very interesting to look at last scrum in the Final.

messy situation! last roll of dice for NZ...
time is up so they absolute GO for it. attack Boks the second Fourie lift his leg to hook.

Nche mostly recover but then the scrum crab over.
Roigard all over Faf at the back.. i only post this because it is interesting and nice to go deeper on rugby conversation's sometimes 😃

while there was a feeling that Boks infringe ,there is another angle from other side of scrum that tell us a different story..

why is the scrum crabbing
why is Roigard on Faf

game within the game.. line out at 24 min

Barrett pretend to complain about Bok distance ,but he is using that as a disguise, because he is going to be a lifter...

but Boks has own trick up sleeve. they have put PSdT at the front and Eben in the middle..🤓 why is that a trick? Eben is usually the one who jump at the front.. because he is so quick up into the air to contest.

but now he is in the middle, and that create a problem for NZ who want to throw to the back.

throwing to the back give you the best launchpad for your attack

some random things as we re-watch.

Steward one of best in the air ,and made for a game like this .

but England escort also excellent to protect him. all the little things that make them winners in the aerial battle if you the catching team ,you must catch the ball into your arms to neutralize the danger.

but the chasing team have luxury that they can just tap it back to their own chasing players..

look how much higher a tapper can reach above a catcher. especially shorter Bok backs.

want to understand the Boks?

a story that start 5 years ago will reach a culmination this week.

when RE take over in 2018 short term focus was the foundations: defence, set piece, kicking game.

2019 win was wonderful , but in a sense irelevant to the long term plan.

🧵 win or lose ,next stated goals was anyway 1) prep for Lions 2) evolve Bok template 3) build squad depth 4) growing player capacity.

as publicize at the time, Covid put in a big spanner in term of time frames and planning. so it all had to get squashed in a shorter time.

things changes slowly , and then they change suddenly.

money been drawing coaching & playing talent away from SA. at same time leagues in NH and Japan etc been pushing elite high performance and evolution of rugby.

one day you blink and your local game is a second rate. in a sense we like brazil in soccer . lucky to have lot of natural talent bubble up constantly , but financialy can not compete with pull of europe so our best players go. on top of that , can not compete with the thinking, evolution and high performance programs of europe

having a look at Lions v Lions game.. and the boys from Joburg never seen anything like that in their life hey.
the tempo , variation, shapes, technical ability and rugby IQ is on another level. like it or not , N Hemisphere rugby is higher grade 💪🏻💪🏻

our family friend Dr Willie van Tonder, passed away from Covid 19 in bloemfontein today. all my love and thoughts with his family, Chrisella, Lelani, Chris and all his grandchildren. i can’t imagine what they going through. they were at his bedside and with him at the end. ♥️ from the facts coming out this is what we know: Willie picked it up like many others at a prayer meeting in Bloem on 10 March. 5 overseas visitors had it, but were not showing symptoms yet. subsequent tested positive and isolated.

Willie himself only showed signs much later.

here is a story James tell me just after he had the suicide attempt in 2001.

he went to stay at his mothers home to get away from the media and the glaring. nobody could get hold of him and most people did not even know where he was. then the phone ring and his mother answer it the person on the line say it is the office of the president and Mr Mandela want to talk to James. james know it was not true , so he tell his mother to put the phone down. then the phone ring again and the same person say the president want to talk to James