Underestimate the Wallabies at your peril

I read the pessimissm about the wallabies players and chances so i got to set the record straight. the wallabies have far better players overall than south africa. and south africa is only marginally better up front because of their locks and not because they are great in the lineout or scrum. you guys said that the bok lineout waasnt its usual self because you lost two guys and bekker and co will make it all better, well meyer has tried a few combos now and they have only had limited succes and the bok scrum is still shit. you guys dont have good scrumming props so that is a leveller with the wallabies who routinely outscrum your supposedly world class front rows. even with beast, bizzie and jannie ytou guys get killed and last year in australia the wallabies slaughtered your scrum it cost you the game. and we only win if the ref is involved? what a load of shit. i saw a pretty toothless bok side get dumped out of the world cup and the rest of the time the boks havent been good enough! Australia have won 7 of the last 9 testts against the boks and three of them were in south africa! so see the aussies are getting more dominant and ewan will only make that better playing the aussie way. which players are better than their aussie counterparts?

front row: strauss is playing unbelievable rugby right now so ill pick him ahead of any aussies

half-back: morne is solid but toomua and cooper will bring far more on attack and you guys dont anyone close enough to beat genia!

centres: jean is doing a solid job but he is mainly there for leadership and the rest of your guys arent putting their hands up for test selection. australia have way more options and lealifano is better than any other south african centre by far put him at 10 and his still way better than any south african. Ashley-Cooper has been the form 13 down south for a few years now.

wings: only habana gets the nod becauuse hes a once in a lifetime kind of talent. the rest are australia. tomane and co will tear south africa apart.

fullback: heres where it gets funny. like your centres none of the saffers are putting there hands up really. willie is making loads of mistakes which would never be accepted in australia. jessie mogg, beale are lightyears better than any other fullback in south africa!

loose forwards: Australia win this easily. hooper, pocock, smith, mowen, fotu man the options are crazy. you guys are slow and lack skills and we can put a loosies on the park that can better your physicality!

So yeah I think the Wallabies have a great future ahead of them under ewan. my prediction is that south africa will lose home and away and finish beneath australia.

 

 Just ask the British Lions, and how did that work out?

-Genia: form was average to poor for the series against B/I Lions.

- Beale: who knows what to expect from him.

He may be found in some bar the morning before the test, or in a fight with the team captain who ever that happens to be at the time.

-Front row? Is that those 3 jokers that got so worked by the British Lions that the Cheerleaders should have been selected instead?

Flyhalf- 

Did he show for practise? Or is he with Beale. Not he cant even find a SuperXV club that wants him. O'conner who? 

Centre- (outside) Adam Ashely Cooper is a makeshift centre who allthough a decent player will not set the world allight.

Mogg- Has proven nothing on the international stage yet. Started season well but his form has dipped.

Wings- Average.

Fullback- Either Beale or Justin Beaber- Depending on who is less hung over on match day.

Mate, the fact you have to use the Lions instead of the Boks to make a point says it all really. the Lions had the better coach but not the better players except in the scrum they had the big edge but the NH are far better scrummagers than all SH sides except Argentina. So what's your real point? Genia is the best 9 on the planet nobody in their right minds would question that and he will thrive under ewan playing aussie rugby not that ugly forward approach failed crusaders model rugby. so yeah the point still stands. oh and what did the scotties do to the bok scrum? yeah keep that in mind! argies are up next mate. so yeah, boks go into the rugby championship with a makesahift fullback, a makeshift centre, a makeshift scrumhalf, a makeshift loosie (lot of you guys reckon alberts is more of a lock). big wake up in store. beaten home and away by australia and most likely the same to new zealand but they are more vulnerable so maybe not.

 We thrashed Australia last year, probably the best hiding you girls recieved all year!

thats an interesting way of putting it mate. heres what really happened last year.

A full strength aussie side crumpled the big bok scrum and won 26-19. The next game was won because of injuries to the aussies injuries so bad that the entire bench was used and we ended with 14 men on the field. it was the worst injury crisis in a single game ever. the boks then got cocky thinking that the win reflected their actual ability thyat goosen and taute were the shit, well a week later, we found out they were! New Zealand dumped the pretenders in a straight fight on their own turf! yeah that really proves something big. So what you really say is that the only win in the last seven tests that south africa could pull off against australia was against an injury hit side that had a forward at centre and ended with 14 men on the field? not much to brag about there mate.
 

"Mate, the fact you have to use the Lions instead of the Boks to make a point says it all really."

Now you are using the All Blacks the top side in the world to make a point. 

Australia typically finish matches with 14 men in the field, and with a forward at centre. 

Not sure why this is often the case. Maybe Hopper knocks out his backline so he can play at centre?

From a somewhat neutral standpoint, I see the Aussies with better high end players. Players that can make a difference on a big stage at any moment. Cooper, Genia, Folau, Beale, O'Connor, and even Pocock. It all depends on the day basically. These guys are real talents and can effect a game with one play. But when it comes to clubs, a currie cup team could give the Rebels or Force a good run for their money.

South Africa on the other hand has more depth. Way more players that can play at a high level. It's probably why they destroyed Australia when they had all those injuries. If I'm not mistaken SA had some injuries as well that game, but they just replace the player with another at basically the same level. If Genia goes down at Scrum half, who's next in line? Whoever it is, it's a big drop off.

 Kind of contradictory, you say don't underestimate the Aussie's yet you're blatantly underestimating the Boks. Typical Aussie fashion forgetting many factors that lead to the rough year last year, with a new coaching staff and half the starting line up retiring we were never going to win everything.

You mention the Bok scrum getting beaten by the Scottish but if my memory serves me correctly didn't the 'Omnipotent Wallaby' suffer a defeat by them while at home in June? Embarrassing stuff really. 

Not to sure about us Saffers having no fullback candidate, pretty adamant Willie Le Roux is shining at the moment.

Keep bigging yourself up, the greater the downfall the more satisfying it is. 

 Sharkbok its nice to see our two ozzies trying to talk up their team and be optimistic. You do well to point out some salient points.

FIrstly your wc win over the Boks was only becuase of the most disasterous ref display ever by the nororious Bryce Lawrence - the nz ref of the year later dumped by the IRB.

Next the match agaisnt Oz last year was only won becuase Morne missed a number of kicks at goal. The match at Lofus saw Oz getting clobbered.

Lets face facts the Lions demolished Oz in the third test.

So now we see Deans being blamed for Wallaby shortcomings - in the eyes of the ozzie fan he is the necessary scape gost.

I would simply like to remind these two OZ chest beaters (IHI and Redsman) that the Rugby Championship has not as yet been played. We dont even know which players will be left standing. We dont know how good the wee abs will be. Pretty poor against England last year and their wins against the French with their tiny pack didnt really inform us much. Seem to be carrying some old hands who are over the hill. 

So its great to see the oz oaks talking up a storm re the Wallbies but dont count your chickens yet oaks! 

Canned rugby I dont quite agree that any side can normally replace injured star players - they are stars because they are in fact rare and irreplaceable.  More often than not replacements are lessor players to one degree or other.

Well Ihi, all I can say is that I hope this latest predicition of yours works out as well as your prediction that Samoa would smash the Springboks.

Hey rooitwit this is a red letter day - a sensible post!  I had better sit down!

Beeno, What I was saying was the drop off from the starting player to the replacement isn't that big. Obviously there is a difference, but with SA it seems to not be as much of one as with Australia. Steyn goes down and Lambie or Goosen go in. Bismark goes down and Strauss goes in. Not huge drop offs at all.

Ihi
I partly agree with you. Steyn and Lambie is no better than Slade or Barrett who are not even first choice flyhalfs for the ABs, if Meyer really wants to get a sense of continuity in attack Jantjies, Goosen and Pollard would be a more suitable option at flyhalf but Meyer is too narrow minded. I've mentioned before boks also have issues with loose forwards, theres no balance of physicality and speed in the backrow and theres no reasonably good ball fetchers except Louw. Deon Fourie could make a impact but is overlooked due to his size and weight, he has been effective enough and can cover both two postions hooker and flanker. In comparison with the Wallabies they have more elusive playmakers and better backs in depth. I differ from your assertion that Leafiiano is better than any other SA centre, he is creative but lacks strength in contact. There is some SA centres that have more potential than him. With the likes of Liam Gill, Higginbotham and Pocock the wallabies would dominate the boks without a doubt. If McKenzie manage the players right the team will front up.