Tri-Nations Gets Exciting - SH rugby

[chuck]

Hey matt,

Yeah - the 3N finale this week looks to be a cracker - with the extra tension of the Bledisloe Cup being on the line also. Pity it's in the armpit hicktown of Brisbane!

I like the look of the Black - their hitout against Samoa - where they cracked the ton - left them with a few things to work on - but the better for having put on 80 minutes against a hard tackling island team.

Tuitavake definitely felt it - his headclash means he's out for this weekend's game.

It'll be a tense one. The shackle-draggers were utterly woeful in the final game against the Bokke - I've got the game on file, and have watched the highlights. They just weren't there at all. Kind of like how they were when they turned up to play against the Blacks in Auckland - they were kind of all happy and larrikin like at the start - and got trounced by a squad of stony faced warriors who realised they had to fight for every inch of that field and use every scrap of possession.

But Deans is a damn good coach - and he'll be taking no shit from anyone.

I'm not expecting the ABs to underestimate them at all - Tackles McAwe will be back in the 7 jersey - DC will be running the backline. And I fully expect a decent 15 point win.

But I'll be happy with a one point win.

The Bokke - from such great heights - beating the ABs in NZ for the first time in 10 years - they've really collapsed. Pieter de Villiers has some interesting ideas, and the quota system is really messing up their selection policies. Nice to see old Percy "Blow-Dry" Montgomery get his 100 test caps and then promptly retire.

Jamie Nutbrown - he's not as much of a mouthy twat as Marshall is/was. He's an ex-Canterbury boy - played some first five as well from what I recall. In the Canterbury squad, had the misfortune be stuck behind Dan Carter, Andrew Ellis, Stephen Brett - who are all class acts.

He's played for the NZ A squad - and he's a decent S14 player, that more than likely was never in the running for an AB jersey. He'll be decent I suspect - what's the Osprey's forward pack like? I see he'll be working with Holah again.