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<blockquote data-quote="shtove" data-source="post: 117951">Pure counter-attack from deep is for losers. It&#039;s brilliant and beautiful, but it won&#039;t carry the RWC without some headbutting up front. That&#039;s why the 03 ABs were so rubbish. And the 99 crowd weren&#039;t chokers - they just got outplayed.What was interesting about the ABs November tour was the strength of their scrum, and the line-out to a lesser degree. But when the lineout worked (and just from the pick-and-go as well), their mauling had some unbelievable moments. There was one maul against the French - strongest set-piece pack in the NH along with Italy - where the ABs looked like they were packing down for a scrum. Serious organisation.After this year&#039;s 6N, I&#039;ve lost confidence in a NH win. But SA are putting the pieces in place to shove the ABs back into relying on counter-attack.The RWC match against Italy is going to be really interesting for the ABs. They&#039;ll win with a hard struggle, but if they also win the mauling contest, then they&#039;re accelerating toward their first real RWC trophy.GayGuy&#039;s point about one match at a time is interesting. I guess that&#039;s the supreme attitude. But then Sean FitzP was the supremest captain never to lift the Web Ellis. And when it comes to captains, why is there no comment on McCaw&#039;s sad face in the S14 semis?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="shtove, post: 117951"] Pure counter-attack from deep is for losers. It's brilliant and beautiful, but it won't carry the RWC without some headbutting up front. That's why the 03 ABs were so rubbish. And the 99 crowd weren't chokers - they just got outplayed. What was interesting about the ABs November tour was the strength of their scrum, and the line-out to a lesser degree. But when the lineout worked (and just from the pick-and-go as well), their mauling had some unbelievable moments. There was one maul against the French - strongest set-piece pack in the NH along with Italy - where the ABs looked like they were packing down for a scrum. Serious organisation. After this year's 6N, I've lost confidence in a NH win. But SA are putting the pieces in place to shove the ABs back into relying on counter-attack. The RWC match against Italy is going to be really interesting for the ABs. They'll win with a hard struggle, but if they also win the mauling contest, then they're accelerating toward their first real RWC trophy. GayGuy's point about one match at a time is interesting. I guess that's the supreme attitude. But then Sean FitzP was the supremest captain never to lift the Web Ellis. And when it comes to captains, why is there no comment on McCaw's sad face in the S14 semis? [/QUOTE]

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