Jodie Ounsley swaps rugby ball for pugil stick on Gladiators reboot

SFM is mid. Good for his age, internationally the equivalent of Harry Plummer. We just prefer to pick good players than bad ones for the sake of 'depth'. CM and DW are not 10s, suffice to say. More like 15s really.

10x the population but still needed a poisoning to win the first RWC?

I understand where you are coming from. No shortage of players is fine. The talent pool in SA is impressive. But who is going to replace PSDT? Or Marx/Mbonambi? Or Arendse/Kolbe/Mapimpi? Those players have not been replaced by anyone so far this season. Pollard has barely found a successor.

SA might have to start doing SAXV games so I can get a better understanding of the talent pool, or indeed just to get some players playing those positions.

Thought Crowley should've gotten the yellow, since neither player was the tackler in that situation (neither had possession) and Crowley actually moves towards Molina.

SRP is much better than you want to admit. The Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika bat well above their weight, and the Brumbies & Reds have both been pretty decent since Schmidt came in.

But of course, this oak will just ignore it and claim that a competition with only 3 good teams is a good one. Sure bro.

The Japanese league is better than SR. Which is why I’ve been advocating for NZ to join it somehow.

But you won’t.

You don’t know SA rugby well enough then. To understand the strength of our player pipeline and development.

I’ve had this debate far too many times with folks on here who don’t want to listen. It’s boring now - but I’ll say it one last time.

There’s a difference between depth of the Bok squad. And The available talent in SA. There’s plenty. And so if or when players come in, they’ll be as good as any of the players we’ve ever had before.

This fact doesn’t change just because Rassie “sticks to 25”.

Razors sticking to Fosters core group too. Has hardly played anyone new. The boks have played close on 49 players. And there’ll be a few new faces against wales.

But the difference between SA and NZ - we have 10x the population you have. And we have way more players than you.

So we will be fine. Never had a shortage of players.

You can’t even find a decent 3rd string 10. We’ve got 5 x 10s in contention for the WC squad.

Was ruling you out of depth convo before it started. Sick of hearing it. Always the same thing. Never gonna believe it either. Rassie has been playing the same 25ish players for the better part of a decade now. A lot of surface level depth, doubt the true nature of it though.

Just so we can reference and draw parallels with a team that’s clearly on the road to dominating? Since you’re convinced it’s not the boks?

Let me guess. NZ?

I can at least name one team - New Zealand is playing them tonight.

Calling Elrigh Louw 'world-class' already severely drops the standard of world-class youngsters like Sititi, Roigard, Suaalii, Albornoz, and more that I can't list off the top. Louw has great potential, like a lot of other young players (Prendergast and McDermott), but to say he is world-class is a stretch. Haven't seen Hanekom so I dunno about him.

SFM just hasn't shown me his capabilities yet. He was okay v the ABs, solid 6.5/10, which is great for such a talented young man. If he can adapt a little better and work on his sharpness at test level he could be a quality 10. AF found his feet really well, and I find him most easily identifiable with Nehe Milner-Skudder. What a find for the Bokke. Just needs a better kicking game, but he is proper class. Haven't seen much of Canan Moodie, would like to see more.

20 years of talent? Are you sure? Even I consider Sam Whitelocks career long, and he played for the ABs for 14 years.

On the subject of latent talent, SA and NZ are certainly on par with each other, but the club competitions in New Zealand are just better. The NPC on its own is just such an excellent competitions, which mixes scouting, experience, and competitiveness all into one. SRP is also back on its feet thanks to Schmidt's revival of the Wallabies and RA. So to say that no other country has talent sitting deep in the back pocket, you are sorely mistaken. You haven't even seen Jamie Hannah, Fabian Holland, Kini Naholo, Noah Hotham, Taha Kemara, Rivez Reihana, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Christian Lio-Willie, or Riley Higgins. And that is just to name a few.

I think SA have somer rougher, emphasis on er, years ahead. Will definitely still be winning games, but I suspect a few frustrating losses are likely imbound, probs in 2026 and 2027. Is there any depth in PSDT's jersey? What about Mbonambi/Marx? Wingers?

Sorry, but those squads played against NZ were certainly not experimental. Almost fully fit Boks after warmups v AUS, bomb squad, regular forwards lineup, half pairing, and outside backs largely the same. 'Experimental' my arse.

Appreciate the bit at the end there about others not understanding the true depth of the NZ talent pool. The ABs make up the top 1% of SRP players, and SRP players make up the top 0.1% of rugby players in NZ. Lots of depth hidden in the NPC and lower club divisions just waiting to surface in 2025. Sure to be an incredible SRP season now that the Crusaders injury crisis is over.

I think if there was ever a team that could win three in a row it’s the Boks. Nobody’s done it before. And it’s going to be a very long time until any one else is in a position to do it again. Could be decades before anyone comes close.

So statistically speaking at least, they could do it. And they’re the only team with that opportunity.

And don't bring depth into the convo, because having a lot of minutes as second choice does not automatically make you better (Thomas du Toit, I'm looking at you)

I just haven't seen the promising players that I saw coming through ten years ago. Very good yes, but not a level above the rest of the world like Eben and co were always destined to be.

Rassie has to give them experience because the goldens won't last forever and the generation after them was pretty average. It's definitely the right strategy. But I don't see them dominating 2027 and beyond.