Springboks coach reveals Eben Etzebeth under injury cloud for All Blacks

SA are the best team in the world right now. If England were anywhere near as good as South Africa I'd be celebrating too, don't get me wrong. But SA aren't dominating to the same degree as Ferrari dominated F1, or Tyson dominated boxing, or Australia dominated cricket. They've won two games, at home, against the world's third best side.

They're doing better than I thought they would. I was wrong. But I am not your opp, Andy Farrell is. Beating down the naysayers gets you nowhere when you can't put to bed a rivalry with a team that has never even made a semi-final.

I think its important to bear in mind that none of the last four games between NZ and SA have been in NZ.

2 of them have been on neutral ground, so South Africa are definitely the better team at the moment, but I think it isn't an especially seismic shift. SA's winning run is only 4 games, and they lost to Ireland this year at home, so they're a long way off what New Zealand achieved from 2015-2017, when they beat SA 6 times in a row (including 3 away wins) winning 18 consecutive games against all opponents between 2015 and 2016.

What we are witnessing is (i) an extremely good SA side - the best since the 1990s, and (ii) the long-term decline of southern hemisphere rugby.

Etzebeth was wrong to announce that they are the best team in the world, and they will face much stiffer tests this autumn.

Go watch video of McCaw (2001- 2011), Kronfeld, and Jones who were fantastic support runners in open play and linked with the backs (particularly the midfielders) in attack, in addition to doing their share of rucking. Savea played this style very well before he was converted into a 8 in 2019.

The role changed with Sam Cane at 7 because, as great a defender as he is, he is slow and limited in attack as a link man. So 7 became a short blindside flanker with Cane, Papalii, Blackadder, and Jacobson.

Let your 6 do the traditional role of a blindside and hit rucks, hard carries up the guts, and monster tackles. and then you can have fast, athletic opensides like Savea and Peter Lakai play like a traditional openside.

Sititi is ready to start at 8. If you are good enough you are old enough.

So I’ve been feeling good about the boks for a while now. The tough part has been beating the naysayers down with my superfan optimism.

But seriously folks.

I remember when Schumacher was the best F1 driver and Ferrari were dominating. Or when the Aussies dominated cricket like gods. Or Mike Tyson was a phenom in the ring. This is one of those times in sports history that’s here to enjoy. If you’re a Bok fan.

You kiwis know what I’m talking about. And even the Irish that still think they’re team’s no.1 (shame).

I believe this is the best Bok team I’ve ever seen and might never happen again! Take it in.

There’s no such thing as recency bias here. Since 1965 the Pumas have been able to have some fabulous games and beat major teams. The true consistency in the Pumas is their INconsistency. Of course beating the ABs is seen as a major accomplishment, but they’ve been close before. Once a draw after the Pumas 8 dropped the ball in a pushover scrum and the game ended. One other time Razor stole it after a poor kick from Felipe.

What they have improved is in ball handling. From a Porta and scrum driven play to now there’s a huge difference.

You show this bias, not us Argies. Sorry, bummer I have to disagree.

Lowe left in 2017 when the All Black wings were Savea, Milner-Skudder, Reiko, Naholo and Dagg. Tough group to break into. Aki was behind Nonu and SBW in 2014 but was earmarked for black from 2016.