Boks to conquer Brisbane curse
13 Jul 2006
The Springboks will have to overcome history if they are to beat the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday.
Brisbane – whether it be Ballymore or Suncorp Stadium – has not been a happy hunting ground for the Boks over the years. The Boks last beat the Wallabies there in 1971. And they have only ever won twice in eight attempts – the other coming way back in 1956.
Every match since South Africa’s return to international rugby, starting in 1993 has ended with a convincing home victory. Alarmingly the Wallabies seem to love playing the Boks in Brisbane and in the last five matches have not scored less than 28 points in a match.
The smallest margin of victory has been eight points meaning the four tries the Boks scored in 2002 represent the only point from a possible 20 in Vodacom Tri-Nations competition.
The city is also the scene of the biggest ever victory by Australia over South Africa in 73 years of rivalry (32-6 in 1999) – the Boks fourth heaviest defeat in 100 years of Test rugby.
On the plus side, and Brisbane’s records aside, the Boks can boast of a three-match winning streak against their rivals. Since the 30-12 reverse in Sydney last year, the Boks have won in Johannesburg (33-20), Pretoria (22-16) and Perth (22-19).
Victory at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday (kick-off is at 12pm, SA time) will do a number of things for Jake White’s beleaguered team. It will erase the memory of the pumping the French gave them at Newlands and it will also get the Tri-Nations campaign off to a start that would give them a chance of reclaiming their title.
Jake White has brought in two exciting new caps in No 8 Pierre Spies and right wing Akona Ndungane, while just three of the starting XV started the last match against Australia in Brisbane. And only one of them – Victor Matfield – is playing in the same position.
The other two, Joe van Niekerk and Juan Smith played at blindside and No 8 respectively. On Saturday van Niekerk will wear the No 6 jersey and Smith will play blindside flank.
The only other time the Boks played in Brisbane was at the 2003 Rugby World Cup when they samshed Samoa 60-10 in a pool match.
Boks v Wallabies in Brisbane:
1956 Wallabies 0 Boks 9
1965 Wallabies 12 Boks 8
1971 Wallabies 6 Boks 14
1993 Wallabies 28 Boks 20
1997 Wallabies 32 Boks 20
1999 Wallabies 32 Boks 6
2002 Wallabies 38 Boks 27
2003 Wallabies 29 Boks 9
Overall: P 8 W 2 L 6 PF 113 PA 177
By Andrew Hollely
55 Comments
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13 Jul 2006, 16:59 pm
Why do we fixate on players and then try and find a place for them … we think somone is exceptional and then battle to make them what they not … our teams are full of that … habana a centre plays wing … paulse was a brilliant fullback but somebody thought he was to small so they moved him to wing … now we see tons of them around that are small
Jaco is a fullback but not the best … somebody likes his play and now wants to slot him in whereever he will pass to play … andrews is a lose head … smit was a tighthead … fourie du preez was a lock at school but smoked and never grew so we made him scrum half …’cos we had kak back and he could act as an extra but very slow loosie… none of our hookers can throw … our flanks are actually locks that can’t jump …
13 Jul 2006, 18:06 pm
36 Rastafox
You are absolutly 100% correct!
Bulls to win by 5.
13 Jul 2006, 18:07 pm
Sorry 35
13 Jul 2006, 22:00 pm
I eat the chicken.
14 Jul 2006, 02:51 am
Stodders
Good team,
The only differences from my 15 (on the other big thread) were some Frenchies and I haven’t seen much of the French lately so you could well be right.
I also included a few more Irish, they are a team with a few stars at present but let down by lack of depth (ie. a few very ordinary players)
Are there any Really good players coming throught the junior ranks in Scotland??
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