Official June tests thread

MickeyD said:
Baby Boks game against England has just started (SS6). 3min: 7-0 to Boks.
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Must say I find U20 rugby terribly frustrating to watch. I have to keep reminding myself these are U20's and the errors they make are to be expected.

I do think SA U20 teams current and past are technically inferior to their Antipodean counterparts but most of the time dogged determination and heart gets them through!!

As for tonight's game, at 23-0 after, what was it? 30 minutes? one could have been forgiven for believing it was game over but those pesky English lads just kept coming!!

In the end we were lucky to escape with the 31-24 win. Was pretty ugly at times and I wonder to what extent Serfontein's late Bok call up has affected the dynamic of this team?

Pollard is a great 10, while I get the impression that Du Preez is slightly out of his depth there but with Pollard covering at 12 for Jan, Du Preez is starting at 10...

As with the senior side, the Baby Boks seem to battle with kick offs and our scrums were under pressure pretty much for the full match.

I sometimes get the impression that a lot of these U20 sides are over coached while watching the Baby Boks it seems the opposite is the case.

Anyway, a hard earned victory and they on course to defend their title.
 
Piesank said:
Een man se dood is 'n ander se brood!

Van Zyl showed a lot of form in this comp and deserves to be there, not starting but to be in the group.
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On current form Hougaard was lucky to be selected anyway. Van Zyl is a lot like Vermaak. Perhaps not as quick.

Rumour has it that he insists on playing scrumhalf for the Boks, while Heyneke sees and wants to play him at wing (who can fill in at scrumhalf if needed). Won't be surprised if Hougaard doesn't get picked for the second test either.
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
We're going to get murdered in the RC, going by that performance. HM needs to shape this lot up in the next few weeks, like asap.
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Agreed. When Bryan is the MOTM you know the opposition does not know how to read our team. The sheep breeders won't make that mistake.
 
Piesank said:
Just like the Boks were in 2009 or NZ in 2005 or funnily enough the Ozzies in 2001?
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GreGorGy said:
Wow - that never occurred to me. What an incredible trend.
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I knew we done it in 2009 but didn't check 2001 and 2005 tours. Is quite a remarkable trend.

I don't believe Australia have much depth in their rugby so 20+ rounds of Super rugby (more than 2001,2005,2009) plus a Lions tour and a few injuries to key players and they might have a very challenging RC.

NZ also suffering with injuries.
 
sand_man said:
I knew we done it in 2009 but didn't check 2001 and 2005 tours. Is quite a remarkable trend.

I don't believe Australia have much depth in their rugby so 20+ rounds of Super rugby (more than 2001,2005,2009) plus a Lions tour and a few injuries to key players and they might have a very challenging RC.

NZ also suffering with injuries.
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Look I'm not going to bet money on it that Oz will win the RC just putting it out there that they are not to be written off.

That trend was broken in 1997 though when a certain boks team disappointed :whistle:
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
We're going to get murdered in the RC, going by that performance. HM needs to shape this lot up in the next few weeks, like asap.
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The Kiwis did not really do all that great AT HOME against the team that LOST to the Italians earlier this year.

So maybe just enjoy the little bit of a rosy view on the bok team atm. :)

APoc184 said:
I don't think many teams in the world would have had an answer to that. They played really well. Quick ball, good running lines, good supporting runners, and they had so much confidence and momentum after murdering us in the scrums and a few line outs.

Let us not forget that this same Italian side managed victories over Ireland and France in the Six Nations. They are not as useless as they used to be.

This is a good victory for the Boks.
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+1, the team looked a lot sharper on attack then last year and this is with all of one week together and a couple of new combinations.

OrbitalDawn said:
Boks call up Piet van Zyl

Pity that Jano's injured.
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I feel for vermaak as for a long time he was on the verge of the Bok team, now he gets his start and pulls a hammy :(

APoc184 said:
On current form Hougaard was lucky to be selected anyway. Van Zyl is a lot like Vermaak. Perhaps not as quick.

Rumour has it that he insists on playing scrumhalf for the Boks, while Heyneke sees and wants to play him at wing (who can fill in at scrumhalf if needed). Won't be surprised if Hougaard doesn't get picked for the second test either.
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Well after HM saying that he will be making a few changes to give the broader group more exposure, I think Ruan Pienaar will start with Hougaard on the bench, also I won't be surprised if Lambie starts.
 
Also think we will see a lot of changes. Of course it helped that the Samoans softened the Scots up for us a bit.

I read that 15 Scotland players needed medical attention after their match against Samoa.
 
APoc184 said:
Also think we will see a lot of changes. Of course it helped that the Samoans softened the Scots up for us a bit.

I read that 15 Scotland players needed medical attention after their match against Samoa.
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It is sad to hear even thou I am not surprised, as Samoa is one of the toughest teams on a physical scale out there. Nonetheless it was a good game to watch even thou the Scots lots and I chose them on superbru:cry:
 
Looking forward to seeing a larger group finding form before the Rugby Challenge later this year.
 
Hougaard is struggling with a knee injury. Will see a specialist tomorrow.

Looks more and more likely that Piet van Zyl will be capped this weekend.
 
Reinach was injured during the Sharks tour but he was supposed to have recovered by now although there has been no news about that.
 
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