South Africa v NZ

Well, SA 6-0 up but don't want to tackle....NZ just have to be paitent as SA are being cut to shreds

SA should really have been put away by now but their scrambling defence is keeping them in this - plus the boot of Steyn 9-0

Another pen Steyn after some pressure on the NZ line, but the tackles from NZ were massive...AShley Johnson naile dby SBW...anyway, I feel pretty confident although we're 12-0 down as SA cannot or will n ot tackle until the last resort

this is a cracker...a 5 min sequence of open play...think although the diff is 12 itll be SA feeling it..

Droppie Steyn 15-0

15 - 0 down, and the Boks are pretty much in control. NZ throwing it at SA but England and the Argies did it against the Welsh with nothing.

Could be worrying for the AB's

I feel on person will be creating another poem

welshie I'm not worried...the Saffa's are looking out on their feet although they ar keeping up the pressure and the tempo...opne try turns this around

voila!!!!

Well Kahui has got his place in the squad I think

that is a great try, marginal fwd pass though I think. Still Kahui had it all to do and did it himslef

kiweewee I still think the Bok are a better side.

they just need to start tackling no?

chewed_mintie wrote:they just need to start tackling no?

Why, if you are tackling more you are on the defensive. Bok hardly seem to be that or out on ther feet.

The Boks` defence was rattled in that half, how they are leading I don't know. Hats off to Brussow, Jaque Fourie and Bismarck. Victor doing very well taking the kick offs

wow...what a frenetic half of play. scrappy but by god, the ball has been kept alive. NZ started by cutting the boks to shreds a few times only for outstanding scrambling defence to spoil things. Steyn has kicked everything he's needed to and put SA out to a suprising but deserving 15-0 lead. Still, the AB's conjured up another linebreak in the backs with great hands from SBW and Gear who may have just put his pass forward to Kahui who literally dragged 3 defenders over the line with him

15-5 and this game is alive. If the pace keeps up, I expect NZ to run SA ragged. They only have Ashley Johnson as cover for Broussouw who has already been off for a blood bin. Thompson it seems is winning that battle but if Broussouw comes off again it could be a mismatch in the backrow. Matfield has been supreme for the Boks so far, as has Steyn in doing what he is required to do. Even Pieterson and Habana are trying to get in on the running action, intercept just before HT but either Habana is getting slower or Toeva has gotten quicker as he was easily run down.

Frenetic, exciting, brilliant open play....miss the 2nd half at your peril.

I still think we will comeback if Slade gets his head on

Reflections:

Slade has long arms but NZ are fooked If din caata gets injured

Bakkies, DuPreez and Matfield are class

Spies is starting to look ok for once.

Du Preez hasn't had a good game I would argue. His kicking game is way off atm, some of his kicks have been wayward at best. Agree about Matfield and Bakkies though. Didn't mention Mealamu, he is absolutely leading by example for NZ..huge game thus far

Chewed mintie, that intercept, Pieterson should not have passed to Habana there, Habana had a defender on each side of him and was never going to get through the space,if Pietersen did a little grubber there he or Habana could have won the race to the try line

Du preez' box kicks haven't been too bad plus his passing is awesome.

maybe biltong, I just thought Toeava came in pretty quickly to shut it all down

Great run by Dagg, fantastic tackle... forward pass though to deny Cowan.

My God the NZ commentators whinging like little girls. The fact was it was a forward pass and was NO TRY. Well done TMO for having the balls to tell the ref. Can you believe the NZ commentators wanted that to be a try???

yeah it was a forward pass so justice is done, but its not for the TMO to adjudicate on things not in the dead ball zone. once the reff went to TMO it should have been a try

kingjohn7 wrote:yeah it was a forward pass so justice is done, but its not for the TMO to adjudicate on things not in the dead ball zone. once the reff went to TMO it should have been a try

absolutely, dont dispute it was a forward pass but the TMO cannot rule on that. Change it now after this farce.

Change the law about ruling by the TMO is what I mean.

Yes definately change it. How farcical is it that people want a try when it was ilegal.

Yes, correct Welshie. Don't think Marshall was complaining about it being called back as it was forward, just that the ref forgot about what the TMO can and cannot rule on.

AGreed kiwiweewee

Big call bringing off Bismark, huge game! Good call bringing Slade off though!

Body on the line from Dagg, brilliant stuff

Bok scrum is dominant.

Bok v Wales will be a great game

amazing turnover broussouw....

geeeeeezzzzzussss toeava!!! the dropsies have come back!

Well done the Bok.

Good win in the end by SA definitely won the battle of the breakdown - Broussouw superb and MOTM. AB's what do we need to know?

That game was winnable with the right personnel. Carter and McCaw are obviously now confirmed as our two unreplaceable players. We made enough linebreaks to win the game three times over and with a little bit of composure would have done so.

Slade will be better for this no doubt. He still has potential and I will back him as our backup flyhalf.

SBW, Dagg, Toeava and Kahui are all in the squad - Jane/Guildford will miss out. I thought our back play was superb in getting over and through the line we just could not finish anything.

We know how SA will play come knock out time. However with the names that will be brought back in Read, Thorn, McCaw, Carter, O Franks, Smith, Nonu, Muliaina I am absolutely sure we can beat them with their gameplan.

Last word goes to South Africa. I absolutely doff my cap and salute that magnificent forward effort today. It was outstanding. Broussow in particular was absolutely brilliant as were Bismark, Jannie, Victor and Bakkies. Absolutely brilliant. So much for my 'run them off their feet' call.

Well,Done the Springboks,All blacks got what they deserved not even a consolation Bonus point.
Chances are next week Oz will take the 3Ns,because of the poxy RWC.
Don`t say I didn`t warn you it would`nt be enough i`m fuming,

Chewed minty, I thought the Boks would be run off their feet to, they surprised me by keeping up the intensity, I also agree that at this stage it. Doesn`t look like we have enough to counter them come semi final time.

I have seen enough though to think we will make the semi final

chewed_mintie wrote:



SBW, Dagg, Toeava and Kahui are all in the squad - Jane/Guildford will miss out. I thought our back play was superb in getting over and through the line we just could not finish anything.

How does Jane miss out? is he not your best winger?

South Africa 18 - 5 New Zealand

Morné Steyn kicked all of South Africa's points as they beat New Zealand 18-5 in Saturday's Tri-Nations clash in Port Elizabeth.

The All Blacks scored the only try of the game, but were outmuscled up front by their hosts.

It was South Africa's best performance of the year - by some margin - but the Springbok management will continue to be concerned by their team's inability to cross the try line.

By contrast, Graham Henry's task of picking his backs for the World Cup was made no easier by strong performances by Israel Dagg, Hosea Gear. However Adam Thomson's hopes of making the starting XV on September 9 took a step backwards as his overeagerness cost his side a number of penalties.

New Zealand did most of the playing in the first quarter but it was the hosts who held a 12-0 lead after half-an-hour as their charged-up pack forced the All Blacks to infringe at the rucks and at scrum time.

Morne Steyn moved the Boks further ahead with a neat drop-gaol but it was the men in black who would cross the whitewash for the games only try, courtesy of Richard Kahui, who muscled his way past three defenders after Hosea Gear had cut through the Boks' defensive curtain with a searing run.

South Africa led 15-5 at half time with Steyn's fourth penalty the only points of the second period.

More to follow...

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Pens: Steyn 5
Drop: Steyn

For New Zealand:
Try: Kahui

South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ashley Johnson, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Butch James.

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Isaia Toeava, 13 Richard Kahui, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Colin Slade, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Adam Thomson, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 3 John Afoa, 2 Keven Mealamu (capt) 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Jarrad Hoeata, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Cory Jane.

Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)

Bad news for Wales, good news for RWC.

Just shows ABs sans Carter/McCaw are not invincible.

That is why Wales must play Hook at 12 & Roberts at 13 to have any chance of matching their centres.

Calmed down now,so an objective analyas of the game,Firstly well played
the Boks.You did what Victor Matfield and PDV wanted,tackled every thing that moved,Morne Steyn ruled the game solid line kicking,and goal kicking.
Much improved Scrum,edged it Rolling Mauls were broken up with ease.
Didn`t create much,Broussow showed value of a specialist at 7[6]?a
Scrappy gritty win,great defensive display there was always going to be one good Bok win this year this was it.
Last week this All Blacks side would have won,lot of rusty combinations
Line outs went well one steal each side,handled Rolling Maul well,go hit outs by Dagg,Gear,Toeva,Slade had a reasonable game for a first start but
needs to worjk on his Goal and Tactical kicking..
Second string pack went reasonably well Afoa,seems the weak link,was Woodcock injured or short of a gallop?Scrum was more under pressure too.
Too many handling errors,and penalties given away,too many wishful passes.intercepts[tho there was certainly some from off side positions]
too many little chip kicks going no where.They will play worse than that and win.
Slade obvoiusly needs more starts,but pretty fair over all,Thomson will certainly go to RWC but really they need a specialist 7 to back up McCaw.
RWC Squad named tuesday,hope Crockett is included rather than Afoa.
IF the first team start next week then the 3Ns is still winnable,I doubt Ted ever expected this one was given the side picked.

Well played to the Boks, a throughly convincing win.

Was this a bit of complacency on the part of Graham Henry by not picking a better team, with the likes of Carter,Mc caw,Ma Nanu, I know with the RWC coming up you dont wont your first choice players getting injured...But you cannot keep wrapping your players in cotton wool.

The Spring Boks put out their first choice players in the Hope that they will win the Trinations, That is the tournament that they are playing at the moment and not the "RUGBY WORLD CUP".


In other words play one tournament at a time, If you are playing a Trinations game then consentrate on the Trinations......When the Rugby World Cup starts consentrate on that.

Congratulations Biltong the Boks were the far better team on the day and deserved the victory..
I think both teams can take a number of positives out of that performance, Again I was impressed with the whole Springbok pack and last weeks run against the Australia definitely tweeked them.
Alan
Tony woodcock has a smashed nose, The real problem there was that GH needed to seem him over more aspects of the game befora he is in a position to decide over him or Wyett Crockett.

Hi guys, let me start by sayinng that the match had a lot of intensity. The all Blacks certainly have exciting backs in spades. How we managed to lead by 12-0 at one stage was based on some miracles. A miracle cross defence tackle from Habana, some mistakes from the all Blacks (perhaps a little too eager and not patient enough?).

However it was a remarkable desperate defensive effort from the springboks.

Overall it was good to see that some players showed they can still play at high intensity and in specific I am talking about Victor, Habana and Bakkies. Those three in particular had something to prove today.

Morne Steyn has played the best game of the last 18 months and even had a few inside passes (Ok they didn't really come off), which I have never seen him try before, and looking at his defensive effort of a few weeks ago, didn't miss any tackles from what I can remember.

Still not convinced Fourie du Preez is our best scrum half at the moment. He slipped some tackles ( well who didn't), and made some errors under the high bal and tactical kicks.

Hopefully Lambie isn't serious because he looked good for the little time he was on.

We don't need John Smit anymore unfortunately to the great man. Bismarck showed himself to be arguably the best hooker in the game today. I was satisfied with Guthro's scrum work today, and can only don my hat to Heinrich Brussow, he saved us a number of times with crucial turn overs.

Is it enough, no not yet, I am concerned about Jean de Villiers, he once again showed he has lost some speed, doesn't time his offloads.

But I can at least say there is hope.

I think Afoa was given a bath and is never a starting prop,his only advantage is he is barely a Test class Tight Head,ify as a test class loosehead.Richard loe`s opinion and he should know,but never conviced me.

Biltong
My South African player of the day,Johan Meuwesen.....
First time i've ever seen that done in either rugby league or union.........

aucklandlaurie, I can understand your frustration in how the decision was made.

But let's be honest for a moment, many all Black supporters would not have minded if the forward pass in the quarter final against France was picked up in that way.

The fact is the All Blacks could have won that game, just like we should have won last weekend.

Enough opportunities by both teams, but messed it up on the day.

Not the point gentlemen it was plainly forward,even Ted admitted it and had no problem with it.
Best team on the day won.PDV rules Biltong?

Alan, even if we win the world cup PDV won't rule in my book.

From what I have seen during the last few years will never convince me he is a quality coach.

In 2008 under PDV Sa won 9 out of 13 tests
In 2009 under PDV SA won 8 out of 12 tests
In 2010 under PDV SA won 8 out of 13 tests
In 2011 under PDv Sa won 1 out of 4 tests.

His overall win percentage is 26 wins out of 42 tests, which gives him a win rate of 62%, if he goes as I expect through to the semi final and lose to NZ there, his record will be 31 wins out of 48 tests, which gives him a win rate of 64%, you would argue that this is very similar to Jake white's record.

On pure stats alone yes. But on further investigation you will see that PDV has brought very few new players in, those he did had little exposure, most of those he brought in was because injuries gave hom no choice.

Our game plan has stagnated. He regularly make substitutions at inoppotune times, he has not once been honest to the SA rugby public about anything.

Always defensive, and most important of all, Jake white took over a team in dire straights, who had for the previous 6 years not won any trophies, had their worst world cup ever the previous year.

Pieter de Villiers took over a world championship team and as the prrof is in the eating, almost the whole team today consisted of the same players.