2012 England tour to SA

[PaarlBok]

South Africa:
15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Werner Kruger , 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Bjorn Basson

 

[PaarlBok]

BaaBaas vs England Dirt Trackers starting in a hour
Teams:

England: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Anthony Allen, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Christian Wade, 10 Charlie Hodgson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Carl Fearns, 6 James Haskell, 5 George Robson (captain), 4 Graham Kitchener, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Matt Mullan.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Rupert Harden, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Jamie Gibson, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 George Lowe, 22 Nick Abendanon.

SA Barbarians (South): 15 Jacquin Jansen, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Kempie Rautenbach, 12 Wayne Stevens (captain), 11 Norman Nelson, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Boela Abrahams, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Shaun Raubenheimer, 6 Mpho Mbiyozo, 5 David Bulbring, 4 Nolan Clark, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Hannes Franklin, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Clemen Lewis, 17 Dean Hopp, 18 Samora Fihlani, 19 Zandré Jordaan, 20 Ntando Kebe, 21 Ricardo Croy, 22 Ntabeni Dukisa.

Date: Wednesday, June 13
Venue: GWK Park, Kimberley
Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Mark Lawrence (South Africa), Lesego Legoete Lesego (South Africa)
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee (South Africa)

 

[Bardon]

Here's the England team for the 2nd test

England: B Foden; C Ashton, J Joseph, M Tuilagi, D Strettle; T Flood, B Youngs; J Marler, D Hartley, D Cole, M Botha, G Parling, T Johnson, C Robshaw (capt), B Morgan.
Replacements : L Mears, A Corbisiero, T Palmer, P Dowson, L Dickson, O Farrell, A Goode.

 

[Bardon]

Finally there's a consequence for hookers no longer hooking the ball in the scrum. England feed the scrum and the ball rolls right through out the other side, picked up by a SA player and over he goes for a very easy try.

 

[Tordah]

Boks looking ominous, 12-0 after 8 minutes, with tries to Alberts and Bismarck. Now penalty to England, 12-3.

 

[Bardon]

Don't think England got the NH memo about lifting the intensity this week. They've started slow and look off the pace. SA could wrap up the series in the first half but I expect England will claw their way back into the game.

 

[Bardon]

England seem almost surprised that SA are contesting the breakdown, a few times 1 SA have been able to disrupt England ball against 3 or 4. Makes you wonder how Stefon Armitage is feeling looking on from France.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

England do not look organised at all.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

England staging a very good come back. To their credit they hung in there & now are clawing their way back.

 

[Bardon]

England did well to get back so close but they blew their chance when they chipped right into a SA hand to turn the ball over.

For SA very good performances from Etzebeth (really looks at home in a test jersey), Bismarck (except for the bad lineout throw that lead to Youngs try), Pietersen (especially his kick return that ultimately lead to his winning try in the corner. Habana's kick chasing really put England under pressure. Big negative was Steyn's kicking for the posts which was atrocious. Also the SA bench made very little positive impact.

Another negative was that there were glimpses of the vulnerability that was there under PDV when sides always felt there was a chance to come back against SA no mater how far ahead they got.

England positives were Youngs (silly call to take him off for the last 5 mins when he was going so well), Waldrom really made an impact when he came on. Negatives they couldn't match SA physically and for most of the game they didn't have the guile to pick their way through SAs defence.

 

[Cardiffblue]

what was the score?

 

[Blue]

What a mess when Kruger and Olivier came on. Two guys who should not be there.

The scrum went to shite with Werner Kruger at 3. He is lucky to play Super Rugby, let alone tests.Our defensive alignment went to shit with Olivier at 12. Meyer tends to be stubborn about some players unfortunately.

An I never thought I would see it but Morne Steyn has the yips. We should have been 36-10 up at one stage. He needs to fix it quick or his place is in serious doubt.

Biggest worry is the injury to Juandre Kruger. We don't have another test level 5 to call up so hoping he is fit.

Spies had his best test since before his lung problems in 2007.

Much better game from Hougaard but it helps if your forwards protect the ball.

England won't be half bad if they can sort out 4,5 and 12.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

100% there Blue. Especially about Morne Steyn, I can't really believe he's missing some of those kicks at goal - he's way better than that.

 

[Gnostic]

Another example for the reason to remove the scrum "hit". England's Cole was rightly pissed off at being penalised when Beast was binding on his arm and pulling him down. How many times do we have to see the actual contest at this phase destroyed by the guesses of the referee?

England were shell shocked in the first half and I thought we could see 50 from the Bok. What happened? In the second half the intensity and accuracy of their game fell away and England came storming back. I didn't feel that the English ever had it in them to win the game after the first half, and even in the second 40 the Bok broke the advantage line almost at will with their forward runners. There are significant holes in that Englsh defence at 13 and 1 off the ruck.

All is not gloomy for the English, unlike the Wallabies forever rebuilding/young side this English team is actually young and inexperienced and I think they will improve hugely.

 

[Bardon]

Another example for the reason to remove the scrum "hit". England's Cole was rightly pissed off at being penalised when Beast was binding on his arm and pulling him down. How many times do we have to see the actual contest at this phase destroyed by the guesses of the referee?

England were shell shocked in the first half and I thought we could see 50 from the Bok. What happened? In the second half the intensity and accuracy of their game fell away and England came storming back. I didn't feel that the English ever had it in them to win the game after the first half, and even in the second 40 the Bok broke the advantage line almost at will with their forward runners. There are significant holes in that Englsh defence at 13 and 1 off the ruck.

All is not gloomy for the English, unlike the Wallabies forever rebuilding/young side this English team is actually young and inexperienced and I think they will improve hugely.

A couple of things that were discussed on sky sports after the game that I agree with. First that England really missed the defense coaching of Andy Farrell. Now he's left his post at Saracens, England should get him back involved with the England squad asap. He was a great RL player, not so good a RU player but he's proving so far to be a better RU coach.

Secondly it's not just a learning experience for the England players but also for the coaches. Lancaster is a smart guy without the overt arrogance of MJ and he'll take the lessons from this tour and improve England, as long as he's given the time.

 

[Bardon]

Biggest worry is the injury to Juandre Kruger. We don't have another test level 5 to call up so hoping he is fit.
.

If memory serves me well it was actually a clash with Etzebeth that resulted in the injury. I know there was an English player between them but I remember remarking on Etzebeth inadvertently taking out his 2nd row buddy.

 

[Bardon]

what was the score?

Final score SA 36 England 27.

 

[Blue]

If memory serves me well it was actually a clash with Etzebeth that resulted in the injury. I know there was an English player between them but I remember remarking on Etzebeth inadvertently taking out his 2nd row buddy.

Are you implying a Stormers conspiracy to take out Bulls players?

 

[Bardon]

Ben Youngs is out of the third test. Dickson will probably start with Danny Care on the bench. Dickson hasn't impressed too much so it's going to be a big challenge for him.

By the way who is likely to start instead of Francois Steyn, Olivier?

 

[Blue]

Ben Youngs is out of the third test. Dickson will probably start with Danny Care on the bench. Dickson hasn't impressed too much so it's going to be a big challenge for him.

By the way who is likely to start instead of Francois Steyn, Olivier?

God help us. You blokes have a direct line. Please pray for us.

Meyer appears to have an unhealthy preference for him. Meh.

Assuming he will only pick from inside the squad, probably Olivier. I would prefer a Jean de Villiers / JP Pietersen combo. Experiment a little. Bring Basson onto the wing. Lambie and Kirchner both uncertain so Aplon will hopefully get a go at 15 or even Joe Pietersen (I think he is in the squad?).

Alberts is also in doubt so we will see a back row reshuffle. Has to be replaced by another big guy though.

I really hope he experiments a little. Play a guy like Malherbe as the sub prop. Nothing to lose now. And give Kolisi a go, but now I'm really dreaming.