All Blacks vs Springboks, Wellington

[DPK]

Fair dinkum. I missed the game, but were the AB's as dominant than last week or were the Boks their own worst enemy?

 

[Scarfman]

ABs were dominant at the breakdown and ran too fast all over the field again.

Boks a lot closer this week though. Pienaar embarrased Januarie and the Bok coaches when he came on.

As an aside: I thought the ABs got away with murder at the breakdown. They do completely illegal things so blatantly that the ref gets sucked into thinking its legal. McCaw spent the entire night over the advantage line, the ABs drove / dived over the ball all night, and they were almost never onside. Oh well, that's the advantage of those Stealth Bomber black jerseys.

Note to KooGa: consider making our away jersey dark green.

 

[Ruggo]

That try from Dagg was nothing short of brilliant. If Carters kicking was on the mark, that scoreline would of been far more brutal.

 

[cyclopath]

ABs were dominant at the breakdown and ran too fast all over the field again.

Boks a lot closer this week though. Pienaar embarrased Januarie and the Bok coaches when he came on.

As an aside: I thought the ABs got away with murder at the breakdown. They do completely illegal things so blatantly that the ref gets sucked into thinking its legal. McCaw spent the entire night over the advantage line, the ABs drove / dived over the ball all night, and they were almost never onside. Oh well, that's the advantage of those Stealth Bomber black jerseys.

Note to KooGa: consider making our away jersey dark green.

ABs were way too good again. Huge work at breakdown, great counter-ruck. Bokke better in set play, and gave it a go but came up short.
For not the first time, I note the ref issued a warning for repeat infringements (going off feet and over the top), then an "official" warning to McCaw in the AB 22 saying the next such infringement "Will go in the bin". He then pinged McCaw again a bit later for a similar offence, and even the Kiwi comms had a chuckle that the warning meant Jack Shit since the skipper stayed on the park.
This is not a "go" at Richie specifically, and I don't wish to have a bunfight about whether penalties were correct or not, but it really gets up my nose when refs give repeated pre-warning warnings, warnings, really serious warnings, official warnings, "no, this time I mean it" warnings and then do ....... nothing. Weak as piss. Grow some you ponce.

 

[Nusadan]

As an aside: I thought the ABs got away with murder at the breakdown. They do completely illegal things so blatantly that the ref gets sucked into thinking its legal. McCaw spent the entire night over the advantage line, the ABs drove / dived over the ball all night, and they were almost never onside. Oh well, that's the advantage of those Stealth Bomber black jerseys.

It was noticed that McGaw was penalised at least 3 times at the breakdown and cautioned once...yet he trangressed again after that...but the ref let him go, perhaps that breakdown wasn't all that crucial, but IMO any other player would have been shown the yellow card...

If I was the ref, I'd warn McGaw before the game that I'd ping him immediately and be not uncertain when it comes to yellow cards...but that's being prejudicial on my part...

 

[Reddy!]

Boks a lot closer this week though. Pienaar embarrased Januarie and the Bok coaches when he came on.

Don't quite understand; did he embarrass them with a good performance, "oh man we should have selected him!" or bad performance, "Oh kiffa, can't believe he plays for the Springboks?!".

 

[Gnostic]

The ABs renouned counter ruck (styled directly from the Crusaders) is illegal 6 of 10 times. The pillars either fold around to obstruct or if they get a half drive over the ball the front man always goes to ground over the ball the next continues to drive and stand up over his grounded team mate. This ensures that the ball if not "won" by the ABs is very slow to the opp. MCaw was rightly penalised 3 or four times for this and still he doesn't go to the bin after being warned and doing it again not two minutes later. Why is he so off limits to the card. The ABs also continue to drive well past the ruck and hold that player away from the ruck/defensive line sometimes 3 or 4 metres away from the ruck. This opens up gaps just off the ruck and also makes the ABs next support player that much closer to the next ruck.

Two other things stood out for me regarding the officiating in this match:-
1) The scrum - the flankers on both sides continue to slide up onto the opposing prop and the ABs continue to "whip" wheel when ever the Boks had the feed in their own half, ie pull back on the TH side.
2) Both sides were continually offside in the midfield

Apart from that again the Bok had no effective game plan. Januarie offers little at SH and JDV is not a wing. Aplon and Pienaar showed the coaching staff of the Bok how bad Januarie and JDV were when they were replaced.

 

[CanadianRugby]

Good lord the reffing was awful. The two warning of Richie was insane. Just card him. Having said that, the ABs were just too good. The backs are running as well as anyone at the moment.

Aside from tactics and selection one of the things that seems to be missing is the old toughness. I don't mean the Bakkies "no brains just injury people" toughness. I mean when they used to fly into rucks and tackles and anything else to the point where you were worried for your own team's safety. SA rugby is at its best when it uses brains with a truly nasty phyiscal side. A team full of tough players didn't seem interested in being physical with the All Blacks tonight. Probably because they couldn't catch them.

Also, why on earth would you pick Wyland Oliver over JdV. I'm a huge JdV fan and hate seeing him wasted on the wing. Oliver doesn't seem to be offering much to the Boks right now, and Fourie and JdV were one of the best center combos when they played together.

Blacks looks good though. Definately the favorities right now.

 

[I like to watch]

I am hoping that the same 15 run out against the wobblies next week. De villiers appears to be pig headed enough not to make changes.....
a very strange man......

 

[daz]

That try from Dagg was nothing short of brilliant.

Looked very Quade Cooper-ish to me....

 

[JJJ]

I am hoping that the same 15 run out against the wobblies next week. De villiers appears to be pig headed enough not to make changes.....
a very strange man......

Pig headed enough for one game (the one just played), but he'll change things up against Australia. Losing to NZ in NZ is one thing, but he knows that if they lose to Australia as well it'll be the beginning of the end for him.

 

[Scarfman]

Don't quite understand; did he embarrass them with a good performance, "oh man we should have selected him!" or bad performance, "Oh kiffa, can't believe he plays for the Springboks?!".

Is kiffa a proper South African expletive? Careful!

Anyway, I meant because he was so much better than Januarie. The whole backline came alive, which they tend to do when the halfback isn't trying to hypnotise the ball.

 

[spectator]

All Blacks were immense last night but I agree with everyone that they seem to get away with blue murder at the breakdown.

Thought the yellow card at the beginning of the game was soft. Nothing in that.

Dagg's try was brilliant. Muliaina's replacement right there when Mil's decides to go or passes his use by date. Thought he had another good game as well.

 

[Reddy!]

Mils has been impressive, he has always been fast but seems like he has been working on his speed and turned it up a level.

 

[Scorz]

Rather glad they've kept on Cowan and not given Matthewson a shot. Cowan and Weepu are relatively weak links in an AB team that doesn't have many weaknesses. Matthewson looked the best 9 in the Kiwi S14 teams this year and the AB's getting a better 9 would not be good for us or the Boks!

Well, right on cue Weepu got Henry's MOTM and even kicked a penalty. How does that sit with ya?

Cowan is a poor performer and a serial cheat (in the Bakkies Botha mould). Still remember him doing a Richard Loe on Palu in Dunedin and getting off scott free because Palu didn't get a broken jaw and jumped up and hit him back. Palu got ten minutes in the bin.

Not Jimmy's fault if Palu is dumb enough to retaliate - everyone knows that the reactionary always wears the penalty. Also, Loe/Carozza was way, way above what Jimmy could ever inflict. He's a halfback ffs.

Couldn't agree more about Mathewson, but Cowan has a lot of experience at the Test level. Still, I think Mathewson would be the more dangerous choice. He looked very sharp at the Blues.

As an aside, a question for our foreign posters, Paarlbok, MR and any other SA/NZ folk around here:
When I read the South African and New Zealand team sheets, there are a number of players who strike fear into the hearts of fans. Key players who I dread seeing lining up against the Wallabies.
Do any of the Wallabies players have this effect when you look at our line up? Because at this point in time, I suspect not.

Elsom, on his day.

That try from Dagg was nothing short of brilliant. If Carters kicking was on the mark, that scoreline would of been far more brutal.

I think you see clearly and summarise well.

 

[Hawko]

Well, right on cue Weepu got Henry's MOTM and even kicked a penalty. How does that sit with ya?

Weepu was an order of magnitude better than he has been all year and back to his best of several years ago. Not good for the Wallabies as I expect Cowan to lose his place.

Not Jimmy's fault if Palu is dumb enough to retaliate - everyone knows that the reactionary always wears the penalty. Also, Loe/Carozza was way, way above what Jimmy could ever inflict. He's a halfback ffs.

Not Jimmy's fault? Foul play is OK if done by someone less than 90kg? You must be a Kiwi.

 

[Scorz]

Not Jimmy's fault? Foul play is OK if done by someone less than 90kg? You must be a Kiwi.

No, Palu is dumb and it's not Jimmy's fault. Should Jimmy have been punished for his attempted elbow to Palu's face? Yes, and he would have been, if Palu wasn't dumb enough to retaliate.

Often in rugby players try to upset each other by what is called "niggle". A halfback landing on a forward is niggle. A lock landing on a halfback and headbutting him is a different fish caught on a different day in another ocean and cooked in a different kettle.

 

[DPK]

No, Palu is dumb and it's not Jimmy's fault. Should Jimmy have been punished for his attempted elbow to Palu's face? Yes, and he would have been, if Palu wasn't dumb enough to retaliate.

Often in rugby players try to upset each other by what is called "niggle". A halfback landing on a forward is niggle. A lock landing on a halfback and headbutting him is a different fish caught on a different day in another ocean and cooked in a different kettle.

Pulling Botha's shorts as they were chasing down the ball was the niggle, and the headbutt was exactly what Cowan was looking for - if Botha's concentrating on smashing Cowan instead of doing what he's supposed to be doing, then the Bok's are basically playing with 7 forwards. If he gets sent off or sin binned, then the Boks are literally playing with 14 men.

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

Ah, glad too see the world is back squarely on it's axis. We're beating the old enemy and the Aussies are accusing us of being illegal, cheating and the refs are being biased... Phew!

Another great game to watch as an ab supporter, the breakdown work and counter rucking was absolutely immense. I'm sure if pocock had been the instigator, there would be many on here claiming further proof that he's the second coming, so I'll take your analyses as compliments. Weepu proving his doubters, including me, wrong which is great to seer
Mccaw lucky not to binned and roussow unlucky. but to a Certain extent u make ur own luck and ref mgmt is a key part of the game... Remember gregan?

Dpk - despite what u guys say, stil rather not see giteau on the teamsheet and players past like smith, morty and larkham were always a terror! Of the current crop, genia, pocock and ioane all show that potential and I guess the bled this year shall prove this right or wrong.... Either Wat... Bring it!!!

 

[Blue]

Don't quite understand; did he embarrass them with a good performance, "oh man we should have selected him!" or bad performance, "Oh kiffa, can't believe he plays for the Springboks?!".

What are you talking about?