RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland
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It’s new now, but you know how these innovations are refined and modified. For instance a guys optimum weight for 60 minutes might be 115 kg but if he’s only expected to be on the pitch for 45 perhaps it can be stretched to 120 kg or a little more. We’ve already seen it with props to a certain extent with the three replacement front rowers, but it’s frightening to think of backrowers putting on another 5 to 10 kg. I have no objection whatsoever to SA maxing their advantage within the current laws, but I do have concerns about where it might lead.
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I’m picking Ireland. Reckon for once they will be the business at the RWC. If Ireland man up in the forwards and diffuse the bombs what else do SA have to offer?
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World rugby needs to the game for it to be more attractive to an audience to watch and to new people to play.
At the moment they are presenting a game that has been mutated into something that is not the above.
We all know this and it has been said many times before by many people.
What is it going to take? It seems as though the only thing that will make them change is losing a law suit that will cost them billions.
The only surprise about the SA 7-1 bench is that it is not a 8-0 bench!
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This is cyclical
The same thing happened in MMA
For a period, the UFC was dominated by former collegiate and Olympic wrestlers
If you couldn't wrestle you had very little chance of becoming a champion in your weight class
And for spectators not versed in the intricacies and skills required to be a dominant wrestler the fights were 'boring'
But then the non-wrestlers started to wrestle in training, working on offence and defence
Pretty soon, to be a champion you really had to embody the 'mixed' part of 'mixed martial arts'
You had to be good at all aspects of fighting
The loudest opponents of the Erasmus School of Rugby are those who don't have forwards who can do their core duties well
They've been chosen because they're good at all aspects but not masters of their position
If you don't have big fellas, then find a way to win utilising your strengths
That's coaching
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While in the scheme of the RWC, win or lose doesn't matter to SA, but it makes the Scottish match for Ireland even more important, surely both SA and Ire want to win, but given Irelands history it is a higger match for them, if they lose this, does it start to create some doubt of themselves with knock out rugby from there on.
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Fascinating how lots of Bok media are talking about how it doesn’t matter if they lose this game and actually they’d be better if they lose this game and this is a good game to experiment with 7-1 because this game doesn’t matter. Almost as though they’re not as confident that they’re the best team in the world as they say they are
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Saw an interesting interview with ROG on rugby pass where one strategy he described to play the Boks was to not go around but go through (as ABs have with success when they’ve done it right) but to also look for flailing arms in the rush defence and literally try and get them carded.
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@game_film the Irish, Peter Stringer in particular invented the flailing arms, aka the seagull....
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@game_film that interview is posted on another thread. it was very refreshing to hear someone say something sensible about dealing with rush defence finally, just a shame it wasn't a NZer.
we still seem to think the best way to deal with it is a shitload of short kicks, combined with getting caught behind the advantage line. which is a particular fucking travesty when we have had the world's best passing halfback in the side for about a decade. -
@reprobate short Inter-passing between forwards. Don’t die with the ball if you can. If not, quick Rick and go again.
You don’t have to smash the rush defenders. Just negate them.
And once you suck the defence in, the space is there wider out to exploit.
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Week 3: Springboks v Ireland:
While in the scheme of the RWC, win or lose doesn't matter to SA, but it makes the Scottish match for Ireland even more important, surely both SA and Ire want to win, but given Irelands history it is a higger match for them, if they lose this, does it start to create some doubt of themselves with knock out rugby from there on.
I tend to agree. SA will shrug a loss of while Ireland would be on cloud 9 confidence. But an ire loss and the doubts will set in. Especially if the pack can’t cope.
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@stodders agreed, if the forwards have the skills and aren't going to make handling errors. or a 10 who plays flat and passes flat and fast (McKenzie our best option as of now), but guys like Larkham come to mind.
The main point is you are not trying to play around it until it is on to do so, so decision making at 9/10 is key. Until then you play against the weakness of the rush, bring the point at which you are trying to create gaps / break the line closer, and use the shorter time they have to align themselves against them. you are still at the advantage line, so even when they hit you don't lose ground, and you are giving them hard targets rather than midfielders who are getting the ball and man at the same time. making tackles on moving guys at angles who you are trying to rush with little time to react, it is hard to get dominant tackles in, and cards are a real risk for people failing to get low or throwing arms out. -
I’m not sure about that. They have built some resilience in this Irish team.
Just look at last year in NZ. Got pasted in the 1st test and won the next 2.
I can’t see them getting beat up in the forwards no matter how good SA believe they are
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they do have weaknesses, and the opposition have been making bundee aki look like jonah in this WC.
but you don't win 27 out of 29 or whatever it is against good opposition unless you're the real deal. they are very well-drilled and very, very cohesive. solid set-piece and all know their roles, and manipulate defences cleverly. -
@DaGrubster that’s because they knew Foster was back for tests 2 and 3 😂
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@DaGrubster we got some luck in the test we won, Ireland had been hard on attack and then a ball got dropped and we went 90m and then had an excellent 10 mins that sealed it, hardly pasted them.
I think this SA team will bring some heat the Irish havent had, if they can handle that, then it will press thier championship credentials further, and if they can get past SA, Scotland, NZ, Eng? and then SA/France, then they will well and truly have earnt the mantle as the best.
But a stumble here, it makes the Scottish match, for Ireland, huge.
