How good are the Boks?
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I'm not sure this is their best ever team, but their coach could be their best ever.
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@Kirwan This has been the most disappointing thing for me this year.
Robertson's admirers sold him to us as a winner and an innovator.
I'm willing to give him some benefit of the doubt on the lack of winning this season. But I've see precious little innovation, just reheated Foz-ball.
It feels like we've gone from the most innovative side in Test Rugby in 2004-15 to the most predictable in 2024.
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Very, very good but not best ever
They are a half a yard and few changes in the backs from running rampant IMHO
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Kinda scary they didn't even use guys like RG Snyman, Franco Mostert and Faf de Klerk
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They're a well coached and solid enough team but limited compared to many of the past top ranked teams. They'd be clearly behind the 2009 Springbok team.
The fact is they've had two tight games the past two weeks, at home, vs an All Blacks team that doesn't have a single player I'd consider a starter in an All Blacks professional era team. Very few would even be in consideration for the bench. Two close wins even ignoring some interesting refereeing. If they were worthy of some lofty ranking they'd be putting that team away far more easily.
Aside from the lack of talent and some players clearly past their past, it's hard to overstate how bad some of the tactics from the All Blacks have been-especially late in the game with the ridiculous kicking. Add in poor discipline. So far this year they've eked out wins at home vs England then lost at home to Argentina. The 2005-2006 All Black team as an example would thrash the current one, plain and simple. Beating them narrowly twice at home is no huge achievement.
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The current Springboks isnt just a team but rather a squad. No Bok squad come close to the current Springbok squad, maybe individual players but not as a team.
I would give all the credit to Rassie. Remember he took over in 2018 when we were at our lowest rankings and won the WC a year later. His biggest skill is his out of the box thinking. He always surprise and love challenging just about everything. He dont select players just based on his rugby skills but look at his personality and background.
Rugby grow in South Africa like never before.
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The Springboks havent played well against the All Blacks or Wallabies. The reason for this is the changing of players for every game. Which is fine as long as the win.
Young players like Fassie, Moodie, SMZ, Louw, Nortje, Dixon, Willemse wont be discovered if he didnt gave them a chance to play on top level
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@OomPB I think Rassie is THE difference for the Boks. He galvanises the team. It will be very interesting to see what happens to the team dynamic when he passes the baton on. Will it be seamless like Henry to Hansen, or fumbled like Hansen to Foster? Eras come and then they go. Staying at the top is more difficult in some ways than the getting to it.
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The springboks know how to build very well.
From their school systems to their cultural story (they have a Hollywood movie based on it).
And so they have the greatest depth that is never ending , as far as the eye can see. They got a dam movie based on their story.Unmatched. Greater than the haka if we are to compare . Invictus is mythological for all the people of the country . Uniting .
they may not be the most gifted . But I can assure you that on average, their packs have a deeper bond player to player. They always deliver and peak properly for world cups .
They are known for their set plays and they always have a very very reliable kicker . Points are always in their hand.
I do honestly believe that they are the best rugby nation . Population 60million .
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@booboo said in How good are the Boks?:
Would like the opinion of the informed expertise of The Fern, and then everbody else if we don't happen to find him, about just how good the Boks are.
Lot of talk, mainly out of Africa, that they're the best team ever. This seems to be a little bit of over-excitement due to some recent success, but they're certainly No.1 at the moment, and they certainly know how to find a way to win.
Their recent record shows that they remain vulnerable, 3x one point wins in the RWC knockouts, split series with Ireland, two wins by less than a score against No.3. Doesn't scream best team ever to me.
For example, how many of this current team would make an all time Bok team, or be in the running for an all time World XV?
You could mount arguments for Marx, Etzebeth, PSDT, Pollard, Kolbe but I always think to myself there's someone better.
Are they this good currently due to their insane depth, or relative strength of opposition.
Would appreciate genuine thoughts, particularly from our resident Saffas.
They are not the best team ever and I doubt any of us would seriously suggest otherwise. Most of my mates feel that before we can start comparing this vintage to, say, the McCaw/Carter ABs (who were a little unlucky to play during an era of weak test teams) Siya’s Boks need to put together a period of sustained dominance and dish out a few hidings.
Yesterday’s win puts the boks at 17/19 since Mt Bloody Smart. The two losses to Ireland were both in the balance at the death.
That’s a pretty good run given the depth of genuinely good test teams now.
There’s little doubt that this is the best modern Bok team. The 2009 team was pretty scary but only for a very short stint. The 97/98 Boks were also pretty good - again for a short stint. I loved both those teams. This team is better. A lot better.
In the running for best boks ever:
Beast
Marx
Malherbe
Etzebeth
PTSD
DuaneKolbe
Each of those would be in a World XV for most of 2018-2024 (or until they retired.) if you thought there was someone better you were wrong.
Add Kitshoff, Ox, Lood, RG, Kwagga, Pollard, DDA, and Am as World XV players depending on the year.
And as others have said, the quality doesn’t drop off much through the squad.
Captain’s pretty good too. Coach is an all time great. What he has achieved is astonishing - even if judged solely in rugby terms. Remember he inherited a team that had just been pumped 57-0 which somehow wasn’t their shittest recent performance.
Six years later and many of the same boks now expect to beat an All Black team that yesterday featured 9 players who laid that beating on them. Hell there are now All Blacks like Jordie, Lomax, Williams and Tale’a who have a less than 30% win rate against the Boks.
So in summary, this is a bloody good Bok team and the All Blacks must be destroyed.
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@Smuts oh, and Os du Randt was better than Beast.
And as much as PSDT has been immense, Juan Smith was his equal. Juan Smith gets forgotten like Richard Hill.
Biggest differentiator is Rassie. Along with Henry and McQueen, they are the best head coaches in the professional era IMO.
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@Smuts about your comment about era of weak test sides, NZ and certainly Oz are not as strong as they once were. Does that dilute the Boks achievements as the current SH vintages are weaker than those that have gone before? 😬
Teams can only beat what is in front of them. Boks have just managed to do what McCaw’s ABs managed twice in winning 4 in a row. Boks need to keep their foot on the throat and force this generation of ABs to have PTSD like AB teams of yore did to former Boks 😂
I remember several posters on here bemoaning how weak Bok rugby was when the ABs were posting cricket scores at times and if they were the ABs main rivals anymore. That’s quite funny now. The Boks were always going to come back and be strong. And now they are. And it is up to NZ to wrestle back the initiative. Let the ultimate rivalry continue!
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