Congratulations to Victor Matfield and his rampaging Bulls for removing any doubt as to who was the best Super 14 team in 2009. Over the years we’ve had occasion to pour scorn on the Bulls one-dimensional game, but last Saturday they proved they’re the complete package. Their eight-try demolition job on the Chiefs was truly historic. They attacked from every part of the field and scored points everywhere.
Fourie du Preez started the rout with two clever tries about a minute apart. Bryan Habana was finally getting good ball and he also delivered a couple of tries. Wynand Olivier’s blond head was popping up all of the field and he scored too. So did three forwards: Pierre Spies, Danie Rossouw and Victor Matfield.
My personal favourite was Matfield’s try. He collected the ball from a ruck about 3m out and went straight over the top of everyone like an American footballer.
Coach Peter de Villiers has just announced his 28 man Springok squad. Unsurprisingly it includes 10 Bulls players. Morné Steyn has made the team. Steyn is the in-form kicker of the SANZAR nations. In terms of goal-kicking he’s up there with the best knocking over 11 drop goals during the Super season. His tactical kicking is also not bad but I have yet to see whether he can tackle like Carter. But keep your eye on this young man.
The International Test season is upon us and the Springboks already look like winners. They have quality players, proven combinations, and they will probably eat the British and Irish Lions for lunch. They already look ominimous for the Tri-Nations.
(For Northern Hemisphere readers, the Tri-Nations is what it is all about down here.)
In New Zealand Graham Henry has struggled to find 15 healthy All Blacks and his idea of preparation is playing lowly Italy. Robbie Deans has been dealt a worse hand with the Wallabies. None of the Australian teams got within cooee of making the finals and the young talent isn’t quite coming through fast enough to replace his aging stars.
If I were a Wallaby supporter I would be ringing Robbie Deans and asking if he’s got any magic tricks up his sleeves and wondering how fast he can poach some talent from the NSWRL.
If I were an All Black supporter I’d be ringing Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Rodney So’oialo, Sitiveni Sivivatu, Anthony Boric, and Andy Ellis and asking how the therapy’s going.
If I were a Springbok supporter I would be feeling fairly confident about the 3N at this point.
Filed under: All Blacks, Australia, Dan Carter, Graham Henry, Richie McCaw, Robbie Deans, SANZAR, South Africa, Springboks, Super 14, Tri-Nations, rugby
Hey Asteroid.
Having watched the Lions-Boks closely last Saturday I was struck by your line from the Super14 final below:
“Bryan Habana was finally getting good ball”.
Habana received approximately zero ball – good or bad – during last Saturday’s First Test in Durban. Why do SA fail to utilize Habana to the max? It’s as if they know he is lethal off scraps from deep, so they don’t make any conscious effort to free him in good positions. Du Preez darted and kicked, Ruan Pienaar kicked almost exclusively, Francois Steyn was trying drop goals from 60 metres. While Habana was left kicking his heels on the wing.
And still the Boks won, by virtue of a supreme 50-minute forward effort which saw England’s Phil Vickery minced by “The Beast” in the scrum and Matfield and Botha bully the Lions locks in the line-out.
Does the result justify the means? I shudder to think how many international tries Habana would have scored if he played for the ABs…
Anyway, enough waffle from me.
Shane