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South African pundit puts the Springboks above Ireland and France on form
By Kim Ekin
Former South African hooker Hanyani Shimange, also known as Shimmi, says that the Springboks demolition of Wales puts them now as one of top form teams in the world.
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South Africa put Wales to the sword by 52-16 whilst in the other warm-up fixtures, France was less than impressive in their 34-17 win over Fiji and Ireland coasted through 29-10 over England.
Shimmi highlighted the lacklustre form of the other teams, including former World Cup favourites France who lost their standing with the bookies after losing key players to injury against Scotland.
“Which team is consistent now? France? The first game they played away against Scotland, lost that,” he told SuperSport’s Final Whistle.
“They came back, they weren’t really good in France against Fiji.
“England, you don’t really know what to expect from England to be honest. They play better with less men.”
The former Springbok even questioned the form of the All Blacks who were nearly upset in Dunedin by the Wallabies.
That display added doubt as to how good New Zealand really are.
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“New Zealand had a good game against us, beat Australia then they almost lose against Australia at home.”
However, Shimmi did give Ian Foster’s side the benefit of the doubt and put the All Blacks at the top of his pecking order before ranking the Springboks second close in behind them.
Ireland was ‘probably’ third while France had dropped down after looking ‘very average’.
“If you asked me what are the form teams now, and you do a pecking order in world rugby,” he said.
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“It’s difficult to pick. You’d say maybe New Zealand, you say after our performance maybe we are there.
“Definitely not England, definitely not Wales, definitely not Australia and probably Ireland.
“France, what I’ve seen from France now without Dupont and the main guys there, very average.”
The Springboks play New Zealand at Twickenham this weekend in what would be a clash between the world’s top two teams according to Shimange.
Who is this leading pundit called Shimmi?
When did he play for Springboks?
I think we can learn an awful lot from these warm up games.
Depth, combinations, and -even though there might be a fair bit of shadow boxing- tactics.
Even sides resting key players still gives fringe players game time, gives them problems to solve in real time, even if it isn’t the full buffet of a proper test you still get to sample sections of the game they’ve been cooking up.
Springboks v all blacks will be different. The survivors of this game will be very, very battle hardened by the time the cup kicks off.
I can’t see either side holding anything back other than selections. (Springboks are having a look at a different backline.)
It is very difficult in rugby to hold back an entire game plan for the sake of fooling the opponents and not showing them too much.
Because that game plan and the components of it need time to gel.
Gene! U missing a massive information, u certainly have no clue about the sports especially the Rugby, when U going to play a big match like Springboks& All Blacks, no prat tactics,
Yes, Ire are #1 in the rankings (for whatever that's worth) but there will always be a question mark over them at WC until they can get to a final. They need to get past the QF first! something they have never done before and it will be either Fra or NZ!!
If SA Springbok, can walk away when All Blacks displaying their Haka, not standing B4 them & being intimidated psychologically by that prat display, they can certainly beat them, they must go away & warm themselves,
Teams that peak too early are always overrated for the RWC. And coaches that get their teams to peak too early are rewarded with contract extensions for doing so. Conversely, teams and coaches that aim to peak at the RWC can get harshly judged on their pre-RWC form. EJ would no doubt have a perspective on that.
The reality is more nuanced. The pre-RWC experimentation and depth building will be replaced by best efforts, at least in the big games. The RWC winner will probably have lost key players to injury and/or suspension, along the way. And there are innovations and targeted game plans that have been kept under wraps. Additionally, the conditioning coaches and medical staff will have been targeting the athletes to peak in Oct 2023.
Of course the 6N, TRC and RWC warm ups provide interesting data points, but if you believe that thoughtful coaches like Rassie and Eddie have disclosed all of their cards then you have not been listening.
As usual the teams that look good in the run up to the RWC are likely to look less good in the tournament itself. And then we will be treated to the idiots citing poor refereeing and the bounce of the ball to explain it.
Specifically I do think that people are underestimating the extent of the groundwork that Rassie/Jacques have put into it.
Don't be surprised to see the Boks in the final.
With all the squad rotation going on, it would be foolish to read too much into any of these warm up matches. You could argue that France have been patchy against Scotland and Fiji, but it could also be argued that both these teams are actually playing really well. Wales rotating their squad has given them a 50 point mauling the the Boks - but they suffered a similar result last year against NZ.
I think NZ vs SA this weekend may point to some bragging rights going into the tournament, but it will be forgotten in a month.
I agree with this, I think Ireland and France are very good but are just under NZ and SA, the latter two are coming on to a game now the big show is on like they do time and time again.
I tend to agree with Shimmi. I said the very same thing earlier on this week. And for those saying its all about the Wales game it's not. Last time SA played France and Ireland they lost by only a few points and both games had their controversial calls in other words games could have gone either way. With that said the SA side has grown a lot since then in both personal, experience and game plan options yet both Ireland and France appear to have gotten weaker or at best stayed the same. But hey I could be wrong but time will tell. Another thing that need to be remembered is that both SA and NZ have a lot of experience doing well in this tournament. NZ, SA, IRL and then FRA.