2019 Rugby World Cup

[mattrudlles]

We have a lot of negative people who like to latch on every possible thing that they can bitch about. Faf De Klerk has been subjected to a lot of undue criticism, in my opinion at least.
Besides the 1st half against Australia, Wales have been ordinary at best. Imagine if the Boks had squeaked through to the semis like Wales have, every keyboard warrior would be pounding away.

The Boks could definitely be more potent on attack and we are definitely a work in progress. But we still have some major strengths that Rassie is playing towards.
LeFroggie ref aside, I am extremely confident that we can - and should - beat Wales this Sunday.

I don't share that belief - I think Wales - ordinary as they have been - will win. In fact, it will be a very close match. Just a gut feel to say Wales from me given the past 3 matches.

 

[Sinbad]

NO comment re All Black yellow card/penalty try?
"Diving in front of the post to prevent a try"
Lets hear it.

I think it was accidental. However, not the wrong call IMHO.

 

[Sl8er]

We have a lot of negative people who like to latch on every possible thing that they can bitch about. Faf De Klerk has been subjected to a lot of undue criticism, in my opinion at least.
Besides the 1st half against Australia, Wales have been ordinary at best. Imagine if the Boks had squeaked through to the semis like Wales have, every keyboard warrior would be pounding away.

The Boks could definitely be more potent on attack and we are definitely a work in progress. But we still have some major strengths that Rassie is playing towards.
LeFroggie ref aside, I am extremely confident that we can - and should - beat Wales this Sunday.

...with ease
There's no way in hell that Wales will beat us. They weren't even supposed to be there.
We're going to smash them, just like we did all the other teams -with the exception of NZ in the pool stages. But don't worry their "smashing" will come in the final

Anyway, this puts some stuff into a little more perspective:

 

[daveza]

There's no way in hell that Wales will beat us. They weren't even supposed to be there.

Yet here they are in the semi finals.

 

[Sinbad]

Peyper for final if we miss the final. Just to say f.ck you to France and their moaning.

Peyper will not blow the final.
He's been excluded from the rest of the WC, for posing for a photo with Welsh fans, mocking the elbow to the face.

 

[Sinbad]

Also, he's in bigger kak

 

[Fulcrum29]

Apparently to the insight pundits it is Ireland leading the headhunt to recruit Jamie Joseph. News has it that Japan will want to immediately replace Joseph with either Wayne Smith or Jake White. Smith is the much better choice between the two when it comes to Japanese Rugby.

White did good with Toyota Verblitz, but I don’t see him embrace the speed game and he is likely to bring in more overseas players who will have residency by 2023. I would have liked to see Robbie Deans in the mix, he probably understands the game the best in Japan.

 

[Christo4]

Only stood down for RWC semi finals. ??????????

 

[Craig_]

Peyper will not blow the final.
He's been excluded from the rest of the WC, for posing for a photo with Welsh fans, mocking the elbow to the face.

View attachment 727558

Talk about an overreaction. They're more pissed off about a Ref making fun of them than about their dirty arse scum player that can't behave.

 

[Sinbad]

Only stood down for RWC semi finals. ??????????

Hmm could be.

Still... utter bullshit.

 

[Sl8er]

Yet here they are in the semi finals.

And that's where their "fairy tale" will end
Tournament-death by Springbok smashing

(I'm not usually this optimistic about any sport, but I thought I'd be "that guy" in this tournament )

 

[daveza]

And that's where their "fairy tale" will end

It's hardly a fairy tale if they were number one in the world rankings just over a month ago.

Number 1 - higher than the All Blacks ......

 

[Fulcrum29]

...with ease
There's no way in hell that Wales will beat us. They weren't even supposed to be there.
We're going to smash them, just like we did all the other teams -with the exception of NZ in the pool stages. But don't worry their "smashing" will come in the final

Anyway, this puts some stuff into a little more perspective:

SA Rugby Mag has always been critical. Gatland alluded to the French being the better team on the day and that the red card gave them the means to win the match. He approached the Q&A with honesty, even Rassie does that.

I still believe we have the better, or even the best, pack in the RWC.

Wales have been up and down in this competition and they had to trade on replacement players digging into their depth and continuity which impacted the rate at which they play at. They may pretty much be on the up against the Springboks.

It will be a good game to watch.

Just remember that England, France and New Zealand had a week extra to rest. The Springboks had the longest scheduled rest between the pool and knockout phase, but this wouldn't have had any impact on the Japan vs Springbok match schedule in any case. France simply had more time to prepare against Wales.

 

[Enzo Matrix]

Hmm could be.

Still... utter bullshit.

Goddamn snowflakes

 

[Speedster]

SA Rugby Mag has always been critical. Gatland alluded to the French being the better team on the day and that the red card gave them the means to win the match. He approached the Q&A with honesty, even Rassie does that.

I still believe we have the better, or even the best, pack in the RWC.

Wales have been up and down in this competition and they had to trade on replacement players digging into their depth and continuity which impacted the rate at which they play at. They may pretty much be on the up against the Springboks.

It will be a good game to watch.

Just remember that England, France and New Zealand had a week extra to rest. The Springboks had the longest scheduled rest between the pool and knockout phase, but this wouldn't have had any impact on the Japan vs Springbok match schedule in any case. France simply had more time to prepare against Wales.

Although we were able to play a b team against Namibia and Canada

 

[stricken]

View attachment 726708

Anyone ever consider that Faf deliberately gave the ball away in order for the team to sharpen up their defences which will be needed in the final?

Why would we play our best game and expose all our tactics before the final? These keyboard warriors assume they are better tacticians than what I consider to be our best Springbok team in more than a decade.

 

[thestaggy]

So I see we get a French ref.

 

[Drifter]

Yep, and we have only won one test out of 10 when he was the ref.

 

[thestaggy]

Yep, and we have only won one test out of 10 when he was the ref.

Crap. Wasn't aware of that stat, just know we seem to have a rough time with the baguette officials.

 

[Fulcrum29]

Although we were able to play a b team against Namibia and Canada

The Springboks are in a good to place to have only replaced 2 players. Nyakane was replaced with Thomas du Toit and Jessie Kriel was replaced with Damian Willemse and we were lucky to have only 1 short term sit out with Cheslin Kolbe. The Springboks have a large pool to dig into.

Wales have been struck with temporarily unavailable players who haven’t been declared match ready. They have, however, been struck with one replacement coming in this week. Josh Navidi is replaced with Owen Lane, they brought in a backline player so I guess they have issues to deal with in their backline than to continue with continuity in their pack. Wales who have a limited pool needs to play their core 23 more so than most tier 1 nations.

In the end, there isn’t a B-team at the RWC. The 31 players selected are the best and everyone should be able to step up to the plate (or cup in this case).