Talking Sports like gals do shopping

Last week I wrote a blog: Damnit man Wallabies.. and man was I right. This blog im doing now I wanted to name “A 2-horse race” but since the Wobblies can still mathematically win this thing, I decided to hang on for another week. I also said that Dan the man is gonna have to come through for the AB’s if they wanted to win & he did but I couldn’t understand for the life of me why the Wobblies didn’t set up Giteau for the drop that last time they were about 10meters from the AB’s tryline.. Did they really wanted to prove (so badly) that they could win the game playing running rugby coz if that was the Boks, we all know either one of the Steyns would’ve waited for that Fourie or Ricky pass to drop it over & win the game. Was it an order from Deans maybe? “You go for the try, you go & prove the Boks wrong!!” Shame if that’s the case coz look where they are now!!

Another worrying (well for the Wobblies, not for us) thing is the Wobblies lack of hunger to win the game. I just didn’t see it. But big-ups to the All Blacks!! Forgive me if im wrong but I think they’ve put themselves in an even better spot that the Boks are coz they’ve got their away win, something we will still have to get (maybe even more than one but I think 2 losing bonus points can also cut it). But their win got me thinking: was that really such a good performance by the AB’s or is the Wobblies just that bad this season? I think it’s the latter & therefore I also think that Boks should win ATLEAST one game in Australia. Maybe lose the Brisbane game & setup “ that world cup final “ that neva happened…hahhahahha!! NO, NO, NO!!! Win every game you can Boks! Lets not get cocky now!! & stick to your game plan guys!! We must stick to our game plan!! As boring as it may be to the rest of the world, IT WORKS, it brings us wins and that’s all that counts. Im not too bothered bout scoring tries coz its not like the Wobblies & AB’s are running in tries like it’s 1999 right?

 & just incase the Wobblies think they’r gonna play their best rugby of the season & beat Boks the next 2 weeks I gotta a small message for you:

Cedric – The Entertainer said this in one of his stand ups: “White people always dream about going to the moon and they always make these movies bout going into space & leaving us black people behind.. Not gonna happen.. Ya’ll goin to the moon, well damnit we’re comin to the moon!!”

The AB’s beat you on your home turf, well damnit, The Boks are gonna beat you on your home turf!!

 Im outy!!

They’re not gona make it.. They’re just not gona make it!! I can’t see it happening even on their own turf. What ta hell am I blabbering about: The weekend’s game ofcourse and I can’t see anything but a All Black win which will put them back in the driving seat of this competition, well, this is my opinion anyway and I got my reasons. Lets look at the pro’s & cons of each team:

Pro’s for the Wobblies

-         They’re playing at home

-         They got Rocky back (sarcastic Yay!!)

 Cons for the Wobblies

-         They’re playing at home. Too much pressure for this young side without their inspirational captain. Remember what the All Black did to us in Durbs the 1^st time we played with John Smit?

-          No Piccolo (Mortlock) Watch Dragonball Z again & you’ll see the resemblance

Pro’s for the AB’s

-         Dan the man is back. Talk about inspiration…

-         Dan & Luke are playing in the 10 – 12 axes. I think their the best combination since Dan & Mauger

-         Giving Joe & Sivi another chance. Even after their dismal tour, one of these two are bound to play a man-of-the-match game

-         Playing away. Hey if they lose, so what, no team got an away victory in this tournament yet

 Cons for the AB’s

-         Dan the man. All this crap about people shouldn’t expect him to deliver a miracle, sorry Dan, but you on your own on that one.     Your country expects you to win this game for them. Point!!!

-         Ok they haven’t played like the AB’s we know, but I get a feeling that’s about to change.

So you see people.. As much as I want the Wobblies to win, I just don’t see it happening. Some guy commented on a another guy’s blog that he thinks if the AB’s win, it’s better for us.. HOW?? The only thing I see is should the AB’s win,their confidence will grow & with only home games left, we cant only rely on gaining bonus points if we lose but we’ll then HAVE to win an away game. That looks like the more difficult route I would say.. I hope some Aussie rugby team member reads this, it doesn’t even have to a bench player. It could be the genitor for all I care.. Just to give the aussies some extra motivation to beat the all blacks this weekend.

Im outy

This whole thing about Schalk & Brussow got me thinking agen.. How do you weigh up form with experience of playing overseas? So we might as well throw in the Morne Steyn and Ruan Pienaar debate in there as well.. Brussow & Steyn has been in superb form in the home games but we all know that playing at home and playing in Australasia is two very different stories. Schalk and Pienaar (even though not the form players) have experience of playing and winning overseas. So what will P-Divvy do? If I was Snor, I’d start with Brussow and Pienaar for the simple reason that should they fail, we got back up. If you start with Schalk, and he doesn’t play like the “Incredible Schalk” we know, we as fans will slam P-Divvy for not starting the form flanker which is Brüssouw. If you start with Steyn at 10 & he has a poor game, we will slam P-Divvy for not easing him into playing overseas & putting this huge amount of pressure on him to lead us to the promise land. Pienaar had an awesome half (apart from his kicking ofcoz) against the All Blacks in Bloem and the game in Perth could be the game made for him to show everyone that he still is that flyhalf we saw on last year’s unbeaten UK tour.

Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for sticking with a winning formula which is Brussow at 6 and Steyn at 10, but flyhalf is a critical position. I mean imagine what will happen if NZ start their next game with Dan Carter and he doesn’t play well. Everyone is gonna say he wasn’t ready. And Morne “3 point a formality” Steyn isn’t even on Carter’s level yet. Steyn has shown that he can come from the bench, dictate the game in Blue Bull form & kick for poles. Why do you wana throw him into the deep end in a tour that I promise you people are gonna be very tough on the Springboks. Probably one of the toughest in years. Everyone expects us to just rock up, kick for territory, kick for poles, and win. Well, I for one doubt that its gonna be that easy.

Having said all of this, if there should be change made to team that beat the Wobblies last week, it should be at flyhalf and NOT at flank.

On another subject, we haven’t even been nr.1 for a month and already people a criticising us for playing boring rugby or even rugby at all. Unbelievable!!! Journalists from Australasia has been blaming for their “dicey decisions”. Well I got news for all those nay-sayers: For years George Smith & Richie has been bending & breaking the rules at the breakdown, for years Martin Johnson & George Gregan has been complaining to refs and getting into their ears, well its our turn now, its BOK TIME BABY!!! and if you don’t like it, drink 3 more beers after the game with your boys & complain with them & lean on their shoulders coz you not gonna get any sympathy from me.. Go Bokke!!!

Im outy!!

I’ve been reading rugby news regarding Saturday’s tri-nations match vs the Wobblies all week now & out of now where it just hit me, it hit me harder than a couple of tackles the Boks made against the All Blacks last Saturday..

This upcoming game is the make or break game for the Boks!! It’s the game that will give us easy or difficult route to capturing our 3^rd Tri-nations title. It’s the game that will tell us that not only can we defend and beat a big & physical All Blacks team but we can also defend and beat an intelligent & witty Wallabie outfit. Yeah guys, A lot of questions will be answered this weekend.. How will Morne aka “3 points a formality” Steyn perform against currently the world nr.1 flyhalf Matty Giteau? Can Brüssouw continue his brilliant form against a guy who wrote the book on playing the fetching role in modern rugby? Will Nathan Sharpe be able to challenge Vic? Can Jaque Fourie stamp down his authority against Mortlock who is also vying for the “World’s best outside centre” position? Fourie against Burgess? Spies against Palu? Our back three against theirs? Hell, even our front three against theirs…

At the end of the day, these small battles in the game must be win by the Boks should we want to win this Saturday.

 Now I have the utmost confidence in the Boks that we should win and by a good margin too… Maybe that confidence is a bad thing to have but I don’t think so coz I’m not arrogant here, just confident. I was arrogant when the Proteas played Pakistan in the Pro20 semi-finals n look how that ended up… The Boks are playing awesome (well, winning) rugby at the moment and playing at home. Someone said that only the Boks can beat the Boks and I second that statement. Come that final whistle on Saturday it should be Boks by many!!! Go Bokke!!!

 Im outy!!

Hey Guys!!!

You know the AB’s really dissapointed me this wknd but I’ll take ANY win against them anyday. So now with the AB’s out of the way, & Wobblies looming its time to focus on them who we all know won’t be as stupid as our most fierced rival by running every ball they get (even from their own tryline) in raining weather…But before I get to them & get all nervous (keeps me grounded) for playing them this coming weekend, lets focus on some “internal” problems

This Morne Steyn vs Ruan Pienaar battle really has to come to end now guys, for real now… I’ll be the 1^st to admit that I had my reservations for both these players. My bok nr 10 is playing centre for WP and I still rate him as my perfect bok nr. 10. But right now we have 2 quality world class flyhalves competing for the fly half position in the Bok squad. Bobby said something last week on Boots n All that why do we have to argue about who must be the Bok nr. 10 (on a permanent basis),  why cant we as bok fans embrace this good fortune and enjoy it!!?? The AB’s would love to have a Morne or Ruan in their squad right now, hell, they’ll even take Willem de Waal right now..

What will the Wobblies do if a certain kid-dynamite gets injured? Who’s their back-up? Barnes!? O Connor!? Yet, here we are complaining about our luxuries.. Bulls fans screaming “I told you so, he shouldve started a long time ago”

Granted, Morne had a great game this wknd & as soon as he points to the poles, it’s a formality, but did you guys forget how well Ruan controlled the game in Bloem? Running, passing & kicking… n kicked 2 penalties against the posts.. Come on.. Was he really that bad? Now it might look like I’m leaning towards Ruan here for bok 10 against the Wobblies (ah I love that word) but that’s because he hasn’t been that poor than maybe a Adi Jacobs which is another problem I’ll get to later…

Ruan had a shocker with a boot, but he’s overall game was really good.. and you know what’s upside about starting with Ruan, if he fails getting his team going or fails with the boot, bring on Morne.. simple as that. Or let Francios Steyn kick for goal and let Ruan just concentrate on his flyhalf game. One thing we have to remember guys is that coaches have their players, n ruan is a favourite of P-divvy n I doubt he’s gonna get rid of “tiger woods” anytime soon… Which brings me back to Adi Jacobs.. Now this guy is a threat to what the Boks are building.. Adi is in the Bok squad because P-Divvy wants him there coz he hasn’t displayed that form made bok fans say “ok, we’ll give you another chance” or “ok, you miss that tackle but your try was awesome, now do it again” & the sad thing is that a player like Wynand Olivier (who I dnt like but was very good for the Bulls this year) might miss out against the Wobblies becoz of the return of Ruan, unless ou Pietertjie drops Ricky hmmmm… interesting thought there.. Then another problem we have is the amount of quality loose forwards we have. What happens Schalk (someday) comes back? Do we keep Hendrick Brussow at 6? Or do u put Juan Smith Or Spies on the bench n play Schalk at 7 or 8? And why can’t we rather put Kanko on the bench instead of Danie?

So see guys, you’re worried & complaining about Morne & Ruan? You should be worried & complaining about other things!!

Im outy!!

djp