Tony Brown on Rassie

Your pal Squidge pointed out HM’s role in finding and promoting Pollard. Willie, Dud Allende, Kriel, Pollard, Reinach, Marx, Malherbe, Dud Toit, Etzebeth…..all players HM developed, still key players 10 years later. Credit where credit is due, HM mistakenly tried to play expansive rugby without the forward basics, but he was a hell of a selector,

HM lost by 2 points to the best AB team since readmission. Rasmus beat a much lesser NZ team by 1 point, despite being a man up for half the game. And HM is clueless while Rasmus is a genius?

I guess the distance between genius and mediocrity is paper thin.

"without the likes of Willie, Mapimpi, Reinach, Koch, Mostert and v Staaden"

The dead weight I would probably have left at home...but we don't know the inside...promises made, promised kept?

"HM lost by 2 points to the best AB team since readmission"

What utter nonsense. The best All Black team to ever visit these shores was the 1996 team that toured here after the All Blacks lost the 1995 RWC the year before. Here's the team that played the first test of that series followed by the 2015 team you're talking about. 

1996

Oh dear virtually that whole 1996 team played in the 1995 WC final and lost!  Remind me again, did the 2015 team actually win the WC. And isn’t that the standard which changed Rasmus from a being a showboating idiot to a genius in your mind.

Schplottttttt! Another lost argument. When are you going to stop humiliating yourself (sic)?

Without a hooker….why? Because instead of choosing Pollard the genius decided he needed 4 scrumhalves. When it was finally apparent to him that he needed Pollard, there was no way to replace Marx with a hooker and have Pollard.

And for the umpteenth time NZ was down by a man for a net 40 minutes in the game. Here ….60-20 =40. If that’s too hard for you hold up 6 fingers and take away 2.

Would that be the game the Boks were down to 14 for 20 min and played the whole game without a hooker?

Keep in mind that when the other team is down to 14 due to a red, you going down to 14 isn't an advantage to them as it would have been, it's only parity. The ABs never had a numerical advantage during the entire game. The Boks had 46 minutes with a man up, never a man down. The All Blacks the opposite - 46 minutes with a man down, parity for the rest.

It's pointless speculating Draad. Personally I think the ABs would have taken us had they not got the red, they were stretching us while being a man down, had a try cancelled due to TMO overreach. But we'll never know - something like that changes the dynamic for both teams so it becomes a whole different beast of a game. 

In a RWC final a red should be a last resort. It's a once in four years game. A yellow would easily have sufficed. It was massively disappointing. And I don't think the Boks would ever take the foot off the pedal in a RWC final against the All Blacks.

"In a RWC final a red should be a last resort. It's a once in four years game. A yellow would easily have sufficed. It was massively disappointing"

Agreed...I felt robbed after the red...I knew what the fallout was gonna be...and there is some justification in the complaints...there should be some other deterrent for knockout rugby...reds spoils the game...even the new proposed 20min reds are too much...I hate living with the 10 min yellows...

Bullshit would the AB’s have taken us if they were not down to 14

That's an opinion just like mine, Dave.

Bongi wasn't there, Cane was only there for 28 minutes. Lots of things could have been different. All we're left with is speculation. Just like we can agree playing without a recognized hooker is a disadvantage, playing a man short for 46 minutes against a team like the Boks is a pretty significant one too.

The above is so wise they know betyer than the experts around the world about Erasmus as a coach. and never come up with  a suggestions s tow hom they regard as a suiaable that would be a better coach than Erasmus/    So who would according to them be  a better coach that should replace Erasmus as a coach.

So give us a name  or stop your vicious prejudiced BS,            

Well, when you don't have the discipline to keep all 15 on the field for the whole match, you have no right to complain...and they were lucky, it could have been 13 for longer...the leg roll which took Bongi out looked deliberate...no ifs and buts what could have, would have, yada yada...New Zealand had their chance...they were in the final, they got within 1 point with a man down...close, valeint effort, but no cigar...better luck next time...and there wile be a next time.

My take hasn’t changed. Forty minutes of one man advantage equals 10 points, based on a study of many red cards. The red card itself was ludicrous, there was no pre meditation, no danger and it was just one of those rugby incidents. The Kolisi tackle was more dangerous,  he lined up the tackled player, Cain reacted clumsily to a sudden change in direction.

As for the loss of a regular hooker, I’m sure we would have been better off in some ways with a regular hooker. But Fourie had a blinder. He made 20 tackles and missed 1. Would any hooker have matched that. He made 17 metres in 5 runs and beat a tackle as well. The man was excellent.

The red card ruined the WC final for me….nothing that happened after that was a fair competition. We may have won, we started well. But the ABs looked far more likely to score tries. Hell if Barrett made his medium difficulty kick, they won.

I watch sport for the contest and for the joy of athletic achievement. Winning is the reward for that. Winning through the boot and maul tries never lights my candle. Winning by a red card does nothing for me. I know some see that as anti Springbok….so be it.

Mozart

I asked respectfully you, Mpower and Pakie a civil question -  since Erasus is so shit, who do you think should rather be the Springbok coach?   A name or names please..

What makes you think I think Rassie is shit?