2011 Tri-Nations Superthread

thomond2006

Shortened competition this year due to the World Cup.

I've started a prediction pool too, this also includes the RWC warmup tests:

http://www.sportguru.co.uk/summer/pool.asp?p=10009133
Pool name: boards.ie
Pool code: zealrump

South Africa have named a 27 man squad for their away leg of the Tri-Nations. They say that 20 or so frontline players are injured (which could be well be bull****), SANZAR will hopefully reprimand them if they are taking the piss. If Australia and New Zealand name full strength teams then that South Africa A squad will get murdered.

Backs: Gio Aplon, Bjorn Basson, Juan de Jongh, Adrian Jacobs, Elton Jantjies, Patrick Lambie, Charl McLeod, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndungane, Wynand Olivier, Ruan Pienaar, Morne Steyn.

Forwards: Heinrich Brüssow, Jean Deysel, Dean Greyling, Alistair Hargreaves, Ryan Kankowski, Werner Kruger, Ashley Johnson, Johan Muller, Coenie Oosthuizen, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Danie Rossouw, John Smit, Deon Stegmann, Adriaan Strauss, Flip van der Merwe.

Stev_o

SA will be lucky to only concede 40 points a game with that squad. If your going to do something like that why bother have a 3N anyway?

Anyway think NZ should win this comfortable.

Phonehead

South Africa sending out the reserves, serious case of taking the michael here.

Don't think the SARU care if they are given a rap on the knuckles.

CatFromHue

the boks arent sending their strongest side and yet somewhere down the line i can see people giving out about poor attendances at games.

new zealand playing their first two games at home gives them a pretty good start.

the aussies arent too happy with the boks schenanegans:

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7027530,00.html

Investigation into 'unusual' Bok injuries

The Australian Rugby Union has called on chiefs to investigate South Africa following their announcement that 21 of their top players are unavailable.

South Africa said on Wednesday that 21 of the preliminary World Cup squad were injured and unavailable for the away leg of the Tri-Nations.

The Boks meet Australia in Sydney on July 23 and New Zealand in Wellington a week later but only three first-choice players are available in the Tri-Nations squad to be named on Saturday.

In 2007, the Boks took a similar approach before winning the World Cup, which led to them being chastised by New Zealand and Australian officials.

SANZAR countries have since signed an agreement that ensures they do not damage any of its competitions through fielding weakened teams.

ARU chief executive John O'Neill said he had called on SANZAR's chief executive officer Greg Peters to investigate the matter.

"The difference between 2007 and now is that we now have a permanent SANZAR office with a CEO, who has the job of monitoring and policing such matters," O'Neill told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"He (Peters) will be following up on this announcement.

"A couple of weeks ago we had rumours coming out of the Republic that they may be sending an understrength team.

"We received assurances at the time that the only players not included would be genuinely injured.

"We have a joint venture agreement and a broadcasting agreement, and it is important that the three countries don't just comply with the letter of the law, but also the spirit of the contract.

"Joint ventures rely on people acting honourably and consistently."

O'Neill said he was surprised at the extent of the Springbok injury list.

"We're not in a position to second-guess the Springboks, and we also have our share of injured players. But it is nowhere near 21. The sheer size of the number of players who are injured is unusual," he continued.

"That's why we have asked for assurances. Regardless of what South Africa does, our preparation for the World Cup starts now, and the integrity of the Tri-Nations series is critically important."

sock puppet

It's quite the coincidence that nearly all of South Africa's front line players picked up long term injuries during the Super 15 while the reserves emerged almost totally unscathed.

TheJims

I really hope this is a savage Tri Nations and everyone go hell for leather to win it!

wouldnt it be terrible if a few of Australias First team Backs get injured !!??

Hippo

A definite Atari Jaguar

sock puppet

TheJims wrote: »

I really hope this is a savage Tri Nations and everyone go hell for leather to win it!

wouldnt it be terrible if a few of Australias First team Backs get injured !!??

I'd say Australia would want to win it most. Could be bad for us if they come into the world cup on a high with a win in New Zealand though!

Taco Corp

didn't SA do something similar before the 2007 RWC? That worked put pretty well

Phonehead

Those dastardly Boks sure did.... could you imagine Kidney doing such a thing:D:D:D He'd have a meltdown at the thoughts of not having the same faces around him

Judgement Day

TheJims wrote: »

I really hope this is a savage Tri Nations and everyone go hell for leather to win it!

wouldnt it be terrible if a few of Australias First team Backs get injured !!??

That's a rather sad outlook isn't it? :rolleyes:

TheJims

Judgement Day wrote: »

That's a rather sad outlook isn't it? :rolleyes:

That I want it to be a savage contest ?

Yeah sad Outlook alright ..

the backline thing was a joke. I'm sorry you didnt get that

mrboswell

NZ to peak during the tri-nations and Australia for the WC (I've got 50 on them from 3 years back at good odds!)

GiftofGab

mrboswell wrote: »

NZ to peak during the tri-nations and Australia for the WC (I've got 50 on them from 3 years back at good odds!)

What odds? Australia would give NZ a real run for their money, I reckon they could win the world cup too

Morf

GiftofGab wrote: »

What odds? Australia would give NZ a real run for their money, I reckon they could win the world cup too

Outside of RWC the results say that Oz mostly can't and don't.

It's up to NZ really and if they can get their heads sorted.

Oz when they really click in the backs can and do rip any team apart but they really struggle with an 80 minute performance and NZ are the ultimate clinical team.

tolosenc

I've a tenner on Aus at 6/1 for the World Cup. Reckon they can beat New Zealand if and when it counts.

Digifriendly

tolosenc wrote: »

I've a tenner on Aus at 6/1 for the World Cup. Reckon they can beat New Zealand if and when it counts.

Will all depend on how their pack holds up. They have a sizzling backline with Cooper/Mitchell/Beale etc but they need to front up and still some questions there to be answered. Maybe the Tri nations esp. vs NZ will answer those questions.

GiftofGab

Digifriendly wrote: »

Will all depend on how their pack holds up. They have a sizzling backline with Cooper/Mitchell/Beale etc but they need to front up and still some questions there to be answered. Maybe the Tri nations esp. vs NZ will answer those questions.

Drew Mitchell is out for the world cup, still ioane digby or rod davies will take his place

Digifriendly

GiftofGab wrote: »

Drew Mitchell is out for the world cup, still ioane digby or rod davies will take his place

Think he hopes to play for a club in mid August but would need to make some progress to be ready for RWC. Saw Super 15 final today and thought Richie McCaw looked slow of pace esp. in latter stages of the game. Is he past it or saving himself for Tri-Nations/RWC?

CIARAN_BOYLE

Digifriendly wrote: »

Think he hopes to play for a club in mid August but would need to make some progress to be ready for RWC. Saw Super 15 final today and thought Richie McCaw looked slow of pace esp. in latter stages of the game. Is he past it or saving himself for Tri-Nations/RWC?

I think he is just back from injury

mrboswell

GiftofGab wrote: »

What odds? Australia would give NZ a real run for their money, I reckon they could win the world cup too

Think it was 13/2 - must go back and check.

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

I think he is just back from injury

Yep he had an operation.



Here's hoping NZ stuff it up again!!

Judgement Day

All Blacks Squad for Tri-Nations named:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10737608

John Afoa (Auckland), Daniel Carter (Canterbury), Jimmy Cowan (Southland), Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay), Andy Ellis (Canterbury), Corey Flynn (Canterbury), Ben Franks (Tasman), Owen Franks (Canterbury), Hosea Gear (Wellington), Zac Guildford (Hawke's Bay), Jarrad Hoeata (Taranaki) Andrew Hore (Taranaki), Richard Kahui (Waikato), Jerome Kaino (Auckland), Richie McCaw (captain, Canterbury), Keven Mealamu (Auckland), Liam Messam (Waikato), Mils Muliaina (Waikato), Ma'a Nonu (Wellington), Kieran Read (Canterbury), Colin Slade (Canterbury), Conrad Smith (Wellington), Adam Thomson (Otago), Brad Thorn (Canterbury), Isaia Toeava (Auckland), Piri Weepu (Wellington), Sam Whitelock (Canterbury), Ali Williams (Auckland), Sonny Bill Williams (Canterbury), Tony Woodcock (Auckland).

Injury cover: Wyatt Crockett (Canterbury), Cory Jane (Wellington), Sitiveni Sivivatu (Waikato), Ben Smith (Otago).

---

Good to see 'my man' Piri Weepu back but sorry to see that Robbie Fruean has failed to make the squad. Joe Rokocoko also missing and I wonder if he will ever get back into the All Black squad again - the man who robbed Munster back in 2008 has looked a shadow of his former self in recent games.

Judgement Day

'Smokin Joe' - one of the all time great finishers. At 28 perhaps there's life in the old dog yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlLhwQEOizI

David900

40 man Wallaby squad announced for the Tri-Nations as follows:

Ben Alexander, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Kurtley Beale, Luke Burgess, Quade Cooper, Ben Daley, Rod Davies, Dave Dennis, Rocky Elsom, Anthony Faingaa, Saia Faingaa, Will Genia, Mark Gerrard, Matt Giteau, James Hanson, Scott Higginbotham, Matt Hodgson, James Horwill, Digby Ioane, Sekope Kepu, Salesi Maafu, Pat McCabe, Ben McCalman, Stephen Moore, Luke Morahan, Dean Mumm, James O'Connor, Wycliff Palu, Nick Phipps, David Pocock, Tatafu Polota Nau, Beau Robinson, Benn Robinson, Radike Samo, Nathan Sharpe, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Sitaleki Timani, Lachie Turner, Dan Vickerman.

15 Reds players have been announced reflecting their win yesterday. Good to see Beau Robinson included in the squad since he didn't really have a professional contract last year. Although he's unlikely to make the first 15 with Pocock there. They might not be renowned for having the best pack in the world, without injuries they can field a pretty decent one

thomond2006

Four players named in the Tri-Nations squad are recovering from injuries - Tony Woodcock (foot), Isaia Toeava (hip), Hosea Gear (hamstring) and Israel Dagg (thigh muscle) - so the All Blacks selectors have also announced that four players will assemble with the squad as injury cover: Crusaders prop Wyatt Crockett, Hurricanes winger Cory Jane, Chiefs winger Sitiveni Sivivatu and Highlanders winger Ben Smith.

Robbie Fruean and Joe Rokocoko left out completely. Ali Williams is back after a two year absence.

Props: Woodcock, B Franks, O Franks, Afoa
Hookers: Mealamu, Hore, Flynn
Locks: Thorn, Whitelock, Williams, Hoeata
Backrows: Kaino, McCaw, Read, Thomson, Messam

SHs: Cowan, Weepu, Ellis
FHs: Carter, Slade
Centres: SBW, Nonu, Smith, Kahui
Wings: Gear, Guildford
Fullbacks: Muliana, Dagg, Toeava

handsomecake

thomond2006 wrote: »

Four players named in the Tri-Nations squad are recovering from injuries - Tony Woodcock (foot), Isaia Toeava (hip), Hosea Gear (hamstring) and Israel Dagg (thigh muscle) - so the All Blacks selectors have also announced that four players will assemble with the squad as injury cover: Crusaders prop Wyatt Crockett, Hurricanes winger Cory Jane, Chiefs winger Sitiveni Sivivatu and Highlanders winger Ben Smith.

Robbie Fruean and Joe Rokocoko left out completely. Ali Williams is back after a two year absence.

Props: Woodcock, B Franks, O Franks, Afoa
Hookers: Mealamu, Hore, Flynn
Locks: Thorn, Whitelock, Williams, Hoeata
Backrows: Kaino, McCaw, Read, Thomson, Messam

SHs: Cowan, Weepu, Ellis
FHs: Carter, Slade
Centres: SBW, Nonu, Smith, Kahui
Wings: Gear, Guildford
Fullbacks: Muliana, Dagg, Toeava

sivivatu and Corey Jane out.
Ben smith maitland,fruean Crockett miss out too. Harsh

Mathewson and Jason Rutledge might also feel aggrieved

CatFromHue

i wasnt too surprised about fruean not getting in.

in the playoff game at home to the sharks he was in a two on one with maitland outside. a simple pass and maitland would have scored, instead he cut back inside and ended up passing to the scrum half who dropped it.

little things like that would count against him big time.

plus kahui has been around awhile but usually has been injured.

PhatPiggins

Digifriendly wrote: »

Think he hopes to play for a club in mid August but would need to make some progress to be ready for RWC. Saw Super 15 final today and thought Richie McCaw looked slow of pace esp. in latter stages of the game. Is he past it or saving himself for Tri-Nations/RWC?

I think he's past it, still class but not the game changer he was up to 2 years ago. The fact that its now near impossible for the defensive team to win ruck penalties in the SH doesn't help him.

PhatPiggins

handsomecake wrote: »

sivivatu and Corey Jane out.
Ben smith maitland,fruean Crockett miss out too. Harsh

Mathewson and Jason Rutledge might also feel aggrieved

Crockett is the best loosehead in NZ by a country mile, daft decision.
Mathewson is miles ahead of Ellis, who's just a bad version of Cowan.
I'd like to see Fruean play in a team that doesn't contain SBW who I have a suspicion is making him look good.

jolley123

Presuming this is who he views as his best squad, I would have swapped Guilford for Jane. Guilford is electric, but I feel Jane has more to offer. Against the Reds I thought Zac was quite poor.

CatFromHue

PhatPiggins wrote: »

I'd like to see Fruean play in a team that doesn't contain SBW who I have a suspicion is making him look good.

the itm cup starts next week and fruean plays for canterbury. it's on sky sports.

fruean is only 22/23

PhatPiggins

CatFromHue wrote: »

the itm cup starts next week and fruean plays for canterbury. it's on sky sports.

fruean is only 22/23

there's no doubt he's got massive potential but he's far from the finished article just yet.

CatFromHue

yip i agree

tolosenc

So, given the results of the poll, the smart money is on the Boks...

chupacabra

Will be in Chicago on the 23rd. Anyone familiar with pubs in or around the loop that will show the SA vs Aus game? Google hasn't turned up any place with the game on their schedule.

sock puppet

tolosenc wrote: »

So, given the results of the poll, the smart money is on the Boks...

To be fair to them their B squad is still quite good. Well the front row is pretty shit. But I can't see them doing much worse than the full strength team last year anyway.

thomond2006

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7032526,00.html

Australia play Fiji this saturday in a Tri Nations warm up. It's likely the Reds players will be rested.

Then New Zealand play Fiji the following week while SA and Oz kick off the Tri Nations in Brisbane.

handsomecake

thomond2006 wrote: »

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7032526,00.html

Australia play Fiji this saturday in a Tri Nations warm up. It's likely the Reds players will be rested.

Then New Zealand play Fiji the following week while SA and Oz kick off the Tri Nations in Brisbane.

i thought aus are playing samoa

GiftofGab

thomond2006 wrote: »

Robbie Fruean and Joe Rokocoko left out completely. Ali Williams is back after a two year absence.

Props: Woodcock, B Franks, O Franks, Afoa
Hookers: Mealamu, Hore, Flynn
Locks: Thorn, Whitelock, Williams, Hoeata
Backrows: Kaino, McCaw, Read, Thomson, Messam

SHs: Cowan, Weepu, Ellis
FHs: Carter, Slade
Centres: SBW, Nonu, Smith, Kahui
Wings: Gear, Guildford
Fullbacks: Muliana, Dagg, Toeava

Why was Ali Williams out for 2 years?

Phonehead

GiftofGab wrote: »

Why was Ali Williams out for 2 years?

Injured, he is back since the start of the year and played with Nottingham to get some game time so as to claim a place on the AB's.

He was on one of the Ruggamatrix episodes, worth a listen

thomond2006

GiftofGab wrote: »

Why was Ali Williams out for 2 years?

Got 2 successive surgeries achilles tendon injuries. Didn't play any competitive games in 2009 and 2010 Super Rugby seasons.

endabob1

sock puppet wrote: »

To be fair to them their B squad is still quite good. Well the front row is pretty shit. But I can't see them doing much worse than the full strength team last year anyway.

The announced squad is only for the away leg, they will have a full strength squad for the 2x home fixtures
I don't see the problem with the Bok Squad, a lot of the "injured" players have had pretty poor super rugby seasons and some of the "B" squad are players like Brussow that are on their way back from injury or players like Charl McLeod who had excellent Super 15 seasons and are getting a chance to stake a place. They're building to the WC, it makes sense to look at as many options as possible, or it's certainly their prerogative to do so.

Gracelessly Tom

Judgement Day wrote: »

'Smokin Joe' - one of the all time great finishers. At 28 perhaps there's life in the old dog yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlLhwQEOizI

Jaysus, that last try was something else!! Skipped through 5 or 6 of the SA defence! Class try.

Interesting to see Carter at 12 on one of the clips from his early days as an All Black.

Judgement Day

Yep, one of the best tries you'll ever see but he has lost something the last couple of years.

CatFromHue

Judgement Day wrote: »

he has lost something the last couple of years.

interest maybe?

just going on some of the comments he made when looking for a new club

Judgement Day

I didn't even notice until tonight that he has signed with Bayonne along with several other notables.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/5045547/Joe-Rokocoko-signs-with-French-club-Bayonne

Gracelessly Tom

Posted it in the World Cup Squads thread, Ben Robinson is out for 9 months with cruciate and cartilege damage. Last thing Australia need is to lose props.

Judgement Day

Gracelessly Tom wrote: »

Posted it in the World Cup Squads thread, Ben Robinson is out for 9 months with cruciate and cartilege damage. Last thing Australia need is to lose props.

With their scrummaging problems still obvious, the Aussies only hope is for 'uncontested' scrums. Looking forward to seeing how this aspect of their game has improved (?)

Morf

Judgement Day wrote: »

With their scrummaging problems still obvious, the Aussies only hope is for 'uncontested' scrums. Looking forward to seeing how this aspect of their game has improved (?)

Going by the much hailed Reds front row performance against the Crusaders, it hasn't.

thomond2006

Australia: 15 Mark Gerrard, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Matt Hodgson, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu.

Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Dan Vickerman, 18 Scott Higginbotham, 19 Beau Robinson, 20 Will Genia, 21 Kurtley Beale, 22 TBC.

They still have to confirm the replacement prop. McCabe at 12 is an interesting selection, I would have thought Deans might have put James O'Connor there.

monkeybutter

Surley wrote: »

didn't SA do something similar before the 2007 RWC? That worked put pretty well

I think they at least tried for the first game think it was at home, got narrowly beaten by NZ (good game) and threw in the towel for the rest, was gutted, had a chunk of change on them to win the 3n and the world cup at 21 to 1 (3 to one 3n and 7 to 1 worldcup), boo to Sud Afrika