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As a neutral I loved this game. Similar to the last game they played, SA had NZ under all sorts of pressure in the first half but somehow they still go into half time behind. The All Blacks' ability to score 2 tries in the blink of an eye is scary. Anyone that didn't have them as favourite...

3 Hooper 2 Arnold 1 Genia HM: Koribete, Pocock, Kerevi, Latu, Rodda

Just re-watched the game with fresh eye. Some general thoughts... 1. This game really shone a light on 2 major issues that will likely prevent us from going any further than the quarters, that being game tactics and goal kicking. It seems to me that the game plan early in the game was to go...

What a bone head game plan. Lets spend the first 30 minutes going wide and getting into 1 on 1 matchup. What a surprise it took them 30 minutes to work out they shoudl be going straight up the middle. Cheika shpuld be embarrassed

Surely there is already a separate thread dedicated to the national selectors' state bias?

Look I'll admit I never packed down in the front row myself so I don't really know what the fuck I'm talking about, but from what I can see at this stage of their respective careers, TT seems to be a much more powerful scrummager, while Kepu is presumably still more technically sound. 18 months...

I assume you're right re it being about scrummaging but is Kepu really stronger in the scrum than TT in 2019?? No doubt Kepu put in a much better scrum performance than TT did against Samoa, but other than that I would say hands down TT has been more effective in the scrums this year than Kepu...

Why do we need a lighter back rower on the bench? We're starting two number 7s

Kepu's selection is a bit of a head scratcher. Is TT injured? At this stage I really can't see how you could select Kepu in at 23 ahead of TT. Leaving aside the 2 or 3 poor scrums he dished up in the last game, he's shown himself to be a great impact player off the bench and is well ahead of...

Honestly I can't pick a winner for this game. My guess is the game is won by 5 points or less. I'm taking the Boks to beat the line

Still on the fence on the Boks v Blacks game. Undecided whether i bet NZ 1-12 win or Boks to beat the line with +6.5. Waiting with bated breath to see the team sheets.

I don't think we will for the big games, but I could see a really good case for starting the Pooper in this game for a few reasons. 1. It's a good opportunity to give Pocock close to 80 minutes before the Wales game; and 2. The top echelon teams certainly have more tools in their Arsenal to...

I can relate. Although I must say, the fact that the game schedule fits so brilliantly with our time zone means I'm going to need to do a lot less explaining than during the last world cup. In terms of a pick, Australia are traditionally slow starters so I think the first 30 minutes of this...

The downside of course is that teams that are traditionally good at playing in Typhoons get an unfair advantage. Thank god the Republic of the Philippines isn't in our group.

I think you need to factor in the variance of the goal kicks. NRL kickers are rarely taking penalty kicks (unless they're smack bang in front). 95% of kicks are from tries. They're not having to attempt penalty kicks from 40 metres out, 10 in from the side line. I imagine that makes practicing...

with such a make shift team, and coming after a supposedly grueling pre-WC campaign, it's hard to take much from the team performance. I did think the defensive patterns was pretty solid and the set piece looked pretty sharp, until it fell apart a bit in the second half (I'm going to chalk that...

Man it's great to see Pocock back on the team sheet. Watching him run out is worth the admission ticket alone. Fingers crossed he doesn't aggravate his injury and gets some solid game time.

Two or three years ago the Wallabies were traveling on the Autumn Tour and the first big game was against England and heading into the game we lost Adam Coleman to injury. I remember thinking how much a loss that was to our chances of winning. Funny now that I'm having the same concerns that we...

Big opportunity for Coleman. Arnold is a big loss but Coleman is capable of going out there and outplaying his opposite number. Given that the All Blacks are missing some locks, we should still be more than compete in that area.

seriously mate? We were without a doubt the form team of the World Cup up until the final. We didn't win the final but you can't argue that our team didn't peak perfectly at the world cup, while other teams (cough England) floundered.