We’ve had the Rumble in the Jungle, the Thriller in Manila, now welcome to the ‘Shocker at the Soccer
Yes, Soccer City is the venue for the next leg of Tri Nations rugby, and what a stadium it is. It was the site of Nelson Mandela's first speech in Johannesburg after his release from prison. It had a fabulous upgrade for the world cup and is now the biggest stadium in Africa, able to seat 94 000 people.
It’s going to be 90 000 screaming Bok fans and probably a few hundred All Black fans enjoying what has to be one of the biggest contests in world rugby, the Springboks taking on the All Blacks.
Nigel Owens is the man in the middle – do the Welsh have anything against the Boks? Ask me next Sunday.
So is it going to be the All Blacks ‘bringing the pain’ or are the Springboks going to get biblical on their asses?
For the Boks the years have stripped back and once again they’re afraid of the dark, of the blackness the New Zealanders bring. Yup, it’s night lights all round again, hugging your teddy and waiting for dawn. The AB X-factor is back, and all of world rugby is scratching their heads again and asking ‘How do you beat the All Blacks?’.
Well, Heyneke Meyer, coach of the Bulls has some pretty good ideas here: http://www.rugby-talk.com/?p=16484
What I’m worried about is that with four weeks to twiddle his thumbs, Pieter de Villiers, a la Baldrick, has ‘Hatched a cunning plan’, which all Springbok fans will watch unfold in horrified fascination. Please don’t tell me they’re planning to play it ‘Loose and Funky’ to try and emulate the AB’s – when the Boks do that they look like a bear trying to breakdance.
This is way I see the match panning out if the Boks are going to win: For the first 20 minutes, the Boks are each going to have enough adrenaline running through their veins to kill a horse – this is their manhood at stake after all. Hopefully this is directed and results in some points. The next forty minutes will be about defense, the AB’s need to feel like they’ve run into a brick wall each time they attack. Then the last 20 minutes will be about sealing the deal as the AB’s tire at altitude.
On the flipside, there is also a distinct possibility of this happening – the first 20 minutes sees a huge amount of energy expended by the Boks, to little or no effect. After soaking this up, New Zealand go on the rampage in the next 40 minutes and rack up enough points to defend in the last quarter, even if they are tiring.
Let’s see what the teams look like later in the week to see which is the liklier outcome.
If you're this side of the water, check out details of Leinster vs Wasps as a warm up this Friday: http://www.harpinonrugby.net/
Ta for the link mate! Are you on Twitter?
ReplyDeleteIt was a great post. I'm on Twitter but not for my blog @mslawski. I'll start following you.
ReplyDeleteCool. There's quite an active rugby Twitter community out there, especially when there's a big game on TV. It's also a great way to plug your blog posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, I must give it a try.
ReplyDelete