England lose to Wales, the Springboks are back, and Ireland are cruising along.

 

 Jean de Villiers ( picture http://bit.ly/1iDhtM0 )

Argentina got the weekend action going, flattening Georgia and scoring 7 tries. The Pumas are in some form and are going to be a horrible team to meet in the next round – and if Ireland win their group, that’s who they’ll meet. But still not as horrible as facing the All Blacks, and one thing at time.

Italy had to work really hard to beat Canada – amazing when you think that the Italians are professionals, and get regular top class rugby in the 6 Nations. Canada, meanwhile, still have a few amateurs, who will have taken time off work to be at the World Cup, and get to play in bits and pieces tournaments.

South Africa got their World Cup back on track with an impressive win over Samoa. It didn’t disappoint in the quality of the collisions, but it was pretty one sided in the end. South African captain, former Munster man and all round gent Jean de Villiers, just recently back from a long injury lay off, broke his jaw but played on for another 10 minutes. He’s just announced his retirement from the game as a result of the injury, with over 100 caps under his belt for the Springboks.

The England Wales match was World Cup final intensity, which England came out just the wrong side of. Wales are continuing to ship injuries at a rate of knots, but manged to get their two scrum halves to produce a bit of magic for the win. I was hoping for a draw, which would have been affair result, and increased the chances of them both making the next round. The Wallabies have already won it twice, so I’m not going to be gutted if they drop out. And I really hope England make it out of the group, you’d be really hard hearted not to acknowledge what a fantastic job they’ve done with the tournament, and how the English crowds at the matches have really got behind the teams.

Australia dispatched Uruguay with ruthless efficiency ( I’m nearly dead cert for worst defeat!) in the first game on Saturday.

Then Scotland took their time to sort out the USA, they got the job done well in the end, after being behind at half time. The USA have some really good players, but can’t put in a team performance for 80 minutes. Scotland are playing well these days, and there are good games ahead when they face Samoa and the Springboks.

Finally, Ireland rounded things off with another good win, this time over Romania. Fair enough, the Romanians had had only 4 days to recover from their defeat to France, but it wasn’t an Irish A team either, with a lot of squad players given a  runout. Earls played really well, as did Zebo and Tommy Bowe, we’re building up nicely, bring on Italy and France!

Friday, September 25
Argentina 54 - 9 Georgia    15:45
Saturday, September 26
Italy 23 - 18 Canada    13:30
South Africa 46 - 6 Samoa    15:45
England 25 - 28 Wales    19:00
Sunday, September 27
Australia 65 - 3 Uruguay    11:00
Scotland 39 - 16 USA    13:30
Ireland 44 - 10 Romania    15:45

Tri Nations 2010 – Springboks invent aromavision

Before I begin, something more important than rugby, I’m sure all our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch as they recover from that devastating earthquake.
Now to the last Tri Nations match of 2010 for the Boks, where the Springboks have managed to surge ahead in the technology stakes. The history of broadcasting has been marked by jumps in technology – radio to black and white TV, black and white to colour, then HD came along and 3D is the latest innovation. That was until this weekend when the Springboks unleashed aromavision, yes you could clearly smell their performance even in all the way away in Ireland. There is an eloquent Afrikaans word that describes the Springboks right now, and it’s ‘kak’. Even the English speakers among us may not need a translation when I tell you their preparation was kak, their team selection was kak ( what did Frans Steyn do apart form scowl magnificently?), their attitude was kak, their coach is kak, their defense was EXTREMELY kak, the commentary courtesy of Bobby Skinstad was kak… have I left anything out? Of course , their tactics, which in a word were…? Kak! Why not kick it into the crowd if you have to kick it out?

The crowd should have started booing them after 5 minutes, instead of after half an hour. Yes I know, they played well in patches, there were a few performances not covered in poo, Gurthro Steenkamp was immense for instance, Jean de Villiers scored a sublime try which almost but not quite makes up for his slack defense, and Victor Matfields break and chip and catch were from another planet.

The Aussies beefed up their pack, gave the ball a bit of air and were in complete and utter control for the first half hour, playing exciting, flowing nearly unstoppable rugby. They have blooded a new set of young players and the future looks bright for them.

As for the Boks,I have to say I breathed a sigh of relief as Wayne Barnes blew his whistle and flushed the 2010 season away for the Boks. A season to forget.

Magners’ League

Leinster got the weekend off to a poor start with a narrow loss to Glasgow, while the other three provinces all managed to come up trumps in their matches. It’s great to have the matches on Irish telly, but as I discovered, you still have to remember to watch them. Note to self – must do better.