All Blacks halfbacks Aaron Smith and Finlay Christie. Photo / Getty
All Blacks halfbacks Aaron Smith and Finlay Christie. Photo / Getty
OPINION:
An observation...
Ian Foster and his selectors have stuck with the tried, but not necessarily true for Saturday night. This was the starting side that got the job done at Ellis Park, but it was then undone in Christchurch. And that sums up the side. Strong one week, bumblingthe next. The only thing that seems to be consistent about the team is selection.
Maybe there's a nobility to keeping changes to a minimum as new assistant coaches bed in but it feels like even one or two tweaks could add some freshness in key positions to a team that is stuck in the mud. If they win on Saturday night, I'm still not sure we would have learned much about this team in the opening four tests of the Rugby Championship under the new coaching axis.
If they made changes this week, it would have given a clearer idea of the state of the depth and quality of the side. This week felt like a 'nothing to lose' week from a selection perspective, but not only was the trigger not pulled, the gun has been left in the holster.
The calls for wholesale changes to the run-on side probably aren't justified - Foster has a point around the first 40 in particular being good in Christchurch - but to use a cricketing analogy, they failed to get enough runs on the board to defend.
Finlay Christie and Dalton Papali'i are two that were worthy of a look to start this week, but will only come off the bench. It's unlikely big changes will come for Marvel Stadium on Thursday week regardless of the result on Saturday night either.
Loose forward Dalton Papali'i. Photo / Photosport
A question...
Would Georgian referee Nika Amashukeli's debut Rugby Championship performance last Saturday night have been as scrutinised if he was from a top-tier rugby country? It felt like an easy target.
A suggestion...
Rugby won't move forward until fans are able to draw a line under blind partisanship. Marika Koroibete's stunning tackle to deny Makazole Mapimpi a try continues to stoke debate about whether it was legal or not.
Much like either side of the US political system, any sense of objectivity or rational thinking about the other side has long been lost. If you're South African, you think it was illegal and if you're Australian it's the greatest hit since George Gregan pounced on Jeff Wilson.
Unfortunately, while Rassie Erasmus is a wonderful coach, a lot of the Boks fans have taken their lead from his leaked video last year and vilify referees post-match in almost a weekly occurrence.
A prediction...
We'll still be talking about that tackle in 25 years, like we do about the Wilson-Gregan tackle (sorry, Jeff). But how rugby's rulebook has got to the point where it can be interpreted by two sets of fans in different ways is beyond me.
Those are the moments we should be savouring as rugby fans. I fall on the side that South African fans should be frustrated by the try being denied by an act of brilliance, not looking for repercussions. Does that make me Australian?
