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'Pumas making an absolute mockery of the Springboks decision' - Fans turn on world champions following Pumas historic win over All Blacks
The world champions South Africa surprised many last month when they announced their decision to withdraw from what would’ve been the Rugby Championship. Instead, Argentina, New Zealand and hosts Australia would contest for a Tri Nations title.
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It was revealed that the Springboks wouldn’t travel to Australia due to challenges with COVID-19, with player welfare one of the reasons cited.
Another issue was the lack of game time that players had had, with players only having played a few weeks of Super Rugby Unlocked, the South African domestic competition for this year, at that stage. The national side also hadn’t played together since the World Cup final in November last year.
Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, who was head coach of the Springboks for last year’s World Cup victory in Japan, said that his players would need 400-500 minutes of game time before they’d be ready for test match rugby.
The decision was at least initially labelled a “great call” by South African fans on Twitter, with the Springboks set to take on the British and Irish Lions in South Africa next year.
Great call, rather focus on Lions tour next year and make it count.
— Pieter Groenewald ?? (@pieterg100) October 16, 2020
Player welfare > money. Nice to see.
— Timothy Johnston (@tithij) October 16, 2020
The correct call SARU. We cannot risk our brand by sending a under prepared squad to a tournament. When we play we need to play to win every single game.
— jacques (@jacque0001) October 16, 2020
However the decision has since come under scrutiny with the Pumas, who were in a similar boat to the Springboks, having registered an historic 25-15 win over the All Blacks last Saturday.
All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan joked about the “mitigating circumstances” that the Argentinians had faced in preparation for the Tri Nations, with COVID-19 having impacted them significantly. In late September, it was reported that more than a dozen players had tested positive for the virus.
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The squad arrived in Australia on 6th October after having quarantined for 14 days.
The Pumas then played two warm-up matches against a Rugby Australia XV, which included non-matchday Wallabies. Pete Samu, Joe Powell and James Ramm all featured, but the visitors won both matches in convincing fashion.
But the dominant performance against the All Blacks last weekend was particularly impressive, and has seen fans on Twitter discuss the Springboks withdrawal just as much as the win itself.
Great to see the Pumas making an absolute mockery of the @Springboks decision to stay home. #rugby #VamosLosPumas
— Jamie Spragg (@jamiespragg) November 14, 2020
Argentina’s performance today makes a mockery of the Springboks not wanting to travel for the The Rugby Championship because they haven’t played since the world cup. #NZLvARG
— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottlieb) November 14, 2020
The Argentina team had not played together in more than 400 days; they were every bit as underprepared as the Springboks, but they turned up and defeated New Zealand.
Hats off to Los Pumas ??— NeilHendry (@NeilHendry6) November 14, 2020
Springboks reverse decision on playing in Rugby Championship following Argentina’s shock win over NZ
Rassie: “Clearly we were wrong about how many minutes you need to play before you can beat the All Blacks” https://t.co/9tuef5MiqD— The African Bee (@bee_african) November 14, 2020
Watching this begs the question – if @lospumas could beat the All Blacks with this kind of preparation – why couldn’t the @Springboks at least try and do the same? #VamosLosPumas https://t.co/ECyt5lUI4z
— Rupert Cox (@RupertCoxTV) November 15, 2020
Springboks: Our athletes need 400, 500 minutes to be competitive.
Pumas: ?— Paul Cully (@paulcullystuff) November 14, 2020
And I think the Springboks were cowards to refuse to play in the Southern Hemisphere tournament. Their excuse that they hadn’t played a test since the World Cup was hollow. Neither had the Pumas, and they have taken the All Blacks to the cleaners.
— Wallace Kantai (@wgkantai) November 14, 2020
Pumas playing great footy. Same disadvantage of lack of game time as the Springboks but showing up non the less! #TriNations2020
— Quinton Louw (@Quinlouw1) November 14, 2020
I understand worries about protecting the health of @sarugby players is a quite correct reason for @Springboks to withdraw from the #RugbyChampionship – however, the Pumas have destroyed the argument that they should have withdrawn due to a lack of preparation.#ARGvNZ #ARGvNZL
— Mark Sutton (@MarkSutton3110) November 14, 2020
I am wondering what is SARU thinking now? As the Pumas did not play any rugby but they have won the All Blacks. Or is it a case of the Pumas had nothing to loose & Springboks had everything to loose because they are the world champions?
— Talker Boost (@talker_boost) November 14, 2020
Can someone tell me why the @Springboks didn’t come? This Pumas win puts the Boks lack of ticker in perspective.
— Rugby and stuff… (@IBloodyLuvRugby) November 14, 2020
Inspirational. No excuse for the #springboks to withdraw from the #RugbyChampionship https://t.co/5jhhdV32Fc
— Quintin Rogers (@qarogers) November 14, 2020
But other fans have been quick to diminish any comparisons between the Pumas and the Springboks, two sides who faced similar yet different challenges.
I just don’t get why Springboks were even drawn into the Argentine’s glorius win-it’s a non sequitur to be honest. I think folks should let the Pumas enjoy their hard earned time in the sun.
— mphathi (@mphathinxumalo) November 14, 2020
Whether you agree with the @Springboks decision not to go to Rugby Champs or not, it was based on science. Argentina were brilliant, but their performance has nothing to do with the World Champs. Simple really. Nothing at all.
— Brenden Nel (@BrendenNel) November 14, 2020
The unique Super Rugby Unlocked season does continue this weekend, with the final round of fixtures set to be played. The competition is set to go down to the wire, with the Bulls currently sitting atop of the standings.
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As for the Argentinian national side, they’ll face the Wallabies in Newcastle this weekend, in a pivotal Tri Nations clash.
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments