Rugby World Cup 2015

All Black team: 15.Ben Smith, 14.Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13.Conrad Smith, 12.Ma’a Nonu, 11.Julian Savea, 10.Dan Carter, 9.Aaron Smith, 8.Kieran Read, 7.Richie McCaw (captain), 6.Jerome Kaino, 5.Sam Whitelock, 4.Brodie Retallick, 3.Owen Franks, 2.Dane Coles, 1.Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16.Keven Mealamu, 17.Ben Franks, 18.Charlie Faumuina, 19.Victor Vito, 20.Sam Cane, 21.Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22.Beauden Barrett, 23.Sonny Bill Williams.
 
Too funny not to share:

Ritchie McCaw, David Pocock and Schalk Burger are standing before God at the throne of Heaven. God looks at them and says, "Before granting you a place at my side, I must first ask you what you believe in." Addressing Pocock first he asks, "What do you believe?" Pocock looks God in the eye and states passionately, "I believe Rugby to be the food of life. Nothing else brings such unbridled joy to so many people. I have devoted my life to bring such joy to everyone." God offers Pocock the seat to his right. He then turns to Schalk Burger, "And you, Schalk, what do you believe?" Schalk stands tall and proud. "I believe courage, honour and passion are the fundamentals to life and I've spent my whole playing career providing a living embodiment of these traits." God, moved by the passion of the speech offers Schalk the seat to his left. Finally, he turns to Richie McCaw. "And you, Ritchie, what do you believe?" "I believe..." says Ritchie "... that you're sitting in my seat."
 
i think the underdog tag we have is perfect as it will motivate our players more... also the AB have not had the best world cup records to get to the finals... they have that choker tag that they have to overcome.

im going with my heart and will be picking the boks. it will be a very close game though
 
AAAAAND we're out. Can't say I'm too surprised.

So here goes my review of the players

15. Willie le Roux - What a bloody champion of a player.
14. JP Pietersen - Retire from rugby and take up needlepoint or something
13. Jesse Kriel - Legend in the making
12. Damian De Allende - Beautifully supported the wings and Jesse
11. Bryan Habana - RETIRE FROM RUGBY FOREVER
10. Handré Pollard - Good job with kicking, but apart from that dafaq were you doing on the field?
9. Fourie du Preez (captain) - Why don't you kick your rugby career away?
8. Duane Vermeulen - I expected more from you
7. Schalk Burger (vice-captain) - Retire from international rugby and let someone younger take over
6. Francois Louw - focus, the game was on Saturday
5. Lood de Jager - 1 missed tackle and it had to be this Saturday
4. Eben Etzebeth - I'm disappointed in you
3. Frans Malherbe - did you even feature?
2. Bismarck du Plessis - Hang up your Springbok jersey and stop picking fights
1. Tendai Mtawarira - Time to consider that you won't see another world cup, consider playing overseas

Replacements:

16. Adriaan Strauss - Useless
17. Trevor Nyakane - did nothing
18. Jannie du Plessis - Retire and go practice medicine
19. Victor Matfield - go coach the bulls
20. Willem Alberts - no comment
21. Ruan Pienaar - kept that bench nice and warm
22. Pat Lambie - what a shame you didn't start
23. Jan Serfontein - aka waterboy
 
PsychoFish said:
AAAAAND we're out. Can't say I'm too surprised.

So here goes my review of the players

15. Willie le Roux - What a bloody champion of a player.
14. JP Pietersen - Retire from rugby and take up needlepoint or something
13. Jesse Kriel - Legend in the making
12. Damian De Allende - Beautifully supported the wings and Jesse
11. Bryan Habana - RETIRE FROM RUGBY FOREVER
10. Handré Pollard - Good job with kicking, but apart from that dafaq were you doing on the field?
9. Fourie du Preez (captain) - Why don't you kick your rugby career away?
8. Duane Vermeulen - I expected more from you
7. Schalk Burger (vice-captain) - Retire from international rugby and let someone younger take over
6. Francois Louw - focus, the game was on Saturday
5. Lood de Jager - 1 missed tackle and it had to be this Saturday
4. Eben Etzebeth - I'm disappointed in you
3. Frans Malherbe - did you even feature?
2. Bismarck du Plessis - Hang up your Springbok jersey and stop picking fights
1. Tendai Mtawarira - Time to consider that you won't see another world cup, consider playing overseas

Replacements:

16. Adriaan Strauss - Useless
17. Trevor Nyakane - did nothing
18. Jannie du Plessis - Retire and go practice medicine
19. Victor Matfield - go coach the bulls
20. Willem Alberts - no comment
21. Ruan Pienaar - kept that bench nice and warm
22. Pat Lambie - what a shame you didn't start
23. Jan Serfontein - aka waterboy
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Ouch...some of those reviews are a bit too harsh. While I share your sentiment towards the kicking game not working, I feel Fourie didn't play THAT bad. But he probably played his last game with that huge shiner.

FLouw played really great, and made some extremely crucial steal at the break down. He made sure that Richie McCaw didn't have the same devastating impact on the game as in previous encounters. Malherbe was solid in the scrum, and we overall pretty much dominated them in the few scrums on the day (apart from 1 and I don't even think he was playing then).

Willie played well for the first time this year, but he faded away in the last half

Bismark will probably never play as a Springbok if that's the type of rugby he wants to play. He cost us sooo many line-outs, an aspect we are supposed to be the master in.
 
DieGrootHammer said:
Ouch...some of those reviews are a bit too harsh. While I share your sentiment towards the kicking game not working, I feel Fourie didn't play THAT bad. But he probably played his last game with that huge shiner.

FLouw played really great, and made some extremely crucial steal at the break down. He made sure that Richie McCaw didn't have the same devastating impact on the game as in previous encounters. Malherbe was solid in the scrum, and we overall pretty much dominated them in the few scrums on the day (apart from 1 and I don't even think he was playing then).

Willie played well for the first time this year, but he faded away in the last half

Bismark will probably never play as a Springbok if that's the type of rugby he wants to play. He cost us sooo many line-outs, an aspect we are supposed to be the master in.
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No you're right, Fourie didn't play all that bad, he most likely did EXACTLY what Heyneke told him to do. FLouw seemed a little disconnected for most of the game, I really expected more from him. The way I see it is that we almost had the game in hand. The issue is that we wanted to defend our lead every time we were in front. Crucial mistakes in my opinion was not going for points every opportunity we had (this accounts for at least 6 potential points) where we either opted to kick for touch (while in their half) or opted to run at them only to kick for touch and not finding touch. Then there was the JP incident in that he gave the ABs a try by not covering the opposing player and rather committing to covering a player that was already covered by two other players (one of which has already committed to and made contact with the ball carrier) which gave the opposition a man on the outside and no defenders in a position to stop him.

Now is the time to cull players. We've kicked our WC contention away this year, so get rid of ALL springbok players that will reasonably be deemed too old to play the next WC. Why i'm so miffed is that Heyneke promised us that all these poor performances "won't matter" and that "all that matters is winning the world cup", and we didn't win the WC, so now what?

I enjoy the combination of Jesse Kriel and Damien De Allende, they seem to work and work well. We need our scum-half and fly-half combination figured out. This is key to get quick ball to our centres and possibly our wings. I believe Willie Le Roux is the right player for fullback. We need to run at the opposition more. We need to retain possession wherever possible. I would like to see more of the Etzebeth / De Jager combo they seem to get things right. We do need to look at a new hooker and prop pair. I almost want to say Steven Kitshoff, Dylan Smith and Scarra Ntubeni should be groomed for this unless someone new and exciting comes along.

and lastly... MAAK VIR DUANE KAPTEIN
 
I also want to add here an opinion that will probably spark some negativity: We are in South Africa, and in the coming weeks and months the race card WILL inevitably be played and their WILL be pressure from all sides for a more transformed Boks team. With the fact that there are many stalwart of the game that will either be bowing out, or won't probably make the 2019 RWC, the time is perfect to start grooming some players of colour for this purpose. I mean, there will always be an issue of race in the team, might as well embrace it and grow the best possible players out of it. Players like Oupa Mohoje, Scarra Ntobemi, Rudy Paige, Jamba Ulengo, Warrick Gelant, Howard Mnisi, Tera Mtembu, Kaya Majola, Giant Mtyanda, Bongi Nbonambi, Sti Sithole. All of these players have a bright future in SA rugby and all have the potential to be massive stars.
 
DieGrootHammer said:
I also want to add here an opinion that will probably spark some negativity: We are in South Africa, and in the coming weeks and months the race card WILL inevitably be played and their WILL be pressure from all sides for a more transformed Boks team. With the fact that there are many stalwart of the game that will either be bowing out, or won't probably make the 2019 RWC, the time is perfect to start grooming some players of colour for this purpose. I mean, there will always be an issue of race in the team, might as well embrace it and grow the best possible players out of it. Players like Oupa Mohoje, Scarra Ntobemi, Rudy Paige, Jamba Ulengo, Warrick Gelant, Howard Mnisi, Tera Mtembu, Kaya Majola, Giant Mtyanda, Bongi Nbonambi, Sti Sithole. All of these players have a bright future in SA rugby and all have the potential to be massive stars.
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I fully agree, at the end of the day the players race, religion or sexual preference should not matter at all and I really don't care. What I, as a Springbok rugby supporter, care about is having a match squad of 23 of the best rugby players that are eligible and capable of playing for us to represent our country on the field. We do however have to approach transformation in a sane manner. I would like to see more rugby academies built in rural and disadvantaged communities. I would like to see more money being pushed into schools rugby, especially into rural and poorer and previously disadvantaged communities. I would also like to see scholarships to varsities for star players from these academies and programs to ultimately play varsity cup.

We have a huge pool of talented players who simply stop playing rugby past school level or past varsity level for a number of reasons. I would like to see this change.

Hell, I'm such a supporter of grooming players from a young age, because that is the only way you can be a quality player at senior/national level. On that note I have to add that my young one is attending Rugby Tots from next year. Check out http://rugbytots.co.za/
 
PsychoFish said:
I fully agree, at the end of the day the players race, religion or sexual preference should not matter at all and I really don't care. What I, as a Springbok rugby supporter, care about is having a match squad of 23 of the best rugby players that are eligible and capable of playing for us to represent our country on the field. We do however have to approach transformation in a sane manner. I would like to see more rugby academies built in rural and disadvantaged communities. I would like to see more money being pushed into schools rugby, especially into rural and poorer and previously disadvantaged communities. I would also like to see scholarships to varsities for star players from these academies and programs to ultimately play varsity cup.

We have a huge pool of talented players who simply stop playing rugby past school level or past varsity level for a number of reasons. I would like to see this change.

Hell, I'm such a supporter of grooming players from a young age, because that is the only way you can be a quality player at senior/national level. On that note I have to add that my young one is attending Rugby Tots from next year. Check out http://rugbytots.co.za/
Click to expand...

THIS!!! This right here!!! I would rep you if I could.

I can't add anything else because I share your sentiments completely. It would be awesome if your kiddie can attend the Rugby Tots program. It looks awesome and I'm glad there are things like that available. There just isn't enough programs like that though.
 
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