England v South Africa - Live!
Preamble: The bookies reckon the Springboks will trample England, a team that against the USA seemed hell-bent on disproving Poison's famous theory that "every rose has a thorn". But Brian Ashton has shaken things up and, as you may just have heard, decided to replace injured fly-half Olly Barkley with an all-new, super-fluid, Total Rugby centre/fly-half pairing of Andy Farrell and Mike Catt. Can they shock us?
Preamble: The bookies reckon the Springboks will trample England, a team that against the USA seemed hell-bent on disproving Poison's famous theory that "every rose has a thorn". But Brian Ashton has shaken things up and, as you may just have heard, decided to replace injured fly-half Olly Barkley with an all-new, super-fluid, Total Rugby center/fly-half pairing of Andy Farrell and Mike Catt. Will they shock us?
Probably not (then again, if the answer to that was 'yes', then it wouldn't be a shock ... and we would therefore find ourselves in a logical logjam ... and this minute-by-minute malarkey would become a head-wreckingly elongated exercise in futility. Imagine that. As if.) What is absolutely certain, of course, is that at some point tonight a witless TV commentator or pundit is going to stupidly coo that Bryan Habana is "so fast he races cheetahs!" What they never point out is that Habana loses those races. Which basically means that that boast is akin to me telling you that I'm so intelligent I went to Harvard ... and neglecting to add that I was chucked out as soon as I got there on the grounds that I hadn't been invited, couldn't afford it and emitted an unpleasant odor.
Teams:
England: 15 J Robinson (unattached);14 P Sackey (Wasps); 13 J Noon (Newcastle); 12 A Farrell (Saracens); 11 J Lewsey (Wasps); 10 M Catt (London Irish); 9 S Perry (Bristol); 1 A Sheridan (Sale); 2 M Regan (Bristol); 3 M Stevens (Bath); 4 S Shaw (Wasps); 5 B Kay (Leicester); 6 M Corry (Leicester, capt); 7 T Rees (Wasps); 8 N Easter (Harlequins)
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), P Freshwater (Perpignan), S Borthwick (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), A Gomarsall (Harlequins), P Richards (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle)
South Africa: 15 P Montgomery (Perpignan); 14 JP Pietersen (Sharks); 13 J Fourie (Lions); 12 F Steyn Sharks; 11 B Habana Bulls; 10 B James (Bath); 9 F du Preez (Bulls); 1 O du Randt (Cheetahs); 2 J Smit (Clermont, capt); 3 BJ Botha (Sharks); 4 B Botha (Bulls); 5 V Matfield (Bulls); 6 W van Heerden (Bulls); 7 J Smith (Cheetahs); 8 D Rossouw (Bulls)
Replacements: B du Plessis (Sharks), CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs), J Muller, B Skinstad, R Pienaar (all Sharks), J Pretorius (Lions), W Olivier (Bulls)
Referee J Jutge (France)
Probably not (then again, if the answer to that was 'yes', then it wouldn't be a shock ... and we would therefore find ourselves in a logical logjam ... and this minute-by-minute malarkey would become a head-wreckingly elongated exercise in futility. Imagine that. As if.) What is absolutely certain, of course, is that at some point tonight a witless TV commentator or pundit is going to stupidly coo that Bryan Habana is "so fast he races cheetahs!" What they never point out is that Habana loses those races. Which basically means that that boast is akin to me telling you that I'm so intelligent I went to Harvard ... and neglecting to add that I was chucked out as soon as I got there on the grounds that I hadn't been invited, couldn't afford it and emitted an unpleasant odor.
Teams:
England: 15 J Robinson (unattached);14 P Sackey (Wasps); 13 J Noon (Newcastle); 12 A Farrell (Saracens); 11 J Lewsey (Wasps); 10 M Catt (London Irish); 9 S Perry (Bristol); 1 A Sheridan (Sale); 2 M Regan (Bristol); 3 M Stevens (Bath); 4 S Shaw (Wasps); 5 B Kay (Leicester); 6 M Corry (Leicester, capt); 7 T Rees (Wasps); 8 N Easter (Harlequins)
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), P Freshwater (Perpignan), S Borthwick (Bath), L Moody (Leicester), A Gomarsall (Harlequins), P Richards (London Irish), M Tait (Newcastle)
South Africa: 15 P Montgomery (Perpignan); 14 JP Pietersen (Sharks); 13 J Fourie (Lions); 12 F Steyn Sharks; 11 B Habana Bulls; 10 B James (Bath); 9 F du Preez (Bulls); 1 O du Randt (Cheetahs); 2 J Smit (Clermont, capt); 3 BJ Botha (Sharks); 4 B Botha (Bulls); 5 V Matfield (Bulls); 6 W van Heerden (Bulls); 7 J Smith (Cheetahs); 8 D Rossouw (Bulls)
Replacements: B du Plessis (Sharks), CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs), J Muller, B Skinstad, R Pienaar (all Sharks), J Pretorius (Lions), W Olivier (Bulls)
Referee J Jutge (France)
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