What a weekend to forget. Other than the sharks getting a way win. Another away fixture we the SA teams struggled to get any decent scores.
The bools left it late and made their score look better than what it really was against a really poor Welsh outfit.
The Stormers Sandbag their game with the hope they would get a bonus point. There were a some decent names on the score sheet but having Brok Harris, 38 years young starting already set the alarm bells off. Then came the foul play from Duanne from Vermeulen with and illegal croc role. Now Vermeulen is guaranteed to get his WC spot.
The Sharks got ahead and hung on in the end. Edinburgh is a decent outfit and not easy to beat at home.
The lions, well, nothing to report on here. Absolutely shit.
I'm not sure about you guys but it just shows our light hot steppers can only play in the heat and dry grounds where they can outlast heavier opponents, but out them on a wet field and single figure Celsius and they turn into Bamby on ice.
It also looks like we have lost our physical dominance. Maybe the other teams has figured out how to meet us physically or we just don't have those forwards that can front up.
My other question is wondering SA as a whole has gotten the rugby calendar wrong with the test season going all through the off season. Having our fringe players carrying tackle bags, not to mention the insane amount of travelling.
I always felt SA got the short end in Super rugby. We had to travel against the time zone and spend 4 weeks away from home. Then it expanded and all of a sudden we were jetting off to Argentina and Japan.
Now we are traveling 6 time minimum in Economy class via Abu Dhabi for on game and then back to SA for one game and back to Europe.
On top of that, our books are constantly rested and probably only play 50% of the time .
It also doesn't help when our best forwards are showing for the opposition.
With European money and playing I'm the same comp. We should be able to hold onto the players.
That is another part I don't understand. How much money is SA getting.