Woeful Aussies sink to new depths

[jargan83]

Does that put to rest the poor argument that the Boks can only win ugly?

I hope a number of you are enjoying your slice of humble pie.

Whats Humble Pie? I don't think anyone said that the Proteas can only win by playing ugly "Northern Rugby". Merely a observation of how they had played so far this year and you can only comment on what is in front of you. I was glad that they actually played Rugby on Saturday night and (as James already stated) I'm sure even the yarpie supporters on this website will agree that it was a better game to watch then a game filled with endless kicking.

I think like James also asked, why didn't they play like that before?

[Burgs]

It's not they only win that way, just that they normally choose to.

[KenyaQuin]

Whats Humble Pie? I don't think anyone said that the Proteas can only win by playing ugly "Northern Rugby".

I think like James also asked, why didn't they play like that before?

I think it was more the suggestion (implied) that they could only win ball-off-boot.

I would like to think the Boks are playing their opposition. They've varied their tactics as such and have been successful. I remember when the All Blacks dominated proceedings prior to the 2003 World Cup but teams quickly caught on and without a suitable Plan B..well, we all know what happened.

Now, I'm no Bok fan, they are afterall my 3rd favourite team in the Tri Nations and generallly love kicking them when they're down just like most. However, watching them play this year during the Lions and Tri Nations series, I've accepted they are tactically more suave than anyone else. Surely credit is due to the Boks for varying their game plan whether intended or not. They are are showing that they understand the game better than most and have the skill levels to play contrasting game tactics and win.

Now let me go on to another issue, kicks in the game. I could be wrong and would have to review games prior to the ELVs, but I suspect the kicking game (to-and -froing of kicks) is a significant characteristic of the ELVs rugby. I remember watching the early Spirit games and remarking how one of the desired strategies in relation to short-arm penalties was the high kick, ie, a garry owen or kick and chase. Following on from that, we saw it in the S14s with the rationale being to put the other team under pressure in their half and force the turnover or another short-arm rather than have a quick tap and potentially gain zero as well as lose the ball in a less desirable location; or scrummage in that less desirable spot.

Now fast forward to post ELVs, and having seen how effective the kick and chase was in the ELV era, teams have continued to fall back on these kicks as THE way to get into the oppositions territory and force a mistake, this time however the reward could be a turnover or perhaps better still an easy 3-pointer.

Now, the question suddenly is..shit, how do we get rid of the kicking game? Well, returning to the ELVs (assuming my hypothesis is true) will remove the number of 3-pointers but not necessarily the garry owens. But, then again, the damage is done, the horse has bolted and the IRB has no other recourse than to give the Resistance the finger and revisit the short and long arm penalties and rebrand these changes to something other than "ELVs".