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South Africa v Australia Prediction
Author: Thomas Rooney 07/10/2011
The gods of fate have conspired to throw all three Tri Nations teams into the same half of the draw and subsequently one of arguably the two best teams in the tournament, South Africa and Australia must now face up to the fact their quest to be crowned world champions will ultimately end prematurely at the quarter final stage.
Australia have only themselves to blame for their current predicament; their path being drastically altered by their defeat at the hands of Ireland in the pool stages while South Africa side-stepped their own banana skin by avoiding defeat when Wales pushed them to the brink in Pool D.
Two games with cigarette paper thin margins that went in opposite directions have set up perhaps the most engrossing match of the quarter finals.
Australia have gone into hiding since their defeat at the hands of the Irish, apparently shocked by the shame of the mauling they were on the receiving end of by the back-row forwards in particular.
Their games against Russia and the United States went by almost unnoticed as they licked their wounds while the tournament hustled and bustled around them; their only hope of avoiding a game against South Africa evaporated as Ireland grabbed top spot with a convincing performance against Italy in their final group game.
South Africa meanwhile have gone in the opposite direction, rising to prominence at this tournament with every game, flexing their muscles and putting to bed the common held belief that they were a spent force.
The Tri Nations tournament held just prior to the World Cup has proved to be something of a red herring, lulling most into a false sense of security that the ultimate tournament side wouldn’t be able to pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Their record of three defeats and one victory as head coach Peter De Villiers tinkered with the Springboks to within an inch of their lives masked the true potential of the reigning world champions, and now he is able to call upon the most experienced South African side in their history, De Villiers can show his side’s true strength just when they need it most.
But they must be careful; hell hath no fury like a Wallaby scorned and their head to head record of late doesn’t make pretty reading for the Springboks.
Five of the last six meetings between the two sides have ended in an Australian victory, two of which have come in the last couple of months while the record stands at one win a piece at the World Cup.
Australia have learned the hard way that one poor performance can alter the road to glory by taking it through a diversion that takes them past potentially the two best sides in the world. The Springboks avoided learning that lesson by scraping through by the skin of their teeth, but there is still ample time for the Wallabies to teach their fierce rivals once more that a single moment in a single game can change the course of history forever.
South Africa v Australia Prediction: Australia at 1/1 with StanJames
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