Tri-Nations Sport: All Blacks Overrun Tired Springboks

Lethal attacking at the death deprive the Boks of victory

South Africa led the match until the 72nd minute, so the All Black onslaught not only caught the players in green off guard, but turned the entire Kings Park Stadium silent, and left people watching televisions (in South Africa at least) gaping in astonishment.

The slaughter in the final quarter of the game exposed a South African side that had grown tired not only in the game itself, but through the many battles that preceded this vital match. The All Blacks simply looked a lot fresher, and the tactic to wait as long as possible and then attack the beleaguered Boks worked like a bomb.

This despite an opening blizzard of dominating Bok power. Flanker Schalk Burger was brilliant. The Boks started their lead with two penalties, culminating in an unconverted try from a brilliant Butch James in the last minute of the first half. The threat of All Black superstar Dan Carter was contained, but he was not on form on Saturday, had he been the All Black victory might have been more decisive.

The statistics though, at the end of the first half showed that the Boks were doing most of the energy sapping tackling, with 50 as opposed to the All Black tally of just 37.

The second half began ominously with the yellow carding of Pedrie Wannenburg. He left the field for 10 minutes, leaving the Boks outnumbered against the resurgent All Blacks. To complicate matters further, Butch James, who had had a storming game, was substituted by Frans Steyn, who now had to play flyhalf. The 20 year-old last week achieved hero status against the Wallabies, but it was a mistake to throw the youngster against the rising All Black tide. And so it seemed on these two defining moments, the match began to turn.

As Bok coach Jake White put it: “I rather believe we lost it rather than to say we were taken apart and beaten.”
Man of the match, number 8 Rodney So'oialo said: "The game is 80 minutes, and we knew if we continued running with the ball in hand we'd tire them out and holes would start appearing."
That said, the All Blacks proved they are the team to beat in the Rugby World Cup in September. The Kiwis were trailing 21-12 with less than 15 minutes left, and proved their incredible toughness and resilience once more. Captain Richie McCaw, with hard man Jerry Collins in support, scored for the first of two post 70 minute tries by overwhelming two defenders to touch down.
Soon after, All Black winger Joe Rokocoko cruised in for an easy as you please try, leaving in his wake desperate Springbok players lying on the ground, an unusual looseness on the field which the All Blacks used build momentum once more. Carter converted for the final score: 26-21. The All Blacks were unlucky not to score a third try in the final minute.

SA Coach White has sent a ‘B’ team for the Wallaby game in Australia, in order to save his tiring squad ahead of the World Cup. Meanwhile, the victorious All Blacks will need to recover from Saturday’s bruiser in time for their next energy sapping Tri-Nations clash.

Top 3 Story

My Tri-Nations story sent to Ohmynews has made the top 3 (most popular stories for the week.) My story in reporter (about The Hub) also made the top 3 recently.

I think Ohmynews, based in Korea, has a disproportionately large audience of expat Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans. My hit counter for these stories is already well over the 1000 mark. So going to keep sending them rugby stories.

There's also a Fietstoer Photo on reporter.co.za today. To see it, go here:

https://www.reporter.co.za/community/Default.aspx?Page=RP21P64967

"All Black Match Is World Cup Final"

Assistant coach says the Springboks treating All Black match as World Cup Final

Backline coach Allister Coetzee gave a media conference recently, and stated very clearly just how seriously the Springbok camp were approaching their next Tri-Nations game against the All Blacks.

Interestingly, when the All Blacks won the Tri-Nations in 1999 and 2003, they were unable to win the World Cup. It’s possibly a faulty psychology that good form in the Tri-Nations will necessarily have any bearing on who will be world champions in September this year. The reason being that the war of attrition strips the teams that work too hard in the lead up to the World Cup, and South Africa are already feeling this through the loss of crucial players like captain John Smit and Brian Habana.

Cotzee said that the Boks aim to ‘crack’ their opponents using tactics to apply maximum pressure. He said that this was done successfully against the Australian star Stephen Larkham. “If you look at Frans Steyn's first drop goal,” Coetzee said, “that came from Larkham missing touch because of the pressure placed on him by Ruan Pienaar."

The Boks will have their work cut out for them in talented Kiwi flyhalf Dan Carter. Their intention is once again to apply pressure in the first phase scrums and lineouts. But the All Blacks present a skilled athletic outfit in a class of their own, and the Boks will have to raise their game to an almost error free level.

Coetzee made an interesting point that the 3 matches prior to the Tri-Nations, their battle against Australia last weekend and the upcoming ‘Championship’ present “a dress rehearsal for us in terms of what is required to win the World Cup. You have to win a sequence of games and then win a final against the world's best. That is what the World Cup is all about so, yes, this game has all the relevance of a final for us."

An area that has been highlighted in the previous game is the Boks tendency to kick away possession. Butch James will have to have an extra ace or too up his sleeve, as the All Blacks will punish the Boks more decisively than the Wallabies did for clumsy tactics.

And while the Boks are marking Dan Carter, it’s likely that the All Blacks will be on young Frans Steyn’s trail. Even if he is marked, the Boks have other kickers on standby, suck as Percy Montgomery and Derek Hougaard. Both have made stabs at drop goals, but with less success than Steyn thus far.

Whatever happens, Saturday’s match is likely to sizzle with exciting play from both sides.