Blake wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2023 12:37 pm
_Os_ wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2023 10:45 am
Blake wrote: Fri Oct 27, 2023 8:26 am
The last 2 weeks have been rough man. Productivity levels at record lows for me.
I expected a QF final against France/NZ so wasn't too fussed into the lead up to that match.
But getting through by the skin of our teeth got us into territoty I hadn't mentally and emotionally prepared myself for.
I've been so distracted with this euphoria, buildup, tension, euphoria, buildup cycle. I'm ready for this to be overwith man.
Just hope it ends with euphoria again and not with gutrenching disappointment.
Is this why your tipping has been so poor chief?
Sure, let me blame it on that
It's been pretty kak hey.
I've forgotten to make a couple of picks in time, but for the most part they've just been shit.
But the broadcast times of the games have been horrible for me, so I hardly watched any of the matches ourside the Springbok ones; maybe 2 or 3.
I've just slept for about 16 hours, and still feel exhausted.
It was like those Sharks playoff matches, where it's the end of the season, all the other teams have worked the Sharks out and they just have to grind out a semi in Durban and a final in the depths of the South Island. Just that this lasted for weeks and weeks, the investment wasn't one season but multiple seasons, and all the teams that knew what was coming from the Boks were also some of the best there is, x4 Saders. Then in the final week the Bongi/curry madness. Feel like I've aged a decade.
The worst part of the match was losing Bongi, critical player in the scrum and lineout. Lineout was a mess afterwards, scrum was even, although from memory the first Trev/Ox scrum (66th minute?) was dominant but somehow the Boks didn't get the ball (squirted out the side of a Bok scrum piling forward?). That Bongi injury is what made the match more like the other matches, weak platform so then the Boks are relying on defence/kicking/counter attack.
Sam Cane carding was fortunate for us and very sad for him. But, Felix Jones was asked an interesting question in the lead up to the final, how had his views on South African rugby changed from before he was involved with the Springboks and now? He had a long think before answering, it wasn't kak he was just saying. His reply was that he always dismissed Bok strengths in the tackle/contact/ruck as not worth considering and basically just about toughness, but then he saw how his kids were coached at school in SA and how other teams trained, and he realised it was a skill issue that was ingrained by the age of about 10, that the Boks were the best in the contact because they were the most skilled at it. Boks were the cleanest side in the comp, all the controversy about cards had very little impact on the Boks.