How often has Richie and the lads made Bissie and Bakkies’ life hell with tugging at their shirts, pushing them down on the pitch or my personal favourite, running obstructive lines on scramble defence? The answer is, too often to remember and possibly too painful as well. Horwill and company was having none of it and remained calm and focussed throughout the game. Sure Quade Cooper and Richie threw their handbags at each other, but that was more a case of McCaw getting frustrated because things weren’t going his way. Speaking of things for once NOT going old Richie’s way – a special mention also has to be made of the referee, who had a solid performance and was consistent all around.

The pace at which the men from down under conducted proceedings also bears mentioning as this frenetic, rate of knots performance made it next to impossible for the Kiwis to catch their breath. The Aussies who attacked relentlessly made absolutely sure they ended every extended period of play in their opponent’s 22-meter-area with points to show for it. Most of what I have mentioned in this blog can be attributed to some form of cliché that coaches in every sector of the game throw around without much thought, but if you savour one pearl of wisdom from this, it would be to take the points when you can get them. Kiwis and Aussies don’t gift you points, so when the opportunity to get points presents itself, take it, because it might not come around again too soon.

Cooper delivered a commanding execution of his duties and is growing as a pivot like a wild flower. He showed that Robbie Deans’ trust in him was not misplaced, as I’m sure the former Canterbury coach still wonders if excluding Matt Gitaeu from his world cup squad was a wise decision. So far so good, as Quade Cooper has taken his tantalising form of the Super 15 into the Tri-Nations and hopefully (for Aussie fans anyway) will carry on in the same trend at the RWC.

So in closing, what might my beloved Springboks take from this blog if they should happen to stumble across it somewhere in cyberspace? Apart from the obvious brilliant grammar and clever turn of phrase, simply this – don’t stand back for anybody! You have the skills and the experience to get one over on anybody at any time, just remain calm and clever about how you conduct business on the park. Do the basics right and take the game to the opponents, all the while putting THEM under pressure and in so feed off their mistakes.

Hope this helps!

Pic: richie-mccaw.blogspot.com

Source: sport24.co.za

If the Springboks don’t manage to win the Rugby World Cup, P.Divvy is going to end up shouldering most of the blame and cueing the greater majority of the rugby supporting public to start beating on that most irritating “I told you so” drum. On the other hand, should the Springboks return to South Africa with the  RWC, I’m fairly confident that credit will be spread around between the players, coaching specialists, SARFU, baggage masters, sponsors, bus drivers, and, well, you get the idea – but no mention of P.Divvy. The more cynical amongst us (and I’ve heard this one already, by the way) will say that the Springboks won the RWC despite the coach’s influence.
Shane Warne, in reaction to a question regarding the coach’s role in helping to achieve the dominance that Australian cricket enjoyed in the nineties and early 2000’s, once commented that in a team loaded with iconic players (amongst them you’ll remember was Warne, Steve Waugh and Glen McGrath to name but a few), the coach was the thing that they drove in to get to the ground from the hotel before the start of the day’s play. In short, his belief was that at a certain level of skill and experience, no head coach could tell a player anything that he couldn’t work out by himself, both regarding his technical deficiencies and the motivational aspect of performing at the highest level. If anything, the army of coaching specialists, medical practitioners and mental preparation coaches are there to provide niche solutions catered to an individual’s needs, not the head coach.

Although I’m in no way claiming that the current Springbok rugby side has exerted anywhere near the global dominance of that particular Australian cricket side, it’s hard to ignore the similarities between them: both comprised squads containing the most experienced individuals at test level (up until last week’s All Black team, South Africa boasted the most test caps in their first-choice run-on team than any other country, a record maintained for nearly 4 years) and within that experienced squad are at least 4 or 5 players who over the past 5 years’ performances can consistently claim to be the best in their positions in the world. With that in mind, what role is there left for the head coach?

Jake White’s job was complicated for both political as well as rugby reasons. He took charge of a disillusioned team low on confidence, low on results and light on experience, and amid continuous boardroom dramas played out in public, unified a squad under one common 4-year goal: winning the 2007 RWC. He was able to do this by tapping into a very emotional core for all of the players, many of whom were at their lowest ebb as international players, and added this to the optimism inherent to the youthful players he built his team around. This contrasts greatly with the job de Villiers has: reigniting the drive of effectively the same group of players who, over the course of 2 seasons, achieved everything that a Springbok rugby player can possibly achieve, through a RWC winners medal, a Tri-Nations trophy that included beating the All Blacks 3 times in a row, and a series win against the Lions. Complicating this challenge is the fact that this career peak happened 2 years ago, and this team now consists of a core of players many of whom can be regarded as modern greats of the South African game, and if Shane Warne is to be believed, are beyond coaching.

All this leaves de Villiers with a lot less emotional fuel that he can add to the fire that the Springboks are going to need in their bellies to win RWC 2011. As Geo Cronje and Quinton Davids back in 2003 will attest to, the Springbok badge on its own is not enough to put aside differences and weld a group of individuals into a cohesive unit functioning towards achieving a shared goal – too much personality can dangerously get in the way. Bear in mind this though – cricket is uniquely a team sport played by individuals: ultimately the game boils down to one batsman versus one bowler, while rugby embodies one of the truest definitions of a team sport, where individuals are required to make sacrifices to advance the team’s cause.

Making those types of sacrifices for the good of the rest of your team mates in a contact sport like rugby requires putting aside your own personal agenda, and it also requires trust that the man standing next to you will make the same sacrifice when required – and this is not something that can be coached.

Perhaps this is where P.Divvy operates best, in those shady grey areas between individuals where black and white solutions are not always the best solutions to problems that might fester for years and only become disruptive a month before a RWC when the pressure starts to build and the bonds between players are really tested.  Possibly then, a coach like P.Divvy is more suited to this specific Springbok team than his predecessors – a man capable of pulling the strings in the background all the while not seeking public credit, comfortable in his own unique role within that Springbok set-up.

Either that or he really is inventing his RWC master plan by stringing together phrases he reads off the bottom of coffee cups and notice boards and fooling us all. Either way, if he develops a limp any time soon which magically corrects itself once he has collected his World Cup winners’ medal, I’m outta here…

(* Google it, numbnuts)

A. von Mollendorff

How quickly have we put the record loss to the Kiwis and the thumping by the Wombats behind us? How swiftly have we consoled ourselves with the explination that we were only comprehensively beaten because we sent a “B-team” to Australasia? How blindly do we stare into the the Durban night sky and await an unrealistic miracle-victory from a vastly experienced, yet untested side? Why do we put ourselves through this anguish every time? The answer is simple, a combination of pride and a national obsession to win. Saffas are proud to extremely bad losers, proud of being quick forgivers and proud to be eternal optimists when the odds are heavily stacked against us. All of these attributes ONLY apply to sport and naturally we still haven’t forgiven Shabir Shaik, Leonard Cheune, Jurie Els or Juju Malema!!

The psycology major in me must question the merit in enduring all this grief and misery at the hands of sportsmen and women, who are just trying to do a job the best they know how and are allowed to. But because we’re PROUD South Africans, we feel that when these heroes let us down, they deserve to get their pay revoked, fired or worse. Please don’t get me wrong, I place myself squarely in the unrealistic expectation grouping I’ve just mentioned, but once I’ve calmed down (after a heart-breaking loss) I begin to see reason and try to understand human error. Most of the time I succeed, but it takes quite a while and copious amounts of alcohol. Soon enough we allow ourselves to dream again and then our hearts get ripped from our unsuspecting chests again.

Some people feel South Africans only have themselves to blame, with our constant need to forget and starting over remaining part of who we are and how we life. International (sport) sanctions throughout the eighties did not help our sense of self either and made us too aware of our shortcomings and past failures. Subsequently we’ve become disillusioned when it comes to expecting realistic outcomes to sporting events. However, I don’t see myself changing into a gracious loser who expects my heroes to be mere mortals and just do their best, any time soon.

We will beat the Wombats because we’ve got home-ground advantage and all the experience it needs and if that is unrealistic, then being a realist sucks!

A. Waldeck

Pic: planetrugby.com

The All Blacks on Saturday were a much more “game-plan orientated” team than the Australian side we faced the week before, and the Springbok side that pitched up was a lot more organized in defence, a product of an extra week of practice and cohesion. The communication seemed a lot more organized, and as any coach worth his salt will tell you, good defence is a product of good communication as much as what it is of physical commitment. Also, I would guess that the All Blacks should be a bit easier to defend against since they tend to adhere to a game plan much more than the Aussies, who counter-attack unpredictably from turnovers a lot more effectively – no surprises there given the amount of outright X-factor hanging around in that particular backline. And while the All Blacks might be a more predictable prospect than the Wallabies, knowing what they’re going to do, and actually being able to stop them from doing it is 2 different stories…

This entire away leg of the Tri Nations was an exercise in cat-and-mouse: shielding our real team (the A-team-that-is-an-A-team) from any more physical damage than is necessary, trying to learn as much as we can about where the Australian and New Zealand teams are in terms of selections and combinations, and finally to figure out which of the fringe players have what ittakes to play as Springboks against the 2 best sides in the world on their own respective patches, and thus stake a claim to go to the World Cup later this year. (Only 37 days, 19 hours and 41 minutes as I write this to go, boys and girls!)

So what have we learnt then?

First things first: Australia. If everything goes according to plan, we should meet them in the finals of RWC, and what should be very apparent is that any error that results in the ball being turned over to the Aussies, particularly in broken play where defences are mostly scrambled and disorganized, is going to cost us big time. Being accurate and clinical is key to stopping the Aussies from their major source of points – I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I found out that they score 80% of their tries from broken play. (I don’t know for sure though, and neither does Google by the look of it).Stopping the Wallaby backline also involves contesting well up front with your forwards, since this drastically reduces the quality of frontfoot ball that guys like Quade Cooper, James O’Connor and friends get to work with.

Next piece of RWC schooling learnt from this trip: New Zealand, probable semi-final opponents at RWC. A more committed Bok team on Saturday past, both in defence and contesting at the breakdowns – and now you can start screaming the scoreline at me via the comments section if you must – forced New Zealand to reveal a lot more about themselves than I suspect they originally expected to. Yes, the scoreline was bad, but what else would you have expected from a virtually full strength All Black team against a team of very green youngsters, without enough depth and experience, with only limited leadership in certain key positions? They are the All Blacks after all, and being able to stop them from effectively executing their game plan requires a serious effort from our best players; a gutsy effort from the B-team-that’s-not-a-B-team was never going to be enough. We saw though that New Zealand squirm a little bit when you give it to them as hard as you can at the contact points and contest the ball at all times – suddenly Dan Carter is a lot more rushed and a lot less composed, Sonny Bill Williams doesn’t loom as large a defensive nightmare as previously assumed, and even Richie McCaw is forced into being a bit more illegal at the breakdowns than usual. (It helps of course when the ref is prepared to blow him for those indiscretions; it doesn’t really help when that same ref is so overcome with guilt later in the game that he actually starts helping the All Blacks run obstructive lines on attack, sometimes even getting in the way of Springbok defenders with no concern for his own safety…)

And don’t forget that the side that is going to RWC – and whom we’ll see more of in 2 weeks’ time hopefully as SA fields their strongest combinations for the home leg of the Tri Nations – is a far more experienced and settled combination, so we can expect less handling errors, less turnovers, and fewer defensive lapses, all of which contributed towards two very unflattering scorelines this past 2 weeks abroad.

The final piece of learning regards the players themselves, and who should go and who is surplus to requirement.

John Smit should undoubtedly start all the big games at hooker. His propping has improved dramatically, in evidence particularly against the All Blacks, where CJ van der Linde struggled. It’s fair to say that van der Linde was way off his best, and with Smit performing well as a prop in the latter stages of the game, the need to carry van der Linde on the bench for his versatility is not entirely necessary. Bismark du Plessis entering the fray in the 2^nd half of the game with Smit holding his own at prop will do well to open up more options for the 22-man squad.

Danie Rossouw’s days of starting at loose forward and moving to lock are now over – he’s simply too slow. As an impact player he’s still an invaluable member of any match-day 22, but age is starting to show a bit in his ability to get to where he needs to be, particularly on defence.

At flyhalf, Pat Lambie has gone a long way to proving (possibly more to himself than to us) that he belongs at test level. Defensively he doesn’t have to stand back from anybody, and on attack he adds a dimension that Morné Steyn doesn’t – he is prepared to attack the gainline and put the players outside him on the front foot and as a result rush opponents’ defences more. Ultimately though, I don’t think that the questions surrounding Steyn as starting number 10 will be decided by his or any of the other potential flyhalf contenders’ form. I reckon it’s all about Francois Steyn. If he is in good kicking form, no team in the world would be stupid enough to make errors within 60 meters of their own posts because the big number 15 has the range to convert from that far out, making him an almost automatic selection. Conversely, with a goal kicker of that ability already in the team, a coach can afford to have more of a playmaker at flyhalf – which immediately shifts  Morné Steyn down the pecking order.

The next 3 weeks are going to make for compelling viewing: although the results for the Boks are still secondary, it’s going to be important to build the momentum that a winning habit can provide, as well as get our A-team-that-is-an-A-team gelling well enough to bring back that RWC trophy – now only 37 days, 18 hours and 33 minutes away.

Not that I’m counting.

A. vom Molendorff

South Africa vs New Zealand

Kick Off 09h35 (SA time) West Pac Stadium, Wellington.

The All Blacks enter the Tri-Nations fray this week in Wellington against a Springbok side already smarting from a bit of hammer from the Wallabies last weekend, although to be fair I should think that of the 2 respective coaches, Aussie coach Robbie Deans may have more to consider after that game than Pieter de Villiers would.

The All Blacks on the other hand come off an efficient display in subduing a Fijian side packed with commitment, but not much else. And herein lies the true danger of the All Blacks, and the reason why I think the Boks are going to take a couple of big lumps this week: in a performance described by AB coach Graham Henry as being at “about 50%”, the All Blacks never really veered away from their game plan. They continued to execute accurately and efficiently, without letting the game degenerate into an error-strewn exhibition game, as mismatched rugby matches often do. Contrast that with an Australian performance that (to my mind) never really produced any moments where I felt that they had a superior game plan to our B-team-that’s-not-a-B-team; instead they lived off the errors and lack of cohesion that plagued an inexperience Springbok team full of debutantes and untested combinations.

My guess is that the Boks are going to try and disrupt the All Black efficiency by moving the ball around and avoiding too many first phase contests, where they will be outgunned by a superior pack of forwards. Instead, moving the ball quickly to attempt to breach the All Black line should be the order of the day, particularly through Ma’aNonu’s channel, who has never really impressed as the hardest worker on defence – hence the positional change of Pat Lambie to flyhalf to carry the ball up to the defensive line, and the selection of AD Jacobs, a more accomplished distributor of the ball than Wynand “Bal Onder My Arm” Olivier.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN

Pat Lambie, following in the footsteps of the SA cricketer formerly known as Wayne Parnell, also announces a change of faith and name and emerges out the tunnel as a recent convert to Judaism, now known as Pat Lambinowitz. Determined to throw up his own “wailing wall” of defence, he proceeds to write off Dan Carter, Ma’aNonu and Conrad Smith for the Rugby World Cup, thereby dooming the All Blacks to fielding their own B-team-that’s-not-a-B-team for the RWC only to get knocked out in the pool stages.

WHAT’S PROBABLY GOING TO HAPPEN

The Boks get drawn into bruising exchanges in first phase and at the breakdown, with the All Blacks using this platform to draw Springbok defenders into the breakdown points and free up space for their hard-running backs who run riot in the second half of the game. The bookies have got the Boks losing by 20-plus, and I reckon they might have a point. May the force be with us…

Teams:

All Blacks: 15 Mils Muliaina 14 Cory Jane 13 Conrad Smith 12 Ma’a Nonu 11 Zac Guildford 10 Daniel Carter 9 Jimmy Cowan 8 Adam Thomson 7 Richie McCaw (C) 6 Jerome Kaino 5 Ali Williams 4 Samuel Whitelock 3 Ben Franks 2 Andrew Hore 1 Wyatt Crockett

Substitutes: 16 Corey Flynn 17 John Afoa 18 Jarrad Hoeata 19 Liam Messam 20 Piri Weepu 21 Colin Slade 22 Sonny Bill Williams

Springboks: 15 Morné Steyn , 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Adi Jacobs, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Danie Roussow, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Ryan Kankowski, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Odwa Ndungane

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland). As if this game wasn’t already stacked enough against the Boks…

Pic: sarugby.com

9 mins: breakaway 80 meter try started by Quade Cooper (who else?) stepping off his right foot and slipping through Morne Steyn’s channel, culminating in Ben Alexander collapsing over the line at the other end of the park. O’Connor converts: AUS 7 – SA 0

10 mins: Straight from the kick-off to restart the game from the last try, Genia extracts the ball from the ensuing maul, sees a largish blindside guarded only by the limited defensive capabilities of John Smit and Dean Greyling, and waltzes straight through, offloading to Digby Ioane who returns the ball for an unconverted try: AUS 12 – SA 0

11 mins: My gourmet French Toast is slowly starting to slide down the wall that I launched it against about 60 seconds ago. Didn’t realize that egg and honey have such strong adhesive qualities.

20 minutes in and Australia are looking faster and slicker around the park. The Springbok debutantes are suffering from shellshock after the onslaught in the first 10 minutes, and are struggling to come to terms with the pace of Test rugby.

25 minutes in and SA have missed 15 tackles already, allowing Aus to carve through their defensive lines. As if this game wasn’t going to be hard enough, SA also proceed to fumble the ball frequently in an underwhelming display of handling skills that is as close to being silky as is polyester.

29 mins: SA have managed to hang onto the ball for a spell, revealing a tactic that involves forcing the Aussie forwards into the contact situations and attempting to free up some space on the outside to get Lwazi Mvovo and Bjorn Basson running in one-on-one situations against their opposite numbers. This tactic produces an error from Austalia; the resulting penalty is goaled as SA finally gets on the board: AUS 12 – SA 3

36 mins: The lottery that is the collapsed scrum produces a penalty Australia’s way that is duly converted by O’Connor, who clearly packed in his kicking boots this morning: AUS 15 – SA 3

40 mins: More heat from the SA forward pack on the Aussies produces a collapsed maul from a lineout. Steyn slots the kick after the halftime hooter: AUS 15 – SA 6

44 mins: Turnover by SA gives Aus some front-foot ball which they run through a few phases in SA’s 22 until Cooper (once again) slides around an increasingly slow and ponderous Wynand Olivier to draw the remaining defence and put a stumbling but unmarked O’Connor away for another converted try: AUS 22 – SA 6

48 mins: Hooker Stephen Moore goes up the middle to score the bonus point try as SA rack up missed tackle number 24. The conversion sails through the uprights: AUS 29 – SA 6

The prison sex has begun, the Aussies smell blood and I think this is about to get ugly: thank God for that Vaseline sponsorship after all…

52 mins: Debutant prop Werner Kruger is worked over by opposite number Sekope Kepu in a scrum, the resulting penalty duly kicked over by O’Connor: AUS 32 – SA 6

55 mins: SA is forced to play high risk rugby in an effort to catch up on the scoreboard. High risk rugby can produce costly errors though, evidenced as a mono-eyebrowed Ruan Pienaar no-look backflip pass goes straight to Australian hands – Pat McCabe takes it up 60 meters and a cute slap pass from Quade Cooper results in Adam Ashley-Cooper scoring a try in a continued lesson from the Aussies in attacking rugby. O’Connor knocks the conversion over: AUS 39 – SA 6

I’m slightly buoyed by the fact that I’ve just scored a bonus point in the dream league; cold comfort…

60 mins: Replacement hooker Chilliboy Ralapelle rumbles one over which replacement flyhalf Pat Lambie coverts: AUS 39 – SA 13

76 mins: Skipper John Smit flops over the line for another try converted by Lambie: AUS 39 – SA 20

80 mins: The final whistle blows to end a game which ended for South Africa a lot better than it started: AUS 39 – SA 20

Call me an optimist if you must, but I don’t feel as bad about that loss as I think I should. Considering that this was a full strength Aussie test side, and more or less the exact team we’ll end up facing if we make it to the finals at RWC 20011, this wasn’t too bad a showing. A chat with the Domstut on the phone reveals that I wasn’t the only one not feeling too depressed at the result. 20 of our first choice players were still at home, and a lack of communication and cohesion born from being a new, untried combination let us down at times and we were definitely outclassed on the day by Australia’s world-beating backs. But consider this – none of their tries really came as a result of their game plan, rather they came from turnovers produced by schoolboyish SA errors and less-than-average defence, and you can bet you grandmother that SA’s first choice team won’t be making those same errors, nor slipping anywhere near as many tackles.

And just to help you smear on that Vaseline a little smoother, Quade Cooper’s slap pass for Adam Ashley-Cooper could’ve gone anywhere, it just happened to find a pair of hands. On the other side of the field, a bad bounce of the ball to Bjorn Basson with the tryline at his mercy could just as easily have stood up for him. Then the scoreline would’ve been Australia 32 to South Africa’s 27 – and the Aussies would’ve had a whole lot more to worry about than what they currently think they do. As it is, we’ve learnt more about them for RWC 2011 than they have of us…

A. von Molendorff

It is in this that Australia failed miserably last week against a fired up Samoan side, which showed up at the ANZ Stadium intent on tackling the mate out of the inmate and ferociously contesting the breakdowns like ex-pat South Africans over green cards back in the 90’s. Admittedly that result gave me a huge amount of childish pleasure this whole week, so much so that it took me right up until yesterday morning, while breezily humming the Samoan national anthem, to realize that they’re actually in our RWC pool, along with that other team of amateur chiropractors and widow-makers, the bone-jarring Fijians. Oops, mood lost.

To be consistent, I’m going to stick to my story posted last week regarding the relevance of that result or in fact any other test result in the context of the 2011 RWC; the season of test rugby preceding that event is all about preparation and answering questions for the coaches, and this is what really interests me about tomorrow morning’s encounter between SA’s B-team-that’s-not-a-B-team and a pretty much full strength Australian side.

The majority of the players jogging out in the SA jersey tomorrow are playing for spots in the RWC teams that will face Samoa and Fiji in the pool stages, and will need to acclimatize to two aspects of that particular challenge, made obvious by the Samoa-Australia encounter last week. Firstly, to deal with the threat that physical sides with nothing to lose pose they’ll need to be able to suck up that unrelenting physical pounding that’s going to come their way up front, maintain composure and outskill them at the back. Secondly, and with the shoe on the other foot, the key to unsettling any of the top 5 international sides relies on your ability to do just that, and batter them upfront and disrupt the flow of quality ball to their respective backlines.

If we were to be realistic, Australia should beat us tomorrow, and by a fair distance too. Their star-studded backline with the likes of Quade Cooper, James O’Connor and Kurtley Beale are on paper a bit too much for their opposite numbers to realistically deal with, particularly if they get decent front foot possession from their forwards. However, if SA drill an Aussie pack of forwards which is not without its weaknesses tomorrow, I reckon we’re in for a tight one, aided by the fact that the wet weather will temper the Aussies rockstar backline from running riot.One look at the SA team sheet reveals that this is pretty much what they have in mind for tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see it unfold.

So, with Samoa and Fiji in mind rather than a Tri Nations away win (although that would be absolutely glorious way to enliven the morning of babysitting my 3-year old that I have lined up for myself), SA need to show up with an Old Skool game plan – hammer them upfront, defend like monsters and capitalize on every scoring opportunity that an Australian error might present through the boot of Morne Steyn.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN

In the dying seconds of a tight, bad-tempered encounter disrupted by record breaking volumes of rain, man-monster Danie Rossouw – still enraged at the embarrassment of having other people witness Pat Lambie weeping uncontrollably in fear in his arms and calling his stoic masculinity in question after the engine of their plane gave up – single handedly counter-rucks the entire Aussie pack of forwards off the ball on his own try line, with the resulting turnover finding its way to Gio Aplon who sidesteps and jinks his way to dot down under the sticks and give SA a memorable 1 point win.

WHAT’S LIKELY TO HAPPEN

Australia maintain composure after a demanding examination from an SA side long on passion and guts but short on cohesion in the first hour of the game to secure an 8-point win in the last 20 minutes which provides us with more insight into where they are in terms of RWC than it does them of us.

MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Chris Pollock (NZL)
Assistant Referees: Keith Brown (NZL), Vinny Munro (NZL)
TMO: Matt Goddard (Aus)

TEAMS

Australia - Kurtley Beale; James O’Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Pat McCabe, Digby Ioane; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Ben McCalman, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (capt); James Horwill, Rob Simmons; Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu.

Reserves: Saia Faingaa, Pekahou Cowan, Nathan Sharpe, Matt Hodgson, Scott Higginbotham, Nick Phipps, Anthony Faingaa.

South Africa - Gio Aplon; Bjorn Basson, Juan De Jongh, Wynand Olivier, Lwazi Mvovo; Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar; Ashley Johnson, Danie Rossouw, Deon Stegmann; Alistair Hargreaves, Flip van der Merwe; Werner Kruger, John Smit (capt), Dean Greyling.

Reserves: Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Ryan Kankowski, Jean Deysel, Charl McLeod, Adrian Jacobs, Patrick Lambie.

Pic: timeslive.co.za

A mere four starting XV players have more than thirty caps to their credit, with a further two test veterans on the bench. Strangely enough, all these players (bar Ruan Pienaar) are commonly thought (by armchair aficionados anyway) not to be in any kind of decent form at present. They do however bring some credible stability to the side and this is crucial at international level. John Smit’s leadership ability has never been an issue of debate and his selection on Saturday will endure him to fans from that perspective. The national captain is a master at settling nerves and has a great provincial, working relationship with the likes of Hargreaves, Lambie and Mvovu. Danie Rossouw’s performances of late has lacked the fire and vigour produced by this game-breaker when he burst on the scene a few seasons ago. Yet he still seems to inspire the younger guys at Super Rugby level to great heights in tight encounters.

The Bok front row taps the scale at an almighty 360kgs, so naturally the scrums should be an area where we look to put the likes of Kepu and Alexander on the back foot. Coenie Oosthuizen will also get a run for the last 20 or so minutes and his introduction should make for interesting viewing. He’s displaying great all-around form in the scrums as well as the ball carrying scenarios and breaches the defence regularly for the Cheetahs. Johann Muller makes a welcome return to the squad, seeing as he is all too familiar with taking the game to the Wallabies. As part of a so called second string, Tri-Nations unit in 2007 under Jake White, Muller and then captain, Bob Skinstad, lead the Boks to an almost unthinkable near-victory at Stadium Australia. Ashley Johnson also makes his test debut against The Wombats this weekend and his never-say-die attitude will come in very handy. This attribute combined with his omnipresence on the pitch, tackle-breaking runs and assistance at the back makes for lip-licking rugga. Stegman’s reputation as a “snatcher” is legendary, but he is still to make the crucial step up to international level. If it is a platform he requires to deliver, The Olympic Stadium is just the place to permanently poach Pocock past premature pasture.

Pienaar and Steyn have not had the happiest of partnerships in the past, but in their defence, their forwards were being put under immense pressure on most of the prior occasions. To then gain momentum or any kind of go-forward-ball becomes virtually impossible. Should Smit, Kruger and Greyling stand their collective man, the half-back duo should come up smelling like Matildas – the flower of course and not the Aussie skank.

Further along the backline, De Jongh and Blondie should make for an excellent defensive combination. Although with Bostik-like ball-distribution skills being their trademark, Mvovu and Basson would do well to look for some additional opportunities. De Jongh at least can step past a bullet, Olivier on the other hand, still seems pretty one-dimensional on attack at every level of the game. Gio Aplon gets a well-deserved start on the weekend and his attacking skills are well documented. His trusted left boot is still largely under-utilized and could easily provide an extra option for cross-field touch finders.

When it comes right down to it, we wear the under-dog label without a shadow of a doubt, with nobody giving us a chance at an upset. But is this assessment fair? From where I’m sitting, the Boks and the Wallabies are fielding the majority of their in-form Super Rugby players. Australia might have a slight advantage in playing a few more seasoned campaigners, as well as enjoying a home-ground advantage, but I still predict a close encounter.

If calmness transcends, cool heads prevail and Steyn packed his long-range Nikes, we are well placed for an upset. How plentiful would the smiles be if the Wombats lose two in a row, hey?!

Pic: Gallo Images

The mere fact that the Springboks almost caused a most prolific upset in their bastion of rugga, Stadium Australia, deserves mentioning though if for no other reason than the utter impertinence shown to them by the Aussie media and officials. Predictions by “technically savvy, rugby brains” (I use this term extremely loosely) such as Phil Kerns and Rod Kafer were that South Africa would be punished and made to look like fools on the pitch. Alas, the “dirt trackers side” of the World Cup squad (to be announced later that year) made good on their promise to play their hearts out and command some respect from George Gregan’s men. They took the game to the Wallabies and did the basics right, with some help of Lady Luck every so often. They unfortunately got duly hammered in 27-point drubbing by McCaw and company in New-Zealand a week later, but the justification to Jake White’s decision was already made in Australia.

The reason behind P. Divvy’s possible sparing of stalwarts like Du Preez, Burger, Matfield and Smit is based on as much precaution as it is on uncertainty. Burger, for one, needs a break after the gruelling Super 15 and he’s struggling with a broken thumb that might not heal before the Tri-Nations. Matfield and Smit are pushing 34 and 33 years of age, respectively, and those weary bodies can only take so much! If the Aussies have any aspirations of being successful at RWC 2011, they would adopt a similar approach. Ask professor Tim Noakes, guys, his address is The Sport Science Institute in Newlands, for heaven’s sake!! Sadly, it’s not the Aussies’ style to admit their shortcomings and whingeing just comes too naturally to them.

Jake White did it and nobody gave him credit, De Villiers is thinking of doing it and he’s being told off.  Would it not be supremely humorous if Robbie Deans decides it makes sense to rest players and the ARFU changes their stance?

Hey, stranger things have happened in the Land of the Wombat…

Anfred Waldeck

Pic: 3eugeniomarco.wikispaces.com