Cheika linked with surprise move to Premiership - reports

Can’t cover the backline (I guess) like Kwagga can. But he has the game of Kwagga and the size of Wiese. I’d give him a run. Come on!

I see a young Cameron Hanekom being used as a chaser. Going to be einah.

If RM or BB were playing I’d have NZ as clear favourites (not necessarily by a landslide though…). As things stand I’d say NZ by a few but could go either way with Ireland at home.

I agree re your assessment of England as better than they are given credit for. Surely you can see that your above assessment is for the birds?

France have beaten NZ by 14-15 times in the last two matches. Ireland beat NZ in Durban with a lot of first team players missing almost all of which will start tomorrow.

Yet you maintain that doling out heavy defeats to Ireland and France in Dublin and Paris will be a sign that things are on the up?

I agree the NZ forwards are very good. But this Irish pack, dominated SA in Durban (not in the scrum but everywhere else).

In short, good luck with that prediction but this is 2024 not 1984!

If he could have chosen a rule change to directly benefit SA more than any other team this would have been it. They are already the masters of this game plan without their chasers having free access to contest.

Have to agree, Tamaiti is potentially a risk in this game while the downfall of DeGroot is a little mysterious. In saying that, Tosi and Tu'ungafasi were excellent last week so there is good back up on the bench.

Firstly the squad churn razor has been managing has left him very short at 10, with RM out of reach and no clear successor coming through. Did they make mistake allowing FB to leave, who knows but you probably need to trust the judgement that razor knew him inside out already.

Secondly the assessment undervalues England as opposition. They started the 6N well winning in Rome (not a given these days), pipped wales (Eng/wal is always a war!) but came unstuck against Scotland in full flow. But they then beat Ireland (NZ should know how tough this can be…) and came very close to winning a competitive game in France.

So, while I don’t necessarily disagree with the assessment, it probably misses the nuance of trajectory and direction of travel. If NZ win well against Ireland and France, rather than the slightly scruffy wins they had against England, then I would be pretty confident that razor is beginning to get his feet properly under the table and good things may lie ahead. But they still need to figure out a way ($$$s…) to get RM back home…