Hard to imagine the ABs pulling off a win here with so many injuries, especially losing their star player and captain, Savea.
Boks x 12
Heya AJ.....get well soon, miss your input in our cricket section.
@clevermike ...you got it spot on!...congrats Maaik!🍻🍾
...one nagging statistic...when last did and how often does NZ lose 3 in a row?
When Was the Last Time?The All Blacks lost three games in a row across a stretch that started with two defeats against Ireland (July 9 and July 16, 2022) and continued into the Rugby Championship with a loss to South Africa (August 6, 2022).
It's our golden era......someone should hang up a sign.....'Do not disturb, work in progress' - Bokke.
@bobbok and the last time we played them in the States we lost - Rassie’s first loss if memory serves me correctly
As much as South Africa possess the greater pool of talent, Erasmus still hasn't delivered the best of what we have to offer. On paper, the Boks should be capable of beating New Zealand convincingly, but there remains a soft underbelly that the All Blacks are more than capable of carving open. Our defence has been far too porous, and New Zealand are precisely the sort of side that can punish it.
I still predict the Boks to win by five, but New Zealand cannot be underestimated. The Boks have an unfortunate habit of coming undone just when it looks as though they've finally got a firm grip on things. There is enough talent in this side to win comfortably; whether we actually put it all together is another matter.
Prediction: South Africa by 5.
SA 37 - 27 NZ
cough cough .....
Well, we finally have a technical 9, not the best in the world, but a 9 that can get speed off the base and actually do proper box kicks.
Sasha is still at 10, but maybe this is the game he comes good.
Dud and Jessica has showed what they can do if give space and time. So hopefully we can get the ball out to them more often. I thought their days were number, but watching Dud fending, rounding, drawing and passing to put Arendse away was a thing of beauty.
We did start see better play between the backs and forwards, balls actually being passed in the last game, great break by Wiese, Off load to Ox, although a bit of bobble, and then Manie cutting the last few defenders only to lose his balance and not see his supporting runner.
Think the boks should blow the ABs off the park if Sasha can control his impulses and not try to take them on in the first second but tire them out not the other way around where we punch ourselves out.
Can't fault our pack at all. Backline is solid, Willemse is back, Hooker and Arendse is on form. NZ has a lot to claw back and this will be their 10th game, long tour, players injured and so on. Not sure of the new players will inject much energy, we know what 6 weeks on the road does to players.
I think we'd be better off bypassing Damian and having Willemse come into the line. The attack wasn't good last week for most of the game as far as structured play is concerned.
We don't have the Carter gimme again (maybe we have a Moorby gimme this time, who knows). Both the Arendse try and Kriel try were scored off static ball, we were literally tossing standing passes to standing receivers (Kriel try - Sacha standing passing to Manie standing who passes to Kriel standing) and one guy who can't tackle missed 3 tackles in the sequences that built those two tries. As Deus says, there's still not much to the Bok attack. But if you get physical mismatches against incompetent defenders going, even the standing pass will get you there.
25-15 Boks. Can’t see us improving with all the new players sadly.
Hope springs eternal…….
Boks by 5.
We'll win but it won't be a Baltimoer.
It's all stacked against the the ABs
...they've lost the ref battle.
...they've lost good players.
...they've lost the physical battle.
...they've been on the road for a long time.
...they've gradually been able to do less of what they want.
The contrarian in me says that all of this makes them more dangerous.
But the mind says this should be 12 pointer in Boks favour.
Dickson is the ref. He was pedantic as hell in the Stormers game, and that played massively into the Stormers advantage. If he calls the AB side entries and obstructions, this could be a blowout. But I'll assume that won't happen...
34-22 to the Boks
I predict a Bok win, although I'd have considerably more conviction in that prediction if we were fielding something resembling our best side. There are simply too many players in this team capable of producing the sort of individual implosion that can unravel an entire result, and the All Blacks remain more than capable of exploiting those weaknesses.
Historically, the Boks have also had an unfortunate habit of capitulating just when confidence is at its highest. Whenever we begin talking as though victory is a formality, I start getting nervous.
That said, if they come out with the same aggression, intensity and physical authority they showed in the first half of the opening Test, I'm confident they'll steamroll this All Black side. The question isn't whether the Boks have the firepower to do it — it's whether they can sustain it for 80 minutes without getting in their own way.
From an Os to an Ox ... kan 'n mens dan nie ...
...and a Beast ook... 👀
Saw a lot on the 1st and 2nd test ref calls. Tons of side entry and the scrum interference.
Agree with @Deus Ex Lemur . We haven't seen much structured play, but there were hints of it.
So I think Refs still play a big role.
No reason for the boks to lose this game. They are more experienced, tested and only starting to peak now.
A lot of journo waxing lyrical about how great these guys are, but they are not.
I expect an 80 min performance
So much depends on the ref blowing fairly and competently.
Kingcorn please don't follow DUD Mozzie by calling a Bok great like Allende dud. Denigrating a 100 test Bok great with animosity like the very DUD Mozzie has done for years is not a path to follow. Thanks.
I see the bitter Deus and the hapless plonker Pakster having yet another go at Rassie. These two clowns can't help themselves! So deluded are these mongs that they firstly think they always know better than Rassie and secondly, they are incapable of learning from their many judgemental mistakes relating to Rassie and are unable to aplogise and turn over a new leaf.
Thank goodness for a sensible post from Plumpster! Kingcorn's post also pretty decent apart from the use of the word DUD.
Personally I think we should do even better this test. Maybe Boks by 15. We shall see.
@Deus Ex Lemur Daft Deus you are an incredibly biased one eyed commentator. Hence your affinity to DUD Mozzie.
I can easily tolerate a person disagreeing with Rassie and I myself sometimes have different views. but I do not easily tolerate unmitigated bias day after day year after year. That is your huge problem. It's the bias. The never ending belittling, undermining and smears and daft analysis.
You gave yourself away completely with your epic meltdown after Rassie second RWC and stormed off in a hisdy fit when corrected. I am sure you remember all to well.
@Plum Dumpster I am not impressed withong detailed posts filled with bias and drivel.
Some of the nonsense spewed about Rassie the Boks is beyond hilarious.
Looks like a home game. 👀
Flying Kurt-Lee Arendse helps South Africa clinch New Zealand series
Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the key fifth of six tries as South Africa beat New Zealand 47-28 in Baltimore to win the Greatest Rivalry series 3-1
the Guardian
🗣️ "Can't criticise the scrum-half, who did all he could to turn the tide."
Planet Rugby
