TRUTH BE TOLD

With the World cup a mere Month and a few days away , It is rather interesting to have a look at the preliminary WC squads, and wonder, Who won’t be making the ‘ 30′ cut…Here in SA we have bundles of talented players, and even in Europe, there are enough talented South-African Rugby players to put together a strong team.

We’ve seen some very big omissions , Sebastien Chabal obviously the first to come to mind. selecting only 30 players per country will no doubt leave some heart Broken, I have tried to find the best 15 players(one per position) that won’t be going to the World cup. either through injury, being omitted already, or players that I feel will not make the final 30 in their respective countries(in that order) Either Big Names or form players who’ll be left at home.  

I appologise if initially this “team” has a South-African feel to it. I am not as informed , when it comes to the Northern Hemisphere countries.(So do feel free to point our any obvious big name omissions, that I have omitted) I will however be updating the team , after the final 30 man squads have been named sometime in August. 

1. Coenie Oosthuizen

A prop that has 15 pilfers from 16 games, scores tries, and is a good scrummager? yes, there is no equal to Coenie. He is included in the Tri Nations squad currently in NZ. he is yet to make an appearance, and with Dean Greyling prefered over him, Gurthro Steenkamp (should he be fit) and Beast all ready to wear the Bok number1 jersey, Coenie will have to wait another 4 years, and more importantly, the world will have to wait another 4 years to see this great talent. 

2. Schalk Brits 

Schalk Brits has been regarded as the best Hooker in the Northern Hemisphere arguably for two seasons now, many now make reference to Brits whenever describing a lively hooker, he has almost become a new generation of Hooker(much like he was when he was still at the Stormers). He has apparently Matured , and has a great rugby brain to go with his all round skills. Saracens coach Brendan Venter has called Brits, the best player he has ever coached. Brits has represented SA in a few tests, but has largely been overlooked, with local talent being deemed good enough. 

Honorable mention: Tatafu Polota-Nau.

Polota-Nau is in my opinion, one of the most physical and lively “traditional” hookers I have ever seen, pretty much similar to Bismarck du Plessis, his ball carrying is also scary. he has had a few injuries this season, and therefor, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans, has called up, the Reds’ replacement hooker, James Hanson, to cover for Saia Faingaa and Steven Moore. With these two players, getting valuable game time, Polota-Nau , seems to be the one who’ll lose out on a WC spot, depending on how many Hookers the Aussies select. 

3. Brian Mujati

He has been called up by many Couch critics to replace Jannie and save the Bok scrum, but whether Eligible or not, he won’t be travelling to the WC. I haven’t seen much of him, but people say he has outscrummed most in Europe. Mujati has become a fan favourite, and would have been a brilliant option to have at the WC. 

4. Chris Jack

The All blacks seem to have little need for the services of Jack, He returned to NZ after a short stint at WP, to get his NZ career back on track, he had more than enough time, and he was probably hoping to get back into WC contention, unfortunately for him, Sam Whitelock appeared on the scene, and since then, Jack has been seen on the Crusaders’ bench, he then had to make way for Luke Romano on the bench… Everything may have turned out different were he to sign with any other NZ side, than the Crusaders, as a starting position was then almost a certainty, Jack may be past his prime, but he looked good when he did come on, He is 32, Matfield is 34 and Sharpe 33 , the other two big Southern Hemisphere teams held onto their old stalwards, unfortunately, NZ didn’t. 

5. Andries Bekker 

The from lock in 2010, and very close to the form lock in 2011 , He has lived in the shadow of Victor Matfield, but would’ve been a sure WC squad member, until he was ruled out by inury. 

6.Phil Waugh 

Regarded as one of the best openside Flankers of his time, Waugh at age 31, is a little unlucky not to be playing some Tri Nations rugby at the moment. The role of the opensider has reduced, or changed, and with the arrival of David Pocock , Waugh has faded from the picture. He is also known for his captaincy skills. Waugh won’t be part of the Wallaby plans for the 2011 WC. 

7. Juan Smith 

He is currently an uncertainty, Many  have questioned the use of Danie Rossouw on the side of the scrum in the Tri Nations 2011, but De Villiers pointed out that if Smith isn’t fit in time, Danie is his second choice blindsider, (I personnally don’t agree with this) the statement does however reveal that there is serious doubt over whether Juan Smith will be fit by the cutoff date. If he does lose out, who’ll wear the SA number 7 jersey is anybody’s guess.  

8. Sebastien Chabal 

Chabal is world wide known for his cave man look, he is also coincidently a very hard man on the field, very quick for his size, a scary defender and ball carrier. Chabal is a fan favbourite, he has represented France mainly from the bench though, in resent times, covering lock , 8th man and flank, He is said to be one of the most expensive players in Europe. At test level, he has in my opinion never really lived up to the hype(if it was ever possible) he wasn’t really given a  starting position consistently enough to make his mark the way he would’ve liked, Some say his exclusion isn’t based on rugby reasons, and that would make sense as Chabal’s explosive play makes him just too valuable to discard. 

9. Sarel Pretosius 

Sarel scored 9 tries in this year’s Super15, he has been poached by Australian side, the Waratahs in the meantime, (after not being included in South-Africa’s WC plans) Sarel has been very good on attack, and less so on defence. His direct approach has been at the heart of the Cheetahs’ success this year. he was known as Super-Sarel after his explosive season. A player who would add to any WC squad in the world. 

10. Matt Giteau 

Matt being part of Robbie Deans’ plans is still debatable. but not being included in the Tri Natiosn squad, does say something. With Pat McCabe at 12, Anthony Faingaa as cover, Barnes set to recover…and the luxury of having Kurtley Beal and James O’Connor who can cover FH. Matt Giteau may be another shock exclusion

11. Aurelien Rougerie

The big tall French Winger was ruled out for 3-4 Months with an ankle injury, and won’t be taking part in the World cup. He has 57 caps for France, and scored 110 points. 

Honorable mention: David Smith 

Smith moved to the Western Force from the Hurricanes, and was arguably the best left winger in the Super15. He has now signed a contract in Europe, and will be plying his trade there come 2012. I do however feel, if it wasn’t for NZ’s tendency to pick fullbacks on the wing, Smith may have been a surprise call-up. Strangely, I see he was born in Samoa, and thus he should be eligible to play for them, I haven’t heard anything, but it won’t be very wise letting this one slip. 

Hinorable mention 2: Drew mitchell 

Mitchell was probably in the form of his life when he picked up, what first looked like a broken ankle, later reports luckily revealed his ankle wasn’t broken, his recovery and inclusion is still on the cards, if he does get included into the WC squad, it will be without having played a minute in months. 

12. Yannick Jauzion 

With the French known to blow hot and cold, their “star” Centre has also followed suit. He scored a try in France’s historic WC win over NZ in 2007, he is a very good direct centre. He has been in good form in recent years, although I have no idea on his current form, his 73 national caps worth of experience makes him another strange omission. 

13. Stirling Mortlock 

Mortlock admittingly not near his best, was a deadly outside centre, age has been his down fall, as he seems to have lost his pace.He joined Melbourne based new comers, the Rebels. and played the biggest part of the season as an inside centre, I know people are probably frowning on his name being mentioned, but…players like Mark Gerrard have recently received a call-up, and the Aussies are struggling with injuries and depth, we saw Asley-Cooper clinging onto his wrist in a very uncomfortable way during Saturday’s Tri Nations test, were this to be a serious injury waiting to be revealed? who’s next in line…Mortlock’s experience makes him a good option, I doubt he’ll get a call anytime soon, but he is a big name that is in relative form, and won’t be making it to the WC. 

14. Sitiveni Sivivatu/ Joe Rokocoko

 / 

contrary to popular belief The islander wingers have been deemed to have weak ball handling skills, specially areal skills, and NZ now have a preference for their fullback-cum-wingers, Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, etc. This has led to the death of the big strong running islander wings, who were all dreaming of being the next Lomu. Sivivatu may still sneak in, but Rokocoko is a certain omission. players like Lelia Masaga have hit a brick wall in their search for test rugby. Hosea Gear(in a league of his own) will be lucky if he does make the final cut. 

15. Hugo Southwell 

One of Scotland’s star backline players, was ruled out of the WC with a knee injury, although he may be fit come WC time, he and the Scotland management agreed that he won’t be ready to take  part in  any of their preparations, and therefor won’t be part of their WC plans. 

As time runs out on the final cut-off date for the final squads to be announced, we’ll surely see some more big omissions, I’ll update the team, add the new shock exclusions, and remove the ones that got away. please do in form me of any players who you feel should be in their respective countries’ final squads, but probably won’t make the cut. 

Some interesting views have been shared on the Blogs over the past  few days since The Springboks’ defeat at the hands of the Wallabies. 

Lets start at the front. We’ve clearly seen people disagree on our frontrow’s performance. Apparantly some feel we struggled in the scrums, while I personally feel we were solid in the scrums, and that both debutants can hold their heads high. Lets have a look : 

The set piece stats looks as follows:

Australia:

Line-outs: 10 (1 lost)

Scrums: 6 (1 reset, 2 collapses, 1 free kick)

South Africa:

Line-outs: 13 (3 lost)- (take into account the two Chiliboy lost in succession when he came on) 

Scrums: 10 (3 resets, 6 collapses, 1 free kick, 3 penalties)

- It’s clear that from our 10 attacking scrums, the Aussies collapsed frequently, I make this assumption, purely based on the fact that no one in their right mind would collapse on their own throw-in(although props get penalised for this quite often)

Not once can I recall a scrum being won against the throw, so penalties conceded at scrum time is obviously the only manner in which possession was turned over at scrum time, According to SAreferees.co.za Kruger gave away two penalties at scrum time, and Sekope Kepu 1. These are the only scrum related penalties mentioned. 

Individually Greyling missed no tackles and made 7, while Kruger was a little weak on defence, missing two, and making 4. 

on attack, Greyling had 4 carries, getting over the gain line 75% of the time, Werner Kruger had no carries(true to his reputation of a tipical tighthead) 

at the breakdown, Greyling was the in first 3 to arrive (on attacking ball) 7 times, in comparison to Kruger’s 22(here Kruger’s work rate shows) (at opposition breakdowns) Greyling was once on the first 3, and Kruger twice.

Neither had any handling errors.

Summary: Neither of our props performed badly, taking into account how much time Greyling spent off the park, his stats does look good. I felt, on face value, both performed well in the scrums, Kruger struggled a little against Kepu, but I suspect Kepu’s adjustment to loose head, probably made him a tricky customer to scrum against, his angle, and technique perhaps lacking. 

Locks: 

There has been quite a bit of talk about Hargreaves, and about whether he’s too “light” for test rugby. I personally thought he’d struggle, some interesting stats to see how he actually matched up: 

- He has 1 forced turover, two assists, 7 tackles made, and 2 missed tackles to his name. He had 3 ball carries, getting over the advantage line 100% of the time, and gaining 21m. interesting for me, he was 1 of the first three players to arrive at attacking breakdowns 25 times, shocking in comparison to lock partner Flip, who was in the frist three to get to the breakdown only 11 times, 8 (attacking breakdowns), 3 (opposition breakdowns) ., Isn’t Flip(the enforcer) suppose to enforce our breakdown, and secure possession? I was under the impression that THAT should be very high on the no4 locks priority list.

Hargreaves did very well, at line-out time, we only lost 1 line-out until that Chiliboy messup. So I’d say Hargreaves, if he recovers in time, deserves another start. Having a decent no4 lock like Danie or Mostert alongside him may also make a difference. 

Loosies: 

I see Naka Drotske feels Ashley Johnson was the best loosie on the day(SA) he also feels our lack of go forward, took away Johnson’s carrying ability, and that’s why he appeared so quiet. 

Let’s see how much truth(if any) there is in what he said. 

Ashley made 9 tackles, 2nd only to Steggman with 14, Danie had 7. Both Steggman and Johnson missed 2 tackles, while Danie missed none. 

on Attack, Ashley had 7 carries, danie 11, and Steggman 4. Steggman over the advantage line 80% of the time, with Johnson and Danie both 50% of the time. Metres gained Johnson 39m Danie 44m Steggman 21m . 

The breakdown is an area of concern, as Johnson doesn’t come close to the stats of Danie and Steggman. 

Steggman: 36(attacking Breakdowns)  6 (opposition breakdowns) 

Danie: 22 (attacking Breakdowns)   1 (opposition Breakdown) 

Ashley: 5 (attacking breakdowns)   2 (opposition Breakdowns) 

Summory: Ashley needs to work on his work rate, I love his loose play, but he needs to do his bit at the breakdowns. he kept himself quite busy on defense though, and although he was strangely quiet, he didn’t disappoint, Some say Ashley will do much better on the side of the scrum, and I’d be happy if we move him to 7, should Danie be used at lock. People calling for Ashley’s head after one average performance in a losing effort against Australia are a little hasty.

To be continued…

Interesting stat that I found. 

Total number of penalties: 19

Australia: 11

South Africa: 8

Reasons: 

Australia:

Tackle/ruck/maul: 8 (McCabe, Ashley-Cooper*, Beale, Higginbotham 2, Sharpe, Hodgson, Simmons)

Scrum: 1 (Kepu*)

Offside: 1 (Alexander)

Discipline: 1 (McCalman – collapsing maul)

South Africa:

Tackle/ruck/maul: 5 (Van der Merwe, Kruger*, Olivier, Hargreaves, Greyling)

Scrum: 2 (Kruger* 2)

Discipline: 1 (Greyling – collapsing maul)

This morning I read the following Article, ‘White Blasts De Villiers’ published on ESPNscrum.com , a similar Article, was published on Sport24 not too long ago. 

I’m not usually a big Jake White fan(post WC 2007) simply because I’ve seen some shit he suggested, that leaves one questioning his metal health. but with this article, I get his point, and I agree to some extent. 

To sum it up, Jake feels the Aussies were slightly vulnerable, he also feels with the WC literally around the corner, perhaps the opportunity shoud’ve been taken to send a full strenght team, in order to gain a mental edge over the Aussies, and to boost the confidence of our players. 

Jake said; “ We lost too many balls in contact, which was evidence of them not playing in four weeks. It was also clear that not many Boks knew where the ball was going in attack. That also comes from not playing together much as forwards and backs and as a unit.” - Thank you for confirming what we all knew all along Jake, I suggested a warm-up game, but who am I? right? The players’ lack of playing time together showed and was ,in my opinion, the biggest difference between the two teams.

Reading through the comments on the article on Sport24, It seems that we have two groups of readers, the “Divvy is an imbecile” group, and the “Jake White is an imbecile” group, here and there you get the odd lost soul who actually read the article, who comments something like; “Jake endured similar defeats in his WC year, and those results also slowed down his group of players’ momentum , the two situations are identical, Jake is in no position to judge, as he also felt necessary to rest key players. and still won the WC, so who’s to say Divvy won’t do the same…”

Interesting views by the readers, I think they’re all missing the point though, Jake refers to the differences between his WC year and Div’s WC year in this final paragraph of the ESPNscrum article.

”The reality is there is no comparison to what happened last time, they weren’t the same age and the players did not need as much game time,” he said. “The boys were rested for two weeks of the away leg over four weeks. They are going to rest them in the first two weeks. We had three friendly matches before the World Cup started against Scotland, Connacht and Namibia, which they won’t have.”

Also not mentioned, we played England twice and Samoa once in 2007 prior to the WC(the teams we were set to play in the group stages of the WC.) we won all three matches very comfortably. We would certainly not be lacking confidence and had the experience and knowledge of how to play a winning match of rugby against these two WC opponents. 

I have absoluetly no idea what the senior players left at home are currently keeping themselves busy with, I also have no idea when they’ll be used in this years Tri Nations(expecting it to be on the home leg though) if ever. 

It’s easy to understand White’s concerns, and in comparison to 2007, our World Cup preparations are basically non existent…

About a week prior to our humiliation against the Aussies, I did a post re a warm up game, and everyone was extremely quick to tell me , “the last thing we need is more rugby!”… I admitted, I agree, but that it all depended on how high up winning will be on our prioroty list, when entering the Tri Nations away leg. 

After our match against the Aussies, John Smit was asked what he’ll be expecting from this young side, when facing NZ, I’m not going to go search for his exact words, but he said something along the lines of: “We’ll look where we can tighten up, look to leak less tries, and hopefully lose by a smaller margin” 

I then read somewhere that Smit enjoyed playing with this young side, because they kept fighting until the death…

I simply have to question whether we were really in it to win it? I know we’ve never won at the ANZ Stadium, Sydney and therefor some will probably say if we expected to go there with our B-team and win, we’d be naive. This group of 22 players stepped onto the field as a unit, in a competitive match, for the very first time this weekend, inexperience was high on the list of reasons for the loss, I beg to differ, as it was the experienced players, CJ and John up front, Danie between the loosies, and Ruan and Morne both , and Olivier, that never really stood up. 

Some obvious non-functional combinations were exposed, and some supporters’ worries prior to kick-off confirmed. I’ll be quick to admit, I was wrong, I defended Olivier on countless occasions, I defended his form, and whether he’s deserving of his call-up, and to be honest, I’d do it again, he was on form, and he probably did deserve his starting position…but, in combiination with Juan de Jongh on his outside, and specially Morne Steyn on his inside, we were always going to be caught behind the advantage line. I have no authority, but if I did, as of this moment, picking Morne next to Olivier at test level, would be deemed a red card offence. I was very excited about this team of ours, some are quick to say, everyone played kak, but I think Mvovo, Aplon, Kruger, Greyling, Johnson(was a little quiet though) , and most of the replacements, can hold their heads high. Uysh already did a post where he shared his views, and I beleive every able minded Bok supporters’ views on Pat Lambie, and I agree that Lambie is too good to sit on the bench, he attacks the gain line, get’s us on the frontfoot, and penetrates the defensive lines9everything that we lacked on Saturday) 

I feel, time may not have been on our side, and these players are strangely fragile these days, but a warm-up match may have helped management identify the problem areas, and we could only have gone into Saturdays game a better team, even if the only thing gained was giving the combinations the experience of playing test rugby together. 

I personally feel, if we weren’t in it to win it, then leaving guys like Elton Jantjies sitting in the stands, makes very little sense. 

If our first result is anything to go by, winning the 2011 Tri Nations is out of the question, so with that in mind, my team to face the All Blacks would look like this: 

1. Dean Greyling (he was solid , he was rushed off and then back onto the field numerous times, and I’d like to see an uninterupted 60min from him) 

2. John Smit (He’ll be startiing at the WC, and needs the game time) 

3. Werner Kruger (Solid, had a huge defensive error when not going for the dive on Genia, but appart from that, looked good)

4. Danie Rossouw(Flip seems to be out) 

5. Alistair Hargreaves( Not a fan, but he didn’t do as bad as I predicted he would) 

6. Heinrich Brussow (Steggman was solid, but did very little fetching wise.) 

7. Ashley Johnson (Not his ‘everywhere self, but solid enough to get another start.) 

8. Ryan Kankowski (alternatively, Deasel on the falnk with Johnson at 8) 

9. Ruan Pienaar(bear with me, he’s been playing NH rugby, gve him some chance) 

10.Elton Jantjies( Our best FH against the NZ teams in the Super15, he did brilliantly when he travelled with the Lions, if not now, when will he get his chance) 

11.Lwazi Mvovo (was very good, taking into account he has very little experience at test level) 

12.Pat Lambie( he made a moerse verskil, and hasa huge claim to the no10 jersey, but I simply don’t have enough fainth in Jacobs or Olivier, Jacobs is a good impact player, that’s it, so I’ll have him on the bench.) 

13.Juan de Jongh(brilliant on defence, too selfish with ball in hand, may have been due to not getting much ball. see Bjorn) 

14.Bjorn Basson(let’s accept with this backline, the wings will get some ball, and then lets judge Bjorn’s performance.) 

15.Gio Aplon( was brilliant) 

16. Chiliboy Ralepelle (is this man proving all his critics wrong or what?) 

17. Coenie Oosthuizen(CJ may cover both sides, but there’s no point in covering both sides, but adding very little value when you do come on) 

18. Gerhard Mostert( he was included for a reason) 

19. Jean Deysel

20. Charl McCleod 

21. Adi Jacobs (With three possible FH’s on the pitch, no need for a FH replacement on the bench) 

22. Odwa Ndungane. 

By the way… I feel we’ve dimmed down on our kick and chase, I was actually ironically hoping we’ll be kicking every ball we get for Bjorn to chase, he is the best player in the world under the high ball after all. I was hoping we could test Digby Ioane’s skills under the high ball, and I still think he may have been found wanting…Somehow on the day Morne Steyn had no idea what he was supposed to do, we saw very little attacking kicks, very little tackling, and absolutely no clue…

Why is Sheriff’s deleted blogs , “Sheriff_24” and “TheSheriff” and Niels’ deleted blog, “niels the good sport” still showing under Most Commented blogs? 

TruvanPunt (210 comments in the last 7 days)

Letter to “Snor”

Wed 20 Jul 2011, 14:06

Dear Mister Peter de Villiers   Would you mind if I call you “Snor”, I don’t mean to be disrespectful?   To be honest, I am a bit jealous of your moustache and I really think it is your biggest asset. You have a “meneer Snor”.   Hopefully we will soon ca…

Sheriff_24 (126 comments in the last 7 days)

What’s stopping us from winning the world cup?

Thu 10 Mar 2011, 15:22

Good afternoon,     My insecurities about the Proteas have eventually caught up with me (better late than never). I’ve never believed the stories that our middle order are not up to standard and have not yet been tested however, it has come to my attention that if Kallis or Smith do…

TRUTH BE TOLD (110 comments in the last 7 days)

Supporters T’s

Thu 21 Jul 2011, 16:35

Just a quickie from me.    With the Rugby Wolrd Cup officially less than 50days away , 49days 18hours 22minutes and a few seconds while I’m writing this, Fridays have felt rather pale in comparison to the Soccer World cup of 2010.    Bokdays(if that is in fact what we’re calling…

Sheriffff (108 comments in the last 7 days)

The John Smit fairytale

Thu 21 Jul 2011, 14:36

just read this article which was sent to me on mail. . . .A must read! Brilliant article   Apparently the source is Sport24 but I can’t seem to find it             There’s a massive amount of conjecture around John Smit or Bismark du Plessis being the …

TheSheriff (93 comments in the last 7 days)

Kallis the best ? I think not

Tue 22 Feb 2011, 13:34

Hi Bloggers   For years people have been saying J.Kallis is by far the best all rounder in the world. . .take note on the “by far” Well I have news, watching the Netherlands game I came across a man by the name of none other than Ryan ten Doeschate . This man is a master blaster, a…

KIWI & BOK DIARIES (87 comments in the last 7 days)

Friday funnies!!!!!!

Fri 22 Jul 2011, 09:28

 

niels the good sport (75 comments in the last 7 days)

Swiss Yarpie is Bounced

Thu 27 Jan 2011, 13:45

So the Check wins.  Well done. But why am I happy for the Swiss Yarpie to get bounced? Well, he isn’t really a yarpie and besides, those smelly shackle-draggers seemed to be cheering much louder for him.   By the way, I really hate post match interviews regardless of the sport.

For the love of it! (72 comments in the last 7 days)

Know your Ref!

Thu 21 Jul 2011, 16:07

So we always hear how the All Blacks adapt to each different referee’s style and how they play to what the Ref allows, whether its cheating or not.   This weekend we pay against Chris Pollock…uhm…I mean, Australia, and Chris Pollock is the man with the whistle.   It’s darn difficult t…

Front Row Grunt (69 comments in the last 7 days)

Tank’s weekend predictions …

Thu 21 Jul 2011, 18:36

And Tri-Nations is a go, go, go Well, minus the 21 Boks who stayed at home to recover from injuries or hunt zebra. And while I can understand the likes of John Smit and Danie Rossouw getting grumpy at being called second string, I am afraid that is exactly what this team is. And that has to be a li…

In Union (63 comments in the last 7 days)

Bok backrow has a physical edge

Thu 21 Jul 2011, 15:36

The Springboks have picked a powerful loose trio to face Australia in hopes of dominating at the point of contact. But can these “B team” backrowers better their Aussie counterparts on their own turf? I think they could.   McCalman vs. Johnson I don’t really know much about B…

I’m just wonderring…seeing that the last posts shown under those three blognames are unavailable, it wouldn’t be possible to leave comments on them…

Just a quickie from me. 

With the Rugby Wolrd Cup officially less than 50days away , 49days 18hours 22minutes and a few seconds while I’m writing this, Fridays have felt rather pale in comparison to the Soccer World cup of 2010. 

Bokdays(if that is in fact what we’re calling them) haven’t really realised, as I’ve seen very few people sporting Bok jerseys , or any form of Supporters gear. Yes, I know the SWC was held in SA, and thus generated much much more excitement . Fridays were yellow, or green, or a combination of the two, Vuvuzelas blowing , cars hooting, and goose bumps all round. The whole nation , rich and poor, black and white got behind Bafana Bafana, even with the national team ranked somewhere near 100th on Fifa’s world rankings. 

So why then, when our own Springbok team is so close to representing us in a World cup, where they are currently ranked 2nd world wide, is our attempt to get behind the boys so tame in comparison?? Brooke did a post yesterday on the Bok playing jerseys, not the official WC jersey, as you can clearly see the Bok on the chest. Some of the bloggers inquired how much a jersey like this would cost …according to Brooke, this piece of material will cost you a R630.00

a Tad expensive I’d say…Ironically at the moment a silly songs playing on the radio, repeating the words  ”it’s too late”, and perhaps it is too late for any suggestions? I’m not sure what The Bafana Bafana jerseys sold for in the build up to the SWC, seeing that I never bought one, I did however buy one of these: 

It’s called a Supporter T-shirt, these produced by Adidas, sold for roughly R100 , Edgars had their own version, which looked similar, and by similar I mean , exactly the same, Selling for R80 at the time, you could also get the Street corner version, which sold for anything between R50-R20 depending on your negotiation skills… Without exaggerating too much, millions were sold. I like the colour, the design, and more importantly, the price…The millions who love the national team, could afford to wear their colours. 

Now I’ll accept that I may be uninformed(and there may be something out there already)with People already threatening that no one will buy the WC jersey with the Emblem on the sleeve, simply because of the price, and the fact that the Emblem will return to the chest after the WC(see image above). 

wouldn’t it be more doable to get the nation green on Fridays if we could get something similar for the Springboks? we could even have the Springbok Emblem on the Chest? just saying…

Only a Matter of Time Before we Solve our Tight Five Woes?  

So I’ve heard more than enough about the brilliant WP youngsters, to seriously question why they aren’t being promoted to the senior team. I know when the time is right, we’ll probably see them in WP(senior) and Stormers colours, but why wait…

the 2011 Super15 ended very much in the same way the 2010 season ended…And our frontrow, and tight five, in general were exposed. The general consensus seems to be that both Brock Harris and Wicus Blaaus simply aren’t good enough for Super rugby, their style of play, which finds them hanging around at Fly Half or centre ALL THE TIME, just cements these opinions. 

The province supporters have been as clear as they can about the fact that the province seriously needs props, good old fashioned , hard working, strong scrummaging Props. The obvious option would’ve been to look for talented frontrowers elsewhere, but with youngsters like Steven Kitshoff already looking ready to make the stepup to Super rugby, why even bother? Strange then that the same two props who were exposed will be the same two props starting on Saturday, while young Kitshoff finds himself playing for the junior team? After what I’ve seen from Kitshoff, (just like Sadie and JJ Engelbrecht) I won’t be surprised if other teams start showing interest in him…And once again, we won’t really be able to blame him if he accepts an offer somewhere where he’s promised regular game time at Currie cup level. 

Steven Kitshoff(loose head prop 19yrs, 1.83m , 114kg) 

The same can easily be said of young Frans Malherbe, who’s been used from the bench, for quite a while now, He may not have received as much spotlight as Steven Kitshoff, and I have personally not seen enough of him to judge whether he is a better option than Harris. but being part of the 2011 Stormers squad, I’m not sure why Harris is preferred to start. If we are building towards the 2012 Super rugby season, like Alister Coetzee suggested we are, surely these youngsters need to be given the exposure, in order to determine whether they’ll be bale to be solid props at Super rugby level, I just can’t seem to see the point of having these players stuck behind Harris and Blaauw. 

Frans Malherbe(Tight head prop 20yrs, 1.90m, 124kg) 

I’ve heard quite a bit about Etzebeth and how brilliant he is, he represented the baby Boks earlier the year in the Junior WC. and many have been calling him the next big thing, He now also finds himself on the bench for the U-21 WP team,as he was apparantly very close to getting a senior call-up, and didn’t train with the junior team. His usual lock partner at U-21, Quinn Roux is also a massive man, and a specialist no4 lock. U-21 WP Coach John Dobson said, “I believe Quinn and Eben will both become Springboks,”

“I don’t know of a young player more in the mould of Bakkies Botha than Quinn. He is big, heavy and hard-arsed.

“Eben is a very nice guy, but he plays like an Etzebeth.” Dobson said. 

Meanwhile at the senior team, We have De Kock Steenkamp, a no4 lock, playing alongside Hilton Lobberts, who is also a specialist no4 lock, no wonder the line-outs were pathetic over the weekend against the Griquas, as neither of the players are really known for being quality line-out jumpers.  Hilton Lobbets is a player I like, big strong, good ball carier, but, he was selected as a Springbok playing on the side of the scrum, Rassie’s obsession with turning him into the next Danie Rossouw is a little strange, and was clearly unsuccessful. seeing that Lobberts spent the bigger part of the last two years in Boland colours or playing Vodacom cup. On the Bench, very srangely, we have another no4 lock(Adriaan Fondse)…and one can’t help to feel the next best genuine no5 lock we have in the Cape is Eben Etzebeth, it’s good to hear he was close to inclusion…but the Hesitation is worrying..

The Sharks showed how putting your faith in a youngster, can pay off. Our own Siya Kolisi wasn’t half bad either. 

Eben Etzebeth(left)(lock 19yrs, 2.03m, 117kg)  

Quinn Roux(right)(20yrs lock, 1.97m 117kg) 

If these your players can establish themselves at Currie cup level, and make a successful stepup to Super rugby in 2012, combining with CC Captain Deon Fourie, we may see the end of our tight five troubles. but, for this to hapen, management needs to show some faith in the untested young guns.

The Flying Fijians have made 8 changes to their team that defeated Samoa for their match against the All Blacks over the Weekend. 

The Fijians will no doubt draw some confidence from the upset that the Samoans caused when they beat the Wallabies 33-23 less than a week ago. Fiji team manager Talemo Waqa said; “Nothing is impossible. Samoa have beaten the world number two team so we are going there to play the world number one team. Samoa went into the field with determination and the right mind-set so they got the result,”

This is what the All Blacks will be facing.  

Fiji:

15 Iliesa Keresoni, 14 Timoci Naqusa, 13 Albert Vulivuli, 12 Ravai Fatiaki, 11 Naipolioni Nalaga, 10 Seremaia Baikeinuku, 9 Nemia Serelevu, 8 Sakiusa Matadigo, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Dominiko Waqaniburotu, 5 Rupeni Nasiga, 4 Sekonaia Kalou, 3 Deacon Manu (captain), 2 Sunia Koto, 1 Campese Ma’afu

Substitutes: 16 Viliame Veikoso, 17 Setefano Somoca, 18 Josefa Domolailai, 19 Malakai Ravulo, 20 Vitori Buatava, 21 Taniela Rawaqa, 22 Vereniki Goneva

Naipolioni Nalaga

Will the Fijians’ strong backline players cause some disruption to the All Blacks? With a relatively untested half back combo at test level, the All Blacks may not get the front foot attacking ball they would’ve hoped for. and With Fiji’s backs and forwards all always very good ball carriers, everything may not be smooth sailing for NZ. 

In turn the All Backs have also rested a few key players, and have given starts for a few fringe players who they probably want to test prior to the Tri nations and World cup, in order to have able replacements should injuries occur. 

New Zealand:

15 Mils Muliaina 14 Zac Guildford 13 Conrad Smith 12 Ma’a Nonu 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu 10 Colin Slade 9 Jimmy Cowan 8 Liam Messam 7 Richie McCaw (captain) 6 Adam Thomson 5 Ali Williams 4 Jarrad Hoeata 3 Ben Franks 2 Andrew Hore 1 Wyatt Crockett

Substitutes: 16 Corey Flynn 17 John Afoa 18 Samuel Whitelock 19 Jerome Kaino 20 Piri Weepu 21 Daniel Carter 22 Ben Smith

Ali Williams will start alongside debutant Jarrad Hoeata, While Adan Thomson gets a well deserved start, Messam will be at the back, with Kieran Read getting a well deserved rest. Zac Guildford will be doing duty in black, with no sign of Sonny Bill. Sivivatu (who I feel is heavily underrated in NZ) , who missed out on the initial squad, and was chosen as injury cover, starts on the wing against some of his cousins(I’m sure). This match will give Henry a chance to justify his selection of Colin Slade over the brilliant Aaron Cruden.

Ma’a Nonu, still tipped by most to wear the no12 jersey at the WC, will get another chance to prove that in the all black jersey, he’ll tackle whatever opstacles get thrown his way, head on….Good luck with that. 

Let’s be realistic, these Fijians, for all their creativity and strong running just can’t seem to crack it at 15-man rugby, the big difference between the 15-man game, and sevens is the set pieces, and that’s perhaps the one area where they need serious work. This game will also give South-Africans a good indication of what to expect come WC time.

The Fiji duo of Sisa Koyamaibole and Waisea Luveniyali have been suspended for 2 weeks and 4 weeks respectively, and therefor aren’t part of the team picked for the All Black test. Vice-captain Gabriel Lovobalavu, Kini Murimurivalu and Talemaitoga Tuapati were unavailable because of injury. Lock Leone Nakarawa who is ineligible to enter New Zealand because he is a private in the Fiji army, was not included in the 24-man squad for the match at Carisbrook.

while Nicky Little(who’ll possibly be attending his 4th world cup later this year)finds himself injured. 

Nicky Little 

I don’t pretent to know the Fijian players, nor do I have any idea of their form. but when Fijian rugby is brought up, players like Rupeni Caucaunibuca, Seru Rabeni and Nicky Little come to mind. 

 With quite a few other countries banking on veteran players for experience at the WC, perhaps seeing some of these names at the WC, won’t be such a bad thing? once said to be the most dangerous attacking player ever, Rupeni Caucaunibuca currently weighs almost 120kgs, and isn’t in the best shape: 

May 2011: Rupeni Caucaunibuca 

I’ve also wonderred about a player like Sereli Naqelevuki, who played quite a bit of rugby in the Southern hemisphere, and despite some brain farts, was quite impressive, he now finds himself playing in the Northern Hemisphere, and although now directly competing with his fellow Fijians, I find it strange that he wasn’t able to make Fiji’s 35-man WC squad. 9perhaps some of you who regularly wtach Northern Hemisphere rugby can give the rest of us an indication of where he is form wise) he apparantly plays for Exeter Chiefs. (I see he was used at Inside centre) 

Sereli Naqelevuki

On to the Currie cup: 

Junior Star tipped to be the next “big” thing gets another chance in the Currie cup

When Isma-eel Dollie was strutting his stuff for the Emerging Springboks and the South African under-19 and under-21 teams it appeared only a matter of time before he would break through and establish himself at senior level. But although he has played Vodacom Cup rugby for WP, a succession of senior Province coaches have deemed him not good enough for the higher levels of the game.

That has been a point of controversy in the Cape, and Rassie Erasmus, when he was in his first season coaching the Stormers in 2008, took some flak from sections of the Cape Town media for not fast-tracking Dollie into what was then the Super 14.

While Erasmus’ conviction that Dollie was not up to it made him unpopular, his view did appear to be vindicated when Dollie went overseas on trial, first to the Brumbies and then to Japan, and did not make it. He is now back in the Cape and has been limited to playing club rugby as he is not on contract at WP.

However on Monday WP coach Allister Coetzee said he was eager to give Dollie a chance to show what he could do, and this could be one unexpected positive spin-off to the injury to Van Aswegen, which has ruled the talented pivot out for “eight to nine weeks”.

Supersport.com 

I’m not sure how you fail on trial in Japan, but surely this is a first, I’ve seen very little of Dollie, but his name has been mentioned before by Springbok coach P. Divvy, Dollie is perhaps the Earl Rose that never got selected? Supporters who are still convinced with transformation in rugby, talentless players have a walkway to success, should have a talk with Isma-eel Dollie, he’ll tell you a different story. I’m not trying to suggest that Dollie is talentless, not at all…but how he could go from star at junior level, star at emeging Boks, star at Vodacom cup level to “playing club rugby” or “not good enough” is literally inexplicable…Dollie finds himself on the WP bench for their match against the Leopards(as Alister wasn’t completely ready to put his trust in Dollie), and this may be Dollie’s final chance to convince he’s good enough to have a professional rugby career.seeing as it’s only a matter of time before options like Lionel Cronje and kurt Coleman get back to full fitness. 

Any speculation re the team selection for the Tri Nations opener has been put to rest with the announcement of both teams earlier today. The Springbok side, is very close to what was predicted in the media, the inclusion of CJ van der Linde and Pat Lambie on the bench, the only real question marks we rational supporters are left with. 

We’re all well aware of the fact that numerous first choice players are injured, and couldn’t make the trip to Australia. This team referred to as our B-team, may well not be deserving of that name form wise, but I won’t be lured into believing this team is a better or equal option to the one sitting at home. My biggest issue with this team is experience, 4 players from the starting line-up have single digits in their “caps column” while another 3 will be making their debut. 

Juan de Jongh

More importantly these combinations have very little experience playing together, Our centres being my main concern, both players with their selfish tendencies, will be playing together for the first time(that I’m aware of). Our back three aren’t the best defenders by the stretch of anyone’s imagination, and are perhaps another serious area of concern. 

Ruan Pienaar will be playing at half back alongside Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar’s distribution is the reason he was converted into a FH , he does create play brilliantly, but will be slightly limited from the no9 position, with McCleod on the bench we might see Lambie come on to take over From Morne , or we might even see Pienaar used at 10 if Lambie is used at centre or at the back. a Move that’ll be exciting if nothing else. 

Teams:

Springboks: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 John Smit, 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Patrick Lambie

Wallabies: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O’Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu

Substitutes: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Nathan Sharpe, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Anthony Faingaa

a Positive though is our tight five, who when put up against their direct opposition look more than able to hold their own. 

Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger are set to make their debuts in the frontrow, on either side of captain John Smit. they’ll be up against Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore and Ben Alexander. personally I feel Tatafu Polota-Nau is second only to perhaps Bismarck and Mealamu in the world, and thus a better option at hooker(not sure if he is injured). I feel the Wallabies in losing Benn Robinson has exposed their huge lack of depth in the frontrow, and in general. Ben Alexander is a player I rate, and who I feel will be one to watch, top try scorer for the Brumbies in 2010 season, he loves having ball in hand. Scrum time will be interesting, I feel with John at hooker our scrum will be very strong, and this may be the one area where we’ll have an upper hand. 

The Aussies in selecting James Horwill(24 caps) and Rob Simmons(uncapped?) have parhaps missed a trick, veteran Lock Nathan Sharpe, who,at 33, is still regarded by some as one of the best locks in world rugby, with his presence at line-out time and strong carries, would’ve posed a huge threat to our relatively inexperienced lock duo. 

Some have touched on the fact that our loose trio lacks pace? I’m not completely convinced that either Deon Steggman, Ashley Johnson or Danie Rossouw is noticeably slower than Ben McCalman, Rocky Elsom and David Pocock, in the second half, when Scott Higginbotham comes on, the Aussies’ loose trio should be the quicker one. 

Danie Rossouw

The Half backs are an area of concern, Genia and Cooper go unmatched , and their knowledge of playing together along with their flashy creativity leaves us looking a little one dimentional. our defence around the breakdown area will be key to nulifying Genia , when he does attempt his trademark snipes close to the line. I’m not sure who’ll be keeping an eye on Cooper, as his crazy passes , kicks and runs are just too unpredictable to counter(specially considering the form he was in at the end of the super15). enough pressure on Cooper can result in his 50/50 passes and kicks not going to hand. 

A positive about the half backs is their replacement options, with Beale and O’Connor able to cover FH, they have no specialist FH on the bench, Nick Phipps(I have no idea how he got close to a national call-up) is the replacement chosen for Genia, and should he come on, he could be a real weakness to them, on attack and defence.

Pat McCabe’s selection in the midfield is a little strange as one always suspected the Aussies to play Guteau at 12, or Faingaa, who had another very strong season at the Reds. McCabe’s inexperience along with Ashley-Cooper’s form this season surely means we’ll have the form centre starting pair in this game, now all we need is Olivier to occasionally pass the ball , and we’ll have a certain upper hand in the midfield.

Both teams sport impressive attacking back three’s, their’s packing a bit more weight, and better suited defensively. Digby Ioane seems to be peaking at the right time, Hopefully we’ll be testing Ioane with a bunch of highballs(he doesn’t appear completely comfortable under the high ball) with the high flying Basson ready to pounce.  First time tackles will be key to stop their dangerous backline from running riot. 

What is interesting, is how confident our team comes across in the media, and although very few supporters are expectant, I feel an upset is definitely on the cards, Our team seems hungry to prove they aren’t just another second string team who travelled to Australia to collect their caps and a beating. They are also playing for an opportunity to represent their country at the WC, and if that isn’t enough motivation to perform, nothing will ever be…

Ashley Johnson 

So When I was busy reading up on the results of the 1st division matches that took place over the weekend, a familiar name caught my eye. On the score sheet of the Valke vs Griffons match, that looked like this: 

Scorers:

Valke 38 – Tries: Martin Thomsen, Willem Odendaal, Zane Killian, Carlyle Hendricks, Jacques George, Sinovuyo Ganto. Conversions: Thomsen (4).

Griffons 27 – Tries: Gavin Annandale, Eddie Fredericks, Willem Britz (2). Conversions: Jannie Myburgh, Tiaan van Wyk. Penalty: Myburgh.

The name Gavin Annandale rang a bell. I initially wanted to do a post on all the well known names playing for the 1st division teams, (it seems every reject and his brother now represents a team in the lower league, Not that I mind, I enjoy recognising a few players when I do get around to watching some of these games, it just familiarises me with the team, and raises the interest levels)

Back to the topic at hand, Gavin is 22 years old, he matriculated a year before me from the legendary Hoerskool Brandwag, based in, you guessed it, Benoni… for all it’s silly jokes, and dodgy reputation, Benoni doesn’t really live up to it’s reputation(at least I’d like to think so), it does however produce some talented young rugby players. Due to the number of potential rugby players in the school(boys) Brandwag finds themselves in a “lower league” , and rarely get to measure themselves against the best schools in SA. on a few occassions each year though, in special knockout matches, Brandwag do get to play against the best that the East Rand has to offer,  they usually also performed well in these matches, that are, if I recall correctlyplayed in a competition called the “Spur reeks” and later “Coke reeks” or the other way around.

Anyway, enough backround on the school, Gavin captained our 1st team when I was in grade11,  He’s a big lock, though tipped to have a better future on the side of the scrum due to 1.94m being a tad short by the South-African standards, as I remember him, he was a hard-hitting(tackler, just to clarify) lock who wasn’t half bad with ball in hand either and good at line-out time. 

I remember he represented the Cheetahs in the U-21 Currie cup, and since then I haven’t heard much. So it’s good to see he’s still keeping the dream alive, he scored a try in the Griffons’ losing attempt against the Valke over the weekend. unfortunately I didn’t get to see the game, so can’t comment on the rest of his performance. I do believe players from Schools who aren’t playing in the top league aren’t likely to get the same exposure and opportunities. In my biased opinion, I feel a hand full of players I saw playing school boy rugby a few years ago, are better than what provincial teams currently have to offer. Only time will tell if Gavin has what it takes to grab the attention of some of the bigger sides, or at least make the stepup to the Cheetahs , seeing that the Grifons fall in the same region. 

Gavin Annandale(the guy in the white scrumcap)

Full name: Gavin Barnard Annandale

School attended and year: Brandwag Hoerskool

Position: Lock

Born: April 27, 1989

Height: 1.94m

Weight: 110kg