Gits must be kept quiet
17 Jul 2008
Butch James believes a comprehensive team effort from the Springboks will be needed to neutralise his opposite number, Matt Giteau, on Saturday.
The Wallabies lost their experienced halfback combination of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham after the World Cup due to retirement, with Giteau and rookie scrumhalf Luke Burgess taking over the respective roles.
The duo played for the first time together in the opening Test of the year against Ireland, and started in the following couple of matches against France. Burgess’s quick and clean service from the breakdown has ensured Giteau capitalised on the time and space afforded to him, where he set up three of Australia’s four tries in the second Test against the French.
But if the Boks can slow down the Wallabies’ ball at the breakdown and harass the halfback pair, this will disrupt the entire Australian game plan. The Irish repeatedly managed to catch Burgess in possession in the second half as the Aussies didn’t commit enough numbers to the breakdown. For the first and only time this season Giteau had no quality ball to work with, and hence the team suffered – struggling to an unconvincing 18-12 win.
The Springboks managed to keep Dan Carter relatively quiet in general play last week, forcing him to have less of an impact than is accustomed with the Crusaders pivot. Ricky Januarie’s pressure was influential in this aspect, and James acknowledged a similar recipe will be needed from the Boks if they are to shut the Aussie playmaker down.
“You have to use your team-mates around you to help – it’s really difficult,” James told the media.
“He’s [Giteau] a really good player and a tough little guy. You’ve really got to keep your eye on him all the time on attack and in defence he holds his own really well.
“He just knows when to have a go and when to let the ball go, so he can spot a weakness in defence. He knows when to take a break, he knows when to kick and his decision-making is right up there.
“It’s always good to judge yourself against the best and I think him and Carter are the best,” James said.
James came in for some criticism for his rough treatment of Carter in the Wellington Test, being penalised for one tackle and getting away with a number of 50/50 calls. James realises, however, the physicality of the Boks must be used as a weapon.
“I think it’s part of our game to always be physical and it always has been the South African game plan,” he said.
“The Australian pack are pretty physical themselves so I’m pretty glad I’m not in the forwards this weekend.”
49 Comments
17 Jul 2008, 13:49 pm
Shut the F… up Dragons!
17 Jul 2008, 13:49 pm
Dragons!
17 Jul 2008, 13:50 pm
# PlayBall:
Good on you PB.
How are the stress levels? All on track?
17 Jul 2008, 13:54 pm
#3 Sheriff: Howdy Sheriff?
Ja, im packing boxes at the moment, i need to be out at the end of the month! My fiance’s family are coming over from Belfast for a month before our wedding and we will be staying with them at Peacan Wood, so lot’s of golf and mucking about in August, then honeymoon in early September, back to sort out my tax clearance forms and then off to Belfast in October if all goes according to plan!
17 Jul 2008, 13:59 pm
#4 PlayBall:
Well I can tell that you are on top of things over there!
I guess it’s a trend that will continue well into September 2008
17 Jul 2008, 13:59 pm
Go get him Ricky !!!
17 Jul 2008, 14:02 pm
#5 Sheriff:
I’m hoping so, i hear the reason the lady’s smile so much walking down the isle is because they know they don’t ever have to give another BJ in their life time!! Is this true?
17 Jul 2008, 14:04 pm
First set move that Gits get the ball James should just target the outside shoulder force him inside into Burger who sets him up and give him a RESPEK TACKLE. Should quite him down for the rest of the game. Works a treat in club rugby!!!!
17 Jul 2008, 14:11 pm
#7 PlayBall:
Mate, I’m not qualified to answer that
But they can always make up with a lot of AJ’s and CJ’s …
17 Jul 2008, 14:13 pm
as long as you use your hands mate….
17 Jul 2008, 14:14 pm
#8 Xu: In theory what you’ve come up with here is ground-breaking!
In practice i don’t think this trick will really work on Matt Giteau!
17 Jul 2008, 14:22 pm
“The Irish repeatedly managed to catch Burgess in possession in the second half as the Aussies didn’t commit enough numbers to the breakdown.”
That was under the old rules, Grant. Try that under the ELVs and you will be penalised.
17 Jul 2008, 14:27 pm
Giteau’s good but he’s not playing France 2nds
17 Jul 2008, 14:31 pm
this aussie is one tough little phucker, gotta give him that.
i was at kings park for the sharks vs force this year and watched bismark bounce him HARD. he stayed down but most backline players would have if they had been hit that hard, and after a while he got up and carried on playing.
tough man. bet he is relieved bismark isnt playing though.
17 Jul 2008, 14:31 pm
#11 PlayBall: I know in international rugby it don’t quite work like that. Thats why I referred to club rugby. I’ve seen it done many a time!!! Worth a try??!!
17 Jul 2008, 14:36 pm
#8 any loosie worth his salt is always trying to cut the ten off from his line and force him back into waiting tacklers.
Good plan though to use the 10 to force him tocut in.
17 Jul 2008, 14:41 pm
Butchie,two stiff arms and it’s game over for the midget!!
17 Jul 2008, 14:42 pm
#16 colinplop: Because of the new 5 meter rule its difficult for the loosie to get to him hence using your flyhalf. By the time he cuts back your loosie should be be ready for the TACKLE, provided his loosie don’t get in the way and protects him which I think would happen 9/10 at that level.
17 Jul 2008, 14:43 pm
#12 kaksioek: kak, i think quite the opposite. i think they get away with a lot more under the new rules.
Do Aus have a kicker to speak of other than mortlock? last time i checked giteau wasn’t the best place kicker and neither is mortlock.
it’s all about percentages.
17 Jul 2008, 14:44 pm
If they can manage Carter then they can manage Gits
17 Jul 2008, 14:48 pm
Gitaue must’ve been pleased to hear the inclusion of our #14.
That’ll be the channel they’ll attack.
Wallabies out wide it’ll be!
17 Jul 2008, 14:54 pm
#21 Kobus: Is there something obvious that i’m missing here? It’s getting very kryptic on this thread. Have we got a weakness out wide?
I know the Aussies use the cross kick quite effectively, but our back three usually cover it quite well!
17 Jul 2008, 14:54 pm
#21 Kobus: if you mean JP then may i remind you of THAT tackle in the quarter final of the WC against Fiji
I don’t see a problem.
17 Jul 2008, 15:04 pm
Can’t see it happening myself. Nothing wrong with JP on defence or in the air… Nothing wrong with any of our back 3.
17 Jul 2008, 15:06 pm
#18 Xu: This is a good tactic and I think often under used these days. Even if their loosies get in the way you have cut them off from their backline and killed any move they had on which is always a good thing to do against NZ and OZ.
This would frustrated any 10 and is bound to throw their game off and take the sting out of their backline which would suit the Boks totally
17 Jul 2008, 15:07 pm
#23 Windhond_Sharks: i agree, id rather have Jp out there than an ndungane.
17 Jul 2008, 15:07 pm
Ha! Ha! “a tough little guy” Sounds as if Butch is talking about a nuggety young nephew!
17 Jul 2008, 15:15 pm
#27 TheBall: just butch condescendingly provoking the ‘little guy’
17 Jul 2008, 15:15 pm
#20 sparticus: Burgess distribution is much better than Ellis , so if we dont slow them down at the breakdown , with Burgess crisp passing will afford Giteau the time to move ….. we must dominate the breakdown
17 Jul 2008, 15:28 pm
Well, I hope Butch manages to keep his aim low enough on the “little guy” Saturday that he doesn’t end up in the sin bin…
17 Jul 2008, 15:38 pm
But isn’t Oz meant to lack depth? Gregan and Larkham pack their swags and the new kids on the block are already striking terror into the hearts of the world champions? What’s THAT all about?
17 Jul 2008, 15:46 pm
#31 TheTackler:
That’s right sir. We are intimidated.
17 Jul 2008, 15:53 pm
#31 TheTackler: mortified, terrified, petrified….by you! haa,haa….idiot.
17 Jul 2008, 16:13 pm
#31 TheTackler: Giteau is an awesome player – doubt the AB’s will take him lightly. Suspect the Aussies might do better than two tries – through the forwards – in 160 minutes of rugby.
17 Jul 2008, 16:29 pm
Tackler go post on your rugbyheaven blog where you and all the one eyed kiwi supporters can sit there and admire your president Mr Mextead
17 Jul 2008, 16:34 pm
This is what I’ve being saying here all this time..Gitau is the key to this game.
17 Jul 2008, 16:38 pm
#18 Xu:
Geez
As a 10, I was using that tactic over 40 years ago! Targeting your oppos outside shoulder doesn’t just force him in, it tempts him to take the inside break. Right into your supporting flanker.
17 Jul 2008, 17:45 pm
#31 TheTackler: Tackler, they have depth in the backs, but zero depth in the forwards.
17 Jul 2008, 18:25 pm
butch is a biscuit! it must suck being giteau knowing that butch, ricky and schalk wanna give you a smack!
17 Jul 2008, 21:28 pm
#13 Big Hit: Get a bloody life ya tosspot, you would think comming from such a great rugby playing nation (yeah right) you would have something positive to say, big ***
17 Jul 2008, 21:30 pm
#17 oxfordshark: Yeah thats how most of your boer brains work isn’t it!!!
17 Jul 2008, 21:32 pm
#35 oxfordshark: Not nearly as one eyed as your lot, another boer living abroad in the land of the shaggy baggy bum beggers
17 Jul 2008, 22:53 pm
The Mad Butchie!!
18 Jul 2008, 00:31 am
#36 greatest13gerber: Him and Burgess are key. Burgess is a very strong runner, Giteau is naturally gifted, and completely able to be unpredictable or precise when required.
The Aussies have a better lineout than NZ, and have a scrum thats on par with SA, its going to be ab even match, but I suspect Aussie will have the fresher legs to carry them home,
Aussies by 4 is my pick, but if SA get up, then hell, wont they have done well.
Its a good comp this year, finally with NZ at their weakest and Aussie being a bit unknown and SA up and down, its hard to predict using logic.
18 Jul 2008, 01:36 am
#44 KiaKahaNZ: ‘finally with NZ at their weakest’
sounds suspiciously like excuses Kia, nice of you to grace the board after the home defeat
NZ are at their weakest every 4 years, this is just a standard tournament for them except SA have a World Champion team which is the superior of NZ as shown at last years RWC.
18 Jul 2008, 03:14 am
#45 Big Hit: I’ve been around, but there has been a barrage of new threads almost twice the usual amount, did you not read my congratulatiosn etc to SA?. Probably posted about 50 times last week – not teh usal amount, it all gets a bit obsessive at times – you’ve been noticeable by your absence too I might add
Its not an excuse, I pointed out a weaknesses prior to the Dunedin test – I think the facts are pretty plain to see, dont you?
Having said that, as weak as they were/are, I thought the AB’s did pretty well, there was alot of rugby played in that game in Dunedin, but SA’s defence was too good on the night, and like the Cardiff encounter, we had our chances, we just chose moments at the wrong time. Not good, but hey, at least we went down fighting all the way to the end. It just goes to show how much we need experience in our second row, and the absence of McCaw was really felt, we needed someone not necessarily to win the ball, but to control the breakdown, and keep an eye out on the chanels around the ruck/maul.
Anyway, it was a great game of rugby, incredibly physical, fast and a couple of moments of sheer brilliance from SA, well done to them.
We’ll be back – I dont know about this year, our fallback to our depth is pretty shallow right now, and you cant replace lost experience that quickly.
18 Jul 2008, 04:26 am
45. Hey Big Hit, I keep reading you preaching about how awesome your English pack is, what happend in the six natinos bud, why didn’t you guys win it, from my knowledge the Welsh wiped the floor with you guys and then they got wiped by the Bokks, not exactly a great tack record for such a strong pack!!!
Back to business, I would expect the game plan will be run the Bokk of their feet, it will be wet so plenty of big kicks down the other end and then defend like crazy. Should be a great contest
18 Jul 2008, 10:08 am
#14 rangerman: Agreed that was an awesome bounce!
#25 colinplop: Ya, thats basically how you defend as a flyhalf. Flyhalf Play 101.
18 Jul 2008, 18:12 pm
#46 KiaKahaNZ: You got beat with 14 men, no more excuses about depth, the NH AB players are either injured or wouldn’t make your side.
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