On day one of the preparations for Saturday’s test, the All Blacks named their strongest possible side, the Boks cancelled their planned training session, John Smit was ruled out for a month due to injury, and various All Black players and coaches talked about the upcoming Tri Nations clash.
The Boks announce their squad on Wednesday, but already it has been confirmed that John Smit will be out for at least a month due to a hamstring injury sustained in Saturday’s opening test against Australia. He will be replaced by Gary Botha, with Bismarck Du Plessis moving up onto the replacements’ bench. Victor Matfield is expected to take over the captaincy.
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Gurthro Steenkamp (knee) and Juan Smith (knee) are due to undergo fitness tests this week. If neither pass, they are expected to be replaced by Os du Randt and Danie Rossouw respectively. Bob Skinstad could start instead of Danie Rossouw depending on his progress in recovering from a shoulder injury.
The Springboks cancelled their scheduled training session on Monday afternoon to give the players a rest and to assess the injury situation fully. They will only name their 22-man squad on Wednesday.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry spoke about Saturday’s game and the Tri Nations in general.
“It is difficult to travel to South Africa from New Zealand, it is always a challenge for the All Blacks and our Super 14 teams. So we have to get our preparation right in the next few days.
“We are here to concentrate out efforts on winning probably the toughest rugby competition in world rugby at the moment. The Tri Nations is a major competition and it is worth winning. But it is quite odd that we have not won too often in South Africa. I believe the ratio is one in four. We understand that coming here is the biggest challenge we face in world rugby. But it is the challenge we find the most stimulating.
“This is the most demanding tournament in world rugby. The Tri-Nations is not second to the Rugby World Cup, it doesn’t really have anything to do with the Rugby World Cup. We won the Tri-Nations in 1999 and 2003, and I don’t think we won the World Cup those years.”
“There has been a major step forward in SA rugby this year. Their Super 14 was brilliant, they played very good and structured rugby, and it is great to see SA sides of quality contesting the final. It bodes well for the future. Super 14 was getting a little boring going to Jade Stadium every year!”
“I think the team is pretty aware about what the South Africans are about and the physicality of that particular side. I know we’ve played them a lot in recent years. I don’t think there’s anything we’re not aware of. Obviously if you have physical games leading into [a Test] that is a plus, but last week [against France] the boys came off the field and quite a few said it was probably one of the fastest games they’d ever played in.
“I guess their advantage is they have played a Tri-Nations game before us, but in saying that we’re pleased with our build-up, we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made in the first two test matches.”
The All Black side was announced today and Henry spoke about some of the selections:
He said that Anton Oliver had got the nod ahead of Keven Mealamu because he is better suited to the game he wants to play against the Boks “We felt Oliver was the better man for the job, he’s got the experience.†This despite the fact that Mealamu combines with Rawlinson and Flavell at the Blues.
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The All Blacks have changed their entire front row and reshuffled their loose forwards. Greg Rawlinson partners Troy Flavell at lock. “Victor and Bakkies are working well in the line-outs and we will have to execute our line-outs very well,” said Henry. The All Blacks have lost locks James Ryan, Keith Robinson, Ali Williams and Jason Eaton to injury, whilst Chris Jack has joined winger Doug Howlett on paternity leave and they will not be making the trip to South Africa.
In the backline Joe Rokocoko has been brought in to replace Doug Howlett on the right wing, while Ice Toeava comes in for Luke McAlister at second centre.
“We have a lot of competition for positions, and this was a tough team to select.” said Henry.
He stated that the All Blacks would only have two training sessions this week with the emphasis on recovery. “We can’t try too much otherwise they will not have enough fuel in the tank for the test. We’re reasonably happy. We’ve had three games to prepare and most of the time we’re playing reasonable rugby. We just need a big game now. I think that will bring the best out of us.”
Steve Hansen, New Zealand forwards coach, talked about the looming battle up front:
“Clearly South Africa have an excellent line-out, Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield have been working very well, so we must execute our set pieces perfectly. Losing John Smit doesn’t change anything, except the effect he has on their ball. The main threat for them is Victor Matfield.
“Clearly they’ve got a very good defensive lineout and we’ve got two relatively new people coming in so it will be a challenge. We’ve got to execute really well… the players are all looking forward to it. We’ve made some changes to our lineout and it’s been working quite well.”
“Greg Rawlinson has been consistent for the Blues and Junior All Blacks and I think he is playing at a higher level than he did last year. It’s a big challenge for him. He had a head knock a couple of weeks ago, which is why he didn’t play last weekend.”
“As far as hooker goes, we have three great options there, but we reckon Anton is the better scrummager and we prefer Keven coming off the bench for this one.
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Furthermore, Hansen rubbished the Australian theory that BJ Botha scrums illegally. “When you scrum, you need to scrum square. If it is not square it is not legal. BJ scrummed pretty square on Saturday.”
He spoke about the importance of the battle at the breakdown: “The breakdown’s a very important part of the game but also one that gets refereed differently from week to week. How much you’re allowed to counter ruck is governed by the referee, and how much people are allowed to lie over the ball. It’s going to be a really important part of our game and South Africa’s. We want quick ball, they won’t want us to get quick ball.”
Wayne Smith, All Black backline coach, spoke about some of the backline selections for Saturday’s game:
“Selecting Aaron Mauger was a major selection, both he and Luke McAlister have been playing so well, and Luke showed last week just how versatile he is. We have a lot of options both there and at 13, but Aaron is on top form, and Isaia has shown he is the best at 13 right now.
“We know we have the options at 12, we want to tick the box at 13 too. We are not expecting anything too special, we don’t want to put pressure on him, he is still a young man.
“He has had a good season. We are just trying to look after him and work all the combinations we can with him. He is an exciting player, we just want to continue developing him.”
Dan Carter knows that the All Blacks will have to improve on their showing against Canada if they’re to stand a chance against the Springboks.
“We know what to expect from the South Africans. They are extremely physical and we love that confrontation. So we won’t be holding back, we’re just going to get loose as well.
“We’ve got to take a step up. I wasn’t all that pleased with the performance against Canada so I’ll be looking at my game and looking to improve for the up and coming series. The season starts this week, we realise that. It’s going to be pretty important, their confidence is really high at the moment after the Super 14.”
The details of the game are as follows:
Date: Saturday, 23 June
Venue: ABSA Stadium, Durban
Kick-off: 15.00 SA Time (13.00 GMT)
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)
Assessor: Tappe Henning (IRB)
The All Black side to face the Springboks is:
Team: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 09 Byron Kelleher, 08 Rodney So’oialo, 07 Richie McCaw, 06 Jerry Collins, 05 Greg Rawlinson, 04 Troy Flavell, 03 Carl Hayman, 02 Anton Oliver, 01 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 McAlister, 22 Leon McDonald.
A very strong side
A strong side, yes, but I worry about Henry’s memory…”We won the Tri-Nations in 1999 and 2003, and I don’t think we won the World Cup those years”.
The old bugger’s losing it. When in doubt, it’s more than likely that the ABs didn’t win the WC. Probably choked.
As long as he remembers that they have only won once in four tests in SA
My message to the Boks – Watch out for MEALAMU coming off the bench. Expecially close to our line. The guy is deadly against us from close in. Please please watch him!
if bobby is ok and starts, i think they should still stick with big vic as captain – have some faith in him jake
The loss of Smit could be big for the Boks – not only from a leadership perspective, but also in the lineouts and scrums. Gary through a couple of shockers on Saturday.
we saw what happened last week when barney went off – loss of structure. took vic a while to start leading. i think a blessing in disguise for the rwc – what happens if smit goes off there?
Ice Toeava will be their danger man. Fourie and JeanDiv weren’t that great last week.
The captaincy thing is a worry… Not sure Matfield gels the team as well…OK he’s got a Super 14 Title under his belt, but that’s cos G*d was on his side. Who else is there tho??? I guess it’s only Victor… And it’s better that he has a go now rather than cold turkey in a WC semi final!