McCaw's presence has Boks going to Plan C

By DUNCAN JOHNSTONE - RugbyHeaven | Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Springboks coach Peter de Villiers says the return of Richie McCaw adds a new dimension to the All Blacks and South Africa's famous win in Dunedin will have little relevance to this weekend's rematch in Cape Town.

McCaw missed both the clashes with the Springboks in New Zealand as he recovered from an ankle injury.

He sat on the sidelines to watch the All Blacks beat the Boks in Wellington but then had to endure South Africa ending a 10-year drought in New Zealand when they scored a late try to win 30-28 at Carisbrook a week later.

Now McCaw is up for the decider. He quickly got back into stride to be at his inspirational best as he led the All Blacks to victory over the Wallabies in their last Tri-Nations test, a result that has set up a crucial showdown at Newlands this weekend.

It's 1-all and the All Blacks' title is on the line.

De Villiers was quick to acknowledge McCaw's presence when he spoke at a media session.

He's sure McCaw will give the All Blacks a far more effective back row and help New Zealand's defensive game.

"I know their defensive structure is one of the best," said de Villiers on keo.co.za.

"Now they have [Richie] McCaw back and he is combining well with the other loose forwards. Their roles are very different now and that calls for some alterations in our plans.

"The All Blacks are a drilled side, with a lot of attention to detail and if we are going to neglect that then I think we will be in deeper trouble than we expect."

A lot of speculation is falling on the sort of game that the Boks will try to play against the All Blacks. Their attack lacked structure in Wellington but then they reverted to a more traditional South African style in Dunedin, their patient approach paid dividends.

They picked off New Zealand lineout ball, struck parity in the scrums and brought a physical edge to the breakdowns. With a potent kicking game they took the few chances that came their way when they got into the right areas of the field.

Clearly the return of McCaw has them looking at producing a third game plan in this intriguing mini-series.

De Villiers was giving little away but said that the Boks would have to move on from their sweet dreams of Carisbrook.

"That test is done, over and done with, it's part of history," he said.

"Nothing of that test will come back to help us or come back to haunt us on Saturday.

"There are a lot of other things that you have to take into consideration. And we did just that last week on our own. We started [considering those] now with the senior players and the rest of the coaching staff. So we are buying into what we want to do against [New Zealand] and I hope it's going to work."

Toeava on bench only change for ABs

RugbyHeaven | Tuesday, 12 August 2008

All Blacks coach Graham Henry has named an unchanged starting team to tackle the Springboks in Cape Town this weekend with the only change coming in the reserves where Isaia Toeava gets a callup.

Toeava replaces Anthony Tuitavake from the 22 who thumped the Wallabies 39-10 at Eden Park, a result that has got the All Blacks back in the Tri-Nations title race.

Toeava hasn't played test rugby since last year's World Cup and was called into the squad as a replacement for the injured Leon MacDonald.

His ability to cover a number of positions, most importantly fullback, has earned him a chance at Newlands.

Henry has made constant changes to his teams all year but this latest show of solidity is reward for a fine performance in their last effort in the Bledisloe Cup win over Australia.

But the All Blacks team is significantly different to the side that lost their last encounter with the Springboks 28-30 at Dunedin on July 12.

It looks considerably stronger.

Captain Richie McCaw is back at the helm meaning Adam Thomson, who started at Carisbrook, is on the bench.

Brad Thorn missed the last clash with the Boks through suspension. He is starting this weekend as is tighthead prop Greg Somerville, meaning a significantly stronger All Blacks scrum.

Andy Ellis was at halfback in Dunedin but Jimmy Cowan holds the halfback's jersey after his heroics at Eden Park and Richard Kahui, who started at centre in the last test against the Boks, is kept on the wing where he performed well against Australia.

That sees the preferred midfield combination of Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith retained.

South Africa name their side later today.

NEW ZEALAND: 15 Mils Muliania, 14 Richard Kahui, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu,  10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Greg Somerville, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock. Reserves: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Anthony Boric, 19 Adam Thompson, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Isaia Toeava.

Rampant All Blacks bounce back

By MICHAEL DONALDSON - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 03 August 2008

So, it takes a humiliating loss to get the All Blacks really fired up. Or maybe it was the chopping block and sharp axe being wheeled into the coaches' box. Whatever ... this was more like it; an All Blacks team playing as if very future of the country depended on victory; luckily we got it, an emphatic 39-10 at Eden Park.

The coaches' contrition of midweek was a clever disguise. They talked about being out-coached, out-foxed by Robbie Deans. But really, the theme of the week must have been "fire up, hit hard". In short, sport's most over-used word: passion.

The evidence was there at the start with the "Kapa O Pango" performed back on home soil for the first time since the equivalent fixture last year. The throat-slitting gesture has long since been modified but this haka is a signal the All Blacks mean business. It's their personal signature of intent and rarely do they play badly once they've performed this challenge. After all, at this level of rugby where skill levels are so even, fitness so high, the differences come in tactical shrewdness and venom.

The ramped up physicality allowed the All Blacks to force a succession of turnovers at ruck and maul that had Australia on the back foot more often than they'd been in Sydney. Harried, they made technical errors that hadn't previously been seen. One, a failed lineout throw 8m from their line, led the first of two Tony Woodcock tries.

In the vital tone-setting exchanges, the role of the returning captains, Richie McCaw and Stirling Mortlock, was going to be vital and it was apparent that McCaw's longer spell on the sidelines (he'd been out for the first three Tri Nations test while Mortlock had missed just one) resulted in a greater desire to make a mark.

Yes, Mortlock set up the Wallabies first with one of his typical you-can't-tackle-me bursts but overall McCaw was the dominant general.

There was tactical tightening too, with Daniel Carter having the obvious upper hand over Matt Giteau, continually making the right choices, if not always executing perfectly. He kicked and kicked and kicked. One out of three tended to be what you'd cruelly describe as the useless. The rest of them were sublime and it was his long-raking effort that forced Australia to concede a defensive lineout which, via a move that could have designed by the CIA, led to Woodcock's second try.

Now, normally Australian coach Robbie Deans is genius at reworking things that are going wrong. So often in his Crusaders days, his teams would transform things in the second half.

Not this time. In fact, things got worse as the normally efficient and rigorous Wallabies defence was left floundering as the All Blacks made a try out of a series of bad passes and hurried shuffling of the pill until it ended in the hands of Ma'a Nonu. How bad had the Australian defence become? Well, they fell for a Nonu dummy as the All Blacks second five scored the third try. His second for the bonus point was almost wrecked, but that's Nonu for you.

All this means breathing space for the contrite leaders. Wayne Smith admitted to being outfoxed in the backs department last week but his crew made sure there were very few errors this week, mainly by going back to an old-fashioned 10-man game, Carter mixing his kicking to apply pressure that way.

Steve Hansen, in charge of the forwards, earned his keep by reinvigorating the lineout. It's not often New Zealand's way to attack the opposition lineout but last night the All Blacks were on the offensive, forcing errors, bad decisions and general mayhem which all added to the disarray that had been the All Blacks' domain last week.

And Graham Henry. It's extreme to say that somewhere on his laptop there might have been a resignation letter but certainly his position would have become unbearably hard to defend had he overseen a third consecutive loss; something the ABs haven't suffered for a a decade.

But not only did the head coach get the tone right but as defensive coach he oversaw a much tighter effort. Generally, the breaks which had decimated the All Blacks were eliminated and the defence became a form of attack with vigorous kick-chase, Rambo-esqueaggressiveness at the breakdown and a scrambling that had the Wallabies found difficult to combat.

This win could take on huge psychological importance, not just ahead of the remaining Tri Nations games but also for the world cup.

In the Tri Nations, it keeps the All Blacks alive, so much so a win in South Africa in two weeks means it's back to square one for everybody.

But it was a win for the long-term future, too. When Deans got the Wallabies job there was plenty of talk he'd be hoisting the Webb Ellis trophy at this venue in 2011.

But to do that, for any team to do that, they'll have to start beating the All Blacks at what has become a rugby Fort Knox over the past 14 years.