The Silver Fern

I think the bruises will take a bit longer than a couple days and truthfully Cane never deserved red. Feel really bad for him. But thanks for the great final. Nobody had anything left. And the rest of us fans were spent emotionally. Grateful to all of the guys on both teams for the battle. PSDT a reported 28 tackles. And Fat Frans 10 in first 40… An attritional battle all the way to last whistle. If you don’t like scrums and union then just go watch league I am wheelchair-bound and an easy target.in the mayhem of a hotel bar screening .. And I can comfortably tell you that I have never been kissed by so many men after that final whistle Looking forward to see you guys in Oz in the final for the next round

Easy for us to sit on couches. Thank you Romania for all the heart. I really hope that they leave the competition with countries like Romania and Uruguay and Chile and Portugal . etc. I spent more than a few Saturdays with my face buried in the dirt collapsed scrum after collapsed scrum and all we had was heart… It isn’t always about the results... Just the amount of heart… The game taught me a lot about life and all of us have seen a lot of heart from second tier teams in only a couple rounds Long may it continue—

Congratulations to you guys for a very good win It was still on with 10 to go but the ABs were just that bit hungrier for it. Thought Ardie SW and Cane all played very well and our lineouts were not jobbing as normal thanks to some excellent steals. Just top notch thievery. No real complaints about reffing overall (unlike Arg v Oz)and both teams gave 100% again but this time our D wasn’t as effective and we missed a lot of tackles. Also missed more last week but it was a different AB psychology this match. Am and Pollard were great I thought but we missed Faf accuracy a bit and Duane and PTSD not back to their best just yet. Really enjoyable test but obviously a bit bleak we faded those last 10-

Just putrid behaviour. And almost certainly people making the threats know full well that regardless of the fact they are almost certainly empty, the words create that small element of doubt that they may not be... Hoping that the real reason for his retirement is simply that he reffed a rwc final. Easy for me to say as a South African after Saturday but thanks Wayne for all of the effort in a cauldron of an environment where mistakes aren’t easily forgotten. Hope you carry on reffing club games for fun . Seriously do.

Few thoughts. Congrats ABs. Brodie is not done yet despite some comments. And Smith sublime. Ardie gets a card and u score while he is off. Jordan looks great too. And 17 tackles for Papalii is a bad day coz he missed one…ok 2 but still…workrate insane imo. In love with Havili workrate too. He is the business. DMac bias myself but TSF crucifixtion was a bit surprising. Injury recovery and confidence shortfall notwithstanding, I would still stick with him myself. Gifted doesn’t go away. Form absolutely fluctuates but 15 is always in the spotlight. Hope he gets his mojo back.
Drubbing for OZ. They looked great at times. But really they were battling in areas I expected better. I had ABs by 8 ….umm…fork

Congrats Oz x2. Kerevi my MOM 2nd week running. Ikitau great too and our missed tackle count was already 12 at HT. ABs are going to clean our pipes by 20 without some changes but our fitness isn’t going to be fixed in a week. We just continue to battle in Oz v Oz…

Enjoyable tense test Recovered a bit of pride at least after losses. That pass from Am in first half was epic and Frans Steyn really gave direction in 2nd 40. Hope the guys all enjoy beers together in shed afterwards

Congrats to Wales on breaking that duck. Happy for AWJ especially. It was a dour snorefest in sublime conditions and sets up next week properly. Plenty introspection needed on both sides and hopefully we will see a livelier decider -

Yup Carley is pedantic. And the first yellow was a team yellow and Scott Barret had a brain fart for his second. so we played against only 14 men… in a disposable Barbarians “test” where we had a 7/1 bench … Emptied after 45 minutes against a now significantly weakened pack…. Boks have a LOT to work on too … but think after Auckland they were always going to need to fire especially with Siya back. Glad they did but game wasn’t important other than both teams needing to check combinations and have a proper hard 80 especially defensively which we didn’t get nearly as much as they e needed imo. if the table had been flipped and we were playing 14 against 15, I don’t think after 60 minutes we would’ve looked any better. I have no doubt that the World Cup opener against France in two weeks time is going to be nothing like the match we watched last night. There is simply way too much pedigree in both the New Zealand and French squads. I think the Bokke did 14 man ABs a bit of a favour…. Guys are going to be so tight after that...Frogs at home is going to need tight as baseline entry level … Don’t write your guys off after a 14 man BaaBaas sketchy ref warmup…We will see you again shortly I have zero doubt

Smile of the match was definitely Andrew Mehrtens being spotted on his phone on the big screen and Brian Habana giving him a ribbing

Congratulations to Ireland. Not the worlds number one team for nothing. They really kept us out. Missed kicks don’t tell the story. Two of those were long range we should have gone for touch imo. Just to get down into the 22. Absolutely brutal collisions all match. Looked like an amazing match to be at and I thought reffing was good. Obviously I don’t agree with every call made But I really thought he was in control of the match. Going to be a lot of sore bodies today on both teams.

Remember sitting in stands at Newlands watching him playing 12 for Crusaders and thinking how well he was reading the space on the field. Just wow. By the time he got the 10 jersey he was just a complete joy to watch without fail. Unquestionably the greatest 10 of the modern game. Thanks for the memories DC —

@Higgins Margins for error are so tight. All players push these margins and are paid to push themselves. Timing errors are going to stay with us along with tackle height. Excellent vid on the Awesome Stuff thread of how game used to be
Cheap shot would mean intent knowing law is going to be broken and smashing in anyway or higher arm and much as I’m against the game being sanitized past recognition...sadly true in some ways... these guys play a lot of hours at full steam per year. I doubt a lot of us would survive 15 minutes at current intensity speed and ferocity of pro game...Again timing errors...

Sad for Kolisi that he misses out and hope he recovers properly. My view was tackle was late but intent I guess only one person knows. But we all back our teams and everyone has some rabid fans. I think us Saffas definitely used to be guilty of more cheap stuff especially when behind....can’t win the match but at least win the fight vibes... EngVFr Sat case in point after try... and maybe that albatross will always be around our necks but I really don’t think there is ANYTHING between top teams on average these days so reckon that gold medal perception definitely not helped by scouring SA rabid fan comments. I dunno...I guess all I try do is swop jerseys hypothetically and try judge every incident like that. It’s really tough sometimes with laws as different as they were and speeds and fitness crazier than ever and I think refs have a tougher than ever job.

We have all enjoyed players with “mongrel” and grafters who push it constantly but judging clear malicious intent is just going to stay a minefield no matter the refs call
Bismarck du Plessis was never the same player after his knee was deliberately targeted and smashed in that Argie test. Sure he was still really good, just never a first choice in a world15 no2 Jersey after that single malicious injury and that’s coz guys just see red mist some days but it does cost.
And maybe a few more people are bleak coz 25 mins after lifting the trophy Kolisi got crocked in a late tackle. And some days SloMo makes it look horrific. Watching Ruben Kruger’s leg actually breaking still gives shivers...

Refs and TMO should DEFINETELY be spending more time using ACTUAL SPEED footage assessing in my view.

Sorry for rant

Proper test Roll on next RWC with that Frog team at home... They are going to be tough to beat.

Congrats to ABs on the pretty tense win Jordie really played very well. Blackadder was a pretty busy guy too. Siya Kwagga and Eben were great for us I thought and generally our forwards looked better than Oz games. Lots of errors both sides and neither team really got control going. Surprised it didn’t open up at least a bit in last 20 or so and automaton kicking right to the death was just weird…umm STUPID... Wonder what lineup changes we will have for last one… Surely there will be a lot now and hopefully a very different game awaits …

@Machpants @Chris Nobody I know really bothers with his stuff here anymore. Gavin Rich is a decent Supersport writer and Craig Ray from Daily Maverick arguably top of the pile with journos like Liam Del Carme and Simnikiwe Xabanisa also up there with balanced pieces. Keo is a clickbait troll in plenty people’s opinions over here too.

Agreed re RC under current laws. Also a 20 min fan.

Raynal scrum penalty count against Ireland was ridiculous. On Spider Cam view it was obvious English loosehead was taking the piss. Not to mention the no 11 “flanker” behind him… his hip was a metre from his hooker all night basically..‍‍‍ And not word from TMO to correct him. Against Tadhg too…who I battle to not comfortably see as the best tighthead in the world currently…wtf… Piss poor reffing

Pretty scary refereeing differences between the four “bigger” matches thus far…,,

BOK Is an excellent ref and hasn’t got the credit on these boards at least for the last couple years... Very happy to have him rather than Raynal….