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'The duo are limited': SA pundit twists the knife into All Blacks and claims Boks will win Cup

Siya Kolisi of South Africa lifts the Qatar Airways Cup trophy after the team's victory following the Summer International match between New Zealand All Blacks v South Africa at Twickenham Stadium on August 25, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

After a resounding 35-7 win over the All Blacks at Twickenham, one South African rugby pundit has put the boot into New Zealand ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

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The dominant win over the 14-man All Blacks was enough evidence to write off Ian Foster’s chances according to provocative rugby voice Mark Keohane, who predicted “the Boks will send the All Blacks home in the quarter-finals.”

His issue with the All Blacks stemmed from the captain & coach selection, with Sam Cane and Ian Foster not ‘inspirational’ enough to win the prized trophy.

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“For all the aura of the black jersey, for all the greatness in results in the mighty Richie McCaw and Dan Carter era, currently these All Blacks are led by the most ordinary captain and coach in Sam Cane and Ian Foster,” he wrote for Keo.co.za.

“The duo are limited. The two lack inspiration and they lack the type of presence of World Cup winners.”

Despite lacking the ‘presence’ of World Cup winners, Foster and Cane were both crowned champions in 2015. The head coach was an assistant under Hansen and Cane was the understudy to McCaw but played most matches.

With Ian Foster claiming that the All Blacks ‘got what they wanted’ after the 35-7 defeat, Keohane expressed his dismay at the positive attitude of the coach in the face of such a result.

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“They led a team to the slaughter against the Springboks at Twickenham on Friday night. They lost by 28 points – their worst in the history of the All Blacks,” he said.

“Such is the acceptance of New Zealanders, they actually found positives in their worst loss in history.

“How is that the mindset of champions? It is one of knowing your team is going nowhere.”

Despite winning the Bledisloe Cup, the Freedom Cup and the Rugby Championship throughout July, the loss of the inaugural Qatar Airways Cup in a warm-up fixture was a telling blow.

He predicted the All Blacks will go on to lose to France in the opener which would see them draw against Pool B winners South Africa, who would send them home with another defeat.

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The current number one ranked side, Ireland, would fall to hosts France in the other quarter-final.

“Ireland, after the Boks have dealt with them in the Group stages, will be dealt with by France,” he said.

The host nations and defending champions would meet in the final in Paris where “the Boks to complete the most amazing World Cup double” and defeat France by 20 points at home.

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GrahamVF 1 hour ago
The times are changing, and some Six Nations teams may be left behind

The main problem is that on this thread we are trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Rugby union developed as distinct from rugby league. The difference - rugby league opted for guaranteed tackle ball and continuous phase play. Rugby union was based on a stop start game with stanzas of flowing exciting moves by smaller faster players bookended by forward tussles for possession between bigger players. The obsession with continuous play has brought the hybrid (long before the current use) into play. Backs started to look more like forwards because they were expected to compete at the tackle and breakdowns completely different from what the original game looked like. Now here’s the dilemma. Scrum lineout ruck and maul, tackling kicking handling the ball. The seven pillars of rugby union. We want to retain our “World in Union” essence with the strong forward influence on the game but now we expect 125kg props to scrum like tractors and run around like scrum halves. And that in a nutshell is the problem. While you expect huge scrums and ball in play time to be both yardsticks, you are going to have to have big benches. You simply can’t have it both ways. And BTW talking about player safety when I was 19 I was playing at Stellenbosch at a then respectable (for a fly half) 160lbs against guys ( especially in Koshuis rugby) who were 100 lbs heavier than me - and I played 80 minutes. You just learned to stay out of their way. In Today’s game there is no such thing and not defending your channel is a cardinal sin no matter how unequal the task. When we hybridised with union in semi guaranteed tackle ball the writing was on the wall.

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