USAP : le Sud-Africain Van Tonder s’engange deux ans de plus

He's back though, so you get your wish!?! Are you going to live or die by your sword!?! We have another poster here who refuses to live or die by what he posts... do you want to be like him? 🤣

Canes making more plays on defence though, sure he couldn't tackle the guy on his inside, that's not really much of a criticism though, not many would. He did enough for the inside support to do the other part of the job in stopping the runner (there just was no inside support ofc). I think there was only one other miss, and a 'scoreboard' miss that was actually a solid play by him. He also made several other crucial plays, he just 'looks' younger this year. Which obviously he isn't, so you can also just notice the physical effects of age, but I think he's 'playing' better.

TLDR sometimes you slide off tackles, or drop a random ball, it doesn't exclude you from playing superb rugby otherwise.

I agree that the idea of 'longevity' in this context can be looked at in multiple other concepts, some critical. That begins a huge discussion however, one that completely changes the landscape, but I am interested in any ideas you have on how the game can be turned from the All Blacks operating like a 'club' team, to how they could instead look as a representative team.

Seeing women bash each other around is not my cup of tea. Beware the future court cases.

Just give this article a pass?

As Rassie identified, the breakdown was a big part of the two springbok tests against NZ. The pumas also won the breakdown battle in Wellington. Ireland's dark arts were also on display in the springbok - Irish tests.

On the attack side, you see teams willing to play more open rugby and play a bit more freely on defense. In particular, England and Springboks have looked a lot more attack orientated than before.

If I were to compare it, 2017-2023 were like 2003-2009, when a much tighter and physical game was trending, The way teams are playing at the moment is a bit like the end of 2009 going into 2010, with south africa still dominating through their physicality but teams starting to open up again and run the ball more.

Until Rassie put his tutorial video up on YouTube during the last Lions series.

Undid decades of goodwill.

Steve never stood a chance.