What's your general feeling on the WC win?

For me...

The overriding feeling is joy. Super stoked that we have the 4 wins now. And particularly at a time when we have plenty of new talent coming through. It's like we've taken the lead and have a fresh pair of tyres on.

The joy is closely followed by relief that this thing is over. It was far too stressful.

Then there is confusion. I don't believe I've ever watched any competition where a team almost lost so many knockout games and still took the Cup. Perhaps, I'm not alone in this and some of you also felt that there was level of good fortune hanging over the the Boks that almost felt divine at times? Dues will call it corruption, I'm sure.

And finally dread. Yes, these WC wins are generally followed by lulls and at least a couple of years of poor performances. We need to bring in a good few players before the next WC and our pack is going to look quite different soon. While we have a ton of new talent coming through, all of it has to be assimilated by a new coach and Lord only knows what that lucky packet will present.

Finally empathy.

I feel sorry as all hell for AE. Last night was the man's moment but he was relegated in favour of a far inferior player...and the evidence was again on display throughout the 80 minutes of that final. Allende was his usual confused, slow, brainless self...while the actual best 12 in the world watched from the stands. So damn unfair.

I like to think, somewhere in another universe, AE played the 2023 WC final and scored the winning try.

I guess our attentions now shift to the cricket.

...or do we just wait to hear news of the semi-final choke?

I'm disappointed that it ended up being 14 vs 15. That of all the games they chose the final to make that call when so many similar and worse tackles got no more than a yellow, sometimes just a penalty, throughout the competition. These contacts happen so quickly, it's a fraction of a second and a few centimeters this way or that in terms of body position and hit position that determines whether you hit the guy's head or his shoulder.

Frankly I don't think we would have won it had NZ remained at full strength. They were pushing our defence to the limits with 14 men.

So, bitter sweet. Happy for the Boks, just finding it hard to get excited about it. Felt like we were robbed of a true final.

So, bitter sweet. Happy for the Boks, just finding it hard to get excited about it. Felt like we were robbed of a true final.

Yes I feel the same......think the Red was over the top.

Good post Plum, agree with most of what you're saying. Would add that it's clear the Boks have enormous backline talent but  the first hurdle is to find a coach who can harness that talent to its full potential, the second hurdle is for that coach to get around conservative Rassie. I'm not getting my hopes up.

It wasn't a great end. I really tried to be up for this. It's been an awful three years of Bok rugby, so I was looking forward to this being a positive end. I expected the Boks to be up for the game, and to win. I expected a fiery contest. I expected a few close calls. What we got was a hack job. A few minutes in, Damian tackles high around the neck, and charges into the ruck from the one side. No call. We saw Etzebeth lead with the elbow, and making contact. No call. It was a very one sided affair. The ref ruined the final. He tainted the final. Then we were outplayed all over the field by the All Blacks. I was desperate for them to lose this game, but it unfolded in such a way that I felt a win would be justice for what they had been dealt. If you want to dish out a card for something, then apply the same interpretation equally. That's what ruined this game for me. You take away the contest. We don't know what a properly reffed game would have resulted in. We were denied the opportunity to see it. It never existed. A World Cup final. I can't accept that. I refused to accept it in 2011 when France were robbed blind, and I won't accept it now. We were outplayed in most games. We made it to the final, and unlike 2019, we didn't have that fairytale ending. It was tainted. I don't understand how a person can be happy about that. No fan of the game will accept that. The Boks had two incidents worthy of red and several more yellow card offences. One was a yellow that should have been a red, and the other was in garbage time when it didn't change a thing. The standard of reffing has been awful for a long time now. Too many games have been marred by it. The question is, is this still a sport, or an act like WWE etc. 

I missed a lot of what your talking about, Deus.

Kinda felt the the reffing was okay.

But our team won, so no doubt I'm biased. Unavoidable really.

Agree that it is bitter sweet and it is always like that with Rassie. The boks play ugly rugby most of the time. The grind teams and that is about it. Agree on AE, should have been there instead of Dud. That poor pass, head night and then kicking the ball. Willemse was guilty of dancing too much. I can’t fault the defence. To defend a 6 point lead, conceding a try and the Jessies lame kick towards the end.

I was hoping things would click for the boks, but both Kolisi and Dud ruined a perfect opportunistic try by not passing it inside, dud then also had white line fever. Steph being held up once again and Arendse getting so close. If he kept his head we could have been 3 tries up. 

I hate cards in a game. Yellow, red, they don’t belong. But neither I endorse foul play. We seen players with broken cheek bones and knee damage that will take take months to heal. 

Yet again, there is doubt whether SA is the true champions or were just on the right side of the reff. 

If we beat Ireland like we should have, knocked the Kiwis out and beat France in the final it would have been no doubt. But, that is the reality and you can apply the same argument when Ireland won in NZ. It was red card that gave them the series win. So it is more down to luck and who has the best discipline rather than the best team that walks away. 

I would far rather the player gets subbed immediately than these stupid yellow cards. 

I still believe a yellow card should be and automatic 3 points and a red car a penalty try. Players commit foul play when they try to prevent the team from scoring. So Kolbe got away and prevented 3 points, if that was a straight 3 pointer then his foul play would count for nothing. 

Penalise teams with points, not the the fans or the comtest

The Boks don't grind team. They get ground down themselves. We were run over quite often. This is not a physical Bok side. We haven't had a physical Bok side in close to a decade! 

l\Grande Merde

Yesterday was an ugly game and I definitely will not have a relook at it.   It was the worse rugby WC  final  the Springboks played in and in some respects equalled the 2007 WC victory.   Both performance was poor - the problem yesterday was that the line-outs misfired and so did the ball protection and recovery issue,   In 2007 we had a bad game with the English dominated forward play - just like the AB's did yesterday.    .    

So Kolbe got away and prevented 3 points, if that was a straight 3 pointer then his foul play would count for nothing.

We were in trouble when Kolbe slapped the ball down - it was going to be Beauden vs Arendse coming across and Willemse in front maybe, not sure where he was. Much like the Etzebeth slap to stop a certain try against France, the slap seems a cynical and deliberate get out of jail card used by the Boks.

Yes much like the deliberate infringements of the abs in the red zone area. They would rather give away three points than a try. 

Pakster another who finds no joy in the Bok win. All this sorrow about the Bok win by a few loons here has been very revealing.

Personally I have NEVER seen a side showing more guts and resolve than these Boks. They had the hardest path to a win ever seen at a RWC. This is what critics have acknowledged.

Are we allowed to talk about the actual game of rugby Beeno, or are we only allowed to go "Bokkeeeee!!"? 

And for how long must this continue before we can talk normally again?

It was the worse rugby WC  final  the Springboks played in and in some respects equalled the 2007 WC victory.  

The 2007 win remains the pinnacle of Bok rugby achievement. As per quality? The 2007 was fairly reffed, it was a contest, against the last English powerpack. It was a final worthy of the name. What happened yesterday was just the usual under the pseudo-coach Erasputin's era: garbage.