Sam’s the man in round one
13 Sep 2011
MARK KEOHANE selects his all-star XV and match 22 after the first round of the World Cup and says none was better than Wales captain Sam Warburton. Only two Boks and one All Black make his team.
Keo’s RWC Form XV
15. Israel Dagg (NZ)
14. Vereniki Goneva (Fij)
13. Jaque Fourie (SA)
12. Jamie Roberts (Wal)
11. Digby Ioane (Aus)
10. Quade Cooper (Aus)
9. Ben Youngs (Eng)
8. Sergio Parisse (Ita)
7. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe (Arg)
6. Sam Warburton (Wal)
5. Paul O’Connell (Ire)
4. James Horwill (Aus)
3. Ben Alexander (Aus)
2. Bismarck du Plessis (SA)
1. Andy Sheridan (Eng)
Substitutes
16 Marius Tincu (Rom)
17 Martin Castrogiovanni (Ita)
18 Brad Thorn (NZ)
19 Schalk Burger (SA)
20 Will Genia (Aus)
21 Sonny Bill Williams (NZ)
22 Richard Kahui (NZ)
The positions in which there was most competition definitely in the centres and at loose-forward. Wales’ Toby Faletau had a huge game against the Boks, but Sergio Parisse is the most complete No 8 at this tournament. It was hard to leave Schalk Burger out of the Form XV but Lobbe was immense against England. Jerome Kaino, David Pockock, Heinrich Brussouw and Radike Samo also had huge games in round 1.
Sonny Bill Williams was also very good, but Jamie Roberts get the nod because of the quality of the opposition and the intensity of the match.
A selection that may surprise many is Ben Alexander at tighthead. I was at that game and those first 40 minutes were brutal. He stood up to the Italian pack who couldn’t get parity in those first 40 minutes. There was one magnificent shove that should have resulted in a pushover try, but all-round I think Alexander will end this tournament as the most talked about tighthead.
Fill up the thread with your picks of round one.
293 Comments
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13 Sep 2011, 17:07 pm
@Helen(Helen)-199: @ballitoboy(ballitoboy)-200: both of you over-estimate malema’s popularity.
13 Sep 2011, 17:09 pm
”He is just the sort of rugged, no-nonsense customer to lend essential defensive stability to the channel against the muscular, athletic Pacific Islanders who are, let’s face it, not averse to the sort of borderline illegal tackling style that once marked James’s play a little more routinely than it does today.
It seems an opportune occasion to “rest” Morné Steyn who, on second viewing of the champions’ stuttering Wales opener, did not appear quite as vulnerable in general play as some have made out, but is not best suited to playing these foes.”
It seems some Cape Town journo’s are now starting to realise that they sounded like fool when they shouted at the rooftops about MS poor defensive effort.
At leat Rob Houwig has the balls to kinda admit it. This is his take on why Butch should face the fijians.
short **** Keo and his c untlings yap like neutered poodles and they will behave as such as well.
13 Sep 2011, 17:11 pm
Maybe some on here should also have a 2nd viewing and take of the striped glasses.
i
13 Sep 2011, 17:12 pm
“Boofhead”???
13 Sep 2011, 17:17 pm
**** team
Why is this world cup so freeking longggggggggg?
Just another money scam
13 Sep 2011, 17:17 pm
Great white shark predawn wayne dawnpre …
Guys, guys! Please be original!
13 Sep 2011, 17:21 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-204: an australiasian term I used to hear on Neighbours and Home and Away growing up, can’t be 100% certain and I’m not sure of the South African equivalent but I believe it refers to a ‘yob’ or ‘meathead’ type character.
13 Sep 2011, 17:23 pm
13 Sep 2011, 17:27 pm
@Boksarenumber4(Boksarenumber1)-205: they want to keep people in kiwiland spending money for as long as possible.
13 Sep 2011, 17:29 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-207: it’s called a “Spies” in SA
13 Sep 2011, 17:32 pm
Trans you looking for moeilikheid!
13 Sep 2011, 17:38 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-210: Actually, its called a malema – lots of hot air and nothing original and always taking a potshot at someone who has actually achieved something. Exactly what Cooper is doing to McCaw
13 Sep 2011, 17:38 pm
Why is there no KeoTV during WC?
13 Sep 2011, 17:41 pm
Guru jetlag does terrible things to the appearance
13 Sep 2011, 17:45 pm
Dawn, it couldn’t look much worse
seriously, I think we all would like to see some keoTv with new zealanders, sheep and some humor involved, right?
13 Sep 2011, 17:52 pm
Shame maybe they didn’t bring the cameraman and the dirty white backdrop
13 Sep 2011, 17:54 pm
Yeesh comments are stadig nowadays
13 Sep 2011, 18:04 pm
Dirty white backdrop… JS is in NZ
13 Sep 2011, 18:05 pm
Jis my comments don’t all reflect
13 Sep 2011, 18:07 pm
Spent the whole day watching cheap dstv movies. Damn well rained the whole time.
13 Sep 2011, 18:10 pm
Ja the weather is terrible! What movies did you watch, anything spicy
I like movies the same way I like my steak…. Blue 
13 Sep 2011, 18:13 pm
Flicked channels and watched whatever was on!
That salt is a kuk piece of celluloid
13 Sep 2011, 18:16 pm
Go watch cowboys and aliens, good movie to pass the time, otherwise get modern family series, its the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen
13 Sep 2011, 18:23 pm
Too laZy to move!
13 Sep 2011, 18:29 pm
From Tank lanning – HOW TRUE IS THIS:
England lock Paul Ackford agreeing with me in his column in the Telegraph:
And now Smit is finished, even if he appears reluctant to acknowledge the fact himself. The thing with great players is that they never fall off the cliff altogether. The descent into ordinariness is gentle, complicated by the defiant flourish, the temporary return to form. Veterans forwards know how to get by, know how to hang on at the edge of rucks and mauls rather than battling away in the centre of them. They invented most of the shortcuts, and their game management skills can often mask their decline.
Against Wales, de Villiers replaced Smit with Bismarck du Plessis after 56 minutes when his side was behind on the scoreboard and struggling to regain control of the Test. It was exactly the time when all of Smit’s leadership skills and experience should have counted. But de Villiers was forced to bring du Plessis on, a more energetic and credible candidate, because Smit was fading. Smit was not the only one.
No team has ever won back to back Rugby World Cups and this is why. Coaches, either for sentimental reasons or because they cannot identify the moment when a legend finally becomes a liability, instinctively hang on to the guys who have served them so well.
And finally, the Rugby World Cup 2011 by the Numbers, according to research done by MasterCard:
95 000 international fans will be visiting New Zealand for RWC 2011
US$224.5 million made on ticket revenue based on sales of 1.35 million tickets
US$204.1 million to be spent on accommodation during the Tournament
US$187.7 million to be spent on food and beverage
7.5 million litres of beer to be poured
7.35 million pies and sausages to be consumed
150,000 litres of sports drinks to be consumed
13 Sep 2011, 18:33 pm
Blue steak??
13 Sep 2011, 18:36 pm
No more like medium rare but more rare than medium. I was tring to be funny with that comment
13 Sep 2011, 18:45 pm
Blue steak (not sure about spelling) is served very very rare…
13 Sep 2011, 18:47 pm
the Bok team DID NOT have a captain after smit went off!!!!
the coaches thought muller was the cappie, muller thought schalk was the cappie, du preez just took over and ran the show as he saw fit!!!!! Wtf?
http://www.iol.co.za/sport/rugby/it-needn-t-be-smit-at-the-helm-1.1136477?showComments=true
13 Sep 2011, 18:51 pm
Headless chickens
13 Sep 2011, 18:52 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-229: whoever made the call to go to the corner made a huge (and correct) cappy’s call
13 Sep 2011, 19:10 pm
so it’s clear, the Springboks don’t need Smit to close down close games…the era (error) of the ‘AURA’ is over!
Mpundulu, uyave mfana wam!!! Asimdingi uSmit bwahahahahaha
the All Black without Richie would’ve lost kwedini!
13 Sep 2011, 19:20 pm
Ive read PdVs comments and they are obviously not going to change a thing.
They are banking on their bench pulling them out of the fire, thats what they’ve taken from the welsh debacle.
I reckon with Bakkies out and this tactic, its as good as over.
A starting pack without Bakkies and Bismarck, aint going to be good enough.
13 Sep 2011, 19:25 pm
You need great teams to win world cups not mediocre ones. Teams that are strong in all positions but have 5 or 6 real weapons that are the best in their positions in the world, we no longer have that. We’ve got ageing mediocrities and a balance that is all wrong and shorn of dynamism, intensity, committment and hunger.
13 Sep 2011, 19:31 pm
Winston churchill-ish
13 Sep 2011, 19:35 pm
yeah but without the motivation unfortunately, wish i could say something more positive, but its not looking good. the worst is, its seems such a total shame, since if they just picked the right players and shelved the constant kick-chase nonsense, the Boks would still be in with a shout, but they got the blinkers on, not looking at the lessons from the games as they involve, they think they just need to ride it out, but you cant get two bigger wake up calls than NZ and Wales in the last 3 weeks. If they dont get it now, they never will. True vokmaarvoort stupidity, without the forward commitment unfortunately.
13 Sep 2011, 19:44 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-201: who?
13 Sep 2011, 19:47 pm
@cab(cab)-236: The Bulls’ performance in the Super15 using the same olf tactic should have been a warning.
13 Sep 2011, 19:51 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-229: Is that why we won in the end? Because Smit, the liability, was off the pitch.
13 Sep 2011, 19:52 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-225:
Plod must start the match and play for only 20min – then off to the bench and sit his has-been fat arse down.
13 Sep 2011, 19:54 pm
@kwas(kwas)-239: Start if Plod starts and plays 21min of the match against Fiji …………. Boks lose.
13 Sep 2011, 20:02 pm
Pierre Spies at 15.
I feel that Frans should move to 12, whilst Jean is injured and, based on the insight of various journalists (who wish to remain anonymous), Mark Keohane (who is desperate not to be anonymous) and other unbiased analysts on this blog like Tacitus and other supporters of the Last Outpost of the Boere Empire, Spies is the perfect choice for 15.
Now, I realise that they haven’t actually spelt it out so specifically, but their assessment of Spies’ strengths and reasons for his failing to make an impact in tight matches, all lead to this obvious conclusion.
It’s a fairly common agreement that young Pierre needs more space than these tight games grant him, in order to express his own special brand of magic. Unfortunately, this would relegate him to games against the 2nd tier nations. Games that are normally reserved for increasing the number of Springboks in the Bulls franchise; including a few black players to underline the coaches commitment to transformation and giving some ageing Boks still under contract a run on the basis of including experience.
Now, before some of the less perceptive analysts here suggest that he should revert to wing, just look at the facts. By the time our wings actually receive the ball they are pinned against the touchline with a hoard of cover defenders about to swamp them. This is not the space that our man envisages to cast his spell. Besides, with his instinct to go to ground as soon as a tackler appears, we wouldn’t get too far through that route.
The answer is obvious. As an 8th man, Spies is used to falling back to field the high ball and on the few occasions I’ve seen him kick, he has quite a hefty boot.
At 15 he has more than enough space to operate in as an explosive “strike runner” (Tacitus description), and as for his perceived reluctance to tackle, the majority of players running at him are a lot smaller than those monsters in the pack.
Whilst I would like to take the kudos for this moment of insightful brilliance I must pay tribute to those analysts I mentioned earlier for pointing me in the right direction.
13 Sep 2011, 20:22 pm
@ David, very interesting point but ask yourself, will he be better than steyn? NO! Will he be more explosive and game breaker than aplon? NO! This is typical tacticus, trying to find a place for one of his beloved bulls. I would pick, steyn, aplon, lambie or jaque fourie before I pick spies
13 Sep 2011, 20:26 pm
@NoRugbyGuru_0_(RugbyGuru_0_)-243:
But that’s because you’re “NoRugbyGuru”. Just listen to the experts.
13 Sep 2011, 20:29 pm
@ David, “I’ve seen him kick, he has quite a hefty boot”
well I have seen Quentin davids kick and he has a hefty boot on him too but just booting the ball for distance doesn’t make you a good tactical kicker, there is more to it…
13 Sep 2011, 20:32 pm
OK that’s it. Stegman has been overtaken by spies.
13 Sep 2011, 20:36 pm
@ David, hmmm yes the “experts” also said kabamba floors will make a good wing
13 Sep 2011, 20:37 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-246:
Not until Agile arrives to confirm it.
13 Sep 2011, 20:45 pm
The “experts” said conrad jantjies will be good flyhalf and they said JS can play TH or LH. Ts ts ts
13 Sep 2011, 20:47 pm
The experts said the bulls will open up a can of whoopass
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