The Australian team currently have seven players out of their squad for various reasons. Quade Cooper, Digby Ioane, Wycliff Palu, James Horwill, Rob Horne, Ben Alexander and Tatafu Polota-Nau.
South Africa has a similar problem with Beast, Bismarck, Bakkies, Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussouw, Fourie du Preez, JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn not having been involved in most of our Tri Nation tests.
The conundrum for Australia and South Africa has not only been the fact that these players weren’t available, but also the fact that continuity in selection could not be made, both teams had to play players out of preferred positions and there in lies the biggest problem when facing the All Blacks.
In order to negate the All Blacks on attack, it is of utmost importance to have defensive organisation and communication, and when you have to play with different players from one week to the next, it is very difficult to maintain continuity.
So the All Blacks have been blessed this season and there is a total turn around from the situation of 2009 when the All Blacks were the team with the unavailable players. Australia has shown this past weekend that even the mighty All Blacks can be put under pressure and they do infringe as much as any other team when they are on the defensive and has to slow down the ruck. At one stage the penalty count was 7-1 in favour of the Australians, and they had 117 rucks vs the All Blacks 74 rucks.
The All Blacks also had to tackle a lot more than the Australians with 146 tackles to the Ozzies 91.
I can only come to one conclusion and that is teams need to wise up, study the referee and his interpretations of the laws, Richie McCaw is a master at manipulating referees and managing somehow not to get carded.
The signs are obvious, the All Blacks are great with ball in hand, but yet as fallable as any other team when on defense. They still need to tackle, slow down opposition ball and absorb pressure.
The biggest reason Australia didn’t win the test match on Saturday was because as talented as Matt Giteau is, Quade Cooper is better.
The All Blacks are playing good rugby, but are not invincible and if teams can make the connection between the grey matter and the on field antics of the referee and All Blacks, the percieved domination of the All Blacks will disappear like mist in the sunshine. It may just be possible that Graham Henry has shown his tricks a year too early.
The question now remains, who will be the first team to smarten up?
“It may just be possible that Graham Henry has shown his tricks a year too early”
Add to that, the tide of penalties and cards might just turn at the most inconvenient time , the RWC.
Funny that you mention Gitau. I saw for the first time on Saturday that he cannot pass to his right, him and Genia. How many flat passes were too much in front of the receiver. His passing was attrocious to say the least. Genia, better than Du Preez? Not on Saturday’s evidence.
Our biggest loss this season was Fdup and Brussouw. Also Shafting Louw after 1 crap performance does not help the player.
Hallo superBul
Hoe lyk die dinge daar in jou wereld ?
Die All Blacks se stres gaan nou begin opbou na die wereldbeker imo…
Ek dink glad nie ons is so ver af van die regte pad nie.
Een of twee klein veranderings en ‘n paar spelers terug en ons is weer op die regte pad.
@ Blouste:
Dit gaan goed ou vriend , ek is bly ek sien jou nou ek gaan gou by Tshukudu draai en kyk hoe lyk Durbs Bul.
@ superBul:
Hy nog steeds daar ?
Omtrent ‘n laaaang naweek… 🙂
@ Blouste:
ja te lank, ek het my doodmoeg gewerk. In die tuin natuurlik. Maar dinge begin regkom. Nou is ek eers uit.
Are the All Blacks really that far ahead?…no, they just did their homework, identified and targeted our weak spots during FDP,Brussow,Juan and Bakkies absence. The breakdowns was a one sided affair with NZ turning a lot of ball, and I thought that Victor Matfield looked un-interrested in making a real effort in the line-outs during the first test.
I got the same feeling watching the England football team during the FWC. They had the talent, but there were to many individual performances, not playing as a team.
@ bos_otter:Bos, Mental tiredness does that to you. Think Victor has played far too much rugby this season. Needs a break. As soon as the Tri-nations is over he needs to rest and NO CC for him or any of the the Boks playing right now in the last 3 Tri-Nations games. Unless they have only returned from injury and had a long lay off. Maybe JPP and Juan could carry on in the CC as they both had a lay off.
Mental tiredness is just as bad for the body as phyiscal tireness. The body needs a total rest from rugby.
I want to see our best trying for the grandslam, so most of the Boks have to rest during the CC and just maybe we will do it overseas this time. Take some of the young exciting youngsters too and play them from the bench. Like we do in the S14 playing players for a certain amount of time and taking them off after 50 or 60min. That will help them on that eoyt too not to get too tired. All just had a 4 week break now. Probably not totally as they would no doubt have had to keep fit and now back in training I think.
Puma wrote:
sorry typo there. meant – physical
I don’t think that the All Blacks are that far ahead of the Bokke, what is true is that Bokke excecution let them down, as did their dicipline..
Also a few crucial players are missing from Bokke ranks and there needs to be a bit of a rejuvination and a tweaking in Bokke game plans and the Bokke loosies need to play towards the ball a lot better and radically sharpen their breakdown skills.
Positions critical to Bokke success has not fired in the Tri-Nations… that of scrummie, inside centre, right wing, hooker and tighthead prop. In addition our lineout prowess was severly depleted and our tactical kicks were off the mark and not followed up well enough.
These are relatively easy to fix, by choosing better players at scrumhalf, inside centre and right wing and making some small adjustments in attack and defence.
The biggest area to radically adapt and conform is at the breakdown… this will need a complete overhaul and creative approach.
I personally don’t think ABs are that far ahead of us. I wonder what they all thought last year when we beat them 3 times? No I bet they never worried and thought we were way ahead of them, just worked on their game and how best to beat everyone. We can do the same. We have the players and now must select the correct players. Selection is key and also think we need a new backline and forward coach. That would help huge.
Remember we are players short from last year. HUGE players that made all the difference to our game last year. Brussow was a massive loss. Our game was far, far better with a out and out fetcher. Also FdP and Juan were massive to lose. Once we have all 3 back think we can match em. Just don’t go all helter skelter again think that way we play into their hands. Every team has their strengths as we must use ours and yes, we do need to keep possession more but not as much as the ABs that is not our game we playing total attack against them we will always lose. My feeling.
@ Puma:11 – Forgot we missed Frans Steyn too. Huge loss I think to have lost him. Sorry Bulls supporters here Zane is not the same level as Frans Steyn.
12@ Puma:
Frans Steyn himself is not at the same level he was….
Puma, I disagree with you about saying we don’t need possession as much. Remember retaining possession even if you do nothing with it, keeps the ball out of their hands.
That is how you counteract the All Blacks, they are as much prone to frustration and infringements when they don’t have possession as any other team. and don’t forget with actual game time reaching 40 minutes these days, the less ball they have the less they can damage you.
Possession is key.
The All blacks are already writing the articles stating this team is on the brink of greatness. Are they better than they were in 99? I doubt it and they are setting theirselves up to fail with their press praising them senseless. WIll they ever recover if they do not lift the WC next year? They have only played 1 match 15men against 15 men and looked very beatable. Soccer city will be massive. What is kick off for that game? Hopefully 17:00.
14@ biltongbek:
Absolutely true!!
The Bulls said this almost at every aftermatch presser during this year’s Super 14 and that is that the team with possession has the upper hand with the new Law Interpretations…. these interpretations favour the attacking team and the only way you cannot eventually score with possession in hand is if you make a mistake and possession is turned over in some manner, whether by losing ground-ball or kicking possession away or knocking or another indiscretion….
Patience and limiting mistakes is key….
Keeping possession causes something critical, forcing the other team to overstep the Law to get possession out of frustration… and that invariably means one thing…. points on the board.
15@ Onerb:
Yip, kickoff is at 17:00 on 21 August.
@ biltongbek:14 – Bek, Yes possession is key, but remember us doing just that in 2008 and trying to run if from our line and getting cornered and ball taken off of us almost everytime. Sometimes we need to kick. So have to have a balance there somewhere.
18@ Puma:
We cannot continue to live in the land of nod and continue to get less than 50% possession… as has been the case for too long now.
In defensive situations, sure kick the ball and kick it solidly out, with no chance of quick throw-ins…. or when employing tactical kicks, follow up well enough to put the opposing team under enough pressure to make mistakes.
One will never have ALL the possession, that’s why highly competative breakdown competing is so essential.
Puma – what he said (GBS)
@ grootblousmile:13 – Gbs, I know but you never lose class, Frans Steyn will get it back. Zane is a very good player, but not great and especially not for the Boks boeta. Think we need Frans Steyn back and yes, they will think twice about giving away a penalty in our half with Frans there 😛 😀
@ biltongbek:20 – Put post numbers otherwise I can’t see which post to refer too. Blame it on Gbs, he has not sorted that out yet 😀
@ grootblousmile:19 – Gbs, You getting me wrong here. Of course we need more than 50% possession, but we need to know when to kick too. Not kick it all away I am against that. Just use our heads when to do that.
@ grootblousmile:19 – Gbs, That is why I would have Potties start at 6 at Soccer City, who do we have at the breakdowns that have done anything this season? Well we will have Juan back so that is a plus. Leave Spies on the bench we have to start with Potties at 6 and let Burger play 8. Juan of course back at 7.
sorry puma, still getting used to how this website works.
I consider myself reprimanded in the worst possible way, and will write out 100 times “put a reference number when responding to a certain post”
and yes I do agree with you we must not make the same mistake as what the All Blacksdid last year and try to run from our 22.
@ Puma: Hey Puma…yea, I suppose you’re right…they guys are tired. I do agree with biltong…we should just starve them of ball…keep the ball in play and make them tackle a lot…that will not only tire them out, but it will also make them desperate and then you start getting a lot of unforced errors
24@ Puma:
I would have the loosies different from your choices…
I would continue to play Schalla at No 6, Francois Louw at No 7… but I would bench Spies and play Dewald Potgieter at No 8.
In the 1st instance, Dewald is a better defender than Spies.. and plays far more towards the ball than Spies. His hands are also better…
Secondly I would MAKE Schalla and Francois Louw play much more towards the ball… have them concentrate on getting to the breakdowns faster, clean and clear out better…. in other words compete for and slow down ball better. There are massive amounts of technique involved here… it’s all about who goes low, who rolls away, who clears out the player who attempts to get or spoil possession.
In addition I would instruct the forwards and everybody who finds themselves in breakdown situations to counterruck better and show a hell of a lot better joint technique at breakdowns….
We’ve been bested by both the All Blacks and Wallabies at the breakdown, and it is time this stops dead in it’s tracks!
I think that we are much further behind the All Blacks than anybody realizes, and herin lies the danger.
We are still in denial.
We certainly have the players to beat them and be the number one team, however having the “tools” to do a job and knowing how to do it successfully are two entirely different things, and that is exactly our problem.
Firstly we are too slow in our technical and tactical approach, which means that our coaching team is out thought by others.
Simply getting back players from injury and changing tactics will not help us, as much as people believe, because the real danger that our coaching has led us into is that we are now less skilled than the All Blacks in crucial areas of the game.
For example the all important break down, where we are being beaten because we have not adapted our technique to win this battle.
This is not a player failure, but a selection and coaching failure.
I can guarantee you that if Henry or Deans coached the Boks we would be giving the others a hiding, because our pace and skills would be leading the way, in the same way that the All Blacks are doing now.
We have the best players in the world but they have to be stimulated to reach higher by learning and adapting new technical methods at pace that push us ahead of the Aussies and Kiwis.
We obviously are not in this mindset and have stagnated.
@ tight head:
I am not so sure if we are in denial, I would whole heartedly agree that the springbok coaching staff and some senior players are in denial though.
@ tight head:28 – Tighthead, Agree we lack something with our coaches. We will have PdV until world cup that is a given, but I really don’t see why we can’t drop Muir and Gold right now. Not late to do that.
If we had Henry or Deans we would be whipping everyone now. WE have the players for sure. I bet Deans would have loved to have had these saffa players to work with. What a pity we missed out getting him.
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