Boring Boks score bonus point win

Fourie du Preez made his 50th appearance for the Springboks against Australia in Perth and celebrated in the 'boring' fashion of scoring a try.

Du Preez's try was the first of the four that contributed to a bonus point victory for the Springboks. Henry and Deans and all the Australian players who labelled the Springboks boring please issue a public apology.

The simple fact of the matter is that Australia and New Zealand just won't accept that South African sport is currently the world dominating force. Our rugby team is setting the standard and our antipodean friends cannot stand this. Stinks of bad sportsmanship if you ask me.

Australia are the bigger culprits in this saga and the instigator for the All Blacks, Graham Henry, is probably not a fair reflection of New Zealanders anyway. Henry is purely looking for an excuse as to why the All Blacks aren't the all conquering team that they can be. While I have nothing against the Australian people, their sportsmen and women are arrogant sore losers. Australian people are lovely, I have cousins and friends in Australia and have visited the country. The people are great but as for their sports personalities I say, "be humble in victory as in defeat, because karma is a bitch!"

Let's not deter too much from the achievements of the current Springbok team. I believe that the current crop will make up almost the whole all time best Boks.

This is my best ever Boks:
1. Os Du Randt
2. John Smit
3. Cobus Visagie
4. Bakkies Botha
5. Victor Matfield
6. Schalk Burger
7. Juan Smith / Andre Venter
8. Gary Teichmen
9. Fourie du Preez / Joost van der Westhuizen
10 Henry Honiball
11. Bryan Hanaba
12. Jean de Villiers
13. Jacque Fourie
14. James Small / JP Pietersen
15. Percy Montgomery / Andre Joubert

So Henry, next time you label the Boks delete "boring" from your list of options.

Wallabies v Springboks - Perth 2009

5 to 1, changes to the Wallabies team compared to Springboks and also what I think would be the odds of Australia winning on Sat.

Don't confuse my confidence with arrogance, you cannot right off any of the top rugby nations, but when you compare recent showings and the amount of changes that the Australians have had to endure compared to the Springboks, you have to concede that the Boks are clear favourites!

As individuals, the players coming in and those swapping positions for Australia definitely have the potential and talent to play top class rugby, but as we all know rugby is a team sport. The Wallaby's have their backs up against the wall which makes them even more dangerous as stranger things have happened, but a win this weekend seems highly unlikely.

The Springboks on the other hand (Darrrren), have the luxury of a fully fit squad with the exception of Danie Russouw who has just overcome an ankle injury and will be rested this weekend. An interesting change for the Boks is Ruan Pienaar starting at fullback ahead of Francois Steyn. Steyn's impending move overseas was surely a motivating factor combined with PdV having half an eye on the end of year tour. For me Pienaar would start at flyhalf and I would put Morne Steyn at fullback, but PdV might be right in keeping Morne at flyhalf and perhaps weening him into the fullback position. The only department where Morne is better than Ruan is at goal kicking time and you don't have to play at flyhalf to kick at poles. As a flyhalf, I still believe Pienaar offers much more on attack and marshalls the backline better.

Finally, I cannot wait to see Schalk Burger come off the bench! I fully agree with Brussow starting ahead of him, but consider yourself in Burger's position. A former IRB Player of the year and Springbok stalwart having been banned for the past 8 weeks. Surely he would want to put in a massive display to resurrect his playing career and reputation? Be afraid Wallabies, be very afraid...

Go Bokke!

For the full teams and chosen write-ups click on the links below:

Springboks - http://www.supersport.com/rugby/article.aspx?Id=313455

Wallabies - http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=12137.html

The current state of Springbok rugby

Hello! Thanks for taking time to read! This is my first posting, so here we go...

Since the Jake White era there have been many ups and downs for Springbok rugby. In the last 2 years we have witnessed the first black Springbok coach, retiring legends and some record breaking games against England, Australia and most notably the All Blacks (in New Zealand!).

There has been a lot of contrversy surrounding our head coach, Peter de Villiers. I will be the first to admit that I was one of the voices calling for his axing on more than one occassion. However, I have changed my view and no longer believe he is a bad coach, I believe de Villiers possesses the coaching ability but lacks the skills of a press spokesman. Unfortunately for de Villiers his first language is afrikaans, and as many South Africans will tell you some things are best said in afrikaans and kept that way.

While there are still some reservations about our colourful coach, the facts remain that under his tutorship the Springboks have recorded record wins over England at Twickenham and Australia in South Africa, and became the first side in many years to topple the All Blacks on their home turf.

Some people may argue that de Villiers inherited Jake White's team, but on the flip side it was all there to be messed up, with new coaches often changing things around to make their mark. Surely de Villiers has done something right to keep the same captain and core Springbok players together who won the World Cup in 2007? It must've been so tempting to bring in new players, choose a new captain and coach a completely different style of rugby to put his own mark on Springbok rugby. Instead he decided to go with his head and not his heart and chose to build on the foundations already set by White. The result, a Lions Series WIN!

Currently we are 2 games into the Tri Nations with the Australians narrowly losing to the All Blacks in the first and the Springboks dominating the All Blacks in the second to come out deserved victors. The third test match is gearing up to be a colossal battle between the two old foes (South Africa and New Zealand) - a rivalry that dates back to almost being as old as rugby itself! Yes the Springboks recorded a good win in Bloemfontein and the margin should've been much more if not for the off day with the boot for Ruan Pienaar, but you write the All Blacks off at your own peril!

Surely both teams will look for major improvements and Saturday's test match should prove to be highly nerve wrenching. I am not going to be roped into a prediction, but will watch as all Springbok fans and supprters do...with the belief that we can beat any team in the world and the hope that we don't mess it up!

Enjoy the game - GO BOKKE!
p.s. Please feel free to leave comments.