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Prediction recap - what now?

Started by Plum5 REPLIES43 VIEWS· 23 Aug 2026, 21:33
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Plum
PlumCaptain21,808 posts
23 Aug 2026, 21:33
#1
23 Aug 2026, 21:33#1

Below was my prediction on another thread for Saturday...

32-22 All Blacks
Got a feeling too much is gonna go wrong for the Boks in this first game.
The All Blacks have the advantage of a clean slate in their new coach. They won't be too worried about recent results.
The Boks are in a weird situation. Of the two recent games, one of them was clearly more dominant. But those games were away from home and the dominant game was a gamble that paid off.
Rassie might feel that the Eden Park strategy wasn't successful in NZ but that in SA it will be enough, and safer. He'll remember how had Kolbe not made that intercept in Wellington, the ABs could easily have won that game.
I have a feeling that Sacha hasn't been selected for his running game but rather because he has the biggest high ball of our three 10s.
The Boks have kicked the living shit out of everything this year, and I don't think Saturday will be different.
Perhaps I'm just voicing my fears but I think we'll kick all possession away and then fail to properly shut down the lighting fast AB ruck.

I am one to brag, and holy shit did i nail it!?

Rassie picked Sacha and told him to play like he wanted Pollard to play at Eden Park. It was very clear on Saturday that the objective was kick, kick and kick...and perhaps kick some more. It honestly does really tick me off that Sacha is taking heat after he has been forced into the narrow and braindead strategy. His hands are tied behind his back and people complain that he's not landing punches.

But what now?

Does Rassie double down and convince himself that Saturday's humiliation was down to errors rather than strategy or does he chuck caution to the wind as he did in Wellington?

I guess the question i have for the board is this: Are you as tired of this kicking shit as I am?

Ireland, France and the All Blacks play much more balanced rugby than the Boks do. You could argue that Rassie has won two WCs so it doesn't matter how attractive other nation's rugby is. But you have to wonder if Farell or Galthie had our player depth to choose from, what they could achieve?

Seriously, think for a second what would happen if Farrell had our scrum?

DbDraad
DbDraadCaptain26,868 posts
23 Aug 2026, 22:05
#2
23 Aug 2026, 22:05#2

I'm not too surprised by the loss ..we weren't underdogs, we were undercooked and we played the Allblacks...and we were on a 12 match streak .. when last did that happen?

Plum
Captain21,808 posts
Plum23 Aug 2026, 20:54

The point of the post is what the plan might be for Cape Town

Apparently its gonna be wet.

DbDraad
Captain26,868 posts
DbDraad23 Aug 2026, 21:25

@Plum ... it's gonna be difficult...fck knows what the plan should be?... probably pretty much the same but with better execution and less errors...easy to say, more difficult to do.

Mozart
MozartCoach50,394 posts
23 Aug 2026, 23:31
#3
23 Aug 2026, 23:31#3

Some pretty astute observations there Plum, particularly on ruck speed. The Boks are going to be without Kolbe and Arendse. And possibly without Williams and Sacha if Geraasmus decides to go the tight route. That dramatically reduces our counter attack. And with Dud Allende and Kriel as safety choices….we could be looking at a backline with significantly reduced strike threat.

I suppose Kolisi will be back, which further reduces our ruck speed potential. So this time it seems likely that correcting perceived weaknesses at Ellis Park is going to prescribe a very conservative game plan. But as we saw in the first half, that can work if we keep getting scrumming penalties. I would say the Boks are slightly favored on a bounce back.

DbDraad
Captain26,868 posts
DbDraad24 Aug 2026, 02:33

Depends on what you mean by ruck speed...we didn't properly protect our ball at our own rucks...let them bother our scummy all the time...same thing happened with Williams last year in the 1st test vs the Allblacks...one should think we would have been prepared for it this time... I'm not one to blame a single player for a poor performance by the whole team, but Grant struggles when put under pressure like that ...stuffed up most of our possession and a lot of that pressure looked a tad on the wrong side of the law too... surprised nobody mentioned it.

— END OF THREAD —

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