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'Murder us in South Africa': New Zealand pundit has grave fears for All Blacks
By Ben Smith
A New Zealand radio pundit has shared grave fears for the All Blacks ahead of their two Test tour of South Africa after their 38-30 loss to Argentina.
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Rugby Run co-host Mark Watson believed that the rest and rotation policies during Super Rugby for top All Blacks has failed to deliver, evidenced by Saturday night’s defeat.
He said there were “no excuses” for the “dreadful” performance which saw Los Pumas hit the front in the last 20 minutes and end up with an eight point buffer.
“We kill and we bastardise Super Rugby, we are resting and rotating our All Blacks because we want them fresh,” host Mark Watson told SENZ Radio.
“It apparently is a performance enhancer. Can someone show me the evidence of how rest and rotation in Super Rugby has been a performance enhancer for this All Black team over the last five years? All it’s done is continue to erode Super Rugby.
“But if we’re going to put all our eggs in the All Black basket, and we’re going to kill NPC, and we’re going to kill Super Rugby. We’re going to kill our sevens opportunities the Olympic Games, then this All Black team needs to win. There are no excuses. That performance last night was absolutely dreadful.”
Despite another Test against Argentina at home this week, Watson looked out to upcoming South Africa tour where the All Blacks will play the Springboks twice.
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The Springboks opened their campaign with a 33-7 demolition of the Wallabies in Brisbane to take the lead in the Rugby Championship race.
Watson predicated that unless the All Blacks find a way to improve, the Springboks will “absolutely murder” the All Blacks.
“Where’s the improvement going to come from? How are we going to turn this around? Because I saw a South African team last night play Australia, and they should have probably put 60 points on that Australian team,” he said.
“They are going to absolutely murder us in South Africa.
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“I’ve never, ever bought into this mantra, oh, you know, the fear of the All Blacks is gone. Well, I’m now starting to believe that perhaps the all around the All Blacks has gone.”