ok, the Boks vs Wallabies game was on last saturday night... and since noone else is going to comment because it doesn't concern all the AB fanboys... :lol: ...i will.

thats one tough bokka team.
thank goodness Gregan was back and Larkham was on song. otherwise we'd have lost.
Morty had a bit of a shocker, but Tuquiri and Rathbone played well.
i'm pleased the Boks are back... it certainly makes things more interesting.

hey Doos, will Rathbone ever be allowed back to South Africa? even if its just for a family holiday?

I watched that match. And once again, I was impressed with the Springboks (too many high tackles though). And I think they'll be tougher at home.

Two you forgot to mention were Latham and Sharpe. Both of them played an outstanding match!

I'll admit to being an AB fan, but I certainly realize that NO tri-nations matches are a given, especially this year. They're going to have to play as hard, and more likely harder than their first two matches to win it.

I saw the last 5 mins and stuff.

Hmm, with a win over Aussie we retain the Tri Nations.

Awesome.

Less than nine hours to go. I figured someone would have thrown a jab or two. A good-natured one of course. I'll be honest, as an AB fan, I thinks it too close to call. Alright then, ABs by three.

I swear, if that fucking flat backline doesn't click again Henry should be man enough to put his hand up, apoligise to the players and scrap it.

After all, in the NPC and the S12 what other coaches are going to bother with it ?

wow.
apparently the Wallabies won a close one.

didn't catch the match this evening, so i'll be watching the replay tomorrow morning.

Hats off to the Wallabies. They deserved to win. I've seen Kaplan referee better than that, but no matter. You cannot win (or score for that matter) when you cannot catch the ball. And WTF was Marshall doing throwing the ball all over the place like it was a hot potato?!

Spartak, you're correct. Henry needs to adjust. The flat backline is just not working.

Marshall is TOTALLY wrong for the flat backline thing. His slow hospital floaters derail whatever little momentum the backs can create. Bring in Kelleher, I swear he throws it so hard, he can break people's fingers.

AB's had some chances towards the end but silly little ball handling errors inside the Aussie 22 effectively cost them the game.

Not without a comprehensive security detail ;) he hasn't endeared himself with his media comments.

All right Doos, it's the Boks and ABs at Ellis Park. Any predictions?

I've got two words for Graham Henry: Andrew Mehrtens. Kick out Spencer, sit his ass on the bench and put the running rugby specialist fly-half in! It's just a simple fact, Mehrts distributes the ball much better than Spencer does, prolly cuz Carlos and Dan Carter don't get along, but oh well. I'm predicting an All Blacks win this weekend because of the adjustments in the backline.

You'd be surprised Archer, but Henry has already done what you said.

Spencer has been dropped altogether.

But Carter is out with an injury, which means the vastly overrated Tuitupou (or as I like to call him Tuitwopoo) will start. I swear that undersized munchkin gets so much gametime compared to other promising youngsters (namely Nick Evans), yet produces very little.

Mehrtens is a legend. its always a telling sign when the blacks bring on Mehrtens during a match.

can't wait to see the new Boks squad play at home.

hope they can really make this tri nations interesting.

Dear God, thank you for your blessings upon us at Ellis Park. Any Kiwi's want to discuss the stuff?

Not a Kiwi, but I did watch the match, and I am an AB supporter. Wow, the Boks deserved to win, they played some pretty hardcore rugby. The All Blacks just don't seem to play with passion any more. It's like after they beat England, they thought they could walk all over anyone (totally forgetting that Australia beat the Poms by a far larger score-line). I'm just at a loss for words really. Congratulations to a very hard-working Springboks team.

We got spanked :(

Everything went wrong, Henry isn't taking responsibility... something that he should have done.

that is one heck of a tough boks squad.
this saturday should be a great game. Wallabies vs Boks.

anyone done the maths and figured out who could win the Tri Nations this year?

i think NZ has beaten Aust and SA once. Aust has beaten NZ and SA once. and SA has now beaten NZ and has also managed to score bonus points in every match...

/going to check a website

What can you say? The Boks just came to play and the ABs came to goof off. No fire, no forward momentum, no hands (again), etc., etc., etc.

There is no way you can play that way against a team like the Boks and expect to even come close to winning. I fully believe that the scoreline is very flattering to the ABs. Kudos to the Boks for smacking the ABs around and for playing a fine match.

If SA win on Sat, the wallabies can do what they like and still not win the tri nations. We have a better points difference than the others. Oz and Kiwi sit on 9 points. We have 7. So if we win and the Ozzies manage 4 tries and finish withing 7 they will get 2 BP we get 4 for the win and thus end level on 11 points BUT we have a better points differential.

If we win WITH a BP then we win outright. Sweet. However, if we lose without 2 BP then we end last.

What a great competition this year!

Let me just be the first to congratulate the Springboks on a Tri Nations well played. They played smarter and harder than the other two teams and are completely deserving of this achievement. Prost!

Good effort by the Boks! Almost every single rugby pundit wrote them off at the start of the tri-nations, but they took a young squad and beat the two best teams in the world with it.

yeah. Boks were just too good.
and well done ABs for winning the Bledisloe.
Wallabies didn't finish last in the tri nations, but they didn't win any silver.

well done Sathas. what a great tri nations season...

I thought that I was better than this but: what do you call the bone in a sheep's arse?


A Rathbone

Winnig the 3N was a good start for Jake and the Boys. I must say though, that the final game against the Wallabies was a sad affair. Poor handling, little penetration from either side's backline... very sloppy stuff. Grinding Rathbone into the Shark Tank turf was an added bonus for the Boks though.

All three Southern Hemisphere sides have got work to do. The ABs especially look very a sad side, comparing them to their predecessors over the last decade. I just have this sense that all three sides have a lot more to offer, even Aus with their aging side.

that said, hopefully the Boks can take this victory forward on their tour of Europe. A win against Ireland and then England could see us up to third in the IRB rankings, where we belong.

It was a great Tri-Nations, I would have liked it if the ABs ran away with it, but this was way more exciting. I fully believe that Graham Henry was right at the beginning of the season when he said this squad is only at 40%. Oh well, congrats to the Boks for a well fought out Championship (at least the Wallabies didn't get it). ;)

I guess that the s.loppy play was infectious. You must have seen how kak the Sharks have been this year.

Hi all, back with the end of year tests where we go up North and set some things straight.

Does England play any S. hemisphere touring team ?

I know they don't play us...

Nah, they've had enough of the S. Hemispheres, then they come back as the Lions tour for more pain. Though I really can't believe that Marshall and Mehrts aren't on the ABs, the Barbarians match just got real interesting.

I hate Marshall and I think Carter is a better kicking option.. so I'm happy with the team.

Rumours are Wellington boy Conrad Smith (he's got a law degree too you know) will play #13, with Tana playing #12.

The front row will be pretty much reserves, Anton Oliver, and some props I've heardly ever heard of.

Jono Gibbes will be out for the rest of the tour after doing something bad to his calf at training, which probably means Collins at #6, and Jack and Nor Maxwell in the locks.

I think watching the Italy game at 2am would be worth it just to see how the new guys handle themselves, I'm expecting big things from Conrad :thumbsup:

anyone see the Scotland vs Wallabies match? i missed it, but apparently Eddie Jones (the toad) wasn't happy with the reduced width of Murrayfield. but then, the toad doesn't need much to get angry these days.

is there a Lions tour coming soon? thats AWESOME. i really have to get up to date with whats going on rugby wise. i'm out of the loop.

they play us the Saturday after this. Johnny W and most of their experienced loosies are out so I'm quietly optimistic.

Bundy, there is a Lions tour sometime in 2005... I think maybe around our winter. They play 5 games in NZ, although some of them are against the NZ Maori XV :/

I'm really worried about the scrumhalf position, sure, there's talent there, but not experience. Byron Kelleher is a hothead who doesn't play like his age. I would much rather have Marshall and Mehrts in there, at least on reserves, because I don't think that there's a better scrumhalf to flyhalf channel in the world than those two. I agree, Conrad should do some great things, and you could probably put Tana anywhere and he'll kick ass. The pack is rather solid, and I'm not worried about it, I'm concerned about the backline chemistry though, I think it's been disrupted and that could spell disaster.

It's Italy, I mean COME ON!!!

Their only upside is their coach, the legendary John Kirwin.

It's France I'm worried about, they beat the Wallabies 27-14.

yeah, France is a strong squad at the moment, and i don't want to take anything away from their win, but the Wallabies haven't exactly been a tour de force in this european tour.
i wonder if they're suffering from any delayed morale damage from losing the World Cup, and not winning the Bledisloe or Tri Nations?
right now i'd rank New Zealand, South Africa, France and maybe even England (nah, not England, never England) above Australia.

France are such a scrappy team it'll be really interesting to see the Blacks take them on since they've got such a tough front row to compliment that back line.