The Rugby thread

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It's so annoying watching the Irish fans and media going on and on about Ireland being the best rugby team in the world.

So of you can't win world cups you have to look at other ways you can claim to be the best by referring to the brief period they were ranked no 1.

It's annoying. It seems the goalposts keep on shifting ehen it comes to who is the best.

4 x world cup I would say SA is the best team in the world even if we lose to Ireland in the incoming tour.

Am I wrong?
 
cavedog said:
It's so annoying watching the Irish fans and media going on and on about Ireland being the best rugby team in the world.

So of you can't win world cups you have to look at other ways you can claim to be the best by referring to the brief period they were ranked no 1.

It's annoying. It seems the goalposts keep on shifting ehen it comes to who is the best.

4 x world cup I would say SA is the best team in the world even if we lose to Ireland in the incoming tour.

Am I wrong?
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I would say SA are the best at winning RWC's. Going into the 2019 RWC we were ranked 5th or 6th in world rugby and more or less the same going into 2023. So between world cups we pretty average, if we being honest with ourselves. When was the last time we won a Rugby Championship for example? When was the last time we finished an EOYT undefeated?
 
Essentially, the World Rugby rankings, as flawed a system as it is, are the "official" rankings by country from 1 to 100... for now SA are ranked 1st but if Ireland beat us at home in a test series, they will surely jump to 1st....
 
sand_man said:
I would say SA are the best at winning RWC's. Going into the 2019 RWC we were ranked 5th or 6th in world rugby and more or less the same going into 2023. So between world cups we pretty average, if we being honest with ourselves. When was the last time we won a Rugby Championship for example? When was the last time we finished an EOYT undefeated?
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Think last undefeated NH tour was in Heyneke's days.
 
I think SA fans need to be honest with themselves. And I consider myself a said fan.

The Springboks are seldom, consistently, the best side in the world. In fact you would need to go back to the pre-pro era, isolation years. That was a time where the Boks were probably consistently the best in the world. We were the only team in the world to have a positive win ratio vs NZ.

Of their world cup pedigree, there can be no dispute! They the kings of world cups!
 
sand_man said:
I think SA fans need to be honest with themselves. And I consider myself a said fan.

The Springboks are seldom, consistently, the best side in the world. In fact you would need to go back to the pre-pro era, isolation years. That was a time where the Boks were probably consistently the best in the world. We were the only team in the world to have a positive win ratio vs NZ.

Of their world cup pedigree, there can be no dispute! They the kings of world cups!
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During Mallet's tenure we were comfortably the best
 
modern10 said:
During Mallet's tenure we were comfortably the best
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Yeah, 17 match win streak. It was a golden era for sure. Record wins against Italy, Scotland, Ireland and France.

1999 world cup campaign is what Mallett will be remembered for and his sacking of Gary?

Many will say we failed at the 99 RWC but we beat a strong England side in the QF's, lost in extra time to one of the best Australian sides of all time (and eventual world cup winners) and beat NZ in the 3rd/4th place playoffs. I thought we had a great campaign.
 
sand_man said:
Could be. Didn't Mallett's Boks do it too? And the following year, to break the record of consecutive victories (17), lost to England at Twickenham?
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Heyneke's first two years in charge we went unbeaten up north but we only played three matches on both occasions. In 2014 Wales beat us for only the second time ever.

1710144048465.png
 
Weird results this past weekend - Italy beating Scotland & Eng. getting one over Ireland. happy for Italy and finally Ireland being brough back down to earth.
As for the best team in the world - I would say it has to be between Ireland and NZ. They have been continuously playing well in recent years. SA tend to be up and down in performances but raising the standard when it comes to world cups.
 
Weekend's results mean that SA's lead at the top of the world rankings is slightly extended while Italy leapfrog Australia

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Katelknaap said:
Italy above the Aussies, yissis, that must be a bitter pill for Phil Kearns and the like!
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Italy have never made it out the group stages of a World Cup while Aus have won two world cups, AUS are clearly the real 3rd best in the world behind SA and NZ as anything that happens outside of a world cup means nothing and rankings are a total farce to prop up Northern Hemisphere feelings. /s

Or something like that
 
MuterOfWorlds said:
Italy have never made it out the group stages of a World Cup while Aus have won two world cups, AUS are clearly the real 3rd best in the world behind SA and NZ as anything that happens outside of a world cup means nothing and rankings are a total farce to prop up Northern Hemisphere feelings. /s

Or something like that
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Australian rugby is in a serious crisis, anyone who cannot see that is desperately clinging to past glories.
 
Did anyone read this?

www.planetrugby.com

‘A farce’ – World Rugby slammed following law proposal that could negate Springboks’ main weapon

There are concerns that one of World Rugby’s new proposals will devalue the scrum and potentially take away part of what makes rugby union unique.
www.planetrugby.com www.planetrugby.com

"However, there has been anger, especially from South Africans, over one particular proposal that will prevent teams from calling a scrum when they have already won a free-kick at a scrum."


This sounds exactly like intentionally handicapping countries/teams with strong front rowers. Not just SA but I would say also NZL because they have a decent pack.
 
Anyone know if Chasing The Sun 2 will be available to watch on showmax?
 
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