More Aussie Games in Lead Up To Match

The weakest point of this current All Blacks team has continued to received attention in New Zealand this week.  Firstly, former All Black Robin Brooke, brother to the legendary Zinzan, has called for a lineout coach to become part of the All Black coaching panel.  He points out that while there is already a forwards coach, there is presently a specialist scrum coach in the existing framework.  He puts the simple question: why not for the lineout too?  I’d have to say I agree with him, something must be done because whatever has been done for the past decade has been inadequate.  Click here for more on that.

John Eales has had his two cents on the issue as well identifying that it was the Aussie dominance in the lineout that largely kept them in again, as much as it was New Zealand’s dominance in the scrum that produced much of the go forward and territory for the All Blacks.  As a former lineout expert, and magnificent player all round, his thoughts on the subject are worth taking in.  He identifies that Jeremy Paul’s throw has been questionable when under pressure, so why were the All Blacks not challenging on the Aussie throw?  Some serious thought must be given as to why the All Blacks are virtually the only international team that routinely does not attack the opposition throw.  As I have said before, at least the All Blacks are winning when they are not performing at their best.  I’d say that this is a crucial area for the All Blacks to improve in before the end of the season.  We’ll see if they are able to turn it around.  For more from Eales, click here.

Elsewhere, and in the lead up to this weekend’s clash, the Wallabies have announced their team.  Jeremy Paul and Scott Fava have been replaced in the starting side by McIssac and Palu respectively.  The remainder of the team is unchanged from the side that took on the All Blacks last weekend.  Meanwhile the South African team has been keeping a low profile and announced two changes to the starting side for the game this weekend.  Akona Ndungane returns as wing having recovered from his injury, and Johann Muller comes in to partner Matfield at lock.  Also of note the interestingly named Chiliboy Ralepele will make his test debut for the Boks from the bench.  Can someone let me know what Murray Mexted makes of that name?  I’m sure that will provoke some sort of ribald comment from the mixed metaphor and double entendre kiwi king!  Click here for the Aussie take on the teams.  Click here for the South African reaction to the announcements.

The inclusion of Palu in the Wallaby team shows that coach Connolly is looking for a bit of beef to toughen up the pack.  The 120 kg player is likely to assist in combating a significantly larger Springbok pack, and to help getting some go forward off the back of the scrum, as well as increasing their competitiveness at the break down.  It will be interesting to see how he goes this weekend, however he has some big names in his corner.  For more on that, click here.

Now this I have to report.  I almost fell off my treadmill at the local gym when a couple of lads dressed in springboks jackets came wandering past where I was struggling away.  Initially I thought, “Who are these guys?  Who would wear in that jacket in public after the 49-0 humiliation?”  Then I recognised that it was none other than captain John Smit.  “No choice but to wear the training outfit then”, I thought to myself.  The boys were in pretty good spirit by the looks of things and got through what appeared to me to be a fairly light training session – especially when compared with my own grueling routine!

Apparently the Boks are in my home area in the lead up to the game this weekend.  They seem none to happy about the treatment they have had from the ARU while preparing for the match.  Initially I was insulted that they thought so poorly of my local area, however it seems this is unfair.  Apparently the Boks had long standing arrangements to use the Oki Jubilee field in Kogarah, NSW home of the St George Dragons NRL team.  The Dragons suffered a loss on Friday night to the Melbourne Storm, and the coach apparently ordered his team to undergo seriously hard out training session and the Springboks were prevented from training, getting pushed to a second rate field in an industrial wilderness known as Erskinville (fair enough to complain about that awful place I say!).

Hardly surprising that the same team who delayed kick off to perform drills on the field last week are up to their usual tricks in the pre-game build up.  This isn’t the first time that visiting teams have been treated poorly here.  The Africans are claiming the high ground here, however I just hope that they can turn being snubbed by the ARU into motivation to lift their game this weekend and make it a game worth watching (which the last one between these two teams wasn’t).  So far the only reaction is that they might change the way they tour and not rely on hosts to set them up well…I would’ve thought that is a good move.  For South African Comment on these events, click here.

Perhaps while they are at it they might also like to look at their press conference arrangements.  This witty piece by Greg Gowden paint s humorous picture of what must be pretty uncomfortable press conference at Springbok HQ in Sydney.  Click here for more on that.  It is pretty clear that the Aussies regard this weekend’s game as a non-event, already being in the bag after the pounding the Boks took from them last time.  However, the Boks were better against the All Blacks, and although miles off the pace it can only be hoped that there is some capacity for the team to improve and make a contest of it this weekend…another thrashing would not be good for the future viability of the Tri-Nations.  Let’s hope that there is something in the South African rhetoric here.