Our much-vaunted forward superiority was nowhere to be seen tonight. We were about equal in the scrums while the All Blacks were better in the lineouts and the rucks and mauls. Yet once again, we found a way to win.
There is no substitute for passion and self-belief. Gees won us this RWC, For all my criticism of Rassie, we can't deny his motivational skills.
The card won us the rugby WC….there I corrected you again.
Around minute 55, Bongi was seen warming up. It looked like Rassie was considering bringing him back on, even if it was just to throw in the lineout.
The loss of Marx was significant to the Bok pack, especially the lineout.
ABs won 22 out of 22 line outs….we won 6 out of 10. Yes the decision to not have a active hooker on the bench was a big mistake.
They should have taught Williams or Hendrikse to throw into the lineout.
There has been something wrong in the Springbok line-outs since the start of the WC touranmnt.
It showed up badly in the Irsh test already and against the minons it was not noticeable - baut in all of he French, the English it was poor and yesterday ugly. So wh y was this the worst aspect of Springbok performances during the series. Why not have a proper evaluation done on what went wrong?
Was it only the hooker that was to blame? I doubt it very much - but the Jump timing of the jumpers were problematic as well? . .
There has been something wrong in the Springbok line-outs since the start of the WC touranmnt.
It showed up badly in the Irsh test already and against the minons it was not noticeable - baut in all of he French, the English it was poor and yesterday ugly. So wh y was this the worst aspect of Springbok performances during the series. Why not have a proper evaluation done on what went wrong?
Was it only the hooker that was to blame? I doubt it very much - but the Jump timing of the jumpers were problematic as well? . .
Fourie played a hell of a game, lineout woes besides.
Fourie had a hell of a RWC...and has been one of the best opensides in the URC the last 2 seasons...should have played many more tests.
The lineout hasn't been good these past few years. We finished bottom of the weakest ever RC for the lineout. The maul Was beginning to be nullified in 2021. No surprises.
Fourie made a couple of strong carries, he was also one of the few players to be secure on defence. He made a huge steal late on. I can't hold the lineout against him as we had other troubles there, and he is not a hooker.
I’m only moaning because we escaped 3 times and won. In the end, it was Pieter Steph performance and defence that won it for us.
This is the problem when you don’t have the right hooker depth. They opted for Dweeb who worse and throwing and even worse at scrumming. If they invested Grobbler, this would have been a different game.
Wiese looked really impressive when he came on, wonder if we didn’t make it harder on ourselves with some of the selections. None the less, we won, red card and all.
But losing Bongi in the first 3 min was massive but we got through it
Marx was they key to forward dominance. He strengthened our scrums and is great throwing in at lineouts.
I think we also missed Lood. Snyman has not reached previous levels. Lood is also a great lineouts forward.
How much we missed Am is a question. In my book Kriel is the best defensive 13 in world rugby. Am is more creative.
Plum is a strong advocate for Esterhuizen. To me there is not much difference between Esterhuzen and Allende. On my travels on You Tube and elsewhere I see Allende getting plenty of praise.
I felt we missed a trick not playing Moody at 14. He is just as quick as Arendse and more creative. Rassie went for the guy who had more test experience. Moody, fitness permitting, will play many tests.
Some pundits place a very high premium on attack and much less of a premium on defence. Hence our backline is not as good in their eyes. Yet Ireland and the All a lacks scored only one try against us and the wee abs trying came from a blatant forward pass. Against Ireland we too scored one try.
I said before the match the wee abs had a much underrated pack of forwards. Looking at the TV pack weights they outweighed us. Ox had to scrum against a monster.
Steph was not integral to anything.
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It was the most dysfunctional lineout I have seen by the Boks.
The Boks made a few steals, but their own takes were poor.
They were running up and down, and even on the takes they did win - it was such poor ball that led to knockons.
I think the Boks would have scored at least one try if the lineouts were functioning- and got some more kickable penalties.
This prevented the driving maul from being an effective attacking weapon.
Deon Fourie came on in the 4th minute and was close to being the man of the match, but his lineout throws were terrible.