HUGE Tri Nations Preview SA v Australia

The opening game of the 2007 Tri Nations against Australia, will provide the Boks with a significant step up in quality of opposition. While the Boks have been fairly impressive in beating England and Samoa, Australia have been equally good in the last two weeks shutting out Wales and Fiji.

Despite a poor showing from Australian teams in the Super14, they can still field an impressive matchday 22 and are never an easy beat. They stumbled a bit in their opening game against Wales, but now that Gregan has been restored to scrumhalf they are looking much better.

Gregan has started with his attempted mindgames ahead of the clash on Saturday. He called the Boks “the most confident and balanced Springbok side I have seen going into a Tri-Nations.”

“That is on the back of two of the teams playing in the Super 14 final, and they will be buoyed by that. They are going into the series with a lot of confidence, especially as they did a very good number on the England team. So we’ve got them at the top of their game. But beating them is not impossible,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“It is the South African psychology you see in all their sports. You see it in their cricket, their rugby. When they’re up, they are very confident, and they take that into every competition. The way you negate that is by being prepared for the challenge, and being prepared to take them on.” Good luck Georgie!

Veteran Wallaby fly-half Bernie Larkham also weighed in, saying the Wallabies would be upping the intensity for their opening Tri Nations game

“It is going to be a massive challenge for us and a very important stepping stone for us towards the World Cup. Whilst the emphasis is certainly on winning the World Cup, we certainly need to have good form going into the World Cup and we need to have a little bit of confidence against sides we are potentially going to meet. There is a good chance we will play them, and to get a psychological advantage out of the Tri Nations would be a bonus for either side. We have made improvements over the past couple of weeks… next week is obviously going to be our biggest Test of the year.”

Wallaby coach Knuckles Connolly talked about the Tri Nations after the announcement of the Australian squad for the 2007 competition: “We have got a very tough four weeks coming up, and everyone knows that. Last time an Australian team played over there we got a nice touch up. We weren’t terribly smart in that Test how we played. You have definitely got to be tough, and you have got to be able to do it all” he said.

“They’re a great side at the moment, who have built up some good momentum. They are very good when they run from depth and attack space, and overall they are a team that does not have many weaknesses. We’ll have to see who the Springboks pick before we formulate any particular plans. Our line-outs have improved over the past few weeks. And our scrums are getting there.”

Meanwhile, former Wallaby and Reds coach Eddie Jones believes South Africa are favourites to win the 2007 Tri-Nations. He would say that though after experiencing the Bok resurgence first-hand in the Super14.

“The Springboks will be extremely confident given the Super 14 performances and the couple of wins against England,” he told TVNZ. “You would have to say they have more players in form than anyone else. Then you have New Zealand and Australia closely behind, there’s no much in it at all.”

He also believes that the All Blacks are a little under-done: “I think they will be a little short of a gallop but I don’t think Graham Henry will be too worried about that,” he said.

For his part, Jake White is unlikely to tamper too much with the side that destroyed a weak England team. Ruan Pienaar looks set to make a long-overdue start at scrumhalf due to Ricky Januarie’s injury, while JP Pietersen should start on the wing after his good showing against Samoa.

The Springbok squad has been cut to 30 today. There is no place for Luke Watson, but he joins Johan Ackermann, Bismarck du Plessis, AJ Venter and Wikus van Heerden in an ‘extended’ training squad for the World Cup. Michael Classens comes in to replace the injured Januarie.

Wayne Julies was pushing for a start after a great game against Samoa – White will feel vindicated after constantly selecting him despite some poor showings in the past. However, he has only been selected in the extended training squad.

Fourie du Preez makes the squad despite still recovering from a shoulder injury which makes it unlikely that he will take part until the latter stages of the competition. Akona Ndungane is undergoing “sprint training” for the next four weeks, ruling him out of the opening stages too.

Zola Yeye stated that Bryan Habana has rejoined the Bok squad but will undergo treatment. He is expected to be out for between two and five weeks.

“He’ll return when he’s in a satisfactory condition. It’s a World Cup year and obviously Bryan is a key player for us so we won’t risk him. That applies to all injured players. They’ll return once they’re stable and have completed the rehabilitation programmes and have met the necessary criteria after completing specific testing,” he said.

Andre Pretorius continues to receive treatment at the Lions for a buttock injury and will miss the Tri Nations in its entirety.

Recently recovered from injuries are centre Ashwin Willemse (finger) and prop CJ van der Linde (broken nose).

The Bok squad to contest the Tri Nations is as follows:

Os du Randt, Gurthro Steenkamp, CJ van der Linde, BJ Botha, John Smit, Gary Botha, Albert van den Berg, Victor Matfield, Johann Muller, Bakkies Botha, Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger, Juan Smith, Bob Skinstad, Pedrie Wannenburg, Danie Rossouw, Michael Classens, Ruan Pienaar, Fourie du Preez, Derick Hougaard, Butch James, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Wynand Olivier, Waylon Murray, Ashwin Willemse, Akona Ndungane, JP Pietersen, Percy Montgomery, Francois Steyn.

Additional players forming part of the training squad with an eye on the World Cup are: Deon Carstens, Wayne Julies, Breyton Paulse, Tonderai Chavhanga, Bismarck du Plessis, Bevin Fortuin, Odwa Ndungane, Johan Ackermann, Luke Watson, Joe van Niekerk, Wikus van Heerden, Gerrie Britz, AJ Venter, Jaco Pretorius, Eddie Andrews, Kabamba Floors

The Wallaby squad is as follows:

A Ashley-Cooper, A Baxter, M Chisholm, S Cordingley, M Dunning, R Elsom, A Freier, M Gerrard, M Giteau, G Gregan, S Hoiles, J Huxley, S Larkham, D Mitchell, S Moore, S Mortlock, W Palu, B Robinson, N Sharpe, G Shepherdson, G Smith, S Staniforth, L Tuqiri, D Vickerman, P Waugh.

The first Tri Nations test takes place at Newlands on Saturday – broadcast at 3pm on Supersport.