South Africa Set to Face New Zealand
The South African Springboks will host the New Zealand All Blacks for the third and final meeting between the two teams in the 2010 Tri-Nations Tournament. The Boks will welcome an undefeated All Blacks side to Soccer City Stadium over the weekend, in the hopes that the sold-out 90,000 person stadium will cheer them to victory.
In their previous meetings, the All Blacks have dominated, beating the Boks first at Eden Park in Auckland by a score of 32-12. The second match-up was also controlled by New Zealand, as they embarrassed the South Africans at home in Wellington, with a final score of 31-17. Since that second match-up, New Zealand has gone on to defeat the Australia Wallabies twice, while the Boks fell at the hands of the Wallabies 30-13.
Table
Currently, the All Blacks sit at the top of the tournament table with four wins and a total of 19 points. New Zealand also enjoys a point differential of plus-65. The Wallabies are second in the table with four points and a differential of minus-14. The Boks sit last with no wins and zero points, with a differential of minus-51.
If the All Blacks are able to record one point over their last two matches, they will win the Tri-Nations Cup. The Boks, meanwhile, have been eliminated from Cup contention.
Preview
The All Blacks are expected to remain with the same squad that has been fielded in all four matches thus far. With no suspensions or injuries so far, the line-up does not looked to be effected before the game this weekend.
Conversely, the Springboks coach Peter De Villiers was forced into making changes to the line-up that suffered a loss at the hands of the Wallabies. Lock Andries Bekker will miss the next match due to injury, while scrum-half Ruan Pienaar has suffered a similar fate and will not be ready for Saturday. In addition, Jaque Fourie will not be available for the game, as he is still serving a suspension.
De Villiers has called up five players to join the rest of the existing roster for a four day training program this week.
Frans Steyn, who is currently playing in France, will make the trip to camp, and will be joined by Juan Smith and Heinrich Brussow from the Cheetahs, as well as JP Pietersen and Bismarck du Plessis from the Sharks.
It is still unclear who will be playing in the all-important scrum-half position, however, Ricky Januarie, who played the position in both games against the All Blacks to start the tournament, is expected to check back in for the third meeting.
Analysis
Although the Boks are no longer able to win the tournament title, there is still a lot on the line. The South Africans are playing in the new national stadium for the first time and will not be willing to concede the tournament title in front of 90,000 home fans. Nevertheless, the Boks have looked poor throughout the course of the competition and they will have to bring their ‘A’ game if they hope to compete with the impressive 2010 All Blacks side.
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