Homeward Bound

The past two weeks in the Tri Nations featured New Zealand and Australia playing each other in home and away games. The Convicts took the first game by 15 points before those guys who wear the Gothic clothes and do that dance before the game, returned the favour by whipping the Aussies by 21 points this past weekend. Before this past Saturday everyone was talking up the Aussies and some people in the media made it seem like the AB’s had as much chance of winning the match as Paris Hilton has of winning the US elections. After watching these two games, I have reached the following conclusions and I will now bestow my knowledge upon thee…

1) This is the toughest and tightest Tri Nations we have witnessed for years. The margin for error seems so small, that if one team relaxes for a few seconds, the other team punishes them instantly – think back to Dunedin and Ricky January.

2) Home advantage is huge. Winning at home has become the norm with the only exception thus far being New Zealand – think back to Dunedin and Ricky January. This bodes well for the Springboks too, who are probably placed the best of all the teams at the moment, with all their home games still to come.

3) Teams tend to run out of steam if they play three weekends in a row. Both teams who have played 3 in a row, seriously faded away towards the end of the second halves of their 3^rd game. Keep this in mind with the Boks playing Argentina this weekend, followed by the three Tri Nations Tests on consecutive weekends.

4) A week is a long time in rugby. All three teams have been spoken of as probable winners and probable last-comers-in-the-competitioners. And two of the three teams’ speculative positions in the competition have swayed to the extremes in the matter of a week.

5) And finally… Watching Test match rugby without the Springboks playing is a bit like watching gay porn. They do their best to convince us all that it’s still Test rugby, but we all know there is something seriously missing. Sorry for that horrible metaphor – I probably just gave my father the shock of his life. Dad, just think back to Dunedin and Ricky January!!

But come Saturday, no more gay porn for us!! Our blood turns green once again as the Springboks take on Los Pumas at Coca Cola Park – that’s Ellis Park’s new name which cost Coke a cool R45 million. Poor old Ellis – whoever he was. The Argies have come to the land of the Bok with an under-strength team, leaving a few of their high profile players in France to continue teaching them how to play rugby. The match will be contested under new/newer than the older ones/ not quite brand new/but still newish rules – the rules currently being played in the Currie Cup and NOT the rules being played in the Tri Nations.

Maradona’s countrymen should not be underestimated however. After all they did finish above Australia and New Zealand in the World Cup. They are masters of playing ugly rugby and normally use their forwards to play the type of game that they want the opposition to play. Still, the Mighty Boks are fine tuning their game for the final home run of the Tri Nations. The Cup is in our own hands and all we need to do to win the Tri Nations, is win our three remaining home games. Easier said than done, I know. But all in all, I expect the Boks to win by 20 and Pierre Spies will score a try.

Jongi Nokwe gets his debut Test in place of the injured Habana. And Luke Skywatson comes in for Schalk. And in the front row it looks like BUUUUUUUUSSST!!!! has gone past Gurthro Steenkamp to acquire a starting birth. Whether he has passed him permanently, we’ll have to wait another week to see. One thing is for sure, the Puma scrum will test him on Saturday. On the bench, PdV has sent Ruan Pienaar and Frans Steyn to their provinces to get a full game under their belt before they’ll return to the squad next week. Fourie du Preez and Jacque Fourie return to the team after long injury lay-offs. They will both be vital players in the upcoming Tests. Add them to Joe van Niekerk (49 caps) and Old Percy (98 ) and we probably have the most experienced bench in our history.

Here’s the full team:

15-Conrad Jantjes, 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Adrian Jacobs, 12-Jean de Villiers, 11-Jongi Nokwe, 10-Butch James, 9-Enrico Januarie, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Juan Smith, 6-Luke Watson, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Bakkies Botha, 3-CJ van der Linde, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 1-Tendai Mtawarira.

Reserves: 16-Adriaan Strauss, 17-Brian Mujati, 18-Andries Bekker, 19-Joe van Niekerk, 20-Fourie du Preez, 21-Jaque Fourie, 22-Percy Montgomery.