We never blew the All Blacks off anything last year. They let us off and Frans salvaged something from the situation, as he later did against Wales, and as he did twice in the World Cup final when Damian let us down again. We are not that physical, and benefit from the most vulnerable period in test rugby and all time bad SANZAR opponents. Although, even then, we look awful. Erasmus is a disaster. He got lucky in 2019, and should have had the honesty to see that he had a golden way out to preserve his legacy, be it a farce. He has done more damage to SARugby than anyone before him. It's quite remarkable. Through it all, he was given a free pass. Never before in the pro era has a Bok coach had such leeway and so little criticism.
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Just read Rassies comments on Libbok and whether he is concerned about his kicking. I classic Rassie style. He states that Libbok is there for us to score tries. What has Willie and Willemse been doing, why did Pollard say he bought into the conservative game plan and that the way the boks play is beautiful.
What really pissed me off is that Rassie is now blaming the fans. Saying, we the fans, has demanded that the boks play a more attacking brand of rugby. So he has brought Manie in to score tries. This really pissed me off. Now he is blaming the fans and he is only selecting the players because, we the fans, demanded it from him. Go figure that one out.
The man is a walking contradiction. His whole game plan is based on putting pressure on the reff and ensuring that the boks get penalties. Specifically in the scrum and where they can get scoring opportunities.
If you watch the documentary series, chasing the Sun, he kept saying, where can we make points on the field. This not the same Rassie. Maybe he doesn't care, maybe he is tired, who knows. But he has been given a lot grace and support by all.
But down blame the fans if we lose to Ireland because you picked a kicker that can't score nor invested enough time to ensure that you have 90% kicker in your team. He's had 4 years to figure this one out.
Don't forget that he stuck with Jantjies, wasted 7 test matches before Libbok even got a sniff of the bok jersey. Had he been included earlier, we could have dealt with this there and then. Not during the World Cup.
Not to mention that we celebrating a coach with a 63% win record. He has never won more than 5 test in a row.
He plays a really physical game, which is impossible to ask your players to play like that every weekend. Like we've seen. We blew New Zealand off the park last year, only to lose really badly the following weekend. The players couldn't string 2 consecutive performances together. Neither have I seen the same physical dominance we displayed against a very dangerous All Black side.
A smart coach would only bring that type of game during must win games.
I know some on here rates him, but he is moving the same direction of Jake White with his mouth.
I hope it is just a bit of gamesmanship to confuse the coaches. Maybe it is a ruse, because after all the World Cup matters. Not the games in between.
So let's see what happens, if we reach the quarterfinal, but it would be really funny if we don't make the quarters and all the arrogance wiped off his face.
I do want us to reach the quarters, I do hope he is playing a game. I do hope we can destroy all the teams up to the final