Luck of the Oirish eh

IceCreamMan

what a game

guidothepimmp

i'll say, crowd was rocking 8)

StephenG

how can one NOt help but get behind a nation that gave us beer and cornflakes as a breakfast option!! ?

chris77

Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.

Wizard

chris77 wrote Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.

Maybe they decided we missed them last time ... sooo ...

Sean

Wizard wrote
chris77 wrote Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.
Maybe they decided we missed them last time ... sooo ...

No no, not crap, this is fantastic! We now have the opportunity to retain the World Cup while beating them both in the knock out rounds ?

chris77

He-he, ja Sean, indeed. That would be brilliant hey. But we haven't won 3 big games in a row in a long time.
And the All Blacks have the air of destiny shrouding them atm. If we pull it off though..... Surely Smittie & co can then be regarded as the greatest team of modern times?

IceCreamMan

chris77 wrote Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.

if ever there was a reason to throw a game an end second in the group this is it ..a loss against samoa would be a hellova fortunate thing hey ...

and i betcha Div has had this thought since wales beat samoa...

Gearhead

If you want to become world champion you have to be able to beat all the other teams, regardless of the order ?

Keira-WitherKay

Gearhead wrote If you want to become world champion you have to be able to beat all the other teams, regardless of the order ?

in principle you right but reality is skewed so to be world champ all you need do is make the final and win ?

Sean

IceCreamMan wrote
chris77 wrote Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.
if ever there was a reason to throw a game an end second in the group this is it ..a loss against samoa would be a hellova fortunate thing hey ...

and i betcha Div has had this thought since wales beat samoa...

Any team that would throw a game to try make the path to the final easier will never win the cup anyway.
If we have to play both the Wallabies and the All Blacks, then so be it. If we fall out in the quarters, fine. But just imagine how sweet it would be retaining the cup by beating both those teams ?

Keira-WitherKay

Long as our name gets on the trophy by next year no one will regret a tactical move by fielding the B side to secure a place in finals . And knowing south africans impatience with a team that loses if we go ahead and brave both big teams and get knocked out the criticism will fly rampant that they were not tactical when they had the chance .

IceCreamMan

Sean wrote
IceCreamMan wrote
chris77 wrote Aaaah Crap. That probably means we get the Aussies in the quorter finals and then the all blacks in the semis.
if ever there was a reason to throw a game an end second in the group this is it ..a loss against samoa would be a hellova fortunate thing hey ...

and i betcha Div has had this thought since wales beat samoa...
Any team that would throw a game to try make the path to the final easier will never win the cup anyway.
If we have to play both the Wallabies and the All Blacks, then so be it. If we fall out in the quarters, fine. But just imagine how sweet it would be retaining the cup by beating both those teams ?

the sentiment above means the boks should actually return the trophy for 2007 and ask for their name to be erased from the record books..shhort memories eh....

so let me remind you, in 2007 the boks played neither the all blacks or the wallabies to their word cup win.....

its a sport , sport is not only about talent but about cleverness as well...losing to samoa would be a damn brilliant tactic

Wizard

The nice thing is that our result against Samoa is good either way ?
(assuming we beat Namibia!!)

chris77

No, uh-uh. Not playing to win is like initiating foreplay with the hope of getting a peck on the cheek.
If we win it, we win it. If we don't, let it at least be said we went down fighting.

Sean

IceCreamMan wrote
the sentiment above means the boks should actually return the trophy for 2007 and ask for their name to be erased from the record books..shhort memories eh....

so let me remind you, in 2007 the boks played neither the all blacks or the wallabies to their word cup win.....

Who would forget that we played neither the Wallabies or the All Blacks in the 2007? No short memories here ? I don't think there are any hidden sentiments in my post ?

IceCreamMan wrote its a sport , sport is not only about talent but about cleverness as well...losing to samoa would be a damn brilliant tactic

So how would you execute this "tactic" honestly? Let's see, you could pick your weakest 15? But looking at the squad, in all likelihood, that team would probably be strong enough to beat Samoa anyway.
Anything else would be dishonest. Is this really how you would want our national team to represent our country?

Wizard

Losing intentionally is never a tactic.
It just means there's a potential sweetener if the unthinkable happens and we lose to Samoa.

A simpler tactic is to just win all our future games.
Maklik.

IceCreamMan

Keira WitherKay wrote Long as our name gets on the trophy by next year no one will regret a tactical move by fielding the B side to secure a place in finals . And knowing south africans impatience with a team that loses if we go ahead and brave both big teams and get knocked out the criticism will fly rampant that they were not tactical when they had the chance .

Exactly , i can assure you these discussions and thoughts are being entertained.......the guys dont earn glory or bonuses by not making the final ....thats for sure ....a quarter final and a semi against the toughest teams in the worls will render the boks impotent in a final against any other team that got there i suspect.... these would be 2 hellova tough games that would result in injuries an burnout .....easy pickings for an england team...

i dont think its cheating to throw a game to be honest , it would be a tactic ..... take a step backwards to make 2 forwards (pun) .....believe me this topic is going to be discussed at length at braais ,over beers, in the press and all over ZA in the weeks to come..

the goal is to win the world cup .....lets focus on the goal ...taking the softer route increases yr chances of doing that ...

Wizard

Australia lost to Samoa recently and to Ireland yesterday.
So who would we rather meet in the next round?

pbrizzolari

I think our players had it right when they said the easiest easy to win the cup is to win 7 games in a row. I would be more disappointed if we threw a game than if we lost playing oz or new zealand.

Besides, on any given night our boys can beat any team in the world. Lets not forget that our rusty team beat the new zealanders in pe not 2 months ago.

Have some faith and let the boys play their best rugby. Anything less means we don't deserve to be there.

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