Bledisloe Cup Preview

Australia looked promising against the springboks, a strong defence and at times a good attack, but they will need all that and a lot more if they are to topple the mighty All Blacks in Melbourne.

The All Blacks are a side that you can never have a lapse in concentration against we saw that against South Africa, the springboks defended well for 65 minutes of the game, this was until Rodney So’oialo caught them unawares with a storming run, run that brought the All Blacks right back into the game. If the Wallabies are to push the All Blacks they are going the have to be on the top of their game for the full 80+.

The aussie defence looks solid and organised, they are also confident that they can shut the All Black attack down. If the wallabies are to be their at the end they will have to produce something of their own with the ball in hand.

In the backs the kiwis have named a new midfield combination in Luke McAlister and Mills Muliaina this could be an area that the likes of Matt Giteau and Stirling Mortlock could exploit. The sides both have knew right wings, as New Zealand has recalled Rico gear and Australia Adam Ashley-Cooper. The All Black backs will be keen to run the ball around alot, so whether the kiwis will have the freedom to do this will rely on the wallabies forwards.

In the pack, The All Blacks have opted to retain Anton Oliver because of his scrummaging ability over Kevin Mealamu, the also have the services of Chris Jack in the locking department returning from parental duties.. And the wallabies pack is unchanged after an impressive showing in South Africa. Wallabies prop Matt Dunning is confident he can challenge the best tighthead prop in the world, Carl Hayman, but the All Black scrum annihilated the Springboks, and should be to strong for the Wallabies.

The All Blacks should dominate at the set pieces, but the Wallabies defence looks solid, therefore we should be in for a tight contest in Melbourne and the All Blacks may be pushed. My tip for this week is for the All Blacks to just scrape home with a low score line of 17-13. First try to big Carl Hayman.

Post your tip in the comments.

Warriors Crush Panthers

The Warriors played like they did in their prime of 2002-2003. They threw the ball around with no fear. For once, they look like a team who can compete with the best.

The warriors started with a bold statement. In their first set of six fullback Wade McKinnon broke though a poor Penrith defence and then offloaded to five-eight and fellow Australian Michael Witt who scored under the posts.

Penrith soon hit back with a try to Luke Lewis. But minutes later the warriors struck back with a snipe out of dummy half by hooker George Gatis. The Warriors continued to throw the ball around, offloading at will. In the seventeenth minute the warriors scored a try almost identical to their first, a Wade McKinnon break and then offloading to Michael Witt who got his second.

Not long after, big Wairangi Koopu barged over to give the warriors 24 points on the board in as many minutes. Then in the thirtieth minute Penrith halfback Craig Gower put a pinpoint kick to the corner for winger Nick Youngquest, hinting that maybe Penrith were not done yet. But two late second half tries for the warriors put Penrith all but out of the match.

The second half was a bit quieter as Penrith closed some of the gaps in their defence. In the 49th minute Keith Peters crossed the white line, to restore some pride for the panthers.

Ten minutes later Man of Match Wade Mckinnon scored one of the tries of the season, receiving an offload from Patrick Ah Van, he raced sixty metres breaking tackles and twisting other players inside out, it really was something special from the warrior’s buy of the season.

The warriors scored two more tries courtesy of big men Epalahame Lauaki and Louis Anderson.

This was a crucial performance by the warriors, backing up from their gutsy victory over the sharks last week.

Warriors: 54 –tries; Witt(2), Mckinnon(2)Gattis, Koopu, Lauaki, Anderson, Goals; Martin (3), Witt (6)
Penrith: -tries; Lewis, Youngquest, Peters
Goals; Gordan

All Blacks Come From Behind

This was the first real test for Graham Henry and his side after comfortable victories against a gutsy Canada and a lacklustre French C team. The Springboks were the only team to have troubled the All Blacks in the past couple of years.

The All Blacks clearly showed their intentions for the world cup as they played a fast-paced game that eventually took toll to a tiring springbok side. Throughout the game the All Blacks looked dominant but credit has got to be given to the South African defence as the All Blacks were tryless until the 68th minute.
The Springboks opened the scoring with a straight-forward kick by veteran Percy Montgomery. Just minutes later the Springbok halfback Ruan Pienaar slotted a monster penalty kick from over fifty metres to give the Boks an early 6-0 advantage. Then the tide turned as the All Blacks started to get their hands on the ball and play an expansive game, running the Springboks around. The All Blacks were eventually awarded some penalties but the ever-reliant Dan Carter looked like he had left his kicking boots at home, missing 2 of his four first half kicks, all ones that he would normally slot with ease. This tied the game up at 6-6 but the All Blacks looking the better side going into half-time.

Then the Springboks pulled off a try completely against the run of play, some rare back play resulting in a five metre line-out to the Boks, this gave them a golden opportunity as they had had the wood on the All Blacks 6th and 7th choice locking combination They pouced with a good maul towards the line and then Stormers flanker Schalk Burger dived over to give the Springboks an 11-6 lead at half-time.

The second half started well for the All blacks as second five-eight Aaron Mauger kicked a drop goal to get the Kiwi’s within two. The All Blacks continued to dominate play, to no avail when Aaron Mauger threw an intercept try to Durban hero Butch James and he ran under the sticks to give the South Africans a 18-9 lead.

The All Blacks continued to dominate and were ferociously attacking the Springbok line when within a few minutes of coming on the field loose-forward Pedrie Wannenburg was sin-binned for hands in the ruck. Dan Carter then kicked a simple penalty goal to get the All Blacks within a converted try. That was not for long as Percy Montgomery kicked a penalty to restore a nine point lead.

With fifteen minutes to go on the clock it looked as if it wasn’t going to be for the New Zealander’s. They were suddenly sparked by a fifty metre kick return by man of the match Rodney So’oailo who then offloaded to fellow Hurricane Jerry Collins, which eventually resulted in All Black captain Richie McCaw Charging over for his tenth test try. The try was converted to cut the Springbok lead to two.

The depth in the All Black subs was paying off as Piri Weepu, Luke McAlister and most importantly Leon McDonald all played well off the bench. McDonald set up a try for speedster Joe Rokocoko after returning a kick and drawing Francois Steyn.

From then on The South Africans never threatened the All Blacks line and the All Blacks wrapped up an intriguing match with the final score at 26-21.

This victory will provide a key psychological advantage to The All Blacks in world cup year.