1
Springbok 'uppercut' reshapes 'tight' world rankings
By Ned Lester
The international rugby landscape can change in a heartbeat, or perhaps more accurately, a Springbok rolling maul.
ADVERTISEMENT
The South Africans were dominant up front against New Zealand and profited handsomely from it, ripening the narrative of the Rugby World Cup.
After impressive performances from Scotland against France, the Springboks’ World Cup pool looked like it was going to be a hotly contested encounter with great potential for upsets.
And while anything is possible, the South Africans have made a statement, reminding the world they can bully the best of teams when the pressure mounts.
The World Cup implications will be debated as the hierarchy of the world’s top teams is revised.
Ireland, who join South Africa and Scotland in pool B, sit atop the World Rugby rankings, enjoying a 13-month-long winning streak. New Zealand sit in second and prior to the Twickenham clash, the Springboks were snipping at the heels of the French who sat third.
South Africa has since overtaken the World Cup hosts, France.
The shift in power begs the question, how tight is it among the top teams in the world heading into the Rugby World Cup?
“It is (tight),” All Blacks coach Ian Foster admitted after the match. “But it wasn’t tight at Twickenham tonight, was it? It wasn’t as tight as we wanted it to be.”
ADVERTISEMENT
A 35-7 loss brings up another unflattering record for the All Blacks under Foster, marking the largest margin of defeat the team has ever succumbed to.
While the defeat will weigh heavy on the hearts of the players, there’s no time to dwell with a World Cup opening match against France just two weeks away.
“We’ve always known, you’ve got to be at your best and I thought they were, and we weren’t. So, we’ll go away and have a look at that.
ADVERTISEMENT
“But the reality is, if you could choose one trophy that wasn’t in the cabinet at the end of the year, it’d be that one.
“And so it’s not going to dampen us in what we’re doing but we certainly got an uppercut today, and we got an uppercut in a couple of areas of the game that we’ve actually been making some big strides.
“Our lineout, scrums, our discipline had been really good in that place, but we got squeezed today and it exposed a couple of habits that we’ve got to sort out.
“But it’s a great time for that to happen and it also reiterates you’ve got to keep your players on the park. Losing our form lock against the South Africans at that stage of the game doesn’t make life any easier.”
Oohh Rudi sorry hey that's what I like about bok supporters n pundits beat All Blacks once in a while now bokke is the best hai shame yet world rugby including bokke only fear one team that's y only All Blacks have the respectful tag of mighty no other team bokke played well no doubt I ain't a sore loser thats sport u win some u lose some we were handed our biggest defeat all good n well we did the same to the boks a 57-0 hammering but that means jack when it comes to the world cup don't count your chickens to early in the rugby Championship bokke n their supporters were no where to b seen or heard of I hope u guys will b around during the world cup don't go into hibernation again everytime bokke lose and what is I small bitter little girl lmao 🤣🤣🤣 can't even spell
Good time for a wake up call. As an All Black supporter, I am disappointed for the team, but The Springboks came out firing to stem the tide in the first 20 minutes, to avoid a repeat of their previous defeat. Hats off to them for taking full advantage of a lack Lustre AB's performance. From the look on Scott Barrett's face, he was as upset with himself as anyone. As Ian Foster said before the game, "Good technique is key to taking the referee's decisions out of the equation." The Springboks executed things very well and had the AB's on the ropes for much of the contest. Winning margins make great headlines, but at the World Cup, a win by any margin is all that counts at the knock out stage. Worst case scenario would be for French to win first game then Italians to have an upset win (cards coming into play as well maybe), knocking the AB's out at the pool stage. Question.. based on the draw, is there any chance of an All Blacks vs Springboks final, or are one of them destined to miss out on the final in the quarter finals or semi finals?
Conrad why the sour grapes let them enjoy this victory we didn't play well it's part of the plan lose now instead of in the world cup our pool is still cool bokke on the other hand against a high flying Scottish side n the number one Ireland they can't wait to get their hands on the boks so don't worry give them the warm up victory they on beat us All Blacks in such situations so give it to them let them have a field day I smell an early exit for the boks from the world cup lol lol lol
Then all these haters will b nowhere to b found
The boks reminding everybody that for all the talk of this stat and that stat, rugby remains a simple game.
If you've got a pack that can dominate, then 9 times out of 10 you're gonna win.
Impressive from the Boks. Hugely impressive. Reminded me of their demolition of England in the RWC final in 2019. Congrats to the Boks fans too.