Could the Abs defeat the Boks on soft, neutral fields

The YE tour raises some doubts. In the RC we play NZ on softer fields but their softer fields. And the bone hard fields of the highveld suit the AB game. But what if we played in the NH and those muddy tracks?

Certainly the Boks were easier winners in the YE. Easier winners against common opponent France...and never really challenged as the ABs were in all three of their games. Part of that might be that NZ has become the team to beat, so they face highly motivated opposition.

But part of it is also that the Boks dominated the collisions in all their games, in a way the ABs couldn't. The pack HM is evolving could become the dominant factor in world rugby. The one strategic element that renders all the other finesse skills null and void.

I like where we are.

 Boklogic

I do not think that our defence were that good against the Welsh - even though they scored no tries against us.  The Welsh were unlucky to lose two of their best players early through injuries (Davies and Jones) and if the referee was wide awake and did refer the Du Preez try to the TMO - we would have lost that game.   In the 10 minutes he was on the field of play Davies ran past Fourie twice as if he was not on the filed of play.  If Davies could do it - so would the Smiths.

Mozart rightly pointed out that we lost the Ellis Park test because of poor defence.   Who were the poor defenders?   They were Morne Steyn, Willem Sloth Alberts and Engelbrecht.   Engelbrecht was replaced - the other two serial offenders are still in the team.   Even against the French Alberts missed 4 tackles and made 9 and Morne also missed a tackle.   That would not change - whether we play the AB's in England or Outer Mongolia.

New Boks strategy: "release the grass grubs". Yeah, these grubs will eat the roots and soften the fields. Brilliant plan boys, it sure beats improving your team, lol 

Mozart, your humour is unsurpassed mate  I am about to rupture a gut I am laughing so much.

Yes the RWC is a great leveller for sure.

One advantage the ABs have is they play and train together for longer than most teams. In the RWC all other nations play together for longer and they develop as a team – this neutralises one advantage the ABs have and teams start to catch up. There are other factors too, i.e. a tournament format has its own challenges.

On the soft fields, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Poms start watering the fields and releasing the grubs a couple of months before the RWC kick off, lol

C'mon everyone can make as many predictions as they like, other than a SH will win the RWC it'll be who adapts best to the pitch and conditions among other factors. All the major teams will be planning like with every RWC to win it.

Beeno: better prepare the NH fields so they are nice & soft for the beefy boks to fall on

(visualisation provided for those who need it)

Cloudy: these pictures/emoticons are available on the internet, e.g. http://www.sherv.net/mood-icons-10.html

Mozart: your flat worm must have been censored as it is not displayed in your post (unfortuately ? ), lol

Sharkbok

The only easy win was against Scotland - the other two could have gone either way - the Welsh one especially where the win was achieved as a result of a referee error. 

There is no way that the Springboks can beat the AB's with Morne at flyhalf.   He was piss poor against the Welsh and worse against the French.  One week is to little to find a replacement 13 that can be considered as reasonable - so what happens when the Davies spectacle against Fourie is repeated?

If the above players are replaced and we have a full squad - the Springboks will have a decent chance against the AB's - if Morne is replaced and despite the presence of Sloth and Fourie in the team.    

Beeno: you mean you need more than 10 worms? The Boks are in worse shape than I thought. But use as many worms as you need to get the softness of turf you require for the Boks to finally beat the ABs, lol Great strategy

Good one Cloudy, keeping it real as usual, lol

 Here's one for you Moz.......if the hard grounds of the highveldt suit the ABs more than the Boks, don't you think it says a lot about the SA rugby brain that after 122 years of playing test rugby they still haven't developed a style to suit their own conditions??

Moolaa: yes, of course I am always ready to support brother Beeno.