Thoughts on the 4Ns

This is a new tournament contested by 3 of the top Rated teams in the World with 6 of the 7 RWC winners between them plus one notoriously difficult to beat.Los Pumas have been the surprise packet and came close too at least 2 victories and now have 2 Home games.All the other 3 sides are in re-build mode to some extent,2 with new Coaching staffs and 2 grievously struggling with injury problems.We are at the Business end of the tournament and the worlds top 2 rated sides face hard road games.ALL the top 3 sides have at least amathematical chance to win it BUT the AllBlacks with 4 straight wins are most likely winners it would need 2 four try bonus wins by the other 2 sides to take the title.Realistically it isn`t going to happen,to date Australia have defied Critics and won 2 games to date.AllBlacks are winning but not really clicking.Boks to date have been disapointing,the Pumas with a limited game plan outstanding but unlucky.Predictions I expect the Boks to find there Mojo and win both there home games.Australia to lose both there away games,the Pumas to win one of two and the AllBlacks to take the title 5-1.As an All Black supporter would like to see complete performances from them and a 6-0 clean sweep.As a realist beware the wounded Bok an ambush in Soweto and a Bok win they are extremely difficult to beat at home.

you can throw out the mathematical odds, the All Blacks have won this torunament and for me it was never in doubt.

From an overall perspective, forward battles and defensive organisations with a plethora of errors have ruled this championship.

Most games have been closely fought and that means there isn't a huge difference in the teams.

New Zealand may have won all their games, but Hansen will not be satisfied with their perfromances. We all waited for New Zealand to unleash the shackles and it hasn't happened.

You can blame errors for it, but you can also look at the opposition that encumbered their usually free flowing fast paced game.

Australia has muddled through and at least showed some guts in the home matches against Argentina and SA to win from behind, but other than that they have not played any spectaularly exciting rugby as we come to expect from them.

South Africa has been disappointing from a couple of perspectives, the fact that they led both Australia and New Zealand away from home only to self implode with conceding yellow cards, poor goalkicking, a plethora of certain tries missed due to poor execution of the final passes and then of course their much touted kicking game which for the most part was very pooorly executed and well anticipated.

Argentina has impressed all and sundry with their aggression in the pack, the physicality and passion they play with. They did try and run the ball wide from time to time, but they succeeded best in slowing down opposition ball and defending their tryline.

I am sure this must be the least amount of tries scored in the Tri nations/Rugby championship ever.

Testament to the fact that inspite of injuries the games have been well competed.

huh?
How have oz defied the critics to win the two they won?
They were favourites to win both those matches?
They had won he last several against SA and were at home and SA were coming off a draw against argie.

Agree with the rest though as much as id like to think we`ll win in SA it could be the hong kong of our year. We won't need it to win the title and SA are not going to four try let alone twice.

We certainly won't be able to raise a greater level of motivation than SA for this. We've had to do it so many times already this year. There's only so much a side can do.

The biggest thing we can hope for is SA once again stuff it up again...but I don't think they will. This test will finally be one for the long suffering bok fans. And fair enough. They've been through enough.

I think Argentina is playing pretty well and that the other 3 is not doing as well as I thought they would. Just hope that Argentina will up their game when the other 3 does, then maybe we will have the top 4 countries in this competition.

Taylorman ,I was referiing to Richard Loe`s prediction in NZ herald they would only win one match all year.I commented then that it was rubbish and that they would win at least 2 of there 3 ,home 4Ns games.

I have been very surprised and uplifted by Argentina, they have not rolled over and have given a good account of themselves. South Africa were very lucky in Argentina and I can see both New Zealand and Australia coming home from there with a bloody nose. The decision to put them in this competition was the right one and I hope they continue to improve, Argentina is a massive country and has a massive opportunity to expand rugby in South America, Uruguay already has got a strong interest in rugby as do other countries so hopefully this is just the start of something big.

SA and Australia have huge injury problems. It's impossible to understate the impact on both sides. It's curious though to see the effects of those injuries on both sides. Meyer is begrudgingly introducing players he probably wouldn't have wanted to pick but he is stubbornly holding onto tactics that don't do SA any favours. Wholesale changes are not what's needed. SA only have to keep the ball in hand more and be more accurate in their kicking game.

Australia on the other hand are struggling to fill their team with quality players and they don't have the depth that SA has. But what they do have is a knack of getting more with less and their two wins have come somewhat against the grain but at the same time have not come as a surprise.

Argentina are doing well but I never doubted their ability to be competitive. They will rue not closing out the games against SA and Australia as winning against the number two and third ranked teams would be a huge boost. Just look at what England's win away and at home against Oz did for them in the following Six Nations. They won't be up such weakened SA and Oz sides every year but they will learn from this experience and be a better team for it.

NZ has been flat and only showed glimpses of what they're capable of. They've all faced teams trying to slow them down and they haven't seem to have adjusted or found solutions to that. They've done enough and yet they've done very little. Part of that is the sides facing them haven't been able to put them under sustained pressure and put points on the board consistently and the other part is that they're still trying to click as an attacking unit. Thorn and Kaino are notable losses in the pack and Carter's replacements are not the finished article yet.

Patience is what's needed. Unfortunately this is seriously lacking in AB supporters and instant results are demanded. They've had that and yet there is an unfulfilled feeling that the ABs haven't been playing well. Winning is not enough. Still it seems winning the trophy is a certainty given that no side has gained a bonus point for four tries so far and that seems as likely to happen in the remaining games as Morne Steyn running the ball.

The lack of tries maybe down to other factors but the most important IRB are tightening up in areas.Like Scrum.Offside,and Break down areas and are blowing it a lot quicker.WITHOUT the basic rules being changed,The Scrum engagement was supposed to be simplified it has`nt been.Maul was supposed to be reverting to the team going forward won the Scrum etc.BUT again they have`nt happened.Tinkering with laws in different comps. and hemisphers is pointless they MUST be trialled in ALL comps world wide at the same time.OTHERWISE you are back to 2008 and test matches played in 3 different areas under 3 different sets of rules by the same teams.

Yes I agree with the stoppages but I'm not sure about the impatience. I know the coaches and all are saying theyve yet to deliver another complete performance but when it comes down to the match you really do realise how difficult that is to achieve, especially when you're playing a side that most assujme will lose before it starts. In sport that is the single biggest motivating factor regardless of what anyone says.

Pride, accuracy, confidence, standards etc are all words to make you feel good about your chances. The fear of losing when theres a more than realistic chance of winning is by far the single best motivator to win- simply because you have to overcome odds, perform better than you or anyone else expects.

Thats what makes it hard for the AB's- theyre rarely in that position but you can sure see its effect when they are- Eden Park 2010 a good example. After 2009 and the sxv shutout of the Bulls and Stormers suggested SA were going to continue. But that motivating factor kicked in straight after the Boks win in 09 and drove them all the way to Eden Park- the Boks meanwhile sat back and thought they were in a good position.

Not saying we're doing that at the moment, just saying the other sides are making it that much more difficult...as are the stoppages and well rehearsed defensive strategies of today.

Well I disagree with all there, the kiwis won all their games, who cares what the method was? Sign of a good side is winning. Great to talk about style, game plans etc, but if my side won 2 games on the trot from a lucky bounce of the ball into our wingers, I am happy as.

All talk ethics is fine, but you can only talk from a position of strength, and strength comes from winning, and when you are top of the heap, like the kiwis are at the mo, you can poncificate, or whatever the word is, about the finener point of the game, but you do that from only a position of strength, and that would be from the position of being top of the table.

Though all talk of skill and finener points means nothing if you're defending a 3 point lead and you go on to win the game ugly.

My 2c worth, and from a Wallabies supporter who have lost heapsa games when I think we have played the prettier style of rugby, but can't kick our goals or defend against the simpiliest school ground set pieces.

OZT to be fair you have less strength indepth of the big three so injuries mean more to you.You have had key players missing and take your point a win is a win.Goal kicking has been a problem you have choices solid types like Barnes and McCabe who can kick Goals,or the flair players like Cooper.Your forwards Scrum especially is underated,things canonly get better.

Fair enough OzT, it does get a little tricky knowing what to say sometimes.

Sure Oz havnt been in a good pos last 3-4 years or so but why is that? They've had spells where they had strong teams- early and late 90's for certain and earlky into the 00's.

Whats happened last 4 years that's caused this. is there anything obvious? league, Rules and football have been in Oz long before rugby turned pro so has rugby just gone down in popularity recently? Injuries dont explain the current situation alone.