'Wales should be there'
2011-10-21 08:43:35BJ Botha
iafrica.com columnist BJ Botha would be a lot more excited about the Rugby World Cup Final if Wales was lining up against New Zealand instead of France.
After close to two months, the Rugby World Cup Final is upon us, and I must admit that I would have been more excited to watch Wales take on New Zealand this weekend and it is a bit of a dampener for me that France has qualified instead.
Unlike Wales, who have really converted their words into action during the tournament, France have not really impressed during the tournament. They did well against an ordinary England and only just scraped past a 14-man Wales over the weekend.
Wales losing Sam Warburton early on obviously cost them at the end of the day, but it was impressive to see how they managed to lift themselves after he was carded and actually played better. You could see that they turned to each other and said “we all have to play a couple of percent better here to stay alive”.
James Hook missing a couple of penalties did not help, but when you consider how France only just scraped through, it does not hold them in good stead come this weekend’s Final.
The next step for Wales now is to keep consistency going forward. I imagine a number of them will be in line for the British and Irish Lions in 2013 and that can only bode well for the Lions. However, it would also silence their critics if they can put one past Australia for the bronze medal.
Rugby is so big in Wales and while Graham Henry did some good work there when he was in charge, it did not manage to stay there for long and had begun to slump a bit. They have a lot of young, talented players coming through at the moment and I think that will hold them in good stead.
Looking at the second semifinal, I was not that surprised by the result.
Australia did as much as they could on defence against South Africa (and they got away with a lot as well) and did very little on the way of attack, and while that was enough to squeak past the Boks, you have to attack against the All Blacks, you cannot just defend for 80 minutes.
On Sunday, the Aussie halfbacks were simply not firing and a lot of their guys looked flat. I said before the game that David Pocock would have a big role to play, but Craig Joubert did a very good job of policing the breakdown and Pocock had a limited impact.
I thought Craig did a very good job and he was justly rewarded with the Final this weekend.
On the whole I have been very disappointed with Australia during the World Cup. From the outset, I considered them a dark horse, but they never really came through. It was almost like winning the Tri-Nations was the pinnacle for them this year and they just melted down from there. Quade Cooper never hit his straps and the pressure clearly got to him and other players in the team as well.
New Zealand v France:
History has shown that France can do anything on their day, but I genuinely feel that a win on Sunday is a step too far for this team. I said it last week before the Wales game – the red card didn’t help – but surely this week will be too much?
France has just held on against England and Wales, they lost to TONGA and New Zealand in the group stages and I think it will be a very one-sided affair on Sunday. There is no doubt it will be tense – Graham Henry admits he fears the French more than Wales – but I think the All Blacks will be scoring tries and will be crowned world champions this weekend.
