That was a good game, agreed they let in a lot of soft tries towards the end when the players tried to play on their own rather sticking to the game plan.
Again, forwards laid the platform and scored most of the tries. I see Rassies finger prints all over this.
They only other backline worthy players was maybe 12 who did a fantastic setpiece run to score under the post.
That said, great to see the boys beating the best of Europe.
Italy beat England
I always believe that World Cup teams come from the U/20 team. Just look at the history of the comp, the winners and then look 6 to 8 years ahead to see who are the number 1 team in the world.
The junior AB did really well for several years, Jake White won it once, then 10 years later got the WC, next team with Jan Serfontein, Kriel, Pollard to name a few won it back in 2012 and took then won the WC in 2019.
France has been the form team over the last couple of seasons and won back to back comps and before that it was England.
So any smart union will try and keep these players together and hopefully get a WC
Playing a demanding rugby game demands maturity and constance.
A lack of rugby on the other hand reaches its peak faster.
Sacha Mngomezulu is a good player, and plays for Stormers as well. Have to agree, that it's a carbon copy of Rassie,s style of coaching....without a doubt he has done well in that department, but neglected the other important part of Balanced Rugby, running with the ball and Scoring...according to Supersport, Nienhaber has full intention to not only stick to rigid Plan A for Decider, but to use more enterprise in getting there .... seeing is believing....wales is up for it and will come with real intend, as History is there to be made.
Manpower
How do teams score with the backline misfiring and the loosies not contributing to the game? To be quite frank I do believe that the Coaching staff try and select the ebst team for the game and in the second test did what Erasmus did in 2018 to play an experimental team to see who is knocking on the door for selection next year.
Despite an average combination at flyhalf and scrumhalf the fact is that outside of that there was one big zero in backline performance. The forwards from the starting game - other than Etzebeth, Du Toit and Roos - made very little contribution to the team. Towards the end of the game Etzebeth went ballistic and gave away 2 penalties that put the team under pressure and hence the loss.
I expected the loss last week - you have to have performing backline players and there was NONE. I have never seen a worse center combination than Esterhuizen and Kriel since the Meyer backline destruction era.
Now back to the Under 20 games in the series. That little scrummie is a walking rugby dictionary. His technique and variations are classical and I think he may be in line fo early Springbok selection. I also like the flyhalf - he is an excellent player and may fill the gap at the second flyhalf position next year.. Then they have a very good hooker too and they were not hampered by players like Moster, Orie and a few other handicaps being in the team. However, forwards takes a bit longer to mature and being playing Springbok rugby - but I would support the inclusion of especially the flyhalf and scrummie from the uder 20\s in the Springboks squad next year.
That leaves a gap at center - we need three centers in the squad - but I think that may be filled by Willemse, who as an Under 20 player did well as inside center (he was in the team of thes series in that position) in his first year as an Under 20 player. In the second series he played in he was injured in the first game and did not play thereafter. The Under 20 no 12 looks good as well though..
Amongst the forwards of the Under 20's I like in particular the Hooker and the number 8 - not only in their relevant positions - but also as linking players in backline attacking moves = something seriously deficient in the team when Du Toit is NOT playing. Even in the game on Saturday the only real attack by the team on Saturday Du Toit played a critical role in - but it went dead the recipient ran straight into a defender and a potential try was destroyed.
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