Pool A latest – Mils closer to century
30 Sep 2011
Keo.co.za brings you the latest news from Pool A.
Mils closer to century - Mils Muliaina starts his 99th Test against Canada while Zac Guilford and Kieran Read run on for the first time at the tournament.
Muliaina’s inclusion sees the in-form Israel Dagg to wing. In the back division, Ma’a Nonu makes way for Sonny Bill Williams in midfield, scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan earns his 50th cap, and Guilford comes in for the injured Cory Jane.
Among the forwards, Adam Thomson makes way to accommodate Read’s return, with Anthony Boric asked to cover the loose forwards from the wood. Ali Williams replaces Brad thorn at lock, and Andrew Hore is the starting hooker with Keven Mealamu in the reserves.
Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith will celebrate their 100th All Blacks test together as a coaching trio.
New Zealand - 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Israel Dagg, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Sam Whitelock, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Subs: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Brad Thorn, 19 Anthony Boric, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Colin Slade, 22 Isaia Toeava
30 Comments
29 Sep 2011, 22:23 pm
Mils should have been the first centurion… it was all so carefully stage-managed…
29 Sep 2011, 22:37 pm
So when is their “first” team EVER going to play two consecutive games together?
Is Tinker Ted STILL trying out combinations?
Tick tock tick tock
29 Sep 2011, 22:40 pm
boric covering loosie?
ok Ted.
29 Sep 2011, 22:43 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-3: No, Piri Weepu covering loosie
29 Sep 2011, 22:54 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-3: Not as cuckoo as Radike Samo on the wing with two hookers and two scrummies on the bench.
29 Sep 2011, 22:55 pm
STEPHEN JONES
OPINION: Let me be the first to say to Steve Tew and the All Blacks that we will miss you at the World Cup in 2015.
There is little doubt that you would be among the leading contenders for the crown. It will, of course, be a gargantuan tournament on an epic scale with matches on some of the world’s most iconic stadiums, with attendance at the knockout stages alone not far short of the total attendance for New Zealand 2011. So you would not have been that high in the mix.
It must also be said that you will not be missed half as much as you would like to think. There was a great fuss made in 1987 and 1991 World Cups because South Africa were not in them – not a proper World Cup, whole thing devalued, and so on. Yet the only people who said those things were South Africans. The rest of the world got on and partied.
Let’s see, who would replace New Zealand? One of the rising European nations such as Spain could step up, opening up a whole new market just two hours from London, galvanising European rugby at a stroke and adding new commercial potential and transforming the scene. Potential semi-finals? Say England v France, and South Africa v Australia. Likely champions? England. Not too shabby.
Of course, some uncharitable people see Tew’s observation that New Zealand might not go to the World Cup as a ploy, a strategy, or even bullying. They say it is all a ruse to grab hold of money to offset losses he alleges the NZRU suffers.
It seems that he wants to divert more money away from the smaller nations; he wants to move the whole tournament, inconveniencing the organisers and all other 19 nations. If he doesn’t get his way then, some people say, he will throw his toys out of the pram.
Surely though this is not a ruse. Surely, no one would be so pouting, so childish and so bullying. And if a major foundation union of the game really is on its uppers, then surely, there should be an investigation into how the union is run. Perhaps the chief executive could launch it, and investigate himself
And surely, at a time when most nations at this World Cup have struggled to equip and train themselves properly, with their players taking unpaid leave to play, nations with no access to the torrent of big money games available to New Zealand, nations the All Blacks have consistently refused to play – surely at this time, no-one in a high place would dare to whinge about their own lot.
But I do see one chance of New Zealand actually playing some of the smaller nations, who have craved such fixtures for years. If New Zealand do not play in 2015 then of course they will have to qualify for Japan 2019. That would mean fixtures against, say the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga – all the nations to whom they have paid lip service for decades.
And it cannot be that Tew, who has instructed us to for years to praise the greatness, sanctity, and stature of the World Cup, is now the same man using the tournament as a political football, even a form of blackmail. Can it?
These things move on rapidly. Seedlings have to be put in place, qualifying tournaments have to be fixed up. Communities through the mother country of rugby will be eager to adopt incoming teams. Rugby World Cup should set a deadline of one week for New Zealand to confirm their participation in England 2015.
There was nothing more fatuous than Tew’s idle threats last week, but my goodness, it was a close thing. Last weekend, on the front cover of a New Zealand newspaper, was an over-excited story which appeared to suggest that two possible sporting wins -the All Blacks at Rugby World Cup, and something called the Warriors in the domestic Australian club rugby league scene, could be regarded in the same breath, the same planet, as some kind of equal double.
Essentially, rugby league has not been heard of in the United Kingdom for centuries. It is played in a narrow corridor of the north of England, where most of the clubs make losses and the wolf is growling at the door.
It gets publicity chiefly because rugby union persists in an insanity under which it signs league players who then prove entirely inadequate. There were two outposts of this dying duck sport until recently – one in North Wales, but that club has now crashed ignominiously; and another at Harlequins in London, where the next attendance record about to be set will be when the players outnumber the crowd.
The abysmal lack of international profile in league has driven the Australians into creating a new layer called State of Origin, where their players can at least aspire to something above club stuff. But club stuff it is – the staggering coverage of the Grand Final all week (“and now over to the players’ breakfast room, where they are having white and brown toast.”) has amazed your visitors.
When the Warriors began their chequered existence, I recall a quote from one of their desperate marketing staff proclaiming that league would “take over from union in New Zealand in 10 years”.
Sheer drivel, of course. Good luck to them for existing and I have nothing against a New Zealand nation’s anxiety to claim a champion in any sport at any time, even one in a sport hardly played anywhere. But on par with an All Black World Cup victory? Pass the sick bag.
The hapless Steve Tew was not the only person barking up the wrong tree this week. Barking is the word.
29 Sep 2011, 22:57 pm
@willievz(willievz)-4: lucky for SBW barry geel is engaged in the currie cup, otherwise
17 – 0
29 Sep 2011, 22:59 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-5: eish that is the moemish of the week
dingo is ding dong
29 Sep 2011, 23:11 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-6: hey iyawubhala umbhedo le-chap
steve tew has opened the flood gates of bile from the poms and i’m enjoying the show…
29 Sep 2011, 23:15 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-9: Tew is O’ Neill’s stooge.
29 Sep 2011, 23:16 pm
@jocuba(jocuba)-1:
do you mean like Big Vic was
‘injured’
when Smit took centre-stage at Soweto for his 100th vs ABs
only to be
‘declared fit’
the following week at Durban vs Wallabies for his own 100th ?
29 Sep 2011, 23:18 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-5:
theyve got 6/7 players out injured
and when they say
‘injured’
they mean
injured.
figure it out
29 Sep 2011, 23:20 pm
Not Durban but at his homeground at Loftus surely?
And the week there after they lost to the Wallabies in Bloemies, not so?
29 Sep 2011, 23:22 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-6:
birds of a feather fock together
and, fock, I hate it when I agree with that knut.
it must almost be as confusing as looking in the mirror – repeatedly – and seeing all that makeup screaming back at you with a “oh, you ARE gorgeous” in a weird semi-deep voice.
29 Sep 2011, 23:23 pm
@ET.(ET.)-13:
if it was Bloem, I stand corrected.
29 Sep 2011, 23:23 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-10:
Why is this such a big thing for you now during this live RWC with a few really big games tomorrow, Sat and Sun.?
Surely it is a negotiation and a debate that will rage after this WC?
29 Sep 2011, 23:25 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-15:
No, I think Victor won at Loftus for his 100th and the Wallabies won the next w-e in Bloemies. with Beale kicking the last pts. for the win.
29 Sep 2011, 23:26 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-14:
at Loftus
1 week after
29 Sep 2011, 23:42 pm
@ET.(ET.)-16: Its been initiated by Tew during this World Cup.
29 Sep 2011, 23:45 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-11: how was victor ‘injured’ when he played @ soccer city? your desperation to get one back is getting the better of you Panty…
South Africa:Gio Aplon, JP
Pietersen, Juan de Jongh, Jean de
Villiers, Bryan Habana, Morne
Steyn, Francois Hougaard (20
Enrico Januarie 75), Gurthro
Steenkamp, John Smit (Francois
Louw 59), Jannie du Plessis (17-CJ
van der Linde 61), Flip van der
Merwe (Danie Rossouw 69), Victor
Matfield, Schalk Burger, Juan
Smith, Pierre Spies
making ‘facts’ up as you go huh?
29 Sep 2011, 23:51 pm
Aft@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-19:
After I posed the question I thought that might be your answer and in reality that is true and therefore in fairness the question/s and the debate can rage on as of now.
Not sure many will react though to these legit highlights, presently.
I guess the play by all concerned on the economics is a big kicking ball as they posture for position and gain or pain?
29 Sep 2011, 23:53 pm
juan smith was subbed in the 2nd half and not smit obviously, he had to be on the field to miss the tackle on nonu.
29 Sep 2011, 23:54 pm
Really Mills is too good not to be in the team. Keep Dagg on the wing…and Sannie on the bench
29 Sep 2011, 23:56 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-19: and predictably backed by o’neill
30 Sep 2011, 00:18 am
expected nothing less from Stephen Jones..
shame he lets facts get in the way of his point..
“driven the Australians into creating a new layer called State of Origin,” State of origin has been around for 20 or 30 years, but dont let that stop you Steve..
NZ A has participated in the Pacific nations Cup (or conversely the Maori side) and have romped it every time… so to state NZ NEVER play against these sides is false, the full AB side dont because we would see the cricket scores continue..
the only Fact I think he zeroes in on correctly is the one about 87 and 91..
So if the ABs dont compete in 2015, is it a REAL WC?
30 Sep 2011, 00:27 am
The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition originally known as the IRB Pacific 5 Nations and held between five Pacific Rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and Junior All Blacks, (New Zealand’s second XV). Previously, New Zealand was once represented by the New Zealand M?ori (in 2008). Australia was invited to take part but decided against sending a team stating that they wanted to focus on their domestic club competition. However, Australia hosted two games in the inaugural tournament, and on 18 October 2006 announced that Australia would send Australia A, Australia’s second XV. For this reason, the inaugural tournament was the only one that carried the title of IRB Pacific 5 Nations, from 2007 the competition has been known as the IRB Pacific Nations Cup. The inaugural tournament was won by the Junior All Blacks.
The tournament is intended to strengthen the Pacific islander sides and Japan, while providing valuable experience for aspiring Australian and New Zealand internationals. Several players have graduated to the full international sides of the latter two nations from the Cup.
State of Origin’s inaugural season was in 1980, and has continued everey year since..
Stephen Jones, a Welshman trying hard to be English… oy vey…
30 Sep 2011, 00:49 am
I wonder what everyone thinks of a 10,000 fine to the Samoan player for his mouthguard?
while this is not punished at all?
Kicking coach Dave Aldred and fitness coach Paul Stridgeon will not be allowed into the match in Auckland after changing the ball before two of Jonny Wilkinson’s conversions in England’s 67-3 victory in Dunedin last weekend.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) acted swiftly to ban the duo and Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) confirmed no further sanctions will be brought against England.
The IRB has always been a NH led old boys club.. this just highlights how the IRB wish to continue “growing the game”…
30 Sep 2011, 07:42 am
welcome back mils…
ted will be crazy not to play him in the play-offs… leave Dagga on the wing…!
30 Sep 2011, 08:17 am
Congratulations Transformation !
I was wrong
YOU were right !
take a bow
how long is it ?!?
5 years ?
I was ‘reliably’ informed the 2 Great Springboks were kept apart for their 100th
But
I was wrong.
Well done.
30 Sep 2011, 09:12 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-22:
That was the turning point in Soweto. Juan Smith has influenced the breakdown impact of Mccaw that day,he was winning the collision-the Bok fed off his accuracy and energy in collisions.
He got taken off and loose trio balance was done,we were scrambling and got punished.
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