2012 England tour to SA

I am as sick as a dog right now. Pretty much nearly lost my tea after the Wallabies game & had to lie down. However, couldn't stay in bed while SA v ENG was on. I am very happy with the Wallabies win tonight but god the physicality up front in this SA v ENG game is something else.

Come on Saffas!

Yes the physicality from SA has been immense. England are starting to claw the way back into range with these pens.

Bryan Habana had a huge game, MotM for me. Puts a little dent in his performance with that last moment intercept attempt which freed the England wing who scored in the corner, though.

Very good game by SA. ENG not disgraced though. Brilliant dive there for that try at the end by ENG.

Good tight game to watch. The new SA locking pair went very well and refused to take a backward step. Habana back to his best.
Typical tough and uncompromising play from the Boks.
Well done!

Positives:

- Scrum. Snotted them. Good and proper. Coenie did well at TH and LH. Those were the two most ineffective Pom looseheads in a long time.
- Breakdown work improved but initially we got outmuscled. Improved in second half though.
- Lineout. Solid.
- Defense. Scrambled well even if midfield organisation was at times a bit suspect.
- Habana. Immense.
- The locks are international quality but we knew that.

Negatives:

- Hougaard. His kicking game is just not up to test standard and he has this bad habit of looking around too much and misses the ball popping out. He has been doing the same for the Bulls. Doesn't seem to know when to dig in for it and get it out quickly, unlike Smith for the Blicks last night who surely must be the fastest clearing half back I have seen for a long time.I am starting to wonder if he actually can improve at all. But his running in open play and defense is excellent. My conclusion is that he looks like a wing playing half back.
- Steyn's goal kicking. Yips have been building up this year. Could have cost us.
- Defense out wide. Seemed like the English were getting holes if the managed to ship the ball wide.
- Spies. His defense was good and he took good ball in the lineout but he still runs too upright. At least three moves lost momentum because he got smacked back. Every time! Give Daniel a shot.

But as a first hit out with 4 days to prepare it was solid enough and would have been easier had Steyn landed his kicks. Start Daniel and Lambie and Hougaard needs to improve his work at the base of the ruck or he will have to move to the bench.

And why the fuck do we give a touring team the chance to play at sea level in an opening test?????

Frankly, the forwards aggression of both teams, the general ferocity of play, the total raw physicality of this match made the Suncorp game look like an U18s outing.

I thought, overall, on this weekend's display, England looked a much better and better coached team than Wales. Wales issued massive hype about their readiness for Australia - on last night's display they lived up to absolutely none of it.

Australia watch out: the renovated SA under Meyer is going to be a very different proposition to the Boks we've encountered in the last two years.

This year's 4N is shaping to be a marvelous contest.

I still cant believe Meyer leaves Brussow out because he doesn't believe in a fetcher. Its like some cruel twist of fate to a bloke who should be on the park. DeVilliers got smashed by Tuilangi twice, but Tuilangi made alot of unforced errors.

I can't think of too many 13's in world rugby who wouldn't get smashed by a hard running Tuilagi with a full head of steam, running straight at them! Jean is by no means a small man or a poor one on one tackler. Both times he did enough to slow him down for support players to arrive. The rest of Jean's game was good.

Meyer has, for the most part, picked the form players in Super Rugby this year. Brussouw has unfortunately not been one of them. Tough on him to be left out of the squad completely though. But Meyer has hinted that he may consider him for the Rugby Championship if he finishes Super Rugby stronger.

It is also a 'horses for courses' selection I believe. This series against the English will largely be about who wins the physical collisions up front. Perhaps when playing teams like the Wobs and ABs who will look to generate quick ball and then use the width of the field, Meyer might feel it more important to employ a fetcher type player to slow their ball down. Time will tell.

Overall, for a brand new team with a lot of new combinations and 4 days preparation time, I'm happy with that performance. Only possible changes I could see for the 2nd test would be Lambie in at 15, maybe Pienaar in at 9.

Got a feeling that SA might be looking for a new coach soon. Meyer looked like a heart attach candidate last night.

Good effort by my beloved BOKKE!! But I'm a bit pissed of though.. my missus didn't want to give me some 'celebratory nookie' afterwards. Reason? ...I was salivating over our raven-haired medical assistant cum physio following England's injury time try in the corner.. seems as though Steve Walsh couldn't resist her either!
Moral of the story?? Watch the remaining tests at my best mate's place!

Why not Lambie at 10?

Kirchner played very well.

Will Meyer ever drop Spies on bad form, he was hopeless last night!!!

One thing that is pissing me off is that stupid cho cho train shit at the back of the ruck. Watch the poms go counter rucking next week after the absolute nonchalant handling of the ball at the back of the rucks.

Showed good mongrel on attack though. Was good to see!

Welcome back Brian!!!

I think Meyer will not accept mediocrity and will back SPies but if he doesnlt deliver he will drop him. I am quietly hoping for a Vermeulen at 8 or even Burger. Coetzee and Alberts will be hard to drop.

Think it's the right thing to not chnage the team ad he has six more days to work with them but for the third he might ring some changes.

I get please from a lot of things in life, but watching a Bok scrum hand a Pom scrum the arse is right up there. These two young locks can scrum. I think they are physically very strong and we will watch them grow. Exciting.

I think Meyer will need to develop his backs' ability to attack better than what we have seen from SA over the last 4 years. Habana is great, but the selection of someone like Kirchner is overly conservative IMO.

He seems to have a strong allegiance to the Bulls style.
Playing to SA's strengths is one thing, but it makes them predictable and causes them great difficulty when they fall behind. Where is their try scoring ability?

The ball chase is still very reliant on Habana. IMO the Bok better be praying that he stays fit, the game plan would need to be drastically altered if he doesn't as nobody has his effectiveness.

Impressed with F. Steyn, he has improved greatly his first up defence.

Test match 2 will be interesting.

Brown broke his thumb in the first test so he's out of the tour. Nick Abendanon, who is on holiday in SA, is called up as replacement. Smart piece of holiday planning there!

Just to clarify again as some people may not have read much about Meyer's plans.

He has made to clear the the England Tour will be no time to experiment. He will adopt a conservative game plan and pick players who can play it best. Initially they were going to be the most experienced players possible but through injury to the likes of Burger and Bekker, unavailibility of Matfield and du Preez, out of form players like Brussow and guys like Coetzee who just had to be picked he ended up with some new players.

The style they played is not Bulls rugby, it's more Bok rugby and there is a difference but I won't go there now.

He has also made it clear that long term he is looking for players with creativity and X factor. HE has publically used Goosen at 10 as an example who is as complete a 10 coming out of SA as I have ever seen. But don't expect quick changes. We will see gradual changes as younger players get a chance.

Right now our problem sits at 10. If you don't have a 10 that takes the ball flat to the line today you are fucked. You'll create very little. We have those players coming through but they will be eased into the system. Having said that at 33 mins against the Poms they showed Morne's stats. It was like 1 kick, 4 pass and 6 run. We kicked WAY less than I though we would. Anyway I want to see Lambie at 10 but I think it won't happen yet.

And I still want to know how people can keep calling the Bulls non creative as they have scored the most tries this year and in most the years they won the trophy they scored the most or near the most. Maybe not creative in a Quade flip and twirl sense but tactically very creative in terms and wearing down the opposition. But I get that in Australia if it't not a Quade maneuver or a Campo duck dance it's not creative.

Good win for the good men. Havent saw much of England since the WC but they sure look much better coached compare to the Johnson coached teams. Battleship my MOTM and he sure look in excellent shape now. Strauss and Coenie also played well. No way Meyer will change to a winning team and the Bokke will be better prepared for the Lions den test. Hats off to Meyer , you can see this man is on a mission with the Bokke.

Couldn't agree more Paarl. I was struck by how well and aggressively England played - especially in backs' attack, not usually their strongest suit - for much of 80. They were very clearly the best of the visiting NH Test teams last Saturday.