NPR

The All Blacks looked like one of those Hurricanes sides that are quite impressive on paper, then they rock up in SA and get done to varying degrees in the contacts/tight/set piece/forwards and their impressive backline ends up looking a bit headless.

The All Blacks were lucky to avoid a record defeat, it was only the Springboks being conservative with some option taking preventing more points coming at times.

Gumboot wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 5:19 pm

Chilli wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:35 am

Gumboot wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 4:13 am

Yep, inclined to agree. The Boks should win by 10-15, but if the ABs make yet another slow start it could get very ugly indeed.

Nope.

The All Blacks will win it.

Enjoy the win, bro.

SaintK wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 5:11 pm

Chilli wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 5:09 pmYeah Baby!

Well deserved

Thanks

Remain positive chaps:

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has found the silver lining in the All Blacks' worst defeat to South Africa in 94 years.

Foster praised his team's performance in their 26-10 loss to South Africa at Mbombela Stadium, their worst since losing 17-0 to the Boks in 1928.

... he still (found) the positives in his post-match interview.
"In many ways it was probably our best performance of the year," Foster said. "I think we really did well at the lineouts, we defended their drives, we didn't get any calls in that first half but our defence was really strong.
... "I'm really proud of the effort," said Foster.

But you can always count on there being one negative sourpuss to dampen an upbeat mood:
All Blacks captain Sam Cane said the All Blacks didn't really throw a punch.

Come on Pumas!

Commiserations AB fans, that couldn't have been easy to watch. It's never nice when you're team is in a dark place, god knows we've been there many times before. That's a team with zero gameplan and zero confidence. Some big changes needed to get them back on track.

Malcolm Marx was simply born to play the All Blacks. He never lets us down, but that was particularly incredible from him. One of the best performances from a 2 I've ever seen. Has to start again next week.

Big games from Kolisi and Am too.

For those without access to NZ Herald premium content:


OPINION by Gregor Paul in South Africa

If Ireland cracked the All Blacks, South Africa certainly broke them and any hope, however forlorn, that a recovery is possible under this coaching regime has surely gone.

It's time to ring Scott Robertson, tell him to be waiting with his hand-picked assistants and for him and Jason Ryan to get on with rebuilding a legacy that is in danger of being horribly tainted if there is not definitive action taken.

There is nothing now that can happen to convince anyone in New Zealand – anyone who knows the game – that the All Blacks are going to miraculously improve without a total and brutal cleanout and reset.

Confidence has been shattered, all hope lost and it would be madness for New Zealand Rugby to do anything other than get out the cheque book, pay off the termination fees and usher in a new era.

This is now five losses in the last six games, the latest a 26-10 defeat. This is now the worst run in the All Blacks professional history and there was not a shred of evidence in Mbombela that it will stop. This is the All Blacks' fate if they do nothing.

Forget the scoreboard as it maybe only tells half the story. It only confirms South Africa's superiority and domination, but it doesn't reveal that the All Blacks, not once in 80 minutes, looked like being a serious contender to win the game.

They didn't even look like a serious contender to score a try and it was as if they were a balloon that South Africa sat upon, slowly adding more weight with the certainty that it was going to pop.

And that's why this All Blacks side is broken – they don't play a gallant and heroic role in defeat. There is no swashbuckling defiance and a sense that they could soon be on the other side of these mounting losses.

Instead, they seem to be resigned to their fate from the kick-off and from the earliest exchanges in Mbombela – particularly after the first scrum yielded the Springboks a free kick and the second a penalty – it instantly became a case of wondering just how big the margin of defeat was going to be.


After 10 minutes, the best New Zealanders could hope for was a valiant effort in clinging on. Which they got.

Hanging in there has become the All Blacks thing and they are maybe the best side in the world right now at doggedly sticking their finger in the dyke and holding the inevitable tide for a surprisingly long time.

And that's because they have become resident dwellers of a no man's land where they don't manage to put much, if any, pressure on their opponents and yet nor do they play so catastrophically as to suggest a collapse is in the offing.

They just seem to assume they are going to die a slow death and they throw themselves about with as much passion and energy as they have on defence until the inevitable defeat comes.

For the fourth straight game they conceded an early try and for the third time, they were barely sighted inside the opposition half in the first 40 minutes.

It wasn't until Richie Mo'unga kicked a penalty to touch in the 52nd minute that the All Blacks had an attack inside South Africa's 22.

And here lies the rub with this All Blacks team, they have neither the patience nor the ability at the moment to be a possession team.

Just like in Dunedin and Wellington – the third quarter excepted – they barely had the ball in Mbombela and mostly that was because they were hampered by not being able to go more than three phases without conceding a turnover.

It's easy enough for ball carriers to be isolated after seven phases-plus, but to be picked off so easily after two or three as Malcolm Marx so often managed suggests a systemic failing or a chronic confusion about basic strategy.

These All Blacks have a hunter's mentality of wanting to play off mistakes, of forcing turnovers and counter attacking against broken defences.

It's what they have done and who they have been for the last decade or so but to play like that, the pass and catch has to be razor sharp, the awareness high and the transition from defensive mindset to attacking lightning quick.

And here lies yet another rub with this All Blacks team, the skill execution has eroded from the peak it was once at in the golden age between 2010 and 2016.

Offering so little and playing with so many inaccuracies is not how All Blacks side are supposed to be.

The story needs a rewrite and the introduction of new character to freshen a plot that has become decidedly predictable.

convoluted wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:59 pm Remain positive chaps:

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has found the silver lining in the All Blacks' worst defeat to South Africa in 94 years.

Foster praised his team's performance in their 26-10 loss to South Africa at Mbombela Stadium, their worst since losing 17-0 to the Boks in 1928.

... he still (found) the positives in his post-match interview.
"In many ways it was probably our best performance of the year," Foster said. "I think we really did well at the lineouts, we defended their drives, we didn't get any calls in that first half but our defence was really strong.
... "I'm really proud of the effort," said Foster.

But you can always count on there being one negative sourpuss to dampen an upbeat mood:
All Blacks captain Sam Cane said the All Blacks didn't really throw a punch.

He really really said that

Go Pumas, the orange Oz shirt is an eyesore.

Why do nearly all matches in Arg never really get the stadium noise? Better coverage in the Football 78 world cup!

Nice try Pumas

What’s with the weird sound mixing with the commentary.

It’s dreadful

Commentators are 2 guys in a bedroom who have been smoking high quality weed all day

Watched a recording of the Spurs game in the EPL rather than the ABs. Well done guys - been a fan since I knew they existed and you have put me off.

Sam Cane needs to do one good thing as skipper and lead the way.

Show Foster how to resign.

PCPhil wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:23 pm Commentators are 2 guys in a bedroom who have been smoking high quality weed all day

I can't recall ever having seen coverage of an Agrentina game where it seemed like the commentary team are actually present in the stadium.

Enzedder wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:23 pm Watched a recording of the Spurs game in the EPL rather than the ABs ...

By electing to bypass that horror, you reinforced your standing as the Wise Old Man of the forum.

Enzedder wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:23 pm Watched a recording of the Spurs game in the EPL rather than the ABs. Well done guys - been a fan since I knew they existed and you have put me off.

Sam Cane needs to do one good thing as skipper and lead the way.

Show Foster how to resign.

I was going to reply with some kind of piss take comment about progress…give more time etc. but it was actually quite sad today. The backline was clueless. Individual headless chickens.

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:09 pm

convoluted wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:59 pm Remain positive chaps:

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has found the silver lining in the All Blacks' worst defeat to South Africa in 94 years.

Foster praised his team's performance in their 26-10 loss to South Africa at Mbombela Stadium, their worst since losing 17-0 to the Boks in 1928.

... he still (found) the positives in his post-match interview.
"In many ways it was probably our best performance of the year," Foster said. "I think we really did well at the lineouts, we defended their drives, we didn't get any calls in that first half but our defence was really strong.
... "I'm really proud of the effort," said Foster.

But you can always count on there being one negative sourpuss to dampen an upbeat mood:
All Blacks captain Sam Cane said the All Blacks didn't really throw a punch.

He really really said that

It's like he thinks he is coaching Italy or someone... he is trying to normalise mediocrity...

I hope we are not playing Italy this year.

ASMO wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 5:11 pm All i can say to the AB supporters from an England supporter, welcome to our world!

I have got sympathy. French supporters were there not long ago.

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:54 pm I hope we are not playing Italy this year.

Just us at a sold out Murrayfield

The highlights of Boks NZ are playing during HT of Arg Aus.

There are big chants of "All Blacks" going up, do a lot of South Africans still support the ABs over the Boks? I believe that was the case a while ago.

Biffer wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:00 pm

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:54 pm I hope we are not playing Italy this year.

Just us at a sold out Murrayfield

Forgive me, but will this be the first time you beat us? Popping your cherry?

Biffer wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:00 pm

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:54 pm I hope we are not playing Italy this year.

Just us at a sold out Murrayfield

Seize the day.

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:05 pm

Biffer wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:00 pm

Ymx wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 7:54 pm I hope we are not playing Italy this year.

Just us at a sold out Murrayfield

Forgive me, but will this be the first time you beat us? Popping your cherry?

If it happens, yes

Tichtheid wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:04 pm The highlights of Boks NZ are playing during HT of Arg Aus.

There are big chants of "All Blacks" going up, do a lot of South Africans still support the ABs over the Boks? I believe that was the case a while ago.

Yes they have big support from the coloured community all over the Western Cape. It's a culture back from the apartheid days.

OomStruisbaai wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:08 pm

Tichtheid wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:04 pm The highlights of Boks NZ are playing during HT of Arg Aus.

There are big chants of "All Blacks" going up, do a lot of South Africans still support the ABs over the Boks? I believe that was the case a while ago.

Yes they have big support from the coloured community all over the Western Cape. It's a culture back from the apartheid days.

Thanks.

That is what I thought.

Watching halfbacks getting marched 10 for backchat will always warm my cockles.

The Wallabies will need to play Adamson.

Quade Cooper is such a gifted player

Fair play to Adamson for employing his rudimentary Spanish

OomStruisbaai wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:17 pm Quade Cooper is such a gifted player

... and damnit he might be out for the duration.
The classiest Championship back on display this weekend.

That was a great try.

PCPhil wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:28 pm That was a great try.

Awesome. Game changer

Phenomenal try.

Nice work from Matera to keep the man marking him turning in and out to compensate for his lack of pace.

Thought Malia had screwed it up with his pass because the camera angle didn't show who he was aiming for.

OomStruisbaai wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:29 pm

PCPhil wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 8:28 pm That was a great try.

Awesome. Game changer

Beauty

Beautifully made try

NZ still second favourite for the world cup...

https://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union ... 023/winner

Boff doesn't like to hurry things, but he is very accurate