[2024 TRC] South Africa v New Zealand - 07/9/2024

[Alex Anghel]

Reece was caught sleeping…

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Feel like we'll somehow conspire to lose to these guys in November even though they're miles off.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Should have kept Joe

 

[ChicagoKid]

Once again, Sacha makes some big errors but also made massive plays. His athleticism is so noticeable compared to Pollard.

 

[Alex Anghel]

Sititi was immense, a couple of tries bombed by New Zealand, poor game management by Scott Barett and DMac, another loss to be put on Razor's shoulders...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

If Sacha can cut down the those few errors! The goal kicking at least I'll forgive this time with the one at the end of his range and the other at a tight angle.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Is that the last test for Sevu Reece?

 

[Alex Anghel]

Is that the last test for Sevu Reece?

Hopefully…

 

[saulan]

Once again, Sacha makes some big errors but also made massive plays. His athleticism is so noticeable compared to Pollard.

I think most of his errors he immediately made up for or it worked out for us:
- weird backward kick pass? Penalty for in front of charge down
- chip over the top in midfield that they receive? Immediately works the jackal and gets us a penalty.

Key thing that was down today was his penalty kicking.

And then main thing we need to sort out is our protection at the ruck. That was an absolute shambles and killed most of our attacks.

 

[miccloarch]

Hello darkness my old friend.

Unbelievable misses from DMac. I remember BB getting thrown under the bus for similar when he was our goal kicker. Plummer/Perofeta need to be given their chance at 10 now and/or one of the Barretts needs to take over goal kicking.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Hello darkness my old friend.

Unbelievable misses from DMac. I remember BB getting thrown under the bus for similar when he was our goal kicker. Plummer/Perofeta need to be given their chance at 10 now and/or one of the Barretts needs to take over goal kicking.

I love how 'Coach Speak' meets real world consequences.

Scott Robertson unequivocally does not trust his bench. He made several changes, but still left players on the bench for the full 80.

They reluctantly brought on their reserve props and the hooker only got on because of an HIA.

Why is Sam Derry on the bench? There is no room for passengers vs. South Africa.

 

[Alex Anghel]

Hello darkness my old friend.

Unbelievable misses from DMac. I remember BB getting thrown under the bus for similar when he was our goal kicker. Plummer/Perofeta need to be given their chance at 10 now and/or one of the Barretts needs to take over goal kicking.

In all honesty, it felt like the ABs threw the game away again, with key moments not being capitalized...one minute after SA received that yellow for a cynical foul, Reece has a brain explosion and gets sent off...5 meters off the try line, Scott Barrett knocks on...instead of Jordie Barrett kicking that very long rage penalty, DMac takes the stage and misses it...

Although the ABs clearly matched the Boks high praised phisicality, the backs just didn't click...again. Jordie/Reiko combination in the midfield is simply not working, ALB didn't do anything particularly good, Reece must be dropped and Telea played at 14...and yes, Will Jordan was very quiet as FB...IMO miles away so far from Cullen, Muliaina or Ben Smith...I would argue that Dagg in his prime was a better fullback than him.

 

[spursindevon]

Didn't watch the game, will watch the highlights shortly, was the game worthy of the "Greatest Rivalry"? Looking forward to them only playing eachother moving forward - who needs international rugby with more than two teams? Maybe merge the Currie Cup and NPC?

 

[Al Bangor]

Final: South Africa 18 New Zealand 12

Picked another winner. Thank you Springboks!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Razor is the only coach in tier 1 rugby right now without any previous international experience. It shows. NZ don't know what to do after a handful of phases in possession. He needs to learn fast in the next 18 months.

Watching today tells me that NZ have fallen out of the top echelon of international rugby. They're behind SA, they're behind us (no fear of them without Schmidt) and they're almost certainly behind France with Dupont. 50% this year will be well earned for them and they're lucky nit to be going to Edinburgh.

 

[miccloarch]

Maybe merge the Currie Cup and NPC?

That was called the Super 10

 

[miccloarch]

Gotta keep in mind what he inherited though. The year before we lost to Italy. We were in a terrible way, which provides for a bit of leeway, but yea he came close to going if he didn't win that NZ game

Moreover look where Bok rugby is now. A little patience goes a long way, and that's something in short supply among NZ fans who are generally stuck in a bubble and still think it's 2016 and the ABs should be smashing everyone in sight when in reality those days are long gone.

 

[miccloarch]

I love how 'Coach Speak' meets real world consequences.

Scott Robertson unequivocally does not trust his bench. He made several changes, but still left players on the bench for the full 80.

They reluctantly brought on their reserve props and the hooker only got on because of an HIA.

Why is Sam Derry on the bench? There is no room for passengers vs. South Africa.

I get it, standards to be the best are high. ABs used to set those standards.

I refer to my previous post about Rassie's win rate in his first year: 50%. Not that great.

 

[miccloarch]

Razor is the only coach in tier 1 rugby right now without any previous international experience. It shows. NZ don't know what to do after a handful of phases in possession. He needs to learn fast in the next 18 months.

Watching today tells me that NZ have fallen out of the top echelon of international rugby. They're behind SA, they're behind us (no fear of them without Schmidt) and they're almost certainly behind France with Dupont. 50% this year will be well earned for them and they're lucky nit to be going to Edinburgh.

Eh, the attack was pretty good in the first test and on occasion made the Bok defence look average. They wised up this week though and the ABs couldn't adapt. So okay, we're a step or two behind the Boks.

I'd actually like to play Ireland and France first before deciding who's where among the chasing pack but yeah, pretty obvious we look like being massive underdogs for those tests and of course Engerland will be looking for revenge at home as well.

 

[Alex Anghel]

Razor is the only coach in tier 1 rugby right now without any previous international experience. It shows. NZ don't know what to do after a handful of phases in possession. He needs to learn fast in the next 18 months.

This is a myth, sorry...the experience of a serial winner head coach translates at any level.

The reality is that the ABs problems harken back to the Lions Tour and beyond, precisely in the final two years with Steve Hansen at the helm, when sadly prevailed the idea of accommodating all your best players on the park instead of playing your best players in their preferred position...this resulted in preventing natural specialists to further develop in key areas (i.e. 6,7,8,12,13, 14)...the trend continued under Ian Foster and thus Razor inherited a big mess.

Regardless, I believe Razor made a mistake by choosing to stick with most of Foster's backbone 15, as people would have been more forgiving had he lost to SA with the youngsters, and not with quite a few from the old guard.