Tonight saw the 1st match on Tour for the Springboks End of Year Tour 2009. The Springboks took on the Leicester Tigers at Welford Road. The Tigers were full value for their win by 22 / 17 against a lack-lustre Bokke side which was scrummed to bits and taught a lesson in forward domination.
The Bokke started well, taking an early penalty and thereafter scoring a good try after a deft little kick from Earl Rose, for Nokwe to pounce on over the goal line.
From the first scrum however, the Springbok front row battled, then absolutely crumbled in subsequent scrums.
It is clear that the wrong front row players were taken on Tour, no doubt about it! Where was Wian du Preez, Adriaan Strauss and WP Nel when the Bokke needed grunt up front? Not on Tour, is the easy answer!
At Blindside flank Davon Raubenheimer was absent… in the ground-ball battle it was clear that the Bokke loosies were the wrong combination. The only credible loosie was Ashley Johnson, he was everywhere, did everything.
At scrumhalf, Heini Adams was slow, at flyhalf Ruan Pienaar had a nightmare with sub-standard tactical wawareness and kicking.
In the backline nothing much happened simply because the Bokke never got front foot ball.
In the last vestage, Earl Rose was one of the better players in the Bokke lineup.
Take nothing away from the settled Tigers, they played what was in front of them, monstered the Bokke in the scrums, clearly won the ground-ball battle and played it cleverly.
The lesson which should be learnt from this is simple, the best Dirt-Tracker Bokke side was not taken on tour…. The Cheetahs front row was needed, an abrasive lock like Sykes was missed, a true fetcher was required, Francois Hougaard needed to start at scrumhalf, Jacques-Louis Potgieter was needed at flyhalf…..
No need to speculate about players out wide, the ones on the field never saw the ball, because the battle was lost up front!
If ever it was’nt evident before, Ruan Pienaar has slumped to a sub-standard player and continuing with him in the pivot position is pure folly.
Scathing comments from me, but true, I’m afraid.
Points:
Tigers: 5 Penalties & 1 Conversion Ben Youngs, 1 Try Lucas Amorosino
Bokke: 4 Penalties Ruan Pienaar, 1 Try Jongi Nokwe
Teams
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Andy Forsyth, 12 Manu Tuilagi, 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Aaron Mauger (captain), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Ben Pienaar, 6 Geoff Parling, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Calum Green, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 George Chuter, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Tom Armes, 19 Dan Hemingway, 20 James Grindal, 21 Greig Tonks, 22 Lote Tuqiri.
South Africa: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Davon Raubenheimer, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (captain), 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.
Date: Friday, November 6
Venue: Welford Road, Leicester
Kick-off: 19.45 (19.45 GMT, 21.45 SA time)
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
Assistant referees: Roy Maybank, Robin Goodliffe
TMO: Andrew Turner, Graeme Hughes
266@ Koningkie – Remind my more oor die Pink Floyd song… ek gaan NOU inkruip!
Sharky I hope that PdV keeps Deysel there and not send him home after their 2nd game. We need the best to face Ireland. France too.
Too many just not selected and it cost us huge.
261 – Have no idea. Thought Potgieter was going to be captain when Chili went off.
how i saw the players
15 Earl Rose,6.5 one of the better games i have seen him play
14 Odwa Ndungane,4 please send mapoe
13 Juan de Jongh,4 still very green got lost in the pressure
12 Wynand Olivier,5 tried but not enough support
11 Jongi Nokwe,4 speed and thats it misses tackles by the dozens
10 Ruan Pienaar,5 made mistakes , but yes flyhalf scrummy Fb??? poor fella
9 Heini Adams,4,5 takes more steps then january to pass 😯
8 Ashley Johnson,5,5 doesnt help in the scrums
7 Dewald Potgieter,6 good player but struggled in the NH tight play
6 Davon Raubenheimer,2 lost soul who knows where he was , he didnt know
5 Andries Bekker,4,5 scrums poorly , drops balls on the wing 😆
4 Danie Rossouw, 4 , poor scrumming , played realy stupid
3 Jannie du Plessis,5 tried his heart out , no support till deysel came on
2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (captain),2 rather keep quiet about this one
1 Gürthro Steenkamp.3 was poor and gave away many penalties
Replacements:
16 Bandise Maku,4,5 tried but scrums are weak , lost many lineouts too
17 Heinke van der Merwe,4,5 how can we expect more, he didnt play all year
18 Alistair Hargreaves,6 solid when he came on and seemed to help scrums
19 Jean Deysel,7 i found he brought grunt into the team and it started showing at the end
20 François Hougaard,5 not baad but played for a very short time
21 Meyer Bosman, too little time
22 Riaan Viljoen.too little time
Anybody think my match summary was unfair or not true?
I’ll read what you say about that in the morning….
kp i understand that but i have no doubt we have chosen players that are to light
mark my words brussow will struggle up there because of interpretations
is die ouman nou moeg?? lol
275 – GBS, So the Boks were well and truly humbled tonight in a rather dull city in the Midlands….
One consolation you can get a great curry in Leicester!!
Did anyone see Percy on the sidelines? Is he over here?
Why are you not in bed?
It is 12.15 S.A time!!
Keo has managed 112 posts on this thread btw!
Nou moet ek na die kak luister van “Leicter beat World Champs”.
GBS, jy is reg oor die voor ry. Bring daai klomp blikore. Die voorry was nerens.
Good job the match summary was in English otherwise I would not have had a clue what was going on, until Puma popped in some helpful observations!! 😆
Howzit Everybody, long time no blog.
Have had 2 opportunities to review the game now – saw it Live at Welford Road yesterday and again this morning on TV. I think all the comments about the players thus far are acurate although Maku did seem to be trying his heart out. That Castro is one mother ! Ref was as ever, pedantic and I have no doubt Lote will soon sniff out the white lines at Leicester !
I sat 2 rows behind the Springbok management How do Div, Muir and some other oke manage to coach a team when between them they have one walkie talkie and a bottle of Lucozade ?? No pen and paper, no laptop FOK AL. Div seems completely emotionless and doesnt get excited or pissed off. I really think he thought turn up and we’ll put 50 points past Leicester. How wrong. Best of all when interviewed on Sky he said losing was Brilliant as it showed him who could step up and who couldnt !!! No hint of regret or disappointment at all. Just brilliant at being the coach of the World Champs beaten by a club side !!! He tried to give the impression that he was happy the Boks had lost as it showed him where they were up to as a team.
Cockerill put it perfectly when he said Leicester players had the responsibility of being Tigers when they put their jerseys on just as the Boks have the responsibility of being World Champions irrespective of where the best 15 players were.
Incidentall Bobby Skinstad seemed to think the Boks were OK as well when I managed to sneak a word with him ??? I am very worried about his facial hair – looks like a mexican bandit with bum fluff.
Leicester fans were awesome and very gracious in their victory unlike the idiots I normally encounter at Twickenham.
283@ Mieliepapmike – Bobby Stinkgat and a number of celebs have vowed not to shave for November… they call it Movember (Moustache November)… something to do with charity….
Sooooooo, I’ve decided to join them this weekend…. fark, with 2 days growth, I have 10 times the beard Bobby would have in a month…
Carol
Leicester is not that bad – I have lived in Bloem and Pretoria and now work in Leicester 2 days a week and all three are about the same.
I think Percy is here – difficult to tell 100% as there are a great number of Perms in evidence on the side line – At times I thought I was watching a Dynasty rerun.
285@ Mieliepapmike – Percy Montgomery is NOT on tour with the Bokke this time round, he’s been given time off to join his wife on a trip to the States… for some or other competition she is taking part in.
Vlok Celliers (kicking coach of the Bulls) is on tour in stead, helping the kickers.
GBS
It looked like Bobby has relocated his Pubes to under his nose.
One of the Leicester physios had some real facial hair to show off – a beard down mid chest – looked like an extra from a western.
287@ Mieliepapmike – Bobby is still a “melkbaard”…
Its obviously a slow day in Pretoria as well as here in Warwick. Just waiting for the other 2 big games to start. The guy on the touchline who seemed to be running the show was Wynie Strydom who was pulling his hair (what he has)out.
Is their any word on Ralepelles injury – hate to see any player injured but maybe this will lead to a call up for Bizzies understudy – wouldnt mind seeing Kuun called up or obviously Strauss.
I’m sure Guthro manufactured a knee injury just so he could be subbed – stared clutching it and then jogged off ??? Hopefully a capable replacement will be summoned.
289
Kuun is not the one to replace Chilli. Should be either Strauss or if notm then Tiaan Liebenberg.
Guthro is way way way past his prime! Time to get some genuine Freestate BoereBloed in the front row!!
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