Punting on the Boks

I don't think that there is any doubt that the Boks will beat Scotland this afternoon - I guess the only real issue is by how far.

It is not even worth putting money down on the Boks to win.

The Boks are minus a couple of key players and one of the most interesting markets is around the first try-scorer.

I like Lwazi Mvovo (8/1) to score on debut, Juan Smith (20/1) and Francois Hougaard (18/1) to get the first points 5 pointer on the board.

(Odds supplied by World Sports Betting)

C'mon the Boks!

Boks vs Australia predictions

Well the Boks take on an Australian side which is definately down in the dumps after four successive losses and rocked by a couple of injuries.

On current form I don't see how you can bet against the Springboks.

Our predictions for todays match

- Boks to win
- First points scored - Australia Try
- First try scorers - Bryan Habana / Matt Giteau with Fourie Du Preez a handy 25/1 outsider

Go the Boks!

Simple does it

I have to say that was probably one of the most accomplished performances from a Springbok side that I have seen in a long time.

Yeah we have been on a high and the wins against the All Blacks were good but the composure that we showed throughout the match was brilliant.

The Morne Steyn success story continues and if you look at the last five matches - if we hadn't had a kicker to put the points on the board, our record would look rather shoddy.

Somebody said a fair thing to me the other day: "Super 14 rugby is won by try-scoring sides, Test match rugby is won by sides whose kicker takes the points that are on offer"

Was just reading the match summary on the Keo.co.za website and one word that stood out - Simplicity - that I think is what the Boks did well. They played a tactically simple - not naive - game of rugby and they won it comfortably.

Good side.

Made it...

Phew well eventually the Springboks got home but it certainly wasn't as comfortable as it could have / should have been.

Guess I didn't have anything to be worried about after all....

Pienaar had an indifferent game and the fact that he scored a try shouldn't count too much in his favour - it was a straightforward run-in for him.

If the All Blacks had been down an extra 8 points at the half-time whistle then the second half could have been far more straightforward and allowed our team to run.

Thought our backline looked the most effective it has in a longtime. Defence was solid and on attack the All Blacks always looked like they were going to be making a lot of tackles. Apart from where Conrad Smith slipped through I thought we looked top drawer and Frans Steyn impressed me for the first time in a long while - good composure and decision making.

Hope the Devilliers injury isn't too serious.

Amongst the forwards the two guys who impressed me were Bismarck Du Plessis and Bakkies Botha. Both of them put in some good solid graft. I am not a Bismarck fan but he worked hard today and things happened every time he touched the ball - was good to see.

A nice start to our Tri-Nations campaign.

Boks. vs All Blacks

I don't mean to be negative about this match up against the All Blacks but I just have a niggling bad feeling about this fixture....

... Hope the Boks prove me wrong.

Disappointment

Disappointment - that is the only word I can use to describe the Springbok loss at Ellis Park (Or Coca-Cola Park as it is now less than fondly know. This is our damn fortress where we hardly ever lose - 8 years is a long time in international sport.

I personally felt it was disrespectful to both our fans as well as the British & Irish Lions players and supporters for us to make wholesale changes to the squad.

The Lions have toured for the last 5 weeks playing up to two games a week against some bruising opposition and you have not once heard them complain - we decide to basically write off the last test match by replacing 10 players?!

(And then we stick Pierre Spies on the wing? Bizarre)

If this is how we are planning to go into the Tri-Nations then I worry for our side. While the Lions side has some good individual attackers the Australian and All Black back 3's who have played together a lot will make mincemeat of a defence if it is not prepared.... I hope Div has a plan here.

The discipline shown by the Boks in this series has also been poor and the only reason it hasn't seen the side meltdown is because as a team we carry a lot of experience and skills which made sure we were on the winning side.... What's going to happen when we are on the backfoot in the Tri-Nations?!

Hhhhhmmmmm

I'm hearing this second hand so maybe I've got it wrong but did Peter Devilliers really tell the international press that this British & Irish Lions side wasn't as good as the 1974 touring side?! (or more specifically didn't show the same "character".)

Div are you nuts?!

Anyone ever tell you never to grab a tiger (or in this instance a Lion) by its tail?

You might believe that they are kak and you might know that you have the best players in the world at your disposal and available to take on some ordinary opposition - but remember that was exactly the attitude our media and players had to the last B&I Lions side that toured here and we know how that turned out.

Anyway the Boks have now put all the pressure on themselves - hope they know what they are doing...

Unconvincing performance from the Springboks

The Springboks were less than convincing in putting away the Welsh side 20-15 yesterday afternoon.

A win is a win I guess, especially we were experimenting around our flyhalf, but I would have expected them to be somewhat more clinical in putting the Welsh away, especially after achieving such a big lead....

Gonna have to up our game if we're planning to put England away in the coming weeks...

Flyhalf dilemma

While I appreciate it is something of an experimental squad, the selections for flyhalf for the Bok UK tour are baffling.

The logic of picking a scrumhalf (Ruan Pienaar) who has said he doesn't want to play flyhalf as your first choice and a guy who battles to make the first choice for the Lions (Earl Rose) as his backup his curious to say the least.

I appreciate that Eddie Jones and Jake White both believe that Pienaar has what it takes to be a world class flyhalf and we have a lack of any real depth in the position but if you want him as a flyhalf, the player and his province have to buy into it.

Peter Grant and Morne Steyn might not be the next Dan Carter but they're the kind of players who COULD fit the mould of a make shift Bok flyhalf. Steyn in particular has played his part helping the Bulls to the finals. Maybe he should have been rewarded for his efforts.

Well I guess we'll have to see what the team produces on tour....

The squad is as below:
Bakkies Botha, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana, Chiliboy Ralepele, Danie Rossouw, Pierre Spies, Gurthro Steenkamp, Jongi Nokwe, Juan Smith, Andries Bekker, Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers, Conrad Jantjes, Ricky Januarie, Brian Mujati, Heinrich Brussow, Jaque Fourie, Earl Rose, Victor Matfield, John Smit (c), Odwa Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Adrian Jacobs, Bismark du Plessis, Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Tendai Mtwarira, Ryan Kankowski.

Earl Rose

I’ve been reading a lot of commentary about Earl Rose in recent weeks. Specifically about how he has the ability to combine the sublime with the ridiculous and how his ball skills have made him a shoe-in for the end of season Springbok touring side.

At present, Rose is currently the top points-scorer and he has been part of a Lions squad that seems to have rejuvenated itself since the start of the season. The question is – how much has Rose contributed to this revolution and how much has he cost the Lions this season… and ultimately is he good enough to be the Springbok flyhalf?

Upfront I’m going to make it clear – I didn’t like Rose when he was at Western Province / Stormers and I personally believe that Rose cost the Lions in the Super 14. Do I think he cost the Lions yesterday against the Sharks in the Currie Cup? ABSOLUTELY…

That try for the Sharks where Rose aimlessly kicked it into the charging Sharks backline should be enough to confirm why he should not be selected to play for the Springbok side.

Of course mistakes happen and players make the wrong choices – but with Rose they seem to happen too often in the big games. The choices to run from behind his own goal line or attempts to try and outmuscle some of the worlds’ best flankers or kick into some of the worlds best backline players are mistakes he makes on a regular basis – composure is everything for a flyhalf.

One also has to look at the way Rose plays when considering whether he would be suitable for a Springbok place. I know that Pieter Devilliers is a bit of a fan of his, but ‘Div’ also needs to consider whether or not Rose will actually get a backline firing or not.

Whoever ends up being the Bok flyhalf will be fortunate to have two of Jacques Fourie, Jean Devilliers, AD Jacobs and Frans Steyn outside them – muscular, game breaking centres…

They don’t need a flyhalf who is going to try and be a picture of creative flair. This is why Butch James and Peter Grant fit so well into this system. Both are solid defenders and can take the contact and both (in theory) try and do the basics right.

At the end of the day, as a coach, you have to use what you have. If you don’t have a Dan Carter in your backline to get it firing but you have some super creative centres – then this is where your backline play can come from. There is no point trying to make a player fit a game plan that isn’t there.

Experimenting is great but rather experiment with what you have rather than move away from the game plan that plays to your strengths.