A few notes on the game:
- Our loose trio looked the best it has all tournament with Vermulen and Flouw both putting in improved performances, hopefully they are getting back to their best. We'll need them to beat teams like Australia and Wales to avoid losing the breakdown.
- de Jager and Etzebeth are immense, they offer so much physicality on both attack an defense it will be hard to justify including Matfield. I like Victor, I think he's done well since he came out of retirement and has surprised us all but he is no longer a world beater. If our line-outs can function without him it's hard to include him just for his experience and leadership when Lood has basically been the form lock of the tournament thus far.
- Our wings are just about the only "experienced" players in the team who have stepped up and been counted. I was skeptical of JP and Habana before the tournament, thinking we were going to miss the flair of some younger players out wide but they both now look like nailed on starters. Possibly even vital to our game plan with their solid defense and strength when chasing kicks.
- Pollard looks more assured, nice to see him nailing all his place kicks, I still have a few issues with him and I think he can sometimes be a bit greedy in the oppositions 22 but he is our best option at the moment. Luckily du Preez and le Roux also take a bit of the responsibility off him at times by stepping up as decision makers.
- Kriel needs to do a bit more but I still feel he deserves a game or two more before we hit the Serfontein trigger.
- Lastly the biggest negative for me is that we are still unchanged tactically. We didn't really change our game-plan from the Japan game, it just worked this time. If we ever get matched up physically we may run out of things to do.
In short I'm mostly positive about the game but still a little apprehensive going forward.