All Blacks name their most experienced team to ever play World Cup final

With rain forecast Foster has made a smart choice. Would like to have seen LF on the bench instead of DM, he’s a powerful bloke and would be a great impact player against a tired SA team. Coles very unlucky as well.

Going to be a great contest, this is a very good AB team with good pace and size on the outside when compared to ‘Boks (we’ve got pace but not much size). I am worried as SA fan, players looked absolutely flat against England, may be they’re tired. I hope not and it was just a lapse after the France game where couldn’t get themselves up again in time. Going to be close but hear Rassie says we’ve got one “Get Out of Jail Free” card left.

The Blackadder should have probably been in this side, as well as last weeks team. He has the skill and the gutsy attitude required to play against Sth A. Also, would it have hurt to have Coles on the bench?

Thank you for the great kick off times France!!

Ridiculous smack talk aside (looking at you Turdlough), it’s going to be a great game and fascinating to see what turns out to be true from all the guessing.

Each set of fans sees the things they need to be true in order to feel like their team will win, and there’s been some great banter with the SA crew.

Whoever wins, it’ll be a great chapter in that teams proud and hard earned rugby history.

Good luck luck boys, wish you just a tiny bit less well than the All Blacks 😉

SA are about to paint their Masterpeice - NZ will have to overcome 15 SA forwards over the course of the game and although Laulala and Taukei’aho have been added to strengthen the bench forwards Foster hasnt changed his 5 - 3 split - perhaps we just dont have that extra forward quality to push out a back - Blackadder is the only player who comes to mind - the one player I would have had in is LF for ALB - I think Foster has missed a trick there. SA are 4 years a Head of NZ in player development They have also revolutionized the game with their bench management and selection of players able to cover multiple positions - kolbe can play halfback if de klerk is injured that allows them to add an extra forward - Du Toit is better than Cane Smith is better than Papalii - Synman is better Impact than Whitlock. SA 7 - 1 split was used in ABs loss at Twickenham.The only way the ABs can win this is play like they did at Mount Smart surging ahead by 15 or more and hope they can hold off SA in their final run to the line. NZ Forwards attacking SA backs could also reap rewards. However having 15 forwards playing the game and more backs playing in mutiple positions should deliver more pressure penalties points injuries and cards for SA and another a World Cup - I Cannot see them losing this one

Nepo’s a great “you’ve got one job” replacement. Not sure about D-Mac, could we have gone 6-2 with an Ethan Blackadder? Probably not. Also Coles’ experience from 60+ mins versus Samasoni’s power game? Who do we trust, 5 metre lineout throw at 79 mins to try win a close one? And great to see a 5-3 bench mix giving a “so what” to Rassie’s 7-1, shows we're confident in our pack.

Solid team!! Can’t wait!

NZ beat SA 35-20 in Smart Stadium.
They quickly changed the attack side to side to create gaps between forwards and backs and then strike through the middle or wide. SA fixed this in Twickenham. You could see fear on NZ faces before that match. They knew. There was going to be no early lead. It took a while to break them down but the beating was inevitable. The ref was very very slow producing the yellows.
Against France NZ broke the line two ways: full breaks through the centre or the chip through midfield. Same with Ireland with the lineout attacking tries scored against Italy bearing fruit for one.

But NZ/Schmidt did a number on Porter in the scrum giving key set piece possession. Ditto, encroaching on the gap in the lineout which Barnes lets go. The gap Mounga broke through was as someone said a coach firing moment. Ireland’s coaching was shit, they obviously had no prep since the Series dossier and were distracted by Scotland. NZ improved at the breakdown.
None of this applies to SA, none of it. It won’t work. Their coaches miss nothing. SA will be more fatigued but NZ needed a dry day to leverage that. That’s gone. It won’t be as bad as Twickenham but it will be reminiscent.
The ridiculous draw (which is only being reviewed now because our beloved All Black overlords were affected) nearly meant an England - New Zelaand final. 8th vs 4th at the start. Riduclous.
The crass behaviour NZ showed towards retiring Irish players and the beautiful Irish crowd at Stade De France cements them as ignorant B-_st_rds for us for ever. Karma is coming. 2015 will turn into NZs new 1987.

35-7 in Twickenham. Wet night? No way the NZ deck chair reshuffle bridges that gap. 4th best team in the cup to lose.