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The Jake White verdict on 'power vs skill' Springboks-Ireland clash
By Liam Heagney
Jake White has shared his thoughts on Saturday night’s Rugby World Cup blockbuster in Paris between the Springboks and Ireland.
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The meeting of the Pool B heavyweights at Stade de France – a clash between the defending champions and the world’s current No1-ranked side – has been the most hyped fixture so far at France 2023 and the grapevine has been bursting this week with various South African and Irish pundits giving their predictions on what will unfold.
Former Springboks coach White has become the latest to join the hot topic debate, sending a pre-game message to RugbyPass that perfectly sets the scene just hours before the kick-off of a match that has gripped the imagination of all fervent rugby supporters.
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“As a Rugby World Cup winner 16 years ago in France, and a coach currently still involved in the game (at the Bulls), let me share my thoughts: Today is a wonderful Test match. It’s a test of power versus skill.
“It’s going to be intriguing and fascinating to watch. Does skill beat power or is power the dominant factor in a successful winning team?
“Are 15 forwards in a match day 23 the winning recipe? If so, then no one will beat the Springboks at this Rugby World Cup as no team will be able to match the power of the Boks’ selection.
“This power versus skill debate in rugby has been around for ages. No team has been or will offer more skill than Ireland have in the last four years since the last World Cup. The Springboks and their bomb squad became champions by being too physical for any opponent.
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“That is what makes rugby such a wonderful game as these debates will continue long after all of us are gone. Enjoy the contest. Cheers, Jake.”
Drink it in SA,the worst bunch of arrogant pricks as supporters you will ever find! Delighted to see the sad faces at the end, they'll blame the ref they'll blame the weather but it doesn't matter, get that up ya
No man!
For White to think that Ireland can't match the SA media hyped BS of 'Springbok power' is naive and foolish in the extreme. The Irish loosies are far better than anything SA has to offer even with a full change from the bench and the silent assassins in their second row are way better than SA can offer. Add the demon Furlong (who can play either tight or loose head but is starting as tight head) and Porter, it's hard to see anything but O'Keeffe's blatant bias towards SA stopping Ireland controlling the scrums.
South Africa had the dominant scrum and pinged twice when should have gone the other way. I’m a kiwi, I don’t rate okeefe at all but there was definitely not bias to Africa
"Precision beats Power, Timing beats Speed" - Prof. Conor McGregor.
bullshit the desire to win beats anything you will die before you will lose nate diaz blood soaked face got a tap out and you know conner was saved by the bell in the second nabib just brutally walked thru conner and wrestled him to exhaustion conner was a great great champion but he was beaten by guys with a desire to die before defeat conner had a limit he tapped out twice sometimes technicallity is relied on too much like mike tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face .