Tri-nations: Aussies win

thanx, I bet he is pissed he didn't connect properly now

Sounds like the SANZAR Judiciary did a bit of trading off to me. "If Rocky'll take one week, then we'll accept four weeks for Van der Linde."

JGK wrote:

PearlJ wrote:

embee wrote:What are the thoughts on Elsom getting a week for grabbing Matfield's arm in the lineout?

Didn't look to be much in it to me ...but I've never jumped in a lineout...

What a complete joke that is. Since when has the disciplinary panel been exclusively bloody idiots.

A ludicrous outcome given what the Saffies get away with every game.

Well the AB who speared John Smit in the first game, thereby putting him out of the entire series only got one game as well.

embee wrote:We wish ....

It was being set for the Kalgoorlie Cup (so we could have an excuse to jump on a plane and go to Kal for the "round" ) but the qunt injured himself....

That thing needs a long holiday at a Vet clinic in Redlands

So the headbutt is ranked the same as this incident. Interesting.

Looks like Rocky got off on appeal. Sweet.

JGK wrote:Looks like Rocky got off on appeal. Sweet.

Awesome. The back row looks so much better with him in it. I can see us beating the Saffers again.

JGK wrote:Looks like Rocky got off on appeal. Sweet.

Wahey, excellent. And too bl00dy right.

A week is a long time in sport - Saffies 27-3 up at half time.


Almost hoping they win by 50 to see what Red comes up with.

Meh. Doesn't really matter.

This is funny from the SMH. All their journos are currently on strike. So the CEO who caused them to on strike has to write the rugby story.



Springbok pride looms to doom

David Kirk
August 30, 2008


IT IS hard to know which is less likely - the Springboks losing three in a row at home or the Wallabies winning two in a row away from home. Surely the Wallabies cannot win tonight.

But then I thought that about last week. After losing badly to the All Blacks and suffering the embarrassment of failing to score for the first time in 97 years I thought the Wallabies would be on the end of an almighty Springbok backlash. As it was, the South Africans were a directionless rabble.

The Wallabies had to survive the usual physical belting from the Springboks but they could have left their brains safely tucked away in the changing room - some of them quite possibly did - and still out-thought the gormless Springboks.

Last week the Springboks made the cardinal mistake of not giving the Wallabies the respect they deserved. In so far as any pattern or approach that could loosely be regarded as a game plan was discernible from the Springboks, it was that they assumed they would dominate the set pieces - the scrum especially - and, with hard running from aggressive loose-forwards and inside backs, break the Wallaby defence down. Dumb.

While this Wallaby team may not be the most skilful or composed we have ever seen, they have courage and they play for each other right to the end. They know how to defend and more importantly they have the heart to keep at it until they quite literally physically drop. Robbie Deans, as he has acknowledged, has a deep well of character to draw on as he builds his Wallabies into a genuine world-class team.

The Springbok coach told a press conference this week that:

"The Peter de Villiers game plan is all about adding decision-making to structure and we are stuck at the moment at decision-making".

He can say that again and they didn't look too structured either, but the same could be said of the Wallabies. Apart from the final 20 minutes of the Sydney test match against the All Blacks, the Wallabies have yet to develop any fluency or consistent pattern in their game.

The Wallabies know how to win ugly, which is great, but if they are to take the next step and dominate good opposition they need to play with the sort of speed and accuracy that makes for attractive rugby.

The building blocks are nearly there: The scrum has gone from weak to competitive; the lineout has been less consistent than usual, but generally okay; in Cordingley and Giteau the inside backs have the skill and nouse to play at the right end of the field and we all know Mortlock and Tuqiri can finish.

The missing link is the back row and not because the players aren't capable. Waugh, Elsom and Palu are all playing well although Palu needs to maintain his work rate for the full time he is on the field. But for the back row to be really doing its job, one plus one plus one has to make more than three.

The three need to play off each other more and in so doing become that all-important link between the close-in ground-grinding play that is such a part of modern rugby and the moment of vision, clever pass and calculated risk that suddenly opens up defences.

Phil Waugh will win the race to the ball but for the Wallabies to turn that advantage into long periods of possession - and ultimately points - he needs more immediate physical support at the breakdown. He needs to have a wave of support blowing over him and the ball produced more quickly than we have seen so far this year.

A loose-forward, a back, a prop, it doesn't matter who, but there need to be two or three and they need to be there fast. Quick ball from the breakdown, slickly cleared, hitting the gap, firing accurate passes, changing angles, backing-up in numbers, dragged down and doing it all again: That's the pattern we need to see from these Wallabies if they are to open teams up, control the pace of the game and determine their own destiny, which right now they are not. Too much hinges on hanging in there and scrambling.

So the Wallabies have the seeds of a pretty good team and the Brisbane Test against the All Blacks shapes as one of the great battles between the Trans-Tasman cousins, but winning tonight is unlikely.

It is hard to know how deep the reservoir of pride is in the modern Springboks and they were fearsomely disorganised last week, but humiliation is a powerful motivator and so the Springboks are likely to bring the big game to Ellis Park. The Wallabies will be a battered-and-bruised lot on the plane on Sunday but whatever the result they will have broken the away-game hoodoo and be one step closer to building a real team for the years ahead.

We're copping a hiding tonight. Yes all the Fairfax papers have the bulk of their articles written by staff journalists this weekend.

Hi red

enjoy the game?

Yoiks, nodded off before this game started. 53-8 snotting at Fortress Ellis Park. Ye Gods, how carp were we? "Very" seems to be the obvious answer.

I see the messiah Timana Tahu was hooked just after half time. FFS, welcome to reality Robbie Deans. Aus are carp.

To quote The Simpsons Comic Book Guy - Worst Rugby side ever.

Congrats to the Saffers.

Didnt watch any of this - I'm more of a Rugby League man... but not bad work.

Hmmmmmmmmm - a feckin floggin'. Well done the japies. Get well soon Berrick. Phil Waugh, buy that new set of golf clubs. Lote, start looking for a Euopean ancestor.

Hi every body.

Admittedly there are two extra guys on each side to pressure the backline but the passing is poor compared to League let alone the handling.

Tahu was disapointing Tuqiri is the only three quarter that has really made the switch in my recall though Sailor wasn't too bad.

Hi Para Batsman - what does the Para mean in your name?

Para batsman: 'topical' at this time of Para Olympic endeavours?

lardbucket wrote:Para batsman: 'topical' at this time of Para Olympic endeavours?

I was thinking "Parramatta" but there is a R missing.

Then I was thinking like "Paralegal" - which is the job you have when your not good enough to be a real lawyer. Which is ironic because I was pretty much a Para batsman my entire career.

Para Silton?

JGK wrote:Hi Para Batsman - what does the Para mean in your name?

As in Para legal or Para medic. My batting was quasi

taipan wrote:Hi red

enjoy the game?

Didn't bother me really it was a dead rubber after all. To be honest though I didn't begrudge the saffas restoring a bit of pride to their sporting honour roll. They played pretty well and it might calm down some of those who were spewing vitriol from their keyboards on some of the rugby sites. I'm not even a big rugby fan coming from an AFL state but the passion there did amuse me.

Our worst ever tri-nations loss to SA apparently. Won't be easy to roll the kiwis in Brisbane now.

Red wrote:

taipan wrote:Hi red

enjoy the game?

Didn't bother me really it was a dead rubber after all.

You are saying the Wallabies had given up on the Tri-Nations?