Week Four: Kynan's Team

NO POOFTAHS - Facebook S14


*new trades in italics

FR Saia Faingaa (AUS) - $655,000
FR Kevin Mealamu (NZL) - $1,252,500

LK Nathan Sharpe (AUS) - $1,217,500
LK Dean Mumm (AUS) - $1,172,500

LF Kieran Read (NZL) - $1,012,500
LF David Pockock (AUS) - $1,040,000

HV Quade Cooper (AUS) - $1,165,000
HV Dan Carter (NZL) - $1,347,500

CT Matt Giteau (AUS) - $1,335,000
CT Rob Horne (AUS) - $940,000

OB Joe Rocokoco (NZL) - $1,085,000
OB James O'Conner (AUS) - $1,220,000

Team Value: $13,442,500
Cash in Bank: $26,350

So, for the first time ever, I ran out of trades. And so here I am, down the log, desperate to claw my way up, and saddled with Quade Cooper and Saia Faingaa. This week is going to be a disaster. My only hope is that others were as imprudent as I... my compatriot Andrew, for one.

So here's hoping!

Week Four: Andrew's Team

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*New buys in italics

FR Saia Faingaa (AUS) - $657,500
FR Keven Mealamu (NZL) - $1,247,500

LK Nathan Sharpe (AUS) - $1,220,000
LK Dean Mumm (AUS) - $1,172,500

LF Rocky Elsom (AUS) - $1,237,500
LF David Pocock (AUS) - $1,042,500

HV Quade Cooper (AUS) - $1,177,500
HV Daniel Carter (NZL) - $1,332,500

CT Matt Giteau (AUS) - $1,335,000
CT Ma'a Nonu (NZL) - $1,242,500

OB James O'Connor (AUS) - $1,220,000
OB Mils Muliaina (NZL) - $1,250,000

Team Value: $14,135,000
Cash in Bank: $845,850

Bloody disaster! Those are the words that best describe my situation this week. I only had enough trades to sell my Springboks leaving my team still carrying Cooper (suspended) and Faingaa (benched). After a promising beginning to the competition, this week is going to be very, very painful...

I made the obvious replacement by drafting in Mealamu for Steenkamp. I have my fingers firmly crossed for an injury to Stephen Moore and an early introduction for Faingaa... but I'm not hopeful.

In the locks, I have an all-Wallaby pairing after swapping Matfield for Mumm. It's hard to make a call after just one game, but both Sharpe and Mumm seem to have the scoring edge over their All Black counterparts.

Carter seemed like the natural replacement for Steyn but now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have gone for Genia as the scrum-halves are having an amazing tournament thus far and the Wallaby number nine is the competition's best scorer. Too late now. Again, I can only pray for an injury to Genia that might level the playing field for me (heartless, I know).

I made the obvious changes among the backs, bringing in the reliable Nonu and Muliaina. I gambled and bought all my ABs as soon as the last round locked so my only hope, and it's a very faint one, is that maybe some of my competitors weren't able to afford all the 'big guns' once their price began to rise.

Good luck everyone!

Francois, where are you?

I forgot that I am in love with this man...Come back Francois, all is forgiven. Even your ridiculous miss that cost the Sharks a Super 14 title.

A Thought For the Day... From Peter de Villiers

P Divvy & the boys sure know how to party:

“We went wild, wild, wild — some of the guys went wilder than that!”

That's pretty wild.

Best Players After Round Three

Despite the Wallabies only playing once to the All Blacks twice and the Springboks thrice, the Tri-Nations is such a ridiculously lopsided competition that now seems as good a time as any to start looking at the best performers. As usual we'll use the only stat that counts - a player's average score.

TOP 5 FRONT ROWERS
Keven Mealamu (NZL) - 370
John Smit (SAF) - 367
Gurthro Steenkamp (SAF) - 262
Tony Woodcock (NZL) - 255
Stephen Moore (AUS) - 190

Few surprises here, with little to separate the Bok and All Black hookers at the top, followed by those two teams' standout, and try-scoring, props. Moore scored well in his cameo last week, so I'd expect to see him higher up the ranks next time.

TOP 5 LOCKS
Dean Mumm (AUS) - 260
Nathan Sharpe (AUS) - 220
Victor Matfield (SAF) - 215
Danie Roussouw (SAF) - 212
Tom Donnelly (NZL) - 208

A barn-storming opening game, sees the Wallaby lock pair rocket to the top of the pile, whether they have the earning potential to stay there after they've played a couple more games remains to be seen.

TOP 5 LOOSIES
Kieran Read (NZL) - 388
Rocky Elsom (AUS) - 380
Jerome Kaino (NZL) - 315
Richard McCaw (NZL) - 298
Schalk Burger (SAF) - 285

The biggest surprise here is probably the absence from the top five of the much-vaunted Pierre Spies. "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going!" seems to be the Bok hardman's theme song too often these days, and he's been practically invisible in the games thus far. The All Blacks' loose forward trio are clearly the form unit of the tournament, but if Elsom keeps playing like he did last week, he could make it to the top.

TOP 5 HALVES
Will Genia (AUS) - 500
Piri Weepu (NZL) - 268
Daniel Carter (NZL) - 258
Enrico Januarie (SAF) - 243
Morne Steyn (SAF) - 218

More misery for celebrated Springboks, as Morne Steyn languishes at the bottom of the heap. This isn't as much of a surprise as he didn't fare very well last season either. What's most interesting is the dominance of the scrum-halves... very strange indeed, with even the much derided Januarie outscoring his fly-half.

TOP 5 CENTRES
Ma'a Nonu (NZL) - 398
Matt Giteau (AUS) - 385
Conrad Smith (NZL) - 300
Rene Ranger (NZL) - 235
Jacque Fourie (SAF) - 235

Nothing too surprising among the centres as Nonu and Giteau reign supreme as previous form would have dictated.

TOP 5 OUTSIDE BACKS
Mils Muliaina (NZL) - 468
James O'Connor (AUS) - 450
Israel Dagg (NZL) - 380
Drew Mitchell (AUS) - 330
Joe Rocokoco (NZL) - 270

South Africa's woes are perhaps best demonstrated by the absence of any backs among the top 5. Muliaina's back to his very best form and O'Connor is always a testrugby-points-machine. Most remarkable perhaps is Dagg's monster score from the meagre 15-20 minutes he played in the second test - that's quite the weapon to have on the bench.

A Thought For the Day... From Peter de Villiers

Here's the great man answering his critics:

"If I’m the weakest link then we are bloody strong. I'm a God-given talent, I'm the best I can ever be. So what you think doesn't bother me. I know what I am and I don't give a damn."

So there...

Round Four: Team Announcements

Australia - 15 Adam Ashley Cooper, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Richard Brown, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (c), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Salesi Maafu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.

Subs: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 James Slipper, 18 Rob Simmons, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Anthony Faingaa, 22 Kurtley Beale.

New Zealand - 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Josevata Rokocoko, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Subs: 16 Corey Flynn, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Samuel Whitelock, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Israel Dagg.

Boks repeating history

It wasn't so long ago that the Boks went down 49-0 in Brisbane and people were calling for the head of Jake White... "Joke" White, the headlines read. And now we have a new clown... Peter De Villiers has maybe built less than White, but before we all write the Boks off completely, it is worth comparing histories.

Jake White took over from a Springbok team in ruins... Kamp Staldraad and all the homo-eroticism disguised as team building, a Quarter Final exit in the World Cup... Danie Craven was turning in his grave. In stepped White, and the Boks were immediately resurrected and won the Tri-Nations in 2004. 2005 was an equally good year, though people seem to forget it. The Tri-Nations was barely lost on the bounce of a ball. The Boks and All Blacks won 3 games a-piece, the Boks going down to a last minute try, denying them their first win on New Zealand soil in years. And then the infamous 2006... Tri-Nations humiliation, Schalk Burgers neck injury (inevitably related...), political interference, doom-and-gloom, calls for the head of the coach. And then World Cup victory in 2007. How did Joke White turn it around when they had supposedly sunk so low?

In his book, Jake White claims that the team moves in cycles, and he expected the terrible 3rd year given the amount of rugby being played, etc, etc (we all know the usual reasons.) He knew that if he just rode it out, he would win the World Cup, as that is what he had been building his team for all along. So he put his players on a reconditioning program, forgot about results in 2007, and became a national hero.

Can PdV do the same? Are the Boks just in a cycle of burnt out bodies from over-use? I think it's key to point out some similarities... and things that did change, and need to be adhered to once more. Yes, the key Boks have played WAY to much rugby. Matfield, Habana and Smit are in serious need of reconditioning. They look like corpses out there (bloated corpses in Smit's case - the man needs a diet and some gym.) Again, the Boks are missing a key flanker in Heinrich Brussow, and Juan Smith for that matter. Their return should make a huge difference. What White did effectively is blood youngsters in the pre-World Cup year. We saw the rise of Francois Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, Bismarck Du Plessis and JP Pieterson. Taking a leaf from the Book of Jake, De Villiers needs to give his youngsters a chance. It's time to put Januarie out to pasture and give Francois Hougaard a run at scrumhalf. Likewise Juan de Jongh needs some game time, and come end of year tour, he needs to introduce Mapoe, Mvovo and Lambie to the squad.

Perhaps, most significant, was White's willingness to admit his short-comings, and bring in some fresh eyes. The contribution of former Aussie coach Eddie Jones cannot be overstated. He brought life to a stagnant backline, and shook up the complacent Bokke. De Villiers needs to swallow his pride, and do likewise. I'm thinking Brendan Venter - he has transformed Saracens. Or perhaps Ian McGeechan. His work with the Lions backline was revolutionary - I have never seen such dangerous running, and bizarrely, no-one has tried to replicate it. Maybe Ewen McKenzie if they can get him to leave the Reds for a spell... Regardless, there needs to be fresh input, because the current pond is stinky.

So... don't discount a Bok victory next year. New Zealand is nice and over-confident again - ripe for the picking as home pressures mount. Perhaps it's all part of some bizarre PdV masterplan...

A Thought For the Day... From Peter de Villiers

With hopes of defending their Tri-Nations title in tatters, the battered Boks are returning home to lick their wounds, and the competition becomes a cross-Tasman affair for the next couple of weeks. Not wanting to neglect all things South African, we begin an occasional series of articles recounting some of Springbok coach Peter de Villier's legendary words of wisdom.

To kick things off, here's the great man on the virtues of that shrinking-violet, Schalk Burger Jr:

"If I lie in hospital and I hear they are putting someone's head back on that was ripped of by Schalk then I'd say: That's Schalk; he's aggressive but he's not malicious.”

Tell that to Luke Fitzgerald...

Springbok and Wallaby Stars Suspended

In the aftermath of the Springbok's comprehensive defeat by the Wallabies at the weekend, both sides have one of their key player's suspended for future matches. Bok centre Jacque Fourie received a four week ban after being cited for a dangerous tackle. With the Springboks on a bye, the suspension will only see him miss a single game, in round 6 against the All Blacks. Meanwhile, Wallaby fly-half Quade Cooper received a two-week ban for a similar offence, which will see him miss Australia's next two games against New Zealand.