TRC Round 1: Australia v South Africa, 18 July

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AUSTRALIA v SOUTH AFRICA
18 July 2015
20:05 AEST (UTC+10)
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

TV TBC

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant Referees: [tbc]
TMO: [tbc]

A. Recent History

27 September 2014 - Newlands, Cape Town
28 – 10 to South Africa

6 September 2014 - Patersons Stadium, Perth
24 – 23 to Australia

28 September 2013 - Newlands, Cape Town
28 – 8 to South Africa

7 September 2013 - Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
12 – 38 to South Africa

29 September 2012 - Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
31 – 8 to South Africa

8 September 2012 - Patersons Stadium, Perth
26 – 19 to Australia

B. Squads

1. Australia

Backs: Adam Ashley-Cooper, Kurtley Beale, Quade Cooper, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, Matt Giteau, Rob Horne, Samu Kerevi, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Lealiifano, Drew Mitchell, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Nick Phipps, Henry Speight, Matt Toomua, Joe Tomane, Nic White.

Forwards: David Pocock, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Scott Sio, Rob Simmons, Will Skelton, James Slipper, Toby Smith, Wyclif Palu, Ben McCalman, Sean McMahon, Dean Mumm, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Rory Arnold, Dave Dennis, James Hanson, Scott Fardy, Tetera Faulkner, James Horwill, Scott Higginbotham, Greg Holmes, Michael Hooper

2. South Africa

Forwards: Willem Alberts, Schalk Brits, Schalk Burger, Marcell Coetzee, Eben Etzebeth, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Siya Kolisi, Francois Louw, Frans Malherbe, Victor Matfield, Heinke van der Merwe, Marcel van der Merwe, Teboho 'Oupa' Mohoje, Francois Mostert, Tendai Mtawarira, Scarra Ntubeni, Trevor Nyakane, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Adriaan Strauss, Warren Whiteley

Backs: Damian de Allende, Bryan Habana, Cornal Hendricks, Elton Jantjies, Zane Kirchner, Faf de Klerk, Jesse Kriel, Lwazi Mvovo, Rudy Paige, Ruan Pienaar, JP Pietersen, Handre Pollard, Willie le Roux, Morne Steyn

Conditioning squad (injured players)

Heinrich Brussow, Jaque Fourie, Lood de Jager, Patrick Lambie, Lionel Mapoe, Coenie Oosthuizen, Fourie du Preez, Cobus Reinach, Jan Serfontein, Francois Steyn, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Duane Vermeulen, Jean de Villiers

C. Teams

1. Australia
 
01. James Slipper - (Reds - 63 Tests)
02. Stephen Moore, C - (Brumbies - 92 Tests)
03. Sekope Kepu (Waratahs - 52 Tests)
04. Will Skelton (Waratahs - 8 Tests)
05. Rob Simmons (Reds - 50 Tests)
06. Scott Fardy (Brumbies - 20 Tests)
07. Michael Hooper, VC - (Waratahs 42 Tests)
08. Scott Higginbotham (Rebels -31 Tests)

09. Will Genia (Reds - 58 Tests)
10. Quade Cooper (Reds - 53 Tests)
11. Rob Horne (Waratahs 25 Tests)
12. Matt Giteau (Toulon - 92 Tests)
13. Tevita Kuridrani (Brumbies - 20 Tests)
14. Adam Ashley-Cooper, VC - (Waratahs - 104 Tests)
15. Israel Folau (Waratahs - 29 Tests)

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau (Waratahs - 50 Tests)
17. Scott Sio (Brumbies - 5 Tests)
18. Greg Holmes (Reds - 13 Tests)
19. James Horwill (Reds - 58 Tests)
20. David Pocock (Brumbies - 46 Tests)
21. Nick Phipps (Waratahs - 28 Tests)
22. Matt Toomua (Brumbies 21 Tests)
23. Drew Mitchell (Toulon - 63 Caps)

2. South Africa

01. Tendai Mtawarira
02. Bismarck du Plessis
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Eben Etzebeth
05. Victor Matfield (c)
06. Francois Louw
07. Marcell Coetzee
08. Schalk Burger

09. Ruan Pienaar (vc)
10. Handré Pollard
11. Bryan Habana
12. Damian de Allende
13. Jesse Kriel
14. JP Pietersen
15. Willie le Roux

16. Adriaan Strauss
17. Heinke van der Merwe
18. Frans Malherbe
19. Lood de Jager
20. Oupa Mohoje
21. Cobus Reinach
22. Pat Lambie
23. Lwazi Mvovo

Anyone else think Quade Cooper was quite poor on Saturday?

Both teams played really well in patches but what I take from this game is that while both are WC contenders neither team are invincible. Far from it really.

I thought all the half backs on show were pretty poor Guns.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:I thought all the half backs on show were pretty poor Guns.

Agreed. Coopers goal kicking was terrible. His decision making at times was poor too.

I found it interesting that for the Boks, in the second half Willie Le Roux was standing at first receiver on attacking ball most of the time. Given that that was the case, and Pollard's kicking was poor and his defence was poor (he missed a tackle in the run up to two of the Aussie tries) then why on earth didn't Heyneke bring Lambie on at 10 earlier? Lambie kicks better, tackles better and Le Roux was doing all the attacking anyway.

Some other miscellaneous comments:

De Allende, while a great talent, really has to learn to offload. There were two occasions when he had an unmarked open man outside him and he held on to the ball.

I feel the boks found Pocock more of a hassle than Hooper / although maybe it was the combination of Pocock and Hooper that was the hassle / or maybe it was that Bismark and Coetzee had gone off....

When is Jan Serfontein hoping to return from injury?

Some highlights:



You have to say that all scores were of a very high quality.

I thought it was an exciting yet puzzling game where both sides played well but not to their potential. SA kicking I thought was awful with most kicks seemingly too far and just unchaseable - really they were giving Folau plenty of space and time. And why did we not see Genia and Cooper run???

I thought SA took the foot off (and the players) too earlier and sort of shut up shop instead of going for the win.

nganboy wrote:I thought it was an exciting yet puzzling game where both sides played well but not to their potential. SA kicking I thought was awful with most kicks seemingly too far and just unchaseable - really they were giving Folau plenty of space and time. And why did we not see Genia and Cooper run???

I thought SA took the foot off (and the players) too earlier and sort of shut up shop instead of going for the win.

Cooper did run a few times but got completely smashed every time. Giteau made the best break that I can remember but his pop pass was dreadful.