VIDEO: All Blacks Going Soft?
The All Blacks instil fear into their opponents by performing the traditional haka.
New Zealand’s All Blacks reveal their softer side by learning how to… knit!
Watch as flyhalf Dan Carter, scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan and prop Neemia Tialata visit the Dunedin ladies knitting society – and hear how Carter confesses to knitting at school.
Graham Henry: Beware Of Stung Boks
Springboks
As he supped a few celebratory drinks on Saturday night, Graham Henry may have taken a moment to lock himself into a thousand-yard stare and ponder just what lies in wait in Johannesburg.
Considering his team had just won 20-10 to retain the Bledisloe Cup, the All Blacks coach had good cause to soak up the joy of inflicting his ninth consecutive defeat on the Wallabies, yet he knows the ultimate test will be against the Springboks on their soil and in front of their fans.
Having already inflicted two bonus-point wins on the Springboks in New Zealand in their opening two Tri-Nations matches, this is the final opportunity to rub out the memories of last year’s losses when they meet the Springboks at Johannesburg’s Soccer City on August 21.
The good news for Henry is that, apart from halfback Jimmy Cowan who is still struggling with his tender ribs, he has a full troop of fit men to select from as he ponders the 26-man squad he wants to take to the republic this weekend.
Disadvantages
Not so bright, however, is the All Blacks’ record in Jo’burg; they have won just three of their 11 matches since 1928.
In his seven years in charge Henry’s All Blacks have only once played in Jo’burg and on that sunny afternoon in 2004, in which Nelson Mandela greeted both sides before kickoff, they were thumped 40-26 in front of 68,000 feverish fans at Ellis Park.
Now the stage is bigger. Soccer City, which is expected to be a sell-out, will attract, depending on temporary seating, in excess of 90,000 fans.
Having already retained the Bledisloe Cup, and probably needing just one more competition point to win back the Tri-Nations title off the Springboks, Henry hinted he is looking forward to seeing how his side copes with such an encounter.
“We want to play well in Johannesburg, it is going to be a big game. South Africa will be the best they can be, they will be playing in a stadium that holds 94,000 people, I think, which is going to be a marvellous occasion. Ninety-four thousand South Africans and us and their team. That is a huge challenge, and something I think the team needs and we will look forward to as long as we do it right between now and then.”
Cowan’s fitness will be monitored this week and, as a precaution, he will be bracketed alongside Alby Mathewson.
“The vibes we are getting at the moment are that he is more likely than not [to tour],” Henry said.
To spice up the lead-up to this fixture, Springboks coach Peter de Villiers will today learn whether he will be sanctioned by Sanzar following Friday’s misconduct hearing. De Villiers has been charged for criticising referees and implying a conspiracy to boost the All Blacks’ popularity ahead of the World Cup.
Springbok Camp
Frans Steyn is one of five players recalled to the South Africa training squad ahead of the home leg of this year’s Tri-Nations.
The 23-year-old Rugby World Cup winner joins Cheetahs flankers Juan Smith and Heinrich Brüssow, Sharks wing JP Pietersen and Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis in a training squad of 29 players that will attend a four-day camp in Johannesburg next week in preparation for the side’s last three Tri-Nations clashes against New Zealand in Johannesburg
The final squad of 24 for the three Tests will be confirmed on Friday, August 13 with the match 22 for the clash against the All Blacks at the National Stadium (formerly Soccer City) will be announced on Tuesday, August 17.
The provisional squad is:
Forwards:
BJ Botha (Ulster), Schalk Burger (Vodacom Stormers), Jannie du Plessis (Sharks), Ryan Kankowski (Sharks), Francois Louw (Vodacom Stormers), Victor Matfield (Vodacom Bulls), Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks), Dewald Potgieter (Vodacom Bulls), Chiliboy Ralepelle (Vodacom Bulls), Danie Rossouw (Vodacom Bulls), John Smit (Sharks, Captain), Juan Smith (Vodaocm Cheetahs), Pierre Spies (Vodacom Bulls), Gurthro Steènkámp (Vodacom Bulls), CJ van der Linde (Vodacom Cheetahs), Flip van der Merwe (Vodacom Bulls)
Backs:
Gio Aplon (Vodacom Stormers), Juan de Jongh (Vodacom Stormers), Jean de Villiers (Vodacom Stormers), Jaque Fourie (Vodacom Stormers), Bryan Habana (Vodacom Stormers), Francois Hougaard (Vodacom Bulls), Ricky Januarie (Vodacom Stormers), Butch James (Bath), Zane Kirchner (Vodacom Bulls), Wynand Olivier (Vodacom Bulls), JP Pietersen (Sharks), Frans Steyn (Racing Metro), Morne Steyn (Vodacom Bulls)
Courtesy of stuff.co.nz and Scrum
Sportard – The Horror
Sportard
How sad; how tragic; how utterly depressing. The indomitable Boks vanquished by those eager men in black. What on earth went wrong?
Coming off the high of an all SA Super 14 final it seemed as if the 2010 Tri Nations must surely go the way of last year’s tournament. Not so.
Even before Bakkies ‘the man-punisher’ Botha tried to mate with the Kiwi scrumhalf – he likes scrumhalves does Bakkies. He’d mate with all of them if he could* – the Boks looked crappy. There was none of the confidence and coherence that we’ve grown so accustomed to.
Tugboat Smit was throwing the ball all over the place which made things difficult for Victor who, in turn, was clearly distracted by Bakkies’ obvious affection for Jimmy Cowan and couldn’t catch a venereal disease from a Kiwi sheep.
And the backs were as wretched as a pack of street kids in winter when the glue runs out. It was appalling and I’m only glad that it happened so early on in my hangover that I was still sufficiently anaesthetised to render the pain vague and dispersed.
So where does that leave us then? Well let’s just say that I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet but I will take some good lessons from last week’s game.
Given that there’s nothing that I can do to affect the Boks’ performance other than offer up gentle encouragement and sage advice I tender this – humbly and with great affection – and hope they take it to heart.
First: to Captain Smit – throw the ball on target. I’m almost certain that you’ve been trying to do this but trying isn’t good enough. You need to concentrate. I want to see the same look in your eyes that one sees in a bergie’s eyes when he’s eating chicken scraps or shitting on the promenade.
Secondly: to Victor – don’t be distracted by the shenanigans of your ex roommate. He’ll be back soon enough and you can get on with whatever it is that two very large men with inordinate affection for each other do ‘on tour’. For now, though, focus on seeing the ball like the Force is with you (in fact the way that Tugboat’s been throwing, you might want to rent Star Wars for some pointers and then play with your scrum-cap on backwards).
Thirdly: not to make too fine a point of it but I think it would be a good idea to have a game-plan that doesn’t involve losing too many set pieces. Otherwise it’s a bit like placing a Perspex partition between a room full of hungry morons and a hamburger. In fact I noticed quite a lot of Springbok drool on the All Black strip last Saturday which brings me to my final point.
Fourthly: to all of you highly paid show-ponies – Tackle for pucks-sake. When you’ve given away more ball than Sex-change Sally the least you can do is tackle. It makes all the difference.
Well that’s enough from me. All that now remains to be done is to see to it that I start drinking brandy early enough this evening to ensure that by the time I arrive at the Fireman’s Arms at 8am tomorrow I’m suitably girded against the guaranteed cold and the possibility of defeat.
The trick is to have just enough residual alcohol in your system to cause that first draught to reactivate the previous nights drunk in such a way that the effect of a whole evenings worth of drinking is achieved in as little time as it takes to have just the one.
I shall set about this task immediately and by tomorrow I shall establish a personal first by calling Goodfellas to drive me to a pub and not just from it.
* Witness Bakkies ‘I-like-‘em-little’ Botha’s transparent attempts at covering his tracks after trying to solicit sex from little Welsh scrumhalf, Mike Phillips, during the Lions tour by complimenting him on his ‘beautiful eyes’:
By Mike Stephen
Fitter Rugby Refs Needed
Referee Alan Lewis of Ireland looks on as Jimmy Cowan of the All Blacks passes during the Tri-Nations.
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith has warned referees they might need to get fitter to keep up with the increasing pace of test rugby.
The All Blacks have made no secret of their desire to play a high-tempo game as they work towards the next World Cup, believing the new rules encourage that.
There were clear signs of that approach in last weekend’s four-tries-to-none demolition of the Springboks in Auckland and the All Blacks won’t be taking the foot off the accelerator in Saturday night’s rematch in Wellington.
Referees have been a recurring theme with the All Blacks coaching staff this week. Head coach Graham Henry again raised the prospect of rugby following league’s lead and having two referees officiate.
Asked his thoughts on how rugby’s officiating can keep pace with the high-octane game, Smith said: “It’s just like the players – get fitter.
“The ball in play is around 40 minutes now consistently in the test matches we have played this year. If you talk to tight forwards they will tell you how the game has changed markedly with the amount of running they’ve got to do.
“Just as the players do, the referees are going to have to make sure they are right up there fitness-wise.
“I see it’s been suggested that we get two of them (referees) on the track. Those ideas might be good ideas too.”
Smith obviously likes the improvements to the game this year, moving it away from the kick-fest that had dominated play last season.
But the new law interpretations meant everyone involved needed to be on the same page.
“I think the game is going in the direction that people want it to go in. There can’t be too many complaints from people watching the game at the moment and that’s great.
“But we’ve got to make sure that the fitness levels of everyone go up so we can continue playing it like that.”
The Springboks seemed to take a limited approach into the Eden Park match and were left bamboozled by the All Blacks’ brilliance and willingness to attack from anywhere.
The Boks, meanwhile, went with many of the methods that made them so strong last year. They tried to go up the middle and they also employed their kick and chase tactics.
That played into the hands of the All Blacks. The New Zealand forwards loved the challenge in front of them and outmuscled the Boks while the All Blacks backs were happy to run virtually every kick back at the South Africans.
Smith suggested the Boks were too clever to be caught out again and they would surely modify their game for the Cake Tin.
“We’ve seen in the Super 14 that they’ve got multi-skilled players and they can play a different game,” he said.
“You’ve got to suggest that maybe they can come and play that on Saturday. Certainly you go in and predict they are going to do certain things but you’ve also got to expect that there will be some unpredicted events that will take place and how you handle that is one of the big factors in the result.”
Courtesy of stuff.co.nz
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you think refs are unfit?
Loading ...
.PNG){kind=icon}
