Counting collateral damage leading up to Tri Nations

Looking at the pre-Tri Nations ‘warm ups’ of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, only one thing is clear: the Boks have had the beter ‘pre-season priming’ to take this year’s trophy.

New Zealand stuttered against France, and Australia got to warm their legs against Italy, while South Africa put in weeks of pre-season training and hosted the Lions.

After the Super 14, I’d have put my house on South Africa, with France and Italy helping to confirm my prediction.

Now with the kick off imminent, I’m growing more jittery and wondering if I’ll be looking for rental accommodation by the end of August.

My main concern centres around Bakkies Botha.

I’ve managed to convince myself that he’ll not last through the Tri Nations and that he’s likely to cop another ban at the earliest possible (and plausible) convenience. Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield are an awesome pair, which Australia and New Zealand have no answer for.

The duo tilt the game away from the South Pacific and I’m sure they’d successfully lead the hunt to bagging this year’s Tri Nations trophy if allowed to play through the series.

As I’ve said, that’s not likely to happen.

The trap has already been set (thanks to a certain Kiwi citing officer in the Lions series). Bakkies Botha is just dangling by a thread and he’s going to get pinged. In fact, we’ve already got betting running on how, when, where, and by whom.

This is what ‘total rugby’ is all about.

It involves set-ups which are manipulated into place well ahead of the kick off of any game. Total rugby also includes what happens after the 80 minutes on the field, and this year, I hope South Africa will be able to play a better post-match game, inflicting at least an equal amount of ‘collateral damage’ on New Zealand and Australia.

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