Incredible Aussies
The Australians were incredible in the first half and they really put the Kiwis' defence to the sword. Will Genie should change his surname to Genius as he was just unplayable. He always keeps the defence guessing and that makes it very hard to defend against the Wallabies. They have so many dangerous backline players that you cannot give any of them half a gap. They deserved to be ahead by 20 points to 3 and it looked like it might be a comfortable win for them. This wasn't the case as the All Blacks suddenly started to hold onto the ball for longer periods of time and they asked more questions of the Australian defence. At 20 points all, and only 10 minutes of play left, it was Genia who made a sniping break and created the winning try by Curtly Beale.
Two straight wins for the All Blacks and most people are saying that the pressure must be mounting for them. I have a different philosophy and I will try and explain why. The pressure on New Zealand is immense and if they had won the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup that would have created even more pressure for them. They have lost two games and that will show the public in New Zealand that their team is not unbeatable. I would rather lose the games before the World Cup than lose one in the World Cup and your campaign is over. Time will tell if New Zealand can handle the pressure and use that positive expectancy to lift their game.
I would like to make a few comments on the Springbok team that will represent South Africa at the World Cup 2011. Firstly, I would like to say that it is an incredible squad with more than enough talent to beat any team. I was really happy about the inclusion of François Louw in the squad. He really had a phenomenal season and was my Man Of The Match when the Stormers played the Crusaders at Newlands. As expected, there were no surprises - except maybe Odwa Ndungane. I also thought that the whole ceremony was very professional and that the guys looked very neat. The last act of the day was the singing of the National Anthem by Ard Mathews. I have personally met him and he is a great guy and a very talented artist. He stuffed up badly and I have no doubt that he will regret this for a very long time. I think it was a combination of bad preparation and nerves. Let's hope that the Boks' World Cup campaign doesn't follow the same pattern and fall apart at the final act.
