The Rugby thread

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cavedog said:
I have a couple of concerns about the Boks though.

Everyone knows by now the Boks are physical and dominate up front. Bom Squad but aren't we a bit too predictable? Clearly the game has moved up from what it was at the 2019 world cup with NH teams looking pretty good.

Do we have that 9 that can snipe in the fringes around a ruck or are we employing the super slow ruck and box kick strategy which again we have been doing for ages? This is risky because we can lose a winger to a card if they get it wrong. Do we have the 10 that can see when a 50-22 is up or when the brave defenders just make those leg tackles to put a small chip kick over the defensive line?

Do we have a backline that can execute a proper stack attack from a set piece or are we just going to continue up front until we hopefully win a penalty which brings me to my last question. Do we have a kicker that we can rely on to take every point on offer? We are certainly going to need a good kicker if we go for a power game which I think we are going to do again.
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I just wonder if you enjoy the game, at all? And if you do, do you give any credit?

These are elite athletes, elite coaches, including our own. The margins between winning and losing are incredibly narrow, and sometimes it comes down to a lucky bounce, what the referee sees or does not.

What we see as super slow or aimless kicking is all part of a bigger game plan. At least our current Bok coaching team merit some of our belief.
 
cavedog said:
Ireland has enough dept to make it through. If Sexton falls then they have enough skill and physicality to grind a win. Once Dupont falls for France they will be in big trouble.

We need to focus on Ireland, New Zealand and Wales.
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Ireland are rightfully the number one team at this moment in time. France too fully deserves the number 2 spot. Andy has done well with this Irish team. They are well coached and play a expansive and tactical brand of rugby. France are closer to the Boks in terms of how they play. But they still prefer a loose broken style of rugby where they can throw the ball around.

The big thing here is Ireland have never made it to a semi or final before. And if they do it will be interesting to see how they cope with this amount of pressure. France will be a little more comfortable in a semi or final imo. They been there plenty of times and came painfully short every time. I feel for them.

If they were to play in a semi against each other i might back France to sneak in. They have a big pack and are able to play decently up front to starve the Irish of ball. But this is speculation on my part.

World cup rugby is a different game. And world rankings don't normally count for much. It's about aligning at just the right time and not peak to late or early. Experience is worth gold.
 
walterl said:
Both Ireland and France have good strong forward packs so they will be difficult to beat in the world cup
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Ireland have a mobile pack of forwards and generally don't focus much on dominating the collision battle. France have a big pack of forward similar to the boks. Though we were still about 10-15kgs heavier in the scrum last year. But the French play a more physical brand of rugby than the Irish. But i can confidently say that we are probably the most physical team in the world and have been for some time. Our big pack just helps that. Somoa and Tonga are also physical. But they normally don't have the firepower to match us up front.
 
Really good stuff from the Stormers coming away from the RDS with a draw against Leinster in less than ideal conditions.
 
Agent_Smith said:
Really good stuff from the Stormers coming away from the RDS with a draw against Leinster in less than ideal conditions.
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I see social media is a buzz with Leinster supporters saying the Stormers couldn't even beat a Leinster 3rd team.

They have already forgotten about last year where it doesn't matter how good you are you only need to lose by 1 point in the knockout rounds to leave empty handed.
 
Fully loaded Sharks team and the Scarlett's are running circles around them...

Not a good sign from a boks perspective.
 
It's getting worse and worse. 3 of our own lineout lost for an all bok front row. Something is wrong here
 
Agent_Smith said:
There you have it guys. Boks are f*cked because the Sharks lost three lineouts...
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Did you see the players I'm talking about?

Mbonambi, Nche, Siya, Maphimphi, Am, Tu Toit, Hendriks

Are these not starting players for the Boks?

If you see how they are playing it's concerning.
 
cavedog said:
Did you see the players I'm talking about?

Mbonambi, Nche, Siya, Maphimphi, Am, Tu Toit, Hendriks

Are these not starting players for the Boks?

If you see how they are playing it's concerning.
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I'm a Shark supporter and I don't watch when they play anymore, it puts me in a bad mood and destroys the love I have for the game. I tend to watch Stormers and Lions games these days. The Sharks are really bad, it's frustrating to watch. The slow game is not pretty either
 
A mixed bag of results from our teams this weekend - Lions won, Stormers drew and Bulls & Sharks losing. I must agree with cavedog - the Boks, especially in the Sharks team are not up to standard. Lots of work to do for the WC later.
 
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