International Games Today

I have to say that both the All Blacks and the Wallabies was really not up to standard and they were indeed lucky to win by a drop kick and penalty when the game was already practically over.   The Aussies were in fact better than the All Blacks - after all the Welsh was the top team in the Six Nations, the POMS came second and the irish was not altogether in the running.

Insofar as the SA team is concerned I am very worried about some players in the SA team and especially Morne Steyn.   He was not really top class today, but we have youngsters like Goosen that would do a better job.

Now for the controversial comments.   I hope the Argentinians do well tonight.  After all we need some competition in the Four Nations tournament.  I do not like one-sided games and that is what we will have against the All Blacks and the Wallabies if they play according to todays games.    Under pressure they were both poor and errors came quick and fast.

Couldnt agree more Mike but maybe we are being a bit shallow on how well the Welsh and Irish played. To me these teams played to the potential we saw them display at the RWC, I stated earlier that the Welsh will be a massive team by the next RWC, Ireland defended as though there lives depended on  it and of all games the conditions werent dry or fast as what we had or what the Wallabies had with the closed roof.

However Ireland showed us something that  we if we are smart enough can work on tol beat the AB's and thats simply to shut down their backline - they simply didnt kick the ball and just matched the the AB forward pack that looked really weak at times particuarly there front row. It just boughgt the AB's down to the level of what the Irish were capable of matching.

The Welsh I rate very highly and all the SH teams need to be concerned  about what these guys are bringing to the table. They have more flair then us they have a very mobile forward pack that looks exceptionlly fit. Most importantly they are young, but last night as with the Irish they were unlucky.

As for SA if we can string together the first half performance into the second then I beleive we will no doubt be the team to beat based upon what we saw last night from the AB's and Wallabies. But as you know rugby week by week is fickle so lets see what next week brings.

However, caution and a point to ponder the Bokkies have put together 80 decent minutes of rugby over the last two tests...Against the 4 nations we will not survive if we put togethe r40 minute rugby..Our SH opponents showed the most important aspect that I still think we havent been tested on and that is winning the close ones and doing against the odds. Yes as you alluded to when the pressure came on errors came quick and fast.

I am not taking away anything from what we done all I am pointing out is what I have been harping on and on about and that when we get to the close close games will we be able to do what the Wallabies have shown twice and now the AB's have shown against a desperate Irish. The fact that we let the English come back to within 4 points tells me we have a lot more to work on than we think. You always felt as though we had this game even though they got close where as the Welsh and Irish had put a lot more pressure on there opponents

Go the Bokkie