The Rugby Championship kicks off this weekend with plenty of anticipation. Argentina finally finds themselves in a regular international competition and this can only bode well for them. The top three nations who have dominated world rugby for the past two decades close a chapter and say goodbye to the Tri Nations. New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have all enjoyed great rivalries throughout the history of the Tri Nations, but even they will admit that it is a breath of fresh air with the inclusion of Argentina into The Rugby Championship.
Argentina brings in a new challenge. They are very physical with strong emphasis on their scrummaging and mauling. The Puma's also have a backline who can rival the French with flair and imagination. Unfortunately for them, they find themselves up against opposition with a lot more experience in tough competitions, but I expect them to cause upsets along the way. As time goes by, there is no reason why they cannot find themselves consistently in the top 5 nations of world rugby.
Australia has a fairly settled side with some promising youngsters. The lack of depth in Australian rugby hasn't been too much of an Achilles heel for them in the past and I don't expect it to be one going forward. The Wallabies are a proud rugby team and they are very good at playing to their strengths. Come the end of the season they'll be there or thereabouts.
Current world champions, New Zealand, are an incredibly well moulded team. They possess star players in almost every position and have match winners littered all over the field. With Richie McCaw and Dan Carter still playing some fantastic rugby they will be hard to beat. It will however be interesting to see just how they (and Australia for that matter) cope with the additional travel to Argentina. The All Blacks are the team to beat.
South Africa finds themselves in a new competition with a new coach, new management and new players. While they haven't had the best track record in the Tri Nations, they have an opportunity to set the record straight in this new competition. I expect the Springboks to put in a strong challenge, but if they are to win this competition then they will have be consistent and astute.
All in all, I am looking forward to a great new competition. There is nothing better than international rugby and with the top 3 teams competing in The Rugby Championship it makes for a mouth-watering affair!
As always...Go Bokke!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Friday, August 19, 2011
The Telling Point
The Springboks play their last match before the Rugby World cup in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. The general mood amongst the South African rugby public is one of concern for the National team because of results in 2010 and the recent Tri Nations matches. There are many critics eager to point fingers and blame coaches, selectors and players, but the personnel (barring player injury) won’t change before the World Cup kicks off.
While results have been far from pleasing this year, the message from the Springbok camp was that focus remained primarily on performances and preparation for the World Cup. The Springboks’ disastrous away leg of the Tri Nations was just that - disastrous - but it was nowhere near the full strength team that will be representing South Africa at the World Cup. So we can forget about reading into those matches. This leaves us only one match to analyse and take anything from.
Despite the loss, last weekend’s performance by the Springboks was encouraging in my humble opinion. To put it into context, Australia fielded a team full of players on form and with plenty of match time under their belts. In contrast, South Africa had a team packed with players who where well short of game time and combinations who hadn’t played together in years. The Boks started extremely well but despite the vast experience faded in the last half hour as match fitness took its toll.
What was really pleasing was the ability of the Springboks to make line breaks and create try-scoring opportunities against a very well organised Australian defence. The difference between winning and losing that match was that the Boks weren’t able to capitalise and convert pressure into points – an aspect I suspect will be corrected as players start to gain momentum and game time.
The defensive system employed last year was diabolical, but against a backline as exciting and dangerous as the Wallabies possess, the Springboks held fairly firm in last weekend’s encounter. Improvements have been made and should continue to occur with each match.
This all brings us to this weekend’s encounter against a “weakened” All Blacks team. Make no mistake, if you look at the players that the All Black selectors have selected there is nothing weak about them. It will be a tough Test match in Port Elizabeth, but I have confidence that the Boks will do the job – they have to.
Boks by 5.
While results have been far from pleasing this year, the message from the Springbok camp was that focus remained primarily on performances and preparation for the World Cup. The Springboks’ disastrous away leg of the Tri Nations was just that - disastrous - but it was nowhere near the full strength team that will be representing South Africa at the World Cup. So we can forget about reading into those matches. This leaves us only one match to analyse and take anything from.
Despite the loss, last weekend’s performance by the Springboks was encouraging in my humble opinion. To put it into context, Australia fielded a team full of players on form and with plenty of match time under their belts. In contrast, South Africa had a team packed with players who where well short of game time and combinations who hadn’t played together in years. The Boks started extremely well but despite the vast experience faded in the last half hour as match fitness took its toll.
What was really pleasing was the ability of the Springboks to make line breaks and create try-scoring opportunities against a very well organised Australian defence. The difference between winning and losing that match was that the Boks weren’t able to capitalise and convert pressure into points – an aspect I suspect will be corrected as players start to gain momentum and game time.
The defensive system employed last year was diabolical, but against a backline as exciting and dangerous as the Wallabies possess, the Springboks held fairly firm in last weekend’s encounter. Improvements have been made and should continue to occur with each match.
This all brings us to this weekend’s encounter against a “weakened” All Blacks team. Make no mistake, if you look at the players that the All Black selectors have selected there is nothing weak about them. It will be a tough Test match in Port Elizabeth, but I have confidence that the Boks will do the job – they have to.
Boks by 5.
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