Marx was they key to forward dominance. He strengthened our scrums and is great throwing in at lineouts.
I think we also missed Lood. Snyman has not reached previous levels. Lood is also a great lineouts forward.
How much we missed Am is a question. In my book Kriel is the best defensive 13 in world rugby. Am is more creative.
Plum is a strong advocate for Esterhuizen. To me there is not much difference between Esterhuzen and Allende. On my travels on You Tube and elsewhere I see Allende getting plenty of praise.
I felt we missed a trick not playing Moody at 14. He is just as quick as Arendse and more creative. Rassie went for the guy who had more test experience. Moody, fitness permitting, will play many tests.
Some pundits place a very high premium on attack and much less of a premium on defence. Hence our backline is not as good in their eyes. Yet Ireland and the All a lacks scored only one try against us and the wee abs trying came from a blatant forward pass. Against Ireland we too scored one try.
I said before the match the wee abs had a much underrated pack of forwards. Looking at the TV pack weights they outweighed us. Ox had to scrum against a monster.