What an absolutely superb game last weekend was. Perhaps not necessarily for the rugby, but everything else. First game at the FNB stadium, capacity crowd of 94000 odd supporters. The Boks v ABs. On the highveld...In Soweto. Boks up agaisnt it. Blacks with much to prove. John Smits 100th test...it was all to play for. Saw some of the ABs during the week at an Investec event and they wanted this one bad, moreso because of the pressure cooker situation they would no doubt find themselves in. A lot of them had the white wash of last year in the back of the minds. They said they trained well the whole week and were feeling pretty strong.
I wasnt convinced though. I thought this would be the Boks game. You have to take your hat off to PdV for making the changes he made. Fork Schalla, Juan Smith was SA's man of the match by a country mile. Gio and Juan played pretty darn well too and pretty bummed particularly of Gio's exclusion from the team in total, cos man other than one random kick the dude was on point! tackling counterattacking, i was really pretty chuffed for him. The Boks played with the usual gusto and verve. They were at their physical best, but their play was way too one dimensional and pretty easy to counter. The Blacks tried to use the ball as best as they could when they could, which shows in the try scoring tally albeit that the 2 of the 3 tries were scored in the last 2 minutes. Speaking of scoring tries...how long have i said this...Bryan the intercept dude
sheesh how many times did he leave the Boks stranded? always coming off the wing looking for the intercept, such a liability.
Yes fair enough there was a forward pass in the lead up to Richies try, but its not like Mills ran 100m to score the try. There was plenty stopages in the meantime and allowed the Boks time to reallign their defences before Bryan came in and whoop there it is.
I wanted a draw, i really did, because John Smit didnt deserve a loss and the Boks played well enough to get more than 1 point out of this game, but my mind said to me a win would serve the ABs better in that this was the most unlikely test victory ever and if they got it it would help their process, hopefully not adversely. I also wanted it because it would have been a loooong trip back home from the FNB stadium
I Hougaard, i think the boks have an answer to no 9. He was just a confident guy who played with plenty heart and good execution, he wasnt afraid to mix it up and try a few things. He kept the defence guessing and was very strong on attack. I like him, but Morne, nee man, peoples hy moet waai.How often did Jean get the ball on saturday?
Even though it was supposed to be against the Blacks, the altitude factor didnt seem to bother them much at all, the guys seemed pretty well conditioned and werent blowing as hard as the Boks were in the last few minutes, but then again most of the second half the Boks were defending which takes a whole lot more out of you.
The beauty about last weekends game for me is that the ABs arent that good. watching them at the stadium i wanted to vomit. they werent clinical a lot of the times, they seemed to be kicking aimlessly a lot too, so there is a fair bit to work on as well as suitable backups for DC and Richie...
Ma'a seems to be coming into his own now it seems. Good for him, he even passed when he was running, oh there is hope yet..
This weekend my blood is Groen, I like Robbie and 1/2 of the Ausies, but its time now. I want PdV to get some confidence back, want errbadi to have a good weekend so maybe i can come right ;)
Lata
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