Deans backs Bok-slayers
14 Oct 2011
Robbie Deans has named an unchanged starting XV for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final at Eden Park.
The same side that fronted the Boks in Wellington will tackle the All Blacks in Auckland. Deans has given fullback Kurtley Beale, who is recovering from a hamstring strain, maximum time to recover. If Beale is unable to play, Adam Ashley-Cooper will move to No 15, Anthony Faingaa into the starting XV as centre and Rob Horne will move to the replacements bench.
Deans has also favoured Pat McCabe at inside centre despite the performance of Berrick Barnes in the quarter-final. While McCabe provided the desired physicality, Barnes came off the bench and produced some neat tactical probes that went a long way to winning some territory and getting the Wallabies into a scoring position.
Changes to the bench see Rob Simmons picked as the reserve lock. There is no room for the veteran Nathan Sharpe, who if selected would have earned his 100th cap.
Australia - 15. Kurtley Beale, 14. James O’Connor, 13. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12. Pat McCabe, 11. Digby Ioane, 10. Quade Cooper, 9. Will Genia, 8. Radike Samo, 7. David Pocock, 6. Rocky Elsom, 5. James Horwill (c), 4. Dan Vickerman, 3. Ben Alexander, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Sekope Kepu,
Subs: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17. James Slipper, 18. Rob Simmons, 19. Ben McCalman, 20. Luke Burgess, 21. Berrick Barnes, 22. Anthony Faingaa.
31 Comments
14 Oct 2011, 02:54 am
Wobbly dragons will have to be on top of their game.
14 Oct 2011, 02:54 am
I thought McCabe had a crock shoulder…
14 Oct 2011, 03:50 am
Bokslayers? Wtf??
14 Oct 2011, 03:57 am
Should say “Wallabies thank their lucky stars – Pocock not assassinated as of yet”
14 Oct 2011, 04:01 am
The boks were very poor in their offensive structures and the luck the wallabies had was that the boks played a ball in hand game as a one off. They did not have a tough game prior to this to test it out.
The wallabies were caught with their pants down but wete able to defend against such simple structures. They did not build their attack to throw that cunning pass to finish us off.
The boks strangled quade..they did well there…but forgot about pocock and that deans had a backline purposely put together to be strong in defense.
Conspiracy theories going around…why not work out how bevan gave the semi to south africa. How the irb gave south africa an easy passage to the final in 2007.
Interesting that the kiwi supporters were cheering for the boks at the game…..that tells the world that they did not ant aus in the semi.
14 Oct 2011, 04:07 am
@wallabie.(wallabie.)-5:
Oh my… pretending you guys are a lot better then you are. Give it up.
Your defense wasn’t great. Every time we looked dangerous, the Australians poured in and used their hands without the slightest hint of a penalty coming our way.
We didn’t forget about Pocock… he got away with murder.
As for NZ supporter supporting South Africa. That’s because they don’t like Aussies who talk a good game but can’t deliver. They won’t wear a Wobblies team that will get run over this weekend.
You guys haven’t got a hope in hell.
I want the Wallabies to win, but they’d need another miracle like last weekend, and Craig Joubert isn’t going to deliver.
14 Oct 2011, 04:23 am
@wallabie.(wallabie.)-5: Don’t flatter yourself the New Zealanders can’t stand the Aussies that’s the only reason they were cheering for the Boks!
14 Oct 2011, 04:47 am
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-7:
To actually think NZ would fear Australia.
If anything they were praying to face Australia. Haven’t won in the last 12 attempts at Eden Park. Struggle to win in New Zealand. Lost against IRELAND!!
It’s done the rugby world a big injustice with them going through to the semi-finals.
I’m going to say… the Wallabies will not score a single try against the All Blacks. They’ll get stage fright. I guarantee it.
If anyone has some money in their pockets, jump on the All Blacks half-time/full-time double. You can get $1.82 with the NZ TAB. Throw in Western Province beating the 26.5 head start for the Pumas at $1.87, and you’ve more then tripled your money.
14 Oct 2011, 04:50 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-8:
If you’re really brave (and after the big money) back the Griquas at $6.00 also. They always do well against the Cheetahs… and should be closer to $3.
Throw those 3 together and you’ve got 20x the amount you put in. Not a bad day at the office. (I wouldn’t back the Griquas as well unless it’s for a single figure amount)
14 Oct 2011, 04:52 am
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-7:
All I can say is that it was a close race…which brings me back to the question why Kiwis hate Australia and anything to do with the Country but is quite happy to cross the ditch to work because their own little country offer them limited opportunities?
14 Oct 2011, 04:56 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-8:
Hennie, what do you know about the MasterCard survey commitioned by the IRB that said a NZ/Oz semi-final will mean an extra $5m for the NZ economy?
14 Oct 2011, 05:00 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-11:
I’m no economist so I could care less
That’d be a very very small portion of GDP. The farmer down the road pumps that into the New Zealand economy each year by milking a few cows.
14 Oct 2011, 05:26 am
What position is Bryce playing lol
14 Oct 2011, 05:27 am
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-7: Fact. Gregor Paul nailed it in the herald — the unwarranted arrogance and Bravado of this Wallabies side makes them insufferable to all rugby fans.
14 Oct 2011, 05:30 am
@groen(groen)-13:
He’s done his job. Being rested for this one.
14 Oct 2011, 05:55 am
The referee’s handling of the game was a disgrace to the game of rugby and the IRB`s silence on the matter is a clear indication that under their leadership the game will continue to regress.
There is simply no honesty and no amount of “word spinning“ can change the fact that the IRB and their referee choice Bryce Lawrence has damage the reputation of the game.
The IRB CEO is on record stating that the Rugby World Cup can do without N Zealand and Australia if they don’t want to participate in RWC 2015 because of financial constraints. Imagine a RWC without AUS and NZ.
The IRB clearly have lost touch with reality and watching Bryce Lawrence in the AUS/BOk game in the `highest showcase of the game of rugby` confirm the farce rugby has become.
14 Oct 2011, 06:29 am
@Uys(Uys)-16:
It is actaully very funny, apparently PO’B was very happy to answer any questions about the performance of Bryce. He said address any questions to the ‘refs arm’ of the IRB and they will look at it. When the questions were raised with the appropriate department at the IRB they came straight back to say it is their policy not to discuss the performance of any ref publicly…
Of course this whole ‘we don’t discuss’ policy went out the window when Paddy himself was very quick to openly nail a ref for daring to be nasty to his beloved All Blacks!
14 Oct 2011, 06:32 am
I should add in the words of PDivvie…as daar ‘n rokie trek kan jy seker wees iets ruik fishy!
14 Oct 2011, 06:37 am
Oz has played poorly throughout this tournament . Though they won agst SA they did not do enough to win the game . Both Cooper and Genia shut down . Oz defence let two potential tries through but the Boks stuffed them both . Smashed in the scrums , lineouts ,> 5 phase plays etc etc the only aspect where they were superior was at the rucks where Pocock had free reign and of couse no Brussouw to compete with after Vickerman’s dirty effort on him .I am not convinced that this Oz team is worthy of this semi .Their form suggests not. Hope the Kiwis give them a good hiding.
14 Oct 2011, 07:08 am
@Uys(Uys)-16: In many ways the IRB and the way they conduct themselves actually remind me of the ANC.
14 Oct 2011, 07:09 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-10: Reminds me a lot of the England/Wales thing – right next door, plenty of crossover, but they hate each others’ guts!
14 Oct 2011, 08:00 am
thing is both teams deserve to lose after all the low stuff against sa.
question is who deserves to lose more?
14 Oct 2011, 08:14 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-6:
“Your defense wasn’t great”
Really?
Wallabies made an unprecedented 251 tackles @81% average rate to the Boks 69 @65% (Yep even Nienaber couldn’t bring them over a 78% success rate for the tournament)…
With all that possession the Bok’s and all those tackles they could only manage one line-break… where the Aussies made two… one led to the try, the other led to a penalty…
14 Oct 2011, 09:49 am
23 Bryce in oz
Now yor talking rubbish.so the Oz try was due/resultant of a linebreak? When schalk took it up and Pocock entered from the side and kicked ball loose illegally with ruck formed then Samo picked up passed to Horwill to score is an attacking move/structure from a resltant linebreak? What bs
Continue to write up your obviously poor team who has played well below par this rwc.bryce lawrence gave a another week.Joubert won’t make the same mistake.
14 Oct 2011, 10:03 am
AB still have a superior pack to Oz thus can replicate Bok dominance but their backs are more clinical and Joubert won’t let Pocock have free reign at nreakdown thus they will get requisite attacking momentum.Weepu also kicking very well.
14 Oct 2011, 12:47 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, 05:22 am
@hendrikp(hendrikp)-4: We dont do contracts, thats why Barnes still has his kneecaps….We did consider spikng their food that would give them some ‘running’ power but we really want a CLEAN victory so that there will be no recriminations at the end of the day.
15 Oct 2011, 05:37 am
Bok slayers ? It was more a case of the Boks losing than the Wallys winning…with a little helping hand possibly.
That game reminded me of a prize fight where one contestant was one punch off lights out and then he threw one lucky wild punch in the 12th and connected.
15 Oct 2011, 05:41 am
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-25: Exactly.I have mused over where the Wallys could dominate us or outplay us and am really at a total loss to find where their prowess could cause an upset. One man is not enough and we have more than enough to counter the likes of pocock and co with
interest. Cant wait.
15 Oct 2011, 06:11 am
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-28: lovely analogy Cpt. I enjoyed that one. And good luck. We are right behind your boys mate.
15 Oct 2011, 09:54 am
@TASSIES(TASSIES)-30: thanks it will be an epic without a doubt!!…and whatever the outcome we will see the re-runs in 2015
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