I thought it was ordinary for BOTH teams during the game.
(Shalk pulling Pocock’s head out of the ruck, rucking from the side, the hit on Digby after he kicked it…all should have been penalties…and there was plenty more..so quit acting like sore losers)

The fact is – Boks had 76% of territory and 56% of possession and couldn’t make one try.
Australia made 147 tackles to Sth Africa’s 53 (!)…and people are trying to say Australia didn’t deserve to win?! One of the greatest defensive efforts in a World Cup ever.

Also I am sick and tired of hearing the insulting comments about John Smit. Like he was the cause of this loss!! Please man. Smit is one our greatest Springboks ever and has been a great player, ambasador and captain for SA rugby. The lack of respect from the media and contributers here disgusts me. IMO he has not had a bad game in this WC campain. Yes he is not Bismark, but does not mean he is a bad player and he certainly does not deserve the kind of comment he has recieved here.

Once we have dynamic players coming through with top class ball skills and who favour playing an expansive game will we then begin to see the Boks become a real powerhouse in rugby.

We’ve been playing NZ/Aus for donkeys years yet we still have failed to adapt to their style of play. Its unbelievable. We still play neanderthal rugby and we still 9 out 10 times get beaten by Aus and NZ.

The ABs should be nervous every time they go and play in SA but they are guaranteed most times to come back with a win. I mean good god man they beat us at our biggest stadium in front of an 80,000 strong home crowd. That would never happen in NZ!

3Ns should always be tight affairs where there is little difference between NZ, SA and Aus. Yet every time we end up at the bottom. Its shocking how Springbok fans have accept mediocrity for so slow. Its about time we actually adapted our style of rugby to the style favoured in the SH. That goes for our provincial sides as well. At least 3 of our Super 15 sides should be highly competitive and very difficult to beat at home. Until Saru are prepared to bring about a cultural shift in SA rugby I do not see much changing in time to come.

How about the cancer of our backline – JdV and Habana?! De Jongh and Hougaard should’ve started. PdV is an idiot who knows nothing about rugby. HE DID DESTROY THIS TEAM! Our ball skills are worse than that of a school boy team. Our fitness has gone down. General standard of play has decreased. The players have turned into mindless robots – skop en jag skop en jag.

We relinquished a 10 year record of victory against Aus at home. Now Aus love playing in SA! We LOST TO SCOTLAND!!!!!!!! When has NZ ever lost to Scotland?!

We have become a disgrace under PdV. He has made SA a laughing stock with his idiotic metaphors. He thinks coaching is just a big joke. PdV was the chief clown running an absolute circus. Good riddance to that pr.1ck! Now please let us pick someone who actually understands rugby and can string two sentences together in English.

I just pray that Coetzee isn’t chosen because for me he is not the answer. The Stormers have no attacking platform. The same thing will happen to the Boks again.

Jealous, egotistical, deluded cnut who kept our best player out of the team. Along with Spies and Habana. Hougaard should’ve been starting. PdV is a low IQ idiot. You pick your best team for a knockout match not a sentimental one!

Translation: “Who are you going to believe: My cool stats or your own lying eyes?”

Non sequitur much, Mr Vrede?

I am going to table the idea that the psyche that referees are what cause you to lose cost you the game. Do you teach your kids this stuff?

In fairness he played pretty well – but kept our most potent explosive world-class force on the bench – the good is the enemy of the best; Bismarck would have won more turnovers and should have come on the moment Brussouw went off; no, he should have started and played the whole game.

oh please, now you show your hand….koster is the most overrated player.

tecklenburg was playing varsity cup as was arno botha. stander played sa rugby all age levels.

meyer has said as much lately about all the junior talent….unless it translates to senior success the union is prepared to make the hard decisions. this is exactly how it happens at football clubs, they take you on board as an 11/12 year old apprentice and tell you 4-5 years later if they believe you’ll go pro.

very tough for the kids

We came unstuck because we lack creativity going forward. And that is a traditional weakness of South African sides that has been there consistently since we returned from isolation. The difference now is that defensive patterns and indiviudal tackling skills have improved beyond recognition from 20 (or even 10) years ago.

Scoring tries is becoming difficult for any side but its going to be even more difficult for sides that run at defenders for 15 phases instead of at gaps. With the amount of posession we had today we really should have been able to deliver a ko blow.

Seems noone wants to blame the ref either but it is very strange how during the super 15 the first question on the mind of every ref at every ruck was “Has the tackled player been released and allowed to place the ball”, while come this world cup its like that rule doesn’t exist. It certainly wasnt a thought on Bryce Lawrences mind today but to be fair it seems like none of the refs have given it much focus throughout the tournament.

One last thing… with all the time we spent in their 22, why not a couple more drop goals????

Forgot about Arno Botha, who I think, if he got a fair go in Pretoria could even be a Springbok next year.

Considering how many juniors the Bulls purchase, very few actually amount to something. They dominate U19 and U21 competitions, but very few of those players I see coming through. Rather they go buy Sadie, Hougaard, Engelbrecht, Dippenaar etc. from Province…. or any talented player coming out of Grey College now (Sharks resources are drying up).

Stander and Tecklenburg? Please no, never!

The Springboks should be the best South Africa has to offer. Not the best Pretoria has to offer, and those two aren’t Bok quality. I like Stander as a S15 prospect though, but they need to upgrade from Tecklenburg as well.

Springbok quality loose-forwards in SA, IMO (rated best to worst):
6 Heinrich Brussow – and that’s it.
7 Juan Smith / Willem Alberts / Ashley Johnson / Jean Deysel / Duane Vermeulen (he should play here)
8 Schalk Burger / Nick Koster / Pierre Spies

That’s it.

P.S. I know Koster needs to improve, but ball-in-hand, he’s one of the most dangerous loose-forwards I’ve seen. Could be a devastating Nr. 8

Blind optimism is obviously more credible than what is right in front of your eyes.

Anyway, he’s gone thank goodness.

Bismark and the boys back to smash the CCup apart! Go Sharks