To do this, we need to beat the Boks in Perth and Brisbane, then it gets interesting.

Considering we’ve got the only 2 bonus points in the comp so far, if we score 4 tries in Brissy and pick up a third we don’t even need to win the Auckland to take the title!

Still think my 20:1 punt is a shocker?

Wallabies second-rower Dan Vickerman and centre Berrick Barnes are certain to miss the Tri Nations Test against South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday, after both suffered shoulder injuries during their triumph on the weekend.

Both had to be replaced during the first half after taking major hits from their Springboks opponents.

Vickerman’s absence has prompted Wallabies team management to call up Nathan Sharpe from Perth Moses adds: Probably not a terrible thing, I’ve been a vocal opponent of Sharpe for some time but in truth he’s had a pretty good 2008, I wouldn’t go as far to say that he was unlucky to get dropped, but he could certainly show a hunger for the grunt work with this recall – the pack further weakened after a groggy James Horwill had to be helped from the field during Saturday’s game after collecting a heavy knock. And Barnes’s absence will result in a back-line reshuffle, with Stirling Mortlock likely to move from outside-centre to inside-centre and Ryan Cross to start at No.13. Moses adds: a shame that WaraTAHU isn’t quite ready to step up into the starting side

In addition, man-of-the-match Rocky Elsom is in doubt after he was cited for pulling down Boks captain Victor Matfield at a lineout Moses adds: can’t see him copping a suspension for this – was penalised at the time which seemed about right. Rocky’s got a pretty clean record doesn’t he?. Springboks prop CJ van der Linde will also appear at the judiciary hearing on Monday after being penalised for diving head-first into an opponent at the ruck. Moses adds: I’m tipping 4 weeks, he could have broken Cordingley’s jaw with that head butt (pictured above), and he did it again at another ruck later on! I’m also surprised that Schalk didn’t get cited for the squirrel grip on Smith, but again Robbie is as good as his word not getting involved with citings and letting it all stay on the field. Much respect.

The Springboks’ problems run much deeper than missing personnel, however. They are rapidly losing credibility with their impatient supporters, who vented their anger after the loss. Both coach Moses adds: token puppet Peter de Villiers and skipper Matfield were booed by the crowd while each did on-field interviews after the match. It was an embarrassing moment for the Springboks, who are not accustomed to falling away on home turf – but worse was to come, with the Sunday Tribune newspaper running the headline: “Give us our money back”. Moses adds: If this is the reception their getting in Durban, where traditionally their more respectful supporters live, wtf is going to happen in Joeberg next week?

De Villiers and Matfield said they could understand the spectators being upset. “They do have the right to be unhappy,” de Villiers said. “South Africa is a proud nation. They want to be winners. So yeah, the one big message we want to put out there is that we will never go out there and lose a game on purpose.” Moses adds: unless they’ve got money on the Wallabies to win the Tri-Nations at $4.70 like me

Matfield was as direct, saying: “We’re the Springboks. We’re the world champs, and we’ve lost two games in a row. Moses adds: someone get Victor an abacus, it’s three in a row :slap If you go into the change room and have a look at the players, they definitely feel worse than the crowd out there. But it’s unacceptable. It’s our job. It’s our work. It’s our passion. And it is not acceptable to play like that.”

What is irking the Springboks public and media most is that after winning the World Cup last year with an aggressive, well-structured formula, the new regime has demanded all-out attack and relentless midfield kicking. It seems the players aren’t certain what their coach wants from them – and with that comes confusion on the pitch. Moses adds: well, that and dropping the ball, passing it out, dropping kicks, knock on’s and POOR DISCIPLINE

But de Villiers was adamant he will not be changing. “I have a new playing style which we are trying to put out there, and Rome wasn’t built in one day,” the coach said. Moses adds: but all roads lead to Springbok defeat

“So we have to be patient. I ask the public to give us some time to get to grips about what we want to do. If we execute this playing style correctly, I think with the speed, power and great athleticism, combined with talent, it is going to be enormous, Moses adds: ooh, enormous, nuff said. and people are going to find it very hard to stop us.”

De Villiers said the Springboks had to change because of the experimental law variations. “Look how we were caught fast asleep in the first part of the Super 14 by not changing,” he said. “When the teams started changing, they won the games. So we have to do that.

“The players and myself think we are on the right track. Moses adds: perhaps a better track would be winning home matches, no? They just have to get used to it, and they will get used to it. We will be there … I’m telling you.” Moses adds: can’t wait, it’ll be enormous.

The latest accusations are led by former Kiwi prop John Drake, who has assumed position as un-official spokesperson for the All Blecks front row, clearly perceiving them as a weakness and requiring a spokesperson to influence the referee. The story goes that our front row’s high body position during the “Crouch” causes the opposition pack to have to come up which puts them off.

Obviously not one to let physics get in the way of a good scrummage, Drake is ideally qualified to comment considering he watched the game on TV. He goes on to say “They probably cheated at scrum time.” Strong words indeed.

For the sake of clarity, here is IRB Law 20 (i)

A crouched position is the extension of the normal stance by bending the knees sufficiently to move into the engagement without a charge.

To Summarise, Knees bent = No cheat.

Someone slightly closer to the team, the Blecks forwards coach Steve Hansen has weighed in questioning the manner in which Burgess “spun the ball into the scrum.” Checking the relevant law, 20.6 (b)

The scrum half must hold the ball with both hands, with its major axis parallel to the ground and to the touchline over the middle line between the front rows, mid-way between knee and ankle.

Hansen may in fact have a point, if indeed Burgess is spinning the ball in rather than rolling it. Will have to check the footage on this one to be sure.

Well, on the oh so delicate subject of cheating, now that Richie McCheat is unfit we need to start some accusations of our own. Here’s a few to get started

Rodney Rodney So’olialo – lying all over the ball
Jerome Kaino – offside at lineout
Daniel Braid – doing it all night, all night ref
Andrew Hore – doesn’t throw straight
Ali Williams – grabbing the man in the air
Brad Thorn – throws people on their back causing unrelated groin injuries
Tony Woodcock – collapses scrum, weak as piss
Greg Sommerville – boring in
Anthony Tuitavake – late tackles
Ma’scar’a Nonu – drug cheat
Richard Kahui – not back 10m from free kick
Sitiveni Sivivatu – wife beater
Dan Carter – entire team in front of kicker

The Softboks under their head token puppet have developed a culture that can only be described as “Eddie Jones”. John Smit is leading by example and thinks that blaming his groin injury on Thorn’s dirty dump all and sundry to forget that he played on for 30 minutes after the fact.

Bok management are going on ad-nauseum that the judiciary is weighted in favour of Kiwi’s after Thorn got 1 week and Bismark missed 1 game for an eye gouge. Conveniently they’ve gone quiet on Bakkies Botha getting off scot free from concussing Stirling Mortlock in an off the ball incident.

Game 4 is going to be a thriller in a Sydney. The Blecks are likely to get back their captain while the Wallabies are sans Mortlock.

Ryan Cross is likely to start at 13, with Tim Tam Tahu likely to pick up his first bench spot. The Wallabies certainly have a league flavour to them, with 6, 12, 13, 14 and 19 all having spent time in the pokie subsidised code.

While in reality our chances of winning back the Bledisloe were sold by the ARU for Hong Kong Dollars, it’s a great chance for Robbie Deans to get one up on his former NZRU masters.

Bring It On!

Click the images for full size.

Pre-Game feature with Rod Kafer getting out the chalkboard to explain to Kobus Weise why size doesn’t matter.

Palu forgets the offside rule and gifts francois the Penalty kick.

Francois makes the conversoin, 3-0 to the Springboks

It’s thirsty being a token puppet

Mortlock committing to the high ball which popped out of his arms

Bakkies Botha sees amusment in George Smith trying to pick a fight with him

Francois gets into our half so fires off a drop goal, missed out to the right

Giteau’s patented head into hip tackle still not working, and Piers Spies makes a good break after bouncing out of this one

Lote runs a good line and makes great metres down the middle of the field

Then Piers Spies shows why he played wing for the Boks U19 squad by running down Tuqiri

Baxter pounces on the loose ball making Januarie look slow in the process

Rocky discovers his inner claret while getting penalised for not supporting his own body weight.

The resulting scrum is collapsed by CJ Van Der Linde with the Wallabies being awarded a full arm penalty on the Boks feed.

can’t beat em, join em. Berrick Barnes has a shocker of an attempt at a drop goal which dribbles along the ground towards the corner.

Rocky goes into the blood bin as his eye is still leaking, MMM gets a run.

George Smith shows why he is one of the best in the business and pilfers the ball from right under Steyn’s nose.

From a Bok scrum, JP Pietersen enters the backline and they create a gap in midfield by committing Barnes to Pietersen and Mortlock to Steyn while DeVilliers pops through the gap and is away.

The Springboks get within striking distance, and the Wallabies defence scrambles well to hold them up on the tryline. Horwill gets in a sneaky hand from an offside position which the ref rules as lost forward by the springboks.

Giteau’s skillful kick over the bok tryline gives Jantes a lucky bounce to ground the ball in goal under pressure.

The Boks manage to cross through Habana, unfortunately the last pass from Britz went forward along the ground as he was trying to avoid the sideline.

Tuqiri bashes through Jean to cross in the corner, 5-3 to the Wallabies.

The Conrad Falcon is rarely seen this far north in the winter months.

I don’t like Peter DeVilliers. I don’t believe that he’s the best man for the job. Actually, I don’t believe he’s in the top 5 best men for the job, however he is likely the best black man for the job, no wonder he’s been branded Peter the Puppet. But he’s not the target of today’s blog.

I used to think that John Smit was a pretty good player and captain who commanded respect. Now I Smite Smit. He’s accused Brad Thorn of “unsportsmanlike conduct” and claimed that the “spear tackle” caused the groin injury that ended his tour.

Bullsh1t. He played on for 30 minutes after the Thorn hit, and from Watching the footage he was unimpaired until:

IMO; it [the injury] happens at the 35:40 mark when he is caught up on one leg driving against Williams. He goes up high on his right leg and the inertia rotates him outward, ouch I can feel my own, there is a slightly audilble yell and after tumbling down on the right side of the breakdown, he is very slow to get up and when he does, he is limping. During the ruck, you can see him struggling to get his left leg back on the ground.

Prior to that, I tracked him from the 29:50 mark and he is fine. From this point: he drove hard into 3 breakdowns, ran back 30 meters after AB grubber, no limp, and seconds later a strong, low driving tackle on Thompson at 30:26, Not the kind a person with a severe groin pull makes, all this while continuing to scrummage and generally get aroung the field. The same tackle that Nesbitt so strongly credited Burger with but it was Smit that drove him back. To me it is clear, and clearly unsportsmanlike to falsely accuse Thorn.

(thanks to Will the thrill for the quote).

Smit goes on to say “I’m really not happy about having to sit in South Africa and watch the Springboks beat the All Blacks in Dunedin.” I guess he’ll be f’ucking spewing when the Sprinboks lose in Dunedin.