A lot of things went wrong with Samoa not being in the Quarters but least of all is their own ability to utilise the depth that's available and use the full squad's talent - that's what their there for. We played Namibia with our Strongest Team, we lose (arguably) our most important player and the back up we have is a player that is less skilled at test/itm/super 15 rugby than Stephen Donald.
The burdens that they carried going into this tournament (costs of living, expenses, short turnaround time, poor management) are ones that they could've used to cement their limited resources and drive them to success. Instead we got poor team selections & some poor player performances.
Samoa is responsible for it's placing in this world cup. Ultimately, a game that they should've won (Wales), which they TARGETED as a potential victory they lost.
I'm proud of their performance against the Boks - I really am. Alot of the Bok fans after the match around the grounds were shaken at the fact that they were as close to loss as they were against the Welsh.
But taking a step back - Samoa got away with alot of stuff during the rucks, and the boks got away with other things. The refereeing wasn't great but it was solid and for the most part i thought it was at the very least - consistent.
Brossouw played smart and took the penalty, all i know is that if he did what paul did to him to Maurie Faasavalu - he would then have a real reason for rolling around on the grounds.
It's sad that Paul's major blemish this tournament was that, because between him & khan - they've had as good as a RWC you could ask for.
Smit's card, I think was a square up. Just because Smit may not have reached the ball, doesn't mean that he had no intention to catch the ball.
What's done is done. Too complain about the pools & draw now, when the players would have known about it at least 12 months ago...
Eliota's comments were disappointing, and it's so sad to highlight such a wonderful performance with stupid comments.
Bring on the Quarters!
Go the AB's
Go the Warriors.
The burdens that they carried going into this tournament (costs of living, expenses, short turnaround time, poor management) are ones that they could've used to cement their limited resources and drive them to success. Instead we got poor team selections & some poor player performances.
Samoa is responsible for it's placing in this world cup. Ultimately, a game that they should've won (Wales), which they TARGETED as a potential victory they lost.
I'm proud of their performance against the Boks - I really am. Alot of the Bok fans after the match around the grounds were shaken at the fact that they were as close to loss as they were against the Welsh.
But taking a step back - Samoa got away with alot of stuff during the rucks, and the boks got away with other things. The refereeing wasn't great but it was solid and for the most part i thought it was at the very least - consistent.
Brossouw played smart and took the penalty, all i know is that if he did what paul did to him to Maurie Faasavalu - he would then have a real reason for rolling around on the grounds.
It's sad that Paul's major blemish this tournament was that, because between him & khan - they've had as good as a RWC you could ask for.
Smit's card, I think was a square up. Just because Smit may not have reached the ball, doesn't mean that he had no intention to catch the ball.
What's done is done. Too complain about the pools & draw now, when the players would have known about it at least 12 months ago...
Eliota's comments were disappointing, and it's so sad to highlight such a wonderful performance with stupid comments.
Bring on the Quarters!
Go the AB's
Go the Warriors.
