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 17/10/07
Only one reason is being offered why England
should be able to turn a 36-0 defeat on
September 14 into a victory over the
Springboks on October 20 – Jonny Wilkinson.
The obsession of the British Press with
Wilkinson, he has literally been described
as the blond Messiah, is nauseating.
Millions of words have been expended on his
injuries and now that England have defied
the odds by reaching the World Cup Final the
pitch is right back to where it was in
Australia in 2003.
There has been some talk of how the England
team did some soul-searching and changed
their style of play, even though one form of
pick-and-go is much like any other, but the
masses are informed, ad nauseum, that if
England are to retain the Webb Ellis Cup it
will be down to the Jonny Factor.
The man himself remains a shy introvert
whose media sessions resemble mass
psychology consultations, but the late
penalty followed by what has been quite a
rare dropped goal to knock France out of the
tournament have once again made him the
shining knight on a white steed who will
slay the Springboks.
And, it has to be said, the Springbok camp
have themselves fanned the flames of
Wilkomania.
Jake White has made constant references to
the fact that Wilkinson was absent when the
Boks thrashed England in their pool match
and Eddie Jones, whose Wallabies lost to a
last-gasp dropped goal by Sir Jonny in
Sydney in 2003, also had the Brits swooning
when he spoke admiringly of the qualities of
the blond flyhalf.
You have to admire the stoic battle that saw
Wilkinson return from a cruel run of
injuries to almost every part of his body
that raised the spectre that he would never
play again to once again be a key figure in
a World Cup, but it is my contention that he
is not the threat he once was.
In England’s quarterfinal against Australia
he attempted three dropped goals and landed
none and also missed three out of seven
penalties.
In the semifinal against France he landed
one out of three attempted dropped goals and
missed two out of four place-kicks.
His line-kicking is definitely weaker and it
has been noticeable how he roves all over
the place, inter-changing with Mike Catt,
probably as a defensive measure, and is
hardly the executioner who slices up the
opposition from behind the big white
battering ram in front of him.
To my mind England will be better with
Wilkinson in their line-up but the biggest
threat to the Boks remains their powerful
scrum, anchored by Andrew Sheridan, and
their ability to take control of the ball
through numerous phases to ensure that they
are in a favourable field position when they
are able to “milk” penalties – the
inevitable outcome of a team being forced to
make numerous tackles or trying to stop the
trundling maul.
This would suggest that the key men on the
field could well be Springbok tighthead
props CJ van der Linde and Jannie du Plessis.
England, in a throw-back to the days of
yore, will be out to make their mark in the
scrum and if the Bok frontrow, with the help
of the rest, manage to halt the juggernaut
their greater skill, pace and variety on
attack will almost certainly carry them to
victory.
In the glow of that 36-0 victory it was easy
to gloss over but let’s not forget that in
the second half on that night at Stade de
France the England scrum was well on top and
that they dominated the ball retention count
by a ratio of slightly better than 3 to 1.
Mike Catt, standing in at flyhalf, had a
horrendous game and there is little doubt
that Wilkinson will put the ball to better
use.
So it will be down to the scrum. Stop
England there, shake their confidence and
then drive home the advantage with speed and
better use of the ball.
Le Journal de la Coupe de Monde
There have been, and will be more,
intriguing milestones on the road to the
World Cup Final. Here are some:
The Springboks were the only unbeaten team
on the way to the final. They accounted for:
Samoa 59-7
England 36-0
Tonga 30-25
USA 64-15
Fiji 37-20
Argentina 37-13
England got there as follows:
USA 28-10
South Africa 0-36
Samoa 44-22
Tonga 36-20
Australia 12-10
France 14-9
If South Africa win they’ll make it three in
row over England at the Stade de France in
Rugby World Cup action. In the quarterfinal
in 1999 they triumphed 44-21 (the test in
which Jannie de Beer kicked a world record
five dropped goals); which with the 36-0
victory in the Pool stages of this year’s
tournament gives them a pretty impressive
aggregate.
It is now apparent that the Boks’ 25-14
victory over England at Twickenham in their
last game of 2006 was a watershed occasion.
That win halted a run of seven successive
defeats and if they win on Saturday they’ll
extend their current run to five wins in a
row.
The Boks go into the Final with both the top
points scorer, Percy Montgomery on 93, and
leading try-scorer, Bryan Habana on eight,
in the tournament in their ranks.
The Boks, with 33, have recorded the second
most tries in the tournament. The All Blacks
ran in an amazing 48 tries before being sent
packing by France in their quarterfinal in
the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
In reaching the Final England have scored
just 12 tries; and only one in their two
playoff matches.
England have repeated their feat of being
the only side to lose a match in the Pool
stages but still qualify for the Final. In
1991 they lost to New Zealand in the opening
game but reached the Final against Australia
and, of course, this year they lost to the
Springboks.
Francois Steyn (Born 14 May 1987) at 20
years and 159 days will be the youngest
player ever to take part in a Rugby World
Cup Final.
Os du Randt (Born 8 September 1972) will not
be the oldest player on the field – a
distinction which will, ironically, belong
to another South African Mike Catt (Born 17
September 1971). Believe it or not both Mark
Regan and Lawrence Dallaglio, two stalwarts
of “Dad’s Army”, also give Os a couple of
months.
During the 2007 tournament Jonny Wilkinson,
currently on 243, passed Scotland’s Gavin
Hastings (227) as the most prolific
points-scorer in RWC history.
At 10am on Wednesday, October 17, the IRB
announced that every available ticket for
the Final had been sold.
Alain Rolland will become the first Irishman
and just the fifth referee to referee a
Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday night. The
others have been Kerry Fitzgerald
(Australia, 1987), Derek Bevan (Wales,
1991), Ed Morrison (England, 1995) and André
Watson (South Africa, 1999 & 2003).
Grey College in Bloemfontein has for the
second time achieved the remarkable feat of
having five former pupils in a Springbok RWC
squad – CJ van der Linde, Ruan Pienaar,
Francois Steyn and Jannie and Bismarck du
Plessis. At the 1999 RWC Grey College also
had five Springboks - Naka Drotske, Ruben
Kruger, Ollie le Roux, Pieter Muller and
Werner Swanepoel. But listen to this. The
victorious 1987 All Black RWC team had four
players - the Whetton brothers (Alan and
Gary, John Kirwan and Grant Fox – who had
been to the same school, Auckland Grammar
High, which was founded by the same man, Sir
George Grey, who established South Africa’s
two Greys, College in Bloem and High in Port
Elizabeth.
“He scores tries other people don’t even
dream about.” – Eddie Jones on Bryan Habana.
Percy Montgomery is like George Gregan –
he’s the ultimate professional.” – Jones on
South Africa’s other kingpin.
DAN RETIEF -
SuperRugby.co.za | Wednesday, 17 October
2007
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