June International Test: South Africa vs. Ireland [2nd Test] (18/06/2016)

[The Jones Boy]

Congratulations South Africa.
A rich strong rugby history could have unravelled with another loss.
Instead the Boks came back and found their spirit.

 

[Aotearoa_]

South Africa came perilously close to a disaster of a test series. I feel for the Irish.

South Africa looked great in the majority of the 2nd half, good to see them finally playing the right players, they will be as usual a very tough beat in SA when they play the right team.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Still haven't seen the game, Dad described it as a second string and fatigued side losing it in the last 25 to Boks playing for their lives. I can handle that, think we'll win next week if Henshaw is firing.

 

[saulan]

Still haven't seen the game, Dad described it as a second string and fatigued side losing it in the last 25 to Boks playing for their lives. I can handle that, think we'll win next week if Henshaw is firing.

I missed most of the game but I read something that said Henshaw was an injury risk for the Irish for the last match.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I missed most of the game but I read something that said Henshaw was an injury risk for the Irish for the last match.

Meant to say fit there. Think he's borderline.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

Hard to argue with the result when your country concedes 4 tries. Still, it's disappointing to throw away a 16 point lead with 18 minutes remaining.

Great comeback for South Africa. Their power blew Ireland away. The visitors seemed to be running on empty late on due to the hosts physicaility. Ruan Combrinck and Warren Whiteley made the world of difference when they came on. How Combrinck in particular didn't start is beyond me. In comparison, Ireland's replacements weakened the team.

Despite the loss there were positives for Ireland in this second test. Tadhg Furlong showed up well at tighthead and may now supplant Mike Ross as first choice. Quinn Roux put in a good shift justifying Joe Schmidt's faith in him. Paddy Jackson showed he's an able replacement for Jonny Sexton. Jared Payne deserves a longer run at 15 ahead of Rob Kearney. Despite not making the desired impact, Stuart Olding, Finlay Bealham and Sean Reidy now know what's required of them in stepping up to test rugby.

 

[Durbanite]

Lambie out for 3rd test as well. Duane Vermeulen injured his elbow, Warren Whiteley injured his shoulder, and Trevor Nyakane injured his ankle. All except pat will be evaluated tomorrow at training. Afaik those are the only injury concerns ahead of saturday

 

[SomeOke]

While it was a great come-back for Ireland we really need to improve dramatically if we want to win the series.
Altitude probably played a part as well as our bench being much more impact than the Irish bench.

Combrink was fantastic and I'd love to see him as a nailed on started for the Bokke, he's exactly the Cory Jane/ Ben Smith type winger we need to shore ourselves up against Ireland's tactical kicking, but I'm just not sure how we will manage to include him while keeping the politicians happy. Perhaps we bring in Notshe in place of Vermulen or Whiteley (if they are injured).

 

[Rockradar]

Combrink I'd say is more like a Clyde Rathbone cos he's quite strong on his feet from what I saw in that game. First time I seen him was that last game. Looking forward to seeing him play good in the future.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Henshaw out, we'll be weak in the air and at 15 now.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Will AC have learnt his lesson?

Mvovo is weak under the high ball. We saw it in test 1, we saw t in test 2. They are targetting him and getting results. Quite a number of Ireland's tries have been off of him failing under the high ball. We all knew Combrinck is the best winger in SA and his versatility cvering fullback adds options. I also wouldn't mind him replacing Le Roux at 15. Will we now start at wing him despite his skin color?

Vermeulen and Louw are off the pace. Bring in Whiteley and Kriel or if Whiteley is also out, then bring in Botha or one of the Du Preez twins at 8.

Also, we see we need impact off of the bench. Time to drop Mbonambi and bring one of Marx or Van der Merwe onto the bench. Even Marutlule ahead of Mbonambi if we need a black player.

Long term (looking at 2019) I see Whiteley as captain with Marx starting ahead of Strauss and Van der Merwe on the bench at hooker. Again though, the quotas...

 

[munstermuffin]

Henshaw out, we'll be weak in the air and at 15 now.

I think he may go Marshall at 13. Although TOH would be fine at 15. But without a doubt it first time we have a serious chance and atill have the players. Regardless of result we are winners as we have learnt alot

 

[LukeFitzgerald]

From the point of view of consistency, Schmidt should go with an Olding-Marshall partnership while keeping Payne at 15. But we were fairly weak defensively in our outside channel in the last 15-20 mins. Payne would definitely fill up that Henshaw filled gap in defense, despite how good defensively Marshall is.
The other option is a Marshall-Payne partnership with TOH at fullback. but giving TOH his first cap in SA, against SA in a series decider would be lunacy, considering he isn't anywhere near as solid as Payne under the high ball.
This Henshaw injury has really screwed us over.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Schmidt really should've taken McCloskey...

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Schmidt really should've taken McCloskey...

Why? Both our 12's have played well...

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Why? Both our 12's have played well...

Sorry, I'm not too up to date on Irish rugby, but I thought him at 12 with Marshall 13 would've been pretty solid in this situation.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Sorry, I'm not too up to date on Irish rugby, but I thought him at 12 with Marshall 13 would've been pretty solid in this situation.

About as solid as Olding - Marshall or Marshall - Payne, McCloskey's late season form left a lot to be desired. We'd have been better served with Ringrose but both those guys needed a break imo.

 

[munstermuffin]

In fairness to Schmidt he picked form guys and they've done well. Roux in my eyes has been the only failed experiment. He lost only lineout aimed at him, offered nothing carrying, poor work rate and tackles and well was found out.
Next week I think Marshall will play 13. He'd fine game at 12 and would've replaced Olding for last test but now they'll link up I'd say. Earls will return. CJ will be back and it'd be hard to call will he start or bench as back row did well Saturday. Toner in 2nd row with Henderson with Dillane.
McGrath Best and I'd seriously consider Furlong.
I'd also ask would it be worth gambling not putting Madigan on bench. He's clearly not in reckoning, rightly so, and Olding and Murray can cover 10

 

[TRF_heineken]

Whoooohoooooo!! I finally managed to be at Ellis Park and see the Boks win the game! That's one monkey off my back!

Isn't it funny that when the quotas got pulled and replaced by in-form players, we started to play better??

Kolisi just showed again that he's not good enough to be a Springbok. Last year HM defended him after a shocking game, and said that he will make amends, which up to date hasn't happened, and on Saturday again he showed how poor he was, putting on extra pressure on the rest of the forwards.

As for Mvovo, absolutely shocking from him, who was last week on of the better players on the field. Couldn't catch a single ball in the air, and the Irish just kept on peppering him with bombs.

I was sitting pretty high up in the stands, and from that angle you get a different perspective of what's going on on the field.

Damian De Allende can't tackle, Elton Jantjies left his kicking boots at home, Mvovo had butter fingers, Kolisi was half asleep on the field, and Frans Malherbe was yet again a walking penalty machine.

Let's be fair, the Altitude had a massive impact on the game's end result. After 60 minutes Ireland were hanging on for dear life and couldn't cope with the tempo. The question is however, was this a planned move by AC or was it truly a coincidence? The first half was boring as hell. if the queue at the Beertent wasn't so long, then I would've left at half time. I think us booing them off the field when the half time whistle gone, also helped a lot, and when the locals starting cheering "Lions, Lions, Lions" it lifted Elton and the rest of the Lions players to play so well the 2nd half.

The first half I thought Ireland played a time management game to perfection, slowing the game down as much as possible to try to negate the effects of the altitude for the 2nd half. But that blitzkrieg was something special to see.

It was certainly one of the most memorable matches I've watched live.

 

[Amiga500]

In fairness to Schmidt he picked form guys and they've done well. Roux in my eyes has been the only failed experiment. He lost only lineout aimed at him, offered nothing carrying, poor work rate and tackles and well was found out.

He was brought in for tight-head scrummaging.

In that, it worked.

But as you say, in everything else, it didn't.


I'd also wonder if both our flankers paid more attention to scrummaging, then we wouldn't need to bring in the likes of Roux. Henderson locked into the scrum well on Sat and rarely slipped off the prop. Ruddock didn't and was repeatedly offering very little support beyond the first second or two.