Predictions: All Black vs Bok Tests

1st Test - (All Black Victory)

32-23. All Blacks to win by 9 points.

2nd Test - (Springbok Victory)

21-25 Boks to Win by 4 points

I’ll reverse that prediction. I think we are inherently the better team and will win the first test narrowly….after that the ABs will be the more motivated team and be fanatically determined not to be white washed, winning at Wellington.

I seriously think the ABs have big issues with their backline play at present which of course has always been their trump card. We can’t take the high box kicks which the Bok 9 will rain down on us, there is no punch in the midfield and the wings are just not firing which has a lot to do with Proctor being bang ordinary.

The scrums should be relatively even so that leaves the lineouts and loose forward combinations where again they probably cancel each other out.

I fully expect the Boks to stick to the good old 10 man rugby they’re the masters of and gradually choke the ABs out of the game. There won’t be any sign of Tony Ball unless they get well in front a la Twickers 2023. And then there’s the Pollard factor……Surely he’s due to miss a kick??

Boks 18-10.

I think the All Blacks will be motivated enough. They stand a good chance to win both test, but the Boks might pull one thru.

The Boks will most probably revert to a tight game plan and try to squeeze the AB out as Moola mentioned.

Saturday,s test will be close, unless the Boks loose the plot again.

I can't see how anybody thinks the Boks are gonna win either of those tests.

For me, the only way I see us winning any of the two games is if the ABs have an absolute shocker. I mean red cards, massive clangers at vital moments and wasting mega try scoring chances.

We just lost to Australia at home, and then scraped by in the second game. Our defence was massively exposed in both games too. Alarmingly, the Ozzies ripped us apart from deep. And now the idea is to kick onto the ABs with Jordan and co there.

This first game in NZ, apparently the Boks have been targeting this game for ages now.

But what does that mean? For me, targeting a game means building the team that's gonna give you the best chance of winning it. Perfecting the best strategy to win it.

Honestly, I don't know if we've done either of those things.

And so, though I hope for different, I'm sticking with my 2-0 prediction and I have a feeling that one of those games is gonna be a massive loss...like 25 points or more.

I watched an interview between Jean and JOC during the week where JOC reiterates how the games swing on little things - a bounce here, a knock there like during the tackle on Pollard that cancelled Fraser's try. It will probably be the same here unless one team really runs away with it. So much is down to accuracy in execution and a little bit of the luck of the bounce.

This is a tough call as neither team has impressed in their first two games. The Boks will probably be the more settled side though and if they can get into the choking groove they can shut the All Blacks out. The ABs machine will have to start running in sync if they want to win this one, they can't afford any more of the shambles we witnessed from them against Argentina. Even in the first test, though they won comfortably, they were sputtering and misfiring all the way through.

And so, though I hope for different, I'm sticking with my 2-0 prediction and I have a feeling that one of those games is gonna be a massive loss...like 25 points or more

After the last two games, even I am swaying more towards a huge hiding in at least one of these AB games, and I was thinking of a 40 plus score to be very honest...

I am just not convinced at all with our recent performances....

I will be smiling happily if they prove me wrong on this, but I don't have a good feeling at all

Based on the evidence of the ABs thus far, I can't see them smashing us. If they get it together, maybe, but they haven't looked like they're making progress and their backs in particular have really struggled to gel as Moolaa also mentioned. The Boks have been patchy too, so we may be in for some more scrappy affairs like the last Aus test. I'd be surprised if one team gets a runaway score. Then again, we also know how teams can lift themselves for the big stuff, so who knows.

I fixed my typos. Gosh, I need to stop posting from my phone, its making me look like, Mike. Not the cool Mike from bad Boys either.

The difference is that we were at home and the Kiwis were away from home - and Argentina are, in my book anyway, a better side than Oz.

To me, looking at how we completely switched up our tactics for the second Ozzie game, tells me that Rassie believes traditional Bok rugby is still what we're the best at. And if he went that defensive against Oz, I can just imagine how defensive we're gonna play against the Kiwis when we're away from home.

What happens if we're trailing by 10 or 15 points with 20 minutes to go? I feel like we're just gonna kick, kick, kick, and kick some more.

Then, what happens in that same situation and we bring Sacha on for the last 20. Does he get a license to go out and win us the game? Or do we tell him to do more of what Pollard was doing?

For me, I'd have Sacha firing by now, and I'd have Esterhuizen at 12, and I'd be planning to start them in both games in NZ. And then Pollard to come on and close out the game with Willemse at 23. Instead, we're gonna start Pollard and DDA, kick the hell out of the ball, crash the rest of the ball, and then bring Sacha on with awkward instructions and put him into a situation where, as the younger player, he needs to come on and save the game but not play his natural game either.

Again, i seriously hope I'm wrong, but seeing how we responded to that loss against Australia, I'm relatively confident in how i see things playing out.

Then again, we also know how teams can lift themselves for the big stuff, so who knows.

My concern stems from the storied history of this ground and just how determined the AB's are going to be to protect this very long standing ground record at home...

I so hope I am wrong

Sacha should have played in the Manie games, no question. As it is he's come off a bad run of form in the URC and have had no proper game exposure to get himself back into it.

My concern with him is how frail he seems. I mean, he's physical, but also seems to be chronically niggled. Barely took the field against Aus or the medics were onto him.

Bokke by 8 pluss.

Kia Ora Yarpies.

The Mighty All Blacks will win both test matches comfortably.

Ka

It would serve the Boks very well to be absolutely thrashed in these two games.

Hopefully it would draw a line under the circus-like selection strategies employed by Rassie. It's embarrassing that he thinks we have 4 players for every position. Embarrassing and making us look arrogant and out of touch. One read of this board and it's easy to see how out of touch many Bok supporters are. We got beaten by the Argies last year and got hammered by Oz this year...but apparently we can put together 4 test quality sides!? It's an actual joke.

I hate seeing the Boks lose but I think a) we are going to and b) it will be good for us.

I can't remember when last I was this indifferent to results against the ABs.

"My concern with him is how frail he seems. I mean, he's physical, but also seems to be chronically niggled. Barely took the field against Aus or the medics were onto him."

Agreed. And it's the same for Hanekom.

Its like our best back and our best forward can't play for more than 5 minutes without breaking down.

I think the wheels are gonna come off for Rassie. As year is a long time in rugby and Rassie tactics, antics and players are getting old now. Kiwis will want to prove something and will bring the Mana.

Then, when last did we play and win in New Zealand. Our last four games against them was away from home.

The All Blacks is still a project and Razer is learning the hard way in not having Richi there that has been the main driver behind the Crusaders success.

The average bok team age is 33. We saw what an upstart team if Ausies with an team age of 26 did to this team.

Now take NZ that has an average team age of 27 and it will be a run away unfortunately.

Then, there is the man himself. Rassie, he looks like some old mans testicle. He has lost a lot of weight and looks frail. I know he is battling some illness. So I'm not sure he is as sharp as he once were and whether his lucky dice rolls during games will save him this time

On top of that, we have that fucking imposter Stick that is playing political games and took Rassies seat at last team photo.

So all is not well in camp.

I never want the boks to loose but I would rather let them lose now, get a massive clap and Rassie to use the remainder of the season to build a team he should have built at the beginning of the season before he started playing musical chairs

Unluckily it will not get better with SA Rugby as long as the ANC is in power.

Political motivation and Agendas seems to be more important than actual Rugby Progress/Sustainability.

The fact that Stick was in the Photo, was a ploy from Rassie. The Bok team was more on the white side and to downplay that, stick was put into the main chair.

Anycase I also feel that Erasmus might be slipping a bit and the Game on Saturday will give us more clarity.

My opinion is that to many older out of form players are in the team.

This and the lack of progress in the way we play ( adding skills) game plan, is causing unnecessary restrictions.

Dr.Lucky is adamant that things are still on track. The remainder of difficult games left for the 2025 season, will be defining.

Amandla!!

PowPow, you are right, nice slippery work from Dr Luck, don't let the ANC see what is going on.

It doesn't get easier, he dropped 1 game against a plucky Wobbly team that just came off a bruising Lions series. It was his opportunity to dial his team in and get them ready for probably the biggest tour or series outside of the World Cup.

But true to form, Rassie hit the 7 up and then had to drop a game as he can never win 7 in a row. I'll shave my left nut sack if he ever can double that winning streak.

So he is already down - 1, we knew that he will drop at least 1 game against NZ, then we thought we would walk the Bargies, but now that is also - 1 game. The end of year tour we have Ireland and France, both teams want to prove themselves. So that is another - 1. So out of the top 5 teams, we are not playing England. Rassie could lose all of them and we will end up at 5th position. Not great when the World Cup draw is in December.

I am worried. Not at all happy with how the season started. All will be revealed Saturday morning...GO BOKKE!

Yeah KC After that loss to OZ, Especially after the First 20 min of Bok Dominance, it’s complicated everything in a negative way…..

Draad we can only hope that Cool Hand Luke, Pollie, can manage that game well for us and lay the foundation for the rest of the game.

If Erasmus really does go with the 8/0 split, then Sacha can’t bring his impact somewhere in the second half.

Also Kwagga will most probably play wing and Kolbe Flyhalf, once pollie goes off??

NZ bookies

New Zealand ....... $1.55

South Africa ....... $2.40

ABs firm favourites for locals but not a bad return for a confident Bokbet of which I'm not, enveloped with a feeling of dread that this year's gonna be a year from hell after our... those were the lucky days days.

And let's just remember boys, we do have plenty of talent. Loads of it.

It's embarrassing how much forward talent we have. Our front row is the biggest problem, but we do have Marx, Ox and Wilco. So it's only a (b) front row problem. In the second row and back row we have disgusting amounts of talent. I don't think any country can compete with the stocks we have in those departments.

In terms of backs, most of our first choice picks would walk into standing the world. Excluding DDA, of course.

So we have more than enough players to be the easily the best side in the world. I think so anyway.

And Rassie took ALL of last year to experiment. He's had more than enough time to find the replacements that he needed to and to get the team firing. Because, he was targeting this tour, wasn't he?

Why he still felt that we needed to experiment in every game prior to the Oz games is a totally mystery. The experimenting was supposed to have been concluded last year.

Now be honest - To me it feels like we're arriving in NZ totally undercooked. With the amount of time and grace he's had, and with the abundance of talent both at the back and front, is it inexcusable for us to be arriving in NZ still so unsure of what our best side is?

As I said previously, I do hope we win. But the Springboks have begun to be seen as arrogant , and Rassie has lead the charge in that regard. So I wouldn't mind for the house of cards to come crashing down either. A firm dose of reality is seemingly much required.

The Boks looks confused between there supposedly new identity of Attack Rugby and the Old one of 10 man Rugby.

The Balance of switching between the two, definitely needs fine tuning…Hopefully they have worked hard on that and can show case there progress in the first AB test.

I tried to find this thread since I intend my score predictions on site

AB's vs Bokke = Springboks by 6

Pumas vs Wallabies = Pumas by 1

I got the wins right, but the scores wrong...