to counter Pocock.
As for Smit I am not having a full on go at you, all I am trying to say is that the guy does not deserve the criticism that you are giving him rather the recognition that he has done the Boks far more good than bad. Sure this season he is not covering himself in glory but he is still by far and away the best captain we have ever had and deserves a lot praise than what he is getting.
22 Aug 2010, 12:36 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-438: thanks RL
22 Aug 2010, 12:37 pm
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-445: okay then, and try to wrap your head arond the fact that they have not beaten our best team either.
22 Aug 2010, 12:38 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-444: thanks mate
lol @ sharks shagger :wink; ya damn sheep shagger
mate JS is a great as king Richie is , these are great players and great leaders
they dont place themselves on pedestals
22 Aug 2010, 12:40 pm
we missed
bakkies
fdup
jfourie
f steyn
bismark
beast
BRUSSOW
i am sure these players would have made a big difference
i am not saying the replacements were bad , just these players out would have made a good team we had even better
22 Aug 2010, 12:41 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-412:
Sorry guys didn’t mean to start a full on battle between the two of you.
22 Aug 2010, 12:41 pm
@KeyserSoze(KeyserSoze)-440: I agree in principle with most of what you say more so as teh ABs were at full strength whereas the Boks were without:
-No 2 our best hooker
-No 6 our best fetcher
-No 9 our best scrumhalf
-No 15 our best fullback
and on top of that No4, No 13 and a few other players were missing. So yes the ABs shoudl be worried as teh return of two players JPP at no14 and JS at no7 made a huge difference however we stil haev a few positions with big question marks over them and our coaching staff should, if they had any grey matter in between the ears use the net 2 games and year and tour to check alternatives out. If not we will go into next year with not much to offer. Kicking teh bal away al teh tiemwhen you have some of the best attacking backline players is stupid and a stupid tactic, we were lucky that teh ABs back three had a bad aday a the office.
22 Aug 2010, 12:41 pm
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-441: very magnanimous cpt., I was very impressed how NZ handled the atmosphere, matched SA’s physicality for much of the game, stuck to their task and kept playing rugby. Can’t give them anything but huge credit for that. I might be wrong but I think Smit could well play on until 2011 WC.
22 Aug 2010, 12:41 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-432:
IMHO.
I would have been thrilled if the AB’s had salvaged a draw.
And In My Humble Opinion……there were no losers.
22 Aug 2010, 12:47 pm
@Stormpipe(Stormpipe)-452: you didnt mate
just got a bit tired and knowing the history where it comes from , i felt the need to say what needed saying
its over NP
enjoy mate , John Smit has given his all for this country and deserves accolades not trashing thanks again
22 Aug 2010, 12:48 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-453:
“ABs were at full strength whereas …”
NOT so Objective.
NZ were without:
Our best Lock: Ali Williams.
Our best wing: Sitivatu.
Our Best Hooker: The Whhore.
Soon to be Our best Centre: Sonny Bill Williams.
22 Aug 2010, 12:50 pm
Anybody going on negatively about the Boks performace are disrespecting what the AB’s achieved and how good a side they’ve become. It doesn’t make the Bokke weak, I think the occasion also got to them . Too many disruptions to the combinations and too much rugby unfortunately for the likes of Victor,John and even Gurthro.
22 Aug 2010, 12:50 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-453: if you really are objective, you’ll recall NZ last year was in a similar position to what your team is going through…talisman players either coming back from injury or missing a couple of games… thus having to throw rookies in to the side, Ross, Donnelly etc.. (sound familiar?)
thing is, you only beat that team in Hamilton by 3 points, and without the boot of F. Steyn, you would have lost..
so I think the win at altitude equals that Hamilton victory, and I dont think you will have such the luxury of all of those players being injury free, what with EOYTs, S15 and 3Ns still to come..
22 Aug 2010, 12:51 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-457: nice try, Wiliam yes and Fiji yes but the ***** and Sonny Bill
22 Aug 2010, 12:51 pm
post 437 above – no.7 should read Smith (c) not Smit who plays off bench in my team and loses captaincy armband to namesake Juan Smith the boertjie with the soutie name, not the other way around.
What you picking fights with G10 for Sharky-lover, the difference between Sharks and WP yesterday and before is the game style. The Kiwi Plumtree brings much more cohesive ball through hands work the gaps style rugby which has turned the Sharks outfit around compared to the same old biff bash crash cr@p skop in die lug garbage that Coetsee is still attached to. Since Smit and Muller departed Sharks suddenly te playing completely more productive encompassing game, and its patently down to ohilosophy and style. Saffa rugby mentality sucks, living in dark ages where brawn and biff bash garbage gets walloped by clever retentive seek out gaps running rugby everytime. Plumtree streaks ahead of coetsee as is Henry and McCaw above De villiers and Smit. Same as Mitchell already beginning to turn Lions fortunes aroind.
Saffa rugby brains are non existent as was perfectly obvious when White hit the brick wall of self doubt delusions, who did he seek outt in his hour of need, yup an Aussie, just like Campese, Louden, Kiss before so did Jones save saffa @sses as is now happening with Plumtree and Mitchell turning dismal unions like Sharks and Lions around. While Bulls WP and FS go into self destruct reverse mode. .
22 Aug 2010, 12:52 pm
***** = Hhore
22 Aug 2010, 12:52 pm
@bananaboy(bananaboy)-458: amen boet
the fellows gave it their all and was beaten by the bouce of the ball Sh*t happens
both teams were huge
22 Aug 2010, 12:53 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-457: Yeah, yeah, you sure? What about the day you will have to play without your best refs?
How can you play hooker with a surname like hoare?
At thsi stage teh ABs are teh leading side however watch for us when we get all our players back.
22 Aug 2010, 12:57 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-464: mate, dont force us to bring out the 3-0 card, its been overplayed so many times the last year already
22 Aug 2010, 12:59 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-465: mate FYI our A team thrashed you 3 zip and our B team lost 3 zip, getit.
22 Aug 2010, 13:01 pm
@bananaboy(bananarama)-458:
The Boks had at least a draw from this match with 30 seconds to go.
Losing it,
after their 79 minutes of endeavour,
is just plain cruel.
(don’t get me wrong, I’m glade we won…………..but what a game.)
22 Aug 2010, 13:02 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-465: Sorry but whilst O’Brien runs the ref at IRB you can only but expect what we see. We only play with 15 on the field, sometimes even 14 because our players are carded after the first warning. They do not get the benefit of 6 warnings before a card like your captain.
22 Aug 2010, 13:05 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-467: some people forget this match was between the best 2 test playing teams in the world , ever
that is the facts
22 Aug 2010, 13:16 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-464:
Come WC, you will not have Altitude.
Come WC, you will not have Smitty playing his Centenary.
Come WC, you will not have had a 2 week respite.
Come WC, you will be in NZ (welcome to hell).
Come WC………………Victor, Smitty, The Head Butter Bakkies, Juan, The Gouger Burger, Brian……….will all be a year older. And lets face it, some of these seniors can hardly manage a 3 week 3N Sojourn.
Come WC, the Referees “unintentional” bias for the home Team…….will be with us.
Actually you Phuckers may as well stay at home.
And lets face, it the SARU is quite capable of a complete meltdown anytime soon.
22 Aug 2010, 13:22 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-470: How about Richie’s friendly rub of Schalk’s face yesterday. Sorry mate but we don’t call it eye gouging like you sissies. We donlt win cause the ref does not blow forward passes or blatant offsides.
Bakkies is an idiot but Cowan is a blatant cheat and so is your capain.
Mate just in case you did not know without SA there is no NZ rugby. We carry both your lot and Australia in the S14, so be grateful that there are some SA companies prepared to fork out some sponsorship money otherwise you’d be back to playing amateur rugby.
22 Aug 2010, 13:23 pm
this game was played at home at altitude with 90,000 supporters behind boks and they ran out of steam simply because they thought they could defend a lead for 40 minutes out from the best attacking team in the world after dishing up momentum and possession time after time through a stupid ridiculous archaic game pattern developed and designed under old laws of a bygone era that ended in 2007.
Bok’s beat themselves and the proponent of this loss is the architect of the senior player strategy of playing stupid rugby to our so called strengths. If we’d have kept ball in hand as we did better in first 40 we would have won. We didn’t we kicked it away same as all last six games vs France Ireland Nz and Aus, and we lost, again.
Those shutting eyes not recognizing the pitfalls then pat the boys on the back. The better team won even though was them that played away and at altitude which in true perspective means they trounced us because those two factors alone should have given us distinct advantage. Boks lost Nz deservedly won, though had we been far more proactive off field and prepared better and picked correct players on form we’d by rights have won.
Its fitting Smit lost his 100th game because difference between sentimental arrogance and pragmatic realist humility is that Boks didn’t deserve the victory, not after all the sentimental hogwash that clouds mens minds from facing facts. .
22 Aug 2010, 13:23 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-470:
put away that wooden spoon ffs 
22 Aug 2010, 13:24 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-457: Sorry, you’re entitled to your opinion, but I don’t agree.
NZ were without: (missing yes, but not all first choice! And that’s three players, the Boks have 9 front line players out, the Wallabies 8 and we don’t have the depth either of you)
Our best Lock: Ali Williams (Donnelly has been exceptional and surely the man in front, for now!)
Our best wing: Sitivatu. (Jane has displace him and is unquestionably the man in possession. Rocko may be under threat, though, but then there is Dagg – phenomenal)
Our Best Hooker: The Whhore (Mealamu is the best hooker in world rugby right now and far better suited to the game the ABs are playing).
Soon to be Our best Centre: Sonny Bill Williams. (Overpaid, overhyped, IMO, and can’t even make the Canterbury team!)
22 Aug 2010, 13:24 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-464: You’d go to war with a Hoare — many yarpie mercenaries literally did, with Colonel “Mad” Mike Hoare.
And pop into McDonalds along the way for a skulkburger, with extra bacon and mayo.
22 Aug 2010, 13:25 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-475: Or, if your nerves are shot, a freekburger — very strange, that.
22 Aug 2010, 13:25 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-470: Come WC, you will be in NZ (welcome to hell). damn man that is so true inhabited by 4 million devils many poached from the pacific islands.
22 Aug 2010, 13:26 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-468:
That’s because Head Butting and Eye Gouging are very serious offences.
Has Juan been cited for his “assault” of the Referee in this morning match?
If that was an AB pushing the Ref over……can you imagine to outcry here on Keo.Comedy?
You are a bunch of hypo…..hypo…….hypopoto …….well never mind.
22 Aug 2010, 13:32 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-477:
An increasing number of Saffas as well RL.
Hell is indeed a Cosmopolitan place.
22 Aug 2010, 13:42 pm
@Objective 101(Objective 101)-471: you carried us all the way to victory in front of 90000
please, continue “carrying” NZ rugby..
22 Aug 2010, 13:44 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-478: That ref was cutting it fine, he was always in the way spoiling our moves making a pest of himself … but strangely enough he was not in the way of the blacks. Juan should be given a medal for his brave act.
22 Aug 2010, 13:46 pm
@KeyserSoze(KeyserSoze)-474:
-Sonny Bill is injured. Over-hyped maybe. The acid test is not far away.
The Only reason, that Kevvy is the best Hooker in the World right now………….Is because The Whhore is out of action.
Jane is a Full Back, playing out of position.
And Ali, is not only the best NZ Lock, as rated by by cane, but the Best International Lock, Victor has ever played against……………..as rated by Victor.
22 Aug 2010, 13:50 pm
Put is this way:
Does anyone remember Muhammed Ali as the greatest boxer with the biggest mouth or the sad, barely able to speak fool he became after not knowing when to quit.
I always think of the irony of it: the man with the mouth was so full of himself he ended up punch-drunk…
John would do well to use this as a benchmark and hang up them boots.
22 Aug 2010, 13:54 pm
@RedLion is born again(RL)-481:
That Welsh Ref,
has Refereed 3 NZ vs SA Test Matches.
SA have won 66.66% of those matches.
I suspect a Gold Watch does not cut it anymore.
22 Aug 2010, 13:55 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-478: I wonder if Richie has been cited for eye gouging Schalk yesterday
22 Aug 2010, 14:01 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-484: If you already have 2 gold watches, what on earth would you do with a 3rd one
22 Aug 2010, 14:03 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-483:
Cassius Clay,
as his Momma called him.
And if it’s good enough for his Momma,
It’s good enough for cane.
Was struck down with Parkinson’s Disease.
And this has no relation to his boxing. So I have read.
22 Aug 2010, 14:05 pm
@aliboy(aliboy)-486:
LOL ……………..Mr Williams.
22 Aug 2010, 14:06 pm
Panzer/Cane
Well deserved victory yesterday.
But ur claims especially concerning missing players is questionable at best.
Williams is unlikely to be back especially not at peak level(much like Keith Robinson) due to extensive injuries-2 Achilles ruptures in 3 yrs & over 30 now.
Jane might be out of position but he is the best winger in NZ right now,and AB will pick him ahead of Sivi esp vs Boks due to his aerial prowess.So no to Sivi claim
Mealamu is best hooker on planet & not by default as u claim.He is better suited to AB dynamic gameplan than *****.plus he was AB starting hooker for 3-4 yrs prior to *****’s 18-24 month incumbency.He is back at his best,***** will struggle.
And as far as ur SBW claim…ridiculous,let’s leave it at that.wasn’t even best 12/13 in France Top14.
With Boks its not up for debate,our best 2/4/6/9/13/15 incumbents are missing.
22 Aug 2010, 14:07 pm
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-489: whilst I agree cane’s reaching slightly, if SBW wasn’t the best 12 in the Top 14 only Yannick Jauzion was better. Mind you Nonu is in terrific form.
22 Aug 2010, 14:11 pm
@Panzer Chief(cane)-487:
Muhammad Ali and his battle
* The Guardian, Friday 20 March 2009
The former champion boxer Muhammad Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984 at the age of 42, and is one of the most high-profile people battling the condition. His brain injury could have been caused from repeated blows to the head.
????
22 Aug 2010, 15:11 pm
The Fish’s rot starts from the head, just a reminder to all the 3 Cents selectors here who try hard to rectify the situation
Enough said
22 Aug 2010, 15:26 pm
Its time to get rid of Spies. He’s not the player he should be. With his size and strength its hard to believe that he’s not a bigger threat. Make Danie R. eighth man. Or give Kankowski an opportunity to make the position his own. He hasnt had the opportunities Spies was granted for so long.
22 Aug 2010, 15:44 pm
What effin guts and glory are these thumb sucking writers talking about when there has been absolutely NONE manifested ever since P.DeV said late last year before the eoyt and confirmed thereafter in Dec., when he contracted all those “2007 WC seniors” until the end of that 2011 WC?
Since then they won twice against Italy(H & A) and once each against Wales(A) and France(H) thus losing every other game against more worthy opposition and receiving hidings in the process.
22 Aug 2010, 16:47 pm
Rumoured to be PDivvy’s first choice backline players for World Cup 2011
9 FdP
10 M Steyn/R Pienaar
11 Habana/B Basson
12 F Steyn/JDeV
13 J d Jongh
14 JP P’sen
15 P Lambie/Kirchner
22 Aug 2010, 17:29 pm
Saw the match again. Boks threw it away big time with silly mistakes at the end. Flo was a liability when he came on. Not only did he concede a penalty in front of the posts but he was not up with the pace of the game. Same can be said of v.d Linde. Also conceded a penalty and the srums went backwards when he came on. Replacing Hougaard was also silly. The bench is weak and needs to be looked at.
22 Aug 2010, 17:35 pm
Matfield, Spies and Habana (to a lesser extent) need to take a long, hard look at themselves. They are performing way under par. Also don`t think Morne is the answer at flyhalf. I wonder how Lambie will fair at flyhalf.
22 Aug 2010, 17:50 pm
I’m disgusted by the posts from South Africans slating Smit. He played very well. Scrummed with authority. Lead brilliantly. And missed one tackle on Nonu after 80 lung burning minutes. Tell me, how many front rowers would stop Ma’a one on one under those circumstances? None.
If you don’t want him, then hand him over. NZ will take him. Happily.
22 Aug 2010, 18:22 pm
@The Old Enemy(BoksSecondBest)-498: thanks mate 100 % correct
this is an age old problem , the south africans have never stood by their own
poor nation of people
imagine what a hero this man would have been in New Zealand had he been an all black
22 Aug 2010, 18:47 pm
5 clipper!
22 Aug 2010, 18:56 pm
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-499: yes he’d be a hero in new zealand because he would’ve been told to retire after the world cup or at least the b&i lions tour. Kiwis tend to not overstay their welcome! Smit has not only been poor in one game, start with the game in june against wales where he gifted james hook the easiest of tries! He was finished THEN!
Graham Henry or Robbie Deans would’ve told him to stuff off and shape up a long time ago.
So francois steyn & joe van niekerk can be left out of the team because they’re of the pace but Plod is exempted from the chop even when he is 20kg overweight? F*ck that!
22 Aug 2010, 19:01 pm
@The Old Enemy(BoksSecondBest)-498:
You obviously watched a different game mate! I was there and followed him struggling to get to the rucks and missing numerous tackles.
@sharks_lover(sharks_lover)-499:
He has served his country well – I wouldn’t deny it – but be honest and judge the guy on his present form! He is so well off the pace it is embarrassing.
22 Aug 2010, 19:09 pm
John Smit is a legend through and through.
22 Aug 2010, 19:10 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-503:
For sure BUT you are only as good as your last game mate!
22 Aug 2010, 19:10 pm
why they bought ricky on who the f knows. Hougaard was excellent, Ricky should head back to the bench for WP. Juan Smith was also excellent, why the f was he taken off???
22 Aug 2010, 19:11 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-505:
Great coaching staff I presume! Why they didn’t take a panting Smit off is beyond belief and Nonu ran through him like the Red Sea opening!
22 Aug 2010, 19:12 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-504: @Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-504: oh ok so that means Habs is shite and Spies and and and… if that was the case we’d have no team, everyone has a bad run every now and then . I seem to remember a number of players having a bad run and they were kept on the park, the same should apply for Smit.
22 Aug 2010, 19:14 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-506: I’d say Smit is a better option than chilli, they should bring Bizzy in as sub then yes rotate him with Smit, but no rotation with a vodacom cup player.
22 Aug 2010, 19:20 pm
@grant10(grant10)-420:
Piss off. I would like to see you do something about it.
You were the one sprouting about the blonde, no one else.
Pric.
22 Aug 2010, 19:21 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-507:
That is not what I said! I was there and watched Smit struggling throughout the game. Spies was shocking and Habanna should be sent back to his franchise with Spies, Smit and Steyn. If we can’t win with all that support, I shudder to think what the future holds. Yes there are injuries but blaming our performance on that is short sighted.
22 Aug 2010, 19:22 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-508:
…at the moment I would think Ralapele is the better option, but agree that Bissie is the best option at the moment.
22 Aug 2010, 19:34 pm
Dear John
You have done wonders for this country! You have achieved what only a few could ever achieve in a sporting career.
You held up the William Webb Ellis trophy and made so many South Africans proud.
You have won the Tri-Nations, the Mandela Cup and even led your team to Lions series win. All exceptional achievements. The country is very proud of these achievements and so should you.
However in sport you are up the one day and down the next day. In New Zealand they don’t care if your name is Carter or Fitzpatrick – if you don’t perform you make way for someone who deserves to be there. Unfortunately you are not performing lately – 0 from 4 is poor in any countries language. Not one All Black has made 100 test caps as they all want to leave on a high. The best thing that you could do for yourself, your team and your country is to realise when the time has come. I think you know you are not performing and it is having an effect on the team. It is not too late. Your conditioning is poor, your general play is poor and your leadership is lacking because of this.
You are a legend and should know when the time is ripe! There is still a place for you in SA rugby, but I don’t think it is as a player and leader anymore.
Good Luck!
22 Aug 2010, 19:47 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-511: ha ha…no man c’mon. Ja but Bizy could definitely rotate with Smit.
22 Aug 2010, 19:48 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-506: are you being sarcastic about coaching and the subs?
22 Aug 2010, 19:49 pm
It seems that too many of you cannot take being beaten fairly and squarely and that it is always never your or your teams’ fault but everyone else that are denying you a win or cheating you in some way or other.
So how can you tell me you have been robbed and say for you that the sun don’t shine?
Let me take you by the hand and lead you through rugby analysis and I’ll show you something to make you change your mind.
Altitude in your favour but not fully used as all and sundry(in ‘Groen en Goud’) tired except the ABs who were playing their most demanding rugby then – 2 tries in 2 mins.- did the ABs read the script?
Attitude questionable still, despite all the positive favourable factors – mental deficiency rages on.
Thus execution not according to what the demands required and thus defence still wanting because of poor tackling – example the last and winning try, captain 100 missed the tackle which is a defenseless error by such an ‘experienced’ player – totally unpardonable thus should be banished to a retirement village.
Cheating – Burger’s try was not even a try – he was on his back in front of the line and with players on and around him and as the ball was propelled forward ever so slowly an All Black hand by msecs. got the dot down for what should have been a 22m drop out.
Too many “2007 WC seniors” feeling all too entitled believing SA rugby owes them something when in reality they as paid millionare professionals owe their employer big time everytime they pull on that green and gold jersey only to too regularly under-perform.
No other analysis needed surely?
Accept and digest and get wiser as you are being cheated by millionare professionals.
22 Aug 2010, 19:51 pm
@foreverrugga(foreverrugga)-514:
Not at all the coaching staff have an outdated playing method and many players shouldn’t even be in the squad.
22 Aug 2010, 20:01 pm
See heres the plan
Bok coaching staff make out like ABs are the greatest team
So we are again lulling them into a feeling of been the favs for WC 2011
So next year rolls on and we win the WC
Are our couching staff that brilliant ?
22 Aug 2010, 20:03 pm
@ET(ET)-515:
Yeah both teams play on the edge and both teams “cheat”
(we just get caught more often)
22 Aug 2010, 20:05 pm
My highlight! The ref copping two mega players!
22 Aug 2010, 20:06 pm
Almost night time, then the bloodsucking vampires all crawl out from under the woodwork
It is the time when they infest the site right about now I would say
22 Aug 2010, 20:07 pm
How utter rubbish is our women in rugby and our juniors and now the sevens team as well
Is it Saru or the coaches?
22 Aug 2010, 20:08 pm
@JL1(JL1)-520:
The night was dark and dismal too!
When down the road a JL flew…
and from his side a dagger drew
and split the bannana right in two.
22 Aug 2010, 20:09 pm
@JL1(JL1)-521:
You forgot the 15 Boks too!
22 Aug 2010, 20:12 pm
Hiw poor have been against the ABs over the last 12 years
I blame SaRU and the appointed coaches
22 Aug 2010, 20:14 pm
@JL1(JL1)-521: saru and the coaches
22 Aug 2010, 20:17 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-523: They need individual mention by name, not collective
But let us start with PDV, I feel for him as much as I felt for Jake WHite in 2006, nothing, nada, zilch
22 Aug 2010, 20:20 pm
@JL1(JL1)-526:
I’m tired of losing mate! So so tired!
I’m tired of all the excuses! So so tired!
22 Aug 2010, 20:26 pm
@JL1(JL1)-524: How can they not have a dedicated plan, a strategy as such to work towards
Province, Sharks and Bulls are better run with less money
22 Aug 2010, 20:30 pm
What worries me is when the coach states that there are positives in losing. The only positive about losing is that it becomes a habit, especially playing at home. Eish!
22 Aug 2010, 20:31 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-527: You know, I think in 2006′ or 2001, Os du Randt summed it up: “EK IS GATVOl!”
PDV can take loads of blame for yesterday
22 Aug 2010, 20:34 pm
If anyone wants an unbiased source on his present form, here’s Ackford in the DT:
‘Yesterday Smit was as good as he has been in ages. There is no sense he has lost his players. He did as much as anyone to smash the Blacks back in the tackle and, if the lineout wobbled occasionally, he also had a good day in the scrummage.’
he spends the rest of the article talking about how rugby has moved on from the Boks crash and bash rugby but he’s honest enough about how Smit played
22 Aug 2010, 20:38 pm
@Bill Reyts(Gumboots)-529: Positives, yes, 94 000 paying fans, that was the only positive
22 Aug 2010, 20:39 pm
73. rossoneri(rossoneri) :
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Guys, totally unrelated, but why was there no handing over of the trophy and fireworks when the All Blacks won on Saturday? I know that when the Boks won the trinations in New Zealand they where given both the Freedom Cup and the Trinations Trophy in front of all the New Zealand people. No matter how that hurt them. Boks had won the trophy fair and square.
I saw victory pics of the All Blacks in the dressing room at Soccer City, where they had their trophy in the changing rooms.
Were Saru arrogantly thinking that the Boks would beat the All Blacks by more than 7 points, and never made arrangements, or are Saffas really such sour losers, that they would give the winners of the tournament their trophy in a locker room?
22 Aug 2010, 20:40 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-531: The Rugby Paper says it all about the cheating of the ABs, full 2 page article with sources and facts and Bob Dwyer and off course player ratings
Smit gets a 6 same as other players
22 Aug 2010, 20:41 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-533: Remeber the Aussies that did not care about the Mandela trophy when it was handed to them?
22 Aug 2010, 20:42 pm
pdv
are just
way too
dumb
for
the job
22 Aug 2010, 20:45 pm
@JL1(JL1)-535: Are you saying that three nations Nz, SA and Aus, do not care about the Trinations trophy? They sure looked like they were happy to have it in the changing rooms.
You would have been saddened if the Boks were given their World Cup in France in a toilet.
22 Aug 2010, 20:46 pm
@Porra the Fat and Clever Speedster(Porra)-536:
is just
am just
just
juice
22 Aug 2010, 20:46 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-537: Not what I am saying at all, if Saru did not do the proper thing, then so be it, just another RDP incompetence move from them
22 Aug 2010, 20:47 pm
@Porra the Fat and Clever Speedster(Porra)-536: 100% Pure stupidity
22 Aug 2010, 20:50 pm
@rossoneri(rossoneri)-533:
Seemed a good question, only you can answer it.
What kind of expectation do you have from that bunch of sub standard, inept gravy train riders and quota lords calling themselves SARU?!
0nce you cleared your stance on that mob you’ll be able to get a perfect answer
22 Aug 2010, 20:55 pm
@JL1(JL1)-535:
Remember the Mandela trophy that Joost was forced/intimidated to hand to the Boks although they lost the 3-tests series to the ABs in Rustenburg, circa 2006, where were you then?
You cant hold a T**d ball expecting to keep clean fingers,
22 Aug 2010, 21:04 pm
Rapports Headline: Bokke Beroof
It should read 3-0!
Morne Steyn, Spies, Victor, Plod – all liabilities! esp Morne
22 Aug 2010, 21:06 pm
That skop and chase attitude adopted from the lame Bulls are the reason Bok rugby in are in crisis
22 Aug 2010, 21:08 pm
Give Moffiefield the captains armband for his 100th and the whole tragedy repeats itself
22 Aug 2010, 21:09 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-542: ?
22 Aug 2010, 21:11 pm
BTW there wasnt 94000 SA supporters cause I saw alot of people wearing their Black! Maybe the imfamous Newlands Black Pocket has infected Soweto.
22 Aug 2010, 21:12 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-531: how present is this assessment of Plod’s ‘present form’? I ask because paul ackford ‘independently’ told us what he witnessed in june when the Boks played Wales and i seem to remember you refuting his assessment!
You are very selective in your quoting of ackford! But i expect no less form you 008, you are a longtime Plod sympathiser hahaha
The big surprise for South Africa was the
attitude and execution of their captain, John
Smit, which were both lousy. To me, Smit
has looked neither fit nor at ease since he
has bounced between hooker and prop,
and he was blowing hard yesterday very
early on. Yet puff was not the main issue.
Smit presented James Hook with the easiest
of tries when he found himself in the
middle of the Boks backline after South
Africa had turned over Welsh possession.
Instead of shuffling into the nearest
defender as most self-respecting tight
forwards tend to do, Smit shaped to kick,
stopped, thought about it, and then rifled a
pass into the waiting hands of Hook, who
cantered over for the try.
When Stephen Jones banged over the
conversion, Wales were 16-3 ahead and
cruising. For a captain to make that kind of
error, and to compound it by blatant
displays of petulance, questioning the
decisions of officials throughout much of
the first half, as Smit did, was poor.
22 Aug 2010, 21:13 pm
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-543: hahaha i saw that, with Plod flat on his arse hands over his face!
22 Aug 2010, 21:16 pm
Smit was pretty anonymous yesterday. OUr props seemed to struggle too. But Steyn for me committed the most unforgiveable of sins by lamely kicking away the scraps of possession we had. Bad decision-making AND poor execution. de Villiers’ substitutions puzzled me for all reasons given elsewhere. Why take off Hougaard and Smith, who were both motm candidates, and didn’t seem to be injured? Contraary to other opinions (incl Keo’s) I didn’t theink the commentary was anything above patriotic banality personified. What was all that stuf abuot this being one of the most significant bok-AB clashes ever? I mean, wtf, wasn’t it basically a dead rubber? Fancy new stadium, ho hum. The AB’s looked to be wanting to play rugger, but they didn’t look as if they were going to kill themselves for this one. And they din’t have to, mores the pity. Good luck to them though, I’m happy for the game to mostly go the way of the team that makes the running rather than the counterpunchers, even though I’m a Saffa.
22 Aug 2010, 21:16 pm
Plod,wife and kids crying
22 Aug 2010, 21:22 pm
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-551: So you think that is funny? You are quite sick really.
22 Aug 2010, 21:29 pm
@Puma(Puma)-552: If he realised that he wasnt good enough, this wouldnt have happen!
22 Aug 2010, 21:30 pm
That Gary Gold is the biggest moaner within the Bok setup!
22 Aug 2010, 22:11 pm
To keep it simple the ABS are playing a superior game of rugby to the boks at the moment,that and snor and his two stooges don`t help.The ABS have moved forward from last year and the boks backwards.I have said it once and i will say it again if snor and his two stooges are still in charge at the world cup next year the boks will NOT win it,as they are not good enough to be in charge.
22 Aug 2010, 23:03 pm
Ja this was the first game where teh actual game plans were tested without men disappearing off the field with yellow cards, or AB obstructive running (cheating)causing havoc with the scores. And the Bok game plan was clearly second best.
We had some gritty defending, and tackles iwth heart, but you just simply cannot do this all 80 minutes. Not with the players conditioned to this level.
The AB’s are not better conditioned than the Boks. I would say that we are at least on par with them. BUT our game plan requires that we are 15% fitter than the AB’s, and with a much tougher mindset (as being on attack is positive and increases the players heart), because we are on defence all the time. If you take for granted that we WILL not consistently be that much fitter, and that the AB’s will continue getting fitter and lifting the intensity, then you can see how kicking away possession and defending all day is simply not an option as a game plan.
We will consistently lose at the highest levels because we are not using the advantages that the laws provide to the team with ball in hand. We should thank the AB’s for showing us how to win teh next world cup, and then put into place plans for us to go about playing this game better than them.
Sometimes being a good boss is knowing when to cut and run. This game plan has had its time. Relegate it to history please. Or at least coach the Boks to play the seocnd plan. Because as soon as we were required to actually keep ball in hand and run it at the AB’s – we looked like we had no clue. if one game plan turns out more satisfying or easy to implement, then the Boks will naturally choose to do so of their own accord. As long as they are all on the same game plan.
22 Aug 2010, 23:07 pm
PS Congrats AB’s fans – that was well played by the AB’s – no excuses this time – they played the better game plan. and deserved to win – without any funny stuff going on.
I can be a good loser when that other stuff is absent.
Yes there were a couple of dodgy calls and missed forward passes, but that happens naturally in a game. We could have and should have won, but we could not sustain that defence all game. And we should not have been on defence all game.
Well done AB’s – you deserved that win.
22 Aug 2010, 23:43 pm
This game was a brutal reminder to John Smit that there is no place for sentiment in International rugby. If you are not in shape, por have teh wrong game plan, you WILL suffer.
Hopefully the lessons have now been learnt, and we will stop with this dreadful outdated game plan.
22 Aug 2010, 23:46 pm
@Mighty Horua(Mighty Horua)-554: Like Henry last year and in 2007
22 Aug 2010, 23:51 pm
‘as soon as we were required to actually keep ball in hand and run it at the AB’s – we looked like we had no clue.’
it’s been like that for some time now
22 Aug 2010, 23:55 pm
@JL1(JL1)-559:
Nice one JL1,but it would have been more effective with what you said had some truth to it.
Henry did not complain about the RWC loss,he left it with the Kiwi supporters and NZRU,we did it for him
22 Aug 2010, 23:59 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-561: No last year Henry complained look it up
Too much kicking blah blah blah
23 Aug 2010, 00:04 am
@JL1(JL1)-562:
I said the RWC 2007.
Didnt say anything about 2008,but at least he didnt call your country a bunch of cheats
23 Aug 2010, 00:05 am
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-563:
I meant i didnt say anything about 2009.
Cos 2008 was another year of complaints from SA,my mistake
23 Aug 2010, 01:57 am
I am a little amazed at the ‘hate mail’ on here regarding J Smit. I agree that he is past his best and getting a fit BdP back should happen sooner rather than later, but the guy has done more than probably anyone else to help bring pride back into the SB jersey after one of their darkest hours.
If the coach is still picking him it must be because there is something in the team dynamic around Smit that they aren’t sure they can afford to lose yet. He has been the heart of that team for a long time. A new heart will take time to get beating. Those of us outside the camp don’t always see the whole picture.
Regarding the missed tackle on the weekend, how many front row heavies haven’t missed tackles when they find themselves out in the backline facing world class backs who can run circles around them? I doubt that there is even one. Nonu would have looked up when the ball arrived and grinned ear to ear as he saw a heavy unit standing in front of him. The last minute timing was horrible, and even as I was celebrating as an AB supporter I was heartbroken when I saw that it was Smit who missed the tackle.
Anyway, I agree that he does need to move on, but everyone (Bok supporter or otherwise) should recognise the important part J Smit has played in both Bok and world rugby. He does deserve some criticism for his current conditioning, but not much of the hate rubbish that has been posted on here.
23 Aug 2010, 04:20 am
GH was stating the painfully bleeding obvious: that crowds all over the rugby-playing world simply don’t find kick-and-chase one-dimensional rugby worth the price of an entry ticket or a DSTV subscription.
The fee-paying crowds prefer watching running rugby.
He’s right.
23 Aug 2010, 07:30 am
Ah Tickles, and we can’t have the odd forward pass destroying a good game of running rugby can we? Would Mr Henry have sed that in 2007?
Piss off you bigotted hypocrite.
23 Aug 2010, 08:58 am
@aliboy(aliboy)-565: Aliboy, I agree with just you just a little bit. BUT, John Smit should have done the honorable thing when he realized last year that he’s simply not good enough anymore. He should have retired. But with him refusing to throw in the towel (and the union too scared to speak up because of this so-called gratitude for his past success), he’s put the Boks in a position where we have to prepare a new captain in less than a year.
Yes. He’s got some motivitional influence over the players, but why not make him team manager or something?
23 Aug 2010, 09:00 am
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-566: LOL! Maybe, but how did they manage to get that many spectators for a dead-rubber match if Henry was right? LOL!
23 Aug 2010, 09:23 am
@Bouts(Bouts)-569: They came to watch the AB’s of course
23 Aug 2010, 12:17 pm
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-413: OK you sprung me. So I was being a little facious.
But the highveldt ambush back fired on the SA’s. The Boks started at 100 mph hoping to puff the All Blacks out enough to keep an early need. Good move, almost worked, they almost won. But that same highveldt worked against the Boks at that pace and the Boks couldnt maintain the pace for 80 minutes, bad move, didnt work, and they lost. The Boks became lethargic in the forwards and the All Blacks sensed the weakness and upped the ante in the last 5-10 minutes (as they do) and thats the game.
23 Aug 2010, 12:21 pm
1-BEAST
2-BISMARCK (J.SMIT-BENCH, STRICTLY FOR MOTIVATIONAL QUALITY HE BRINGS)
3-JANNIE
4-MATFIELD
5-BOTHA
6-HEINRICH BRUSSOW
7-SCHALK- (F.LOUW-BENCH)
8-R. KANKOWSKI (D.VERMUELEN)
9- F.DUPREE, “THE GENIUS” (HOUGAARD-BENCH)
10-R.PIENNAR
11- HABANA
12-J.DE VELLIERS
13-J.De Jongh( Jaque Fourie-Bench)
14- GIO APLON (THE BLACK SHARKS WING-BENCH)
15- STEYN
WITH ALL THIS ATTACKING POWER, FLAIR AND THINKING RUGBY MINDS, WE WILL BE THE FIRST COUNTRY TO EVER RETAIN THE WORLD CUP. COMMENTS?
15- STEYN
23 Aug 2010, 13:05 pm
I seriously believe that if we harnessed all the strengths of the different types of rugby played by the different types of racial groups in South Africa, we could be better than the All Blacks year after year. Our rugby as is, is mundane and predictable, it is not entertaining even when we were winning. We need to get rid of all our prejudices!, New Zealand was only able to play that brand of rugby once the Maoris started playing alongside their white country men, it is then that they incorporated their diffrent styles to formulate their current style of rugby which is renowned world wide. IN FOOTBALL IT IS THE SAME, BRAZIL, A CLASSIC EXAMPLE. WHETEHR WE WANT TO ADMIT IT OR NOT BLACK FOLK HAVE MORE CREATIVITY AND AGILITY, SO WHY DO WE NOT WANT THIS SUCCESS FOR OUR COUNTRY. THE BLACK PEOPLE OF THE EASTERN CAPE PROVINCE HAVE BEEN PLAYING RUGBY FOR OVER A 100 YEARS, WHY DO WE INSIST ON HAVING THIS GLASS CEILING FOR ALL ASPIRING TALENTED BLACK PLAYERS WHO EXCELL. WHY ARE THEY ALWAYS RELEGATED TO BEING ON THE WING. BLACK PEOPLE COULD BE DEVELOPED MORE SO TO BE ANY OF THE LOOSE TRIO, SCRUMHALF, FLYHALF, INFACT MOST OF THE BACKLINE POSITIONS. COME ON PEOPLE, LET US PUT MORE RESOURCES IN ASSISTING DEVELOP THESE YOUNG PLAYERS. SOME HOW THERE IS AN OBSESSION IN SOUTH AFRICA ABOUT SIZE BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT IS CODE FOR RACE. RUGBY IS A GAME THAT WAS CREATED BY THE ENGLISH, TO BE ENJOYED BY ALL.
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