Bet on Blacks
13 Aug 2012
RYAN VREDE writes the All Blacks will win the Rugby Championship comfortably, with the Springboks’ cause to be undermined by the absence of key players and the struggles of others.
I’ve written extensively that this tournament will be a greater measure of the new generation Springboks and coach Heyneke Meyer’s aptitude than the series against England was. England rarely exploited the Springboks’ vulnerabilities in the manner the southern hemisphere’s elite will do.
And there are certainly worrying vulnerabilities.
Injuries have robbed Meyer of the services of Schalk Burger (knee) and JP Pietersen (thumb). Burger’s industry and abrasiveness has been at the heart of the Springboks’ success, while Pietersen has been consistently impressive in recent months, looking to have recaptured an appetite for the game.
Elsewhere, dynamic prop Coenie Oosthuizen (neck) was important in their planning and strategy, while uncapped players like Duane Vermuelen and Johann Goosen would have been part of and indeed potentially amplified the Springboks’ strength – Goosen lending Meyer a different dimension at flyhalf to what Morne Steyn offers. These are significant losses.
Their challenge is compounded by the concerning form of their halfback pair, Francois Hougaard and Steyn, who are absolutely central to the success of their game plan.
The Springboks’ coaching team have deep reservations about Hougaard in particular. His tactical kicking has been poor and will only improve marginally with tailored coaching. Meyer has greater faith in Ruan Pienaar’s kicking game, but he only joins the squad this week and will not start against Argentina. How Hougaard responds to this challenge will be decisive to the longevity of his Test career.
Meyer’s confidence in Steyn remains high and he is optimistic that the break he had after the Bulls’ Super Rugby exit (his first in three seasons) will rejuvenate him. Steyn needs a good tournament for his own self belief, to repay the faith his coach will show in him and to stall the advance of Goosen, who, if fit, will be considered to start on the year-end tour to the UK.
A career defining tournament also awaits Andries Bekker, who missed the England series through injury. Bekker’s technical ability has never been in question but there are lingering concerns about his mental toughness in high pressure matches. Bekker will unseat Juandre Kruger at No. 5 lock and will be primarily tasked with engineering the Springboks’ dominance at lineouts, a facet of play they will place a premium on in the context of their game plan. He was supposed to be a natural successor to Victor Matfield but is in danger of being overwhelmed by Matfield’s legacy.
The Springboks will benefit from a favourable draw, which should see them make the early running with wins over Argentina. But they will struggle against the more settled Blacks, who, in the series sweep over Ireland in June, showed the benefits of continuity in coaching with Steve Hansen, the retention of the core of the World Cup winning side and the emergence of Test-standard rookies like Same Cane, Julian Savea, Ben Smith, Aaron Smith and Brodie Retallick. A positive prognosis on Kieran Read, who is becoming as influential for the side as Richie McCaw and Dan Carter, further improves their prospects.
Australia will take some beating, but don’t pose the threat the Blacks do. Argentina will take time to become accustomed to the unique demands of the tournament. They will be better placed in 2013, as will the Springboks.
This year though – bet on Blacks.
Probable Springboks 15 - 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Jean de Villiers, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
327 Comments
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13 Aug 2012, 14:43 pm
lekker to be a bok or even coach
BMW names Bok ambassadors
2012-07-19
Johannesburg – In addition to the company’s five-year commitment to Springbok Rugby as official vehicle partner – announced in May 2011 – BMW South Africa has announced a number of local rugby icons to act as ambassadors for the German vehicle brand.
Alongside Springbok captain, Jean de Villiers (Stormers) and Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, the ambassadors include Schalk Burger (Stormers), Pierre Spies and Chiliboy Ralepelle (Bulls) and Francois Steyn, JP Pietersen and Jannie du Plessis (Sharks).
Springbok rugby legend Victor Matfield has also been appointed as a non-playing ambassador. Matfield will act as host for the VIP hospitality suites at local matches as well provide expert content for the company’s rugby-specific website.
As part of the agreement, each playing ambassador receives a brand new BMW 335i Sport. De Villiers, Meyer and Matfield also each receive a BMW X6 XDrive40d in addition to their BMW 3 Series vehicles.
“It’s a real privilege for me to be one of BMW’s Springbok Ambassadors and to be driving these brilliant cars,” said De Villiers.
“As the Boks we strive to be the best in the world and this is shared by BMW, probably one of the most iconic car brands in the world. This passion for performance is clearly evident in the products we’re driving.”
13 Aug 2012, 14:43 pm
@>^..^< katman-300: Do we need to excuse that pun??
13 Aug 2012, 14:43 pm
seems like someone’s been telling porky pies…..
New Zealand’s Olympic success in London has come at a price – $180 million to be precise.
That’s the amount of government money that has been ploughed into high performance sport programmes, including facilities and infrastructure, in the four-year period since Beijing.
It has reaped its reward in London with the 13 medals matching Seoul in 1988 as New Zealand’s most successful in terms of overall medals.
Next year the government will hand over $60 million to fund high performance sport.
http://nznewswire.co.nz/
13 Aug 2012, 14:44 pm
HPSNZ funding for targeted Olympic sports 2009-2012:
Sport Funding Medals $ per medal
Rowing $19.181m 5 $3.832m
Cycling $18.332m 3 $6.110m
Sailing $11.299m 2 $5.650m
Athletics $7.269m 1 $7.269m
Canoeing $4.308m 1 $4.308m
Equestrian $4.241m 1 $4.241m
Swimming $7.476m 0 n/a
Hockey $7.145m 0 n/a
Triathlon $6.932m 0 n/a
Football $1.572m 0 n/a
13 Aug 2012, 14:46 pm
now then, porky
is that in us or nz dollars as opposed to the shitt we call money?
hmmmm?
13 Aug 2012, 14:49 pm
go on sport… pick a number….
160 million New Zealand dollars = 1.05539729 billion South African rands
or
160 million U.S. dollars = 1.3023165 billion South African rands
13 Aug 2012, 14:56 pm
@sharks_lover-302: Very much intended.
13 Aug 2012, 14:58 pm
;lol
; i know boet, i am sure though that went right over the top of many heads, you know like peanut would say Nyowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww lol
13 Aug 2012, 14:59 pm
@wait for it, wait for it…-299:
What are you trying to do here.
For a start those medals that you seem to be laughing about takes the individual alot of time and training to get. I dont care how much money we spend as long as we have a good time at the games which we did.
Now what you are trying to do is say NZ spent more money than SA, reasons as to why we won more medals.
We cant help it if your government is screwed. Dont take your silly little anger out on our athletes. **** me do you ever get off NZ. It seems to have a thing about NZ, everyday you are on about us….why is that? You not happy with your own country?
13 Aug 2012, 15:13 pm
@Hurricane-309:
Pistols shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out “My God they killed them all”
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world
13 Aug 2012, 15:14 pm
@Hurricane-309:
i think you’re jumping to the wrong conclusions.
read all the way back to get a sense of what i was trying to say?
13 Aug 2012, 15:17 pm
@Hurricane-309:
Days the interweb warrior who spends everyday on a South African website?
Rich indeed.
I think it was one of your lower hutt Hobbitses who started the Olympic ******* measuring.
13 Aug 2012, 15:17 pm
Hurricane go and read canes posts about how much nz spent on the olympics and also delpi’s stats and figures that prove that your economy is much bigger than ours.
13 Aug 2012, 16:26 pm
I must admit that countries spend an awful amount of money training athletes for the greatest *** orgy on earth, if the number of condoms supplied is any indication.
13 Aug 2012, 22:43 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-312:
Who really cares where i spend my time.
This Website is on International Web….this is not your website. Understand.
@wait for it, wait for it…-311:
“400 million on 200 participants and thats all you brought back?”
So what wrong conclusion did i get from that statement above?
I know what you were trying to say but that statement is what my post was aimed at.
13 Aug 2012, 22:45 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther-312:
And talking about Warriors, are you and wait for it, wait for it best buddies or something. Have a look, when wait for it says something ******* stupid, along comes Gunther to save the day…….. my hero
14 Aug 2012, 06:40 am
hahaha. look at all the d.utch meathead Neanderthals trying to belittle NZs achievements at the Olympics by claiming “not real sports” or money spent etcetc.
if they’re not real sports, why does the IOC hand out medals for them? if your country is too corrupt to ever allocate money from your superior economy, then whose fault is that?
just a bunch of sourgats who can’t handle the simple fact that it’s not only rugby that NZ beats SA at. classic
got to laugh at RWC11 is fixed. take a look at the “stats” he posted. lmfao.
we all know SA wins the gold medal hands down for crime, rape, murder statistics, yet this loser wants to publically state NZs is worse???
farken hell, what a fine example of the SA education system at work.
hahahahahaha
14 Aug 2012, 06:57 am
the real medal table..
15 New Zealand 6 2 5 13
16 Cuba 5 3 6 14
17 Iran 4 5 3 12
18 Jamaica 4 4 4 12
19 Czech Republic 4 3 3 10
20 North Korea 4 0 2 6
21 Spain 3 10 4 17
22 Brazil 3 5 9 17
23 South Africa 3 2 1 6
guess you dmbfcks only belittle NZs achievements because yours are so inadequate and do not fit in with the whole superior SA fallacy…
whatabunchoffarkenlosers
14 Aug 2012, 07:25 am
@poppa69-318:
Jeesus pal reign yourself in… you’re like a Kiwi that belittles Australia yet continues to enjoy the most liveable country in the world… oh wait…
14 Aug 2012, 07:57 am
@ pooper
http://www.megamaster.co.za/index.php/item/74-1000-deluxe-built-in-braai.html
Bbbbeeeooouuuyyytttiiifffuuullll!!!
So you come here to upset us and claim the interwebs areinternational you can browse where you want,yes you can but your buddy golio in china cannot.
So this is better than to spend time with family and friends…
I see another meltdown is imminent people.
14 Aug 2012, 08:08 am
cheers everyone,have a good day.
work awaits me.
later.
14 Aug 2012, 08:26 am
@Transformation-301: Damn why does Spies get one?
14 Aug 2012, 08:39 am
@poppa69-318: Hey Giulietta. What’s got you so revved up again?
14 Aug 2012, 08:44 am
@Sasuke-322: spies is nothing but a “brand”
14 Aug 2012, 10:22 am
@bryce_in_oz-319: sorry, when have I belittled Australia?
talking about things you have no idea on again Bryce? hahaha whatafckenknob..
14 Aug 2012, 10:51 am
Excuses for HM already – love it. You Keo bunch were the ones calling for winning each game a a imperative.
Anyway I think your realisation that we will struggle this year is more realistic.
But a major u-turn for you bunch
14 Aug 2012, 16:07 pm
wow brilliant vrede you have called it right the blacks will win but for fcukallof that kak excuses u give its just that they r better
bring back crusty
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