South Africa ,New Zealand to meet in Durban

The Boks go in search of back-to-back wins against the kiwis when the sides meet in a huge game in Durban.

The Boks have seldom registered two wins on the trot against the kiwis, but will go into Saturday's match as the favorites following their 30-28 victory in Dunedin on July 12.

While the springboks have won just one in three games in this year's competition, they have all three home matches to come, starting with New Zealand at Newlands.

Peter de Villiers' men have five points from their three outings, while New Zealand head the summit with 10 points, but from four games.
While the springboks will be banking on their home support in the coming three weeks, they will also go into Saturday's contest on a high following the thrashing of Argentina.

The only problem is that the Kiwis destroyed the Aussies in their last game and seem to have got the team selection spot on.
So satisfied was New Zealand coach Graham Henry with that performance he has retained the same side for Saturday's match except for some minor changes on the bench.

We will have to do without Bakkies Botha, who was injured in the Argentina game ,Andries Bekker has taken his place and hopefully he can step up to the challenge.

Another player who is back of the bench is Percy Montgomery who will become the first South African to reach the 100 Test mark as he replaces Conrad Jantjes. There have been some issues with this from our rugby administrators saying Conrad Jantjies should be playing.

South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Andries Bekker, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Enrico Januarie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Conrad Jantjes.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Richard Kahui, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Willliams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Isaia Toeava.

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New Zealand 28 South Africa 30

This was a brilliant Tri-Nations match even if you were a neutral supporter this would have been a great game to watch and with the South African win made the game all the better to watch. The Boks had not won at Carisbrook since 1921 and they had gone ten years without a victory on New Zealand soil.

Carter kicked the Kiwis into an early lead before Percy replied. A try on the half-hour from JP Pietersen, following a pick-up off the base of a five-metre scrum by the No 8, Joe van Niekerk, edged South Africa ahead. Butch James dropped a goal before Carter kicked two more penalties to trim South Africa's lead to 17-15.

The All Blacks, although still not as fast in getting numbers to the breakdown and constantly surprised by the huge improvement in the Springboks' scrum from the previous week, scored a try after 55 minutes from Sione Lauaki and Carter converted to make it 22-17.

Two Butch James penalties brought the South Africa back into the game but Matfield's trip to the sin-bin, for a high tackle which the referee had previously warned both teams he would penalize the faulty party ,a sixth penalty

When Carter kicked the Kiwis into a 28-23 lead with just 7 minutes remaining and the Springbok captain, Victor Matfield, in the sin-bin for the rest of the game, it looked like we were screwed. But the Ricky Januarie did his brilliant chip and lucky bounce to give us a much needed second try we were back in the game.

It was a game that had the crowd on the edge of their seats. The Kiwis coach, Graham Henry, not a man to give out compliments, called it "a fabulous game of rugby".

De Villiers said: "I always believed in the players and they put it together today and showed great belief in themselves. They knew they had to up their game and they did that. I was a bit worried when we went down to 14 men but the guys stuck to their guns for a great win. The difference with last week was that we had the ball on the front foot most of the time here."

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Tri Nations Kick Off

Joe van Niekerk will be playing instead of Pierre Spies or Ryan Kankowski for the No.8 position for the Tri Nations opening game against the Kiwis in Wellington.

Coach Peter de Villiers said: "Joe came back into the Springbok camp after having a brilliant Super 14 and he showed to all of us that he means business. The kiwis have been surprised at our new coach’s selection.

How The Boks Compare

In the front, the All Blacks boast a strong scrum, props Tony Woodcock and Greg Somerville and the Super 14’s hooker Andrew Hore. But the Boks reign supreme in the air, with combination of locks Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha and captain John Smit’s throws that was under the old rules and with the new rules in (No restrictions on players in the lineout) and the kiwis used to playing them our locks need to get up to speed. The good news is Richie McCaw is out.

In the backline Butch James had an outstanding World Cup year and has been working his magic with Bath, but is up against the famous Dan Carter.

While Jean de Villiers is the form inside centre of world rugby, he will be matched by the menace of Ma’a Nonu, while Conrad Smith has more street smarts and combination than rookie Adrian Jacobs.

The last time we beat the Kiwis in Wellington was in 1998 and I sure they are gunning for us to try make up for the World cup, it is going to be a hard game with crappy weather let’s hope our boys pull it off.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Andy Ellis; 1 Tony Woodcock, 2 Andrew Hore, 3 Greg Somerville, 4 Brad Thorn, 5 Ali Williams, 6 Adam Thomson, 7 Rodney So'oialo (capt), 8 Jerome Kaino.Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Leon MacDonald.

South Africa: 15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie; 1 Gurthro Steenkamp, 2 John Smit (capt) , 3 CJ van der Linde, 4 Bakkies Botha, 5 Victor Matfield, 6 Schalk Burger, 7 Juan Smith, 8 Joe van Niekerk.Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Bolla Conradie, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Percy Montgomery

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