Internationals
The Match Officials for this week’s action have been confirmed, with George Clancy refereeing the Wallabies vs Springboks showdown.
The Rugby Championship:
Australia vs South Africa
- Venue: Patersons Stadium, Perth
- Referee: George Clancy (Ireland)
- Assistant Referees: Glen Jackson (New Zealand), Mike Fraser (New Zealand)
- TMO: Ben Skeen (New Zealand)
- Assessor: Andrew Cole
New Zealand vs Argentina
- Venue: Mclean Park, Napier
- Referee: Pascal Gauzère (France)
- Assistant Referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
- TMO: Peter Marshall (Australia)
- Assessor: Lyndon Bray
Jacques Potgieter was rarely complimentary about South Africans’ views on Aussies.
SOUTH Africans enter a game believing they can bash and bully Australians into submission.
The theory has long been surmised but after gaining valuable insight into the South African rugby psyche playing alongside Jacques Potgieter at the Waratahs, Bernard Foley now knows it’s not theory, it’s fact.
“He said he always enjoyed playing against Australians because he thought there was an opportunity to get one over them,” Foley said.
While polite in his public statements, Potgieter’s on-field brutality was more than matched by the candour with which he spoke to NSW teammates about how Aussies were viewed in the hard world of South African rugby.
Pumas spark: Martin Landajo
Martin Landajo admits the rain forecast for Saturday in Napier will not help Argentina’s new attacking philosophy.
The Pumas have been the surprise package of the competition so far, pushing South Africa all the way in both matches between the two.
However with heavy rain forecast for the clash with the All Blacks, the Pumas scrum-half believes Argentina’s attacking game will have to be tweaked.
“We are not accustomed to rain, and we prefer the dry weather,” said Landajo, who started both Tests against the Springboks.
“We know it rains a lot in New Zealand so we must adapt.
ACID TEST: The All Blacks’ pack will have to be at its best to deal with a powerful Argentina eight at scrum time on Saturday.
You can blame the goal kicker, you can blame the concession of daft technical penalties or a single colossal blunder at the wrong time.
It’s hard to argue. But the single main reason why Argentina’s strong men could dominate South Africa the other weekend and still end up losing was the train of Springbok replacements.
Coach Heyneke Meyer hooked beaten players from the pitch and sent on an eager second wave of men like Adriaan Strauss and Tendai ‘the Beast’ Mtawarira.
Springboks flyer Bryan Habana
The Wallabies have been the source of great pain and great satisfaction in Bryan Habana’s glittering Test career.
After the anguish of the 2011 World Cup quarter-final – a game still capable of sending a collective shudder through a Springboks team room – and the elation of last year’s watershed Test victory at Suncorp Stadium, it is fitting that the South African winger will play his 100th Test against the Wallabies in Perth.
SLIPPERY WHEN WET: All Black TJ Perenara catches the ball during a rain-affected training session in Napier.
Rarely do the All Blacks relish the chance to train in relentless rain and on a sodden pitch.
But when it comes to playing Argentina in New Zealand, those conditions have been a given in recent times, so today’s training at the Napier Old Boys Marist club may prove the perfect dress rehearsal for Saturday’s Rugby Championship test.
“We have a plan A and a plan B, but we have an eye on Saturday’s [forecast] and it looks like it’s going to be reasonably wet later in the week,” backs coach Ian Foster said.
“We’re going in with a plan that we want to play if the conditions are great, but our awareness of plan B is pretty high this week.”
The All Blacks are aware that they played poorly in the wet three weeks ago during a dour 12-12 draw with Australia in Sydney where they kicked too much and struggled with their handling.
The Kurtley Beale No 10 experiment has been aborted, with Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie naming Super Rugby title-winning halves Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps to take on South Africa in Perth this Saturday.
Beale and Brumbies halfback Nic White have both been benched following the Wallabies’ 51-20 flogging from the All Blacks, but centre Matt Toomua, winger Rob Horne and star fullback Israel Folau have all held their spots in the backline.
Adam Ashley Cooper has shifted to the wing to cover for the retired Pat McCabe (neck), with Tevita Kuridrani getting the call-up at outside centre for the Patersons Stadium clash.
James O’Connor: The worst of the three Amigos.
Yes, I know that James O’Connor has been a prat.
An official at the ARU who had to deal with him all the time told me that O’Connor was the worst of the Three Amigos – O’Connor, Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper.
He would encourage and lead his mates into trouble and then, somehow, slide away unscathed, while the other two copped the blame and the punishments.
TOUGH TEST: Conrad Smith says the All Blacks will need to be smarter in coming to terms with Argentina’s unique style of rugby.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder and it seems Conrad Smith has missed his old mate Ma’a Nonu during the midfield pair’s enforced break up.
The old firm has been closed for business since Smith broke his hand during the second June test against England, but seems likely to reopen for business against Argentina on Saturday.
Nonu and Malakai Fekitoa had a run during the third test thrashing of England in Hamilton, and again during a dour 12-12 draw against Australia in Sydney while Smith attended the birth of his first child.
Then in Auckland, Smith and Ryan Crotty teamed up for the Bledisloe Cup bash as Nonu sat out with a bruised shoulder.
Argentina gave a good account of themselves in Hamilton last year and pride themselves on their work at the set piece.
Steve Hansen has challenged his forwards to repeat their devastating display against Australia when they meet Argentina in Napier on Saturday.
The All Blacks arrived in Hawkes Bay yesterday ahead of their Rugby Championship test against the Pumas, with coach Hansen wasting little time in putting the acid back on his big men as they prepare for what he called one of the best scrums in the game.
Ewen McKenzie is set to give Bernard Foley a shot in the Wallabies No 10 jumper.
Australian vice captain James Slipper says the Wallabies’ pack must shoulder some of the responsibility for Kurtley Beale’s underwhelming performance at five-eighth in Auckland 10 days ago.
After a two-Test experiment with Beale and Brumbies halfback Nic White at the helm of the Wallabies’ back line, Ewen McKenzie is set to debut the Super Rugby title-winning combination of Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps on Tuesday when he names the side to take on South Africa at Paterson’s Stadium.
But in a week in which the entire Australian line-up will be out to repair the Wallabies’ badly bruised reputation, Slipper leapt to Beale’s defence and said the pack had to give their back line generals something to work with.
“He’s a class player. We all know what he can do,” the Wallabies prop and Stan Pilecki medallist said.
Always a threat… Wallaby fullback Israel Folau.
The Springboks will look to “cut off supply” to Israel Folau to continue a remarkable 90 per cent success rate on the road for the past two years.
The Wallabies fullback was the only bright spot in Australia’s 51-20 hammering at the hands of the All Blacks in Auckland last month.
NO COMPROMISE: All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick is not one to take a backward step on the rugby field.
Brodie Retallick’s eyes light up at the prospect of locking horns with a similarly built opponent with a shared interest in physical destruction.
The All Blacks lock will likely get a chance to reacquaint himself with young Argentine lock Tomas Lavanini during Saturday’s Rugby Championship test at McLean Park.
Lavanini, a 21-year-old colossus at 2.04m and 129kg, caught Retallick’s eye last year during a stint with the Chiefs Super Rugby academy in Hamilton.
“He was definitely a physical player,” Retallick recalled on Monday. “I remember seeing a video clip where he knocked someone out just cleaning them out [of a ruck].
Jannie du Plessis & Morné Steyn
There was nothing surprising about Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn focusing on the scrum as he prepared to depart with the squad at the weekend for what will be a testing Australasian leg of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
The scrumming was not the only area of concern for the Boks during the June internationals and in the two Championship matches against Argentina.
But it was an aspect that fell short both against Wales and the Pumas, and those who know the South African rugby psyche, will understand the ripple effect that the scrumming humiliation at the hands of Argentina in Salta would have sent through the team.
James Slipper
Wallabies prop James Slipper says it’s unfair to single out five-eighth Kurtley Beale for criticism following the side’s recent 51-20 loss to the All Blacks in New Zealand.
Calls are growing for Beale to be replaced at flyhalf by Bernard Foley for Saturday night’s Rugby Championship clash with South Africa in Perth.
IN THE WARS: Sam Cane has hardly played since he discovered a small fracture in his knee before the test season kicked off in June.
Sam Cane could have been excused if he sneaked off to find a heavy punching bag in Napier yesterday to vent some frustration.
It was hard not to feel a little sorry for the 22-year-old openside as the All Blacks assembled ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship match against Argentina.
That’s because around about the same time the All Blacks were being welcomed by 1200 fans at Napier Airport, Cane’s Bay of Plenty teammates were preparing to play Taranaki in a national provincial championship match in New Plymouth.
The thought of an extended run a game of rugby must consume a player who has seen just 40 minutes of action this year, but, unlike 10 of his All Blacks teammates, he was not released for provincial duties.
Will Skelton on the charge for the Sydney Stars against Melbourne Rising at Leichhardt Oval.
Will Skelton is eager to do battle with the “big boppers” of South Africa after turning in 80-minute audition for the Sydney Stars in their loss to Melbourne Rising at Leichhardt Oval.
Whether the rugby equivalent of a fight scene from Jurassic Park — 140kg Skelton duelling with South Africa’s lumbering monsters — occurs at the start or the end of the Test in Perth remains to be seen, but the big lock did what was asked of him by seeing out the entire match.
It wasn’t a pleasant Sunday for the Stars — pumped 45-13 by Melbourne — but Ewen McKenzie said if Skelton was to be considered to start against South Africa, the impact player needed to display a capacity to play 80 minutes.
The Waratahs’ super-sub hadn’t done that in more than three months but came through comfortably.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer expects higher standards in Australia than his side achieved against Argentina.
Although they beat the Pumas at home and away, neither of the wins were convincing with torrential rain slowing them down in Pretoria before they got out of jail in Salta.
Meyer admitted that he was not satisfied with their two performances thus far, and added that they will have to lift their standards if they are to get the better of a competitive Wallabies outfit.
Taine Randell
On merit, history suggests Sonny Bill Williams will play second fiddle to Ma’a Nonu again.
The only time Williams genuinely cracked the All Blacks was when Nonu had a wretched run with injury. He was No 1 by default. At the last World Cup he was a bit-part player at best.
In terms of the exemption he was granted to be picked for the end of year tour without having to play in the NPC for Counties Manukau, I’m not in favour of it.
Timely return: Ma’a Nonu
All Blacks centre Ma’a Nonu has been passed fit to face Argentina next weekend in the latest round of the Rugby Championship.
Nonu was absent from New Zealand’s 51-20 mauling of Australia two weeks ago at Eden Park.
The Hurricanes midfielder picked up a shoulder injury in the 12-12 draw with the Wallabies the week previously, but his return to full health is important.
Ryan Crotty, Nonu’s replacement in Auckland, has been ruled out for four weeks with a facial fracture, meaning Nonu could come straight back in.
Gareth Thomas says he struggled when his wife left him.
Gareth Thomas, the former rugby international, has spoken for the first time of the agonising pain of his wife leaving him after he came out as gay.
The ex-Wales captain told how he made several suicide attempts after confessing to his wife Jemma in 2006 that he had been secretly homosexual throughout their five-year marriage.
In a new book Thomas says that the night his wife left him, he dressed in his best grey suit issued by the Welsh Rugby Union and headed to the swimming pool of his home set upon drowning himself.
He explained in an interview on Saturday how he had fought to become one of the toughest players on the pitch in an attempt to hide his sexuality, which had been clear to him from the age of 16.
Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie still believes that his side’s thrashing by the All Blacks at Eden Park last Saturday was an “aberration” rather than a confronting measure of the gulf between the two sides.
McKenzie is playing down the need to make sweeping changes to his line-up despite the Wallabies 51-20 loss to the world No.1 New Zealanders in the Rugby Championship.
Matthew Burke
I always find it interesting how people think they need to reinvent the wheel. They think they can make it work better when in fact it is spinning around just nicely as it is.
The wheel I am speaking of is the Waratahs combination at five-eighth and inside centre, and the fact that it wasn’t used for the Wallabies for the opening two games of the Rugby Championship.
Publicly Kurtley Beale was happy about his selection at five-eighth and I am sure he was in his preferred position, but I wonder if privately he ever thought, “have I spent enough time in the role?”
Round 2 of The Rugby Championship and Round 3 of the Currie Cup is done and dusted!
No real surprises with the results, except the huge margin the All Blacks smashed the Wallabies by, and the fact that the Bokke hardly scraped their way to a 2 point win.
The Springboks have struggled in Argentina the past three years, but most pundits thought the Bokke would at least still be closer to a 10 point margin better than the Pumas, even on a bad day.
LINGERING PAIN: The 1995 All Blacks look on after losing the World Cup final at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.
The awful truth about the Wallabies’ hammering last weekend is that by 2015 the All Blacks could roll out an entirely different back line and dish it out all over again.
Wallowing in pessimism? Perhaps, but look at the stockpile of talent that wasn’t even in the 23 in Auckland that, in theory, they could select next year.
Warren Whiteley
Willem Alberts has been ruled out of the Springboks’ Rugby Championship tour to Australia and New Zealand and will be replaced in the 30-man squad by Warren Whiteley.
Alberts missed both Test victories against Argentina because of a hamstring injury and he underwent a fitness test on Thursday afternoon.
Although his hamstring is recovering well, he experienced some nerve irritation in his lower back and was sent for scans.
Springbok flyer, Willie le Roux
Springbok fullback Willie le Roux says he has settled in the role coach Heyneke Meyer has entrusted him with.
Le Roux has become a popular player in South Africa since making his Test debut against Italy in Durban in 2013.
His attacking influence has given the Springbok backline an expansive approach as he’s played a playmaker’s role in a number of tries scored over the past year. He’s also scored seven tries in his 17 appearances.
DEJECTED: Wallabies captain Michael Hooper trudges off Eden Park after his team was hammered by the All Blacks on Saturday night.
Test captain Michael Hooper says the Wallabies will hear a few home truths when they come back together for the first time since one of their worst losses to the All Blacks.
Hooper, who scored one of the Wallabies’ two late tries at Eden Park last weekend, described the side’s performance as ”terrible” and way off their best.
After a few days to stew on the 51-20 drubbing – he still has not watched a replay – Hooper said the Wallabies had to bounce back.
The International Rugby Board will become World Rugby from 19 November 2014 as part of a major rebranding programme.
The new brand, including a new logo, will be launched at the IRB World Rugby Conference and Exhibition in London on November 17-18.
Global Rugby participation has boomed by more than two million to 6.6 million players over the past four years, driven by the commercial success of Rugby World Cup, the IRB’s development strategies and record investment, strong and vibrant Unions and Rugby’s re-inclusion in the Olympic Games.
Jonathan Kaplan
Jonathan Kaplan has questioned whether the Springboks understand the nuances at scrums and breakdowns.
Despite winning 33-31 in Salta at the weekend, the Bok front row suffered humiliation at the hands of Argentina, with the reputations of Jannie du Plessis and Gurthro Steenkamp taking serious body blows.
Kaplan noted this when he analysed the Boks’ performance on his website, www.ratetheref.co.za.
Wanted man… Israel Folau playing against the All Blacks.
The risk of losing star Wallabies like Israel Folau after the 2015 World Cup has prompted the Australian Rugby Union to change its rules to allow overseas sabbaticals.
The Australian Rugby Union will dangle a sizeable carrot to lure the country’s top players to sevens in the lead up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 2016.
Pat McCabe
The open letter written by Pat McCabe.
It has truly been an honour to represent the Brumbies and the Wallabies over the past five years.
While my playing career has not ended the way I would have liked, I consider myself extremely fortunate.
Fortunate to have met and shared experiences with special players and coaches.
Tony Johnson
Not until we get into the next group of games will we have some perspective and context in which to put the first two rounds of the Rugby Championship.
The All Blacks’ forward strength will be tested when they take on the Pumas and their physicality will be tested against the Springboks.
A win in either away game will put the Bokke in a powerful position, the Wallabies will have to bounce back from their thumping defeat at Eden Park or face an exit from calculations, and we will find out how many of their bullets Argentina has fired already.
Brendan Venter
For all the criticism I levelled against Argentina for their negative play in the Loftus Versfeld test, in stark contrast, they deserve a world of credit for their impressive display in Salta.
In theory, the second-ranked Springboks should have destroyed the side placed 12th in world rugby. However, in practice, three main factors determine the outcome of a match:
They are, your own team’s performance, the performance of the opposition and, last but not least, the standard of officiating delivered by the assigned referee on the day.
The Argentine scrum in action.
When on song, the Bajada is basically pornography to us flat eared folk who have done battle in the front row.
And on Saturday against the Boks, it was at its titillating best!
There are two defining characteristics of the Bajada – a scrum technique used by the Argentinians … One is that all the power is directed into the hooker, meaning that they scrum as an imaginary arrow pointing inwards from either side of the 8th man.
The other, and perhaps more important characteristic of the Bajada, is the ‘coordinated push’, which sees them act on a three part call.