The Tri-Nations is looming large on the horizon, beginning in July as the Soccer World Cup will just be concluding. South African sports fan are certainly spoil for choice aren’t they? The question on the lips of those who cherish the oval ball will be: Can SA for the first time ever retain the Tri-Nations?
If there was a time to do so, this would be it. Australia seem to be stuttering where their frailties at the contact points were exposed by a committed but not wholly skillful England two weeks ago. Their first clash with the Roses produced two penalty tries for the visitors at scrum time. When was the last time you’ve seen an Aussie forward pack take such a battering? Marseille 2007 perhaps? There victory over Ireland this last weekend wasn’t all that impressive either.
Australia’s Kiwi coach Robbie Deans must be wondering what more he can do to galvanise this Australian outfit. True, they are facing a terrible injury crisis but beyond their starting forward pack, a soft under belly exists that Martin Johnson’s side cruelly exposed. The Springboks and All Blacks will be very interested to see how the Wallabies perform against the Irish, who’ve had a miserable tour of ‘Mzanzi’ so far (its really hard to ignore the football at the moment).
The All Blacks, a side I’ve referred to as rugby’s ninjas in the past, appear to be on the up. Graham ‘Oubaas’ Henry has injected six new caps into the playing squad in recent weeks in the quest for depth, with the likes of Victor Vito, Sam Whitelock (who enjoyed a very good Super 14), Zac Guildford and Israel Dagg all showing that New Zealand still has that magic about it. Add to that the improved form of second five-eighth Dan Carter and led by the indestructable Richie ‘Tackles’ McCaw, this is an All Black side all should be wary of.
A noticeable tactical front shown by the Kiwis was their aggression on the counter-attack against Wales. While the second Test wasn’t too impressive, the first would’ve made their opponents stand up and take notice.
After being subdued by the Dragons for the first half at Carisbrook, and Wales did play well, the second half saw the All Blacks injecting more pace into the game whenever Stephen Jones hoofed the ball towards their back three. Richard Kahui’s try toward’s the end of the game epitomised this approach, with Henry also having a side that offloads sometimes more ridicolously then playing Rugby 08 on a PlayStation 2. It’s a young side, but certainly one the Springboks will be very mindful of.
And what of the Boks themselves? Yes, they were very poor in Witbank but much better in East London. Their performances in the second Test was way better then in Witbank, and seeing the squad picked for the Tri-Nations (Beast is back … finally), SA certainly have the depth, experience and class to overcome Australia and New Zealand once more.
The current squad is a mix of the old and new, with experienced campaigners John Smit, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Schalk Burger, Danie Roussouw, Jacque Fourie, Bryan Habana and Jean de Villiers (all of whom have over 45 caps) being complemented by the likes of Gio Aplon, Francois Louw, Francois Hougaard, Juan de Jongh and to a certain extent Morne ‘Win a game’ Steyn, who hasn’t even played 20 Tests but is already firmly part of the furniture.
If SA wins the Tri-Nations, and they should if this current season is anything to go by, next year’s World Cup is looking better than ever. As it stands today, I believe South Africa will become the first nation to retain the title.
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