i respect the sport but i wouldn't play it and break my spine or neck... anyway its more dangeruos tha american football, less shields!
i respect the sport but i wouldn't play it and break my spine or neck... anyway its more dangeruos tha american football, less shields!
I C.R.E.A.M
haha man you got it backwards, our beating you in cricket is payback for you guys beating us in rugby ... one more week man ... but i wouldnt take anything away from your wins against england, theyre a one man team (their goal kicker wilkinson) thats the only way they scored points and he played so you basically beat a full strength england lol
and frenchshin, i wouldn't worry about losing to the all blacks, no one wins there, plus i think you guys were under strength weren't you? it don't matter, i still think france will win the world cup
and 2L8 ... rugby isn't as dangerous as it's made out, and yeah there's less protection than NFL because rugby union and rugby league are men's sport and the players are tough, i played league for 10 years, you feel very sore after a game but i was never seriously injured, they're both heaps fun to play you should give them a go
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Francois Steyn became the darling of Newlands as he kicked a pair of dropped goals to snatch a dramatic 22-19 victory for the Springboks over the Wallabies in their Vodacom Tri-Nations test in Cape Town on Saturday.
Blow-by-blow scoring
The Springboks, in spite of having enjoyed a surfeit of possession, were trailing 16-19 as the match edged into the last ten minutes.
It seemed the Boks were in the process of receiving a massive wake-up call about the demands of winning against one of the big nations when the precocious talent of one of the most exciting youngsters to emerge in years saved them from embarrassment.
A hasty clearance kick by the Wallabies went straight to Steyn, on the field as a replacement for Ashwin Willemse, where he was standing 45 metres out in the right-hand tramlines.
The young Bok made a clean catch, steadied himself, and then whipped his strong right foot into the ball -- sending it soaring between the uprights to level the scores in the 71st minute.
Steyn’s goal was a massive relief to a Springbok side who had trailed since the 30th minute and, buoyed by a season of last-gasp victories, they knuckled down to the task of getting a win.
A break-out by Jean de Villiers took play deep into Wallaby territory and with the Boks continuing to control possession as they had done for most of the match Steyn dropped back into the pocket and bisected the uprights with his second drop as the ball re-emerged for the ninth time.
WARNING SIGNALS
There was a time, not too long ago, that the Boks tended to lose patchy matches such as this one so getting up for victory was an immense plus but it should not be allowed to cancel out the warning signals of some pretty sterile back play -- plus the worry that the victory might have come at the expense of serious injuries to captain John Smit and flank Juan Smith.
It has been many years since a Springbok pack has won so much ball off the Wallabies and it was almost inconceivable that Boks found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreline with time running out.
The Bok backline tended to be too flat and their running lines too diagonal to trouble a Wallaby defensive line who concentrated on coming up fast and closing down space -- in the manner of the Boks’ own rush defence.
The patrolling of the offsides barriers by the match officials was somewhat slack, but it was a concern that there was so little variation in the Boks’ attempts to crack open the Australians.
Although the Boks again did not scrum with the kind of authority one would expect from such a big set of eight, they won their ball easily, shaded the lineouts and overwhelmingly dominated the ball retention count.
ENCOURAGING SIGNS
There were encouraging signs when Jaque Fourie scored the opening try in the 13th minute; the end result of a clever grubbered kick-off by Butch James, followed by four phases, before the Bok flyhalf was back in the action to make a deft pick-up off his toes and send the big centre hurtling for the corner.
The try was just deserts for a strong, hard-driving start by the Springboks but that was to be only time they would get over the line.
Widespread anticipation of a big victory soon evaporated and the crowd, but unfortunately not the canned applause!, fell silent as Matt Giteau, courtesy of referee Barnes allowing what looked like blatant obstruction by Guy Shepherdson, darted in next to the posts.
Having missed this deliberate piece of off-the-ball play it was all the more puzzling when the match officials later decided that Pierre Spies should be yellow-carded when he was hit by a George Gregan pass as he was trying to get back onside. In fact, had Steyn not pulled the result out of the embers for the Boks these two decisions might well have been the big talking point in the post mortems.
Mortlock’s kicking had been accurate and the Wallabies reached half time 16-10 in front, soon to be 19-10 when he hammered over his fourth penalty in the 43rd minute.
Against a side as defensively sound as the Wallabies the Boks were facing a mountain as big as Devil’s Peak, which on Saturday towered illuminated by bright sunshine over the ground, to climb and it says much for the new resolve that has germinated in SA rugby that they scaled the peak.
Controlling the ball was key as the Boks won the field position for Percy Montgomery to kick two penalties, cutting the deficit to 16-19, and then it was down to Steyn to claim the adulation of the crowd and the glory of victory.
Scorers were:
South Africa (10) 22: Try by Jaque Fourie (13 min). Percy Montgomery kicked three penalties and a conversion and Francois Steyn two dropped goals. Australia (16) 19: Try by Matt Giteau (30 min). Stirling Mortlock kicked four penalties and a conversion.
Vodacom Tri-Nations - Match 1JP Pietersen runs into the Aussie wall.
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Last edited by RAMESH; 06-20-2007 at 03:23 PM.
IRB World Rankings 11/06/2007
01. NEW ZEALAND 94.59
02. FRANCE 85.66
03. AUSTRALIA 85.55
04. SOUTH AFRICA 85.13
05. IRELAND 82.52
06. ARGENTINA 82.43
07. ENGLAND 78.93
08. WALES 76.26
09. ITALY 75.53
10. SAMOA 74.49
Last edited by RAMESH; 06-17-2007 at 05:40 PM.
that's been our problem since 2001 when all our quality players retired, we can't put teams away, 6 years ago we'd of gone on and pumped south africa by 30, these days you know if with 10 minutes to go we don't lead by 20 we won't win, ranking us third is a joke, more of a joke that wales is 8th
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i think you guys really good, we just couldn't get through you. it was an exciting game the turned me into a monster at times the suspence lasted until the end, i'm officially into the sport & can't wait for the next game
Matfield becomes 52nd Bok captain20 June 2007 (Posted: 13:22)
Springbok lock Victor Matfield will start for the first time as captain when the team faces the All Blacks in a Vodacom Tri-Nations clash at Durban’s ABSA Stadium on June 23. He will become the 52nd Springbok test captain.
Bismarck Du Plessis is the only uncapped player in the 22-man team. Should he play on Saturday, he will become the 787th Springbok and the 61st from KwaZulu Natal. Hooker Gary Botha is in the starting line-up for the first time in a Springbok jersey.
The Springboks will play in their 23rd Test at this venue since the second Test against the 1962 British Lions team of Arthur Smith. Of the previous 22 Tests here, South Africa won 14, lost 5 while three Tests were drawn.
Jannie de Beer holds the record of 22 points in a Test against New Zealand, while Ray Mordt and Marius Joubert are the only Springboks who scored a hat-trick of tries in a Test against them.
South Africa’s Vodacom Tri-Nations record at home is: Played 24; Won 16; Lost 8 with 602 points scored and 584 conceded.
In the only two Vodacom Tri-Nations Tests against New Zealand at ABSA Stadium, South Africa won 24-23 in 1998, but lost 23-30 in 2002.
The Springbok team for Saturday is as follows (existing caps in brackets): 15 Percy Montgomery (84)
14 Ashwin Willemse (15)
13 Jaque Fourie (28)
12 Jean de Villiers (30)
11 JP Pietersen (3)
10 Butch James (17)
9 Ruan Pienaar (9)
8 Pierre Spies (9)
7 Juan Smith (32)
6 Schalk Burger (30)
5 Victor Matfield (57) (C)
4 Bakkies Botha (34)
3 BJ Botha (9)
2 Gary Botha (6)
1 Os du Randt (71)
16 Bismarck du Plessis ( - )
17 CJ van der Linde (36)
18 Johann Muller (13)
19 Danie Rossouw (23)
20 Michael Claassens (6)
21 Wynand Olivier (14)
22 Francois Steyn (7)
Some interesting facts and figures, going into the Test:
Percy Montgomery could improve his existing records – 713 points in Tests; 112 conversions in Tests and 122 penalty goals in Tests. He will play in his record 71st Test as a fullback.
Percy also holds the South African records for most Vodacom Tri-Nations appearances (28), most career points (187), 22 career conversions and 38 career penalty goals.
Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha will improve their record of 28 Test matches as a lock pairing.
Saturday’s referee is Alain Rolland of Ireland. It will be the fifth time that he officiates as referee in a Test involving the Springboks. Of the previous four Tests, South Africa only won one.
Last edited by RAMESH; 06-20-2007 at 03:32 PM.
Silencing Absa Stadium's 52,000-strong crowd with a storming finish, the All Blacks beat the Springboks 26-21 after trailing by nine with 15 minutes remaining.
With fresh replacements helping lift the tempo in the final quarter, and the Boks tiring on a big recent match workload, two quick converted tries to battered captain Richie McCaw and wing Joe Rokocoko sealed it.
The All Blacks had only won one of their past four tests in South Africa stretching back to 2004.
"We played pretty well in the last 20 minutes which is the sign of a lot of pride and backbone," said coach Graham Henry, describing it as their most physical test for "a long time".
"I think also the conditioning window helped us. We put a lot of work in physically and I think it came through with their fitness in the end. "
Henry, with the New Zealand Rugby Union's (NZRU) blessing, controversially removed his top 22 players from the first half of Super 14 to keep them fresh for the World Cup starting in September.
The Springboks meanwhile were playing their fifth consecutive test, after most of them appeared in the Super 14 playoffs, and were backing up from a bruising victory over the Wallabies.
"The last 20 minutes it looked like a team that had been playing for seven weeks in succession," Boks coach Jake White said.
"When their reserves came on you could see the complete difference in the way they lifted the ante."
White admitted his previously unbeaten team let themselves down on home turf and would find it tough to now break the All Blacks' stranglehold on the Tri-Nations.
He hinted last week he would rest players from the return match in Christchurch on July 14 to freshen them up, with reports today suggesting up to 20 frontliners could be left at home.
It wasn't pretty, but Henry's All Blacks again showed they could rise to the big occasion as they aim to end a 20-year World Cup drought this year.
"We realised we had to hang in there and the chances would come. If we could up the tempo they might run out of legs and that's where we got our opportunities," McCaw said.
"Everything in the game the guys held the belief and showed their character. They didn't let anything faze them, even that intercept try when it would have been easy to drop their heads."
In an often fiery encounter with plenty of off-the-ball incidents to keep referee Alain Rolland guessing, the Springboks were awesome in the opening quarter.
At the 65-minute mark they led 21-12 after tries either side of halftime to standout flanker Schalk Burger, and Butch James, who snatched a stray Aaron Mauger pass to dash 35m.
But the All Blacks' scrum began to dominate, they sped the game up with quick lineouts and counter attacks. The loose forward trio McCaw, Rodney So'oialo and Jerry Collins bashed the ball up at will and halfback Byron Kelleher had a busy game, hassling the Boks into errors.
So'oialo sparked McCaw's try with a stunning kick return while replacement Leon MacDonald set up Rokocoko with the Springboks defence down to a walk.
The All Blacks now have another tough turnaround with the resurgent Wallabies looming in Melbourne on Saturday night.
The All Blacks don't arrive until Monday night as they rest sore bodies on the long flight across the Indian Ocean.
McCaw said the sluggish opening 20 minutes was the main area of concern.
"The key is to get it going from the start because some days you don't get out of jail. It'll be great to be able to start the way we finished. "
journalists in this country have alot to answer for, bagging the south african team calling them 'B side, 2nd string, weak' is seriously going to backfire and it puts more un wanted pressure on our team because if we dont smash south africa, or worse, if we lose they will have egg on their faces and be highly embarrassed, i hate the sports journalists in this country so bad
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we got this World Cup locked down we got the best players in the world. Lol thats the situation every World Cup and we always fuck it up some how. If Dan Carter plays awesome I think we can win. I hope we can win. Go the All Blacks.
LOL you guys can't win the tournament that was designed for you to win, you guys choke so bad
i think france or south africa got this world cup locked, one thing guarenteed - we will get humiliated, we're so shit
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YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
nothing is better than beating the kiwis at rugby hahahahaha stick that up ya
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When is the Rugby World Cup? I love the sport. It makes the NFL look like a bunch of overweight pussies with all that padding on. IIRC, in Rugby, players use NO pads correct?
Next to association football, rugby football is 2nd favorite sport. How do I know if I like league or untion? I've seen matches on FSC a few years ago but don't know what type it was what channel will Rugby WC be on?
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