The first Rugby Championship test for the Boks takes place at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. Kick-off is at 5pm.
South Africa: 15 Johan Goosen, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Juan de Jongh, 23 Jesse Kriel.
Argentina: 15 Joaquin Tuculet, 14 Santiago Cordero, 13 Matias Orlando, 12 Juan Martin Hernández, 11 Manuel Montero, 10 Nicolas Sanchez, 9 Martín Landajo, 8 Facundo Isa, 7 Juan Manuel Leguizamon, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matías Alemanno, 3 Ramiro Herrera, 2 Agustín Creevy (captain), 1 Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro.
Replacements: 16 Julian Montoya, 17 Felipe Arregui, 18 Enrique Pieretto, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Javier Ortega Desio, 21 Tomas Cubelli, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Ramiro Moyano.
Tweet
Haha Goosen getting a french acsent
I asked this during our tests against Ireland. How the hell is Francois Louw getting selected ahead of Kriel?
Here we go again
Why always when we go behind we start kicking it makes no sense
Half Time
South Africa 10 – 13 Argentina
I’m sorry but Elton Jantjies is not a test match FH, he can’t regulate the game, and makes much more mistakes when on this level
Strauss as captain has been such an inspiration 🙄
Thus far, Hoskins’ resignation has not quite had the positive effect some were hoping for – some more time perhaps 😈
Strauss super kak. Always absent
Elton and Goose stuffing up.
Habana gets a yellow – bit harsh.
@Bokhoring (Comment 9) : Elton can’t handle pessure. Goosen just way off but he has to do so much cover work. I would put him on flyhalf and send Elton.
@Bokhoring (Comment 10) : Yup.
Brilliant exit kick by Jantjies……. Can he not see the player in front of him
Elton kicks into Strauss’s head on his own goal line. Comedy of errors now.
Combrinck a real light in the tunnel though
Jantjies thinking they playing touch rugby, can’t tackle to save his life, missed two in just one move
Elton’s game has gone to pot now.
Haha haha, Jantjies chip kick actually goes back wards, how in the hell is he even aloud to be on the park still
Scores 13 all and Habana back on the park.
What can we say, DE fallende also his usual useless self on the park
Pumas off-loading and short passing game very good.
Tsieta4eva the luckiest of us all, on a wild resort without dstv…no time wasted on this rubbish.
Jantjies is useless hope lambie is back this week and goosen still cant tackle and is no good at fullback … i like oupa at 7
@Henkb (Comment 13) : …and no apology to Strauss – I smell a rift
These same players got beaten by the King’s FFS
@FireTheLooser (Comment 24) : He is not even worth mentioning tonight, utter utter shiat
40 point smashing coming our way from the AB
Creevy milks a penalty but Sanchez misses
Think they must change the sponsor from blue telecom to Bostick, mapoe knocking over the try line, fafs handeling up to, DE fallende can’t keep the ball, and Habana thinking we playing ten pin bowling the way he is knocking it
@John (Comment 27) : You mean the points difference will be about 40 points, I doubt we will even score in that game
16-13 Argies lead again
Could always be worse, could’ve been one of the 400 suckers conned into paying R43.03 to sit through this rubbish live 🙂
No Sharks players on the field?
Jantjies should thank the grass for being slippery after the grass made a try saving tackle which he missed
Argies score again, argies showing how a chip kick should be executed
Going to lose in SA to the Pumas again ?!? I would rather have PdV back now
23-13 after Argies score a try. Argie 15 started it all by recovering brilliantly from an error.
@Loosehead (Comment 33) : Evidently….thank goodness our Sharks boys are wrapped up under cozy blankies at home, and not being subjected to this lot of amateurs 😉
Faf is the only Bok looking like he wants to play.
Hope they start Kriel next week in place of Louw, he is almost the only guy still playing
@FireTheLooser (Comment 38) : Maybe they can now see what they missing without our boys there
@John (Comment 36) : This Bok team is just about rubbish enough for JW to come and save…again.
Faf and Goose combines for a good try.
Good try
Now we scoring, might be to little to late thought,
Based on Habana’s yellow that has to be a yellow too.
That must be at least yellow, but I think Red will be better for the tackle on Faf
WTF, I’m lost for words not even a penalty, FFS Jackson
@FireTheLooser (Comment 42) : no please leave white !!
Good tackle from PSDT
Hard to admit but de Jong looks better on the field dan de fallende, but that does not take a lot though
Mohoje has actually been decent making a lot of tackles.
Stupid decision not to take the line kicks.
@Bokhoring (Comment 52) : yeah he have been one of the better players in this team
Whiteley scores in the corner
Whiteley Whiteley, you the man,
@ Hound, can you believe it, Habana actually passed the ball to WW
That could have gone very bad
FULL TIME
SOUTH AFRICA 30 – 23 ARGENTINA
Whiteley almost F up with the kick to touch, but the runs it out, great composure in fixing his mistake
Good comeback by the Boks.
Nothing on display that should worry the All Blacks though.
Awesome, we get to pat ourselves on the backs for one more week – rugby is SA is the picture of health 🙄
Ive been told Faf motm. Thought his basics were terrible
Jantjies went awol after 10 minutes
For my money Whiteley play a good game. Kriel should have started ahead oh louw since he looked better in 20 minutes than louw the whole game. Jantjies biggest choke of all. Faf worked hard but there was no one directing the backline. Strauss miserable. Start Marx please. PSDT is the best lock we have. As for de Allende can no one see he is useless or am I smoking something. Janse v Rensburg way mire value. Bryan Habana seriously. Are you kidding?
@coolfusion (Comment 66) : nope think you’re spot on (Except maybe for PSDT)!!!
@coolfusion (Comment 66) : How dare you talk about Jantjies like that? According to 99% of SA rugby supporters he is the savior the Boks so desperately needed. 😈
@KingRiaan (Comment 68) : Haha savior , he is a SR 10 at best nothing more elton is lacking BMT big time
Its getting very hard to support this Bok team…there just seems to be no plan on the field. I dont mind if the plan is kick and chase or if its the plan to run everything…but just show some form of plan. Lood, Louw, Jantjies, De Allende, Mapoe all very poor. Best moment of the entire game was Strauss getting kicked in the face…that was pure gold!
@John (Comment 69) : Haha I’m with you on that
My preferred Bok team for this coming weekend: 1. Beast 2. Strauss (default pick) 3. Koch 4. PSDT 5. Etzebeth 6. Kriel 7. Mahoje 8. Whiteley 9. De Klerk 10. Goosen 11. Habana 12. DeJongh 13. Mapoe 14. Combrinck 15. Kriel
@SheldonK (Comment 70) : Almost but not quite as good as the time that Samoan fondled his nuts
@The hound (Comment 73) : ooh tough call between those two…but definitely moment of the match on Saturday though
@SheldonK (Comment 70) : i think lood was a bit better than the others and yes elton should have gotten MOTM for that kick hope it was a wake up call to strauss
@SheldonK (Comment 70) : Eish, things must be bad if you are this critical of the Boks.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 76) : I’m glad you said it because the same thought crossed my mind.
The guys have a mountain to climb in Argentina this weekend,and without even Sheldon ‘s support they are seriously fucked
@SheldonK (Comment 70) : Someone on Twitter mentioned that Marx would have ducked
I believe that.
@Salmonoid the Subtle (Comment 76) : @The hound (Comment 77) : Look i fully believe in giving coaches/players etc a chance before condemning them to the gallows but they need to show something for that support…and im not seeing that something. As i said i dont care which game plan they play or even try to play..but i want to see evidence of something. Same goes for the players…show me something and i will support you. At the moment i just cant see any form of plan or direction. I will always try to support the Boks…is just getting difficult
@vanmartin (Comment 78) : Im trying to see if the clip has found its way onto Youtube yet…havnt seen anything.
@SheldonK (Comment 79) : Yeah but our obvious problem is team selection. If any of Elton , Louw, Mapoe, De Fallende or Strauss is starting in 2 weeks time, it would be ridiculous. They will most likely start again this weekend, I just hope the coach subs them early enough to see what his bench can do better before the AUS game. Elton was just bad, he has no BMT and the rest of the above mentioned was anonymous. That line break Elton had was between two forwards if I remember correctly, so not really anything to brag about. I think he is one of our biggest problems, we lacked direction that a FH is supposed to bring to the table. PSdT should start next week in Loods place too. I would fly over Rohan too, De Allende is pathetic.
@Quintin (Comment 81) : Team selection is a problem…the combos are just not working. Unlikely to see much change this weekend or throughout the Rugby championship to be honest. Loose trio, centres the biggest problem currently.
@SheldonK (Comment 80) : https://twitter.com/eatsleeprugby/status/767074607857864704
@vanmartin (Comment 83) : Legend!! hahaha love it
@SheldonK (Comment 72) : you can have that team . expect me to moan a lot about how shit
Jesse Kriel and Goosen is …
Goosen dropped like 3 high balls … was he not picked for that exact reason ?
@Zibbie (Comment 85) : His defense and positional play was also disappointing at times.
@Zibbie (Comment 85) : The only balls i saw him drop was when he was challenged in an up and under? Very harsh to expect your fullback to catch all those when yu have another guy competing well for the up and under…and in the one the argie guy even pulled Goosen’s arm back when he had caught the ball. I fully understand if he just dropped it cold without any pressure but that wasnt the case. Kriel is also a good fullback…think you judging him on centre play.
@Zibbie (Comment 85) : I agree I thought he looked like he hadn’t played South African rugby for 18 months,he just didn’t fit into the team.
The problem is you have Goosen,de Allende,de Jongh,Habbana,all playing as individuals none of them can remember when they last passed a ball.
Jaantjies is a complicated case,he has the talent to play in any team he just needs the confidence.Playing under Carlos Spencer and Ackerman he has proved that he has it,but under Coetzee he falls apart ,this is the second time it has happened.
Our biggest problem is the backline coach,a guy who never really did anything and brings nothing to the party except a huge ego and a sense of gradeur.
That backline needs an Eddie Jones,or a Dick Muir.
@The hound (Comment 88) : yea thats why im saying . Dropping Elton wont be the magic wont that fixes the issues with our back line . But at least i wont have to defend Elton . I can just moan about how crap Goosen is . And With Jesse there as well im getting a 2 for 1 special !
@The hound (Comment 88) : @Zibbie (Comment 89) : There is just something not working with the backline combo…9-15 just isnt working. Not sure of the solution either.
@SheldonK (Comment 90) : Actually nothing is working fro 10 to 15,9 is pretty good .
The solution is called coaching
@SheldonK (Comment 90) : Not sure if Goosen will live up to the same entertainment value of kicking the captain in the face . but we can try
@Zibbie (Comment 92) : We can surely ask 😉 @The hound (Comment 91) : I included 9 as his combo with 10 isnt working. He is playing well himself but the combo isnt. Perhaps DeJongh and Mapoe would combine better…i dunno.
My 2 cents on the match.
The Good:
Good comeback from the Bokke. Very encouraging to see that attitude to win despite needing to score more than twice in the last 10min. This is something we used to do very well, and the only team who did it slightly better was the ABs. They were so unrelenting in those last 10 that I wasn’t even nervous about the result. Haven’t felt like that in a while.
Faf. Nothing more to add here.
Our scrums look damn scary. I know the pumas aren’t at their strongest, but still.
Whiteleys kick chase and collect. Only person who pulled it off. He’s wasted at 8th man. Retread as 15 immediately.
The Bad:
Lineouts should have been better considering our quality locks. Some opportunities went begging because of this.
Counter rush defense. Chip kicks and grubbers guys or sutble tactics that I’m too ignorant to know about. This was the Lions main weakness and I think the Pumas pulled some pages out of the Canes book for this match.
The Ugly:
The vitriol aimed at the boks performance, expecting AC to magically get everything right a couple months after getting the job, using a massively different team, new more ball in hand approach, etc.
Reality check:
ABs have continuity the rest of the world can only dream off. Steve Hansen assistant AB coach 2004–2011. Head AB coach 2012 – present.
If we don’t give AC a chance to mold this team over the next 4 years we will not catch them and our hopes will lie with the England side in dethroning them.
@gregkaos (Comment 94) : I expect but don’t condone the vitriol for AC as this is sadly the burden of every Bok coach. What I do however struggle to understand is the level of criticism aimed at Faf. The guy is by no means the complete package but jeez he brings a lot to the table.
@Zibbie (Comment 92) : Your statement just shows how lacking Elton is in the decision making department; sure, he managed to kick Strauss in the face, but damnit, Strauss’ groin area was also unguarded at the time. A quality flyhalf would’ve done more with the opportunity
@Culling Song (Comment 96) : Its those decisions at key times that he makes mistakes. Like you say the opportunity was there but not taken.
@vanmartin (Comment 95) : wait wot?! People moaning about Faf?
I’ll be honest I’m really struggling to read comment sections anywhere nowadays. Negativity trumps out positivity where ever I look. It breeds further negativity and chases out those who are sick and tired of listening to people moan. Not unlike an AND logic operator where True = positive and False = negative.
@Culling Song (Comment 96) : 😆 😆 😆 😆
look . Elton needs to at least pretend he was aiming to kick over the oke . Would be hard to explain if the ball landed in the groin area ! 😛
@Zibbie (Comment 99) : It could be an attacking grubber gone wrong 😉
@gregkaos (Comment 98) : Yup, steer clear of the Twitter rugby ‘experts’. He’s either unstructured or a poor decison maker or has poor basics or doesn’t fit the gameplan. Take your pick. It all just smacks of wanting to have another flyhalf masquerading as a scrumhalf (a la Fourie du Preez) which just won’t work because Schalk is not availble to play our 10 channel. I guess we could give Flouw a shot there but then he would be in danger of contributing.
@vanmartin (Comment 101) :
Yeah my list of twitter rugby experts is dwindling. Still got a couple solid rocks who even if I disagree with make me think.
I’ll admit I do have one thing I’d like Faf to do. Not often mind you, but if opposition is relying on rush defense they are timing their charge of him. Mix up the pace a little and he’ll milk a penalty or two, knock back the rush speed a bit and put doubt in their minds. Want to score more tries? Throw a spanner into the defensive gameplan a team has been practicing all week and force them to revert to something they haven’t practiced.
@gregkaos (Comment 102) : That’s pretty much exactly what I’m hoping he refines next as he gains more experience at international level – his timing.
@vanmartin (Comment 95) : Anyone wishing to criticize Faf should have a long hard think about what the alternatives to him are…
@Culling Song (Comment 104) : Bring back FdP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Zibbie (Comment 105) : Please no, he’s completely useless. Despite playing with the guy for practically his whole career, not even one of his kicks ever hit Victor Matfield in the face.
@Culling Song (Comment 106) : bet he wont miss twice 😛
@Culling Song (Comment 106) : 😀
@Culling Song (Comment 104) : Comment of the month
I don’t get why people are moaning about Faf? Surely it wasn’t his fault Elton didn’t perform? We have no one better atm, and you have to take in to consideration that this was only his 5th cap. He will only get better from here on. Can’t wait to see what he can do with more exposure to this level. He’s done great thus far. I think we need to look for alternative’s at FH though. When will Lambie or Pollard be back? What alternatives are there besides Elton, Lambie, Pollard and MS?
@Quintin (Comment 110) : I personally think that if Inny is handled properly,and by that I mean,gradually fed into the system the same way the AB’s handled Barritt,he is the future.
@The hound (Comment 111) : From the little I’ve seen of him thus far, I would agree. And yeah lets not make another April of him by tossing him in the deep side. He lost all his confidence after that Bok A-side games and the game against the Hurricanes in NZ after that didn’t help either. I would like to see what Inny’s gonna do in the final of the CC, if we make it that is, which looks likely at the moment.
@Quintin (Comment 112) : From the little I have seen of him he has that Barritt unpredictability to his game which makes him so valuable.
@Zibbie (Comment 92) : Ja he gets 5 points from for that one. Too bad he didn’t kick harder and concussed him.
@Quintin (Comment 110) : Absolutely agreed. One small corrrection. Faf only has four test caps and to me he was the difference between the Boks winning and losing in there last 3 test matches.