South Africa Looks for Revenge in Rematch
The South African Springboks will look to redeem themselves after a terrible performance in Auckland to open up the 2010 Tri-Nations Cup. The Springboks, however, will have to do it without star centre Bakkies Botha after he was suspended for a head-butt against New Zealand’s Jimmy Cowan.
New Zealand
The All Blacks will look to build on their victory in Auckland. The team’s fine play should help to generate confidence in time for their next match. New Zealand currently sits at the top of the table, albeit with only one game played. However, the All Blacks did manage to score four points for the victory and an additional bonus point for scoring four tries in the match.
Coach Graham Henry chose to go with experience for this year’s Tri-Nations and so far it has paid off. The All Blacks were able to battle in the scrum, a place they were expected to be dominated by the heavier Springboks side. The loss of Botha only helps the All Blacks in that area of the pitch.
New Zealand will also still have to focus on quelling the effectiveness of world class line-out Victor Matfield. Matfield’s presence sparked many experts to note that the Springboks would dominate at set pieces, but the All Blacks proved to be the better of the two sides throughout the match at Eden Park.
The All Blacks may need to focus on Springboks kicker Morne Steyn, who has a tendency to go off on the All Blacks, especially at home. Steyn scored all 12 of the Boks points in the opener and will look to add to an impressive Tri-Nations total in Wellington on July 17th.
The All Blacks made minor changes to their line-up after the victory by calling up wing Zac Guildford and scrum-half Alby Mathewson. The call up of Guildford and Mathewson is meant as a precaution as Joe Rokocoko, Jimmy Cowan, and Richard Kuhai all sustained injuries in the previous match. Kahui has already been removed from the line-up after suffering an injury to his shoulder. Rokocoko and Cowan may be fit to play on the 17th, but if they are not fit, Guildford and Mathewson may see playing time.
South Africa
The Springboks will have to put together a stronger performance if they plan on defeating the All Blacks on the 17th. The Boks looked poised to take over the world number one rankings and repeat as tournament champions prior to the tournaments opening match, but the loss in Auckland throws all that up in the air.
Coupled with a difficult schedule and what appears to be a very determined New Zealand side, the next game in Wellington will be an important one for the Boks. They were unable to get Victor Matfield going and therefore were beaten at set-pieces.
In addition, the loss of Botha will not help them in the scrum. Nevertheless, even without the big centre they should have the advantage at that part of the pitch. Steyn continued to prove why he is one of the best in the world, but the Boks cannot rely on his boot alone to win them matches.
South African coach Peter de Villiers had this to say looking ahead to the weekend: “the guys know they didn’t perform well, they remain proud and realize they have hard work ahead of them this week. The All Blacks were very good at the weekend and they did not allow us the space to play the way we wanted.”
The Boks suffered a further blow as it has been reported that prop Jannie de Plessis will be out of the next match due to an injury. It is expected that he will be replaced with either Botha or CJ van der Linde. Regardless, loosing Botha and de Plessis in the same week strikes a huge blow to the South African camp.
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