Masterplan New Zealand an expert opinion on the upcoming quarter finals.

First topic message reminder :

Here are some expert opinions on the quarter final clashes and their predictions.

Panel consists of:
Ex All Black player and coach, John Mitchell, current coach of the Golden lions.
Current coach of super XV Franchise Stormers and Currie Cup side Western Province, Allister Coetzee.
Ex Super XV and Currie Cup side Bulls coach, Heyneke Meyer.
Ex Springbok Scrum half Garth Wright.
Host: Joel Stransky

Springboks vs Australia
South Africa showed great discipline at defensive breakdwons and showed restraint with off the ball incidents.

Their strength is their defensive structure, ability to reorganise defence and scramble/cover defence. They do however sometimes make wrong decisions to come out of the defensive line. Tactical kicking is a strength and weakness, they must do contestable kicking which boils down to accuracy and must rather be done by 9 and not 10, preferable from momentum and not static ball.

Ball security for them is key. Sa must attack Australian scrum and shut down space with pressure on Genia and Cooper. Right shoulder will make it difficult fro Pocock to assist Cooper in defence. They must attack reverse markers in channel one from rucks. Select Willem Alberts over Spies to gain more momentum with go forward ball. Use mauling off line outs in poor conditions, but don’t overdo. Use edges around maul to attack and, use 8, 9, 12 by sucking in defence.

Make Australia use their thinkers/decision makers to tackle which will take them out of the immediate attack. Use 7 man lineout, get middle or tail ball, use du Preez, blindside wing, 12 and 13 going at Barnes and Cooper, SA did this a few years ago in Perth with great success and got over the advantage line every time. Getting tail ball will negate Pocock to compete at the breakdown as he will be in the middle of the maul and thus can’t turn over ball when the maul is brought to ground and will put Cooper as first defender.

Be careful of the umbrella defence, Australia will fix the Jaque Fourie to run at, then do a run around. Lambie must not come into the defensive line to quickly it will provide kick space in behind him. SA must watch for the inside ball after the long pass wide. Will SA stick to the umbrella defence which has now been studied for 4 matches or go to drift defence?

They should look at putting a fourth defender looking after Cooper, third defender will look for runners, second defender looking after Genia, and don’t over commit to the ruck, get the fowards into the defensive line quickly. Australia might attack Morne Steyn and then switch towards the forwards with inside ball to the winger.

Australia has a selection dilemma at centre, the will focus on ball retention for long periods to build pressure. There is no doubt they will ask questions on defence. Australia will want to be physical with their forwards, but conditions will be key to their game, they will want an open game and will attempt to put their backs against the springbok forwards. Australia will look at short kick offs away from Fourie du Preez and split SA, they want to isolate Habana. Australia will try to sack every line out and will use Nathan Sharpe to be the only “swimmer” in the maul to sack the drive and will also take lineout supporters out which is actually illegal.


England vs France.
Biggest strength for England is their ability to grind a win even when struggling to get momentum. Their defence is solid, the panel believes Youngs and Flood have better rythm as a combination than Youngs and Wilkinson, and England has been very effective attacking the short side. They are limited but has character and composure.

France will be tougher than has been seen. Their problem is 9 and 10.

New Zealand vs Argentina
New Zealand should be able to deal with the Argentinian scrum, Argentina will use mauling and could get one over NZ, and are expected to play negative rugby wanting to slow the ball down at the breakdown. The New Zealand defence is still seen as their biggest weakness. They are also prone to unforced errors, especially Colin Slade ,which according to Mitchell is not a brave player, he also has critical moments where his skill makes the team suffer and Weepu might be a better bet.

Wales vs Ireland
Both in form sides, well balanced, Ireland strong forwards good backs O’Gara is seen to be the key, he is tactically very good. Ireland also has good pace and skill, and importantly lots of experience. Wales looking well balanced and in form, their fitness and conditioning excellent.


Predictions for the quarter finals

Ireland vs Wales
Joel Stransky Ireland 25 – Wales 16
Heyneke Meyer: Ireland 20 – Wales 15
Allister Coetzee: Wales 21 – Ireland 18
John Mitchell: Ireland 24 – Wales 21
Garth Wright: Wales 17 – Ireland 12.

England vs France
Joel Stransky: England 15 – France 9
Heyneke Meyer: England 24 – France 21
Allister Coetzee: France 21 – England 18
John Mitchell: England 24 – France 21
Garth Wright: England 22 – France 15

South Africa vs Australia
Joel Stransky: South Africa 21 – Australia 18
Heyneke Meyer: South Africa 24 – Australia 18
Allister Coetzee: South Africa – 24 – Australia 21
John Mitchell: South Africa 19 – Australia 17
Garth Wright: South Africa 17 – Australia 10

New Zealand vs Argentina
Joel Stransky: New Zealand 42 – Argentina 12
Heyneke Meyer: New Zealand 28 – Argentina 15
Allister Coetzee: New Zealand 32 – Argentina 12
John Mitchell: New Zealand 52 – Argentina 15
Garth Wright: New Zealand 37 – Argentina 17.

Obviously there was more focus put on the South Africa vs Australia match as it is a South African show, and their predictions may also be seen as a little one eyed.

Dangerous move playing in White against Ireland. They might think you're England and get motivated.

Motivation is an external play on emotions and rarely last longer than a few minutes. As soon as the first few hits are made motivation turns into reality and then wearing white doesn't matter.

Besides we speak Afrikaans on the field of play, and that can hardly be confused with English.

Sneaky Prawns.

The Irish will always take a special pleasure from beating the English. History has its weight.

But what is interesting about this Irish side is that Ireland now are starting to perform full blast against any side, with the sort of intensity that I certainly used to feel was reserved only for the English.

The Irish these days want a little more than just to kick an Englishman. They want a World Cup.