Wallabies pip the Springboks in another Tri Nations thriller

Habana needs a rest big time, didnt know beale had it in him

fortunately the anonymous above did not state the obvious (first)

Well, Im going to get trampled for my comment, but here goes.


Somewhat ironic for SA to loose with a penalty kick from 50m in the end-time, isn't it?

Funny stuff, what's happened to South Africa?

I remember the Saffers were forever labelling Australia as the Wobblies.

^ What is funny?

Awesome kick from Beale under pressure. He's stepped up big time for Aus.

Nice to know that we can still score tries but wtf is going on with the defense?! At times the tackling is immense but the actual defensive patterns seem all of the place at the moment.

That said, Australia are playing the game at an incredible tempo, and on top of that they've got Elsom and Pocock stealing ball all match long. Dangerous side, congrats to them for the win.

^^^ Not ironic mate, just an unfortunate coincidence

Gary Gold said earlier in the week there were no structural problems with thre Bok defence. Hmm...

That said, great win for Australia. But I would be more than a little concerned if I were the Aussies though -- they checked out once they had a lead. Hate to say this, but again I question Elsom as an int'l captain -- do you think McCaw would let the All Blacks fold like that in a match on the highveld? No wy in hell.

Habana is in awful form, needs time away from the game. And once again SA pays for not selecting a true openside. Also, Frans Steyn failed to impress, he can get fairly lazy at times back there.

Next week should be interesting.

Got to say I though the last game was high scoring and intense, this was probably even better, good to see sides running with the ball looking to score.

Fair play to beale for kicking that, takes balls after taking that howler to the face 5 minutes earlier.

Hope the aussies, still have gas left for the All Blacks, could be an immense encounter.

P.S. I hope these law changes mean that Wales may be able to do well at the w/c...

what law changes?

was an amazing match!!!

2 things, neither of them constructive or inteligent
richard brown is garbage.
wayne barnes is an idiot

The Springboks will never take the RCW next year as long as the current SA coaching setup stays. And they are not going anywhere - much like our defensive patterns.

Great long kick by Beale - why does some wanker above call it an "ironic" end to the match? There is more to international rugby than the B&I Lions failure in SA last year.

Well done Australia. You deserved the win in the end despite the Bok fightback. Bucky Gunts.

First off: Well done the Wallabies. I had a feeling when Robbie Deans took charge that they'd take a while hitting their straps, but i reckon they'll do a sneaky one next year and win the big dance in Auckland.

But what an embarrassment Springbok rugby has become!!! Guided by a coach more interested in making pointless arrogant and enigmatic statements to the press than in demonstrating his somewhat dubious coaching ability on the park we've gone from world champs to world chumps in 3 years. Fucking lame. At least we know Jake White should be getting the credit for the Lions tour victory!

If SA rugby has any bollocks at all they'll swallow their pride and admit that P Divvy was only picked because of his skin colour and should be ditched like the dead weight he is proving himself to be. First loss to Aus on the highveldt since 1963, something is definitely up. Habana, Smit, Spies, Steyn, take a break from rugby. This would have been a perfect opportunity to give the young guns a go, but no. The stupidity is physically painful to watch.

penalty kicks should not be worth 3 points. in the modern game a penalty anywhere in your own half usually results in 3 points. it's just not right. i'm not a league fan but they've got it right by reducing the value of kicks, you hardly ever see players going for posts unless the scores are really close. it's not entertaining watching steyn (or any other kicker for that matter) knocking over 6 or 7 penalties in a game, in fact it's fucking boring!

thoughts?

But if you reduce the number of points for penalties, teams are just going to cheat much more and kill the ball and wreck the game cos they won't be giving away as many points as before.

"I remember the Saffers were forever labelling Australia as the Wobblies."

Actually, I think you'll find that most SAs have a grudging respect for Australia when it comes to sport. There are few sides that we hate to lose to more.

^ Plus I believe the AB fans actually coined that phrase/term

I think maybe tries should be given more points, rather than penalties given less. Wait, maybe it actually doesn't make a difference... I'm too tired.

I mightnt get to watch the Aussie All black game - but im gonna get front row seats for the France Aussie game

in my opinion this beats wales vs scotland and SA vs australia (last week) for match of the year

schalk burger is awsome
SA dont need an openside with him in their team

Great game to watch. Intense till the very very last seconds. Good win for the Aussies, they really deserved it.

The Wallabies' free-flowing attacking style of play is great to watch and effective, as the numerous quality tries prove, so do the never ending support, the good momentum etc...


However something kinda worrying for Australia, is they consistency: leading by 25 pts at one stage, and next thing you know is the opposition is putting on a massive come-back, actually, when the boks started their comeback this afternoon I kept thinking Australia were just going to watt h and suffer the same fate as the previous week in Pretoria.

This shows a serious issue about the belief in itself this team has, their concentration level, and constistancy. Rocky Elsom may well be a world. Lass flanker, but I'm not quite sure he's a boorn leader, so maybe stifling mortlock shud regather captaincy when back in full form.

Player-wise, quad Cooper was once again impressive in his decision making and the way he lead the attacks. Plus his partnership with will genia and Matt giteau is working very well.
David pock was absolute perfect, counter rucking and stealing precious ball possessions all over the park.
Kurtley beale, good game, takes nerves to slot a match-winning 50+ penalty at a young age.

Victor matfield's little chip kick was class, it shows that SKILL levels in SH are higher than in the NH, ,ever will Lionel nailet, Paul oconnell or borthwick pull out such a trick.

But all in all, a cracking thriller.
Looking forward to next weeks game in Sydney.

YEEEEEEEWWWWWWW. so happy

i thought the game was great
the wallabies played a great game in the 1st half but seem to take there foot of the gas in the 2nd half

great come back from the boks. with a close finish.

i loved every second of the game

The all blacks are expecting the aussies to target Crudens channel, I think the Abz should target Coopers channel too, Atleast two of those springbok tries came from him pretending to be a revolving door. How did the aussies almost lose that one again tho, makes for good rugby to watch tho.. two good games in two weeks from these two teams

In the end Oz deserved to win, their first half excellence and the 5 tries to 3 makes it a fair result. But nobody could have really grumbled if the Boks had got up either. But there's no doubt the Oz attacking play made SA look 2nd rate in the first half, just as it did last week. And although SA lifted the intensity and drive to make a great comeback I can't help thinking that even when they seem to be taking control of the game they look very predictable and conventional in attack.. only Matfield's breakout to make their first try showed any real flair. As long as you keep tackling hard and hitting the breakdown (as the ABs did and Oz sometimes did) SA seem to run out of options quickly. It makes a strange comparison to the confidence and variation shown by the better SA sides during the S14 comp. Is this a coaching problem or is this SA combo getting a little long in the tooth? Apparently it's the most capped SA test side ever to run on a field, which would have real plusses in terms of experience but maybe some minuses in terms of being set in its ways. Just a few thoughts.

i think you're right there. there comes a point when experience is out-weighed by general weariness. Even before kick-off Habana, Smit, and De Villiers looked like they wanted to be somewhere else. If PdV had a brain at all he'd have rested all the oldies for the rest of the year starting from the first home game. Give them a break! They've been playing non-stop since 2007 and it's ridiculous to expect them to perform at 100% week in week out. Hopefully the rumours about PdV getting his marching orders tomorrow (his comments supporting alleged murderer Bees Roux and telling SA supporters that doubting his coaching talents is somehow unpatriotic) are true and we can say goodbye to this doofus. With all the rugby talent available in SA and a decent coaching trio (say, Heyneke Meier, Jake White, and the Stormers defensive coach) imagine what could be! Is it too much to hope that the powers that be can look past politics this time?

Kudos to Aussie though, i didn't think Beale had the minerals to come back from a few shocking mistakes to knock over that 55 m kick. Wayne Barnes had a pretty good game too, i like his reffing style: very clear, even if he does sound like a dick in the process. Fair result all round i reckon, SA didn't deserve to win after their impression of the Blind Paraplegic XV in the first half.

I live in Scotland and this is the first year ive followed the Tri nations. That match was hands down the most enjoyable neutral game ive had the pleasure to watch. Epic stuff.

If this Wallabies pack can maintain their consistency for 80 minutes, and remember that they're a side capable of scoring a try and winning against the Springboks with 14 men and 10 minutes to go - they can win the World Cup next year.

What's wrong with SA.. Their defense is horrendous.. Habana has been playing like shit over this whole tri-nations campaign. that is as plain as for all to see but PDV keeps choosing him. Time to give others a chance.

Pls sack PDV if not SA is in real trouble for the RWC. Please let him go now. The team has only gone downhill since he has arrived.

very enjoyable game - Pocock is amazing, and the wallabies midfield were superb in the first half.

All in all a great game of rugby for the neutral to watch.

As and England supporter all I can say is I'm very worried. The passing for the Australian first try was absolutely amazing and a forward kicking like that... at our club that's a finable offence :)

Reading comments here bores me sometimes:
According to some commentators, there ar idiots all over and southern hemisphere rugby is always better than SH rugby. There are different styles of rugby, get over it.
The thing with reducing the points for penalty kicks is interesting, but only for top class rugby. On the lower levels a penalts kick near half way line is seldom... so different rules for tri nations & co? Also the argument about slowing down the ball is correct - more sin bins would be a solution, but a pretty harsh one...

Why was the spear tackle only greated with a YC. If you read the IRB directive it appears it should be a RC.

Thoughts

I have been a Springbok supporter for 26 years. I won't stop being a Springbok Supporter. I am not a Pieter De Villiers supporter. They hired this clown to wound the Springboks. The evidence is clear, he is not fit to coach the Springboks. Imagine if we brought in an Aussie or a Kiwi coach such as Eddie Jones what could be achieved? If it can't be a white South African coach, why can't they bring in a foreigner who can speak English and who is mentally sound? Why do they have to have an unqualified/inexperienced coach of colour coaching the Boks? The slow decline of the Boks is not down to the players. I went to watch Saracens play yesterday - there were so many South Africans in that team including Schalk Brits, its no wonder SA rugby is weak. The reason SA loses its players is obviously down to the way the Bok team is managed, but also because of the higher salaries in the Northern Hemisphere. E.g. Ruan Pienaar, Peter Grant - the list is endless. Sort it out! Just sort it out!

SO CLOSE!!!!

The aussie got some awsome youngsters, beale, pockock, genia, o'connor and cooper, are still under 23 and developing in to the best players in the world in there own postion.

39th

Australia has a lack of power, but in terms of pace and speed, they're incredible. Cooper, Giteau, Beale and O'Connor, it's simply amazing when you love rugby. Elsom and Pocock are very good too btw, intelligent and everywhere on the field.

I don't recognize SA anymore, Bulls and Stormers are the best defensive teams by far in S14, so what happened???

Australia has potentially the most dangerous backline in the world, and when they get it working they're damn near unstoppable.
But the problem is they are struggling to get it working for more than 10 or 20 minutes at a time.
If they put together an 80 minute preformance consistently they'll be world cahmpions.

Matfield could have just made a pass to Fourie before, instead of this kick... but it was more spectacular and funny like that lol

I woke up at 3am to watch this game and I wasnt disappointed. The game certainly entertained and played at breakneck pace.

Both teams deserved to come out on top after that. The Wallabies put on a monster effort at the beginning, but then the Boks came back strong.

BUT, I dont want to burst the Aussies bubble I wouldnt call that a great performance by the Wallabies. Their meltdown just before half time was astonishing. After scoring 4 tries, it looked like they had logged off mentally, as if getting that 4-try bonus point was the aim of the game. The Boks at the 60min mark enjoyed something like 89% possession in the second half! The way the Safs scored were also of concern: the Boks scored tries going up the guts. Matfield picked up the ball from the ruck and went right through untouched. De Villiers ran inside, brushing aside Cooper and 4 others like they were mozzies. And that Saf prop couldnt be stopped by 5 guys.

The papers back in Aussie are heralding this as a classic test for the ages, and whilst it was one helluva entertaining game to watch, I wouldnt bet the house that the Wallabies will win next weekend with their defence holier than Good Friday.

wasup, the all blacks will almost certainly win.
As you say, while it was a great test match to watch and the Wallabies had an incredibly good first half hour of play, I was tearing my hair out with their second half display (everything but that last five or ten minutes of the second half anyway).
How the hell did they manage to almost lose the game when they were up 31-6 after 24 minutes?
That's a massive lack of composure, and it's the weakness of this Aussie team.
They are incredibly good for small patches, unstoppable. Then they seem to switch off, and are incredibly bad at defending their lead.
If it's addressed, they will be capable of winning the world cup, if not, they'll crack when the pressure's on and go out in the semis or quarters.
This victory might just be the catalyst for the walla bies to develop into an 80 minute team.
And if this team can play like they did in the fisrt half hour of this game for 80 minutes they will beat anyone, including the All Blacks.

Hey anon, Matfield had a defender on him and covering defenders coming across. If he'd just passed to Fourie, there would have been one extra defender, who could have come across to get Fourie.
The kick took a defender out of the equation and left him with a two on one attacking opportunity.
So no, his chip kick was definatly not pointless.

Bokke_2007.... Anything to add to this, or are you going to keep hiding like you have all tri-nations... you little South African coward! LOL

Bokke team is too old, they peaked last year... And apart from a opportunistic world cup win in 07 did pretty much shit all leading up to 09.

They need an external coach, they could take their pick... Who wouldn't want to coach a team with such talent coming through.

Rugby is a strange game, last year SA on top of the world... a year later, just a pretender.

^ that's not so strange. Just look at Ireland :) The only difference being they've done nothing pre-2009 either.

The Boks did however win the Tri Nations in 2004, and compete with Aus & NZ every year in the tournament. That's not doing nothing. 'Opportunistic win'? They beat all in front of them. Pumped England 36-0 (beat them twice in the end) and beat Argentina, a team who were on serious form. You can only play who's good enough to be there.

I agree about the coaching though, or more-so, the selections.

Springbok fans shouldnt be too concerned. The WC is still a long time away and the last few games showed that if they get their defensive patterns right, they still have everything needed to beat the best in the world. Lots of hard work between now and the world cup though.

Kurltly Beale - from falcon to folklore. Brilliant kick there.

please post a new clip showing John Smit one-hand ball pick-up, after Morn Steyn offload!!!
That was amazing!!!

"Why was the spear tackle only greated with a YC. If you read the IRB directive it appears it should be a RC."

It looked like a spear and like you I thought that meant red. But the citing committee, in its great wisdom, has since given Faingaa the same punishment as Cooper and De Villiers, and less that Jaques Fourie (though he had previous history).

I'd be interested to see RD put together a vid comparing the tackles, and asking at the end what the commissioners are smoking.

Disagree re: world's most dangerous backline. To me, that's NZ and it's not even close.

Great game. Good that the Aussies finally didn't totally repeat their choking like they did last time - that last kick from Beale shows the guy has great character.

That game was a credit to both teams.

Anon: I've been away the last three months working in the South Pacific doing coral reef ecology research. Not bad work if you can get it. :p
Very little TV coverage over there either, to be honest (i.e. only FOX News, if you're that way inclined..), so this 3N has been missed. Looking at the results and the highlights, however, that's probably a good thing. How the Boks have gone from top to bottom so rapidly is amazing, and a pretty good reflection of PdV's coaching style and acumen. The players look tired and uninterested, like they're bored of having PdV's ego ruining things in the background, and the whole series was lost by the selection of either good players out of position (Jean de Villiers, Kankowski, James etc.) or bad players anywhere (Januarie). Add to that the ineptitude of Muir and Gold (remember how good the Lions were with Dick Muir in charge?!! and how much better they are now under John Mitchell??!!) and it's a recipe for disaster. Hey, at least there's still a year til the big dance. But i for one have no confidence in the ability of SA Rugby and the powers that be to swallow their pride and kick PdV to the ditch.

Looks like the Abs have turned a corner though, with the laws now favouring their "run at all costs" game plan that failed so dismally last year. Funny how changing the tackled ball laws so slightly can have such an influence on how the game is played. NH players had better up their fitness otherwise it's going to be carnage! My $$$ is still on Australia though, they're coming good at the right time, and NZ will have to lose a game at some point. It won't be this year, and it probably won't be in the shortened 3N next year. But like the sun will rise tomorrow, they will have to lose at some point. And, when it does, I'm not sure whether I could handle living in a nation on suicide watch!!!

And back to "anon": as for being a coward, I guess not posting a name wins you points in that game too. And since when did anyone over the age of 16 use "LOL"?

Let the games begin. ;)

^Bokke_2007: interesting that you highlight the change in the tackle ball laws as the number one factor of the All Blacks winning this year.

Considering the ABs have won 7 out of the last 10 Tri Nations (including 4 years in a row in 2005-2007 before the Boks won in 2008), couldnt you turn around and say that the only reason the Boks won last year was because of the law change that happened then?

And fair enough picking Australia to win based on NZ have to lose a game at some point. The ABs have won 85% of their games during the last 10 years. So going by that, NZ should lose 3 out of 20 games. I dont know about you, but Id take those odds heading into the WC.

^PS: your job does sound pretty cool, actually. :-)

yeah man i can admit that for sure. The whole game of rugby since the ELVs were first trialled has been a see-saw between styles. Last year the boks with our swarming defense and kicking game were favoured, this year it's the ABs and the Crooks with their free running. I'd definitely rather be an AB supporter right now if I'm honest as they're looking pretty unstoppable. They still haven't played a real "pressure" game though since the 2007 quarter final though (Soweto doesn't count, it was close yes, but the series was over). The choker tag dies hard, and I'm still calling the Aussies on this one (unless PdV gets the chop soon, in which case we may still be in with a shout). And yes, the work is pretty sweet! Unfortunately the flip side is sitting in a lab for the next 6 months!

^^^
Amazing the shit some fans spew out their ass. Stay on the sidelines where you belong.

A few opinions thrown here:

1 Victor Matfield is by far the best lock forward in world rugby and one of the great second rowers this sport has ever seen.

2 Bryan Habana needs to go on a couple month's holiday to a caribbean island and switch off. He's a colossal player but is now really lost.

3 Quade Cooper is the best attacking no. 10 in the world, along the one and only Dan Carter, but more aggressive.

4 It's a shame Morne's only asset is his perfect kicking. He can't tackle, can't run and briefly passes the ball.

5 Isn't Drew Mitchell, along with Corey Jane, the most dazzling winger in the SH nowadays?

6 David Pocock is a freak in what he does.

7 James O'Connor has grown from being a perfect Justin Bieber double to a pain in the ass for every defence.

8 Pierre Spies is the MOST OVER RATED rugbier in the world. He's a freak athlete but makes not even 1/10 of the damage Imanol Harinordoquy is capable of.

9 Australia lacking a good no. 8 at the moment. And before you mention Wycliff Palu, that man can't help but knock on every single ball he takes

Enough said...

Juggernauter -- Cooper is an immense talent, but I thought he was quiet in this match. Shame he won't get to face DC this week in Sydney.

Anon: we're just discussing the rugby. If you want to be rude and gratuitously offensive without contributing anything at all then go on Jerry Springer.

Palu doesn't knock on every ball wtf makes you say that?
Ia gree with almost everything else you;'ve said though Juggernator, but lay off Palu, he's an excellent no 8.
I'd take him over spies any day of the week and twice on tuesdays.

Jono

As I established earlier, it's just my opinion, I ain't telling you it's the absolute truth, so just chill out man.

Anyhow, most of the times I've seen Palu playing -and believe me, I've seen him playing tons of times- he does seem to me to be like a pretty one dimensional no. 8, and most of the times he just knocks the passes he receives, and doesn't handle the ball greatly.

Again, these are my personal thoughts.

Cheers

I'm sorry, I missed the final part

Jono

(...)

And for me Palu doesn't have the soft hands of, say, Kieran Read, Imanol Harinordoquy, Jamie Heaslip or Juan Manuel Leguizamn. Event though, I Think he's an inmense presence in defence.

Cheers

Juggernator, I wasn't having a go at you man, I just swear alot when I talk, even on the internet!
Just talking about rugby man, not personal.
I personaly don't agree that Palu drops alot of catches, I've just never seen that in him, he makes dozens of hit ups a game, he couldn't be knockling it on that much.
You are right about his defence though.