The Springboks will be looking to bounce back from their last start drubbing at the hands of a fired up New Zealand outfit who’ll be looking to win away from home in the Rugby Championship. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 2:05am (AEDT).
Little needs to be said of the last encounter between these two sides. A 57-0 drubbing by the world champion All Blacks should leave the average Springbok fan more than a little wary of the pain that Steve Hansen’s men could inflict on their side in Cape Town.
That being said, a 27-27 draw with the Wallabies should give them some encouragement, especially given the Wallabies last match against their opponents, where they were beaten on the bell courtesy of a Beauden Barrett five-pointer.
Regardless, expect a much-improved performance from the men in green against the Kiwis tonight.
The Kiwis, on the other hand, were inconsistent last week against the Pumas. Their first half was clinical, assured and built around tenacity in defence that let Barrett and co. display their entire arsenal of attacking skill.
They would’ve been filthy with their lacklustre second half performance, and that could spell danger for the Springboks in this one.
In team news, the All Blacks welcome back Milner-Skudder and Ryan Crotty in two big inclusions.
The Springboks see the most change occurring in their back row, where #7 Pieter-Steph Du Toit will look to repay the faith shown in his recall to the side.
Where the game will be won
The kicking game. The All Blacks are without a doubt, the best counter-attacking unit in world rugby. The Springboks played ball in hand rugby last week, and should look to shelve their kicking game in this game too if they’re any chance to win.
Mckenzie, Milner-Skudder and Ioane will punish any loose kicks, and it’ll be a comfortable win if the Boks look to kick, rather than run.
Prediction
It won’t be a 57 point drubbing, but the Kiwis will finish the Rugby Championship with a big win.
All Blacks by 19.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 2:05am (AEDT).
DavSA
Guest
Ha Ha Jacko , but T-Man is absolutely spot on.
Tommy
Guest
Your funny too buddy here you are saying Lima milked it an what so what I don't call it milking at all I call it smart! Just like team New Zealand smart the abs just no how to win.. still reckon we were robbed in the lions series..
zhenry
Guest
Pathetic. The Not Neutral Northshore Swede should work for Fairfax and join M Reason, M Hinton and the elite Sydney RU crowd farcical trial, re the bugging, which attempt to blame it all on the ABs. This RU elite (and NNNS is included) will attempt to beat the ABs anyway they can including a concerted ‘off the field’ mostly media blitz: see the latest ‘filthy’ MReason release of the ‘Filthy ABs’ as a pre-empt of the coming ABvWB test in Brisbane. This latest MReason effort is so blatantly biased; it’s almost as if Fairfax have lodged their usual ‘tar the ABs dirty’ request to Reason and Reason has come up with an on purpose exaggeration, who knows? Whatever Reason can write very well but his ingratiation with AB supporters with stories about his father, stories that praise ABs then the typical ‘ABs are dirty theme’, sets up this toxic AB troupe that fits in with the long history of Fairfax ‘tar the ABs’ and Reason’s father’s gutter journalism.
CHUCKED
Guest
Neutral - your comments are becoming an embarrassment - I used to enjoy your comments greatly, as your commenst were often humorous. Sadly you are plain wrong with the red card, then you make an ass of yourself mentioning David Gray, poor form and very unsporting
CHUCKED
Guest
The Report is clear..Allende'soffence would have warranted a YELLOW card AND A penalty - 4 mins to go in the match, can some of you not count, yellow card= 10 mins. Red or yellow, SAME Result.
woodart
Guest
totally agree, absolutley shameful comment about david gray.
Harry Jones
Expert
But it's beautiful. We Ubered to Forester's. Drank perfect ales and had lamb burgers. Strolled to the game, watching the fans. Cape Crusaders in force. Gin & tonics inside; followed by Namibian beer. Affordable box. The smell. The mountain close. The sound reverberating. The echoes of childhood, and curtain raiser games I played.
Country Boy
Guest
Dav, was agree - Pollard made a huge difference in the time he was on. He must be weighing up whether he will be better off playing overseas.
wardad1
Roar Rookie
Sideways like a crab ?
DavSA
Guest
" Any price that comes with it " Jack ... Really ? Do you live here ? Do you have an idea what any price means here ? Just walk our streets on any given day and see the degradation and humiliation of the jobless ,homeless and desperate ... A direct result of economic quotas ... Any price ?
Cuw
Guest
" The foul play review committee found that the offence did not warrant a red card in all the circumstances. " this is the most important statement of all. now why is it not being rescinded?? it happens in footy. that was a yellow at most extreme but a penalty any other day of the week. my issue is this is a bad mark on the player's cv. if they thought it is not a red , then they could have at least lowered it to a yellow. everyone makes mistakes , but the need is for the mistakes to be corrected - not ratified or ignored.
DavSA
Guest
This game could have ...in fact should have been played at the Cape Town Stadium.Within hours of Newlands ticket sales opening all were sold out .It would have also been sold out in Greenpoint but with another 25000 supporters in. Mayor Patricia De Lille has been pressing WP Rugby to move there for years now. Obviously it is a money issue as CT Stadium is owned by the council and rental will have to be paid. Also not all matches attract the kind of revenue that an AB test does and WPRFU already in financial dwang.
Peter
Guest
Why would it change? there is no development of rugby or erecting of rugbt fields in "black" schools.
DavSA
Guest
During Superugby season both Serfontein and Kriel were terrific for the Bulls. That earned them selection as a combo. Skosan was pretty decent for the Lions and leyds had a good season for The Stormers . I feel for these guys as I think they are getting shockingly bad service from 9 and 10 . When Pollard came on just for those few minutes it looked like a completely different backline. Cronje has technical issues which are resolvable but is an excellent defender . He pulled off the tackle of the game against Australia to save a certain try . Jantjies however collapses mentally under pressure .Misses easy crucial kicks that he would stick over with his eyes closed in practice and panics at the worst times .But worst of all is his defence . It is embarrassing to watch. I did not think Andries Coetzee had a bad game . Needs to work on his tactical kicking though but is a slippery customer on attack.
Cuw
Guest
u shud put Serf at 13 and get Rohan at 12 . Kriel goes to 15 and have Leyds and Combrink on wiings. I still like Lambie , but then he has a glass body ... much like Colin Slade , pity.
taylorman
Roar Guru
How many black children will play in 2019 then??
ClarkeG
Guest
Yep ...the Gray comment is pretty much the pits.
Machpants
Roar Guru
Having done another re watch, it's interesting that Marx is pulling both of his props jerseys right up to their armpits. Meaning the opposition prop has to bind on their shorts (hanes the first half) or under armour vest (ofa second half) cunning but makes the scrums really unstable
Mark
Guest
Funny - thought exactly the same thing after the match - if they hadn't thrown the ball to Reiko in the 1st half...
Mark
Guest
I think you are both being very hard on your backline Its more 9 and especially 10 (Jantjes) that are not performing as well as you would want But also - they are not playing the same way as they do for their Super teams