So the big question is: will the Springboks beat France 3-0?
Probably not. There it is.
And the reason? It’s a new team.
Allister Coetzee needs time to get the Boks back to their best.
First of all, Toetie has had three camps with his players to get them on the same page as him and his coaching staff.
That’s not nearly enough if you think about how many gameplans are floating around South African rugby at the moment.
The Bulls, the Cheetahs and the Sharks are bringing nothing to the party, while nobody is taking the Kings seriously.
Then all you have left is the Stormers and the Lions, who are actually in the mix.
It’s kind of k** when you look at it. The Stormers and the Lions are the only two teams looking to play rugby that could take the national team into the future.
They are trying to fight fire with fire and want to play an attacking brand of rugby.
Anywhere else is just wasteland.
If Saru is planning to offer up teams for sacrifice to on the altar of Super Rugby, get rid of the teams that don’t buy into the national team’s plan.
So what if Deon Davids and his Kings don’t have a consistent winning formula?
Is his plan more coherent and consistent than Nollis Marais and Franco Smith’s? I’d say yes.
It’s important to look at where these teams are going and unfortunately, the Cheetahs and the Bulls are going nowhere.
Now the Loftus bosses are going to bring back Heyneke Meyer as a consultant? No. We are done with that game.
File 10-man rugby under “top secret” and leave it in a Saru vault somewhere until everyone has forgotten the notion that “skill” has nothing to do with rugby.
Right now, every player is expected to carry, run lines, offload and have vision. Not just the backline players.
If Toetie is worth his job, then this is way forward.
"Last year, he had the excuse that the players he had were not up to the level of skill he wanted.
The fact that he went with Lions and Stormers as the core of his players is telling.
These are the only two teams who have stepped up and played the rugby needed to compete with the best.
It’s going to be tough to get up to the level of the New Zealanders by the start of the Rugby Championship.
But they are definitely going to give the French a run for their money.
I’m especially looking forward to the Lions players showing just how far they have come come since the years of John Mitchell and Carlos Spencer.
The debt we owe those guys for sharing the secrets of Kiwi rugby is massive and the gems that Paul Feeney is dropping at WP is not going to go unnoticed for long.