I think Andy Farrell must of suspected that Rassie will do that, as it was in the media before actual announcement …but sure IRE will have there hands full with all of the fresh forwards running at them. But Ireland is not number 1 in the world for nothing so they will have there tricks to.
Well it delays getting Pollard out there and back to match fitness. It means if we have to chase the game Williams, Esterhozen and Willie some of our best game breakers, aren’t available.
It works if we can establish a lead….not if we get behind.
Basically it elevates the dominant role of the forwards, and depreciates the contribution of the backs. Harrassmiss couldn’t demonstrate that bias more starkly.
Genius…nah.
Pollard was never in the picture they said that when he arrived
The backs can do stuff all if there is no forward dominance, with 2 Bok packs that backline will get plenty of ball and there is more than enough backline zip in Libbok, Kolbe, Arendse and Willemse - with DA providing the power
Reinach is similar to Williams in pace and Esterhuizen offers nothing more than DA does. Willie vs Willemse is a tough call, Willemse provides individual brilliance, Willie the set up king - his absence is offset by the creativity of Libbok at 10
It’s rugby genius by Rassie the guy is next level
Strav I have no doubt it’s going to be an absolute humdinger but my point is that Rassie is throwing all that beef your way and saying deal with it if you can
There is no such thing as a poor Kiwi side and one that was not up for a game against the Boks
The 7/1 blew them away, let’s see how Ireland handles it is the call
I can’t wait
Strav I have no doubt it’s going to be an absolute humdinger but my point is that Rassie is throwing all that beef your way and saying deal with it if you can
Fair enough, I'm not doubting its going be tight but I'm confident Ireland have the capacity to deal with it. And part of the reason for that is I think Ireland are better coached and have more dimensions to their game than just beef. Its not that I think Rassie is a bad coach as some on here suggest, nor do I think he's a genius as you call him, but beef...like roast beef...is that it?
There is no such thing as a poor Kiwi side and one that was not up for a game against the Boks
I stand by what I said, the current AB team is an average AB team by their extremely high standards (still top 4 team) and world cup warm up matches are meaningless. Unless your a player trying to play your way back into contention after an injury world cup warm up games are played at 75% capacity. No one wants to pick up an injury in world cup warm up game. You failed to beat them in an actual tournament like the Rugby Championship and lets face they where your only real competition in that tournament, Australia are ass (go Fiji!!!)and my god where Argentina terrible against England.
The 7/1 blew them away, let’s see how Ireland handles it is the call
I can’t wait
We shall find out soon enough. Can't wait either.
Ireland barely snuck past us in Ireland.
Are Ireland better now than they were back then? Cos the Boks are.
Much was said about the prowess of the Scottish attack. They managed 3 points against the Boks. The same Scottish side that had near parity with the much vaunted France over two games.
Objectively, Ireland should be shitting themselves because this split pretty much guarantees that the Boks will win at least one half's worth of scrums. If Ireland don't manage scrum parity for at least a half I think they're really gonna struggle.
They won't be winning up front. So the questions is whether they have an executable plan for the rush defence.
Again, Scotland thought they had a plan. It never worked...whatever it was.
I'd say Ireland's advantage here is they do have better synergy in their backline than the Boks do.
So do they mix it up, spreading and kicking in behind? Were they to try and spread it, will they be severely disrupted like literally ever other side the Boks have played.
It's tricky but if you were a betting man, you'd have to put money on the Irish backs being disrupted, purely on recent Bok precedent. Because their backs are, despite their synergy, not a million miles ahead of the ABs or Scotland.
In the second half, the Boks will have three good fetchers on the park, making chasing the game very difficult for Ireland.
Stav, those are my clearly biased comments.
How do you see things?
Strav if you think all we have is beef you have another thing coming
But beef is our strength and I don’t think you have a bench of forwards to cope with the Bok bench, especially considering one of your bench props is in doubt
Plum we should never have lost that game in Ireland - the officiating was insulting
We were the more dominant side that day - that Irish try should never have been on two counts - Irish boot kicking the ball through a ruck and then a blatant forward pass by the reserve prop - both incidents missed in the lead up to that try
Ireland barely snuck past us in Ireland.
Are Ireland better now than they were back then? Cos the Boks are.
Its hard to say, Ireland won the 6 Nations since then beating France (albeit at home) who I reckon are the best team in the world. Wales and England have regressed and Italy have marginally improved which isn't saying much. Scotland are better than they typically but while a good team, they are not a great team. The Boks couldn't even win a Rugby Championship when the aggregate competition against them is arguable at a historical low. New Zealand are no where near AB teams of the past, Australian rugby is ass and Argentina are erratic at best, but their best is not at the level of top teams. I mean the win against the AB's in the warm up games was impressive but I repeat it was just a warm up game, reckon Bok fan's are reading far too much into that. So I'm not actually sure the Bok's are as good as some of their fans think they are.
Much was said about the prowess of the Scottish attack. They managed 3 points against the Boks. The same Scottish side that had near parity with the much vaunted France over two games.
Scotland have in the last years improved over their typical standard but while I think their a good team, I don't rate them that highly. Ireland haven't lost to them in 8 years. I expect Ireland to beat Scotland comfortably enough in the final pool game. It's a Scottish side that had parity in two world cup warm up games which are utterly meaningless. Again I perplexed as to how any long term rugby fan could read into results of world cup warm up matches.
Objectively, Ireland should be shitting themselves because this split pretty much guarantees that the Boks will win at least one half's worth of scrums. If Ireland don't manage scrum parity for at least a half I think they're really gonna struggle.
Objectively we are World Number 1 for a year now, have won something like 20 out 22 games, won a tour to New Zealand, won the 6 Nations Grand Slam and beaten ever major rugby nation in the last year in our addition to our players becoming more familiar with South African players at club level where we have had recent success. I'm not sure why we should be shitting ourselves, if we can't be confident in our own abilities now then when will we be? I'm confident the scrum will hold up in the first half. I think our scrum will hold up better than Scotland's or New Zealand's. But maybe Ireland will struggle when the subs come on. But sometimes scrums don't play that big a role in match and what will the score be by the time the bomb squad mark II come on?
They won't be winning up front. So the questions is whether they have an executable plan for the rush defence.
That's the more important question than the scrums in my opinion.
Again, Scotland thought they had a plan. It never worked...whatever it was.
Ireland are a better team than Scotland, in virtually every aspect of the game Ireland are better than Scotland, maybe Scotland are better when the game breaks up and becomes loose but I've never found that particularly reliable way of winning games.
I'd say Ireland's advantage here is they do have better synergy in their backline than the Boks do.
Bok backline doesn't seem to do a whole lot lately.
So do they mix it up, spreading and kicking in behind? Were they to try and spread it, will they be severely disrupted like literally ever other side the Boks have played.
It's knife edge sort of stuff. You some what nullified Ireland's structured attack in the Autumn series game but didn't do enough to edge yourselves in front and there was several times Ireland where just that one pass away from unlocking the defense.
It's tricky but if you were a betting man, you'd have to put money on the Irish backs being disrupted, purely on recent Boks precedent. Because their backs are, despite their synergy, not a million miles ahead of the ABs or Scotland.
In the second half, the Boks will have three good fetchers on the park, making chasing the game very difficult for Ireland.
Stav, those are my clearly biased comments.
How do you see things?
I think it comes down to the rush defense. It will disrupt Ireland's attack but I still feel in the first half Ireland will boss possession and through sheer repetition will get in for one or two tries (possible via penalty to the corner and then maul) in addition to scoring a few penalties. I don't consider the Bok back-line that much of threat and while the Boks will get penalties as well...well then you have Maine Libbok, we have emm Johnny Sexton.
I think Ireland well just about edge with the Boks winning the period after the subs come on, but I fancy Ireland stamina to hold up well in the last 10 minutes. Ireland by 7-10 points.
Also Bundee's going get ya!
Strav if you think all we have is beef you have another thing coming
You have a third bench to come on in quarter 4?
Plum we should never have lost that game in Ireland - the officiating was insulting
We were the more dominant side that day - that Irish try should never have been on two counts - Irish boot kicking the ball through a ruck and then a blatant forward pass by the reserve prop - both incidents missed in the lead up to that try
I notice you missed Kolisi's illegal clean out around the neck of that Irish player at the ruck.
Was I talking scrums only? Geez give me more credit
Kolisi’s infringement if there was one had no bearing on a scoring opportunity
The Boks were better than Ireland that day as they were better than France in France that game as well. The red card cost us
As for Farrell vd Rassie - it’s not even close - Rassie has records with clubs and titles with the Boks, Farewell has no history other than Ireland which he inherited from the impressive Schmidt
Farewell ???? Ha ha ha !
Alles is alraait, we're playing in WHITE!
Good luck Stav and Borat....GO BOKKE!!!!
My crystal ball is telling me that someone is gonna get a red very early.
I wouldn't be worried, but I swear this device is tapped directly into the cosmic super-consciousness because it's just never wrong.
Let's all hope no reds ruin what might just be the game of the year.
Hoping for fine weather, good ref and no injuries.
Irish will be a battered group after this match. If they lose will they recover in time for Scotland? Exit Ireland. Hahahahaha.
I think the Irish are very concerned and know their crown is slipping. 
Bok forwards can go all out for 80 minutes.
If you want to know what Irish fans are thinking, this is the thread discussing the match on boards.ie (Ireland largest and probably oldest discussion forum)
I've linked to page 4 of the thread as its where the SA team announcement is discussed.
I like this comment.
You chaps seem very confident, Stav.
Well if you look at South Africa media so do you chaps.
Did Rassie pass Matric…..I mean seriously ‘genius’? He is an experienced coach with the best forward depth in the game. It wouldn’t be surprising if we beat Ireland….but the odds are probably no more than 60/40.
It’s up to the opposition to figure out how to defeat them
Or perhaps for the opposition to implement its own game plan?
Read some of those comments….good insights. But the point of the split is a complete front row unit, totally fresh, and very cohesive
Maybe Stav, except if that game plan is compromised by what the opposition is doing. In similar contests against the ABs, example the 2003 Quarters, they have surprised us by achieving parity up front, diffusing our game plan.
"But the point of the split is a complete front row unit, totally fresh, and very cohesive"
Understood but the bomb squad notion was bringing those replacements on as a unit….not when individual players were showing signs of weariness.
That can be achieved with a 6-2 split, which allows a full replacement of the tight forwards and one loosie, but to have some injury cover, 6-2 combined with a bomb squad implies a very late substitution of the loosie
I’m guessing the thought behind 7-1 is the whole tight unit goes off at minute 50, along with one loosie….the second loosie, probably Kwagga, remains on the bench as cover till much later.
It’s interesting to speculate whether we would have gone this route if Etzebeth was fully fit.
Okay, so I guess you meant to say an entire tight 5 replacement rather than an entire front row replacement.
Yes, Etzebeth is the example I use when I argue against the 6-2 or 7-1 split. If you have someone as good as he is with the engine he has, why wouldn't you play him for the full 80? Why stick an extra inferior lock on your bench rather than another back you might need?
I saw Neignaber address some of this in a media interview. He said it is a risk to play a forward-heavy bench, but he said it is a calculated risk because it is rare for a backline to have 2 injured players in a test.
...and Kolisi is used to playing center too...
Kwagga would go to 13 and Jessie to any of the other positions besides 9.
We'll be OK...not nearly as big a risk as some would suggest....can't wait for this match!!!
The risk with the 7/1 is small as no doubt Kwagga would pass as a back substitute if there was a second backline player injury
The issue arises if we suffered a third backline player injury
What are the chances of that in a game? Very very slim chance of that
I think the 7/1 is brilliant - we have the most physical forwards in the game, it’s the foundation of everything we do - asking the opposition to deal with a new pack at minute 50 is pretty daunting especially considering no side has the same ammunition as us on the bench
I’m guessing this is part of the reason RG is not starting, it balances the two sets of forwards.
Moz is correct in pointing out that the loss of Marx upsets the equation which in a way makes the failure not to call up Dweba a little puzzling. Dweba would have given the bench forwards the same physical impact Bongi did.
The Pollard selection given the 7/1 makes no sense as he just won’t feature.
I guess he is there to replace Libbok in the starting line up if the wheels come off. A safety net
Pollard will probably start in the next game against Tonga, with Manie on the bench. Rassie said earlier in the season that he would also consider Pollard as a 12.
(Like when Pollard used to move to 12 when Elton Janjies got on the pitch).
There is no way Rassie will do away with DA at 12
I think Pollard is there as a safety net. If Libbok fails against Ireland we will see Pollard start in the quarters after getting game time against Tonga
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We saw the 7/1 split against NZ - it clearly unsettled them and had the desired effect
He puts it down to a late withdrawal of Willie who was replaced by Kwagga - there was nothing wrong with Willie, he was on the field during warm ups going through drills
We play Scotland and Romania reverting back to the 6/2 and then bang against Ireland it’s back to the 7/1.
What is the Bok strength? It’s the domination of our pack - so what Rassie is saying to the opposition is take on 2 Bok packs within the same game
What happens if we have more than 2 back injuries could prove a problem but the odds of 3 backs getting injured is pretty slim as Kwagga is clearly covering as a back as well
Rassie you bute - it must unnerve Ireland knowing what’s coming - I like the way Rassie names the side early as well - it give’s Ireland more time to second guess and force them to possibly rethink their original plan against us
There is a limit to how much you can innovate in rugby but fuck me Rassie finds a way and he reserves it for the WC - it’s rugby genius at play