Prediction SA vs IRE- the Moment of Truth

The Boks always have a fighting chance, but with the Balanced style of Rugby the Irish are playing, they will have to be @ There best.....Middle field is my biggest concern with DDA and Jessica not showing the Form to actually warrant there inclusion....we have seen in the past that channel can collapse very quickly and Field Placement and Thinking on there feet, has caused major Holes in our defence.....if we are going to come again with this 1 dimensional R&N Gameplan, we will go down....my Prediction is Boks by 5, IF we get it right...  otherwise we loose by 10 to 20 points...this outcome will set the Marker for the rest of the Tour.

All the right noise is coming out of the bok camp that they want to win this game. Again, not sure if having hot steppers in the wet and then 2 light loose forwards on the bench will help speed up or win those crucial turn overs. 

My heart says Boks but my mind say Ireland. I don't trust our coaches to replicate the feats of the bulls given that we don't have the same crop of players in the squad that played for the stormers and bulls. If we did, then bokke all the way. 

So will have to give this to Ireland, 8 points 

Bokke by 1

Good luck Stav!

Ja, so just did a match up on our packs and experience. I think our pack will crush theirs. We have more experience, our player are about the right age and we have a half a Cheslin weight advantage. Not to mention that Tadgh Furlong played in the Lions series against us. So I'm not worried about him. The only real threat is Josh Van Der Vlier, we saw his accelleration and he can break a defence wide open from the 5 meter line. I think he is way better than Kolisi. So I just hope Kolisi pitch up on Saturday. 

Both their flankers are a handful.

I's a tall order, but I can never bet against the Bokke...Springboks by the skin of their teeth.

They are number one, the Irish. Let's see if they the chokers that I think they are or not. 

Don't fancy our back setup though, the Irish play has been very imaginative with slick passing. 

I don't see Ireland as chokers. With the exception of 2011 when Wales beat us in the quarter finals of the World Cup each time we where eliminated either in groups or the quarters we where not eliminated because of unexpected poor performance but that's where our level and form was at and where not good enough to progress. We had peaked in 2018 and our form had already dropped off considerably in the 2019 6 Nations, the world cup was just a continuation of that form.

But yeah I fancy Ireland's chances at home, if the form they have shown in the last year continues I think we will win by 5-10 points. South Africa where up and down in the Rugby Championship and I haven't seen them play at Ireland's level during that championship. Still will be a tight game.

Best of luck to yall.

Ireland by 10 points. 

Ireland has a well-balanced team. Perhaps none of them would make a world XV, but they are a strong unit- more than the sum of their parts. 

For the Boks to win, their backline will have to score tries as they have selected a team that is more suited to a running game than kicking.

Sexton is still a key player, and the Boks are going into the match without a flyhalf than can control the game with his boot-  Territory or pole kicking.

Having Delande and Jessy at centre, there are limited options to get the ball wide. 
Forwards are going to have to be good, and Ireland is very effective at the ruck. 
Our outside backs are faster, so they need space to capitalise on this.

Our pack still looks much more formidable….it’s the backline that’s the concern. Perhaps we’ll win it on scrum penalties.

Ireland x 12 points

There are two ways to look at this match-up: Man-for-man, and in terms of gameplan. The former will yield a negative outlook for the Boks. There's simply no denying that, the Irish have more talent. However, the gameplan is such that it is useful in making opponents feel uncomfortable. I acknowledge the shortcomings of the gameplan, but that's besides the point. It is designed to make opponents uncomfortable and to disrupt them at the source. The Irish were excellent at handling the linear scope of the All Blacks. Line integrity and discipline at the breakdown were top drawer. However, the Boks will aim to fragment their structure with disorientating barrages of kicks and attacks on the breakdown. It is here that the Boks will win the penalty count, as the Irish will be taken out of their usual stride and the Boks will begin to pick them off with opportunistic strikes. Once we get ahead on the scoreboard, this is very difficult to overturn. The Boks should win, and by anything over 5 points. 

Bokke by 7

It is surprising that the Boks played so badly and were still able to get within 3 points. 

Agree and that tells me that the Irish will not win the WC.

They pulled of a win against a poor Springbok side filled with selection errors out of form players and sub international standard players.

All in all it was a win against a poor team in Green and Gold.

They pulled of a win against a poor Springbok side filled with selection errors out of form players and sub international standard players.

Get rid of the quota players and SA rugby play superb rugby.

No wealth shipping, gold mines replenished.