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'I don't think Ireland poses any threat to us, neither does France': Bok legend dismisses RWC threats
By Ben Smith
Former Springbok legend Schalk Burger is confident that South Africa can defend their Rugby World Cup crown after what he has seen on this year's European tour.
The Springboks lost their first two clashes in tight fashion to the world's top two ranked sides, Ireland and France, before blowing out Italy and finishing with a dominant win over England at Twickenham.
Despite a 50 per cent return from the four tests Burger was buoyed by how South Africa played when assessing what to take from the the tour overall.
"We want the Springboks to win every test, don't we? But I think it's more the way they played," Burger told the SuperSport panel on the post-match show.
"Yes, this was sort of a tour defining game today, getting the result and shutting out England was what we wanted to see, and we did that.
"If we lost and played well, we would be disappointed."
After seeing the way the Springboks dismantled England, Burger went as far as saying that Ireland and France don't 'pose any threat' to South Africa at next year's Rugby World Cup despite losing to them over the past month.
France completed a perfect season with 10 wins from 10 tests in 2022, capturing a Grand Slam title in March while Ireland similarly had an impressive year after beating the All Blacks at home in a historic series win.
"If you look ahead to next year, I don't think Ireland poses any threat to us really, neither does France," Burger claimed.
"They are great sides, the games can go either way, we are not going to be blown out of the water.
"This team is not [going to get blown away]. So a massive positive tour."
"We've been negative about referees, we've had some bizarre refereeing displays, but I thought Angus Gardner and his team today put up a normal refereeing display."
The Springboks showed over the final two games of the tour a more adventurous game with more emphasis on ball movement.
With more appetite to take on more risk, they had many wide movements from deep inside their own half against England to get the ball into the hands of Kurt-Lee Arendse, who dazzled with a stunning try on a kick return sparked by Damian Willemse.
Speaking pitch side after the win, captain Siya Kolisi said they had talked about changing and said the team decided to 'risk it all' before the game and try new things before next year's World Cup.
"We said 'we'll risk it all, because you know it's worth it'," he said.
"We need to find answers before the World Cup, but at the same time, respecting them and playing in the right areas of the field.
"It's not that much of a difference but we are seeing a lot more opportunities than we have in the past."
On whether they can defend the World Cup title next year, Kolisi hoped that they had seen everything that will face so won't be 'shocked' at the tournament.
"We've tried a few things but there is still a lot more we can do,"
"We are going flat out for it as a group. We wouldn't be going if we didn't think we were able to defend it.
"It's going to be tough and face a lot of challenges this time, but I really think we've learnt so much about our team, got a lot of answers for questions.
"So going forward next year, I'm hoping there is not a lot that can shock us as a team because of all the challenges we have faced."
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The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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