The Italian Azzuri take on the South African Springboks in Udine, Italy on Saturday, 16:00 SA Time. A boyant Italy vs a regressing Springbok team full of squeaks, bubbles, blisters and with a bent chassis! What are we in for boys and girls… are we in for a shocker?
Italy under Nick Mallett had a good run against the All Black 2nd stringers, but is that just body filler and a bad paint job over a 12 game losing streak?
The Italian forwards are like a V6 muscle motor in a chassis of an old Datsun 160Y… the wheels (backline players) are too thin, the tread on the tires worn out a bit. For those who do not understand my beautiful compartive analogies… by this I mean that the Italian forwards seem very good, their scrum is solid, their locks do the hard graft, their loosies play like men possessed but their backline is not up to standard.
In Sergio Parisse they have one of the world’s best No 8’s and he is an inspirational captain who leads by example. In Marin Castrogiovanni they have a prop who eats opponents for breakfast, lunch and supper.
In the backline they do not have much potency, that’s the reason for the comparison with the Datun 160Y chassis.
The Springboks, current World Champions, Three Nations Champions, Winners of the B & I Lions series are way below par though, fatigue and the missing 3 very important Bokke in Jean de Villiers, Frans Steyn & Pierre Spies as well as a few key players who are off form are quickly turning this End of Year Tour into the “Tour from hell”.
The Bokke seem to have a 1.3L Uno motor built into a bent Ferrari chassis at the moment.
The Bokke scrum is suspect, in fact it has been dismal. On Saturday we see Wian du Preez at loosehead, making his Bokke debut, with his stallwart team mate from the Cheetahs, Adriaan Strauss next to him in the hooker berth and with Captain John Smit, the converted hooker, anchoring the scrum at tight head. Behind them we see Andries Bekker (not a strong scrummer) partnering Bakkies Botha… and an unsettled loose forward combination (Brüssow, Danie Rossouw and Ryan Kankowski). How are these guys supposed to scrum well, especially with coaches who do not put much value in strong scrums anyway?
Brüssow is the world’s best opensider at the moment, Danie Rossouw is a mere shadow of what he is truly capable of and Ryan Kankowski is in the worst form of his carreer.
The backline looks far too solid for Ialy though, even though it contains Adi Jacobs at inside centre.
The bench looks very good with the exception of Ruan Pienaar who does not inspire any confidence, despite his undoubted slumbering talent.
I’m going to stick my neck far out and say the Bokke will win comfortably… Bokke by 17 PLUS.
Players to watch:
Heinrich Brüssow of South Africa who in just one season has become a hero with his ball-winning, ball-retention handling and tackling. It’s just that he could be on his own when it was graft time with only Bakkies Botha to help him. Sergio Parisse of Italy is, it seems, the only player with intuitive skill in the Italian side, a great player, a man without frills. Don’t you wish Zane Kirchner was also a player to watch with sharp, long-striding incursions into the line to set Bryan Habana running free?
Head to Head: The big head-to head will be in the front row – front row against front row, especially maestro Martin Castrogiovanni against rookie Wian du Preez. Leonardo Ghiraldini is on the bench on Saturday, but the Italian scrum was even stronger when veteran Fabio Ongaro was hooking. This will be a serious, match-affecting contest. Bakkies Botha of South Africa against strong Carlo Dal Fava, formerly of South Africa, now of Italy – strength against strength. In the loose there will be a contest of veteran Mauro Bergamasco, fearless man, and new star Heinrich Brüssow, a relentless man. Outside of the pack the Springboks look capable of winning every personal clash.
Previous Results
2008: South Africa won 26-0, Cape Town
2001: South Africa won 54-26, Genoa
2001: South Africa won 60-14, Port Elizabeth
1999: South Africa won 101-0, Durban
1999: South Africa won 74-3, Port Elizabeth
1997: South Africa won 62-31, Bologna
1995: South Africa won 40-21, Rome
Teams:
Italy: 15 Luke McLean, 14 Matteo Pratichetti, 13 Alberto Sgarbi, 12 Gonzalo Garcia, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Craig Gower, 9 Simon Piccone, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Alessandro Zanni, 6 Simone Favaro, 5 Quintin Geldenhuys, 4 Carlo Del Fava, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Fabio Ongaro, 1 Salvatore Perugini
Replacements: 16 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 17 Ignacio Rouyet, 18 Antonio Pavanello, 19 Josh Sole, 20 Mauro Bergamasco, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Gonzalo Canale
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (captain), 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Tendai Mtawarira, 17 BJ Botha, 18 Victor Matfield, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 François Hougaard, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.
Date: Saturday, November 21
Venue: Stadio Friuli, Udine
Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT; 16.00 SA time)
Expected weather conditions: Clear with a high of 14°C, dropping to 4°C and a light wind
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees: James Jones (Wales), Peter Allan (Scotland)
TMO: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
I read somewhere that the BI Lions tour contributed R1,5b to the SA GDP. It seems tours have still a place and that the SH countries have to keep the NH countries happy.
Go Bokke!!
GBS Hahahahahahahaha. Jeepers boeta……hehehe. Had a damn good laugh how you describe our Bokke. Brilliant only you have the knack with words like that….. 😆 😆
Yip our Boks are exhausted also plenty injuries and 4 big names missing. Did we really need this tour? I for one hardly think we did. We got nothing out of seeing how our 2nd string side could play, cause we never brought our best 2nd side over. We gained nothing with that side. So we will never know. Also our Test side is almost burnt out hitting a brick wall just about with exhausted players.
Yes, we will beat Italy but hope not at a cost of more injured players.
To top it all Victor, FdP and Habs are going to be playing in the Barbarians game. So stupid. Who accepted that? These players have being playing since Mid Feb until right now. Crazy. They all should be going home after the Ireland game for a HUGE rest.
Boks by 18 or more. Then we may turn into a Uno Motor….hehehe for the Ireland game. We wont have much gas left for that game and I really hope I am wrong. Maybe we save the best for last like we did last year in our last game against England on that eoyt. We may play like a Ferrari there who knows.
3@ Puma – You know what they say about an Uno??
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Uno
Uno who?
Uno’t ek kak gekoop!
Bwahahaha
Enige maatjie vir n praatjie?
Dit reen nou alte lekker hier. Van n vrekwarm 41 grade celcius tot n kouerige 18 grade. Hoedspruit is nat , ek het nou al meer as drie duim gemeet sedert laas vrydag nag.
Bok rugby
Ek is skuldig ek het bykans niks gepraat sedert maandag nie, manne more is ek weer weg van TV en Komper, ek sal maar nabetragting doen. Ek dink die Bokke gaan lekker wen Saterdag.
5@ SuperBul – Geniet jou Huweliksherdenking more
Dankie Grootblou, daar is nie n verval datum op jou trou lisensie nie en dit is ook nie net geldig vir 25 jaar nie. So ek stry maar die stryd voort. Pres Pardon sal ek ondersoek. 😆
Carter vs Jonny
Star fly-half Dan Carter, who needs just two points on Saturday to become New Zealand’s record scorer in internationals, was suspended from last week’s dogged 20-6 win away to Italy as he served a one-week ban which allowed him to rest a calf injury.
In Carter and England’s Jonny Wilkinson, Saturday’s match features arguably the two best No 10s around.
But if England are to stop Carter from pulling the strings, they must first get to him – no easy feat against am All Black team captained by openside flanker Richie McCaw.
However, New Zealand coach Graham Henry – who in the furore over the France loss two years ago clung on to his job – was wary of England.
“They got booed in the 2007 World Cup and ended up playing in the final,” the former Wales coach, who had Johnson as his captain when he in charge of the 2001 Lions in Australia, said.
“We respect England,” Henry added. “They are inclined to come right when they play big games.” The Twickenham faithful will hope he is proved correct.
Richie McCaw will sit out the first three rounds of the Crusaders’ 2010 campaign as part of a deal brokered with the New Zealand Rugby Union.
Although the prospect of their side being without the captain and openside flanker will dismay Crusaders fans – and the franchise’s marketing team – the good news is that the All Blacks skipper has declined to activate the “sabbatical” clause in his NZRU contract, meaning he will not take up a deal similar to the one that resulted in Dan Carter being unavailable for this season’s Super 14 because he was playing for French club Perpignan.
Despite the All Blacks coaches stating the reconditioning programme that resulted in the five New Zealand franchises being forced to rest their most prominent internationals in 2007 will not return, several All Blacks have contracts that allow them to skip the opening rounds of next year’s Super 14.
More like a VW Passat
Pas gekoop, sat gery.
Manne , mannine, ladies and gents,
I will pick up all the banter and scores tomorrow evening, now we are off to a nice bush lodge where i will celebrate my wedding anniversary with wife and kids and grand children. Enjoy the games.
SA to win handsomely
NZ will have a torrid time with England pushing them,
Aus will come out with a last gasp effort
France will ride the high wave
and the rest will do whatever…
ENJOY IT
More Janne.
Super, geniet dit, moet nettie probeer maak of jy op honeymoon is nie 🙂
Jakob Regop nou al n kruitjie-roer-my-nie. Hehe
Jis jis
Sal dit nie net ‘n mooi fokkop wees as die Bokke vandag weer agv hul kak skrums verloor nie?
KP dit sal glad nie mooi wees nie
Jis jis
Hoop om nie weer te sien ons voorry en loosies lyk soos meerkatte terwyl die skrums ‘n 180 gooi nie. O, en die skrum is nie net ‘n hit nie. Dis ‘n fokken stoot ook, hello!!!!
Bokke by 1+. 😆
16 – Pill 😆
Why are we all worried about Italy? Have a feeling we going to put us a big score there today.
Go BOKKE.
11 – Super all the best for your anniversary. Enjoy the weekend at the Lodge sounds great.
17 – us meant up
17- Puma
I am not worried at all.
I worry about Ireland. The Bokke should win today, but a big score is not that important or is it?
Depends i guess, could give them the momentum or a false sense of security.
A runaway victory would be nice for a change.
20 – Pill, Ja, a big score means nothing. Just have a feeling it might me. I rather we just get it right everywhere today and please no injuries before the Ireland game.
Somehow think we will be up for that game.
WE MISS – JdV, Fransie, Juan and Spies HUGE in that team. There absence has left a huge hole. None of the players that have taken their place are up to their level.
me – meant be. Sorry always make many typos. 😀
There meant Their… hehehe. Should just give the blogging a rest for a bit.. 😆
Come out everyone. You all slept looooooooonnnnnnnnnnggg enough.
Plenty rugby on today 😀
Okay back when some have logged on. Treehugger and Carol you going to blog with us today?
Hellooooooooooooooooo
25 – GBS Did you finally get out of bed?…… hehehehe.
So much rugby on today. Not worried about us playing Italy. When ever have we ever worried about Italy. We will win it but how will we win that is the point.
No injuries that is my biggest worry in that game. Need players fit for Ireland.
GBS back later.
Need to go out. Catch up later.
8 – supeBul, we are looking forward to the Johnny v Dan show later…..’Go Johnny’. Have a great time with the wife and family celebrating your anniversary.
24 – Puma, had a SERIOUS long lie in today!! Get up and were is everyone!! Heheheh, hope to chat here later, very nasty wet windy November weather here so rugby and blogging is an attractive option later!!
25 – GBS Helllooooo tooooooo yooooooo toooooo…….Have you got your green and gold looked out for later?
G’day everyone,
It’s 10.30pm in Sydney,with lotzza matches happening overnight. Wallabies should succeed against the Bravehearts and the Boks match will be a cricket score, without doubt. ABs should prevail against the Poms, and the world’s a brighter place in the morning!!!
superbul 11 – Now that’s a great sentiment; wedding anniversary, spent with the children/grandchildren. I wish you and you wife many more happy anniversaries.
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