Blacks braced for battle
13 Oct 2011
Richie McCaw defies injury to start the semi-final against Wales, while flyhalf Aaron Cruden is elevated to the starting line-up.
Richard Kahui and Israel Dagg also come back into the side after injuries and run on at wing and fullback respectively, replacing Sonny Bill Williams (bench) and Mils Muliaina (injured). Cruden replaces Colin Slade, who torn a groin muscle against Argentina. Stephen Donald provides pivot cover on the wood.
McCaw has nursed a serious foot injury throughout the tournament and hasn’t trained with the squad on-field as yet. His first involvement with the collective will come at the captain’s run on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Andy Ellis is preferred to Jimmy Cowan as scrumhalf cover, while Ben Franks is also named on the bench after missing the win over the Pumas as a late withdrawal with stomach problem and Victor Vito is the loose forward reserve due to injury to Adam Thomson.
Speaking about the weight of responsibility on Cruden, the fourth flyhalf the All Blacks have used at the tournament, coach Graham Henry said: ‘He’s a bright rugby player, he knows the game well, he’s captained a lot of teams, he directs the traffic well.
‘It’s a big game isn’t it, the biggest game he’s ever played in, the biggest game a lot of them have played in quite frankly. I’m sure it’s challenging but he seems to be handling it well.’
Henry scoffed at the suggestion that the halfback pair of Piri Weepu and Cruden ‘didn’t get the job done’ despite victory against the Wallabies in Sydney in September last year.
‘In Cruden’s case he’s a year older, a lot more experienced, and I think that’s important,’ Henry said. ‘You learn from those experiences. That was his first big test. Very seldom are people the finished product in their first outing. You get better with age and he’ll be a very good footballer as time goes on. He’s a very good footballer now.
‘Piri was in that game, and he kicked a lot of penalties and conversions, and played particularly well. We finished up winning, so perhaps he did get the job done.’
There were reports that Sonny Bill Williams would start ahead of Kahui on the wing, but Henry was emphatic in his support of the latter. Sonny Bill has been a great player to bring off the bench. He can play a number of positions now and has become a bit of a supersub.
‘Richard has played superbly. We held him back last week but this World Cup he’s played some top footy. He seems to handle the big occasion well, it seems to bring the best out of him, and perhaps this is his best position. We didn’t have any doubt that if he was right he’d be picked,’ he said.
New Zealand – Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (c), Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock.
Subs: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Victor Vito, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Sonny Bill Williams
92 Comments
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13 Oct 2011, 23:30 pm
@ET.(ET.)-50:
Bullsh-it
13 Oct 2011, 23:31 pm
@cab(cab)-47:
Nee, ek sal nie so wreed wees saam met jou.
Jy is somtyds OK veral as jy op HG te werke gaan.
13 Oct 2011, 23:32 pm
@Boksarenumber5(Boksarenumber1)-51:
Yes, yours stinks.
13 Oct 2011, 23:33 pm
i don’t believe any of that ‘not interested’ klaptrap, they were ambushed by aus straight up & down
13 Oct 2011, 23:35 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-37:
” grazed his knee skateboarding ” his way to Disneyland.
13 Oct 2011, 23:35 pm
@ET.(ET.)-52:
wattehel?! geen probleem met HG, hy is net bietjie suurgat omdat ons uit is, maar wat van jou? jy hop heen en weer soos ‘n jags springhaan waneer Sa verloor – dus mos kak vorm daai.
13 Oct 2011, 23:36 pm
@ET.(ET.)-53: @ET.(ET.)-53:
Jy praat twak
13 Oct 2011, 23:37 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-54:
Aussies donnered the ABs that day, hope they do it again this weekend
13 Oct 2011, 23:38 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-45: ok, so them having any gas left will be interesting. Did the ABs not come back at them in the 2nd half
I have a gut feel Nonu might have a stormer, plus Dagg and Kahui
13 Oct 2011, 23:39 pm
Jane also looked dangerous last weekend … all that late night drinking and smoking …
13 Oct 2011, 23:42 pm
Aussies vs Wales final
That would be awesome
Wales RWC?
13 Oct 2011, 23:43 pm
@cab(cab)-56:
All of my life it has been, like for many other millions, any other team but the racist, now neo-racist one. And that will only end when I am convinced about total non-racism prevailing.
Thus I was happy with ’55, ’74 and more B.Lions, any AB or Wallaby or Wales, or France, or England or etc. teams against SA.
13 Oct 2011, 23:43 pm
@Boksarenumber5(Boksarenumber1)-57:
Jy rook dit en meer.
13 Oct 2011, 23:44 pm
@ET.(ET.)-63:
Jy praat twak jong
13 Oct 2011, 23:44 pm
ANYONE BUT AUS, PLEASE LORD.
It’d actually be good for the world game if Wales or France win, but still, looks like another 3N team will. Wales are solid but will kak themselves taking on a 3N team in front of a billion TV audience
13 Oct 2011, 23:49 pm
@ET.(ET.)-62:
so u reckon jan boland coetzee or morne du plessis or wynand claasen were racist?
u far too quick too judge and sounds like u just got a bugbear from days gone by, which will never change, a win for the Boks is very good for the whole of SA, it unites ppl like no other, bizarrely enough, even u are here on a verkrampte rugby site of hoe?
13 Oct 2011, 23:55 pm
Go ABs. Fck them up for us. Please. I hope Nonu destroys Cooper.
On the other hand. My sources at BRISBANE BRONCOS tell me Quade has already signed there. AND apparently SBW has signed with a League team in New Zealand. Will be a loss.
13 Oct 2011, 23:58 pm
@SexyTime(SexyTime)-67: Richie and Nonu gang tackle, Richie low and Nonu around chest … Quade carried off, tackled out of his boots …
14 Oct 2011, 00:00 am
@danuk(danuk)-68:
I would forgive Bryce to see that.
14 Oct 2011, 00:00 am
@danuk(danuk)-59: yeah AB’s switched tactics to pick n drive, kept it tight & earned the right to go wide…2nd try was after 22 phases or something like that…halftime score was 23 -3 to the wobblies and keewees clawed their way back only for genia to sucker punch em again by peeling off a ruck & skinning two fatties & then offloading.
14 Oct 2011, 00:09 am
@cab(cab)-66:
Have you seen me name individuals? I look at structures and their historical tendencies and if that bothers you do you think I care?
So the people of Tokoza or Umlazi or wherever have benefitted from the 2007 WC win?
When you have not consistently walked the streets of any township then such garbage is written.
Sleep beckons you.
14 Oct 2011, 00:38 am
you gotta love boofhead Hansen
No. He’s being Matt Todd. Don’t read too much into it, he’s just at training. The poor bugger is just at training and that’s it. We’ve got plenty of people we can turn into David Pocock, just put a green bib
on them and say ‘you’re David
Pocock’.”
- All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen explains exactly what Matt Todd is doing. Todd is an openside flanker, which would fit nicely if Hansen wanted him to ‘act’ as mercurial David Pocock in
training. It could also have meant back-up if Richie McCaw had looked likely to miss the semi-final against Australia.
14 Oct 2011, 00:38 am
Quade ‘revolving door’ Cooper playing league ?!
now that IS a funny thought !
notwithstanding that he has already signed on with ARU for 1 more season….
14 Oct 2011, 01:13 am
Ozzies have a terrible record with Joubert (2 from 5 I think it is).
Also the crowd will come into play with the referee, and the Eden Park issues they have, and it’s bound to be wet.
Plus the All Blacks got away with standing about 2 metres off side in the last game they played and almost won it.
Plus, if Cooper stays on the field they are stuffed – Barnes is a much more solid option.
ABs by 16 at least -which is the same score I predicted in the Eden Park Tri Nations game. Put ya money on that.
14 Oct 2011, 01:19 am
Gonna be battle of titans, the pinnacle. Aus-SA QF was fitting prelude, one of the most brutal (and clean, fair dues to both sides) Tests of recent times. Shame Brussow went off injured.
Unless ABs are by 8+ points ahead at the sound of siren, there cannot be a peace of mind.
Bring it on.
And go Welsh young lads.
14 Oct 2011, 01:26 am
@Samba Bok(JayDaFiveOh)-20:
Which game did you watch…reads of paper has been inked with pocock being the man of the match!
14 Oct 2011, 01:28 am
@danuk(danuk)-26:
Joubert has moer in against aus..watch!
14 Oct 2011, 01:32 am
When the All Blacks get every decision on the weekend they can thank the people from here for all the pressure we have put on the referees to watch Pocock.
Funniest thing I’ve ever read that the All Blacks have asked for the ruck to be policed with greater scrutiny. That’s about the equivalent of Hitler asking people to make sure the jews are looked after.
For me – that’s the final admission that Pocock is now more dominant around the ruck than McCaw. But I find it a little hard to swallow that after years of getting away with murder, they are now complaining because someone is better than them at it.
14 Oct 2011, 01:39 am
Pocock is OK. Or McCaw. You have Brussow. What’s the difference?
You’d welcome them with open arms had SA a chance to recruit them.
14 Oct 2011, 02:02 am
Wales?!?!?! Vrede, you being inhaling the campervan exhaust fumes again!
14 Oct 2011, 02:35 am
@ET.(ET.)-62: See- pseudo intellectuals like you don’t really read… stuck in your eternal rut.
You can support Wallabies although Australia had a “White Australia policy” that only expired in the 1970′s; genocidal policy of stealing aboriginal children (Stolen Generation) that also ended in the 1970′s and of course the current marginalisation of aborigines (no political representation, police brutality, rampant alcoholism, child abuse and life expectancy of like 53)
So I axe you, ET, madala, what is the good counter-racist fight?
14 Oct 2011, 02:46 am
And in the other semi final the Wallaby line up to take on the French looks like this…
Australia: Kurtley Beale/Adam Ashley-Cooper, James O’Connor, Ashley-Cooper/Anthony Faingaa, Pat McCabe, Digby Ioane, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, Radike Samo, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom, James Horwill (capt), Dan Vickerman, Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu. Res: Tatafu Polota-Nau, James Slipper, Rob Simmons, Ben McCalman, Luke Burgess, Berrick Barnes, Faingaa/Rob Horne.
14 Oct 2011, 02:52 am
@svs(svs)-81:
SVS extraball is non ‘corpus’ mentis, no use trying to debate with him.
14 Oct 2011, 03:07 am
Rattling the Wallabies with brutal physicality from the whistle is the key to this game. Getting Cooper out of his rhythm early is crucial, don’t want him feeding ball into that dangerous backline.
Bring it home black.
14 Oct 2011, 03:15 am
@DAS(DAS)-84:
Easy on paper but the game will be played on grass…best of luck to both teams and may it be a great game for all.
14 Oct 2011, 04:08 am
@umfolozi(umfolozi)-65:
What’s your beef with Aus, John ?
14 Oct 2011, 05:14 am
Have to confess as an AB supporter I have a lot of sympathy for the Bok supporters in what they went through in that quarter final. Only difference is AB fans tend to blame their players a little bit more then the ref, although if I had the power of voodoo then Wayne Barnes would have had a lot of problems.
The similarities between the two QF’s are quite remarkable, both teams totally dominated territory and to a lesser extent possession. Both team suffered critical injuries (AB’s Carter and Evans, Boks, Brussow). Refs in both games made big calls on forward passes however it was more there failure to penalise for infringements that was the issue, and both teams had some questionable selections AB’s didn’t play Howlett and Mauger, Boks didn’t start with Bismark and Hougaard.
And with the S14 final and the last TriN win against the AB’s they did manage to have the nice rub of the green of facing a team coming back from SA. I hope their luck is about to end!
Aus is unpredictable though, like a lot of AB supporters I was hoping for SA to take out Aus, not because I considered our chances against the Boks were any better, just that it wuld be easier for my nerves as you knew what the Boks were going to do (well apart from them changing their tactics against Aus).
14 Oct 2011, 07:32 am
I wonder how many picking an All Black win this week were also picking a Springbok win last week. To be honest I think it will be very close and may well come down to Joubert, although I hope not. I think the Wallabies will clinch it, this AB team is nowhere near its best and has huge pressure. That being said, I wouldn’t mind it if the ABs won, they’ve had an awful year, and it would really lift national moral.
14 Oct 2011, 11:49 am
@Eight Ace(Eight Ace)-86:
Just don’t want them to win Mike, what can I say…
Sorry mate. Hoe gaan dit daar onder
14 Oct 2011, 12:48 pm
Looks like bias against South Africa runs in the Lawrence family:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=4302
15 Oct 2011, 04:59 am
Wales….Wales…thought you guys would know who is playing who…that must mean the Boks are playing Ireland
15 Oct 2011, 05:11 am
@corms(corms)-88: Thanks for the sentiments, NZ could do with a lift after all that has happened and being a smaller country than Australia the tragedies are more concentrated.
I picked the Boks to win last week and there was no reason at all why they didnt..it was more a case of good luck and them losing than the Wallys ‘putting them away’. Still all considered, the Boks and Wallys really struggled the whole game to
gain ascendancy which showed that they were quite evenly matched. Looking at how hard the Boks had to work for their wins over Wales and Samoa, the fact that Ireland beat the Wallys and their form to really demonstrate anything other than luck more than ability has me comfortably favour the AB’s in a very relaxed manner.
It will be the game of the decade no doubt ( for these two teams) but cant see where they can out gun us. Enjoy !!
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