[RWC 2023 Final] New Zealand v South Africa 28/10/23 20:00 BST

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I am a little woried about slippery Telea

 

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7-1 split for the final!! Libbok dropped completely, Nyakane also replacing Koch on the bench and Jean Kleyn coming in for a back replacement. Reinach also out the team.


I wonder if Marco van Staden is injured?

 

[Jer1cho]

7-1 bench. It was all for this...

 

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Cheslin to cover SH

Also I hope for sweet last game for the most talented coach we have ever had. Nienaber is a genius.

 

[Jer1cho]

I hope this amazing crop of players has one last monster in them. For some reason that 7-1 has mentally made me a bit more confident.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

World Rugby denied Curry a voice - Borthwick

England accuse World Rugby of denying Tom Curry a fair hearing over his allegation of an on-field racial slur by South Africa's Bongi Mbonambi.

www.bbc.co.uk

South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe; Pollard, De Klerk; Kitshoff, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Fourie, Nche, Nyakane, Kleyn, Snyman, Smith, Wiese, Le Roux.

Bongi plays. "Insufficient evidence." Basically Tom's word against Bongi's and they couldn't find any recording or video footage of him saying the words.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

7-1 split for the final!! Libbok dropped completely,

Predicting the boks will go seven one bench, starting pollard

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Yep, harsh on Libbok but probably expected it after getting hooked after half an hour v England.

Now over to ABs to announce theirs.

 

[Scotty]

World Rugby denied Curry a voice - Borthwick

England accuse World Rugby of denying Tom Curry a fair hearing over his allegation of an on-field racial slur by South Africa's Bongi Mbonambi.

www.bbc.co.uk

South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe; Pollard, De Klerk; Kitshoff, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Fourie, Nche, Nyakane, Kleyn, Snyman, Smith, Wiese, Le Roux.

Bongi plays. "Insufficient evidence." Basically Tom's word against Bongi's and they couldn't find any recording or video footage of him saying the words.

Then thats the end of it, doubt curry was telling lies about it but also he could be mistaken, either way this needs to be the end of it and the bloody media need to not bring this up as clickbait if SA win. Im not even SA and that would still **** me off

 

[bapean]

Harsh on Libbok.

If Faf De Klerk got injured, who is gonna be the scrum half ? Kolbe ?

Gonna be an epic game between two giants!

 

[OllyM97]

I hope this amazing crop of players has one last monster in them. For some reason that 7-1 has mentally made me a bit more confident.

Say what you want about Rassie and Nienaber but they've got some balls!!. Libbok dropped is very harsh but Pollard in the big games has been the man for SA in the last few years.

I think SA will win and Pollard will do a Joel Stransky in 1995 and win it win a DG - but in normal time this time. 23-20 Boks.

 

[Grizwald]

The forecast has declined further, its still high risk.

I reckon NZ have the skills to still play a bit in the wet, the question is if they can gain partity in the scrum and not buckle when the replacements come on, or have a healthy enough lead that it doesn't matter.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

World Rugby denied Curry a voice - Borthwick

England accuse World Rugby of denying Tom Curry a fair hearing over his allegation of an on-field racial slur by South Africa's Bongi Mbonambi.

www.bbc.co.uk

South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, De Allende, Kolbe; Pollard, De Klerk; Kitshoff, Mbonambi, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Mostert, Kolisi (capt), Du Toit, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Fourie, Nche, Nyakane, Kleyn, Snyman, Smith, Wiese, Le Roux.

Bongi plays. "Insufficient evidence." Basically Tom's word against Bongi's and they couldn't find any recording or video footage of him saying the words.

Oddly happy with the 7-1 side. Probably because I think we need to chance our arm here. Personally just would've wanted Van Staden in there ahead of probably Kleyn or Wiese/Vermeulen.

Onto Bongi- I hear you can hear him clear as day- it's just the "w" is phonetically what you hear in the English "vet" and not "wet". So the sound is absolutely there or close enough that i can understand Curry hearing what he did. For me personally I am happy enough that for myself I am convinced that in context he shouted in Afrikaans. If I weren't I'd at a personal level actually be unhappy with his inclusion. And I don;t even believe we absolutely *need* him there. His throw ins havn't exactly been at 100% and in general play I actually prefer Fourie and Van Staden.

The forecast has declined further, its still high risk.

I reckon NZ have the skills to still play a bit in the wet, the question is if they can gain partity in the scrum and not buckle when the replacements come on, or have a healthy enough lead that it doesn't matter.

man, am I hoping for clear skies and more importantly a dry field. I feel NZ handles the wet better than us in that their handling probably goes down 5% and ours 50%. More importantly though, our wingers and Willemse are steppers rather than NZ's swervers/drifters and slippery surfaces kills our attack dead so if its slippery we only really have the bomb and pressure and hope.

The first 20 minutes for me will determine who wins. If we can't stay in touch I can't see us chase more than say an 8 point lead with 30 minutes remaining and even that would be a mountain.

 

[bapean]

Weather forecast in France indicates at the moment 85% chance of rain Saturday evening... It might change though.

 

[Rugbyfan564]

World rugby gone woke. A white player would have been sent home and banned for life.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

World rugby gone woke. A white player would have been sent home and banned for life.

If he said a racial slur, yes, probably. If not banned for life, your employer probably won't keep you around- at least in SA you simply wouldn't be able to justify continued insclusion.

 

[Ospervat]

I'm not convinced a 7-1 split is a great call. Too thin for my liking. Very risky!
If 9 or 10 or both need replacing and WLR is having one of his regular brain fart days, SA will be sunk.

 

[Scotty]

7 - 1, is an extra second row worth the risk of not having SH/FH cover. You get an injury to Faf or Pollard and the replacements armt the same.

If i were NZ id be making a point of getting forwards running into backs all day as the forwards will be changed anyway, likely bar Mbonambi.

 

[Zac_ETNZ]

With Pollard starting, your 12 and 13 will be lucky to receive the ball more than once in the first 25-30 minutes. Pollard will be standing deep and licking all night.

Barnes should stomp out the cynical time-wasting and slowing down of the game by SA. A couple of free kicks early will put a stop to it.

 

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With Pollard starting, your 12 and 13 will be lucky to receive the ball more than once in the first 25-30 minutes. Pollard will be standing deep and licking all night.

Barnes should stomp out the cynical time-wasting and slowing down of the game by SA. A couple of free kicks early will put a stop to it.

Wow you are very smart, you caught us out with the gameplan! What now?


Ok but seriously, Pollard is known for hard running at 10 he is not like Sexton who pockets very deep. He will spread it just not as much as Libbok. But he has an attacking skillset with his kicks much more than most WR players.

I love how NZ is so worried about what we are doing and we have not said a thing about what they are doing. I juts mentioned that the silkyness of Telea worries me.