South Africa - World Cup Favourites?

South Africa will be the team world cup favourites New Zealand shall fear most come September.

This is according to media pundits in the Southern Hemisphere and is being trumpeted particularly loudly in NZ and South Africa as based on the recent Super 14 showings of the South African franchises. Even Graham Henry is talking up the Boks – insisting their aggressive, ‘in your face’ play will create plenty of problems for the All Blacks.

On Super 14 performances alone, this could be true. For the first time in Super 14 history, two South African teams (the Bulls and Sharks) have managed to tally up a respectable amount of away wins which goes against the grain of their normally erratic away match records of the past, indicating a growth in consistency and maturity is taking form. The Springboks are also the only team in the last two years to have beaten the All Blacks, albeit if it was only on South African soil – (Cape Town 2005 and Rustenburg 2006), highlighting to all they have a way of getting under the skin of New Zealand teams, ruffling sensitive normally unchallenged feathers by playing raw aggressive rugby which often goes beyond the limits of the law.

It is often said the team that can get away with the most is more often than not – the best team. The British media for years have been arguing about the All Blacks getting away with cheating (bleu murder yes, we saw it in November – but blue murder?). If the Springboks can match the alleged bullying All Blacks at their own game – then maybe the competition to take the Webb Ellis trophy home will not be as home and dried as those predictions a year ago.

Or could they put up a strong fight? For me the jury is still out on the Springboks. I have yet to see a Bok team under Jake White play consistently in Europe. This is not to say the Boks won’t surprise, but to my mind, safer money would be with an unpredictable French team on their home strip, or a gallant Irish side led by Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell to stake out key wins. Heck – even Australia should never be written off; we have learnt too often that you ignore a wounded wallaby at your peril.

The South African style of play is old fashioned. Forward dominated 10 man rugby was dismissed after Clive Woodward’s English team fell so spectacularly in the years following the 2003 World Cup. When the Boks are not grunting away up front, it appears that interceptions are the only kind of feed they know to secure tries. It is important not to forget also that for nearly two weeks, 22 All Blacks players did not participate in the Super 14 competition due to Henry’s controversial conditioning programme. This lapse has given other teams with their internationals included a head start (and possibly a false sense of achievement).

The South African international side has been inconsistent at the best of times and downright pitiful at worst over the last few years. It is true the Boks have some key players that can win matches – what team wouldn’t want Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield and the dashing Bryan Habana? A big star waiting to be unleashed will be the precocious Francois Steyn, 20 years old this year and a certain match winner of the future who can kick drop goals from anywhere. Unless the IRB reduce the score of the three point drop goal, he will be a dangerous assassin in years to come and will almost certainly break the hearts of many a non-South African rugby supporter through his Wilkinson style of point collecting. For now his inexperience should count against him and these factors, coupled with the controversy behind the scenes in any Jake White led South African team and the fact that the Africans will not be playing on home soil for the important business end of the World Cup mean they should not be the major threat that every expert is predicting.

I do believe their time may come again, I just don’t believe it will be this year, no matter who talks them up in the process

My first time at the Cake Tin to see a Hurricane win

What a great night it was - my first ever time at the Wellingon Cake Tin watching the Hurricanes against the South African Bulls. Even though our seats were sat directly behind the goal posts, there was a carnival feel to the evening with crowds of people dressed up and ready for a party plus plenty of interesting action on the rugby field too. Again - I did feel that the Hurricane's backline failed to fire, except for the tremendous try set up by Piri Weepu, Corey Jane and scored by Hosea Gear in the second half. (As luck would have it, that was my only pitstop during the entire game so I heard the try via the crowd roar echoing in the bowels of the stadium as opposed to actually viewing it live - although I did manage to catch the replay on the big screen). I didn't really care much for the girly cheerleaders that paraded around throughout the match but I guess if it works for half the crowd, then who am I to put a damper on things. Besides when they danced at half time, I have to admit they were quite good. The Kiss Cam was certainly highly entertaining with the camera zooming in on couples to snog it up for the cheering crowd. That along with plenty of giveaways into the mob certainly kept everyone entertained, even if they weren't particularly interested in the rugby.

I was pleased to see the Hurricanes scavenge a win. The Bulls, even with speedster star Bryan Habana, looked like they had less attacking dynamite than the 'Canes. I am ashamed to admit I fully got into the spirit of booing the ref (something I always righteously tut tut about when I see the crowd doing it on television) and joined in the chorus of 'Off! Off! Off!' when that villain (but all round star player) Victor Matfield was sinbinned at the end of the match. In all it was an entertaining night, if not completely for the rugby. I thought the Hurricanes defended well and Rodney So'oialo was my man of the match. He was everywhere. I admire him because he always gives it his all. I still think the team as such could be coached better and they need a bit more brain to their play. But a win is a win. And it was an entertaining razzmatazz evening. I certainly got my money's worth.

NZ media and counting chickens

It had to happen. All week I had heard on the radio, read in the papers and had seen on TV the chuckling smugness of certain commentators and their firm belief that the Crusaders V Warratahs clash would be a cake walk for the Canterbury men. Each time I heard one of these comments I had a stomach churning flash back to the week before the 2003 World Cup semi final when it seemed that most of the New Zealand public thought the All Blacks just had to turn up to cement the win against the Wallabies and thus go through to the final against England. Of course, on that day nearly four years ago, we saw the Australian spirit and tenacity come alive before us, at the expense of our floundering All Blacks. And the New Zealand nation had to eat a fair dose of humble pie. The lesson? Never write off an Australian team, in whatever sporting code. Especially when they're at the bottom of the table and struggling. To the credit of the actual players - I don't think they were the ones writing off the plucky Australians. But one just has to have a scroll through the web pages to see there was plenty of Kiwi arrogance in the media leading up to this match. I ask myself - when will they learn?

See this blog from Stuff, this article from the Press and from sportal.co.nz quoted on the NZRFU website for plenty of high expectation.