pharvey wrote: ↑Thu Aug 11, 2022 7:41 am
Personally I think Aus are looking at a Bonus Point Win and the Boks putting more misery on the "Blackness".....
Oh, my Gypsy-like predictions strike again!! Mother of God!!
Boks vs the Blackness: -
Not the result I expected (obviously) and to be perfectly honest, not the one I wanted. Would be nice to see the AB's taken down a peg for a little while yet.
I don't think there were many who didn't expect the AB's to fire back, but...
Incredible turnaround. NZ fronted up big style against the SA forwards and their backline did the business... And how. Tactics-wise, NZ won this one. Why in God's name didn't SA select Malcolm Marx to start? Complete turnaround (from last week) at the breakdown before Marx came on on the 30 minute mark (with SA 15 - 0 up). SA were chasing and subs used way too early - whilst they came back, NZ were able to use far fresher legs going into the final stages - taking a convincing win.
Last week, the "Box Kick" worked for SA as NZ simply couldn't cope - this week, NZ had each and every one covered, yet SA continued blindly to use it..... Why
Refereeing - well, Luke Pearce (despite being English

) is a class ref and had a good game yet again - BUT, have to say there were a couple of tight calls against SA and NZ were VERY lucky not to have had 2 Yellow Cards. A change in the result, I doubt it.
Pumas vs Aus: -
Well, the Green and Golds got handed their collective arses today, make no mistake......
Yes, Australia were missing some experienced players, but I honestly thought that their replacements were more than capable........ Wrong on that score and wrong on the belief Australia could simply turn up.
Australia were beaten in every facet of the game. Huge hand to the Argentinian forwards who were absolutely immense.... and well, the Argentinian backline who were equally immense!!
[EDIT] There was a huge hit on +/- 56 mins and I'll have to see if I can find on Youtube et al. when the match/highlights get posted. Would love to see that one again.....
Many will say Australia were simply dire (well, they weren't good), but you cannot take
ANYTHING away from the Pumas who were excellent. Quite frankly, I'm looking forward to their clashes with NZ, not to mention SA!
Refereeing - some dodgy decisions quite frankly, a Pumas try that wasn't etc...... But hardly made a difference did it?!!
Bring on Round 3!!
