Some Rugby Wisdom from Courtney Lawes

“Personally we should have won it. It was there for the taking but rugby can happen like that and especially that last Test, it was the flip of a coin. A couple of decisions, a couple of balls bouncing either way and that game is a completely different game. We were disappointed but I was happy to be there and give everything I had and I thought that is what I did. I wasn’t too disappointed personally but as a team, it was disappointing to lose.”

Asked about the criticism of South Africa’s style of play, Lawes replied: “They play to their strengths. What more can you ask for them? They are a big team, they want a slow game, they want to kick the ball and they want you to knock it on so they can scrum you and then they want to maul you and that’s the game plan. If you let them do it they are going to beat you and it’s up to you as a team to change that game.”

Already smarter than all of our scribes and pundits combined. 

An intelligent and honest very brief but says a lot  comments which contradicts and sums up most of the childish , bias opinions expounded here. A man who understands the pressures, the failures and the success formulas of individuals and teams within the ambit of the game called rugby.Nice to read, because it's in the true soul of sport and especially rugby which he certainly understands. 

Bit harsh, Saffex

pigsh!t isn't thick.

You don't need to run around the Boks, you run through them. They are big, but weak. As soon as New Zealand became passive they lost the game, before that, it looked like a rout was on the cards. 

Lawes also said this, which sounds quite wise to me:

In reviewing the Lions tour, Lawes said: “I don’t pay much attention to that kind of stuff. I rarely read rugby news, any kind of rugby news, because people have an opinion and everyone’s opinion is different so give your opinion if people want to hear it, that’s absolutely fine. No problem with me but it is going to go straight over my head regardless of what it is.”

He’s been quite vocal of late, quite unlike him really.

Do you even watch these games Unteromlett? The Boks bleed yardage on defence. Every team we have faced this year has dominated us on the gainline. New Zealand were doing the same last Saturday until the second half. This is not an especially physical Bok side. 

The All Black tries were from good playmaking by their backline. However, once the Bok forwards took control, the All Blacks were starved of possession for their elusive backs. 

If the Boks can play such a simple game plan in many games and still be number one in the world it is physicality. 

They have shown against the All Blacks they can also play with skill and a more advanced game plan. 

If a team has a basic game plan, the only way they can win is through physicality. 

The Bok attack last week was subpar. Where the Boks excelled was in gang tackles by the likes of Etzebeth and Thor on key phases. This team is weak on the gainline, and the defence is paper thin, and cannot dominate a game without territory. We made New Zealand have to contest at the set pieces and got the better of them with the boot. That's how we won. We didn't win through skill, or tactical innovations. The Bok attack was as poor as ever. Nothing has changed. Give us an All Black side that is mentally engaged, and we lose. But, as ever, simple things are staunchly resisted by the plastiks who idolise Herr José.

Here are some stats: We bettered New Zealand in the lineout, but lost the scrum battle. They accumulated more of everything on attack and even had a better defence (90% to 84%). We conceded one more turnover, but they conceded two more penalties. They did actually have more territory in the second half, but less possession. This notion that the Boks were as dominant as stated is nonsense. The boot of Frans really took the sting out of their pressure and at a critical point in the game. That was the most decisive moment, as they were looking like taking it. 

Aside from Wiese, the Boks haven't had a gainline threat all year. The closest would be Kwagga. On defence, the Boks are not landing massive hits, we are taking the carrier and being hanging on limply. Contrast this to the Kiwis who were holding up the carrier and attacking the ball. For physicality, this is a 5/10 Bok side. It could be better with more thoughtful selections. As things stand, this isn't even a top 5 side in world rugby for physicality. 

Well let’s see, could you have figured it out…..who is a super physical Oz forward with a name that ‘sounds like’ Tofua?

Yes a nine year old kid playing the game could have….can you Peeper?

Tupou?

Yep….pretty obvious, but apparently not to the tiny green member.

What Stubz doesn't know is that there Is a memory structure in the brain called a schema. It's used to reconstruct and interpret new information from bits of old information. So, were Stubz' brain functioning as highly as he thought, he'd have no trouble handling the information in that post. He unveiled his own mental disability. A disability which clearly shows he cannot interpret new information accurately. 

"What Stubz doesn't know is that there Is a memory structure in the brain called a schema."

Ek scheme that's the thingy that makes people create new ideas.  Skollie, Pappa and Priester would be proud.

"Tofua" sounds like "Tupou"?

They don't even have the same number of syllables.

Sounds to me like a rugby noob shooting off his mouth about yet another player he's never heard of until recently.

Hmmmm . . . I wonder what Tofua's first name is . . . Vinnie maybe?

LMAO!

Bok players are weak. This has to b the most stupi d post ever. What the heck is wrong with Orgina. The guy is a mess!

If only SA rugby played to their strengths... Yet it is not what happened.

NZ played for 10 years to their strengths, they accomodated circumstances without being dictated by them.

SA rugby on the other hand are dominated by circumstances, they determine their games fully on circumstances, gambling on various factors.

This interview must have been collected before the last game as the last game does not fit the depiction. This was not a game from a team playing to their strengths but from a team that hacked the referee's mindset.

SA rugby played a streak of dull games beyond a point of disgust. They failed to show up for the 100th NZ SA game.

Following that, it turned quite likely that the referee would come to the last game with the determinate to entertain a lively game.

SA rugby gambled on that. They knew that refereeing would turn out to be very different.

NZ played 10 years to their strengths. No matter what, they deliver the same brand of rugby.

SA, nope. They are dominated by circumstances, They will turn out as circumstances shape them.

"They failed to show up for the 100th NZ SA game."

LOLZ

It was advertized as the 100 th NZ SA game and stepping on the field is not enough to show up for such an event.

So New Zealand played nobody and almost lost all by themselves?

No. They played a team determined to keep pretending what they are, ready to ruin what should have been a great celebration for rugby.

SA rugby had to display this lack of rugby in order to edge their bets that refereeing would be changed for the next game as WR tolerance point would have been reached.

As stated already, even NZ failed to uplift a game when SA are involved.

And again, WR could not tolerate this kind of lack of rugby if it was played by a number of other teams.

SA rugby is favoured. Turning the table, other teams offering this lack of rugby and then it is the death of rugby as SA will certainly not be able to uplift the level of the games.

That is the main difference between SA and other rugbys. Like NZ that is faithful to their brand of rugby, they play the same match in match out.

SA on the other hand could not even have inverted the display they gave for the first game with the display they did on the second.

It had to be in that order to get what they wish for.

The little green member couldn’t guess it was Tupou, but Draad had no trouble. Green Member was never very smart and then came the drugs and booze leaving a sort of zombie who can’t connect any dots.

Pizzle Drizzle getting rather excited, but predictably continues to fig until he achieves a cave in. 

The man seemed to have just heard that there is a quota policy going on in SA...

Explains the burst of laughs.