Talking Sports like gals do shopping

I just read this article on Sport24 about how the Ozzy centers are looking forward to facing Brian O’Driscoll:http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/RugbyWorldCup2011/Wallabies-drooling-over-BOD-20110913 

In that article they also mentioned that BOD is also Rugby World Magazine’s player of the Decade. I’ll repeat for effect!! Brian O’Driscoll was voted Rugby World Magazine’s player of the Decade!! Not the last 2 years, not the last 5 years, not from 2000 – 2003.. DECADE!!! Read for yourself:

http://paulmorganrugbyworld.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/rugby-world-player-and-team-of-the-decade/

I had to take out this guy’s quote, read this:

“HE STARTED the decade with a hat-trick in his first Six Nations Championship and finished it as one of the key reasons why Ireland went the whole of 2009 without suffering a defeat. So in the eyes of Rugby World there’s only one man who should be named Player of the Decade: Brian O’Driscoll.”

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT!!?? You’re going to vote someone the player of the decade based on that!!?? At first I thought, maybe it’s just their player of the decade in the northern hemisphere but then I noticed that in their Team of the decade below are SOME southern hemisphere players as well:

Mils Muliaina – New Zealand
Jason Robinson – England
Brian O’Driscoll – Ireland
Matt Giteau – Australia
Shane Williams – Wales
Dan Carter – New Zealand
Agustin Pichot – Argentina
Gethin Jenkins – Wales
John Smit – South Africa
Carl Hayman – New Zealand
Martin Johnson (c) – England
Victor Matfield – South Africa
Richard Hill – England
Richie McCaw – New Zealand
Sergio Parisse – Italy

Subs: Rodrigo Roncero, Mario Ledesma, Sylvian Marconnet, Juan-Martín Fernández Lobbe, Fourie Du Preez, Jonny Wilkinson, Yannick Jauzion, Juan Martín Hernández.

At first glance I noticed no Gregan or Larkham & even though the Wallaby half backs did most their damage late 90’s – early 00’s, surely one of them deserved to be in the team, even if it on the bench. AND I DON’T EVEN LIKE THEM!!!

But I’ll let that slide coz the following quote caught my eye: “O’Driscoll may be our Player of the Decade, but he doesn’t captain our Team of the Decade. That honour falls to the captain without peer, England’s Martin Johnson. “ “WITHOUT PEER” he says!! Uhm, what about John Smit, the most capped captain of all time & also captain of a victorious rugby world cup, 2 tri nations & british & irish lions tour?? No, oh sorry that doesn’t qualify. And what about McCaw who probably got the best captaincy record between the 3 of them. More on him later.

Look, I’m not going to deny that BOD was arguably the best 13 the last 10 years or so but I could also say that Matfield was arguably the best 5 for the same period. And not only did he excel in his position, he’s also one of the (if not the) most decorated South African player of all time with domestic & international trophies galore!!!

And McCaw, who the same thing can be said about, minus a RWC medal ofcoz but a 3 time IRB player of the year since the award was first handed out in 2001. How in the hell could that be overlooked??

This article was obviously written by some bias, arrogant UK prick because I bet that if you ask the Aussies, SA, West Indies & India who their player of the decade in cricket is, you’ll probably get 4 different answers. But when it comes to Rugby, the honor of POD, for me is shared by Matfield & McCaw. And if I have to put my balls on the chopping block, I’m sorry SA fans but I’ll have to go for McCaw.

I’m outy

Check out my blog about the Boks needing to step up against Fiji: http://blogs.sport24.co.za/djp/boks-and-p-divvy-will-have-to-step-up

Something I’ve always liked about our duno-what-he’s-going-to-say-next Springbok coach is that he has the balls to admit when he got it wrong coz few international coaches actually do that. I haven’t heard (or read about) him admitting that just yet regarding his bench selection this past weekend but P-Divvy, you better step up to plate my coach.

Your bench formation of a 5-2 split was way off base and you didn’t follow through with your plan of using that unnecessary frontrow of bissy, guthro & cj that you spoke about ever since the team was announced. Van der Linde wasn’t used and therefore was a waste of a (backline) player we so desperately needed to make an impact on the game. Yes, Hougaard came on and had a blinder of game coz he did so much more than just scoring what would be the game winning try. But could you imagine if an Aplon, Lambie or De Jongh was also unleashed to create a little magic or bring the same energy that Bissy, Alberts & Hougaard did?? One of those 3 backline players not only deserves to be in the match 22 but one or 2 them MUST be there!!

The injury to Jean de Villiers was a huge setback. By the way, what ta hell is it with this guy & world cups!!!??? Come on now rugby gods, give him a break!!! Anyways, it was a setback & even though the Boks weren’t that familiar with the following setup, I would’ve done one of these after Jean’s injury:

-          Move Frans Steyn to 12 (where he plays for his club), Move Morne to 15 & put James @ 10 OR

-          Move Frans Steyn to 12, bring on Hougaard & put him @ 14 & move JP to 15

Either way, I do not believe that James was the right option at 12 as he’s not that big of an offensive weapon as a Jean & Frans and even though he’s not scared of the physical stuff, he’s still a defensive liability as I’ve noticed a couple of armless tackles carried out by the Lions player that went unnoticed by the refs. How this happened, I don’t know but I don’t think we’ll be that lucky again. And let’s not forget about the 2 or 3 grubbers he kicked away when we were inside the Welsh half. Ok, if it came off, he would’ve been hailed for his vision & creativity BUT it didn’t.

What scares me the most is that Jean’s injury does open the door for Butch occupying that vacant starting spot and with support from the other senior players as well as that from the coaching staff, I fear that he might start there; I really hope he doesn’t. Ofcoz on the upside, if James starts, that opens up a spot on the bench for a Lambie, De Jongh or Aplon & if P-Divvy ops to go for a 4-3 split on the bench, 2 of them could be selected. As we’ve already witnessed during this WC, injuries do occur & you need to have the best back ups you can get that who cover’s multiple positions.

Regarding the Barney / Bissy situation, I duno guys.. With Victor missing the Fiji game, I’m leaning towards keeping Smit in the starting lineup coz I doubt that he can provide the impact off the bench his Sharks teammate can. We can maybe start Bismark for the Namibia & Samoa games where Matfield will hopefully be ready to lead the team. Schalk Burger did an admirable job when he took over the reigns from Smit so he’s also an option but I think right now, being so early in the tournament, we need an established leader to provide structure and that guy right now is John Smit. LOL..Feel free to attack me on this one coz I know it’s going to happen..  

I watched the highlights of the Fiji – Namibia game last night and I don’t know what scared me more: The tries Fiji scored or the tries they almost scored. We may not be Namibia but if we do not improve our defense, like comedian Russell Peters’ dad would say: Somebody is gonna get a hurting real bad!! We should have enough to beat them but what I would like to see from every round robin game here on out that there is an improvement on all areas of our game as we move to what looks like is gonna be a very tough knockout tournament.

I’m outy

Ps: Bok fans should do themselves a favor by watching the Aus – Ireland clash as the latter could be our quarter final opponent. Everybody’s talking up a storm about a potential semi final against NZ but one can not overlook a fiery Ireland team.

Check out my other blog about the arrogance of UK press. Unbelievable!!!!!http://blogs.sport24.co.za/djp/how-can-you-be-this-bias

After reading my fellow blogger Met Uysh’s blog (http://blogs.sport24.co.za/uysh/springboks-in-trouble) where he asked if Victor Matfield is the Springboks’ Dan Carter, it got me thinking: Which players can New Zealand, Australia & South Africa NOT do without during this RWC??? I’m not going to bother asking that about any of the other teams who’s playing in the tourney coz I don’t see any other team winning the whole thing apart from the three already mentioned. Yes, there is still another vacant semi final spot who experts say France will occupy but who knows which French team will rock up in that semi??

So, that’s my 3 teams! Now who’s there MVP’s??

Australia’s MVP: Will Genia

Not only is he the best scrummy doing the business these days, Genia could easily be considered among the top 3 players in the world today!! I’ve noticed that in a world cup year, the IRB’s player of the year usually comes from the team that won the RWC, so I would love to see what happens should say, France or any other country that didn’t really have a standout player this year, win the RWC. But he’s hands down my IRB P.O.Y regardless of what happens in the RWC and that’s why Australia should (& must) be down on their knees every time Genia runs onto the field.

Runner up: James Horwill

I went for Horwill coz Deans basically changed captains virtually on the eve before the RWC & I don’t think a coach of his stature would do something like that if he didn’t believe that it was the best decision for the team. And he did lead them to tri nations title didn’t he? One has to feel for Elsom though. Didn’t he have a book come out recently?

Now that’s gona be a best seller.. LOL..

South Africa’s MVP: Victor Matfield

Our lineout kingpin is head above shoulders our MVP coming into this RWC based on 1 thing: If he’s on the park, Smitty doesn’t have to be, which opens up more game time for Bissy. Also if you look at the back ups we have for ALL the other positions, nr.5 lock is very, very thin.

Runner up: Fourie du Preez

This was actually a very tough choice to make coz I had overlook Brussow’s play on the deck as well as the deadly boot of Morne Steyn who is our primary method of putting points on the board. But when the dust settled I had to go for Fourie based on the Boks’ playing style. Hougaard was looking very good when he came on against the All Blacks & Oz & Fourie haven’t exactly been playing the world alight since coming back to the international stage but like his fellow senior teammates, I have no doubt he’ll come to the party sooner than later.

New Zealand’s MVP: Dan Carter (by a whisker)

How do you choose between the heart & the brain of a team coz that’s what I just had to do. There can’t possibly be a better man / player than McCaw to lead to NZ to the promise land but I just can not see the All Blacks winning this illusive trophy without their ace flyhalf. Read & Mealamu are capable of steering the All Black ship should McCaw get injured & Adam Thompson will be a good fit with Kaino & Read in the backrow but Slade isn’t on the same planet let alone level of arguably the best flyhalf in the world.

Runner up: Richie McCaw

I think you can ask any All Black fan that if they were to already have lost Carter, who is the next player they definitely do not wana see get injured, McCaw would win unanimously!! He’s therefore my runner up as he could just as well have been my MVP for NZ too. 

I hope that none of these players do get injured as the RWC will be severly robbed.

Hey, who’s your MVP’s??

I’m outy