Up The Guts Rugby

The Old Man™ was right, the Boks were a little too underdone and off the pace to beat “The best back line in world rugby“.  I disagree with that statement though. Replace Patt McCabe with Matt Giteau or Anthony Faingaa (maybe Stirling Mortlock if he’s not busy?) and bring Drew Mitchell back in to replace Ioane and THEN they would have the best back line in world rugby.  If Robbie is smart enough to assemble that back line in time for the World Cup I for one will definitely be sweating.

Who else thought Frans Steyn‘s hair looked amazing when he took off that scrum cap?  I can see mens shampoo manufacturers falling over themselves to sign him up for a lucrative all-in-one mens shampoo sponsorship deal.  There is a reason why Sebastian Chabal is the highest paid rugby player on earth and it’s got very little to do with his ability on the field.

Franscois Steyn Hair Evolution

The Boks started extremely well, screamed up the field on a couple of occasions off the back of some quick ball recycling and quick hands in the mid field.  It was wonderful to see The Beast™ at full speed on two occasions and full credit to the Wallaby defense slowing it all down and keeping the Boks tryless.

Du Preez was completely out of sorts, a shadow of the commanding Springbok general we have grown accustomed to.  I don’t think they went aerial nearly enough and they didn’t target Ioane’s high ball frailty.

On the same token the Wallabies positioned themselves extremely well to ensure Iaone wasn’t exposed in the air and that Quade Cooper wasn’t exposed on defense.

Will Genia - Worlds best Halfback?

As a New Zealander it really was wonderful to see Will Genia getting smashed over by marginally late tackles from both Frans Steyn and Butch James.  They made it pretty clear who was going to do the bullying but unfortunately for them they couldn’t back that up with the accuracy to win.

I was impressed at how the Wallabies kicked very little and backed themselves to run at the Springboks all night.  They were dominant at the breakdown too giving their backline good front foot ball.  Despite getting beaten up, Genia was at the base of every scrum marshaling his blind side and throwing crisp clean passes all night, the consummate professional.

The All Sharks Springbok Front Row - Smit, Bismarck, The Beast

The Springboks will be buoyed by the experience and will know they came close with a team of guys who haven’t played any rugby in the last two months.  They will be chomping at the bit to get stuck into the All Blacks B team next week.

I don’t suspect too many changes but I’m 90% certain they’ll bring Bismarck Du Plessis into the starting line up at Hooker and John Smit will move to Prop.  The All Sharks front row will definitely be taking it Up The Guts to the All Blacks

Morne will be spared another embarrassment at the hands of his opposite Quade Cooper

Enter Butch, Exit Morne

It all began with a last minute decision by Springboks Mastermind Peter De Villiers to shift Morne Steyn to fullback and Pat Lambie to fly half in the All Blacks vs Springboks Tri Nations Game 3.  It was announced as a ‘tactical’ move to get both Lambie and Steyn involved.  What was obviously going on is that Morne Steyn is on the outer and he’s gradually being shifted further and further back into the backline.  They’ve shifted him onto the sideline now and soon he’ll be off the park completely!  Seeya Morne, I hear there is a waterboy vacancy coming up shortly that Percy Montgomery should be vacating, you could be just the washed up fly half they’re looking for!

In the Springbok squad announcement you’ll notice Morne has been selected to play Left Right Out.  If Morne Steyn was disappointed that he’s wearing the 21 jersey this weekend, he better brace himself for Tri Nations 5 where he won’t feature AT ALL.

That’s right, Butch James is back.  The man that can kick superbly accurately, is a wonderful distributor but most importantly, has the ‘mongrel’ that the Boks lack at fly half.  Dan Carter has it, Butch has it.  Morne Steyn doesn’t.

Sometimes you can’t hide behind your forwards or shift it to your wingers.  Sometimes you just have to go UP THE GUTS™, a fact that Dan and Butch not only know, but demonstrate every time they walk into the cauldron of a Tri Nations test match.  Hit the line, make big tackles, get in amongst it, put your body on the line, make line breaks, offload in the tackle, man up.

Butch James is rugged, tough and a complete prick on the field - The Perfect Springbok

Springboks Medical Miracle!

As predicted by everyone, it’s no surprise to see practically the entire front line Boks side returning for this match.

Butch, Bismarck, Franc Steyn (the talented Steyn), Du Preez, De Villiers, Fourie, Habana, Matfield, Spies, Brussow, The Beast, Bakkies, Hougaard and Aplon.

It’s a medical miracle! All recovered at exactly the same time, all credit to the Boks medics.

Up The Guts™ Tri Nations Prediction: Boks to beat the Wallabies by 9

My old man thinks the Wallabies will beat the undercooked Boks.  I’ve challenged him to a $20 bet that the Boks will grind this one out.  Win it ugly.  Up the guts. There will not be a repeat of the Wallabies scoring brilliant tries off counter attacks because there will be no bombs going straight down the Wallaby back 3′s throats with plenty of space to run.  Tomorrow, any James/Du Preez air raids will be accompanied by Bok Wingers crash landing at the exact moment they touch Wallaby hands with a massive loose forward pack rolling straight over the top.  Brace yoursleves, this is going to be an enthralling Test match!

South Africa: 15-Francois Steyn, 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Jaque Fourie, 12-Jean De Villiers, 11-Bryan Habana, 10-Butch James, 9-Fourie du Preez, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Danie Rossouw, 6-Heinrich Brussow, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Bakkies Botha, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-John Smit (captain), 1-Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16-Bismarck du Plessis, 17-Guthro Steenkamp, 18-Gerhard Mostert, 19-Jean Deysel, 20-Francois Hougaard, 21-Morne Steyn, 22-Gio Aplon.

According to Jeremy Paul this match was going to be the “Quake Coopermobile and the Will Genia show“.  It certainly wasn’t the Quake Coopermobile when Conrad Smith snatched one of QC’s passes out of the air and went steaming down the field with it, showing that he’s not ready to be replaced by the Sonny Ma’a combo just yet.  They might have the razzle dazzle and the muscles to make the ladies swoon but in the modern game, you can’t replace rock solid defense and astute game breaking decision making.  Don’t worry Conrad, I know you’ve got your detractors out there but I’ve got your back mate.

Apart from Conrad, other All Blacks looking to be in superb form include Dan Carter who was commanding his troops with the greatest precision and accuracy we’ve seen for a while.  Nonu was at his blockbusting best, Sivivatu showed us his trademark elusiveness and speed and Ali Williams is finally starting to look the goods again, cutting the handling errors from his game and looking much more accurate with ball in hand.  The Franks brothers were rock solid in the scrum.

Hosea Gear’s comeback did not impress.  It was always going to be demanding walking into a Wallabies test after an injury lay off but he just wasn’t quite there in any facet of his game.  Rest and relaxation hasn’t done Brad Thorn any favours who was guilty of several defensive lapses including the one that resulted in Rocky Elsom’s try.

The Axe™

Hosea Gear – To be replaced by Cory Jane, just wasn’t enough urgency or X factor in his game.

Wyatt Crockett – Has had his last experience in the black jersey after collapsing 4 scrums last night
 

Let’s be honest that’s all they were.  Can’t say I recognised half a dozen of them.  To me, it felt like a Tri Nations warm up game with a scoreline that you’d expect the Wallabies to win by in such a warm up.  Only difference was it was ACTUALLY a Tri Nations game!  What a joke.  That was not the proud Springboks we have grown accustomed to seeing fearlessly bashing the Wallabies and All Blacks to bits.  This was a team, devoid of creativity, nous or confidence.  For the love of God, I saw James O’Connor steal the ball from their loose forwards TWICE!  Inexcusable!

Yeah yeah, the Wallabies bounced back from their shocker against Samoa but I still think Robbie Deans has gone soft.  I was expecting him to give his side a GRILLING in his post match interview but I guess he’s just relieved when his team finally wins these days.  That Wallabies side should have thumped that poor excuse for a 3rd rate Tri Nations side by twice as many as they did.  Beating them by 19 points was BARELY a pass mark, especially after scoring two tries in the first ten minutes.  The Wallabies should have executed the Boks.  I think 30 zip would have been acceptable and I would expect nothing less from the All Blacks come July 30th!

Some guy that plays for the Republic of South Africa, never seen him before myself

The South African cluelessness aside, the Wallabies scrum and line out looked better but I suppose that’s hardly saying anything, the mid field looked above average but there were some clear defensive lapses in there at times and they’ll have to work very hard on their combinations over the next week to ensure the Nonu/Conrad juggernaut doesn’t annihilate them UP THE GUTS on August 6!  James O’Connor was as ever outstanding and I thought Ashley-Cooper showed that he is still Test match class but he’ll have to prove it again against the Tri Nations champs.  There is far too much press time wasted on number 9 and 10 so let’s leave them at the door shall we?

Prediction for Tri Nations 2 : All Blacks 32 – 6.  You heard it here first, no tries for “Some guys from the Republic of South Africa”.

Who else is not going to be surprised on the 14th of August to see miraculous recoveries from all of Fourie, Brussouw, Du Preez, Spies, Juan, Steenkamp, Habana, Houggard and Bismarck?