All Blacks vs Springboks: International rugby live scores, blog

Andrew I love a good chat on rugby but you have based it on 1 game where the top 12 ABs were rested, but conveniently then gone to "and other games he has played in the past"? Argentina game was genius. whole SR season was genius. Fakatava has been ok in the NPC but Perofeta has been ordinary. Had a better last game but very average first couple of games. In fact his first NPC match this season was a shocker. I see others overtaking him. With Love playing well, Cameron back playing well and the U20s guy whose name escapes me atm looks good too. I had expected Z Sullivan to be better this year at 10 in the NPC too but its taking him some match time to get back into the 10 spot.

Paulo the ABs got thrashed and his whole take from that is to state a player that wasnt even on the bench shouldnt play as he will get monstered. Will he get monstered more than the players who played and got monstered? People seem to be reading a lot into a nothing test match where every possible thing went against the ABs, but reading into it that a player who wasnt even on the team shouldnt play is a bit much.

If we have our strongest forward pack available, and we dont give away a succession of stupid penalities as we did in the first 1o mins of that game, I think we can live with the Bok pack to be competitive in the match overall. Two very big if's there tho!!! Our forwards depth is paper thin / non-existent, and the likelihood is that injuries and suspensions will mean we are unlikely to field our first choice pack.

Dude, I didnt blame McKenzie. But based in his performance against Aus in Dunedin, and other games he has started in the past, I think he would have been absolutely monstered by the Bok’s big runners if he had played ahead of Mounga. We simply can’t risk playing him in ganes against the big boys. Mounga was brave in defence and covered / scrambled brilliantly. I think he was one of the few players who came out of that game well. However, Mounga’s iability to change the momentum when big sides get on top of us was once again demonstrated. He seeme to have no idea how to create forward momentum away from the gain line confrontation. This was obvious when the Lions took a strong Canterbury side apart in 2017, it was repeated in the 2019 WC loss to England, and in a bunch of other games that he has started. In the past, Mounga has also been an unreliable front on tackler of big hard running forwards and centres. However, this season he has been very strong and brave in that department. Which is what I was focussing on in my comment on McKenzie (who is v brave but just far too small). I.e I am not saying Mounga is the holy grail at 10. The sad fact is we lack a 10 with an all round game. Mounga can’t get us put if trouble when our forwards are getting boased. Beuden is well past his best as a 10. McKenzie is a liability against physical sides AND prone to run himself and teammates into trouble in his own half. We could win with any of those three at 10 if we had a dominant forward pack, McKenzie in particular would be awesome if our pack was going forward. But our forwards are going to get bossed by the Boks, France, Ireland and possibly England. To my mind, the solution is to stop trying to play off 10 against the big sides. Select a starting 9 who is a play maker like Faf (which is a v common Bok tactic) and use the 10 more sparingly, particularly in your own half. On that basis, I would have selected Fekatava ahead of Christie, and would have selected Perofeta as a hard running 10 albiet lacking the finesse needed to run the game as we are currently trying to play it. I probably would not have selected McKenzie in that scenario. He is a better 10 and a better player than Perofeta in many respects, but Perofeta would be perfect alongside Roigard or Fekatava. Clarke has actually been pretty damn good for the AB’s this season, and I say that having been a Clarke hater. But with Talea and Lester covering left wing, I can’t see why he was included in the squad, he is taking up a foward slot that should have been taken by an extra loose forward kr even an extra prop (Joe Moody). Or they should have left Lester out and stuck with Clarke as the better known commodity.

Delusional....you play the same player, you get the same result...again delusional

Ratima has done nothing

The All Black packs of 2011 and 2015 were hard af and harder than the Springboks of the same era.

On the same page here with you mate.

Mate, I’m just saying he didn’t blame DMac for the loss. You said he did. He clearly says he is talking about the WC squad selection. Hence the reference to DMac. He also mentions Clarke too. You’ve got all argy bargy because he has been critical of DMac. We get it. You love DMac. But mate, relax, he didn’t say what you’re accusing him of. At the end of the day, if we face a forward based team like the Boks today, it doesn’t matter two flying ducks who wearing the jerseys from 10-15, we will have our arses handed to us.

Halves look good going forward Paulo. With Roigard and Ratima, plus the U20s guy ( know I think ) plus TJ around for giving the guidance.funnily enough Tatiana has been selected above Roigard all their junior life but when TJ got injured it gave Roigard the spotlight. He just looks right playing test rugby. Size and a left foot.

So drop Cane and just select one of the many players that are as good or better than Richie? Good idea. Genius. Why don't coaches think of that.

Think about it tho West. Does it mean we will now lose to France? Does it mean we won't beat SA if we meet them at 1/4 final time? It means nothing.

Or what a difference Frizzell makes. Or maybe it's just a nothing reault that has no bearing on anything.

The ABs got flogged and he said a player who wasn't even on the team shouldn't get game time because he would get monstered? How did the guys go who actually played Paulo? Why even bring up the players who didn't play in some sad attempt to deflect from the players who did play and got monsterd

He didn’t blame DMac, just said he’d get monsters by sides like this. And the issue wasn’t RM. Our forwards were owned and then went down a man. All the backs were average under the pressure they were under.

I had the same WTF moment when BB did that cross kick at the start of the 2ns half too mate. Lack of game awareness was staggering.

Absolutely right JD.

Couldn’t agree more. Cane has always been a McCaw pretender. Guy needs to lead by example but is a constant offender.

Clarke instead of Finau looking an even bigger mistake now.

Yes and we need to put this game into perspective. One or two men down most of the match. 23 yo reserve tighthead had to come on very early. Four 22/23 year old tight forwards. Only five of the 14 forwards have played in a World Cup. Against a team of very experienced internationals. Not a game to judge them on.