The Rugby Championship 2014 - Non-Wallaby Games

[Dewald Nel]

congrats to the springboks. again we were very close! I think the argentine scrum is returning to the good old days, pushing straight forward. Some things to improve in our side, psychic and mentally to finish the matchs, but good development till now

Well played to your team. You played with passion, guts and determination. I hope you can win a game at least in the rest of the tournament. Your side looks a lot more settled than at the same time last year.

 

[Dewald Nel]

Great moral fibre shown by the Boks. That game looked gone.

I thought Adrian Strauss was the guy who turned it. He came on and really got the pack to lift their game. The du Plessis brothers had a collective mare.

The Boks scrum is in tatters. Jannie Doep badly shown up. Malherbe not much better and not injured again as well.

De Allende is not a 13. He completey fucked up the defensive aligment. At one stage JdV was yelling at him after he had rushed out of the line for the tenth time.

Ruan Pienaar played well. Better effort from Pollard. JdV is short of a gallop. Juan Smith looked a shadow of his former self. We really need a real number 5 to play at 5.

Hendricks is a great finisher but he does not look for work. Saved our arse with that try though.

Good luck Wob scrum. The only way to counter that Argie scrum is to start praying today. It is going to be ugly.

Regarding Pienaar, he was slow at clearing yet again. Hougaard came on and transformed our momentum, suddenly it looked like we had intent from set pieces and rucks.

I wonder if Pienaar will ever impress at this level. He is like Wynand Olivier.

 

[Iñaki Zubizarreta]

Well played to your team. You played with passion, guts and determination. I hope you can win a game at least in the rest of the tournament. Your side looks a lot more settled than at the same time last year.

Thanks man, we're trying not to get frustrated with this, considering we need to be patient to reach the 3 big teams' level.. We know this is a long term process and have to take it easily. For example, Ayerza today played his 50 test match in 10 years wearing the argentine t-shirt. We need players with more caps over their backs.
I want to highlight that our newest boys played in Pampas XV, and some of them won the Vodacup and Pacific Cup. I reckon an argentine super team would increase our future players' level, like Graham proposed.. Remember we don't have a professional domestic ligue.

 

[Pfitzy]

Good luck Wob scrum. The only way to counter that Argie scrum is to start praying today. It is going to be ugly.

Well, we get to warm up on your lot

 

[Hugh Jarse]

That was an impressive performance from Los Pumas, and with an ounce of luck. they would have won.

It looks like the task of being the first team to lose to them in TRC will fall to the Wobs, especially if both teams played like they did in round 2.

 

[Blue]

Well, we get to warm up on your lot

Based on last night you will need to do some serious warming even before that. Maybe even a scrum lobotomy.

I think our scrums will more or less be on par. We had the edge over your lot last year (especially at Suncorp) but the Wobs have improved. Or so I thought. Until Eden Park.

I'd love to see the back of Jannie Fucking du Plessis but there aren't many options.

Both the Wobs and the Boks have a massive issue at TH. Kepu and du Plessis all too often get dominated and the whole thing falls to pieces.

 

[qwerty51]

Really? What was the issue with our scrum when it was 8v8?

It went to shit when it was 8v7 which is a worry.

 

[Blue]

Regarding Pienaar, he was slow at clearing yet again. Hougaard came on and transformed our momentum, suddenly it looked like we had intent from set pieces and rucks.

I wonder if Pienaar will ever impress at this level. He is like Wynand Olivier.

Look Pienaar is not my favourite but I thought he did a good job with the forwards getting beaten up in front of him.

Hougaard had an easier job because by that time the BOik forwards gained the edge at the breakdown. Adriaan Strauss' leaderhip and Coetzee made an enormous difference as did the Beast and Malherbe hitting the rucks.

Jannie Fucking du Plessis and Fatarse Steenkamp are a minute late to every ruck. They are both not up to the speed to test rugby any longer. Too fat and slow. Time for both to go right now.

So my point is Hougaard had a much easier platform when he came on. The ball actually came out clean.

 

[Blue]

That was an impressive performance from Los Pumas, and with an ounce of luck. they would have won.

It looks like the task of being the first team to lose to them in TRC will fall to the Wobs, especially if both teams played like they did in round 2.

IF the Pumas can stay healthy I would definitely back them to beat the Wobs in Argie. That pack of theirs will mug thsi current Wob pack.

But a lot can change in a few weeks. The Argies are likely to keep losing and if they lose a couple of big names I don't know if they have the depth to keep the intensity. I hope they do. Its' great for the game.

 

[Pfitzy]

Our scrum, besides the period of Simmons being off, was probably as good as the ABs and at points, better towards the end when Franks was at LHP.

 

[aeneas]

After that performance surely this is the season the Puma's knock off NZ or Aus in Argentina? The rate of improvement they are showing as a team is astounding, shows what playing against good competition does I guess.

 

[Marcelo]

After that performance surely this is the season the Puma's knock off NZ or Aus in Argentina? The rate of improvement they are showing as a team is astounding, shows what playing against good competition does I guess.

I'm not sure, for my SA has plummeted performance (See the second test against Wales in June). I think they are a step below Australia. Remember the 7 wins in a row, if Link chooses the correct players and doesn't make experiments, Wallabies should win

 

[Blue]

I posted at the beginning of the Super season that SA rugby is in decline and I still think it is.

Basic skills levels, selection issues, game plans.

Haven't moved forward in the last two or three years.

Individual performances from the likes of Wille and Habana have saved our bacon lately. And some sheer minded grit but that's not enough.

 

[Nusadan]

This is the most baby faced Test playing lock, or a Saffie forward, I've ever seen, what with his geeky looks, he looks more at home in front of a computer than in the scrum!:

(Lood de Jager)

 

[ACT Crusader]

Based on last night you will need to do some serious warming even before that. Maybe even a scrum lobotomy.

I think our scrums will more or less be on par. We had the edge over your lot last year (especially at Suncorp) but the Wobs have improved. Or so I thought. Until Eden Park.

I'd love to see the back of Jannie Fucking du Plessis but there aren't many options.

Both the Wobs and the Boks have a massive issue at TH. Kepu and du Plessis all too often get dominated and the whole thing falls to pieces.

I've never really got why he has been a mainstay in the Bok shirt. He's not overly strong at scrum time and then he does dumb stuff around the field. Seems a liability that they've carried for far too long.

 

[Ulrich]

I've never really got why he has been a mainstay in the Bok shirt. He's not overly strong at scrum time and then he does dumb stuff around the field. Seems a liability that they've carried for far too long.

I venture he gets selected to also keep his brother happy.

I think there's an issue with our forwards this season. It's not only Jannie but also Bismarck, coincidentally from the same franchise. The Beast is probably a bit fresher because of his recent injury which forced some time off for him.

Etzebeth is returning from a long injury, Lood is very green and playing sort of out of position. Although playing 5 shouldn't have any bearing on your performance around the field. Difficult I guess in the end when you're being knocked back due to your pathetic front row not fronting up.

Juan Smith had a disappointing game. I'm a big fan of him and expected a bit more, but he's old and coming off injury as well. The older you are the longer it takes they say.

Only our loosies are consistently good (Marcel, not Smith). The rest of the team is struggling to find rythm because of this. Our game depends on quick ball and that requires dominating the breakdown and the set pieces.

We should give our front row a wake up call by dropping them all to the bench and even further down the pecking order and start with what were the replacements in our game against Argentina. Pity Frans Malherbe is injured but we have Lourens Adriaanse still I think?

 

[qwerty51]

That first 'forward pass' where the Argies were going to score was such bullshit. Ball was clearly backwards out of the hands.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

"A whirlwind 12 months for hooker Nathan Harris will reach its peak at one of the grandest rugby theatres.

"Having been an All Blacks apprentice, coach Steve Hansen has confirmed Harris will likely make his debut against the Springboks at Ellis Park, when Dane Coles takes time off for the birth of his child.

"Harris says it's been an incredible journey.

"He says he was recently thinking that only a year ago he was trying to secure a place in the Bay of Plenty team, so it's all happened really fast.

"Nathan Harris says the chance to learn off Keven Mealamu and Dane Coles has been invaluable."

https://nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/n...ugby-harris-to-make-debut-against-springboks/

 

[Hugh Jarse]

This current crop of NZ rugby players is fairly fertile.

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Should be a full house in Napier on 6 September:

"Extra seating has been added to McLean Park to lift the ground's capacity from about 15,500 to 22,000.

"The HBRU said about 1600 tickets were left for the match."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11315776