Rugby Planet previews Tri-Nations

July 27, 2005

Rugby Planet has just released their Tri-Nations preview. No surprises that they're picking the All Blacks to win, but I reckon they've under-rated the Wallabies. It's true that the Wallabies are getting long-in-the-tooth, but it also seems to me the All Blacks are probably a lot more worried about their home test against the Wallabies than they for the home test against the Springboks.

Click on the links to view their analyses of New Zealand All Blacks, Australia Wallabies and South Africa Springboks.

Here's the Tri-Nations schedule:

July 30: South Africa v Australia, Pretoria

August 7: South Africa v All Blacks, Cape Town

August 13: Australia v All Blacks, Sydney

August 20: Australia v South Africa, Perth

August 27: All Blacks v South Africa, Dunedin

September 3: All Blacks v Australia, Auckland

M.E.A.N.W.H.I.L.E. . . .

"Australia's rugby media has not spared Wallabies team management the lash over misleading them about the Matt Henjak affair. ... [M]anager Phil Thomson was forced yesterday to confirm there had also been a verbal altercation between Henjak and star winger Lote Tuqiri, after television reports in Australia said the pair had been involved in a fight."

M.O.R.E. . . .

Henjak faces the ignominy of being the first Australian player in 39 years to be sent home, with the previous case being Queensland hooker Ross Cullen, who was banished from the 1966-67 Wallabies tour of Britain after chomping on the ear of Oxford University prop Ollie Waldron.