The Best Springbok game in years

Now that was what we were asking for. Not the dull tactics that barely won the Welsh test, but a softening up followed by some excellent running rugby. Perhaps the Welsh test was a rope a dope tactic, or perhaps Rassie realized we had to take a few chances.

The test was won with the massive defensive stand in the first half.....and by the Beast's total destruction of Coles. He did it in  the British Lions series as well. So many questioned his selection ahead of Kitshoff, but he is the best loosehead in the game.

Vermeulen was, however, the rightful man of the match. Massive brave runs, secure kickoff receptions.....unmoveable on the deck. And there were those who wanted a Deysel twin.

Losing Lomp for Mostert, was no problem either, as Mostert was huge in the goal line defence.

Big games also by Etzebeth, Malherbe, and even Kolisi. 

And really all the backs were good today. Allende was solid apart from a bad miss on May in the English in  goal. Am showed great touch in the Mapimpi try. And while Kolbe's try was huge, even better was his  smother tackle on Lawes when England had a big overlap. Willie found his mojo  with one smart early break and fine general fullback play.

But defence was the core of this win.....England, who made a huge mistake playing Ford against this Bok defence, simply had no clue what to do by the second half. They needed Farrell at 10 and Tuilagi at 12. But by the time they made the switch, the Boks were dominant

I was delighted that we were able to score two fine tries to underscore the win.....something we were criticized for not doing in our other WCs. Scoring those tries provided the high the crowd needed.

Our return to success has come  from a rejection of the expansive game and a return to traditional Bok rugby.....with massive defence and physicality. But while last week's performance was dull and risk averse.......today we added the second bit......subdue and then penetrate!

Well done Rassie that was a master  class. If the Boks stick with this formula we can get back to where we were before our banning.....top dog.

They tell us we have number one ranking,we don't want it.Keep us as underdogs and we'll beat everyone rather!

Well played England,just one victory short.

Hard to go through the whole Trinations....Oz, AB and Boks. I was very surprised by the complete failure of the Pom scrum. Mako Vunipola lost much of his reputation today....and Old King Cole was just Old.

Glad you enjoyed it Dave, my group were on cloud 9 ......man that's how we should play. And I agree there were no weak links......I should mention Faf, we take him for granted, but what a Lion Heart!

Are your glass starting to fill up yet?

Nice that sanity is returning! 

Mozart

Is it not time that you apologize to Erasmus, Malherbe, Du Toit and De Allende for your constant attacks on them over the past years?   Your attacks on them were constant and ongoing for years,  

I watched a second time and enjoyed it just as much.

Our bomb squad nailed the poms into final submission.

If this forum is anything to go by youll nevr unite your nation. cant even get the boody whites together! hahaaha!! Good luck!! 

Not at all Muck. This was the rugby the Boks should play, not the rubbish you were happy with last week. Or the expansive game you hankered for last year. As a real Bok fan unlike you and the Dom Draad, I have high standards. Today we met them, and not a game too soon,

I get the feeling that Rassie's plan was...box kick to the final. Keep the same team and nobody will expect the changeup in the last game.

England were not expecting to be rushed. Especially not in the first minute. That was probably the very last thing they thought might happen. Particularly in a final. There are some progressions that any reasonable coach could rule out. Eddie thought the Boks spreading the ball wide confidently and early was one of those. Who could blame him? It's still unbelievable even though we saw it happen.

Sinckler going off early really was a disaster. An epic one. His carries were missed just as much as his scrumming. I believe Rassie's mentioning of "some luck" was partly in reference to that.

Whatever he told them and whatever the plan was, the Boks were strikingly calm and seemed league's ahead of England in maturity.

Goodness only knows where that performance came from.

This wasn't a wholesale change. We did a lot of the same things as we have done in the prior tests, but with some slight variation. These variations are scripted sequences we saw against New Zealand at Ellis Park last year and some of it against France. It was the same territorial kicking game, but with a little more width. It was enough to keep England under pressure and keep the ball out of their hands a little longer. When we went long, we typically played the ball to the first pod runner, who past it out to Pollard who was outside the pod, then we had another pod wide of him with the outside backs outside them. Despite playing for more width, we seldom outflanked them, getting on the outside edge of the defence. Hence our wing s cutting back inside and kicking. Such was the power up front and the pressure on defence that we just needed a little bit more of that variation.

This was the Boks of old...I said that the Boks have the advantage watching the semi against NZ on a loop and see Eddie's game plan...he showed his hand and the mistake he made was trying to do the same against the Boks and they were ready for them...dumb coaching.

Well done Boks I'm genuinely happy for you as I was when you won in SA when Mandela turned up in the Bok jersey and cap...the win meant far far more to the rainbow nation than it would have for NZ...that was a win for Mandela....I love the fact that a black captain raised the RWC..and his stunning after match speech....rugby is all about inclusiveness and the team. On yer Boks thanks for bringing the cup back where it belongs...the SH.

Thanks Razor.  The Southern Hemisphere is always the leaders in world rugby and the Northern Hemisphere the pretenders.   That is why the two top ranked teams in the world today is South Africa and New Zealand.   

I may be wro ng about it - but I do not think any rugby coach should be too long coaching on test level - they become too self-opinionated and even though I am a great admirer of Hansen I believe it is time for NZ to move on under a new coach of whom NZ has many to pick from.  Wonder who that would be?            

It's a nice story that our tactics against Wales were a ruse. But when you consider that we were tied with Wales with 4 minutes to go, it seems unlikely we were still concerned with a misdirection play.

It seems more plausible that we  thought Wales was most assuredly beaten by playing a kick and chase game. 

Something changed for England....perhaps something in the English matchups suggested we had to range wider. Or perhaps Erasmus was affected by all the criticism. Or maybe the players wanted more freedom to play an aggressive game.

All we know for now is the team was much more effective today and hit the Springbok sweet spot of conservative aggression.

Hopefully in future we will avoid the advice to play like ABs and remember the WC final when we played like Springboks.

Nov 02, 2019, 23:37

Not at all Muck. This was the rugby the Boks should play, not the rubbish you were happy with last week. Or the expansive game you hankered for last year. As a real Bok fan unlike you and the Dom Draad, I have high standards. Today we met them, and not a game too soon,

Ouch!. ..again.

Faf said post-match they didn't plan to change much, but saw opportunities to take it wider as the game progressed. Who knows.

We rattled England early on, they couldn't find their rhythm, kept finding Faf and co. in their lines cutting off the easy passes so they threw some shockers. Both Ford and Youngs imploded under the pressure, which neutered the backline. When they briefly hit their stride in the second quarter they couldn't convert it to points - same red zone tunnel vision Wales got last week when they generated numbers wide while bashing at our line but didn't get the ball to them.

Nice summary of the game, Moz.

Playing on the back foot makes all the difference and that was part of my prediction. Dominance at the breakdown and set pieces allowing us to assert our defence and take away their time and space. We had too much physicality. Lets put it this way, they conceded at least 6 scrum penalties. That is a massive blow. Their lineout was scarcely a platform. Their backs were constantly on the backfoot. They must have had two or three genuine periods of sustained quality attacks. That's nothing. They couldn't get out of their half, yet were naive enough to think they could just run at us from deep. That never works. It was a tactical failure compounded by a lack of firepower up front. The loss of Sinckler may have been the where their chance to compete ended. I say may, because he may very well have been battered as well. 

Without looking at the stats because I never do that anyway, I thought this...

SA kept the ball in hand for longer spells. That meant that they could dictate the pace of the game and it nullified a lot of England's strengths.

The box kick was used as part of a combination and not as the telegraphed play that it was in all of our other tough games. Exactly how Faf used to utilise the box kick at the Lions.

It was more effective because England couldn't just sit back and wait to receive the ball.

The backs got the ball through their hands early and more often. This translated into less pressure/mistakes in taking 100% advantage of the hint of ball they'd usually get.

And everyone is still ignoring Sinckler's early departure. Those scrum penalties set the Boks up. Not saying the Boks wouldn't have been as dominant at the scrum, just that it's much less likely. 

Bongi and Lood being replaced early was a blessing in disguise for SA. While England lost their best forward, the Boks brought on a warrior with Lexus engine and only the best hooker in the word.

What's great to realise is that this pack(B east aside), along with with Faf, Pollard and Kolbe will be around in 2023.

That should be a frightening thought for the rest of the tier 1 nations.

Much dodging by the Rassie, Malherbe, Du Toit and Allende bashers. 

It's interesting from a psychological point of view. 

The game played by Rassie was not much different from the Rugby Championship. The 6-2 split gave the Boks a boost at forward. Other than that it was the same.

I told the oaks that the Boks did not play an up and under style in the Rugby Championship and there was no reason to say for certain that they would play this in the final. I also said Rassie could have a surprise up his sleeve. 

Beeno getting it right once again. 

Also said the Bok backline is not as bad as some suggest and so it proved. Also supported Mpimpi and also supported the retention of Willie. 

All in all a pretty much flawless display be Beeno while many floundered. Bwhahahahahaha

Oaks you have to have rugby acumen, be able to see the wood from the trees. 

How many times did I tell the oaks Rassie is a rugby genius. How many times did I quote others who said Rassie is the sharpest rugby brain they had encountered. The last being Jeremy Gusscott who said Rassie must be a very smart coach - he outsmarted Jones for sure.

Take bow Beeno! 

The Boks actually kicked a little more in this year's RC! Backline Kicks: 19, 26, 22. 

Let the applause and appreciation begin! 

Reading the above - it reminds me of something Mozart wrote in the past,  He stated that we have three top class rugby analysts on site that see things on the field of play that other specialist analysts worldwide do not see during games.   That was after they were challenged about things they wrote on site that proved to be falsified to fit their player hate syndrome.   The syndrome also included Erasmus at a later stage,   

Sorry  - it is indeed a syndrome and one has to pity them for what they have become.   To read what they wrote is just unbelievable junk.   One would have thought that winning the WC yesterday would quieten them down a bit - but it made the rugby lunacy syndrome even worse,  What a tragedy to have site members  who drive the site down to a level where the lunatic syndrome is so pronounced,   I actually feel sorry for them, but cannot help laughing about their simpleton approach to rugby.   LMAO             

Now Organhuffer thinks Rassie should step dow. 

Organhuffer is a very clever guy. But when you build on a false foundation and use all that intelligence to build an elaborate edifice man to you go very wrong. 

Hence the Biblical truth about making wise the simple. 

But that aside let the applause begin without further ado.

Sitzsack, our game under Rassie has been below the standards of where they game is moving. He made us the Stormers, a most abominable thing indeed. Now we move forward. He achieved his aim, now we take the Boks to greater heights: Playing to our potential, not damage limitation conservatism. 

No and the failed Coaches since 1995 was all identified and reasons given for that,   AO  claimed that rugby go backwards under Erasmus - while in fact it became more effective,   Coetzee was a total  loser, but from November 2014 to November 2015 Meyer failed dismally and was a total disaster coach.   Not realizing that is impossible to believe possible.  

That is why the coaches AO praised are all effectively failed coaches and the mere fact that Meyer is showing pathetic deficiencies at Stade Francais is really what the whole Meyer era was about,   AO dreamed up some fairy tales about Meyer's game plan - but the fact is it never existed,   Another problem is he compared failed players with world top class players and say they are better,   Showed AO has a twisted set of rugby idiocy thinking that is unbelievable.  LMAO   .   

Meyer achieved more production from a more vulnerable pool of players. He then left Rassie the personnel to build a team. This is most tragic for you. 

Never mind Lünerin. 

"Posted by: Red Rose (460 posts)

If this forum is anything to go by youll nevr unite your nation. cant even get the boody whites together! hahaaha!! Good luck!!

If someone manages to do so someday  we will conquer the world...

We are actually uniting in our infighting...and managed to win the odd RWC along the way...strength in diversity cliche personified. 

"Meyer achieved more production from a more vulnerable pool of players. He then left Rassie the personnel to build a team. This is most tragic for you"

If Meyer ever was a team builder - it never was in evidence and he still have that deficiency even in the case of Stade Francais.   His selection of the squad in 2015 was a total disaster and it resulted in the Japan disaster in the WC.   It included 8 unplayable players who were rarely used,  That is what is still happening at Stade Francais.   What value is productivity if it leads to losing of matches?   The key remained - the scoring of tries under Meyer was rare and he tried to change players into what they are not really suited for - Pollard is a typical example and De Allende another one.   

What Erasmus inherited from Meyer and Coetzee was a group of demoralized people - not even believing in themselves and in less than a year he turned them totally to a team with a  winning culture playing rugby that lead to try scoring by thinking players.  .

Erasmus and attacking rugby? What a pair! 

Rassie inherited all of his key players. Some dubious selections though, he wasn't forced to select Damian or Steph. 

If you could spell we could ''concour" the world Domdraad.

Agree Mike the facts are obvious. The turn around has been astonishing. 

I note the good Dr Mozzz is no longer quoting win loss ratios to prove how bad Rassie is. 

Bwhahahahaha 

I am afraid it's game set and match for those supporting Rassie, Du Toit, Malherbe and Allende. 

 Boks 4 nations Champs. RWC Champs. Number 1 ranked side in the world. The EGG mountain could hardly be higher! Hahahahahaha.

To think this turn around happened in 2 short years is amazing.

Now could all those who got it so hopelessly wrong man up, admit their mistakes, give credit where it's due and move on! 

Congrats of course to the Rassie etc supporters.

Let's hope for a return to form for Organhuffer, Pakster and Dr Moz who lead each other off this rugby cliff. 

Du Toit IRB Player of the Year candidate!!!! My oh my! 

That's what happens when you win HasBeen, your win/loss ratio improves.....the true Bok fan doesn't accept a poor win/loss ratio, because he knows it should never happen.

And by the way, all the criticism of the Boks game after Wales did us the world of good. A fellow like Eraser who likes to be popular took all that on Board and adjusted in the right direction. Score one for the fans who said we could do better,

Nov 03, 2019, 14:34

If you could spell we could ''concour" the world Domdraad."

If you could admit when you are wrong once in a blue moon, you would probably get along with more people....and it's really not nice calling other people stupid, even if they are...but go ahead if it makes you feel better about yourself. My skin is as thick as my skull...

Draad

Don't worry we al know by now that the only two things Mozart and AO knows about is not rugby but prejudice and player hatred.   They hate Erasmus because he showed up their her Meyer for what he really is - a coach which is not even successful on club level.

The second issue relates to player hatred.   It is centered around the fact that Du Toit was a threat to their choice of Matfield and Botha as locks.   Botha received a royal write-up by Mozart and AO when Meyer as per normal called him back from retirement in 2013,  Turned out to be a flop and Botha himself admitted as such when he finally withdrew from further election.   But Matfield remaine4d under threat  and the hate\campaign went on.   After Matfield's departure one would have hoped that the campaign would cease.   But no - I did not because they discovered  Mostert as a alternative.  In 2015 they despised all Lions layers and supported Meyer when he did not select any Lions players for the 2015 WC squad and there comments at the time iro Lions was as bad as those they now use against Du Toit and De Allende.   Fact is they are not supporting Mostert because of rugby performance - they are just supporting him as an alternative.   So what happened when Mostert was dropped from the starting line-ups and De Jager was selected - the hate campaign against him in 2015 was re=instated.

De Allende has had a hate campaign by Mozart and the man with the dozen user names since 2014 and it centers about the selectio n ahead if Frans Steyn to play in 2014.   It is still ongoing and even now thy would not admit they were wring,   Then the man of the dozen user name discovered Esterhuizen as an alternative.   

Plain and simple the twosome often supported by Pakie has no idea about rugby  performances at all               .