[2016 Rugby Championship] Australia v South Africa (10/09/2016)

[RoosTah]

Awful bloody game, but what's most telling about these matches is how in both South Africa and Australia Wallabies-Springboks matches never get close to selling out anymore.

It's a pretty poor sign for rugby in both our countries; the Springbok-Wallabies rivalry is actually a bloody good one - we're pretty well 50-50 in our win loss ratio against each other in the pro era, but for whatever reason neither side seems to value it much because we're all obsessed with how far ahead the All Blacks are.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Awful bloody game, but what's most telling about these matches is how in both South Africa and Australia Wallabies-Springboks matches never get close to selling out anymore.

It's a pretty poor sign for rugby in both our countries; the Springbok-Wallabies rivalry is actually a bloody good one - we're pretty well 50-50 in our win loss ratio against each other in the pro era, but for whatever reason neither side seems to value it much because we're all obsessed with how far ahead the All Blacks are.

Good point, it's has always been a close contest between the Bokke and the Wallabies in the professional era.
But this year the matches between these two heavyweights have been uncharacteristically dire.
The Wallabies have made some moves of brilliant attacking teamwork in both games but way too few and far between. Their confidence has been way down since England rumbled them 3-nil at home and then they were badly trounced by the AB's in Sydney. It's been a hard road for both of them and their fixtures have not made for easy viewing for the neutral.
The Boks on the other hand have a confidence crisis going on that is hurting their natural game and that is as much to do with off the field issues than the coach and the players.

 

[smartcooky]

Both teams were absolutely dreadful. This is the kind of match where you expect the stadium viewers would have been offered refunds on the way out.

Winning a game without a single Try? Sorry, shouldn't work like that.

Sometimes tries aren't scored because opponents infringe and give away penalties under pressure, and there was some of that in this match. For example, Folau's late charge on Habana was just stupid; he wasn't even subtle about it, just blatant.

While I don't think Habana would have scored (so no penalty try) I still think he had a good chance of regathering the ball and putting a lot of pressure on the Wallaby defence.

 

[FrenchFan]

Awful bloody game, but what's most telling about these matches is how in both South Africa and Australia Wallabies-Springboks matches never get close to selling out anymore.

yeah I was surprised to see some empty seats in the upper areas of the stadium. It didn't look full anyway.