Rugby Championship 2022

[Dave Cahill]

When they play from instinct, they can still absolutely slice teams apart - they need a coach who can refresh those instincts

[OTT]

Savea carrying NZ to a victory here potentially. He’s been unreal.

[Ruckedtobits]

Delighted with that result and with the refereeing of the Laws of the game.

For me, the key was the NZ defensive maul. Their objective, getting at least 7 forwards in, was to drive the 'Boks backwards, with low body positions & driving legs. Yes, they conceded some penalties but their spirit and intent largely kept the 'Boks maul at bay and thus deprived SA of control of the game like last week.

NZ scored some great tries, despite conceding a very sloppy try to Am by a very poor Clark tackle. The 'Boks full-back Williams was a threat every time he got the ball, particularly after he moved to centre.

Arne Savea and Sam Cane were excellent in the NZ back-row and Ricko Ioeni in the backs was magnificent in defence & attack.

A great game, played with intensity and relatively few breaks in play. Luke Pierse controlled it very well and was decisive and only used the TMO when necessary.

NZ are still a rugby powerhouse, more mistakes than usual but the newer guys in the front-row earned their corn, the scrum and maul coaching paid off and the back three, in particular Will Jordan, improved immeasurably under the high ball and tackling.

A cracking Test Match and well worth a watch if you get a chance.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Savea carrying NZ to a victory here potentially. He’s been unreal.

He really was exceptional. The NZ forwards weren’t any great shakes overall, Whitelock played very well and Barrett was pretty good too but nothing special IMO. The sub prop was quite good on debut as well actually. But Savea was head and shoulders above everyone else and to do that away in SA when the team has been struggling so much recently is phenomenal stuff.

[riocard911]

Am thrilled with that result, as another loss by the All Blacks would have some commentators questioning the value of or taking the gloss off Ireland's series win in NZ.

Looking at it from a purely human point of view, I'm also pleased for those NZ team members, most notably Sam Kane, who have been on the receiving end of brickbats for weeks now and who again today showed us, the millions of rugby punters around the world, just what brilliant players they are.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Can anyone more familiar with the laws clarify if Dickson just dropped a bollock or not with that call about Argentina not having to release on their line? Surely the player still has to release before the line so what happened afterwards is irrelevant and it should have been a penalty try?

[hugonaut]

Great game, and delighted to see NZ fight and claw like wild dogs for the win.

It seemed to me like the South Africans [particularly the public side of things] were over-confident going into that game. The stark reality at the end of that 80 minutes is that they got bonus-pointed at home in Ellis Park by an All Blacks team in crisis who had lost five of their last six matches.

Replacing three forwards in the first half? Taking your captain off after 51 minutes? There's nothing wrong with making atypical decisions as a coach, but when you lose a match that you were so heavily favoured to win, everything comes up for debate. The All Blacks scored 14 points in the last 7 minutes, half of them with 14 men. They unquestionably finished the stronger team ... and they were the team unused to altitude.

With regards to their 6/2 split, one injury meant four changes: le Roux on for Kriel [original substitution], then Am from outside centre to wing, de Allende from inside centre to outside centre, Willemse from fullback to inside centre, le Roux to fullback. All of those players played well because they're good players, they're confident and they're at home, but it's a lot of changes to make for one injury.

Really happy to see referee Pearse hurry the game up – all games should be played like that. The South Africans are by far the worst team in the world in terms of wasting time and faking injuries and have been for a decade [our 2012 November international against them was the slowest game I have ever been at], and it has been frustrating to see them indulged for so long.

[sunshiner1]

As someone who only gives a cursory glance at the Rugby Championship how is O'Connor behaving himself these days? Saw he was playing yesterday. Excellent game by the Argies but a lot of mistakes by the Australians as well. Their back three really cost them.

[Ruckedtobits]

Was it Luke Pearse's efforts to maintain continuity or the early substitutions by SA Management that contributed to the 'Boks defeat on Saturday, when they conceded two tries in the closing minutes, having led by a point with 6 minutes remaining on the clock?

That's probably a point of discussion in the 'Boks camp after this Test but it should also be of interest to World Rugby and their Pool opponents in next year's RWC in France. Many observers since the last World Cup have voiced the opinion that the SA concept of the "bomb squad" replacement of their front five, is most likely to be effective only when they can break up the continuity of the game by repeated "injury breaks / footwear adjustments / water breaks" which provide their tight forwards in particular with copious recovery periods and limit the huge effort of carrying 20 stone+ physiques through long periods of play.

On Saturday, the SA Coach replaced No 8 Vermullen and two front-row players during the first-half, none of these substitutions injury related. This resulted in the longer periods of continuous international play for some of the SA behemoths, than they had experienced since their debuts. Was this the biggest factor in the attacking dominance of the NZ team in the decisive closing minutes of this excellent Test Match?

Having reviewed the game, it's very evident that Pearse was focused on trying to ensure as few breaks in play as possible, right from the outset. I haven't yet ascertained the exact length of game time or rather the length of time consumed by breaks in play, but this metric will probably confirm the impression that his influence was pronounced in this regard. If so, I sincerely hope the policy is adhered to by all international referees where this blight has been most pronounced.

The game must be as continuous as possible, otherwise it will become more and more like NFL where specialist "teams" are employed for their bulk and strength, in deference to their stamina and speed.

[riocard911]

Was it Luke Pearse's efforts to maintain continuity or the early substitutions by SA Management that contributed to the 'Boks defeat on Saturday, when they conceded two tries in the closing minutes, having led by a point with 6 minutes remaining on the clock?

That's probably a point of discussion in the 'Boks camp after this Test but it should also be of interest to World Rugby and their Pool opponents in next year's RWC in France. Many observers since the last World Cup have voiced the opinion that the SA concept of the "bomb squad" replacement of their front five, is most likely to be effective only when they can break up the continuity of the game by repeated "injury breaks / footwear adjustments / water breaks" which provide their tight forwards in particular with copious recovery periods and limit the huge effort of carrying 20 stone+ physiques through long periods of play.

On Saturday, the SA Coach replaced No 8 Vermullen and two front-row players during the first-half, none of these substitutions injury related. This resulted in the longer periods of continuous international play for some of the SA behemoths, than they had experienced since their debuts. Was this the biggest factor in the attacking dominance of the NZ team in the decisive closing minutes of this excellent Test Match?

Having reviewed the game, it's very evident that Pearse was focused on trying to ensure as few breaks in play as possible, right from the outset. I haven't yet ascertained the exact length of game time or rather the length of time consumed by breaks in play, but this metric will probably confirm the impression that his influence was pronounced in this regard. If so, I sincerely hope the policy is adhered to by all international referees where this blight has been most pronounced.

The game must be as continuous as possible, otherwise it will become more and more like NFL where specialist "teams" are employed for their bulk and strength, in deference to their stamina and speed.

100%! I got taken to a NY Jets vs NY Giants match in Giant Stadium, NJ, a couple of years back and it was like watching paint dry with all the interruptions. Also, if one compares the two SA vs NZ games, it is obvious, that the second one was by far more exciting and entertaining than the one the week before.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I always hate when people suggest reducing the number of subs but could get on board with copying the idea that was brought in for football during covid where the number of subs was raised to five but you could only make them in three installments. Three would probably be about right for rugby, change the front row en masse around the 50 minute mark and then you've two more opportunities to tweak things but barring concussion or an injury to a front rower that's it.

[cormac]

Foster staying on until RWC2023, Schmidt added to coaching team

[Oldschoolsocks]

Foster staying on until RWC2023, Schmidt added to coaching team

Bit of good news bad news, eh?

[jezzer]

Can anyone more familiar with the laws clarify if Dickson just dropped a bollock or not with that call about Argentina not having to release on their line? Surely the player still has to release before the line so what happened afterwards is irrelevant and it should have been a penalty try?

No more familiar with the laws than you but what the TMO and Dickson were claiming is that the whole tackle happened in the in goal area so the 9 was entitled to not release.

That's complete b*%&!cks of course. The tackle initially happened before the line and i agree with you that the 9 had to release.

Dickson also gave a try to Arg despite the player being tackled and brought to ground before he got up without letting go and threw himself over the line. Was an obvious case of no try.

I find Dickson impossible to get on with. He sees a lot because he stays up with play but his interpretations are beyond weird.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Can anyone more familiar with the laws clarify if Dickson just dropped a bollock or not with that call about Argentina not having to release on their line? Surely the player still has to release before the line so what happened afterwards is irrelevant and it should have been a penalty try?

No more familiar with the laws than you but what the TMO and Dickson were claiming is that the whole tackle happened in the in goal area so the 9 was entitled to not release.

That's complete b*%&!cks of course. The tackle initially happened before the line and i agree with you that the 9 had to release.

Dickson also gave a try to Arg despite the player being tackled and brought to ground before he got up without letting go and threw himself over the line. Was an obvious case of no try.

I find Dickson impossible to get on with. He sees a lot because he stays up with play but his interpretations are beyond weird.

I got the impression that they didn't even think about whether it happened before the line or not, just looked at the potential grounding and completely forgot about the context because they had the blinkers on. Slipper did ask about not releasing but Dickson just said something about it being over the line so didn't matter, it really didn't seem like he was aware of anything before that.

Agree on Dickson in general though, he makes some really strange calls. He's decisive and good at dealing with players so I think his poor decisions go under the radar as a result. I'm always amazed when former players become refs but seem to have no feel for the game. Okay Mike Adamson was more of a 7s player but he made one call on a scrum saying that the tighthead had turned in. I'm no scrum expert by any means but just from watching thousands of games I knew full well that it would have been physically impossible for the scrum to have wheeled the way it did had the tighthead actually done that first.

[jezzer]

Just got to watch SA NZ.

Totally agree that the injury sub for Kriel completely messed up the Saffers backline and without it the game would have been very different imo. Ditto the Vermeulen selection when he clearly wasn't game ready.

Not having a workable front row is about the fastest route to losing games and NZ showed what they might have looked like if they'd played this front row since November instead of the shambles they had been putting on the field.

De Groot was really solid as was Lomax. But one of the best players on the park, with his power, feet, soft hands and aggression in attack and defence was the Tongan hooker Taukei'aho. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say NZ don't win if he doesn't play.

Mo'unga showed why he has to start. He's in better form, showed much better control and execution than BB.

Ioane was terrific, but to me he's still a winger. Caleb Clarke should be nowhere near an AB jersey at present.

I'd be v interested to see a NZ backline of:

Smith
Mo'unga
Ioane
Havili
J Barrett
Jordan
B Barrett

Jordi could be at 13 what the ABs are missing. Would be a brave move but he would give them the passing and decision making lift the midfield needs.

[jezzer]

Great win for Oz. Only saw the last few minutes so will have to dive in later but the Wallabies are a sneaky good team, if not blessed with a ton of depth.

Watching the other game right now. Felipe has his hands full, getting some attacking craft out of his backline. They're clearly playing conservatively to keep the game tight (and it's working thx to a lot of NZ pens conceded), but they look so predictable.

Physically Argentina for a few years now look like 23 flankers, which makes them tough and competitive but you'd like to see some guile and ball movement mixed in.

NZ doing OK. I mentioned the Taukei'aho effect in the last game. No change today. He's a go-forward machine and a destructive tackler.

[wixfjord]

Great win for Oz. Only saw the last few minutes so will have to dive in later but the Wallabies are a sneaky good team, if not blessed with a ton of depth.

You're absolutely bang on there.

I've been watching them for the last while and thinking they look really good, with some nice young players and a dangerous backline.

Massive amount of injuries at the moment but once they get everyone back (particularly Bell & Tuopou starting) they can do serious damage at the RWC.

Rodda, Hooper, Cooper, Petaia, Perese, Bell, Sio, Kerevi are all either starters or would be in the 23.

[wixfjord]

Delighted for Felipe & Cheika. Huge win.

[neiliog93]

Great day's rugby, looks like we might be set for the most open world cup ever, with seven teams that have a reasonably realistic chance of winning.