Underarms, Catamarans and Food Poisonings

I can’t pick it to be honest. Although the Springboks managed a remarkable win against the All Blacks in Dunedin, you can never write off the Wallabies, especially at home. Rarely has an encounter between Australia and South Africa been so intriguing for All Black fans. South Africa come off their surprise win, and it will be interesting to see if they can back up last week’s effort in Australia. The Wallabies are of course coached by New Zealander Robbie Deans, so All Black fans will be keen to see what we really missed out on. Australia showed glimpses of class against France and Ireland, although neither team was really impressive opposition, and will need to step up big time against a confident Springbok team keen to back up last weeks solid performance against a severely understrength New Zealand side.

If the Boks win, the Tri Nations is as good as wrapped up, unless the All Blacks can pull off a seemingly miraculous win in South Africa, after they’ve won in Australia. They are always bonus points too, I suppose (when was the last time a team got one for four tries?!).

A lot will come down to the ref, depending on how he deals with infringements and off the ball play. If he lets it go, Australia could find their play disrupted, and if he is strict the Boks could find men in the bin. THe Australian refs in the last two matches stopped the game quite frequently, and despite the new ELVs, the games did not flow very well, which plays into South Africa’s hands. Australia will also probably prefer fewer disruptions. Hopefully we will get a flowing game of rugby.

To be honest I think the Boks will win, as they will likely dominate up front. I suppose their backlines are quite even, there are some talented players on both sides and hopefully we will get to see what they can do. Ref permitting, of course.

If I had to guess I would say South Africa 20, Australia 16. But I’m not at all confident about that!