Monday, 9 July 2007
springboks on the sweet chariot bandwagon
A few botched drop goal attempts from the South Africans in Saturday's last Tri Nations match were a further signal to the world of how they intend to play their rugby when the World Cup comes around. It is becoming clear that they lack real creativity in their backline to score tries off set piece moves (although they are the best in the world at the intercept try). They look more and more like the English team of 2003 - content to grind out a win through heavy, agressive forward play and reliance on a selection of players who can drop goal to their hearts desire. If England could do it in 03 - there is no reason why it can't be done again in 07. Unfortunately it doesn't make for very entertaining rugby, but thems the breaks I guess.
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2 comments:
I've been able to see all of the Tri-nations games here in the States, thanks to Setanta Sports. I still think when the Kiwis are on their game, I think the world cup is theirs to lose. But we have heard that before haven't we? I think back to 1999 when people talked about the all blacks possibly hanging a century on the French-and then in the Semi-final the French played the match of their lives to upset the All Blacks. South Africa do have the physical forwards to contend with the AB's. I just don't think they have much imagination.
I agree with you nursedude - SA do lack the imagination (and I do hope you're right about the ABs being on their game. One of the big problems with any AB team is they can get a little complacent when things start going their way. Which is maybe a silver lining to the fact they're not playing so well at the moment - no excuses for complacency.
Thanks for your comment.
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