It was the mighty midgets that won us the World Cup

South Africa is often known for fielding big bruising forwards and in the days of De Villiers and Fourie, Equally as big backs that could bash the door down. Then throw in Frans Steyn, JP Pietersen and each back line player was over 1.90 cm and over 100kgs. Only Habana was the smallest at 180 and Percy was 182. Both were above 90kgs. 

Fast forward to the present. 

We attacked with Arendse and Kolbe, both under 178, then we had Le Roux at the back, not the biggest player either, but has a bit of height. 

Then look at Faf De Klerk, Deon Fourie and all of a sudden we have 5 players that are under 180 both in the pack and forwards. 

Now we have Nohambe, we is sure skillful but standing at 164, is it a step too far for a diminutive player. 

South Africa is known to physical, how on earth did we sell that one, making teams think that we have big bruising players. 

Is down to the likes of PSDT and Etzebeth along with Marx and De Allende bruising them and not to mention Vermeulen. 

Maybe Rassie has unlocked a balance that brings all shapes and sizes into his team

Correction it was Pollard that won us the WC….and Dud Allende bruised nobody.

I see poor Mozzzz is still having a hissy fit when anybody praises Allende. The clown bought into the BS of his side kick Doos the biggest mampara this board has seen. 

Doos said Allende was weak. Only a nutjob would make that assertion. Keep trashing Allende and making an abject fool of yourself. Seems you can't be helped. 

Unfortunately the largely sane Plum has be sucked into this BS.

Our center pair did us proud. Best defensive center pairing in world rugby. 

Don't forget our part time hooker in 37 year old Deon Fourie, how on earth did he make the world cup let alone playing for 77 min in a bruising encounter where our pack held its own. He is really short and not even the heaviest hooker. Probably 20 kg lighter than bongi. 

Don't forget Kwagga, such a fierce defender.  Puts his body on the line. Standing at 1.80 and not even above 95kg. 

I'm not into boxing or fighting sports, but everyone knows their are weight classes 

10kg make a massive difference in a physical sport.

Then you have Kolbe and Arendse that is probably not above 80kg against some of the biggest wingers that is easy 20 kg heavier than them..

Player of the year Savea,  95k

Kolbe's charge down against France could be argued as the tournament-defining moment

What about his try saving tackle in the same game?

As a matter of interest....Brent Russell.......came along when size was all important, was never going to cut it back then but probably will now. No-one knew how to handle his presence .

As for wee players tackling bigger players....have a look at wee George Smith cutting down Bakkies.

I wasn't drinking the Kool-Aid, Beeno.

It's me wot poured it.

I think I was one of the first here to bemoan what DDA turned into. Everyone liked his breakout season/s at the Stormers. But that guy was long gone only a couple of years later. And one gets the sense that DDA himself feels it. He always looks insecure and unsure to me. Likely the root of his brain freezes.

Vain imagination Plum. Big problem is you are ignoring his considerable strengths which so many see. You guys trashing Allende are a small fringe minority and rightly so. 

The idea that he is hesitant and uncertain is a fantasy. The Bok backline stopped the best attacking backline in the World. 

If All ende was as bad as you suggest Rassie would have dropped him. 

A perfect example of confusion was the AB try called back for the knock….Dud ran alongside Mo’unga like an honor guard. That could have lost the WC right there. And it was a total replay of his run alongside Umaga in the 2015 semi, which did lose the QF as Barrett scored. 

I can’t think of one great break this guy made that led to a try. In fact the only try I can remember associated with him was when Boggar fell off him in 2019

Eight miserable years of tractoring.

It says something that if there was an open field tackle to be made one would have more confidence in Arendse than Dud Allende.

You stop DA you stop the Boks

Still one of the most nonsensical statements in the game's history.

I think it's fair to say that Damian de Allende is not as good as Saffex thinks he is and he's not as bad as ButtPlug thinks he is.

For me, he's somewhere in-between . . . but a bit closer to the ButtPlug view.

Only a blithering idiot would think Allende is not strong in the tackle and that he doesn't make the very hard yards. 

Now we are supposed to take the views of people who got the Boks all wrong and spent their days criticizing Rassie and the team. Bwahahahahaha. Suck it up snowflakes. You worked hard to make your name Mud and you succeeded

 Hahahahahaha. 

These are desperate times for the Rassie and Bok critics. They are now clutching at straws regarding Allende. 

I note that arch buffoon mozzz has quitened down regarding DuToit. About time. 

...not to mention DdA's work over the ball at breakdown/ruck time...like a 4th loosie...a center doing flanker things, like Kolisi is a flanker running like a center...the Bokke have a more complicated team dynamic than what's  normally expected of the traditional type cast positions.

 ....speaking of which, what happened to Tradhole?...hasn't been stinking up this place of late...still buys pinning @ his Rassie and Bokke voodoo dolls...

Delande is a flank playing at inside centre. He is strong, a good carrier into traffic and a decent runner in space, but lacks the playmaking ability to draw and pass to create space. 

Dud Toit had a good WC final…he put his body on the line. Dud Allende had a miserable final and a miserable WC. That doesn’t mean Dud Toit is the answer at  7 where ball carrying and contesting the ball on the ground are key skills. He is a powder puff ball carrier.

It means in a game where our strategy was to play defense he could elevate his work rate to make a real contribution. That would be very hard to sustain,

Dud Allende has a software problem which has him making poor decisions, witness the Mo’unga break. It’s true that Dud Allende is hard to put away, but it doesn’t matter he is tractoring ….shuffling along, maintaining his balance. It doesn’t result in anything and on average is very low mileage.

Dud Toit should be playing lock, as Mostert showed you can tackle at Dud Toit rate or higher while playing lock. Trouble is he was never a very good lock at the line outs.

The myth goes on for the Duds, it is now so ingrained the only out is injury or retirement.

I don't care about Dud, he is the coaches pick, they won the World Cup, end of debate. If we lost, I would have a lot to say, but sometimes you just have to take your medicine and shut up. 

I was more interested in our Mighty midgets. 

The Afrikaner community has always been blessed tall genes and we produce the best locks in the world, not to mention props and loose forwards. We can put a really big team if we really needed to. But the way the boks play with their rush and scramble defence means that bigger players will struggle to keep up in that system. Gone are the days of Bulls bash down the door rugby. Rather kick the ball away and defend seem to be the order of the day and feed off mistakes. 

That team that beat France, they had a bigger pack, huge backs and sometimes we barely held our own in the tight exchanges. France just bull dozed us, but then came one moment of brilliance. A 22 mark and a scrum call in our own 22. Rassie called, France has big forwards and they camp in the midfield. 

On came Ox and we completely destroyed the scrums with the chocolate cake eating machine. 

He is not a tall player, very short in fact, think Deon Fourie came on that game as well after playing at 6 to cover for lazy kolisi and then went to pack down at 2. Also very small player,. 

Then, in the final play, big bruising forward carrying the ball in the midfield, only for Faf to strip the player of the ball and the rest is history. 

Rassie has definitely unlock the boks potential to include all of SA demographics and no longer believe that bigger is better but worked out a game plan that includes everyone and make the boks successful. 

We might not ever hit 70%, but if you have 4 world cups and now going into your 5th consecutive year as the World Cup holders, who could argue with that. 

We might not ever hit 70%, but if you have 4 world cups and now going into your 5th consecutive year as the World Cup holders, who could argue with that. 

Doesn't matter how it's won, some like it pretty, some don't care as long as they win and to that end it's mission accomplished. The Boks are in the record books and that's what counts.

I'm not sure how one can be pro Jake White but anti Erasmus. They are both defence orientated coaches, neither is known for playing flamboyant rugby.

I had the good fortune of meeting Jake White two years before the 2007RWC through one of the posters on the old board, her handle was "Mo"....some of the oldies on here might remember the good lady. (Hi Mo if you're reading this do pop in and say hello) Oh and by the way I was good friends with his royal Lord Pompous back then and as friends would I invited him along.

Anyway long story short, Jake sat right next to me and I remember saying to him....."Jake we don't score tries"...his answer was short and swift......"If you lose you go home"....he also said you'll be pleased to know that I've invited Bobby Skinstad into the squad. Well Bobby never made the starting 23 in the final, Jake chose boring mistake free Wickus Van Heerden instead.

Do I need to labour the point?

Don't think so.

Yup, it very like that movie, Money Ball, look at individual players qualities that we don't always tend to pick up. I'm happy to call Mostert, Tostert, Dud to be the destroyer of any enterprise backline attack etc. 

Even old sour puss Clive Woodward, these don't seem to have anything constructive to say about anything, just whines endlessly. Now a tabloid columnist and not in the spirit rugby came apart when he wanted to play an attacking brand of rugby. The only teams ever to be able to attack with venom were

NZ, just the way they play, but they can also defend and kick tactically 

Aus, maybe 7 years ago, only team that can attack when their forwards got destroyed up front. 

Fra, they are an enigma, but when they click, they are near impossible. They have become more tactically astute these days

SA, Mainly down to individual brilliance and athleticism rather than know for constructing tries 

But if India fielded a team just think how good they could be..  with 1.42 billion people you could scour the 99.9999th percentile and find athletic 7’ 6” forwards.

Hell you could field a second, third and fourth team and they would all be in the semis.

LMAOFY.