The weekend saw fierce battles in the Currie Cup competition and with all the teams having played 5 games the Cheetahs and the Sharks are the early front runners.

Friday evening saw the Lions travel to Brakpan to take on the Falcons ina hope to get their season back on track and that they did. A brilliant performance by Jacques Cronje and a fantastic display of running rugby saw the Lions victorious by 62-5. The referee, Brett Bowden from Australia, also helped to make this game very entertaining.

Saturday afternoon saw three games. Boland, the surprise package of the Currie Cup so far, travelled to Kimberley to take on Griquas. This was a very entyertaining game with both teams keen to run the ball. The Griquas pack eventually was the deciding factor and the men from Kimberley ran out victors by 43-32.

WP travelled to Bloemfontein to take on the Cheetahs and after 4 losses in a row they were regarded as underdogs. The first half saw WP only trailing by 16-13 after a much improved effort by the men from the Cape. After half time Province fought gainly for the first 25 minutes of the second half but the greater skill of the Cheetah backs took it’s toll and they ran in 4 tries for a convincing 43-13 victory. The team that wants to win the Currie Cup this season will have to beat the Cheetahs.

The final game of the afternoon was a repeat of the Super 14 final with the Bulls taking on the Sharks in Durban. In a typically hard fought battle the Sharks ran out victors by 29-10. The Sharks controlled possesion and scored 4 tries to 1 and at the moment looks like the only team that can take on the Cheetahs and maybe beat them.

The weekend saw all the big unions in action and there were no real surprises in the results.

Friday afternoon saw Griquas play the Falcons in Kimberley and after a clinical display Griquas won 63-10. Griquas played nearly perfect rugby, scoring eight tries to one, and sending a warning to the other teams to not discard them.

Saturday saw the Sharks travel to Wellington to play against Boland. The sharks struggled to get going against a highly motivated Boland side but in the end picked up 5 points with a 26-12 victory.

The Cheetahs travelled to Ellispark for their first real test of this year’s Currie Cup competition, taking on the Lions. Both teams played enterprising rugby at times with the men from Bloemfontein victorius by 27-11.

The last game of the weekend, the WP against the Blue Bulls, have for many years been the highlight of the Currie Cup competition but Saturday’s game was not that. Both teams made to many errors and referee Wille Roos made some very dubious decisions that left both teams wondering about his interpretation of the rules. The Bulls won by 26-17, but neither side can feel satisfied with their performance.

Jake White named his 30 man squad to represent SA at the World Cup in September on Saturday and there were no real surprises.

There are injury worries but White said all players will be fit to fly to France on the 3rd of September.The biggest advantage White has with this squad is that they are experienced in test rugby with 809 test matches between them and 12 of the players have previous World Cup experience.

SA squad: Fullbacks: Percy Montgomery, Francois Steyn. Wings: Bryan Habana, Ashwin Willemse, Akona Ndungane, JP Pietersen. Centres: Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier. Flyhalves: Butch James, Andre Pretorius. Scrumhalves: Fourie du Preez, Enrico Januarie, Ruan Pienaar. Loose Forwards: Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Bob Skinstad, Danie Rossouw, Schalk Burger, Wikus van Heerden. Locks: Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Albert van den Berg, Johann Muller. Props: CJ van der Linde, Os du Randt, BJ Botha, Gurthro Steenkamp. Hookers: Gary Botha, John Smit(captain).

A clinical performance by the All Blacks saw them beat the Wallabies 26-12 and thus retain the Tri-Nations trophy and the Bledisloe Cup.

The rest of the rugby world must be worried about the form the All Blacks are displaying at the moment, they are not playing the best rugby but still they manage to beat the other top rugby nations with relative ease. Dan Carter is slowly getting to the form that has made him the best flyhalf in the world and behind a pack of forwards that dominate they are going to be hard to stop.

Good news for the Wallabies is the return of star fullback Chris Latham from injury. He looked rusty and lacks match fitness but it is a major boost for the Aussies to have him back before the World Cup.

All roads now lead to France in September and the All Blacks must be favourites going into the tournament.

The All Blacks host the Wallabies in Auckland on Saturday to determine the home of the Bledisloe Cup and who would be Tri-Nations champions.

Australia has already upset the All Blacks once this season and will give it their all on Saturday to reclaim the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2003.

Wallaby Squad for Saturday:15.Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14.Mark Gerrard, 13.Stirling Mortlock(captain), 12.Matt Giteau, 11.Drew Mitchell, 10.Stephen Larkham, 9.George Gregan, 8.Stephen Hoiles, 7.George Smith, 6.Rocky Elsom, 5.Dan Vickerman, 4.Nathan Sharpe, 3.Guy Shepherdson, 2.Stephen Moore, 1.Matt Dunning
Reserves: Adam Freier, Al Baxter, Hugh McMeniman, Mark Chisholm, Phil Waugh, Scott Staniforth and Chris Latham

The All Blacks are favourites to win at Eden Park and have picked a very strong combination for Saturday:15.Mils Muliaina, 14.Dough Howlett, 13.Iaia Toeava, 12.Luke McAllister, 11.Joe Rokocoko, 10.Dan Carter, 9.Byron Kelleher, 8.Rodney So’oialo, 7.Richie McCaw(captain), 6.Jerry Collins, 5.Chris Jack, 4.Keith Robinson, 3.Carl Hayman, 2.Anton Oliver, 1.Tony Woodcock
Reserves: Keven Mealamu, Neemia Tialata, Reuben Thorne, Chris Masoe, Brendon Leonard, Aaron Mauger and Nick Evans.

The game kicks off 09.35 am SA time on Saturday.

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The old analogy that you can not win rugby games by just defending came true again.For 70 minutes the Bok ‘B’ team was able to hold the All Blacks and frustrate them with fantastic defence. The last ten mintes saw the All Blacks run in three tries to run out victors 33-6, but the youngsters in the Bok side have nothing to be ashamed of.

New Zealand had better quality possesion but struggled to make an impression against solid defence by a motivated Springbok side. A dubious yellow card against Pedrie Wannenburg left the SA side with no gas left in the tank for the last ten minutes and the superior attacking skills af the All Blacks created gaps that led to three converted tries and a convincing All Black victory.

The All Blacks did make a lot of mistakes during the game and they are not looking as ominous as in previous World Cup years. Teams like Australia, France, Ireland and a full strength SA side should be going into the World Cup fancying their chances against the number 1 ranked team in the world. (more…)