Nick Evans knows what 'it feels like' for benched Marcus Smith

Looking forward to Sat, and hoping that Rassie figures out how to get it clicking.

You are right. Italy are a good team. Played well in the 6 Nations. Deserve more credit. Much as the French.

Let’s hope he recovers and we have Manie followed by Sacha in the second test.

Italy are a great test team, and SA secured a confident win over them. Not sure what people were expecting.

What you want is quick ruck ball after that to get into the wider channels (which is when you involve the #10). But Italy disrupted the Bok attacking rucks and shut down space for passing moves. So the Boks got stuck in first gear.

Credit to Italy, but also … if the Boks can't execute their new fangled offense against a good Italy defense then why would they do so against NZ, France or Ireland?

The Tony Brown attacking patterns are in the spotlight. The Boks need to demonstrate how “TonyBall” can reliably deliver gainline yards against strong defenses. The last outing was a fail in that regard.

Yes I’ll agree we should have more of a chance at home

I was surprised we pushed the Boks away last year but also disappointed with the fourth quarters where the Boks did their thing

If anyone is going to beat the ABs at Eden park it’s likely to be the Boks and the motivation will be sky high

It’s good Rassie is pizzed at the team

I wish Razor was at the ABs!! He’s a positive guy but sometimes you just want the brutal truth

I’m not that annoyed as we asked for changes and got them

Four debutants too which seems to have escaped many taking about France Z 😜

We will definitely be better if Williams Sititi and Lomax are available

The first two will be touch and go for the Boks as they have had surgery

And you’re telling me I don’t think?

However I do agree with you re Razor and co

In his second season I’m still not sure exactly what sort of style he is trying to achieve

I will say depth is better than it has been in most positions

Prop especially

Lock was a weak point but is now not a weak point

Midfield

Could do with some more pace on the wing (Jordan is now fullback)

Ironically Leroy Carter is apparently the fastest so we will see

Surprised at that

Still issues in the loose forward make up but he is right to give Vaai a crack for now

But it’s all very disjointed currently

It was also another pretty terrible second half and last quarter

The English semifinal had pouring rain, and the play was in the forwards and Pollard did his job well kicking penalties although Manie did get one, too.

The final against the NZs was also forecast to be raining and so Pollard was presumably chosen for that reason and with a 7-1 split on the bench we have nothing to judge what would have happened if Manie had been there. I believe that he would have helped the Boks to a far bigger margin than they got but obviously Rassie had to make decisions based on what the forecast said.

But I’ll never convince you, will I. Have you ever played a lot in the rain and cold? Being a pom who played his best rugby in the Eastern Free State, I can tell you - and Jake White who refused to listen and has got the deserved boot - it makes a big difference and I fully agree that Pollard is good for that type of game, but when either Manie or Sacha get their chance to prove me right once again, hopefully next Saturday or whenever - especially RWC2027 in Oz but not in NZ in the so-called Rugby Championship in September - maybe we can talk again.

Been waiting for someone to finally notice.

I'm actually going for President of world rugby. I’ll ban the tmo altogether. Also get rid of neutral ref’s. SA will never lose at home again. Probably just let Rassie do the reffing as well.