SHOOT: During the game against the French I commented a buddy that if you're world champions and you lose to any team, the team that beats you can with some justification claim to be the 'new world champions'. This is exactly what has happened. Fatigue could turn this tour into humiliation beyond Toulouse, as the Boks spar in playgrounds prepped by their challengers. This tour may turn out to be very poorly conceived.
KEO: South Africa won’t be any fresher when they get Dublin, unless De Villiers decides to rest his first string for the game in Udine. The Ireland fixture is ideal for the hosts, as Brian O’Driscoll and company may fancy a spot of revenge over a tired version of the team that beat the British & Irish Lions in June.
The French media have gone big with the win, unashamedly hugging each other in the press box when Wayne Barnes blew the final whistle. Every headline this Saturday includes the phrase “Coupe de Monde” (world champions) suggesting the French are celebrating a win over the World Cup holders. It doesn’t matter that South Africa was missing some first-choice players or were tired after a long year, France have beaten the No 1 ranked side on the planet so there’s no need to spare the bubbly.
Had this Test been played at the same venue in June, the Boks would have won comfortably. They underperformed at the collisions and as Victor Matfield admitted after the game, they were one second behind the French forwards to the breakdown. Ryan Kankowski told keo.co.za ‘the French caught us napping’ in this area, but given it was always going to be a slugfest on the deck, you have to question the Boks’ endurance.
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