[2015 RWC] Quarter Final 1: South Africa vs. Wales (17/10/2015)

[TRF_heineken]

Twickenham, London (17/10/2015, 16:00)
Quarter Final 1
Referee: Wayne Barnes

Teams

South Africa: 15. Willie le Roux, 14. JP Pietersen, 13. Jesse Kriel, 12. Damian De Allende, 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Handré Pollard, 9. Fourie du Preez (captain), 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Schalk Burger, 6. Francois Louw, 5. Lood de Jager, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Frans Malherbe, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira.

Replacements: 16. Adriaan Strauss, 17. Trevor Nyakane, 18. Jannie du Plessis, 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20. Willem Alberts, 21. Ruan Pienaar, 22. Pat Lambie, 23. Jan Serfontein.

Wales: 15. G Anscombe; 14. A Cuthbert, 13. T Morgan, 12. J Roberts, 11. G North; 10. D Biggar, 9. G Davies; 1. G Jenkins, 2. S Baldwin, 3. S Lee; 4. L Charteris, 5. AW Jones; 6. D Lydiate, 7. S Warburton, 8. T Faletau.

Subs: 16. K Owens, 17. P James, 18. T Francis, 19. B Davies, 20. J Tipuric, 21. L Williams, 22. R Priestland, 23. J Hook.

 

[The5thOfficial]

I don't think this match is the foregone conclsuion that most people think it is. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Every Time Ref]

I don't think most people think it's a forgone conclusion, to be fair.

I for one think SA are favourites, but I seriously doubt they'll find it easy.

 

[TRF_heineken]

The only injury concern for the Springboks are Victor Matfield and JP Pietersen, according to team doctor Craig Roberts this morning on SS Blitz.

JP is expected to participate in today's training session, while a call on Victor will only be made later in the week.

Other than that we are good to go.

We already saw this past weekend that kicking for goal is going to play a big role as most teams' defensive structures are pretty good. My guess is that Pollard and Steyn will be the 2 fly halves picked to compete with the Biggarena...

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

South Africa is going down. 20-16 to Wales.

 

[The5thOfficial]

I don't think most people think it's a forgone conclusion, to be fair.

I for one think SA are favourites, but I seriously doubt they'll find it easy.

Hey its all cool. No-one ADMITS they think its a foregone conclusion becaue that would appear arrogant even if not intended as such.

I'm just looking forward to a ***anic game. Wales for all their injury woes have played pretty well. Sure they should have scored when Australia were down to 13. But was that Wales lack of ability or just awesome defence by the Aussies? Whatever. Roll on Saturday.

 

[Kiwi_]

Wales to edge this 15 - 12, South Africa will fade in the last 15 as normal.

 

[WaterboySA]

South Africa is going down. 20-16 to Wales.

You having sleepless nights about meeting SA?

I think the SA forwards could be too strong for Wales. We could possibly take the game in the set pieces. I must admit this is the last game I think the Boks could win in the tournament.

 

[TheOvalBall]

South Africa to win fairly comfortably.

 

[valley commando]

We can win this, and then beat France in the semi's.

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

You having sleepless nights about meeting SA?

I think the SA forwards could be too strong for Wales. We could possibly take the game in the set pieces. I must admit this is the last game I think the Boks could win in the tournament.

I don't believe I've slept properly for around three months now, the cause is not SA Vs Wales though.

 

[saulan]

I don't believe I've slept properly for around three months now, the cause is not SA Vs Wales though.

Is the 8th of August still getting you down?

 

[KeyboardWorrier]

What happened on the 8th?

 

[Ospervat]

This game is too close to call. It could all turn on one magic moment or one kind / unkind bounce. If it comes down to who wants it more, based on pool game performances I would say Wales to edge it.

 

[Every Time Ref]

Hey its all cool. No-one ADMITS they think its a foregone conclusion becaue that would appear arrogant even if not intended as such.

I'm just looking forward to a ***anic game. Wales for all their injury woes have played pretty well. Sure they should have scored when Australia were down to 13. But was that Wales lack of ability or just awesome defence by the Aussies? Whatever. Roll on Saturday.

Fair enough. Speaking for myself, I'm neutral on this game so it wouldn't be arrogance to say if I think it's a "forgone conclusion", but I take your point. No-one wants to be a hostage to fortune.

Nothing is a "forgone conclusion". however some results are much more unlikely than others. Australia and South Africa are both favourites, but Scotland winning would be a major upset whereas Wales winning wouldn't.

Wales to edge this 15 - 12, South Africa will fade in the last 15 as normal.

So will Wales though, they're down to their second and third choices in many positions, lacking a lot of the experience and leadership which really counts late on in knockout games.

 

[saulan]

What happened on the 8th?

I thought that was what you were referring to as that was three months ago. Australia won the Rugby Championship and beat New Zealand on the 8th.

Edit:

I just realized it was two months ago, not three. I'm blaming this on it being a Monday morning.:mellow:

 

[wayevs]

We need to be quick and elusive , quick ball is a must to upset the boks defense, warrenball will not work in this game the boks would love that , we need to put width on it also be clever with a good kicking game, drop Cuthbert bring in Morgan, put north back on wing and bring in tyler morgan at centre, hope tipuric and charteris keep their places in the team (unlikely) James and lee should start the scrum was better with them . I think we can win this if the gameplan is executed correctly , otherwise we are out , the boks just have too much power

 

[AzaMatt]

i think we might see another try-less game, both teams have a good defence. clashes between the forwards will be brutal as always. hopefully davies gets a kick up the backside for trying to go himself so much, he's good at it but tried it way too much against australia. bet gatland is fuming, so we might see wales spread the ball more against the boks

 

[TRF_heineken]

i think we might see another try-less game, both teams have a good defence. clashes between the forwards will be brutal as always. hopefully davies gets a kick up the backside for trying to go himself so much, he's good at it but tried it way too much against australia. bet gatland is fuming, so we might see wales spread the ball more against the boks

Yeah, I think so too. And to be honest I won't have any problem if it is a tryless match, not that I think it is going to be one. It certainly is going to be a battle, and I wonder how much the Welsh forwards have left in the tank, and if they will be able to keep the intensity they have shown the past few weeks against a team that thrives on forward-domination.

 

[WaterboySA]

This is the 1/4 that I'm not sure of at all. SA will score against most teams driving from a line out. I think Wales could score breaking through our back line, between 10 and 13. If they hit our line with pace(that small Welsh 15?).