All posts in category RWC11

Don’t walk away Ruan-nee

Rumours are circulating that Ruan Pienaar, Ulster’s favourite of their many South African sons, will be heading back home with a view to playing out-half in the World Cup (and presumably the Tri-Nations as well). It seems there’s a bit of a crisis at 10 for the Bokke, as management have finally realised that being an international playmaker requires more than simply kicking the ball really high into the air, which is bad news for Morne Steyn.

If the rumours are true, we’ll be pretty upset here at Cordite Towers. Pienaar’s canny game management and slick distribution have helped spark a young Ulster backline, and his last-minute match-winning penalties have propelled his team to the Magners League playoffs. Indeed, he was honoured with the ML Player of the Year Award this week.

But we can see why chief headbanger Pieter de Villiers would have his beady eye on Pienaar, because none of the alternatives are really braai-ing our biltong. We would think about throwing in Patrick Lambie, a young player of huge quality, but it is maybe a year too early, and PdV is not known for his enterprising selections. Peter Grant is having huge difficulty sparking the Stormers stellar backline (de Villiers-Fourie-Habana) into action, and the less said about the Naas Olivier’s of this world the better.

Don’t break our hearts Ruan, and give us another year.
by whiffofcordite on May 10, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Magners League, Ruan Pienaar, RWC11, South Africa, Ulster

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 10, 2011

https://whiffofcordite.com/2011/05/10/dont-walk-away-ruan-nee/

Oooooh – the Tuilagi’s

On the day Will Greenwood named a brace of Tuilagi’s on his Premiership team of the year, we would like to share this.

As you will suspect, at Whiff of Cordite we don’t buy into the entirely predictable hype surrounding the latest Premiership Pacific bosher (remember Lesley “Next Big Thing” Vainikolo being railroaded into the England team by Stephen Jones), but Manu looks a hugely talented player and an amazing prospect. If Johnno decides to ditch Shontayne Hapless and re-build his midfield for the RWC, Manu could made a big impression in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

by whiffofcordite on May 7, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in England, Premiership, RWC11, Tuilagi

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 7, 2011

https://whiffofcordite.com/2011/05/07/oooooh-the-tuilagis/

Scrumhalfwatch

Here at Whiff of Cordite we’re monitoring the performance of Ireland’s multitude of nearly-good scrum halves with interest. Last weekend we had arguably Reddan’s worst performance of the season followed by a high class cameo from Isaac Boss.

It’s with some dismay that we noted the team selection for Munster’s game against Connacht this weekend. Banished from the 23 is Conor Murray, as old Slow Pass is recalled following recovery from a bizarre eye-injury. Now, worry not, Whiff of Cordite doesn’t buy into the mega-hype surrounding the latest Munster player to put two decent Magners League games together, but we were rather impressed with Murray’s mixture of physicality, wristy pass and skyscraping box kicks. And we’re still trying to work out exactly what it is that makes O’Leary so attractive to both his provincial and international manager. No doubt Uncle Deccie will be delighted – as the Grauniad observed, it will take a crane to get him out of the Ireland team.

The pity is that Murray isn’t even on the bench. It seems McGahan still sees Stringer as the man to launch for the final quarter, in spite of the fact that his game is looking frail these days: witness his awful pass to Rog in trying to set up a winning drop goal against the Ospreys recently.

We had Murray down as a World Cup bolter, but this is a setback for his chances. Our current forecast is O’Leary, Reddan and Stringer to travel to New Zealand. Our panel would be Reddan, Boss, Murray.

by whiffofcordite on May 5, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Munster, RWC11, Scrum Halves

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 5, 2011

https://whiffofcordite.com/2011/05/05/scrumhalfwatch/

Whither the Wallabies

If South Africa can be characterized as the Bulls (strong setpiece, brutal physicality, hoof the ball into orbit) and NZ as the Crusaders (brilliant in pretty much every facet of the game), then Australia are undoubtedly the Queensland Reds (brittle upfront, majestic backs).

After 10 weeks, the Reds stood proudly on top of the Super XV with a 8-1 record. However, there was a huge caveat – they had played no Kiwi teams. In the last 7 games of the season, the Reds had 4 games against NZ teams – the Hurricanes, Blues, Crusaders & Chiefs. The Blues and Crusaders are among the favourites for the overall title, but the other 2 are also-rans.

Last week (Week 11), they lost 28-26 to the Hurricanes after a horrible first half, and a botched end-game. They are still odds-on to win the Aussie conference, but arguably more important is banking some results and performances against NZ outfits.

This could be a very important portent of things to come, for both the Reds and the Wallabies, and the Reds progress is worth keeping an eye on.

by whiffofcordite on May 5, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Australia, New Zealand, Reds, RWC11, South Africa, Super XV

Posted by whiffofcordite on May 5, 2011

https://whiffofcordite.com/2011/05/05/whither-the-wallabies/

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