FANATIC
Fred Wood (13)
Friday apparently, I think all the teams are being named on Friday..
Cheers.
I thought I just read the Boks line up..... or was that the Irish....... gee so much rugby news on this darn desktop to sort thru
Friday apparently, I think all the teams are being named on Friday..
The Saffas certainly dont like it up em, how much whinging to the ref was there, Id really like to see us dish some of that stuff out, I dont care how others see us, we are too nice and get pinged enough anyway with Lawrence
Cheers.
I thought I just read the Boks line up..... or was that the Irish....... gee so much rugby news on this darn desktop to sort thru
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When do we name our side?
I hope Hodgson is on the bench at the expense of McCalman.
1. Cian Healy
2. To be announced
3. Mike Ross
4. Donncha O'Callaghan
5. Paul O'Connell
6. Stephen Ferris
7. Sean O'Brien
8. Jamie Heaslip
9. Conor Murray
10. Ronan O'Gara
11. Keith Earls
12. Gordon D'Arcy
13. Brian O'Driscoll (c)
14. Tommy Bowe
15. Rob Kearney
Replacements:
16. To be announced
17. Tom Court
18. Donnacha Ryan
19. Denis Leamy
20. Eoin Reddan
21. Jonathan Sexton
22. Andrew Trimble
Who does? Bit the discipline and lack of retaliation speak volumes. I thought halfway through the second half that there was going to be a blow up. Samoa expected it and when it didn't happen they started to lose their rag.
Still, most people seem to think 2 wrongs make a right and Samoa's negative tactics are somehow justified because of SA individuals transgressing in the past.
Bullshit really.
I think an important qualification on the virtue of 'niggle' is that it can't just be forwards beating up on backs at the bottom of a ruck. Maybe the Samoans went a bit over the top, but at least they were targetting the big boys.
Burger relaxed ahead of QF
Wellington - Schalk Burger admits with a shrug and a smile that the vast experience South Africa has to draw on for their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia on Sunday may be a two-edged sword.
Relaxed and jovial as he spoke to reporters on a rain-drenched Wednesday afternoon, the veteran Springboks flank said "if we win on Sunday it will probably be down to experience and if we lose it will probably be down to our age."
South Africa will likely name one of their all-time most-experienced line-ups for the knockout match against a comparatively young but rising Australian team. Burger said teams don't win rugby matches on experience alone, but conceded in the tight contest expected on Sunday it would be a factor.
The Springboks are the reigning world champions and Burger was being urged to say the experience they gained in winning the World Cup four years ago will give them a substantial advantage over Australia in a sudden-death match. He was reluctant to comply.
Whichever way the question was framed, he batted it away. He accepted, as Australia has, that Sunday's match will likely be tight and its outcome may be decided in the final seconds. It would stand to reason that a team which had previously played in that situation might have the advantage against a rival less used to that pressure.
But he said South Africa's World Cup victory in France four years ago was not necessarily a decisive factor.
"Four years is quite a long time ago, so hopefully when it comes down to the last seconds we are five metres out from the Wallabies tryline and not vice versa," he said. "At the end of the day, yes it helps (having been) there but when it gets tight like that, you call on individuals to make the right decisions and you call on individuals not make mistakes ... it doesn't matter whether you have a hundred caps or five caps."
Burger, instead, suggested Australia's youth, enthusiasm and the confidence the Wallabies drew from recent successes against South Africa might be more influential factors.
"I think it helps being there and having experienced it before, but then at the end of the day your caps are not going to win you a rugby match," he said. "You have got to go out there and play to the best of your capabilities. So I think our (last) match against Samoa we did well enough to win the match but obviously there are some areas we want to improve on, particularly for this game.
"It's an important match, it's a knockout, the Wallabies are a quality side. These guys have won the Super Rugby competition and Tri-Nations so they're in form, most of their players, so it's not going to be easy for us."
Burger agreed that if the Springboks lose on Sunday, that defeat is likely to see the dissolution of the world champion team - much of the squad has been together for most of the last eight years.
Many of the senior Springboks have signaled their intentions to retire from international rugby at the end of the World Cup, and their impending departure adds to the odds for which the team is playing.
"We haven't actually thought of losing," Burger said.
"Obviously, if we do get knocked out, this team has been together for eight years, a lot of guys are moving on.
"We will probably start thinking about that after the match, maybe drown our sorrows and say goodbye to a few friends. Yes, for this side it's important to finish well."
Bakkies: One game at a time for Champion Boks
October 04, 2011
Springbok lock Bakkies Botha says the fact that Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against Australia in Wellington could be the last Test for a number of players was not being allowed to cloud the team’s preparations.
Botha moves to Toulon in France following the tournament as one of a half dozen players who may not appear in the green and gold again – although only the retiring Victor Matfield will definitely be out of contention.
John Smit (England), Gurthrö Steenkamp (France), Fourie du Preez and Danie Rossouw (both Japan) are also moving overseas and are aware that they may be 80 minutes away from the end of their Springbok careers.
"A lot of the guys know it may be their last game and the team that loses this weekend is on their way home, so we know what we must produce," said Botha.
"A handful of us have been around the block for nine, 10 years and the big secret for us is to focus on the weekend. When you pull that green and gold jersey on you must give it all and we are not holding back one inch.
"We know from this weekend that the intensity is going to get higher and the pressure as well.”
Botha said he was now back to full fitness and was looking forward to the opportunity to get back onto the field.
"You don't know how frustrating it is to be on the sidelines,” he said. “I missed all the physical battles – against Wales and Samoa. When I was sitting in the stand I just wanted to take off my No.1 jacket (Springbok blazer) and get stuck into it.
"I am happy to be back. As long as I can give something back to the Springbok team I will be happy if I can make a difference.
"The medical team put a lot of effort into it. Now I am feeling 100 per cent and must hit the ground running. It is nice weather for training for old and big guys like ourselves."
Both dismissed the old cliché that the Australian forwards would be a pushover.
"Since Robbie Deans took over as coach, the Australia pack of the last two or three years have picked up their physicality a lot, as we saw in the Tri-Nations. They are a much more physical side than three or four years ago.
"You cannot play Test rugby if you have not got a pack that dominates physically and this weekend's battle will be physical as well. We must get on the pitch, do our best and have a good day at the office.
"The deciding factor in every Test match is the clash of the packs of forwards, where we make a few deals and everything in the rucks, sorting each other out.
“We know that a Test match against Australia is a physical battle and that's the first battle we must win to put our backline on the front foot."
Ireland’s victory over Australia was founded on forward and breakdown dominance but Botha said the Boks were more concerned about delivering their own gameplan – rather than copying someone else’s.
"We as a team said to each other this morning that we know what worked for us in the year,” he said. “At this time of the tournament we must not change too many things and just do stuff that worked for us and know that numbers 1 to 22 are aware of what they must do.
"We’re not targeting individual players. The guys on the field must work together in one system in the defensive line. That is the most important thing for us as a team.
"Ireland and Australia was a tough match. Ireland won by a small margin. You can look at all Test matches and the pack of forwards that dominate and the one that wins the breakdown is the one that edges the opponent."
Totally agree, McCalman is utterly useless if Higgenbotham is there too. I can't see Deans going with a 4-3 split when he has McCabe's versatility off the bench, 5-2 would be TPN, Slipper, Vickerman/Sharpe, Hodgson, Higgenbotham, Burgess, McCabe.
Hypocrisy in its purest form!!! WTF mate??? Bout time you stop snorting those fermented sheep droppings!! Just take a moment..... breathe.....view some unbiased reruns of the match and then 're-read' your post, am almost certain you'll come to a different conclusion.
For the love of cowdung, I cannot begin to fathom this 'pity-the-poor-Samoan' mentality that abounds, either that or you have some serious manlove issues for those big island boys!
Paarl don't be ridiculous about Bakkies, the only way he knows how to behave is like that!
Also it looks like the Boks (unfortunately for the Wallabies) may have what I call marching syndrome
- won a world cup the year before
- being written off as too old, not their time
- Team not looking overly cohesively
Traditionally the team that has done this has made the final the following turnament.
It's called marching syndrome because they just suffocate the opposition team and march on to the next game - i think it came from a quote in 2003,
"Reigning premiers Australia today marched into their third Rugby World Cup final with a clinical 22 - 10 demolition of favourites New Zealand"
Anyway, beware that the Boks just don't bother stopping for people getting in their way and just suffocate the Wallabies out of this game.
Personally I think It's all down to whether they can contain Quade
Paarl don't be ridiculous about Bakkies, the only way he knows how to behave is like that!
Oh yeah, that will match the SA back row, two blokes under 6ft and 100kg
That word you use? I do not think it means what you think it means.Bakkies
Hypocrisy in its purest form!!! WTF mate??? Bout time you stop snorting those fermented sheep droppings!! Just take a moment..... breathe.....view some unbiased reruns of the match and then 're-read' your post, am almost certain you'll come to a different conclusion.
For the love of cowdung, I cannot begin to fathom this 'pity-the-poor-Samoan' mentality that abounds, either that or you have some serious manlove issues for those big island boys!
If the wobblies wished to adopt / employ the negative rough-housing tactics the hapless Samoans adopted (...there is a clear distinction between fronting up on the one hand, and playing the man on the other..), then they'd do so at their peril. Morne Steyn would be licking his lips with glee. 'Laat hulle kom manne' (literally translated...'Let them come men') will be the new mantra ringing in the ears of the boks on the field...... chanted by field marshalls Smit and Matfield.
The boks have come a long way in trying to address their disciplinary issues both on and off the park. In this regard I have to credit Pdv for instilling a team ethic that is premised on discipline as one of its cornerstones. Although not near perfect, its a work in progress. (.. So you won't easily see chihuahua Cowen succesfully baiting Bakkies into head-butting him soon..!!)