The second week of RWC 2007 and once again the Southern hemisphere teams look way ahead of the Northern hemisphere teams. The Boks sent out a message to the rest of the world that they are up there with the all blacks as favorites to win the cup. They totally outplayed the English on Friday. Fourie Du preez was the star but there were big games from Butch James, Wikus (standing in for Schalk) and the locks as well. JP Pieterson looks like he has settled as well. The scrums were a concern as they got blown up a few times. Carl Hayman the all black tighthead will be a handful and looks like OS will struggle against him. We should maybe see what Guthro Steenkamp has to offer.
The question is were the boks so good or are England so shite? England are a shadow of the team from 4 years ago. Added to this they had no Wilko and Vickery for the game, they were depleted. They look alot like what the boks looked like in 2003: ie: very average. Are we reading too much into the Boks performance against a very average team? England will have to battle it out with Tonga now for the 2nd spot as Tonga shocked Samoa yesterday.
Elsewhere the Ausies won against a stuttering Wales, the all blacks thumped Portugal and France demolished Namibia who had to play the bulk of the game with 14 men. Ireland have disappointed, they barely won against Georgia and many people had them as an outside bet to win the cup. Brian O’driscolls men look a lot like the other six nation teams. They lack cohesion and are making basic errors.
On a final note why do we have to listen to Hugh Bladen for the Boks games? He is atrocious, very biased, and just bad on the ear. I would like to listen to the English commentary that we get for the other games.
article by:THE SCRUMHALF AM
The question is were the boks so good or are England so shite? England are a shadow of the team from 4 years ago. Added to this they had no Wilko and Vickery for the game, they were depleted. They look alot like what the boks looked like in 2003: ie: very average. Are we reading too much into the Boks performance against a very average team? England will have to battle it out with Tonga now for the 2nd spot as Tonga shocked Samoa yesterday.
Elsewhere the Ausies won against a stuttering Wales, the all blacks thumped Portugal and France demolished Namibia who had to play the bulk of the game with 14 men. Ireland have disappointed, they barely won against Georgia and many people had them as an outside bet to win the cup. Brian O’driscolls men look a lot like the other six nation teams. They lack cohesion and are making basic errors.
On a final note why do we have to listen to Hugh Bladen for the Boks games? He is atrocious, very biased, and just bad on the ear. I would like to listen to the English commentary that we get for the other games.
article by:THE SCRUMHALF AM
