The big one comes to Eden Park…. a game of rugby, a clash of titans, a storm of tackles, a feast for fans and a dance with destiny.
Can the Boks do the unthinkable and record their first unbeaten Antipodean tour since 1998? If they can, the Rugby championship trophy is all but theirs.
Or will the old foe once gain prove just that mite too formidable in their own back yard?
Kick-off is at 09h35 SA Time.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Sam Cane, 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Steven Luatua, 20 Matt Todd, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Charles Piutau.
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Willie le Roux, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Flip van der Merwe, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss , 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Juandré Kruger, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein.
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Go make history Bokke!
Come boys. 😎
@Pokkel (Comment 1) : Môre meneer.
Up at 3am, Go Bokke!
Bokke
Go Bokke!!!!!!!!!!
OK I hate the French.
Sad for Carter but the tackle was fair… Not sure off side deserves a yellow
This reffing is terrible ….
This game is so quick the ref can’t even keep up
Our fullback is horrific!
Wow, Kirchner is oh so wonderful under the highball.
And that was not a knock on by south africa
Take that NZ supporters
NZ 14 – 3 SA
Match updates on this site has really taken a dive this year 🙄
NZ 17 – 10 SA
30 something minutes
NZ tries by Rettalic and Read
SA try by Bismarck
That ball wasn’t out
Who’s garage is Sky Sport using as their studio? 😆
Don’t know who’s more useless between Pienaar and the ref.
@rhineshark (Comment 21) : The ref!
I think this is possibly the worst reffing performance I’ve ever seen. Worse than Bryce in the WC.
Seems like that’s it for the contest. Man this is frustrating!
So when did rugby stop being a contact sport
This guy is worse than Lawrence.
@byron (Comment 25) : When the french started reffing it
Jannie’s kak defense has cost us today.
This is absurd 🙄
The ref has just awarded a try from behind the posts
Well, I called it.
Later gents.
Get Pienaar off the park FFS!!!!!
😈 That’s it decoder off never watching a NZ team play on TV again 😈
17 vs 14. What a way to ruin one of the most anticipated matches.
@gregkaos (Comment 34) : Agree, biggest game since 2011 wc and the refs just couldn’t keep their grubby paws off it.
@FireTheLooser (Comment 35) : I know I’m not been overly biased as I just got a text from a kiwi colleague apologising for this joke of a game.
I don”t have enough swearwords in my vocabulary for this ref.
Way too many missed tackles by our players.
Pushing before the ball is in but we get penalised
should be a rather hollow victory for the kiwis
Bonus point try.
What a fucking disgrace
@RuckingFun (Comment 42) : Nothing less…
That’s a try
Come on boys. Let’s get a BP out of this farce.
This guy will not be reffing another test match again.
@klempie (Comment 46) : He shouldn’t be allowed to officiate ANY rugby again.
Eden Park, where referees are turned into little girls 🙄
Game over.
WTF did we not contest that??
Biggest farce in rugby since the 2011 World Cup
What a cluster fuck of a game, so pissed off its unreal
This doos spoiled what could have been one of the biggest games in years.
That said we did not do a lot with the chances we got – too many mistakes and missed tackles.
Well that was a farce
We’ll never know 👿
What should have been the game of the year completely ruined by a very poor referee. What a shame. 🙁
Jean de villiers, such a gent. I wouldn’t have been able to hold back
In a game of this magnitude they should really disallow yellow and red cards. Man it really ruined this game, so disappointing.
@RuckingFun (Comment 57) : Must have been hard not to speak your mind. The scowls on the Bok players faces after the game said it all.
I call on all Bok spectators going to the Ellis Park game to give the All Blacks as absolutely a torrid time as you can – without obviously resorting to nasty stuff like throwing bottles. But I want that haka drowned out
The only consolation is Lambie getting his first test try.
Yoh what a shit game.
The ref was poor ,yes ,but the Boks were dog shite bad today.
Louw to slow to play at 6 vs the AB’s.
Etzebeth is no bakkies and really adds little beside his line out ability.
Pienaar was terrible in every aspect.
Steyn is useless ,people who say he is on form are dreaming ,he misses kicks (both out of hand and at goal) ,his tackling was disgusting.
JJE has no clue ,he is not a center ,give me a break. He was truly exposed by the AB outside backs and found wanting on attack. Serfontein is a shadow of the player Ebersohn is.
Jannie’s defense was putrid and Coenie is not an international tight head.
Pushed off the ball at rucks ,missed tackles ,poor kicking- the Boks are far from world beaters.
I hope the refs impact on the game doesnt gloss over how poor the Boks were.
@Talent (Comment 61) : I can’t disagree with that – we generally played poorly. We should have scored made a lot better with what little opportunity we had.
The All Blacks as they promised nailed us with our own tactic – I think they regathered every single high kick, or forced a turnover.
Negatives speak for themselves so…the positives:
-Lambie got a try 😀
-We only lost by 14 in NZ with 14 men for 50 minutes
-There is still all to play for with the match at Ellis Park to come
-Possibly Carter and Dagg out for that match
@Talent (Comment 61) : I personally think Etzebeth is a great and consistent player. Don’t forget he is 21 and has years to develop his game! 🙂
Excited to see PSDT back for the Sharks later!
To be competitive at the top level we need to bury some test players careers.
Steyn ,Kruger ,Engelbrecht(at center)and Pienaar need to be axed immediately.
At the highest level Louw ,Etzebeth and Jannie are treading on thin ice.
The Boks need to start Kolisi at 6, Lambie at 10 and get Jaque Fourie ,Du Preez and Bakkies back.
Get whoever the WP defensive coach is(proudfoot/fleck?).
Our tactics need to change too, we cannot rely solely on the driving maul. Its all well and good kicking the ball 60m out ,but have we not realized that kicking the ball that far out on a free kick is stupid -our kick chasers cant cover that ground quick enough, the ball is thrown in quick and it ends up on the half way or worse.
10 man rugby needs to be buried and the Bulls dynasty swept aside with it. It makes my blood boil seeing players make a side based on their reputation as a line-out jumper or their goal kicking ability- when the rest of their game frankly is weak.
The most concerning thing to me is our lack our danger from deep ,teams pin us back and know they’ll get the ball back. We offer nothing from deep because our slow forwards park off in the middle of the field,don’t retreat, and don’t look to play a supportive role and keep the ball alive.
Another positive: we turned them over many, many times at the rucks!
@Talent (Comment 65) : I think you are a bit harsh on Etzebeth and Louw. I can’t disagree on the others although I think JJE should be given a bit more time at 13 before you chuck him.
However fully agree on the rest. Amazing to see how the All Blacks do everything at full speed, whereas our attack looks as pedestrian as cart horses.
@SeanyJMc (Comment 66) : Possibly the only positive. Thanks mainly to Duane and Bismarck around the fringes.
One just has to look at how easily the All blacks crossed our touch line and how long it took us to do the same.
@Bokhoring (Comment 67) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyI1UQfT6K0
@Talent (Comment 69) : Won’t disagree with you that Bakkies along Matfield still has to be the best lock pairing we ever had, but he is getting long in the tooth now.
@Talent (Comment 69) : With this ref Bakkies would have been gone after 10 minutes. 😕
@MysticShark (Comment 71) : 😆
@Bokhoring (Comment 70) : The thing is Matfield ,despite his spaghetti western good looks, got his hands dirty just like you’d hope a forward would.
Wallabies win.
Does anyone know who the TMO was for this game?
@gregkaos (Comment 75) : George Ayoub (Aus)
JJ Engelbrecht was clueless at 13 yesterday, but players’ heads went down in that 2nd half after Bismarck was sent off. The most shocking performance for me was Jannie du Plessis, he was useless today, he did nothing right and his tackling was atrocious.
So the IRB issue a release stating the ref was wrong and sited human error… human error?!
@SuperEtts (Comment 78) : Human error with all that technology available…he crumbled under the pressure of the NZ spectators, and if you can’t handle that pressure you can’t referee professional rugby (or any other rugby for that matter).
The same happened with Craig Joubert in the wc final. Referee’s are scared of the NZ public, which means fair games in NZ cannot be possible until the refs invest in spinal growth hormone. 😈
@FireTheLooser (Comment 79) : I agree with you,since the farce of the 2011 WC final ,all games including yesterdays since then,if you as good or better than The AB’s,you will lose ,period in New Zealand.
I take back my article on not blaming the Ref!!!
Does anyone knows what is the implications now for Bissie? Will he get an auto ban for receiving the red? Is it possible for the bok management to appeal the situation now?
@R Hayward (Comment 82) : His red card was overturned