@Crucial said in Springboks v All Blacks 2:
@sparky said in Springboks v All Blacks 2:
Squidgey's take.
One of the few of his I have managed to watch right through (maybe because he was being complimentary to the ABs 
)
Makes a very good point at the end. The ABs have shown that they have the ability now to adjust to what the opposition showed the week before. That is a very different proposition to an EOYT where you go in fresh each week against a side waiting to ambush you (just like the RWC) and it will be very interesting to see how that goes this year. Last year it didn't go so well especially against a French team that, since their resurgence, was a bit of an unknown quantity. In that game we did adjust on the fly but couldn't make the adjustments stick long enough.
Looking way too far forward to the RWC we have one game that will presumably be our biggest hurdle and that is the quarterfinal.
Let the opener against France play out. It doesn't really matter if we come first or second in the pool. Take a standard game against them and gather information for a possible future meeting. It is the quarter against SA or Ireland that we need to target and plan for. Luckily for us both of these teams have pretty set styles. Sure they will tweak some stuff up but we know that Ireland base themselves around being very organised and drilled. Disrupting that is the key and we can watch their game against SA to see what happens there.
I rewatched the game slowly AND Squidge. Squidge reminds me why I stopped watching him ... he gets orgasmic about pod systems and ends up equating a lot of micro in-game stuff done well with actual "strategy"
I saw much simpler things than Squidge like Frizzel improving the backrow balance and overall workrate, the pack being far more cohesive, Mounga's movement and passing giving a lot front-foot ball (Rieko in space etc), that patterns work better because he doesn't drift, that Jordie plays a traditional 15 role (strong boot, hits the line at the right times), and no Beauden 'golden-boy' Barrett trying to play 10 and 15
Looked like the coaches did KISS principle, people knew exactly what they were doing and credit to the coaches however that happened
Tactically I got the impression the AB's are caught between trying to move from a drift defense to a rush defense as the line seemed disjointed ... ironically it may have helped as SA played more open rugby which suited the ABs, and tired the Boks. Credit for a win at Jo-berg but I really wonder if that performance would have beaten Ireland with Sexton, or France. Part of that defensive line may be that the ABs were putting an extra forward into the breakdown though? ... anyway that's what decent analysis might have looked at
I know the ABs love a power winger but even his missed tackle aside, I'm unconvinced on Caleb Clarke - yes he'll make a bust or maybe two each game but ... decision-making / heads-up rugby, workrate, finishing, linkage all doesn't seem AB level. The Boks negated him by kicking to him, that breakdown in comms with Jordan etc.
I didn't notice in-game but THAT Mounga turnover if you watch it again?
Mounga changes his mind and decides to take the hit ... there are 3-4 forwards who were meters ahead of Clarke who have read it (5,7,16,17). Clarke is ball-watching and remains totally static (gametime 57:47-57:50) meaning first Mounga has to go around him, and then Clarke's total lack of movement then ends up also slowing them getting to the breakdown too. Yeah it's all split second stuff - but hey, that's rugby at this level
Is Sevu Reece injured? Sevu actually always surprise me and seems to offer more than I expect
Not a kiwi, just a fan
, what I wrote was partly aimed not so much at Squidge etc but more why we don't get decent mainstream rugby analysis, apart from maybe Nick Bishop who's a pro, plus in the UK the Telegraph can be okay e.g. this analysis by Steffan Thomas - paywalled but disable JS 
What New Zealand changed to pull off an unthinkable victory over South Africa
... may post later