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<blockquote data-quote="Tomsey" data-source="post: 416854" data-attributes="member: 38105">I agree that South Africa won&#039;t be able to win the World Cup by trying to play stereotypical Southern Hemisphere attacking rugby, but I wouldn&#039;t put England in this boat anymore. They blew Australia off the park at our own game at Twickenham last year and scored plenty of tries during the 6 nations. Why is it that the traditional masters of 10 man Rugby, the English, can be regarded as a genuine threat come World Cup playing attacking rugby when the Bokke are simply written off? The answer is the make up of their teams. England have moved on from their boring &quot;kick, scrum and when all else fails kick&quot; tactics under Martin Johnson and they have done it by retiring players like Steve Borthwick and Phil Vickery, who could only be useful playing that type of rugby and introduced the likes of Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton. Its no coincidence that these three where key in the afore mentioned win over Australia. South Africa&#039;s squad on the other hand looks very similar to the one they took to the last World Cup, one which made a name for its self playing 10 man rugby. Adding to that that the players are all 4 years older now and even less likely to be able to combine and form an attack orientated outfit capable of winning a World Cup means that, as the article suggests, they will have little choice but to kick and hope.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tomsey, post: 416854, member: 38105"] I agree that South Africa won't be able to win the World Cup by trying to play stereotypical Southern Hemisphere attacking rugby, but I wouldn't put England in this boat anymore. They blew Australia off the park at our own game at Twickenham last year and scored plenty of tries during the 6 nations. Why is it that the traditional masters of 10 man Rugby, the English, can be regarded as a genuine threat come World Cup playing attacking rugby when the Bokke are simply written off? The answer is the make up of their teams. England have moved on from their boring "kick, scrum and when all else fails kick" tactics under Martin Johnson and they have done it by retiring players like Steve Borthwick and Phil Vickery, who could only be useful playing that type of rugby and introduced the likes of Courtney Lawes, Ben Youngs and Chris Ashton. Its no coincidence that these three where key in the afore mentioned win over Australia. South Africa's squad on the other hand looks very similar to the one they took to the last World Cup, one which made a name for its self playing 10 man rugby. Adding to that that the players are all 4 years older now and even less likely to be able to combine and form an attack orientated outfit capable of winning a World Cup means that, as the article suggests, they will have little choice but to kick and hope. [/QUOTE]

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