Superbru for Oranjemunders ~ The World Cup 2011

[Michael Alexander]

For all of those of you who are interested in the 2011 Rugby World Cup being held in New Zealand, support your team and have a blast, join the Oranjemund Pool on Superbru.....

LINK : http://www.superbru.com/rwc/pool.asp?p=204937

Pool code: dueltune

Viva World Cup! Viva!

[Michael Alexander]

Made my picks for the first round, no surprises there.....

[Michael Alexander]

For all of those of you who are interested in the 2011 Rugby World Cup being held in New Zealand, support your team and have a blast, join the Oranjemund Pool on Superbru.....

LINK : http://www.superbru.com/rwc/pool.asp?p=204937

Pool code: dueltune

Viva World Cup! Viva!

[Michael Alexander]

23 players..... Com'on people ...... almost kick off time.....

[Michael Alexander]

Great stuff, only a few hours to go.... we have 25 Players and one's a dame!


        

[Michael Alexander]

Cape Town - Springbok lock Bakkies Botha's dream of helping South Africa become the first team to successfully defend the World Cup might be over.



A reliable source in New Zealand confirmed to South Africa's Sports Illustrated that Botha's Achilles tendon injury - which has already ruled him out of Sunday's match against Wales - is worse than was initially thought and the burly Bulls lock could miss the rest of the tournament.

The Springbok team will be announced at 22:00 (South African time) on Thursday night, and more clarity on Botha's participation in the tournament will then be known.

Sports Illustrated reports that talks between Botha, the Springbok medical team and management were ongoing late into Thursday night New Zealand time, but that a decision is yet to be made on whether or not Botha will stay on in New Zealand.

[Michael Alexander]

Cape Town - Reds coach Ewen McKenzie says the Springboks could only be considered as having an outside chance of winning the Rugby World Cup.



The tournament kicks off on Friday when New Zealand tackle Tonga in the opening match in Auckland.

McKenzie, who steered the Reds to the Super Rugby title this year, believes the All Blacks, Wallabies and England are the only teams that stand a realistic chance of winning the Webb Ellis Cup.

He believes the Boks, France, Ireland, Wales and Scotland could spring a surprise or two, but they won't be a threat at the business end of the tournament.

"I'm looking at who could win seven games on the trot," McKenzie told the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

"There's not many that could (win seven games in a row) and also possess the necessary depth amongst their ranks.

"The All Blacks are clearly there, the Wallabies also, and the English have done well (in their build-up to the tournament).

"There aren't any other team that could do it when the opposition becomes harder and harder," said McKenzie.

Meanwhile, despite McKenzie's views, the Boks announced an experienced line-up for their clash against Wales on Sunday.

It is the Boks' most experienced team in their history for their opening match in the Rugby World Cup. The team contains a mammoth total of 815 caps - narrowly surpassing the 810 caps of the team that played Australia in Durban in August.

Many experts are of the opinion that an experienced line-up is key to World Cup success. However, former Australian flyhalf Michael Lynagh believes it's a statistic that could count against the Springboks.

"There is a view that a lot of the South African forwards may be a little aged. A lot of them were involved in the last World Cup and it's a fact no nation has ever won back-to-back World Cups and a lot of the time that's the reason why.

"Players that won a World Cup hold on a little bit long and want to do another one. It's difficult to argue against. Some of the [South African] teams in Super Rugby this year didn't particularly perform like they would have wanted to, specifically the Bulls, who have been champions the last few years and who have provided the bulk of the pack to South African rugby," said Lynagh.

Lynagh was part of the victorious Wallaby side that beat England 12-6 in the 1991 final at Twickenham. Four years later, the core of that Australian line-up lost out at the quarter-final stage of the 1995 tournament - 25-22 to England at Newlands.

[Mike Stenson (RIP)]

And the mind games go on, I like being the underdog.... reminds me of the 1995 world cup..... 

[Adriaan Van Rooyen]

come on stennie  where is the challenge

[Michael Alexander]

[Adriaan Van Rooyen]

Did you say something? Mike?

[Bertie Horak]

Oh my, oh my!! Looks like I'm at the bottom of the log!!!! Hee-hee! Good thing I'm not depressed...
But like I said, I love surprises, so c'mon Namibia, put one on the Boks!

[Michael Alexander]

I think that the boks will still win , but they have underestimated the Namibian side, there are about 5 gamebreakers in the Namibian side, who play their rugby in the big leagues outside the country..... Saracens and Province to name a few...... in previous years, we were the whipping boys..... but this Namibian team is not as weak as the teams of yesteryear....

[Michael Alexander]

Stooopid lions!