Illusion

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-notion-that-the-springboks-are-the-worlds-best-is-nothing-more-than-an-illusion-at-this-point/

Very well summed up.

except he fails to mention that the Boks are also in the first spot in the IRB rankings, in addition to being current IRB world champions. 

Hi there CleanCut

except he fails to mention that the Boks are also in the first spot in the IRB rankings, in addition to being current IRB world champions.

That was mentioned throughout the article.

You may find out soon - if the Lions actually tour.

Somehow I think South Africa will screw that up and the tour will be cancelled.   

Aussiewinner could be Voldemort, Bedpan, Sonnybill or DumbAss...not so Rooi...Hahaha.

Need the Mole discerner from NZ, Justwin back to tell us. The posters here cannot discern moles...

I don't think it's CC...it's not his style.

Or he could simply be a new poster from Australia . . .

possible.

"I don't think it's CC...it's not his style."

Really?

Except for the fact that he's been caught out twice.....both by yours truly.

The point of the article is that the Boks were not dominant before the World Cup final, and they haven't defended their title with so much as a single test. These are relevant points. Had the Boks taken on a challenge and won, they'd have set a marker down for the WC final not being an anomally. Again, fair and reasonable point. Boasting about being the best without one title defence, when other sides have bren playing, against difficult circumstances, rings hollow. Until the Boks play again, we don't know how good they are. The longer the wait, the greater the pressure and the harder the challenge. The Boks are in danger of making themselves irrelevant and falling behind the times. The long term ramifications for avoiding rugby could be quite severe.

This quote sums the situation up perfectly:

"They have basked in that glory for as long as you could have asked. But the world's best team isn't one that last played in 2019. Time doesn't stand still for anyone." 

Trouble really is, you guys are mostly neurotic, moles are part of nature, like pop-ups that occur often here...moles always pop up too once the lawn has been cut.

"possible.

"I don't think it's CC...it's not his style."

Really?

Except for the fact that he's been caught out twice.....both by yours truly.'

LOL...CC is having the last laugh...no wonder he beat you at chess.

CC is not a double agent, more likely a triple one. 

AO

You are totally clueless and indeed a Kindergarten Imbecile.      /   

2018, an inferior record to 2017. Timescale wiped out. The three key wins were the win over the worst Wallaby side in 45 years, the win over an injury hit Welsh side in the semi and then England in the final. Double ranking points in the world cup. Herr Unteromlett, it's you who can't grasp these very simple facts. As the article states: the best team in the world today is not a team who last played in 2019. If you cannot understand that, then entropy has been more unkind to you than I had anticipated. 

New Poster - Simple as that.

No one is arguing that the Boks have done well - But it is all in the passed and due to South Africa's effort during Covid - The boks have not played any tests so the passed is irrelevant.

Typical - When you South Africans don't like a comment - You get nasty - it is in the nature - H opeless - You lot bite every time - Little wonder the country is (I will leave it to you to work out).

Aussie Whinner who got nasty, at least to you? None that I can see was directed at you, at least not yet!

In 2019 Rassie sent his A-team to New Zealand one week before this Test match,
while he remained in SA and coached the B-team to an easy victory against the Wallabies.

Our B-team beat Argentina and the Australians 1st choice teams. 
How many teams can field a B team, with a bench that was C-team- and beat first choice test teams. 

The 2020 form of the Wallabies was let's just say, more of the same.

Argentina was made to look great, and that tournament without the mighty Boks was a second-rate tournament.  

New coach, but same problems.
The Wallaby tight five probably wouldn't even be able to out scrum our cheerleaders. Most are not test standard, and the loosies are nothing special. 

A good backline, but always playing behind the 8-ball. 

HEHEHEHE.

You bite so well.

I think you take yourself and the Boks far to seriously.

We don't.

And wrong - The Wallabies are a joke.  

You refer to yourself as Aussie Winner, and you claim we take ourselves too seriously. 

When last have Australia won a world cup, or even been contenders? Or been top in the IRB ratings etc, etc. Australia were once a great rugby nation, but nowadays the likes of Scotland are better.

SA may have peaked already, and who knows maybe a new rebuilding is needed.
England finished second in the World Cup, but the wheels fell of in the 6 nations.

We are stil in a good place. Without checking, only Beast retired and Thor, Willie and Mapimpi might need replacement before the next RWC...the rest of the players in the team are still rather young?

Wow, 1991 and 1992 were good years.

I do like this comment...’the passed is irrelevant’....hahaha. If it were deliberate that might almost be clever.

As for the article, it makes much the same argument I have made on here. The Boks did get a lucky schedule, they did lose against the ABs, they hardly scraped by Wales.

But they had a great final. Or rather a great second half of the final, because in truth England had much more of the game in the first half but failed to make it count.

In the second half the Boks were able to exploit some school boy errors on the part of England along  with the inexplicably weak English scrum. But they did that clinically and the defence was fearsome. It was in totality the best Springbok performance since the Lions series in 2009......but it was one half of rugby.

So more than for most WC winners the Boks needed to confirm their win with a great 2020. I believe fear of  not doing that was part of our decision not to compete.....and to me it is totally consistent with Erasmus’ history.

So the Lions series looms huge for the Boks. Beat the Lions and all these suspicions are quashed. Lose and the WC win will be a footnote in history.

As the author says, time doesn’t stand still and Covid was an excuse to compete without stigma if you failed....we turned it into a chicken run which will be the narrative if we lose.

We should have gone out there and competed like all other rugger nations. Like WC winners reveling  in the freedom of competition in the midst of the Crisis.....if ever there was a time when competing was more important than winning it was 2020. 

"We should have gone out there and competed like all other rugger nations"

The ones that didn't want to postpone it by just a week or two to accommodate us...our "friends" who kicked us out of Super Rugby after 25 years? Nah, they can shove off untill they can respect us as friends...equals, not subservient tag-alongs.

PS: they tried to bully us into accepting a disadvantaged position...good on Rassie and SA Rugby for not falling for a sucker-punch.

Where was the South African guts and honour these past twenty years? Now that we sit out of rugby for over a year we got the good end of the deal? South Africa has a hard enough time learning when they are involved, how much worse skipping school? And that when they were flunking before hand! Lets not kid ourselves, South Africa is at a disadvantage now. Rugby is moving on without us. Had we left SANZAR for a commitment to play up north I'd be saging something quite different. The putrid garbage that is super rugby is one of the key factors in the unskilled generic players we produce, who can't pin down one position. But rather that than nothing. To have our SH rivals continue without us is a disgrace! And then to keep waving the 2019 RWC banner as if it's still relevant, a #1 ranking backed up by nothing. It's typical South African braggard behaaviour. I know where it ends, it always ends in the same place. That's oh so South African. 

Everybody found a way to play. We didn’t, because we didn’t want to ....it’s as simple as that.

So Dave was CJ Stampkar eligible for the Lions or not.

These were his words....and you are right they differ markedly from your’s:

“I will be available to represent Munster until 27 June 2021 when my contract expires, and, for International duty, until the end of the mid-year Test window.”

Unteromlett, why don't you calm down and have a few of your favourite pies from Greggs. There's a good lad.

Here Dave ....right off Stampkar’s social media site:

https://www.planetrugby.com/shock-as-ireland-and-munsters-cj-stander-to-retire-at-end-of-pro14-season/

Even if he was available and not selected.....yes, even if.