Turning The Screw

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This evening the SA rugby team romped home to a 67-30 victory over Argentina by outscoring them 9 tries to 3. Two weeks ago the SA team outscored the All Blacks by 36 points to nil in the second half and today they outscored the Argentinians 42-7 in the second half. This is not by chance and all about draining their opponents energy and then striking for the kill.

One has to look at how the SA team is running away with these games and it is similar to a boxer wearing down their opponent. Both the All Blacks and Argentinians were still in with a fight up to half time and then the litmus paper was lit and it is good night nurse.

This evening the Argentinians were forced to cover from one side of the field to the other and were [physically run off their feet. The advantage SA has over every other team in the world is the depth of their squad so players will be rested so they can fully recover between matches. Other teams play players who have niggles as they do not have the depth of players to cover every position.

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South Africa just have to win against Argentina next week to win the rugby championship as New Zealand would need to beat Australia by a minimum of 61 points plus whatever SA beats Argentina by. This is highly unlikely as the Argentinians are out the tournament with no chance of victory so they have nothing to fight for besides pride. The match is being played on neutral soil at Twickenham in the UK which will seem like a home match for the South Africans.

What is notable over the last month or so is the SA rugby team have moved to the next level and have moved away from their forward dominance game plan. The forward dominance is still there and is part of the wearing down process, but the back line has been giving full license to attack. The natural flair and individual running brilliance has been let loose and the speed being shown by these players is sounding out a warning of what is to come.

In the past few seasons we have seen glimpses of this running ability and the team is now showing they are ready to use this as a strike weapon. Most teams have two or three players with exceptional pace yet here we are seeing 7 players with pace to burn. The replacements coming off the bench are of the same quality and it is impossible to compete against this group of players.

South Africa has half a dozen x factor players that can turn a game on it's head through individual brilliance and we have seen this in their last two matches now. These players are very young and are the playmakers now keeping out the old guard who have two world cups under their belt. The team has evolved from an ageing experienced group of players to a young team ready to exploit any weakness and are afraid of no one. The coach is allowing them to play once the wearing down process has been completed. I would not bet against these players from lifting their third World Cup in a row come 2027 because they are only going to get better from here.

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