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The Rugby Championship

Rugby Pass Podcast: Are The Springboks A Sleeping Giant?

Lood de Jager

This week on the Rugby Pass podcast Scotty Stevenson in joined by Matthew Pearce of South Africa’s SuperSport and Justin Marshall from New Zealand’s Sky Sport. Matthew explains why he thinks the Springboks could be on the verge of something big as they head into their big Rugby Championship clash with the Wallabies on Saturday, before Marshy and Sumo discuss where the All Blacks vs Pumas test will be won and lost.

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Comments on RugbyPass

d
dw 50 minutes ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Smart move. Easy to look like a goose if you get a prediction wildly wrong. They surely are a chance of making the semis

159 Go to comments
M
MikeM 52 minutes ago
Pat Lam weighs in on All Blacks eligibility with proposed rethink

Absolutely. This makes so much sense, shame the NZRU top dogs don't have your ability to see this.

5 Go to comments
G
GS 1 hour ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Yip, guess so, sadly for Ireland, I guess.

Must say little concerning the Top 14 clubs bringing in Oz youngsters - 16k away from family, different language/culture and education. Hopefully, they have structures to support kids so far away from family, friends etc.



...

159 Go to comments
B
BP 1 hour ago
Top 100 Rugby Players 2025

Who chose this panel and how? Why only 2 non-English speaking reps?

99 Go to comments
G
GS 1 hour ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

When you consider the Parent/Grandparent rule, I imagine a substantial number.

Think in NZ around 15% have access to a UK passport - so my Kids have a Mom born in UK and Grandparent in Ireland - so they would qualify to play for Ireland if they wished.



...

159 Go to comments
Z
ZB 1 hour ago
'The only thing he can improve’: Boks' one concern over SFM before RWC

Cant cover everything all at once. If they have to cover SFM religiously, there will then be more space out wide. Just his presence spells danger for any opposition whether its specifically him or someone else he's freed up on the outside by the attention being on him.

5 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Fair summary!

159 Go to comments
N
NB 1 hour ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

🤣🤣

159 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Pretty much what we had to do in those days, a ,ot of horse trading went on!

159 Go to comments
N
NB 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

No it doesn’t, it ends on the open question but without offering answers…

159 Go to comments
J
JD 2 hours ago
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu crowned world’s best in RugbyPass Top 100 2025

I’d rather not comment on the why or wherefore Itoje got made captain of the Lions. I’m not Irish, so perhaps you're right. However, if Doris had been fit, no way Itoje would have been captain. But OK, he was. I’ll tell you what I don’t like about him - he hangs around the fringes but doesn’t really climb in like an All Black or Springbok or Argentine lock would do. It doesn’t make him a bad player; I just can’t warm to him. I

don’t know which players in the current England team are world class. Pollock has the potential to be and could get there next year. Ben Earl is very good, but he’s got Ardie and Wiese ahead of him. I like Fin Smith a lot, but obviously he’s got Sasha, who’s a freak, as competition.



...

21 Go to comments
f
frandinand 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

JK is the living proof of that.

159 Go to comments
d
dw 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Quite funny imagining them running around London looking for a ‘video’

159 Go to comments
d
dw 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

Seems like an area of Joe's coaching which isn't perfect. Although Len spoke very highly of him recently. Does the book make any predictions regarding Ireland's chances in 2027?

159 Go to comments
E
Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

So Lowry and Balacoune would be well ahead of O’Brien, Frawley (and Osborne thus far).

Tbf you could add MH to the mix and for me, ML is up there alongside him. If he’d been given the opportunities ofc…



...

159 Go to comments
E
Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

So what you’re saying is that the team bottled it in 2019 but the coaches bottled it in 2023 then…

159 Go to comments
S
Smithy806 2 hours ago
Springboks rule the skies as access law leads to more kicking

I thought WR’s new chairman (Brett Robinson) was elected on promises to quicken the game up through promoting running, passing and keeping the ball alive in tackles. The law changes that are now rewarding box kicks (long tailed caterpillar rucks, 9 allowed to be offside at these rucks to move the ball back with his hands, the 5-second rule to speed rucks up only applying once the 9 has dragged the ball to the base of the rucks, the impossibility now to charge down the 9’s kick, no ability to block a chaser etc.) have changed our game. I don’t think it’s for the betterment of rugby, but that’s just my view. It certainly doesn’t align with Robinsons pre-election promises. 93 kicks in the Wales v Italy game this year, 61 in the Eden Park clash between the All Blacks and Springboks mean that tactically, teams spend more time perfecting their box kicking platforms than almost any other part of the game. Maybe I’m a romantic, but the easiest way to provide safety for players contesting box kicks is to change back the laws that are promoting them. Then, we might see some actual innovation on how to play out of defensive zones without kicking the ball away. And, as always, others will copy that!

12 Go to comments
D
DS 2 hours ago
Springboks rule the skies as access law leads to more kicking

Oh please. Just eff off to boring (five tackles, kick ad nauseam) rugby league if you think that!

12 Go to comments
D
DS 2 hours ago
Springboks rule the skies as access law leads to more kicking

As I've just commented elsewhere - and agreeing with Andrew below that it's really irritating having all this kicking - the answer is to have an offside line preferably two metres behind the last scrum foot (whether set scrum or loose) so teams will be encouraged to run the ball, which they aren't now because there's no room to manouevre with the opposition defenders way too close. This idea was in fact trialled in NZ 9 years ago but stifled by them because it reduced the chances of turnovers which they admitted was the source of 75% of their tries!

12 Go to comments
N
NB 3 hours ago
Ireland are at a crossroads - will they ever make a World Cup semi-final?

🤣good one!

159 Go to comments
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