- Oct 2, 2004
- 48,185
- 47,184
- Staff
- #8,881
South Africa just grinding this out. Superb professionalism in the face of a fired up home team.
Genuine question...is there a ref in world rugby that don't dislike ?
Genuine question...is there a ref in world rugby that don't dislike ?
I think I know the answer!
We’ve got nothing to fear. Our recent record against SA is great so the players know they can beat them. We’ll also be written off by most which suits us.
It’s hard to get away from how poor we’ve been since the Australia game though (and even then the second half wasn’t great)
Think it will be very tight. My concern based on Wales today would be whether they can get through the South African defence considering they couldn't really get through France.
As they're saying on ITV though the contest at the breakdown will be fascinating
Need to improve defence and attack to progress next week for sure. Today Wales didn’t really create much at all. Two tries off of French mistakes basically.
I’m sure they’ll up their game but think Saffas will have too much for them. It’s not quite as big a gap as we see in yesterday’s game but again, like New Zealand v Ireland, this isn’t an end of season tour game or a friendly in the USA. When it comes to the biggest stage, Saffas have a tendency to produce. Hence why they’ve won it twice and it’s no coincidence they’ve come in to the tournament playing well.
If J.Davies and Navidi are out I’d say our chances of winning go from 40% down to 25%
I think you are correct. That’s a fair assessment. Obviously depth is always an issue. I don’t rate Moriarty one bit at this sort of level and Davies level of player is hard to replace for almost any side.
I hope both are fit.
I know what you mean re Moriarty. I know he’s traditionally an 8 (but I think we’ve discussed it before and we both see him as more of a 6) but he doesn’t do enough work over the ball. His main strength was he was a destructive ball carrier but he’s not been lately. Defensively he’s good, a beast at times, but, as we saw today, he’s always got a card in him.
With Faletau back he doesn’t come close to the starting lineup and with the emergence of Wainwright (MOTM today) who’s been a breath of fresh air, I doubt he’ll make the bench when everyone is fit.