Marcus Smith handed start at No 15 amid spate of Harlequins injuries

I excluded Sacha as that was a unfortunate (if still stupid?) situation. I don't think we've seen any real weaknesses from him yet, have you in the URC?

Note where it reads:

Those points of advantage allowed the Boks to overcome a highly un-South African goal-kicking success ratio

And pay special attention to;

The Tony Brown drip-effect is clearly already becoming something of a gusher. Although it is one stat which is much harder to quantify, at the Rugby Championship both South Africa and Argentina have been playing closer to source, and much closer to the gain line than New Zealand and Australia. Both nations are closer to the cutting edge of innovation at the pointy end of the game.

None of which is dictated by the 10. So I will ask you, have you understood the article?

What type of mistakes did you mean if not with his frequent 'kicking'?

Humble teams don't mock beaten opponents: arrogant teams do. End of story.

It's no biggie. The Irish (and the Irish team) just think youre arrogant and entitled.

Your AB website kinda supports that truism.

Take a puke bucket before you read

Humble heroes

Despite their ferocity on the rugby field and their superstar status in the eyes of fans around the world, the All Blacks are known for being humble.

All of the individuals you mentioned were individually sanctioned. Individuals can do bad things. In every case they are banned, apologize and take their medicine.

Instead of any contrition being shown by the Irish captain having c***t shouted at the back of his head, POM being abused and the Irish crowd being abused twice. All these actions condoned by Foster and Cane and therefore NZ rugby.

Contrast that with the Tests in Wellington where Ireland showed total respect and consideration for their beaten opponents aftre both tests.

No matter what your personal feelings are you don't mock beaten opponents, you certainly don't abuse spectators. Because Foster and Cane supported it, it amounts to deep respect from NZ to Ireland.

Again humble teams don't mock beaten opponents; arrogant teams do.

And that's end of story.

The reason they did this has nothing to do with POM or Johnny Sexton, it is to do with the loss of the test series to Ireland. So be it, it will make the November match more interesting and I have a feeling Ireland will make sure a lot of pre RWC preparation is done for a knock out RWC match with NZ. Animosity seems to eb baked in now just because NZ can't lose gracefully. Before anyone jumps in about Ireland losing gracefully, we did..the Irish team didn't cite Ioane and left the scene quitely for those still in the tournament.

I'm all for scrums becoming more powered, just not in the negative fashion they had been used. You might have misunderstood the concept/implications. Thanks for the reply.