Tri Nations Game 5 - Springboks vs All Blacks

[Lindommer]

...there was a fair whack of people, myself in cluded, who sympathised with blue. I'd hate to see locals supporting the Wallabies, hate it. It's like watching Deans & Quade belt out Advance Australia Fare with gusto. QC (Quade Cooper) I am sort of coming around to, but Deans? For God's sake, there is a stand in Christchurch named after his family!

I can understand how you feel, MR, me with a NZ grandmother 'n' all, MAJOR AB supporter she was. I'm not aboriginal, and if you're not Maori we're both immigrants. On one side many generations in Oz for me but immigrants nonetheless. As young nations we must accept immigrants and hope and pray they embrace their new country with all their hearts. Which is why it pisses me off mightily to see NZers living here supporting the ABs, part of me feels if you don't love this country bugger off back to where you came from. Is Australia nothing more than a meal ticket and a safe haven for these fly-by-nighters?

Which is why I admire Deans' position enormously. There's no doubt he gave up a lot when he accepted the Wallabies' coaching spot, especially with the Deans/Canterbury and the Deans/ABs histories. But he's made his bed and he's lying on it, good on you Robbie. May there be more new arrivals like you.

 

[cyclopath]

I don't agree, daz. If the TMO sees an infringement then he should be able to call it. I know that's not the case now, but it should be. The sole objective should be to have the right call made.

I absolutely agree in principle, but the issue of scope arises. How far back can he comment? TMO decisions could be ridiculously over-long unless there is a very well defined brief for the TMO. Which we have now. I think, with this particular issue, there needs to be a greater emphasis on ARs making calls clearly, rather than looking for inconsequential bits of niggle, which is what some seem to do.

 

[No4918]

AB's really let themselves down after playing most of the rugby. It's always disappointing to see a side lose like that especially when your opposition can't score but full credit to the Boks, there scrambling defence was very good. No other side could have kept the ABs out with as much ball as they had in the attacking 22.

Kahui and Dagg should have played themselves into the 22. SBW could be lucky to stay on the bench if Kahui is playing that well. Toeava was very good also but there is no room for him.

Broussow was great for the Boks and always looks dangerous. He's been the best loose forward so far in the 3N's and has to stay in the side somewhere when Burger comes back. His breakdown work alone really stopped the ABs on several occasions. Wobs need Pocock dominating like this to be a shot at the WC.

 

[Set piece magic]

Personally I think It was a very good call to disallow the try. The pass was very obviously forward in a big way and the SA crowd could all see It and were booing there arses off without the decision. If they allowed the try there is a good chance the pitch would have been invaded....

 

[TheNextBigThing]

Despite the lack of tries i really enjoyed that game. A few notes...

1. The experience in the springbok team shines through constantly. Players like Habana, Pietersen, Botha, Matfield et al. were so assured in everything they did and perfect at picking their moments to mount pressure. That test goes some way to validating PdVs decision to pick dads army.

2. How good was their scrum? Reinforced my suspicion that the scrum is less about size, strength, and technique and more about knowing when to attack and when to just get it out/defend.

3. Slade wasn't too bad but I'd put it down as another player well and truly in the shadow of Dan Carter.

4. It felt fantastic hearing the Kiwi commentators (Marshall excepted, he's consistently fair) slowly come to terms with the fact that they were going to lose. I had a go at Marto and Kearnsy last week but at least they showed respect to the opposition. The AB commentators constantly underrated the springboks and acted as if it was pre-ordained that the All Blacks would punish them. Good to see that Mealamu gave them a fair complement for their hard fought win post-match.

5. Boks might not have deserved to win... But the the blacks certainly didn't. Woeful execution in the red zone.

6. We can roll them come Saturday.

 

[RedsHappy]

The Saffas just demonstrated the importance of having a competent goal kicker in the team. They never looked like scoring a try and every penalty they got inside the opposition half (or thereabouts) was turned into points. Those penalty shots were impressive by M Steyne. ....

....and it is always thus and always will be thus. Especially in tight matches where both teams deploy equally top quality defence. This is why Australia's negligence in not employing a top flight, full-time kicking coach in Australia (not by fucking video links and fly in and out visits) could be disastrous come WC time (or any other time for that matter).

Today, we possess no kicker in the consistently 80%+ range, Giteau was allowed to stay as (v poor) prime Test kicker for an absolutely ridiculous period of time, meaning that our Test kicking depth was never properly developed. I fear that JO'C is (understandably at his age) prone to nerves at the tee in big games and his technique seems to be altering in the negative, QC (Quade Cooper) is good for big pressure kicks but consistently stuffs easier kicks earlier in games, Beale seems to now have a wonky radar, and Barnes is barely back into Tests, let alone back into a prime Test kicker role.

The golden rule of heading into a WC is that what we have today in the Wallaby kicking stocks absolutely should not be the case. The requirement for a consistent 80%+ kicker (with at least one good back-up kicker near this level) for WCs has been known about for every day of the last 4 years.

 

[Reido]

I absolutely agree in principle, but the issue of scope arises. How far back can he comment? TMO decisions could be ridiculously over-long unless there is a very well defined brief for the TMO. Which we have now. I think, with this particular issue, there needs to be a greater emphasis on ARs making calls clearly, rather than looking for inconsequential bits of niggle, which is what some seem to do.

How about to the previous ruck or maul or back two or three rucks or maybe from when the ref asks. i.e. "Can you look at it from when such and such made a break down the line cause my bias fat arse couldn't keep up and the touchies have no idea what day it is"

 

[tigerland12]

I only saw bits and peices of this match, but fuck H. Brussouw looked good, his best game since the Lions series imo

 

[tranquility]

Mate, he and Bismark were extraordinary. In combination with the others, they made the pack look world beaters. If Juan Smith was fit, the Bokke would have probably the best pack going around.

 

[BDA]

Good performance from the Boks. They knew the importance of winning this one. They wanted it more than the all blacks. And they all lifted for the home crowd. A fitting farwell for a few guys who wont play in in SA again.

The All Blacks really should have played Matt Todd. They needed someone to counter Brussow (and to a lesser extent BDP)

Will be very interesting to see what team Henry takes to the Brisbane this week. Anything less than a tri-nations win will be a disaster!! We could see the all blacks going in to the World cup on the back of two consecutive losses. That would be terribly bad for the countries confidence. And that WILL happen if they take the same B team to Suncorp.

 

[antipodean]

Which is why it pisses me off mightily to see NZers living here supporting the ABs, part of me feels if you don't love this country bugger off back to where you came from. Is Australia nothing more than a meal ticket and a safe haven for these fly-by-nighters?

Yes, that's it exactly.

AB's really let themselves down after playing most of the rugby. It's always disappointing to see a side lose like that especially when your opposition can't score but full credit to the Boks, there scrambling defence was very good.

It's disappointing to be dominated at the breakdown, but all credit to the Bokke; they executed their gameplan much better than the All Blacks executed theirs and hence deserved to win.

Kahui and Dagg should have played themselves into the 22. SBW could be lucky to stay on the bench if Kahui is playing that well. Toeava was very good also but there is no room for him.

Toeava will be in the squad. No one else covers as many positions as well as he does.

Cooper isn't afraid to take contact in attack.

 

[qwerty51]

Seriously, keep selecting Toeava.

 

[Groucho]

Because he doesn't play crash ball but orchestrates others, he's now 'afraid' to take the ball into contact? How strange. If tacklers could get near him, perhaps we'd see more of him being tackled.

 

[antipodean]

Because he doesn't play crash ball but orchestrates others, he's now 'afraid' to take the ball into contact?

Other first fives will take the ball to the line and hold on to it if there isn't a better option (Slade last night excluded). Cooper won't. He'll throw the ball anywhere to avoid being tackled.

 

[Sandpit Fan]

Saw this in the NZ Herald. Paddy O'Brien just can't help himself can he?

<snip>, saw halfback Jimmy Cowan go over, only for television match official, Namibia's Johan Meuwesen, to over-step his edict and to tell referee George Clancy of a forward pass before the try. The International Rugby Board's referees boss, New Zealander Paddy O'Brien said the officials got it wrong to disallow the try and their error would be raised at a review into their performance.

Before I get shouted down by people saying "Those are the rules - he shouldn't have commented on the forward pass", I'm highlighting Paddy's seemingly endless ability to dig himself into a hole just by opening his mouth. The rules are indeed the rules, no matter how ridiculous they are in this case.

He only seems to do it when the AB's are on the wrong end of a decision. A more appropriate comment would have been "We will be reviewing the game with the referees as normal this week."

And people wonder why he gets accused of NZ bias :nta:

 

[DPK]

Other first fives will take the ball to the line and hold on to it if there isn't a better option (Slade last night excluded). Cooper won't. He'll throw the ball anywhere to avoid being tackled.

Clutching at straws, mate.

 

[Baldric]

With regards to what I thought were an amazing amount of forward passes in a game which went unpunished, where are the assistant refs/touch judges. Why are they not calling this sort of thing and if they are why is the ref ignoring them.
What Paddy should be looking at is why did it go uncalled by the ref or the touchie. It is the touchie's duty to be on the corner flag at times like that and he should be telling the ref that it was forward.
In the end justice prevailed, but the procedure was wrong.

 

[Jnor]

Other first fives will take the ball to the line and hold on to it if there isn't a better option (Slade last night excluded). Cooper won't. He'll throw the ball anywhere to avoid being tackled.

I'd say he will take the tackle (even if it looks like he doesn't want to be there), it's just that he often does anything to stop the ball dying in the contact. Often his offloads are thrown well and truly into the tackle. Truck it up to crash ball, however, Quade does not do, it's not his game.

Sometimes it shits me to tears, and other times it's brilliant. Live by the Quade, die by the Quade...

 

[Beefcake]

On one side many generations in Oz for me but immigrants nonetheless. As young nations we must accept immigrants and hope and pray they embrace their new country with all their hearts. Which is why it pisses me off mightily to see NZers living here supporting the ABs, part of me feels if you don't love this country bugger off back to where you came from. Is Australia nothing more than a meal ticket and a safe haven for these fly-by-nighters?

Do i have to lodge my application with you to change my country of support?

 

[antipodean]

He only seems to do it when the AB's are on the wrong end of a decision.

Like his infamous defence of Wayne Barnes in 2007?

In the end justice prevailed, but the procedure was wrong.

Agreed.